AUDIO Experienced Sound Designer/Composer/Voice Actor Lookin

[Matthewdeargameaudio]

Hi!

My name is Matthew Dear and I am a games music composer/sound designer currently looking to work with game developers.

I have been playing and composing music for 10 years covering a wide variety of styles and contexts.
I have also been playing games for over 10 years, covering a wide variety of genres and formats.

I have Pro-quality orchestral and band virtual instruments from the East West Quantum Leap library, NI Komplete, FXpansion, etc
allowing me to create rich and diverse pieces to suit your brief.

You can view my Soundtrack, SFX and voice acting portfolios on my website

http://matthewdear.tumblr.com/


My past work includes:
‘Alf, Bet& Gam’ - iOS game – Music & SFX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZK2xKee9Iw

‘Garden Raid’ – Flash game - SFX - soon to be released

‘The Boy With Bombs’-iOS Game - SFX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppo0mBC4pmU

‘Lost Soul’-Kongregate Game - Music
http://www.kongregate.com/games/PianoHands/lost-soul

‘You Can’t F*cking Lose’-Newgrounds Game - Music
https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/se ... cking-lose
http://gamejolt.com/dashboard/developer ... iew/32620/

Current Work Includes - Outward (PC, SFX), Blasters Online (PC MMO, SFX), Nin Online (PC MMO, SFX).


I can also score to moving picture/trailers, examples of my work here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... kMqwek8CJp


I am very much looking forward to working on some new game audio projects!

Please get in touch if you like what you hear,

Matthew Dear
mattdear1234@gmail.com
07437015647
Skype: matthew.dear2

[BPzeBanshee]

I like what I hear! Currently already with someone composing music for me at the moment but curious to know whether you have or are:

- done any STG/shmup style music in the past, or listened to music from games in said genre as a source of inspiration
- preferring to do work for "street cred" or financial gain
- whether you're opposed to use of FM or chiptune instruments
- use any synthesis with your voice work

Also, welcome to the forums.

[Matthewdeargameaudio]

I wrote a fun 'acoustic rock' track this weekend. Made for a top-down browser game.

https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/alright-yeah

[Matthewdeargameaudio]

I like what I hear! Currently already with someone composing music for me at the moment but curious to know whether you have or are:

- done any STG/shmup style music in the past, or listened to music from games in said genre as a source of inspiration
- preferring to do work for "street cred" or financial gain
- whether you're opposed to use of FM or chiptune instruments
- use any synthesis with your voice work

Also, welcome to the forums.

Sorry I didn't have time to reply to this before!

- I've got a few high-octane tracks on my soundcloud, these one's in particular, i feel, wouldfit well in a shmup game
https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/ex ... ttle-theme
https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/lo ... oi-machine
https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/faster-than-fast - albeit an instrumental version!

- A bit of both? I'm looking to work on new projects because this is what I want to for a living. Currently I'd say I'm more looking to build my portfolio and credits. I do charge for my work, but I am reasonably prices and can be flexible to fit budgets.

- Not at all! I have a couple of Chiptune virtual instruments and some vintage synths, including FM synths.

- I have an old vocoder that I have used for voice manipulation in the past. I'll get some recorded soon and post it up here!

Cheers

[DJ Incompetent]

Like, "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit? I love this city?"

[Cagar]

"Listen to everything by Manabu Namiki" is probably the only useful thing I can say here.
Your stuff is good but not enough memorable, clean melodies.

Normal soundtrack, an usual "background music" is not enough for shmups, is what I'm thinking.
It's almost half of the game to me and many others I know, and certainly can't feel like just atmospheric background-noise.
You gotta have clean leads and fearless melodies.
Again, listen to Manabu Namiki. He has mastered the shmup music flow.

EDIT: Overall, I think that because of him, people who play shmups have veeeryyy high standards when it comes to soundtracks, so you have to either be really familiar with the genre, or be a very fucking talented composer to please people here. Not saying that it's impossbile though, good luck!

[Matthewdeargameaudio]

Thanks Cagar, That's really helpful. Manabu Namiki is awesome!

I'm going to do my research and return to you...

[RipperRoo]

IMO thats just personal preference, i listened to the links from namiki and for me thats acutally what u described as "just atmospheric background-noise. "
and a really annoying one !

not everyone likes that style of music and for example his boy with bombs soundtrack is really cool and fits very well.
though a lot of your things are really too "ambient" style for shmups, if thats what cagar wanted to stress.

[Cagar]

i listened to the links from namiki

So you haven't heard Namiki before?
You're not very familiar with the genre, am I correct?
Of course, it's just personal taste- but I think I could safely say that at least 90% of the users find his stuff the best.
If we had a poll where we could vote for a composer for imaginary upcoming shmup, I'd say that there wouldn't even be competition.
He has done shmup-music for over ten years, he knows what's up.

[Iori Branford]

Sakimoto too; not only strong melodies, but amazing range. Refer to Verytex, Magical Chase, Soukyuugurentai, Kingdom Grand Prix.

