Having studied the violin as a kid, and after 18 years of not playing, finally decided to get back into it by getting an electric Yamaha YEV105 since it would allow for easy recording and just jamming along with other music - to test it out I recorded all 4 parts of a string quartet song from an anime series called Nichijou (it's a 5 string violin so also able to do the viola part - and for the cello I just transposed down an octave)

The original composer for 'San-nin wa Marude Kazoku' is Yuji Nomi (also famous for composing the Whisper of the Heart & The Cat Returns soundtracks)

Nichijou

San-nin wa Marude Kazoku (cover)

The 2nd stage of experimenting with my new electric violin was to see how it would work when combined with the usual sound library/plugin composing approach - so I created this arrangement of Mike Morasky's ending song for Portal 2 to test it out

Portal 2

Cara Mia Addio

Went on a nostalgia trip recently and got inspired to remake the intro theme to the classic King's Quest V adventure game by Sierra Entertainment released in 1990 (back in the days of EGA vs VGA options).

Mainly since I couldn't find any modern remakes of it (compared to other popular tracks from the era that have multiple remakes and remixes), and to see how it sounds compared to the old midi approach.

Original theme by Mark Seibert & Ken Allen

(original track can be heard here: http://www.markseibert.com/Sierra%20-%20King%27s%20Quest%20V%20Theme.mp3)

King's Quest V Theme (remake)

One of my favourite point-and-click adventures from the 90's was the Discworld II game, and what really made it a magical experience was the creativity put into the game, from artwork to voice acting to the memorable sound track.

Once piece that stood out for me in particular was the short (30 seconds or so) menu theme music by Rob Lord which I had wished was longer, so I've tried my hand at recreating/reworking and extending the theme a bit.

Original theme by Rob Lord

Discworld II Menu Theme (remake)

This level theme was composed in one day as part of the Pewdiepie Jam, working with some of the Free Lives (makers of Broforce) team on sound, music and voices to create SUPER WOLFENSTEIN HD which you can play here: http://gamejolt.com/games/shooter/super-wolfenstein-hd-now-with-realistic-physics/39194/

Despite the complete silliness of this game it was very important to have super serious music backing it up.

Super Wolfenstein HD - Mein Leben

A follow-up piece of music for the post-apocalyptic pirate-y comic adventure known as Cottonstar (http://cotton-star.com/)

I wanted this one to have more drive and a sense of movement to it, so decided to try composing to a 9/8 time signature.

The Voyage (Cottonstar)

'Dreams to Dream', the main song by James Horner from American Tail: Fievel Goes West was a great follow up to the first movie's song 'Somewhere Out There' and I've been wanting to do a purely instrumental version of that piece for some time, and as part of that get more practise with scoring for a full orchestra.

I'm happy for you to download and use this as backing for your singing (non-commercial use), if you do upload the results please link back to me and send me a link to your track to give it a listen!

Dreams to Dream originally composed by James Horner

Dreams To Dream (instrumental)

Experimenting with a bigger sound, quite a few months were spent on this one tweaking and changing notes & instruments, playing with the arrangement until I was happy with the result.

Works best with earphones!

*Image by Ky Goulden

Never To Return

Theme composed for the award winning short film The Catalyst which you can watch here: https://vimeo.com/152598502

The director Ky Goulden (http://kylegoulden.com/) and I spent months working on this piece with me composing various drafts and him coming back with valuable input & ideas to craft what ultimately became this final theme (there were other vastly different versions that didn't make the cut)

Ultimately all that work paid off as the film won the 2015/2016 PPC Imaginarium award (film category) and may be set to go to international film festivals.
http://journal.ppcimaginarium.co.za/posts/change-agent-87313c243ebbd9d3

The Catalyst - Theme

Variation on the main theme for the end credits scene of The Catalyst: https://vimeo.com/152598502

Film directed by Ky Goulden (http://kylegoulden.com/)

The Catalyst - Credits

Only had a few hours to put this together so was an interesting challenge to create this as the backing track to one of the Global Game Jam games this year, OCD Hero - which has a great concept for a core gameplay mechanic.

You can check out the game here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/games/ocd-hero

Kevin Gibson

OCD Hero

This started out as a simple practise with chord progressions, but I really liked the results so spent the time fleshing it out into a more complete piece. 

*Image by Ky Goulden (kylegoulden.com/)

Fragments

Watch the video and read more about the building fund here:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/ithemba-labantwana-buidling-fund

Created this to be the backing track for a video my brother and his girlfriend pulled together, acting as support to get funding to build the kids at Ithemba Labantwana orphanage a proper roof over their heads. Something as simple as a shipping container can be turned into a safe space these kids can call home.

Ithemba Labantwana

Created this for a mate of mine to use with a particular video that may or may not end up on his YouTube gaming channel, which features the antics of our gaming crew the Clown Squad - most notably in Counter-Strike (hence the CS countdown sound at beginning & end of the track)

You can watch said antics on the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb55iiQPZczqzQrrDoCcxQA

The thumbnail image was created by Ben Geldenhuys: https://www.behance.net/bengeldenhuys

Clown Squad Countdown

I've received a few messages over the years from folks asking if they could use the previous track I uploaded to sing along to (which is awesome) - most recently had someone ask if I could provide a version without the main melody, which was easy enough to do, so here's a version of this track with only the backing orchestra to accompany a voice.

As with the previous upload, I'm happy for you to download and use this as backing for singing to (non-commercial use), if you do upload the results please link back to me and send me a link to your track to give it a listen!

Fievel Goes West

Dreams to Dream Instrumental (karaoke version, no melody)

Hobbyist music composer, photographer & character artist.

Kevin_Gibson

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