music JHP Music

[Joshua Harrison 0]

Hey guys, Josh here with (currently) Joshua Harrison Publishing. I say currently as I am adding some members to my team and we will be changing the name as well.
 
Anyways, you came here for music... and music you shall receive.
 
Quick and dirty about me; 23 years old, Music Education Choral and Band double major, was accepted into composition private studies a year early, one of only four students in those studies, have experience performing multiple venues as a choir, band or solo, have experience hearing my original compositions played and sung, I write everything from scratch (no pre-made loops, you only get my sweat and tears), I write for film and performance primarily but have looked at gaming recently, I am currently working on an indie rpg style horror puzzle game as their music director.
 
*wheez* *pant* Whew... now that the longest run-on sentence in the world is over. If you have time to check out my site you can see more details about me, my process, a big list of songs to listen to (even a demo video that I terribly made!) and if you want to hear more in-game check out my link below for "Fragile" so you can see some of my better works in full context.
 
But, here's a list of works you may be interested in hearing... Gotta put the bread winning team in first right? Now all these compositions are demos and not fully orchestrated, they are only to be an example of the musical painting. I have access to real instruments for recording if absolutely necessary, as well as professional recording equipment. I even write pretty much all my music on the piano first... with that I will say that my "forte" is actually soft, mysterious, calming music and piano sonatas. I dabbed in minimalism so if you like Steve Reich, John Adams, Terry Riley, Phillip Glass or even that fancy new age music, you may wanna take a listen to those as well.
 
Ok, finally... here's the real deal.
 
I'll put them in some sort of order.

 
Piano works.

 

This guy is a pretty little diddy I wrote in about 5 minutes.

 

This was my first attempt at "horror"ish game music.

 

A little sonatina I wrote, actually worked really well with a few tweaks in "Fragile"

 

Ah... the traditional bad guy organ not "technically" piano, but it's a keyboard so it's alright.... everyone needs to write one yes? I imagine Kagato playing this before trying to kill Tenchi.

 

 

 

Ok, full orchestral tracks.

 

This was written for film. It depicts the antagonist following the antagonist, sneakily making his way closer...and closer... until BWAMO! Also, a certain section cut out of this and editted made really good battle music.

 

Film again. The antagonist's theme... gotta love it... it's eerie... it's powerful.. and just downright kinda cool

 

Another film. The arrival.... this guy is a fun one.... it's kind of like a precursor to battle, also made good battle music when sped up.

 

Guess what..more film..... This guy is a mixture of a lot of emotions... what I first imagined was the antagonist killing the protagonist, and then realizing what he had done... this song plays while he is tormented about this deed, and either the hero forgives him and he changes his ways, or the hero doesn't really die.... I could never pick one.

 

The Odd Ones Out

 

A pretty little reprieve from the tension with just a hint of romance.

 

Another cute little diddy... not much to describe it... everyone sees something different while listening.

 

 

 

Anyways, I think i've put way too much one here... there's more on the soundcloud reel, more than that on my website, and I probably have more on my computer.... Hope you enjoy and most of all felt some of the emotions I was portraying. Just a little PS one of my companies pledges is to never use cut and paste loops and the likes... we compose everything from scratch and every single note, dynamic and expression has a purpose. (This isn't a knock at you loop guys, I'm just stating the pledge.)

[Kaimen 22]

*follows on SoundCloud*

 

Man, oh man, this really is a bunch you gave us to listen to there. I haven't listened to everything in detail, but I'll give you a little review from an amateur composer's point of view (I only have a basic understanding of the "science" behind music; I compose more intuitively). Alright, here goes...

 

I see that your music is very programmatic (is that the appropriate English term?). What I mean is that your music acts a lot like program music. And I really like that - it makes music more interactive. The thing with video game music is, in my opinion, that it shouldn't be too intrusive, especially not background music. I think it's bad for a game when one part of the whole takes more attention than the other parts. A game is a composition of many different elements, music being one of them. Video game music is supposed to support the experience, not distract from it. 

The funny thing about your songs, in my opinion, is that I can imagine them as video game BGM, but only partially. I feel that your songs are a mix between background music and event music, which is something I really like. It especially shows in the songs I'm about to give a detailed review of below: 

 

Unknowing

That one sent a little chill down my spine when the strings set in. And then again when the choir set in. It is suspenseful, yes, especially with lights out and the music playing on a hi-fi system. The only thing I can criticize is that, while it has a horror-ish feeling to it, I can't seem to get a liking on those rapid timpani. Maybe a speed-up on the piano would have done the trick of a "climax" as well. To me, those timpani make it sound like it would switch over to an action scene or something similar.

 

Arrival

Wow, that one feels mighty. I'd really like to hear that one played by a live orchestra. I can imagine this one being played in a video game very well actually. It would suit an enemy base or something like that, especially the "calmer" parts of the song with strings and woodwinds. I can also see an army marching out to this song. The only part I don't like for some reason is from 1:50 to 2:10. Might just be the instruments though.

 

Antagonist Theme

I completely agree with you there. I LOVE the strings in this one. I can practically see the antagonist before me giving me his evil speech, like all antagonists do, to this song. What I imagine is that the song starts playing just a few seconds after the antagonist appears. I imagine a line coming from him and then the music kicks in to support his entrance. As I've said, your music is narrative and supportive. This one shows it.

 

 

Alright, that's all from me for now. I hope I could give you a good insight in my thoughts. I really like your music and I can see you making music for video games as well. Movie-like soundtracks can work for video games if they're done right. And I can see you doing that!

[Joshua Harrison 0]

I really appreciate the feedback! And yes, my music is highly programmatic (that is the term). I was really worried about writing for games because a lot of my film music ended up being orchestrated for live performance because of it's programmatic nature kind of conflicting with the purpose of film music. Your comment about music being overbearing and distracting is right on point. And you picked to comment on a few of my favorite works, you have a great ear. I'll even be honest you were able to pin-point a spot in "Arrival" that I was actually unsure about myself. It probably came across through the music. (If the composer isn't pleased with it, the audience will definitely be able to tell.) So I applaud you for that. 

 

I went ahead and took the liberty of listening to some of your stuff as well... I really like the feel of them. When I listened to "Confronting Evil" I felt like I was playing Dungeon of the Endless. I'm no good with the synthesizer at the moment but I plan on getting into the groove in the future. 

 

And for the "Unknowing" I was trying to build up sort of a stress level in the player and I tried using the timpani to kind of push their heart beat. It was something I did in "The Chase" but it honestly doesn't work in that specific instance. But it's all a learning experience!

 

And i'de love to hear more about your comments on BGM vs Event music. I do believe most of my music is written to portray an event, though in my game I have been able to splice parts to fit different scenarios. A lot of my piano music turns out very much like BGM would... kind of nice to listen to but not too overbearing. I'll be honest, probably one of my favorite times as a composer in this field is seeing my "Harps" played during an actual romantic type scene, and when the musical climax times itself with the story just right... That harp was plucking the heart strings.

 

Thanks again for the comments, and for listening!

Edited January 5, 2015 by Joshua Harrison