Over a year ago, I posted a ~1 minute track called Big Ideas. Since then, I've found time here and there to go back and expand upon it, and now, I'm excited to finally present a finished version of the song!

This is something different for me - an electronic rock track with a dirty, in-your-face bass. Hope you enjoy!

Download @ Bandcamp!

Big Ideas

This is a loose reworking of some songs from Hebereke / Ufouria, a cute NES platformer made by Sunsoft. It's supposed to evoke kind of a floaty feeling of being above the clouds, and simple as it may be, I think it accomplishes that nicely.

This was posted on OC Remix on 2/11/12. It was a huge accomplishment for me, as getting onto OCR has been a goal of mine since I started becoming more involved there a couple years back. For more info (and for awesome remixes from other games), check out the song's page on OCR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpsgdOUQEnA (posting a Youtube link cause OCR linking doesn't seem to work here for some reason)

Full Album @ Bandcamp!

Above the Clouds (Ufouria OC Remix)

Here's an aggressive synth-driven track that makes me think of Jazz Jackrabbit, a PC game I used to play ALL the time, in part thanks to Alexander Brandon's amazing tracker score. I don't think it's the song as much as it is the lead synth sound that makes me think of JJ. 

Jazz Jackrabbit

Here's a high energy song I wrote for an imaginary space shooter while I was at college back in 2010. It's got a real oldschool synth feel to it, and is one of my personal favorites. I originally composed it in FL Studio, but recently revamped it in Pro Tools, hence the 2012. 

The second loop is an experiment of sorts taking the same song but using (fake) electric guitars.

Space Shooter 2012

This is the first song I made playing around with Evolve Mutations 2 (a Kontakt library made by Native Instruments and meant for "cinematic sound design") back in August 2011. Everything you hear comes from Evolve. 

Mutations

This is a remix of the famous "Gerudo Valley" song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I worked on it from time to time between August 2010 and February 2012, with the intention of submitting it to OCRemix. Unfortunately didn't quite get it up to the level where it was ready to be submitted, but I still think it's pretty cool. I might revisit it some day in the future.

Sax was played by Xenon Odyssey from OCR; guitars were done by Aster from OCR

Gerudo Valley remix (Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

A remake of the famous E1M1 level music from the original Doom, composed by Bobby Prince. This started off as just me messing with Shreddage X and Shreddage Bass (awesome guitar libraries), and I ended up remaking the entire song and adding a little atmospheric intro.

Phobos (Doom E1M1 remake with Shreddage X)

Erik Satié's famous Gymnopédie No. 1 is one of my favorite pieces of all time. It's a fairly simple piano song, yet it's heartbreakingly beautiful - the kind of thing I could listen to endlessly on repeat. I recently got a <a href="http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-labs-intro">lovely new piano sound</a>, and one of the first things I did was mess around with Gymnopédie's opening chords. After playing around for awhile, I came up with this song.

Note: This is the wet (with reverb) version. I also have a dry version with a more vulnerable, intimate sound that I might upload later. It was hard for me to decide which one to put up, as I'm still not sure which one I prefer.

Also note: I'm not a pianist, so go easy on me. :p

Creative commons photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/21749115@N00/141286730/

EDIT: The piano sound I'm using is "Felt Piano" by Spitfire. It's available for a mere ~$3 donation at their site <a href="http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-labs-intro">here</a>.

Josh Freund - Gymnopédie (Wet)

Erik Satié's famous Gymnopédie No. 1 is one of my favorite pieces of all time. It's a fairly simple piano song, yet it's heartbreakingly beautiful - the kind of thing I could listen to endlessly on repeat. I recently got a <a href="http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-labs-intro">lovely new piano sound</a>, and one of the first things I did was mess around with Gymnopédie's opening chords. After playing around for awhile, I came up with this song.

Note: This is the dry version (no reverb). I also uploaded a wet version that has a small amount of reverb applied. I like both, but one thing I love about this version is how close and intimate it feels.

Also note: I'm not a pianist, so go easy on me. :p

Creative commons photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/21749115@N00/141286730/

EDIT: The piano sound I'm using is "Felt Piano" by Spitfire. It's available for a mere ~$3 donation at their site <a href="http://www.spitfireaudio.com/spitfire-labs-intro">here</a>.

Josh Freund - Gymnopédie (Dry)

Flaked on the previous challenges, so was determined to compose something today for the first time in... over a year? (Yikes.) Desktop died recently, but I figured I'd download Pro Tools and a few plugins to my laptop and just use that. 2 hours of iLok headaches, audio driver issues, unrecognized midi keyboards, etc. later, I ended up having to settle for recording an idea live to Audacity using the piano library I already had installed. No way I was gonna go to bed before getting *something* down, though.

(Just pretend this has funky bass, drums, & synths to go with it.)

#21DaysofVGM #noexcuses

Day 1 - Getting Started (#21DaysofVGM)

After yesterday's Pro Tools headache, I decided to download Reaper (*so much* to learn) and mess with a few small-footprint Kontakt Factory Selection retro instruments while everything else was installing. The result: a decidedly cheesy, funky... something. Admittedly kind of a throwaway track, but hey, it's the whole "doing this every day" thing that's important.

Day 2 - Funky Cheese (#21DaysofVGM)

Had fun messing with Native Instruments' Una Corda piano tonight. This thing sounds *great*, and boy, there are a lot of different tones and effects to work with. Looking forward to checking it out further in the near future.

Day 3 - Una Corda (#21DaysofVGM)

Finally got back to the 21-day challenge last night with a synthy electronic thing. Will definitely want to revisit this one and turn it into a full song.

Day 8 - Station Zeta (#21DaysofVGM)

Title screen background music for a loot RPG like Dungeon Siege or Diablo. 

Composed this while testing out a solo cello.

Creative commons photo taken from: http://www.thetelonproject.com/dungeons

Weary Travelers (title screen for Dungeon Siege-like RPG)

Finally found time for this again. Simple atmospheric piece today.

Day 17 - Caves (#21DaysofVGM)

Results of playing around with a synthetic choir patch today. Definitely want to revisit this with an authentic choir and strings after the challenge is over.

Day 20 - Digital Ghost (#21DaysofVGM)

Title track and main background music for Howmonica, an indie gravity-flipping / block-painting puzzle platformer made by Spydog. Probably my most gamey-sounding song so far (beside Space Shooter 2012); really happy about how it turned out! It was nice to take a break from the darker / minor piano stuff and try something more happy and energetic.

Check out the Bandcamp OST page to download this song for free, along with a sweet tune made by Skullbeatz:

http://drakken.bandcamp.com/album/howmonica-ost

And play the game for free here!

http://gamejolt.com/games/platformer/howmonica/11085/

Free Bandcamp OST!

Howmonica

A work in progress remix of the water levels from Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land, for the original Game Boy. I made this back in December 2011. Gotta revisit and finish it sometime this year.

Wario Land (Game Boy) - Water Stage remix (2011 WIP)

Hi! I'm a composer and an avid fan of video game and film music. Here you'll find some of my original works.

If you like what you hear and are interested in having me create custom music for your project, please don't hesitate to send me a message! Alternatively, you can reach me via email at jfreund1@gmail.com. I'm also open to licensing individual tracks if there's one you feel would fit your game/movie/media project.

And please, do check out the track descriptions! I try to include relevant info on each track's inspiration/backstory there, which can potentially enhance your appreciation of the songs.

Enjoy!

-Josh

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