Interview with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

One of my absolute favorite composers of the 20th-21st centuries:

50 Worst Videogame Voice Acting Lines

I've cross-posted this to other forums, so for those of you who've seen this link pop up already, I apologize. Some really great weekend fun. Thanks to my friend John Griffin for sharing.

Click to hear bad acting.

3 x 5 Interview with Sean Beeson

In Fives:

1) In exactly five sentences, give us what you feel is important biographical information about your musical/sonic background.

I have always had a fascination with technology, and was practically born playing video games. At a very young age, I began composing, and later decided to combine my love of games, technology, and music. While I am conservatory trained, I am mostly self-taught. My first foray into game audio was creating a music replacement mod for Morrowind. (The Morrowind Orchestra: Opus 1) Since then I have scored dozens of games across all platforms.

2) Please state, in exactly five words, your interest in music/sound.

Harnessesable Transcending Wordless Image-Provoking Emotions (Did I do that right? haha)

3) Now please state, in exactly five syllables, how you might describe your process of work.

Lundabarishly

In Fours:

1) Using the rhythm of the famous four-note opening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, please tell us a fact about you that we may not know.

I like to coooooook

2) Who are four people that have influenced your musical tastes?

Debussy, Van Halen, Bela Bartok, Scott Joplin

3) Name your preference: The Fab Four, The Four Tops or just good ol' Four-on-the-floor music?

4 on da Floor!

In Threes:

1) Name three artists (composers, popular music, etc.) that make you feel all warm and squishy inside.

Halloween Music, David Haas, Anything that mocks music from 1950's tv shows (Raymond Scott - think Ren and Stimpy)

2) Name three artists that make you want to wretch.

Early Haydn, Early Mozart, Early Sean Beeson :P

3) Address either three of your listed artists (in either category) with one question each or three questions to one artist.

1. Haydn... I know you as part of your job, you had to write a LOT of music. But why so unoriginal? I am not surprised even by your surprise symphony!

2. Mozart, were you poisoned? Did you REALLY write your first pieces that young?

3. What were you thinking!! You should have chosen a different career haha

In Twos:

1) List and describe two projects on which you're currently working.

Steam Pirates and The Mangler

2) And how are they both going?

Great, I am far ahead of schedule, which although not rare, is quite an accomplishment seeing as how my wife and I moved and had a baby in the same week!

3) How do you feel they are challenging your current skill set?

Both games are requiring rather laid-back (yet thematically driven) scores. The music plays a large role, but finding a medium where my score can be 'heard' without being too present, is a constant challenge.

In Ones:

1) Name one environmental element of the creative process that you find essential (e.g. coffee, a certain chair, etc.)

Shoes. Decent sample libraries, and coffee are great, room lighting is a close second, but I must have a great pair of shoes! If I don't wear shoes I just feel like I haven't "gone" to work.

2) What is one area in which you hope to improve your work?

Effectiveness of my writing. Brevity and simplicity is an important trait in music, and many times I find my scores to have content that is not used to its full potential.

3) What is one thing you would like people to know when listening to your work?

I enjoy writing music! With every piece, I try to create a musical journey, and I hope that those who listen can feel my excitement in my creations.

Updates Among Us

Dear Blog,

I apologize for neglecting you. It's not my fault that I've decided to take on so much work that you have not been updated regularly. Really, they made me do it!

So, wow, there's so much going on in the world of audio. Here are a few highlights:

• I'm nearing completion of one of the flash games, put out by Team Ko'Mano, LEAP. The audio will be completed and submitted before the month's end. Check out one of the cool pieces of artwork for the game:

• To focus on an unanounced project during the month of December, I will be supervising two composers for the remaining projects, P.U.L.S.E. and Red Core, each of which will be completed and released before the year's end. I will still be in charge of all sound effects and compression, but will be relinquishing my compositional duties. My time and efforts will be directed elsewhere. You can check out Jonah Hontos' and Brad Stark for their work on other projects. I'm really looking forward to working with these guys.
• Class is still in session and I have four weeks to complete my project. I have completely shifted focus from my original project. I've been charged by Scott Wyatt to take a new approach to writing in which I'll be focusing more on orchestration and less on the material produced. The exercise is intended to improve my skill set with game audio in that the pacing requires quick writing yet still polished work. Essentially, I will have completed 5-6 min of writing within 2.5 weeks and will orchestra for the next four. This goes against the grain of my soul, but it's proving to be a valuable in terms of following my intuition. Writing more, criticizing later and less.
• I will have the next 3 x 5 up by tomorrow, so keep posted for more! I'm exhausted just form the typing!