The Exoplanets Suite

This is a soundtrack album made up of seven tracks from my original re-score of the excellent short film "The Oceanmaker." It was my entry for the 2017 Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest.

You can see the film with my re-score at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oirExMbl4E

You can also watch the film with its original score by Chris Reyman at: http://www.mightycoconut.com/the-oceanmaker

And you can learn more about the Marvin Hamlisch Film Contest at: https://cine.org/hamlischcontest/

The Oceanmaker OST Rescore

This playlist contains some of my favourite compositions from the past few years.

Orchestral Favourites

These tracks are part of my score for the 2018 Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest. The film we were asked to score was a lovely documentary called "The Time Machine," which was about a watchmaker in Grand Central Station.

The Time Machine

This is a collection of my tracks that use varying degrees of electronic music alongside more traditional instrumentation.

Electro-Acoustic Tracks

This track is a bit of a nod to the syntho-accented orchestral soundtracks of the 1980s. As the title suggests, it tries to (briefly) tell the musical story of a hero emerging - a life disrupted by the arrival of a threat, and a decision to rise to the occasion to fight it.

A Hero Emerges

This fanfare-style composition is a celebration of the process of discovery, which is often a struggle and sometimes comes at great personal cost. So for all you artists, scholars, scientists and technologists out there, this one is for you!

On The Field Of Discovery Lies Battle

This track is inspired by the sounds of the Hollywood western film. The title pretty much says it all!

Got Muh Horse, Hittin' the Ol' Western Trail

This is a very brassy march, complemented with woodwinds but with almost no strings at all. It is almost entirely made with Cinesamples' CineBrass and HollywoodWinds.

March of the Desert Bloom

This track was made with the mission of using some polyrhythmic constructions. It ended up sounding kind of like an experimental take on a gentle habanera... hence its title!

Pastoral Habanera

This track is an orchestral lament to observe the tragedy of the Great War (i.e. The First World War). It particularly features solo trumpet and alto flute, along with an organ and a string section.

Lament for the Great War

Made with 8dio Adagietto, Adagio Violas, Claire Alto Flute and Claire Clarinet.

This is an orchestral piece that is meant to evoke the feeling of an imaginary approach to Europa, one of the moons of the planet Jupiter. Aside from the 8dio libraries, it also uses a harp, a bit of brass and some ensemble woodwinds from Cinesamples, and some percussion from the Kontakt 5 factory library.

8Dio 2014 Stand Out Contest Submission: “Floating to Europa” by David Stiles

The title says it all! This track is all about leaving the solar system and venturing out into the much larger spaces beyond. Sample-wise, the track heavily features 8Dio strings and solo woodwinds, the Embertone trumpet, and Sonokinetic's outstanding Vivace orchestral textures and FX.

Welcome to Interstellar Space

I was trying to imagine what might happen if you combined a ballet class with a body pump class. The soundtrack might sound something like this!

Electro-Orchestral Ballet Pump Class

This is a really straightforward "conversation" about love, the first part of a three part song cycle. It's written to be the most sweetly naive of the three parts, so it's in C major. :)

It features the Soundiron Montclarion Hall Grand Piano, and 8Dio Adagio Violas (the solo viola) and 8Dio Claire Alto Flute.

A First Short Conversation About Love

The second entry in a three-song cycle of conversations about love. It features Soundiron's Montclarion Hall Grand Piano, with8Dio's Claire Bassoon, Claire Alto Flute, and Adagio Violas.

A Second Short Conversation About Love

This track tells the heroic story of how an Albatross learns to fly, braving the dangers posed by the Tiger Sharks that patrol the nearby waters in hopes of getting a tasty albatross meal. It is split into four main parts:

I - Thinking about flight
II - The first takeoff
III - Invasion of the tiger sharks
IV - Escape into the clouds

Credit for the albatross sounds at the beginning:
"An afternoon with the Buller's Albatross," uploaded to Freesound.org under a non-commercial Creative Commons license by stormpetrel on 3 March 2013.


