The levels still need some adjustment, but other than that, I think this turned to be a pretty sweet tune.
Take a listen here: Ownzie Shuffle
From the category archives:
Music
I must be healing a bit if I’m able to compose again.
Take a listen: Ownzies
I recently had to make a new Demo CD, which pretty much everyone and their dog requires when applying for a Music job, and with good reason. That is, unless you’re an established, well-known artist like John Williams, Jack Wall, Hanz Zimmer, Chance Thomas, or Vanilla Ice. In those cases, they probably don’t need a demo. For everyone else, there is the Demo CD dilemma.
I always hate making Demo CDs because it feels like I’m writing my own obituary for some reason. When you have over 300 songs to choose from which you’ve written (almost half of which are on this site here and here) you have to choose which tunes to slap together, which best represent you, hopefully in under 5 minutes. Also, I’ve worked on multiple platforms and genres, should I blow them away with my orchestral pieces at full quality, or my chip-tune music in XM format? I’m sure the following doesn’t only apply to Game Music either, this could be applied to pretty much any Music Demo CD.
In any case, Tip 1: Use one track for multiple clips of songs. Not only does this keep people from a bunch of tracks to choose from (stuffing a CD full of 99 short clips of stuff you worked on is really, really frowned upon. I forget the real reason why, but I’m sure I could make one up: people don’t like a lot of choices), but this also proves that you know how to use a DAW competently by using crossfades between clips and also shows off a bit more of your composition skills by selecting what pieces to transition in and out of.
And here is what my first track ended up like (this time): Hi-Fi Mix
Tip 2: If you have done different platforms and have a bunch of portable music lying around, it’s always a good idea to show this off on another track. This also applies if you’ve worked with a bunch of live performances (orchestral, live bands, or otherwise), you don’t want to mix them in with any electronic stuff. That’s just confusing for the audio director (or whoever is listening to your stuff).
And here is how my second track ended up: Lo-Fi Mix (I named it lo-fi mix for a damn good reason and made sure it wasn’t the first track, most audio directors may not even listen to more than the first track; but if they do, then this is where you put your other expertise-like stuff)
Tip 3: Stay around 5 minutes per track. That’s a good target, and most people (including me) miss it everytime. The above tracks ended up around 6 minutes even, which is still very acceptable. 7 is pushing it. 10 minutes and you’re crazy. This area is really gray and sounds a bit silly, but it’s not. Keeping the listener engaged for 5-6 minutes is possible, after that you’re just getting greedy. Cut some tracks out.
And here is how my third track ended up (which is way shorter to make up for my two 6 minutes tracks, see how that works out? 
) Pop-Mix
Anyway, if you ever end up in the position where you have to make yet another Demo CD to get hired for a new project. I feel you. Just keep the above in mind, and you might just get the job this time 
That’s right, I’m officially the age of the name of a famous ice cream franchise. And to keep from getting sued, or worse, chastised by the blog police, a story is in order about 31:
You see, in Japan (and pretty much everywhere outside the US) Baskin Robbins is called 31 Flavors. And it’s an amazingly interesting phenomenon. You’ll see a sign, or even the logo above, proudly displaying the words ‘Baskin Robbins’ in English and then right under it in smaller letters サーティワンアイスクリーム (thirty one ice-cream).
If you ask where the closest Baskin Robbins is, you’ll be met with blank stares. But if you ask for a 31, you’ll get directions to five of the closest joints. I have confirmed reports of this happening in South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia as well.
In any case, that’s how old I just turned.
And it put some perspective on this same post around the same time last year: Jaybot turns 30, realizes life is complicated. You should probably read it if you want any of the following musings to make sense. But I hate homework as much as the next person, so you can skip it too. You know, if you think I never make sense (I won’t argue) or if you simply like feeling lost, that’s cool too.
After reading through that post from a year ago, I think a few things have happened which have alleviated the situation:
I am now in Japan, so that problem is solved… for now. Now the trick is to figure out how to stay
I’m still with the same girl (still not married, but… no rush), so no huge worries there (she’s calmed down about the hurry to get married as well, she must have fell for my wily lines! Bwahahah!).
I released two games in the Arvale series, all by myselfs (picture a kid in his superman underwear proudly saying that with a big smile on his face, after coming out of the bathroom, and you’ll have an idea of how happy I am to say that) While they’re not paying the bills by any means (yet?), they do sell a respectable number of copies to buy me an extra bowl of ramen at the end of the month. And that’s more than I had originally anticipated. I’m also happy to be working with Duncan again, I love that guy! And yes, the third Episode is well underway and will be released soon*.
As far as Japanese studying: I passed 3級 of the 能力試験 back in December and I’m taking 2級 next month. I plan on passing 1級 this December as well. I’m still by some means (mostly mine) not fluent. Certain people like to ask silly questions like ‘How fluent are you?’ or ‘What % do you understand?’ I can’t blame them, most of them only speak 1 language and simply don’t understand what they’re trying to ask.
