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Armed and Dangerous - "Level 1 Ambient"
Developed by Planet Moon Studios under LucasArts. This piece begins the first level and sets the cultural and mystical tone of the entire game. It is synthesis of Celtic and orchestral styles and meant to capture an expansive, triumphant and timeless feel.

Tools: Digital Performer, Gigastudio, Roland 5080, Roland 1080, Waves Gold Bundle, Sample Cell

Live Instruments: Bagpipes, pennywhistle, violin, cello, french horn, bass trombone.

For the lead parts I featured bagpipes and pennywhistle to capture an authentic generally Celtic feel. Then I combined all the rest of the live players with either samples or synths to create the illusion of large orchestral sections. The violin was also featured as a solo instrument.
For this piece all percussion are either samples or synth instruments. Then I used delay and reverb on it to give the illusion of being way up in the hills of Scotland, Whales or Ireland.
The live instruments for this particular piece were recorded at my project studio, and mixed at the LucasArts recording studio by Jeff Kliment who was at that time the head of the audio department.
My inspiration came from hours of listening to Celtic music and studying that particular genre as preperation for this game.
Other skills needed for this project were charting and notation, as well as all recording studio skills such as tracking, mixing, mastering.
[MP3]

Armed and Dangerous - "Level 2 Battle"
Developed by Planet Moon Studios under LucasArts. As a battle piece set in a forest environment, it is meant to be driving while keeping with the Celtic style. Since it was a woodsy area wanted the primary instruments to be strummed acoustic. This game is filled with humor, and is early on in the game, so I kept the theme more triumphant than menacing. Menacing happens more as the game gets more challenging.

Tools: Digital Performer, Gigastudio, Roland 5080, Roland 1080, Waves Gold Bundle, Sample Cell

Live instruments: 2 acoustic guitars, mandocello, mandoviol, mandoline, banjo, french horn, bass trombone, violin, cello.

This piece started with me playing a driving acoustic guitar part, then I had Mark Unger of the Celtic group Avalon Rising improvise more rhythms on the various other stringed guitar, mandoline, banjo instruments. When this was finished I composed the orchestral instruments around it all. I referred to a scene in the movie Waking Ned Devine where there is an Irish band playing in a pub while the evil old woman is trying to expose their plan. There is a good example of Irish and tension driven orchestral film music in that moment.
I recorded the live instruments and mixed this piece in my project studio. I also mastered the entire soundtrack using Waves Gold Bundle mastering tools.
[MP3]

Escape From Monkey Island (Monkey Island IV) - "Beach"

Developed/published by LucasArts. The music for this game had already been established by the original composers for the first three versions. I was called in to match their style weaving together some established themes with my own composition. The requested style was to mix Reggae with Renaissance music, so there was a lot of field research done in both these styles, as well as getting familiar with all pre-existing and pertinant themes.

Tools: Digital Performer, Sample Cell, Roland 5080, Roland 1080

Live Instruments: drums, bass, marimba, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and a whole array of live percussion. I played the guitar parts myself.

I created scratch mixes of how the piece sounded in my mind. Then I charted and/or notated all the parts I specifically wanted played, and created digital audio stems (or tracks) which I then brought to LucasArts. There the project leader Clint Bajakian guided the live players through several layers of improvisation, while I directed the players on the specific written parts.
This piece was mixed by Larry Oppenheimer.
[MP3]

The Sims House Party
Created (Maxis) - "Sim Hawaiian Party"

Jerry Martin the former head of audio for Maxis asked me to write an authentic Hawaiian song for this game. So I listened to a whole bunch of Island styles because there are a lot. I wanted to capture the authentic feel of the percussion while incorporating a more traditional Hawaiian melodic feel.

Tools: Digital Performer, Sample Cell, Roland 5080

Live Instruments: Acoustic guitar, ukelele, lap steel guitar, vocals.

I collected a bunch of samples of Hawaiian drums and rhythms, and after much research came up with and played the guitar and ukelele parts. The came the job of writing lyrics in Simlish which is a language of gibberish derived from a particular location, in this case Hawaii. I then recorded myself singing the melody and the harmonies.
The final cherry on top was adding lap steel which was recorded at Jerry's studio by a very talented player who simply improvised over the piece.
The song was recorded and mixed in my own studio.
[MP3]

The Sims Bustin' Out
(Maxis) - " Cherry Cha Cha"
I was asked to write an authentic Latin song for a party scenario. My inspiration came from both Perez Prado and Yma Sumac for that delicate cross between an authentic Latin sound, with a bit of American cheese thrown in (single slices).

Tools: Digital Performer, Sample Cell, Roland XV 5080, Gigastudio

Live Instruments: various percussion, trombone, trumpet, bass guitar, tenor sax.

After creating the song via midi, I re-recorded all the percussion parts utilizing the great talents of Karl Perazzo, long time member of The Santana Band. Then I overdubbed all the other live instruments, and finally it was time to add the lyrics. Again I was asked to create a Simlish language, this time sounding Latin-like. I asked Karl to sing the Latin Simlish parts since he has a good accent, and then I sang all the background vocals. Another vocal treatment was asking other musicians on the track to do Perez Prado style background vocs. These were just the element that really made the piece sound authentic.
The vocals and live instruments were recorded at my studio. I mixed the song at my studio as well.
[MP3]

Urban Underground
This is one of the first pieces of music I did for games and is an ambient groove that appears on Sim City 4. It features Bill Ortiz of the Santana Band on trumpet, Ron Stallings of Huey Lewis and The News on tenor sax. Inspiration included the band Orb, and my impressions of the Tenderloin district in San Francisco late at night. I used Liquid Grooves for some of the drum loops.

Tools: Digital Performer, Roland JV 1080, Korg 01W, Oberheim 6

Live Instruments: trumpet and tenor sax

This is pretty straight forward music via midi with a couple of acoustic instruments added. I was looking for a soft an sandy hip hop influenced drum groove which I got by layering different drum loop and percussive textures. Nothing says urban late night out on the streets and in the clubs to me like the vibes, whurlitzer piano, trumpet tenor sax, and a dj scratching. The rest is all an array of synth textures flowing in and out.
The live instruments were recorded at my studio. I created the midi trackes and mixed the song at my studio as well.
[MP3]