Here is a project I started in summer 2015: a demo reel of film/video game-style music. With the exception of “Cogs & Spokes,” none of these cues have picture to accompany them. Rather, they are self-contained vignettes based on current tropes in film scoring. Although much of the material was newly-generated for this, I did draw from older sketches in a few cases. This project has been an excellent vehicle to learn how to use the EWQL libraries effectively with a portfolio-ready final product in mind. Furthermore, it has allowed me to not throw away ideas I deemed too “filmic” or “poppy,” which is a problem I frequently have when generating material for new compositions. The original idea was to create a bunch of 30- to 60-second cues over a variety of genres. A few of the cues ended up getting a little out of control and turned into legitimate compositions that I am rather proud of: “Loss and Retribution,” “Impromptu: Waltzing with Ghosts,” and “Waltz: A Final Farewell”. The vast majority of orchestral samples in these tracks come from EWQL Hollywood Orchestra. I used a minimal amount of Garritan libraries as layering and dashes of color to fill in gaps in the EWQLHO libraries. Piano sounds are from Soundiron Emotional Piano and the Kawai MP7 stage piano. Non-orchestral electronic sounds come from a variety of sources: hardware (Korg Radias, Korg Monotron, Nintendo Game Boy) and software (FL Studio plugins and 3rd-party samples). If you want more detailed information on any one of these cues, read the descriptions for the individual tracks.
