You can view the entire live action short here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rMctwe6sms

M E T R O I D | A T T A C K | O F | R I D L E Y

Here's the finalized version of the score "The Assassination of Henry William McCarty". This piece I decided to focus on the 1928 Steinway Legacy piano sound. I had been listening to a lot of Thomas Newman's work so everything from "The Road to Perdition" to "Cinderella Man" to even soundtracks like "A Beautiful Mind" by James Horner and "The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. Actually it was "The Assassination of Jesse James" that inspired me to write the music with that subtle tone and it was Thomas Newman's styling that helped develop this score. 

Anyway, as the title also entails, this is my submission for the 8Dio contest where you highlight one instrument of theirs in your score. So as I mentioned I picked the 1928 Steinway Legacy scoring piano for my main instrument. I wish I had the Adagio Strings because I know that would have enhanced my score WAY more but alas I'll have to work with my EWQL strings until then. 

Anyway, enjoy the piece and I'll have my other "A Farewell to the Infamous William Henry McCarty" piece finished soon. Share, Comment, Like.

F I R S T | E D I T I O N S - The Assassination of William Henry McCarty by J Scott Rakozy

S K Y L I N E | C H A S E

This piece was written in a single night. I was listening to some Jonsi and decided to just sit down and write something out. I haven't been able to do that with school and work eating up my schedule so I went and created this piece. I wanted to keep it simple, upbeat, and short. So there are a few instruments that I incorporated into this piece I haven't done in the past. First instrument is the kick drum from my new EZ Drummer Indie Folk kit from ToonTracks. It's a Ludwig kick drum so it has an incredibly tight feel to it along with the tom that accompanies it. On top of that I also brought in a Dulcimer to bring another tone of a plucked instrument even though a dulcimer uses mallets. The piano is from 8dio called the 1928 Legacy Steinway Scoring Piano. Seriously, if you want a beautiful scoring sound from a piano, definitely grab the 1928 Legacy. Anyway, as for the influence, Jonsi's "Go Do" soundtrack just features an incredible collection of some of the most powerful music out there, namely his orchestration with woodwind instruments, hence the flutes in my piece. Enough talk, go and enjoy!

H O M E

If you wish to license any of these tracks (except The Heart of a Champion), please contact Timo Spekkens at timo@soundadventures.tv

To license 'The Heart of a Champion', contact Amphibious Zoo.

The Heart Of A Champion

Here's a piece I did back in October for a client down in New Zealand for a six and a half minute time lapse sequence. The imagery itself is unbelievably beautiful! Anyway, so I had a blast writing the music for it where I used some programs I hadn't used in a long time, namely the Heavyocity AEON collection. In addition to that I also used Heavyocity's DAMAGE and Evolve Mutation 1 & 2 and EVOLVE as well. 

The project took some time because when writing to a time lapse sequence as long as that, you gotta figure out where you wanna place hits and you gotta have music that's captivating enough to hold the listeners through the entire video. It reminded me of when I wrote Time Lapse for a client out in Atlanta for their 8 minute video that took me a weekend to write up...it was tough, but so worth it. Same applies to this project! It took me a while to figure out what genre I wanted to go with and then within 3 days I wrote out the entire thing. Anyway, enjoy!

EDIT - also wanted to give credit to my brother, Greg, with the photo that I used for the cover.

H Y P E R D R I V E

So I decided to test out some other waters and try my hand at doing electronica ambient work. The Music Bed offers an incredible library of talented musicians that I would listen to for days and days and decided to try it out and see what I could produce. Well, here you go! Enjoy!

L O N G | L I V E

Ezio's Return

02 Discussion

11 Imposters

08 Sneaking Up

03 Yellow Has Been Chosen

04 Dissection Waltz

05 Peer Pressure

01 Welcoming to Class

03 Fairytale Story

06 The Magical Kiss

02 The Frog

This piece was originally conceived after listening to one of the Dew Tour's PUSH videos that follow the lives of these skateboarders. I forgot which one it was but there was a piece in it that strongly resonated with me so I decided to go to town on a new song. Surprisingly, the original score found in the video was more light hearted and atmospheric and more synth-pad based which somehow made me take my score to a more darker turn. 

I do have some friends that are looking at the piece to possibly fill in some guitar parts but I couldn't help but share this piece with you guys! With or without the new additions, this is pretty much what I had envisioned from the get-go. 

