A collection of cues from various film, videogame, and other projects I've worked on, past and present.  Think of this as an audio portfolio of sorts, an aural demo reel, if you will.

Scoring/Soundtrack Demos

In late 2020, I was hired to score a vertical slice for a Silver Age-inspired superhero game that leaned hard into the comic-book aesthetic, blending comic pages with turn based battles and deck-building gameplay. I built a progression-based interactive music system for battles that would advance in intensity as the fight escalated, finally climaxing in victory or defeat.  You'll hear the main theme for the game, and then a a boss battle track for a fight against an electrically-powered supervillain.  The fight is broken up into three stages that, in FMod, would be triggered to advance at key moments, and then finally we get two possible ending outcomes for the battle. 
Which will it be? Triumph or failure?

(Placeholder art from Irrational's fantastic Freedom Force)

C&C - Welcome to Cape City

The official soundtrack for the 2021 Devolver MaxPass+ Showcase: Monetization as a Service is now available!
http://hyperurl.co/DDCUMaaS

8 tracks of cinematic nonsense by yours truly and the stunning ode to 90's sitcoms, "Daydream", by Stemage, feat. The Arkadian as a capstone to the experience!

Check a look at the full showcase here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=viojUZ4gS5w

Special thanks to Imagos Films for making this absurd flight of genius possible.
www.imagosfilms.com

Devolver Digital® Cinematic Universe: Monetization as a Soundtrack? - 3 - Welcome To The Future

Music from the E3 demo for the cancelled "Star Wars: 1313", recorded at Abbey Road with the London Symphony Orchestra

The Container Fight/Into The Portal

Love Like You (Aivi/Sura/Sugar cover)

Featuring the wonderful @mklachu on violin

Fossil Echo is the culmination of more than two years of work, and I’m incredibly pleased to finally be able to share it with you. The game tells the story of a young boy climbing a mysterious tower that rises from the middle of the sea. How he got there, why he’s on this quest, and what he’ll find at the top are all things you’ll have to discover for yourself as you make your ascent.

With its beautiful hand-drawn and animated art style and incredible environments, Fossil Echo immediately captured my imagination, and was an absolute joy to score, and giving a voice to the strange and wonderful world created by artist and designer Philippe Crifo was a genuine pleasure.

Depicting a world equal parts haunting, beautiful, and dangerous, with flashes of real beauty around every corner is every composer’s dream, and I hope you enjoy listening Fossil Echo as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Fossil Echo releases on July 1st, 2016 and on Steam on July 8th, 2016.
DRM-free and Steam versions are available at www.fossilecho.com

Buy Full Soundtrack

Fossil Echo Soundtrack - Main Theme

This is an arrangement I did for the Materia Collective release, Song Cycle: The History of Video Games.  The album features various singers, pianists, arrangers, and lyricists from Materia Collective bringing together some of game music's most influential tracks.

For this one, I tried to capture the additive feeling of minimalist composers (particularly John Adams), relying on short, repetitive phrases to insert chaos into the very orderly and bouncy Chocobo track, a piece that has been arranged dozens of times and that has appeared in at least 20 different games.  Darby Cupit wrote some incredible lyrics that reflect the stuttery nature of the piece while providing insight into the history of the Chocobo.  Doug Perry and Ben Wallace did a fantastic job of bringing the piece to life on the recording as baritone and pianist respectively.  I'm very proud to present this arrangement to everyone!

Ian Martyn - Arrangement
Darby Cupit - Lyrics
Doug Perry - Baritone Soloist
Ben Wallace - Piano

Song Cycle: The History of Video Games

Lyric de Chocobo (from "Final Fantasy")

From the Materia Collective "SONG CYCLE: The History of Video Games"  here is our vocal and piano rendition of "Cohen's Masterpiece" from the video game "Bioshock"
https://www.materiacollective.com/music/song-cycle-the-history-of-video-games

vocals John Robert Matz
piano arrangement and performance Joel Everett
lyrics and melody Bonnie Bogovich
based on original music by Garry Schyman

SONG CYCLE: Cohen's Masterpiece (from "BioShock")

Have your mind blown by the fantastic original song of 'I Expect You To Die,' a VR escape-the-room puzzle game where you are a super spy.

