iandorsch.com

Fresh tunes

ian.dorsch — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:26:35 +0000

As a teenager, I loved to pore through the liner notes of my favorite albums looking for lists of synthesizers and samplers that the artists had used in the recording, and I loved to dissect the arrangements from product demo CDs like Roland: A Sound Approach. Today, I still get a bit of a nostalgic thrill when I am asked to create product demos for sample libraries. I figure, somewhere there’s an awkward 15-year-old who is devouring that stuff the way I once did.

My most recent demos are embedded below. Enjoy!

For Soundiron’s Voices of Rapture: Soprano solo soprano library, a little bit of shameless Sigur Ros worship:

For Bela D Media’s V Alto Choir, some sweeping, ethereal choral stuff:

And for Impact Soundworks’ upcoming Juggernaut library, a heavy duty trailer-style track:

Almost Spring

ian.dorsch — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:22:39 +0000

Days are slowly getting longer, and although it is still soggy and grey on the Washington coast, there is evidence that we may soon be able to turn off our SAD lamps and stop pounding vitamin D supplements! As usual, there is news and new tunes to share with you, after the break.

Rotor, a retro shmup (that’s short for shoot-em-up, for the uninitiated) for iOS and Android, has been released by the good folks at Snjohus Games. I wrote the main theme and a little gameplay music for the game. There are free versions available for both iOS and Android, so check them out for your platform of choice and enjoy obliterating some marauding alien invaders. And here’s some Rotor gameplay music, dripping with early 90s style synths:

Sample libraries are one of the main tools of the trade of the modern composer for media, and Soundiron is one of my favorite library developers. They recently held a demo composition contest for their Olympus Micro Choir, which I entered and won. My winning entry, Ave Perditus, was loosely inspired by China Mieville’s surreal novel Perdido Street Station. Enjoy!

New music, and plans for 2013

ian.dorsch — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:16:14 +0000

That thing that just blurred past was apparently January 2013, so I guess it is a little late for a ‘happy new year’ post. I will endeavor to make up for it by posting some new tunes from some current projects!

The first is from a game called Kingdom Commander, a spiritual successor to the PC classic Moonbase Commander. Kingdom Commander takes place in a fantasy world, but it is more G.R.R. Martin than Tolkien, and the goal for the score was to express some of that weight and darkness while still maintaining a fantasy adventure vibe. First Battle is gameplay music from Kingdom Commander:

The second is from the retro sci fi shooter Rotor. Rotor is rooted in early 90s arcade and PC gaming, so I decided to go with a style and palette that would evoke some of my favorite soundtracks and recordings from that time: Hans Zimmer’s early soundtrack work, Patrick O’Hearn’s Between Two Worlds and Peter Maunu’s Warm Sound in a Gray Field. I busted out a few hardware synths for this one, including my trusty old Korg Wavestation EX, Roland XP-80 and the General MIDI set from my Roland XV-5080 for some extra old school goodness.

In non-soundtrack news, 2013 is the year that I finally make the time to finish the album project that I started on back in 2011. I’ll post more about that when I have more to report, but for now, here is a proof of concept instrumental demo from 2011:

Besties, and a few old favorites

ian.dorsch — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:30:15 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of writing some music for a few projects at the newly launched website Polygon. One of those projects was creating theme music for The Besties Podcast, a gaming podcast by a few of my favorite game journos.

The podcast’s original theme music was a licensed track from George & Jonathan. I’m not completely sure how one might best classify their stuff. It more or less fits under the “chiptune” umbrella, but it’s also heaped with gloriously cheesy 80s pop nostalgia and a sprinkling of funk. If that sounds appealing to you, definitely give it a listen. It’s amazingly well done.

Anyway, I was given the task of coming up with an original theme that would be musically distinct, but still channel a little of that chiptune vibe. The result is a little different from anything I’ve done before, with electronic drums and retro synths coexisting with live acoustic guitar and bass, and an absurdly catchy melody that was stuck in my head for days.

I also went back and added a new set to my portfolio page to include some quirky and random material that doesn’t fit elsewhere. I excavated and polished up a few old favorites to include. Enjoy!

changes

ian.dorsch — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 22:13:27 +0000

It’s not nearly as dark, dusty and moody around here as it used to be! Thanks to some heroic work by the awesome Oliver Janoschek I have finally moved to a stylin’ new site and domain.

A few noteworthy news items after the jump.

First, Airborn has finally launched an official Facebook page featuring some lovely new concept art and screenshots. I’ve been working with this ridiculously talented team for a few years now, and I am really excited to show you what we’ve been cooking up. Be sure to ‘like’ us for the most current updates on the game.

Second, I recently wrote a hybrid orchestral track for Shadowrun Online. I used to play 1st edition pen & paper Shadowrun back in the day, and I’ve still got a stack of rulebooks in my studio closet, so my inner 15-year-old was pretty stoked to write this music. Enjoy:

Finally, I had the opportunity to write a demo for Impact Soundworks’ upcoming sample library, Shreddage 2. Those of you who enjoy my heavier stuff will probably dig this one. All guitars are actually Shreddage 2, played in real time on keyboard. Raise the horns.