Using 8dio's libraries up the wazoo on this piece: Rhythmic Aura 1 and 2, 1928 Steinway Legacy, Claire Flute. Also Using my new EWQL Hollywood Strings library with spicc. violins, violas, cellos, and basses while utilizing EWQL Symphonic Gold for the sustain strings like the harmonics. The clicking of clocks were found via youtube and then used the rhythmic mode of FLEX in Logic Pro X to sync them up. And the guitars and drums? All from Logic Pro X's own library. The drums had a LOT of work needed to be done on them to sound the way the do but it was the Brooklyn producer kit I used. Also in addition, I used Heavyocity's EVOLVE Mutation 1 and 2 along with DAMAGE to create the rhythmic bass line.

Anyway, ENJOY!

P   U   S   H

This track was written back at the beginning of the year but I never got around to finishing it. So I finally forced myself this morning to sit down and finish up the ending and upload it! Surprisingly it turned out a lot better than I had suspected and I'm absolutely in love with those EWQL Hollywood Brass instruments! Anyway, enjoy the trip!

E S C A P E | T I M E

So when I originally wrote this piece it was intended to be for an orchestration project for doing indie music but with each listen, even after I handed it in and all was done (or so I thought), I would just imagine going through life with my lovely wife. Intimate moments like watching the sunset on the patio of a cabin, enjoying a cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace, playing in the sand on the beach while the sun's rays lit up her face. Ya know those moments... Anyway, so I'm dedicating this song to my lovely wife and what she means to me. Belated Valentine's Day gift, haha!

F OR  |  H E R

So I recently had purchased Omnisphere 2 and decided to take a stab at it. I've only touched the surface of this incredibly boastful program but thus far I've been extremely pleased. So I loaded up a few patches and started composing. I originally started with the chord progression found in the piano which then triggered a series of memories from Captain Phillip, Interstellar, and other fragmented scores that I can't think of right now. And then it went from there. Anyway, enjoy it and leave a comment!

EDIT - I've updated the song since earlier today - added in guitar and drums and adjusted some other levels. Enjoy the new additions, folks!

W H E N |  L I G H T | R E I G N S

This piece was written for a project for a new social media app that revolves around offering encouragement, upliftment and other various ways to communicate happiness. The cinematography and directing was of utmost perfection thanks to Cameron Gade and Jared Fadel. On top of that, what really brought the piece together was Zach's amazing guitar skills - Simple yet sonically beautiful. Enjoy and it's available on my band camp page for purchase!

For Zach Sundwall - https://soundcloud.com/zsundwall

04/28/2016

S O U L (feat. Zachary Sundwall)

The idea behind this piece was to use unconventional methods in a conventional score. Sam Cardon had introduced us to Nate Pyfer who had done work for Kaskade, Neon Trees and Lindsey Stirling to name a few. Anyway, he showed us his tricks and tips on how he produced music and that led to us writing music in similar fashion. Thus, I present to you "Breaking Point" featuring me on the guitar, and everything else. Enjoy.

04/15/2016

B R E A K I N G | P O I N T

Another piece in the same vein as Breaking Point featuring lots of electronica and organic elements in a hybrid score.

Z E R O | H O U R

V I D E O G A M E S || Overwatch Legacy - Free Download

Demonstrating 8dio's Adagietto strings while utilizing Valhalla Shimmer.

THE LAST CRUSADE - 8dio Adagietto Strings Demo - FREE DOWNLOAD

A piece designed for uplifting and inspiring.

S E R E N I T Y

L A S T | S T A N D

So  recently posted up on my facebook the song from the Dead Island trailer. Anyway, so the original song by Giles Lamb is already beautiful enough, so I decided to take the chance to make it a lil' more uplifting and um.......I dunno what other word could describe it....just happier. Anyway, the trailer itself is beautiful. So this piece took me only last night and today. I wanted to stick to the original beginning but then afterwards take it into a J Scott Rakozy kind of direction. Thus it was super awesome and I knew this was exactly how I wanted the piece to go with the triumphant horns, the banging of the drums, the sense of being sent free, liberated and what not. So another influence with this piece was actually from Danny Elfman's work off "Real Steel" the very ending after the major box fight, so the use of the drums with orchestration was what made it into this piece. So using EWQL Symphonic Gold and Storm Drum 2 this is what you can create. The piano was the only thing from the Logic Pro library and also the guitar. So enjoy the piece, I'll get it up on facebook, on soundcloud and a video of it on youtube. So enjoy, comment and do whatever else!