[RipperRoo]

i listened to the links from namiki

So you haven't heard Namiki before?
You're not very familiar with the genre, am I correct?
Of course, it's just personal taste- but I think I could safely say that at least 90% of the users find his stuff the best.
If we had a poll where we could vote for a composer for imaginary upcoming shmup, I'd say that there wouldn't even be competition.
He has done shmup-music for over ten years, he knows what's up.

you are right, but i still like the battle garegga soundtrack, but i dont link the examples you posted dont know why

[BPzeBanshee]

I've not been an overly big fan of Namiki's newer material. Not my forte. Cagar has a point on his method of composition though and most of his old material is pure gold.

For other examples: Hyakutaro Tsukumo, Toshiharu Yamanishi, Tomomi Ohtani, Akira Satou, Go Sato......plenty of names, plenty of games.

[RipperRoo]

Wow those thunder force 3 + 4 soundtracks were just awesome!!

and compared to for example the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vKbDFTYD4Q from cagar i think they sound more iconic

[nasty_wolverine]

since everybody is posting shmup music suggestions, i ll post the ones people always forget to mention:
- Recca (this inspired namiki to create the techno soundtrack for Battle Garegga, HARD TECHNO on the NES)
- Zanac Neo (more ambient stuff, throws in ACID style stuff in places
- Hellsinker (best doujin OST EVAH!!!)
- Mars Matrix (HARD TECHNO ON MARS YO!!!!!!111!)

[Shepardus]

At this rate might as well link to an entire thread for shmup music sharing.

[beatsgo]

I'm kind of in the same position, so I've been thinking of one way to get inspired: play as much shmups as possible. You'll find different artists producing different styles of music dependent on the game design. For example: comparing Gradius 1, 2, Gaiden, and 5 music and how they play.

And don't limit yourself to "modern" shmups, play any to gauge what makes a good shmup song.

[Matthewdeargameaudio]

Hey everyone!

It's been a while... But i finally got round to making some shmup music! As part of a recent commission.
It's mid-90s style, using only 90s synths/sampling. With heavy influence from Thunderforce IV

Let me know what you think!

https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/g4 ... hmup-style

[nekketsu]

Let me know what you think!

https://soundcloud.com/matthewdear-1/g4 ... hmup-style

Totally legit, very nice work here!

[mystran]

i listened to the links from namiki

So you haven't heard Namiki before?
You're not very familiar with the genre, am I correct?
Of course, it's just personal taste- but I think I could safely say that at least 90% of the users find his stuff the best.
If we had a poll where we could vote for a composer for imaginary upcoming shmup, I'd say that there wouldn't even be competition.
He has done shmup-music for over ten years, he knows what's up.

you are right, but i still like the battle garegga soundtrack, but i dont link the examples you posted dont know why

Whether or not you like those specific tracks, I think Cagar picked up quite sensible choices in terms of showing what type of music works in a shmup.... however, in my opinion something that's not quite obvious without actually looking at the gameplay at the same time is that not only the general mood of a Namiki track usually support the general gameplay, but also the general changes in the music usually match (temporally and thematically) changes in gameplay, at least approximately (and sometimes frighteningly well).

That said, I think the truly magical quality of the random Namiki OST is that you can pick one, mix it together with a completely different game, and it will still seem like it was approximately synchronized to whatever is going on with the gameplay. It must be something with the way the track are structured, the way the pacing of different themes and moods matches the typical pacing you'd expect in a shooter.. but I think that's what really separates a good "shmup soundtrack" for a generic background track, since typical pop-music (and even more so typical EDM) would be paced much slower with less drastic mood changes and longer time-scales in builds and drops.. or something.

YMMV.

[mystran]

I'd like go a bit futher with the Namiki analysis actually. If you start picking apart a typical late Namiki track, you'll probably find that a single thematic structure/mood is rarely held in place for longer than about 8 bars (ie. about 10-15 seconds with the usual fairly fast tempo), often with quite drastic changes in how each such "segment" works internally (in terms of rhythm, instruments, styles of chord progression). Sometimes the melody carries over from one segment to another and often the end of the previous segment build into the next.. but despite this fast pace of thematic changes, each such segment usually also packs an internal (and often powerful, high tension) progression sort of temporarily compressed to express a motive in those 10-15 seconds before it moves on to the next theme.

All this results in pacing that is actually quite ridiculous in terms of how fast it rolls forward, if you compare it with more typical musical works, but it seems to work (ridiculously) well with fast-pace arcade games like STGs.

Like I sort-of noted above, some of the tracks feel like they were probably built around the gameplay, there is usually some special theme of some additional weight around the time the mid-boss appears and often slower more drastic harmonies in places where you're supposed to specifically focus or hold back.. but the reason you'll see Cave OSTs ripped so often in fan-games probably has to do with the fact that even with a different game the tracks just always make a shooter feel "right" in some abstract sense.

[mobileapplication]

I like what I have heard. You can try to contact any game development companies. So that they can give you projects in the future also.