Hella Gems | Original Music Blog http://www.hellagems.com/blog New songs, and thoughts on creativity Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:27:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Testing… Testing… http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/testing-testing/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/testing-testing/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:27:50 +0000 Mike http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2281 Just made a quick beat to test out uploading. I heard it was broken.

Quick Beat.wav

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/testing-testing/feed/ 1 Contratanz http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/contratanz/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/contratanz/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:29:30 +0000 Kelly G http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2272 Many years back I was writing a bunch of Final Fantasy style midi tracks in Noteworthy Composer. I had this dream of making a cheap knock-off of Final Fantasy 3 (or 6 if you’re nerdy) in raw windows/DirectX 5. I lost my code in a hard drive crash, but I still have the midi.

 

Lately I remembered one of these old pieces that I wrote and thought it would work good in the latest game I’m working on (recycling!), which is that medieval-themed Gradius-style shooter I was talking about a post pr two back.

 

The piece was originally the typical country fair dance song you have in every cliche RPG at some point. Instead of looking for that old midi files I decided to write a fresh arrangement from memory. There’s two guitars playing sort-of a round, a lead on flute, and percussion. I these parts out in Tracktion’s midi editor and assigned them realistic instrument patches from Sample Tank SE. Two different Nylon string guitars, Ocarina, subtle bass and wood-block percussion. I call that the “clean” version.

 

Then I thought it could use some kick. I want my game to have a little bit of that 80s Psygnosis vibe to it also. I imported the track into FL Studio and put on some rock&drums and bass.

 

contratanz

 

 

I’ll post a link to the corresponding video game level if I ever finish it.

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2012/01/24/contratanz/feed/ 2 I Feel The Same http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/12/i-feel-the-same/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/12/i-feel-the-same/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 05:21:29 +0000 billjings http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2264 I Feel The Same

Apparently I recorded this last September sometime. Not sure why I didn’t post it. Sounds pretty lush to me, for one guitar part…..

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/12/i-feel-the-same/feed/ 1 Killing ‘em Straight http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/11/killing-em-straight/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/11/killing-em-straight/#comments Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:59:33 +0000 Mike http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2259 So the other day I watched a movie innit? And I was inspired to write a song that emulated the soundtrack of that movie innit?
Bollocks. I’ve gone chav instead of Souf London. I hope you enjoy this. Believe it.

MW – Killing ‘em Straight

Yours in Anglophilia,
Mike

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/11/killing-em-straight/feed/ 0 High Flyer (feat deValmont) http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/04/high-flyer/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/04/high-flyer/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:03:03 +0000 erf http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2243 Today an individual this site knows as deValmont came over and our conversational thread went like this:

I started talking about aircraft which convert into cars that can be driven on standard roads. I was thinking specifically about this one:

SKYCAR

We then talked about the tolerances of aircraft, and how a mechanical failure in one is generally catastrophic. We imagined such a car with only one parachute, and the father of a family taking it, with his reasoning being “you can always have more kids”.

We then followed this thread to its logical conclusion in song. Morally, it was not our proudest moment, but if you enjoy dark humor, bon appetit.

download

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/09/04/high-flyer/feed/ 5 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/08/29/the-phantom-of-the-opera/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/08/29/the-phantom-of-the-opera/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:14:03 +0000 Mike http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2236 Mike: erf came to visit. We recorded this. There’s something much “better” in the pipe.
erf: I wouldn’t say that it is necessarily “better”. I mean, this is a subjective measure, isn’t it?
Mike: …
erf: Fine. We did this very quickly, wanting to record a second thing before the conclusion of our first in-person collaboration, which spanned the course of two days. Do you remember how we stumbled upon this song in the first place?
Mike: You were playing the organ patch on my Roland EP-5 and you happened to do a chromatic walk down just like in this song. Then we found a midi version of the song here.
erf: Yes! The Angelfire site. That really takes me back. I decided we should download this midi and record an “interesting” vocal cover. I think everyone should do this with a midi file from this site. Somewhere along the way the straight cover was abandoned in favor of…
Mike: … PHANTOM DANCE PARTY OF THE OPERA – IS INNNNNNNNNN YOUR MIIIIIINNNND

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/08/29/the-phantom-of-the-opera/feed/ 4 Robot World http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/25/robot-world/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/25/robot-world/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:23:45 +0000 Kelly G http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2230 Like a world of robots or something. I thought it would be neat if there was a game like, say, Chrono Trigger, but everybody’s a robot. If I ever make a game like that it would sound like this.

Fl studio has a few project templates. There’s one called “Rock” that has a nice drumkit included, so I went with that. I also used Tweakbench’s Peach for lo-fi sounds. I was lazy and let the built-in compressor/limiter mix the track for me.

robotworld1

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/25/robot-world/feed/ 3 Scooby Doo Funk / Goosebumps Dub http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/14/scooby-doo-funk-goosebumps-dub/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/14/scooby-doo-funk-goosebumps-dub/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:44:32 +0000 Felix http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2225 Either Katy Perry or Twista could murk this…

Bromington

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/14/scooby-doo-funk-goosebumps-dub/feed/ 0 Amen, Brother Wilhelm http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/01/amen-brother-wilhelm/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/01/amen-brother-wilhelm/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:39:35 +0000 Mike http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2219 A friend of mine said they were going to make a song incorporating the Amen Break and the Wilhelm scream, but I thought they were just joking. I decided to up the ante.

Amen, Brother Wilhelm

]]> http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/07/01/amen-brother-wilhelm/feed/ 1 5 Minute Beats 22, 23, 24 http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/05/06/5-minute-beats-22-23-24/ http://www.hellagems.com/blog/2011/05/06/5-minute-beats-22-23-24/#comments Sat, 07 May 2011 00:11:25 +0000 Mike http://www.hellagems.com/blog/?p=2212 More beats.

5 minute beat 22

5 minute beat 23

5 minute beat 24

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