Want all the latest details, check out the blog: http://theinsightfulcomposer.blogspot.com/

Want to check out more music: http://soundcloud.com/jscottrakozy

Want to see videos of projects in motion: http://www.youtube.com/user/jscottrakozy

V I D E O G A M E S || Dead Island

Original music for Blueshift Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nebulousgames/blueshift-the-game-of-galactic-conquest-for-2-6-pl

B L U E S H I F T - Free Download

T H E | F A T E S | A L I G N

Alrighty, so this piece was written for a client out in Atlanta, Georgia...hopefully their client likes it as well haha! But I wanted to shared this piece because it was truly a fun piece to write!!! Sure I had less than a weekend to write 8 minutes of music. I wrote up a quick 1:30 demo to them and the director liked it but hadn't heard back from their client as for a green light yet but said I should go on anyway. So Friday, Saturday Night (because of work eating up my entire day) and all day Sunday up until about 3 am and even this morning I was writing this piece....The toughest part about this piece was trying to keep the momentum going for 8 minutes long and still retain that feel and style

When I was first approached about the project, I saw the video and instantly thought of two composers - Hans Zimmer's "Time" and "One Simple Idea" from the Inception soundtrack and also Philip Glass' Metamorphosis album. So I went to town with a simple piano segment which then was introduced to the guitars with their repetitive patterns. The strings were going to be a major factor in this piece as well. I also wanted to add in some electronica elements as well but at a minimum so that the listeners could be sucked into with the strings and piano.

Some obstacles along the way aside from trying to keep the momentum going for 8 minutes was the many modulations and key changes to get to a certain key I wanted. There is a 30 second bit found at 6:03 that frustrated me for a good hour on how to land it in a certain key....the key where the guitar and drums come in. That whole modulating segment took a great deal of time because there were many variations to go but none of them went as smooth as the one you hear.

Some other tidbit information to listen for: at 5:12, the guitar segment there.....I didn't realized it at first because I thought it sounded cool, but those three notes that play there are actually similar to the three notes you hear on the Spiderman cartoon theme haha!!! Also at 6:26, that key change from a G major to a B major was an idea that I had hard on a few Danny Elfman soundtracks.

The drumming found at 6:35 was a lot of fun to do! In the film, it's just clips of a time lapse sequence of downtown Atlanta at night....really cool looking, so to give a feeling of excitement and thrill of downtown I decided to try out this Coldplay kind of feel. It wasn't easy as I'm not a drummer by any means, so I had to figure out what a real drummer could do while I performed the recording on the keyboard haha!!! That last segment is also my favourite due to that sense of accomplishment you feel...I dunno if it's the drumming or the strings or what, but somehow it just feels like this motivation to keep doing the best you can.

Anyway, so there you go! Unfortunately due to this project, it will not be a downloadable piece. But feel free to comment or ask or anything!!! Since this is still being under review, there might be changes needed....if anything I'm assuming the last segment where the drums come in at 6:36. So until then, enjoy the piece!!!

Also check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jscottrakozy

Also check out my blog as well: http://theinsightfulcomposer.blogspot.com/

Also check out my website (in production): http://jscottrakozy.com/

If you want to ask me about my compositions in how I write them or anything, feel free to send me a message via soundcloud, and for any director or producer wanting to contact me to discuss projects, feel free to contact me as well via soundcloud!

Thanks again and hope you enjoy the piece!!!

~ J Scott Rakozy

T I M E | L A P S E

AUTUMN | LEAVES

T H E | S A I N T

M O R E

A U T U M N | L E A V E S - Extended

G R E Y | S K I E S

H O U R G L A S S

For Licensing, please contact Amphibious Zoo at https://www.amphibiouszoo.com

R E M E M B E R | M E

A | M O T H E R ' S | L O V E

A | D I S T A N T | D R E A M

Composer for Hogwarts Legacy

For inquiries of licensing or projects, please contact at jscottrakozy@gmail.com


F O L L O W || L I K E || E N J O Y

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