FierceDeity's Compositions

[FierceDeity]

So, as seems to be the case with many, many people on here, my goal is to score games for a living. About to go into my junior year in undergrad, studying composition with a minor in game design. As I gradually finish more and more compositions that I'm actually happy with (a rare, yet increasingly frequent, occurrence), I'll put them on here. The genres are going to be pretty varied, as I'll be balancing friends' projects with things for school and things for myself, but I like to think there's at least some game music influence in most things I do.

Without further ado, here's some stuff.

Where The Heart Is
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/evan-wardells-music/where-the-heart-is-1/s-9uwAj[/soundcloud]


Anismack Intro
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/evan-wardells-music/anismack-intro-second-draft/s-EXBYL[/soundcloud]

EDIT: It seems that the soundcloud plugin isn't working for these, even though for the one that's private I shared it via the private link; but it should work if you follow the links to soundcloud itself.

old, unedited stuff

Calm Before the Storm - PDF   MUS   Audio File   SoundCloud

Notes

The idea here was to write a static, peaceful piece to portray a starting town/village in a video game. I varied as little from the tonic as possible (for the most part using it as a pedal), to create a kind of stable environment for the game to begin with, before there's any sort of conflict.

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Chaos Incarnate - PDF   MUS   Audio File   SoundCloud

Notes

For this one, what I was essentially told to do was to make up a mode other than the seven inherent in the major scale, and write based on that. So, I started off with the two chromatic triplets (A A# B, D D# E), and eventually followed the pattern to include all notes in the chromatic scale (except for C, which is covered during the transposition near the end). Then, at the end, with all of the chromatic notes covered, it explodes into what I fondly refer to as an intentional clusterfuck. I'm a lot happier with it than I thought I'd be, given the premises.
Oh, and I know that it's not actually an original mode, as that can't really exist anymore

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Descent into Madness - PDF   MUS   Audio File   SoundCloud

Notes

For this, I was told to write based on any mode (at which point I could have just said "fuck it" and done Ionian ), so I wrote in E phrygian. My instinct in this piece was to follow the contour of the scale without indicating tonal harmony (because it wouldn't really be modal then, would it?), so I focused on the interval of the fifth a lot. I haven't really workshopped this too much (or at all, really), but I'm still pretty happy with it.

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Let me know what you guys think!

[FireArrow]

:DDDDDDDDDD

You posted your compositions!!! I'm not a big fan of modal stuff, but your whole "make your own mode" thing is really cool! I was surprised that it turned out that well.

[FierceDeity]

Yeah I was really surprised at how much I liked it, haha, when I basically started off by choosing a bunch of random notes
Thank you!!!

And, as for not being a big fan of modal stuff...ever played chrono trigger?

Literally the entire melody of that song is a descending phrygian scale XD

Oh, that and jazz. Miles Davis, especially, is modal as fuck. And almost every minor chord implies dorian :3

Heh, I'm not always a fan of modal music, and I'll probably end up writing more tonal stuff later on (these are basically just within the guidelines my professor gave me), but it's kinda funny to think how some of it, we hear, and might not even realize it's modal at first.

[FireArrow]

but it's kinda funny to think how some of it, we hear, and might not even realize it's modal at first.

Haha, that's the really good stuff! Still, I don't think I'll ever be able to appreciate a lot of the contemporary modal, dissonant stuff. lol That's why I'm actually really impressed with your stuff, because most blatantly modal stuff sounds like shit to me.

[FierceDeity]

Thank you :3 it means a lot!

[FierceDeity]

New comp!!!

Calm Before the Storm - PDF   MUS   Audio File   SoundCloud

The idea here was to write a static, peaceful piece to portray a starting town/village in a video game. I varied as little from the tonic as possible (for the most part using it as a pedal), to create a kind of stable environment for the game to begin with, before there's any sort of conflict. As always, let me know how I did!

Also, I understand that downloading a WAV file is obnoxious as hell, so I've put in some soundcloud links for convenience.

[Sebastian]

New comp!!!

Calm Before the Storm - PDF   MUS   Audio File   SoundCloud

The idea here was to write a static, peaceful piece to portray a starting town/village in a video game. I varied as little from the tonic as possible (for the most part using it as a pedal), to create a kind of stable environment for the game to begin with, before there's any sort of conflict. As always, let me know how I did!

Also, I understand that downloading a WAV file is obnoxious as hell, so I've put in some soundcloud links for convenience.

I like this song It reminds of Kakariko Village or Lon Lon Ranch from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You really are a Music Genius!

[FierceDeity]

Oh fuck, I haven't touched this thread in a whiiiile.

