Just a few more months left before the world ends, and I’ve been making the most of it. Since November I’ve been working with the hit producer and DJ Zedd, and now American Idol has taken over.
Fortunately I’ve found some time to write a new electronic/video game inspired track, which I’ll be finishing up in the next weeks. Stay tuned.
J
Welcome,
I’m happy to finally announce the long-overdue launch of Rock Ninja Records. I’ll be posting a wide range of musical projects, from my own compositions to songs I produced, tracked, or mixed.
Debuting with the site are three new tracks: The eponymous Rock Ninja Records, produced entirely from my speaking voice, a mashup of The Beatles, Air, and Radiohead, and last but not least, God Machine, an ambitious remix/arrangement of the music from the hit PC game, Deus Ex.
Download and enjoy. There will be more updates very soon.
J
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This track was made over two days as an exercise in sound design. I recorded myself saying the words “Rock Ninja Records,” then used a variety of DSP tools such as Soundhack, Peak, Cecilia, and Kontakt to rip, stretch, warp and cut my voice beyond all recognition.
Every sound in this song is derived from the vocal clip in the beginning.
J
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Deus Ex was a landmark first-person-shooter. Its ground-breaking incorporation of RPG elements, sprawling open-ended environments and epic storytelling made Deus Ex a truly enduring and immersive release. It came out in 2000, but it is still one of my two favorite games of all time.
I don’t play video games very much these days, but I keep coming back to this particular soundtrack. Composed by the incredibly talented Alexander Brandon, the music in Deus Ex struck me from the very first time I played as one of the most immersive and memorable video game scores in recent memory, and now years later, I still listen to it regularly. For years I’ve wanted to make my own arrangement of some of my favorite themes from the game.
This song was two years in the making, and I’m incredibly excited to finally be finished. I can’t remember all the different incarnations this remix has had, but I’m finally satisfied with the finished product.
I hope you enjoy it.
J
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Another quick, fun little project. This strangely but appropriately named mashup includes the following songs:
- The Beatles – Happiness Is A Warm Gun
- Air – Playground Love
- Radiohead – Paranoid Android
- Air – Sex Born Poison
- The Beatles – Dear Prudence
See? The title makes perfect sense. Enjoy.
J
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I wrote and recorded this song over a weekend in the summer of 2006. It’s a really simple little thing, but I still like it.
-J
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1994 was an excellent year for video games. Donkey Kong Country was a great game with an amazing soundtrack. In 2004 I made this arrangement of the underwater theme Aquatic Ambience, written by David Wise, perhaps one of the most memorable video game themes ever.
My remix, Beneath The Surface was featured on the Donkey Kong Country remix album, Kong In Concert which was released that year. That album is still available free of charge. While I unfortunately no longer have the Beneath The Surface session files, I recently revisited the 2-track master and smoothed out some of the ickiness that was a result of my lack of mixing experience way back in 2004.
While still imperfect, this remastered version sounds much better than the original album version.
J