First Flight of the Albatross(a.k.a. Albatross v Tiger Shark)

This track is actually ten short pieces of music, all within less than three minutes. Collectively, they tell us the story of ten important moments in the life of Alex K. Riseborough. What was her life like? That's for you to decide!

Ten Discrete Moments In The Life Of Alex K. Riseborough

A short track that tries to be a little bit fun and a little bit pretty. What music would you dance to on an alien moon?

Dancing on an Alien Moon

This is a short piece that is meant to evoke the sense of a journey, scored for an alto flute, piano and a wind/string orchestra. Most of the instruments are from 8Dio and Cinesamples, but the piano is The Giant from Native Instruments.

The Long Way Home (A Journey For Alto Flute, Piano And Orchestra)

This is my entry for the 2015 8Dio Standout Contest.

I used the following 8Dio instrument libraries in my track:
Adagietto
Adagio Violas
Claire Alto Flute
Bazantar

8Dio 2015 Stand Out Contest Submission: "Adagio On An Awakening" by David Stiles

This orchestral piece is designed to give you a sense of the feeling of traveling through the desert at night. Some of it is just moving forward, appreciating the beauty around you, but there's also some moments of excitement and threat!

Desert Crossing at Night

This track began with me messing around with the voice titled "Alone in the Dark" from the Vocalise pack for Heavyocity's Gravity engine. Then it turned into a piece mostly composed for piano and a string ensemble, with several extended cello solos. And it was too happy to be alone in the dark... hence the title.

Together In The Dark

This track is my attempt to write something that might be at home in the Baroque era. It's a simple trio for Harpsichord, Cello and Violin, split into two short movements. All virtual instrumentation is from Spitfire Audio.

Intriguing Flirtations at the Court of Louis XIV

Here's a track that celebrates the old-school experience of going to the drive in. Grab your popcorn and your date and get ready for the show to begin!

Chillin' at the Stardust Drive-In

This track took its initial inspiration from the kind of music that was used in the Half-Life games... and then turned into something a bit more orchestral, but still a little odd.

Red Alert (Should Someone Summon A Hero?)

Just a quick and dirty action-oriented track. It is made mostly with the Scarbee bass from Komplete 10, with Rammfire running on Guitar Rig 5. String support from Action Strings, Drums by Maschine, and just a touch of synth support from Massive.

Chased By A Bassist

This is a pretty straightforward cinematic fanfare sort of piece. It makes extensive use of 8Dio's Adagietto strings and Cinesamples Cinebrass Core.

The Adventure Begins (A Cinematic Fanfare)

This track is part of a larger suite of space-inspired music that I'm working on right now. It invites the listener to experience the feelings that human explorers might someday have upon approaching a new alien world.

The sound libraries used are made by 8Dio, Cinesamples, Impact Soundworks, Soundiron, and Sonokinetic.

Photo credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Orbital Approach

This track is the second part of a suite of music I'm working on (the first was my track "Orbital Approach"). It asks the listener to place themselves among the whimsical, playful games being carried out in the hypothetical royal gardens of the exoplanet Kepler 452b (an actual planet, although we know little about it).

Playful Games In The Royal Gardens Of Kepler 452b

This track is the third part of my Exoplanets suite. It asks you to transport yourself to the real exoplanet called Gliese 667Cc, which is thought to potentially be a dry, desert-like planet. 

Photo credit: ESO/L. Calcada

Deserts Of Gliese 667Cc

This is the fourth part of my Exoplanet Suite project. It asks you to imagine that humanity has arrived on an inhabited alien planet, and our intrepid explorers are entering an alien metropolis for the first time. 

It is mainly an orchestral piece, but it also has an important place for some electronic sounds, which come from Native Instruments' Reaktor.

Into The Alien City

This is my entry for the 2016 8Dio Standout Contest. It's a track that I composed as something of a gentle ode to the earth, our only home. It highlights both 8Dio's string libraries and their lovely Claire Alto Flute and Claire Piccolo.