Thanks, MLF

And here's a little something I wrote while procrastinating on my big band chart:

Where The Heart Is (SoundCloud)

Basically just another hometown theme. Idk if, in an actual game, I'd expand on this too much; it's kinda short, but pretty standard length as far as these types of tracks go. I'd probably just make variations in the orchestration for different parts of the town (i.e. indoors would be much lighter on extended sounds, heavier on pizzicato, possibly with marimba).

Dynamics are kinda weird in this, as they often are with finale (granted, I didn't use many), but overall I'm pretty happy, even with these cheesy sounds. Let me know what you guys think!

[Bloop]

Ohey soundcloud ima follow you

Really cool! :3 Very calming. Would love to hear that in a game! I'm going to listen to your other compositions now too :3

[FierceDeity]

Thank you! :3

And aahhhh I hardly even recognize my writing from those comp lesson exercises anymore XD I need to upload some more of my recent stuff at some point

Also: updated last post with new link, made a couple edits on the piece. Mostly just thematic stuff; filled in the melodically empty parts of the first B period with some violin responses, and other minor doubling stuff.

I was thinking of filling out the second period of the A section a bit more with some arco strings, but I've come to really like the simplicity of just changing the timbre in the melody, and keeping that pedal sol in the first violin. It feels like it changes a lot, while in reality changing very little; idk

[dahans]

I also study composition and I have just listened to your pieces. I do like the "calm before the storm". Especially the way you handle the instruments. I am just a little surprised about the fact that the horn is also in g major? Is that on purpose?

Your modal piece in phrgian... I had to write a fugue in that mode hahaha. I do not like this mode to be honest. I guess Palestrina would kill you for those  parallel fifths just kidding that doesn't matter at all if you want it like that. But you should elaborate your theme more. Also... F is kind of the "dominant" of this mode. I would have loved to see more harmonic elaboration. Why not a small modulation?

But keep going

[FierceDeity]

Whoa I suck at responding

Thanks for the feedback dahans! It's really weird, even back when you posted this, that piece was already a distant memory, so I really had to go back and look at it again, haha. I've been noticing this trend where I start to despise anything I've written about a year or so after I've written it, so I definitely agree that the phrygian piece could've been more elaborate/harmonically interesting. Though I do have to disagree with your preference against the mode in general It can sound pretty great when written well, a la Yasunori Mitsuda:

let's get some chrono trigger up in this bitch (again)

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As for calm before the storm, I'm glad you liked it! Looking back, it's definitely a little simplistic/repetitive for my tastes, but I'm still pretty happy with the general feel/chromaticism. I'd probably at least add some percussion for ambient effects (cymbal rolls, wind chimes, etc.) if I went back, but at this point I'm kinda content just leaving it as a learning experience and working on other pieces.

Speaking of other pieces!

This first one, I'm actually kinda surprised I didn't already share it. I thought I did, to be honest, but I guess I only shared the finale playback version (in my last post) when I first wrote it. But to reiterate, it's another hometown theme, and the first thing I ever fully* fleshed out in a DAW. Exclusively recorded in pro tools, using some VSL samples.
*debatable

Where The Heart Is
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/evan-wardells-music/where-the-heart-is-1/s-9uwAj[/soundcloud]

(And yes, I know the bassoon part is pretty similar to the one in my last hometown theme, but shh)


The most recent thing I've written was this intro for a webseries (on animated TV shows) that I'm working on. Considering the subject matter, I decided to structure it like an anime opening. Still in the process of working out the intro sequence itself, but the director is pretty happy with the piece. This is the full version, which is going to be used for the pilot episode, but there's going to be a shorter version that's basically just the last 16 bars.

Anismack Intro
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/evan-wardells-music/anismack-intro-second-draft/s-EXBYL[/soundcloud]

This is the first time I've ever actually done anything in logic, so it was fun going from not knowing how the program works to having this done in the span of three days. I did it using mostly Ministry of Rock 2 samples, which are neat because they're really high quality, and generally pretty realistic as far as rock samples go. I do have a few qualms with the way they try to achieve realism (I can understand wanting variability in the samples, but each sample is often too varied, and the user is given very little control over this), but overall I'm pretty happy with the product. I also used Hollywood Strings for the violin (and I've seriously yet to find an arco violin sample I really like). This is an unmixed version (meaning no panning, less-than-optimal reverb, and questionable volume levels); my friend who's doing sound for the webseries will also be mixing my piece, which is cool, because I'm going to get to sit in and learn about his process. He's also considering recording the guitar parts himself if we get enough time to do so, which would be awesome.