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N10WWV8

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Schell_Games_I_Expect_You_to_Die?id=By7ieduwer6wzx7suyrcu35yywm

iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-expect-you-to-die-single/id1195181982?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Spotify
https://play.spotify.com/album/0s7eoBfsWDNsFLnPJ40t5F?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open


Composers: Tim Rosko, Bonnie Bogovich, & Connor Fallon
Lyrics: Connor Fallon & Jared Mason
Lead Singer: Bonnie Bogovich
The Yinzer Singers (choir): Emily Swora, Anna Ciaccio, George Milosh, Tim Rosko
Violin: Garrett Overcash
Trumpet: John Robert Matz
Percussion: Doug Perry
Orchestration: Tim Rosko
Recording, Mixing, & Mastering: Jesse Naus & Red Caiman Media, Pittsburgh, PA

I Expect You To Die Original Song Dec 2016

Agnus Dei

Once upon a time, the bird-like singers lived peacefully in a forest glade.

Then, evil struck. An egg was stolen!!!

The birds bemoaned the loss of one so young.

And then they plotted revenge.

Roles:
Eastern Towhee (sung by Laura Intravia)
Cardinal (sung by Elizabeth Zharoff)
Crow (sung by Annie Rosen)
Rooster (sung by John Robert Matz)
Mourning Dove (sung by Doug Perry)
Peep-ano (played by Elizabeth Zharoff)

Arranged by Elizabeth Zharoff, based on the original theme song by Ari Pulkkinen.

Special thanks to Chris Vaughn, for production and mastering. 

Also thanks to Thomas Kresge, our notation guru, and Sebastian Wolff, the madman who started it all.

Livid Singers (from "Angry Birds")

From the Materia Collective "SONG CYCLE: The History of Video Games" here is our vocal and piano rendition of "Grasswalk" from the video game "Plants Versus Zombies"
https://www.materiacollective.com/music/song-cycle-the-history-of-video-games

vocals Doug Perry
piano arrangement by Sebastian Wolff
piano performance Ben Wallace
lyrics and melody Bonnie Bogovich
based on original music by Laura Shigihara

SONG CYCLE - What A Deal On This Plot! (Plants Vs Zombies)

From the Materia Collective "SONG CYCLE: The History of Video Games" here is our vocal and piano rendition of "Home" from the video game "Fez"
https://www.materiacollective.com/music/song-cycle-the-history-of-video-games

vocals Laura Intravia
piano arrangement and performance Joel Everett
lyrics Bonnie Bogovich
based on original music by Disasterpiece

SONG CYCLE - Home (from "FEZ")

A smattering of music from different projects, from fantasy to westerns, from sci-fi to jazz, all curated to take you on a musical journey.  
Perhaps you'll hear something you like?
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
www.johnrobertmatz.com
JRNMatz (at) Gmail.com

Game/Film Composing Demo Reel - Mk1

baby's first string quartet :o

Performed by Vida Strings. They knocked it out of the park and into a different park!

Violin I: Lindi Wang
Violin II: Erika Atchley
Viola: Jacobus Hermsen
Cello: Joyu Lee

The Last Green Place

Master Test Mix 1
Mastering by Robby Duguay
Guitar on Track 21 Robby Duguay

Mythgard - 01 - Main Theme

Another cue from the upcoming visual novel/choose your own guillotine adventure/dating sim set on the eve of the French Revolution,  "Ambition: A Minuet in Power"! 
This Giga is from the suite of music associated with the Church faction, hence "Suite Vaticana".  I took a decidedly Baroque approach for this suite, channeling a bit of the fire of Vivaldi through our two soloists, Michaela Nachtigall (Violin) and Andrew Dunn (Cello) and basing the core of the movement around the idea of a theme and variations spread across the trio. (I played the Harpsichord part myself.)


For more information about Ambition: A Minuet in Power, please check out www.ambition-game.com

Ambition: A Minuet In Power - Suite Vaticana - ii. Giga

Chicago-area based composer (for film, videogames, and concert hall), music educator, and voice actor.  I write epic, intimate, emotional, memorable scores for orchestra, band, piano, electronics, and percussion.  Check out my website at www.johnrobertmatz.com, if you like my music, check out my albums for sale at johnrobertmatz.bandcamp.com, and please comment on my stuff!  Inquiries can be directed to JRNMatz (at) Gmail.com

C&C - Welcome to Cape City

John Robert Matz

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