I used the following 8Dio instruments:
- Agitato Sordino Strings
- Adagietto Strings
- Adagio Violas
- Bazantar
- Claire Alto Flute
- Claire Piccolo

8Dio 2016 Stand Out Contest Submission: “Pale Blue Dot” by David Stiles

This is the fifth part of my exoplanets project. It imagines that you've arrived on the planet of Tau Ceti e, where you encounter an amazing alien swarm intelligence that glows all around you as you make your way through their caves.

The Swarm Intelligence Of Tau Ceti e

This track is part of the soundtrack for a video game currently under development. It is one of the central themes for that score.

Cogito's Theme

This track is an avant-garde, choral/orchestral take on a rain dance.

Rain Dance

This is an orchestral, cinematic-style track that is meant to be a bit exciting before winding toward an upbeat resolution.

The Wings Of Victory

The Oceanmaker Rescore 7. End Credits

The Oceanmaker Rescore 5. A Brave Decision

The Oceanmaker Rescore 4. The Fall

The Oceanmaker Rescore 3. The Big Bad

The Oceanmaker Rescore 2. A New Heroine

The Oceanmaker Rescore 1. A Depleted World

This is a track I did as my entry for Serj Tankian's Seven Notes Music Challenge. The task was to take seven notes that were written by Serj, and make them into the first seven notes of a new piece of music. This is what I came up with. It's a neo-romantic orchestral piece that heavily features both the piano and several woodwind soloists. Enjoy!

UPDATE: I'm happy to be able to say that the track was selected as one of the top 100 entries for the contest!

Adventure On A Seven Note Theme

This is my contribution to Junkie XL's latest #NowScoreThis event. We were invited to write a theme for any version of Lara Croft we wanted, and I selected the most realistic video game version of Lara - the one from the most recent couple of games.

Tomb Raider - Lara's Theme (#NowScoreThis)

This is the audio portion of a short adventure-themed video I produced. If you want to see the video, you can find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW1-sYBdf5A&t=16s

The Human Adventure

This was part of my score for the 2018 Marvin Hamlisch Film Contest. Specifically, the brief end credits to an excellent short film called "The Time Machine." It combines classical orchestral instrumentation with clock sounds that I've produced in a slightly glitch-like fashion.

This is another of the tracks from my entry for the 2018 Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest. The film we were assigned to re-score was a documentary about a watchmaker in Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

From Time To The Heavens

This is just a straightforward orchestral track for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

That Holiday Spirit

This is a track that I wrote to go with a nature-themed music video I put together from royalty-free clips.

You can see the video at: https://vimeo.com/322111594

Of Nature Delicate and Sublime

This is my entry for the 8Dio "Constellations" contest. It was written as the score for a video provided by 8Dio.

To see the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAo96NttRtg

The Transcendent Scope

An experimental foray into "orchestral chiptune" that I did for KVR's music cafe contest.

Microconcerto for Gameboy and Orchestra

This is a happy little track that is designed to remind us that life isn't all bad!

On The Beauty Of The Moment

Just a pure, 8-bit chiptune piece made with classic 1980s sounds from the old Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo Game Boy.

The Adventures of Captain NES and his Sidekick Game Boy

This track was part of the soundtrack re-score I composed for the 2018 edition of the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest. The short film in question was called "The Time Machine" (dir: Mark Kendall).

A Sprightly Morning At Grand Central Station

This is another piece from the score I entered in the 2018 Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest.

The Watchmaker

I wrote this track mostly to get used to using Cinestrings, which is a new-to-me sound library. It's just a basic action-adventure oriented track.

Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

David Stiles writes orchestral and electroacoustic music in a variety of styles.

If you would like to license one of my tracks for use in your production or have me write some music specifically for you, please message me here on Soundcloud or find me on my Facebook music page (see link below).

davidstiles

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