In any case, I understand a crapload (I also don’t understand a crapload). In any case, I can read books and comics and enjoy them, same with playing games, I can enjoy watching movies and TV shows and cartoons (my favorite) with no subtitles or limited 日本字幕 (Japanese subtitles, which are necessary for more advanced stuff like the 落語 sections in タイガーアンドドラゴン). I’ve also applied to two jobs in Japanese. I went to one interview and did the entire interview in Japanese (although it was… a challenge to say the least). So gauge as you wont (not a typo pronounced like want, short form for ‘are wont to do’).
At this point, I could even apply to go to a 専門学校 (technical school) such as ハル HAL and try to get into a Japanese gaming powerhouse like Nintendo through the front door. That’s always a backup plan if my back-door ninja tactics don’t work out.
I’m still not a rockstar. But I do have several opportunities to do Voiceover work and similar fields in Japan. No idea where that will lead me.
As far as blogging. It’s still fun. There is still a point to it (and a huge advantage to be publishing things online, for next to no cost, I highly recommend doing so). I don’t do dissertations on certain topics lately simply because I don’t want to look up the word dissertation in the dictionary and be wrong. That, and I’m a bit short on time these days, if you couldn’t tell from the last 6 paragraphs. I do spend a bit more time on Twitter than I used to, simply because it’s fun.
I still have no proper job. Well that’s a bit regular for me… however…
I had this funny thought this morning on the train, I like the idea of communism. No, no, put down the flags and stop screaming, hear me out… I like the idea of wearing the same clothing, working at the same job, everyone working together and getting paid the same salary depending on the task alloted to them in the structure set up by… me
I want my own personal communism. I want the drone of going to work and wearing a tie (actually I like dressing up in a suit and I’m terrible at hiding that fact) and working together with others of a like mind on the same project and all the really evil stuff you hear from the ‘free-yourself-from-the-corporate-slave-world’ which is all over the internet lately… if I get to work at the company I want, doing what I want to do, and getting paid what I want. Of course, I have to work really hard to get there. But it’s an achievable personal goal. I’m working really hard to achieve communism. Wait, I think I need to redefine that
Where was I? Oh yes, perspective. In any case, I may be 31 and have no job, no house, no wife, no kids, and no debt (ironically, I took out a loan to come to Japan to study). But I have a lot of other things. Including perspective. And opportunities. And goals. Amazing what can happen in one short year.
What were you doing 1 year ago? Is life the same? Better? Worse?
Lie down on Dr. Jaybot’s couch and discuss
*By soon, I mean the indefinite time period by which it refers to. Until I announce the official date, I really don’t want to torture anyone with finite time periods
This has nothing to do with Arvale. Well, not directly
You see, I am working on the next Episode of Arvale. However, I am currently not working at a formal job. And… a man has to eat. A man has to pay for other development costs too (like art). In any case, Japan has surprisingly many opportunities for Voice Over/Talent work in English.
Not quite as surprising, I actually have quite a bit of experience doing that very thing over the past few years. I recorded many of the voices for the Virtual Villagers series of games (yes, even the women and babies, don’t laugh), and recorded all of the voices for around 15 games while working for PDAmill, LDW, Trisystech, and others. Not to mention the American English voice for GPS directions on the iGO Navigation software.
So, I spent the last week putting some demo stuff together for some of the agencies here and I thought I might as well share some of the stuff with you here (just click on them to listen):
VO Commercial Demos: A collection of 6 famous Slogans (or Tag lines) from fake Japanese companies. Changing a letter and a word here and there in from the real company names and slogans just for fun (and to be safe).
VO_Announcer Demo: A quick, 15 second clip of the common announcer voice used on many Television and Radio programs, not just in Japan, but pretty much the world over. The idea was taken from the famous SmapXSmap television program here, which usually features lots of famous musical acts and whatnot.
VO_Audiobook Demo: A 1 minute quick reading of a book (extra points if you guess the title). Ironically, when I wanted to do this, I could only find one English book in the house. Some of the timing is a bit iffy on some phrases, but it’s perfectly fine for a demo (I think).
VO_Interview Demo: A short (really short) version of the wonderful interview I did with Al Lowe.
VO_Cartoon Demo: An edited version from one of the cartoon cutscenes from the PDAmill game, Rats!! I recorded it directly from the game, which is on mobile devices, so the quality is a touch lower than I want. Not sure if I’ll use it or not, but there are some cool moments in it. The voice was obviously pitch-shifted, but some of the phrases and inflections are so neat, it doesn’t matter.
Strangely enough, the talent agencies in Japan are also curious if Voice Over people can sing too. I won’t complain. If it can get me some work, why the heck not? So I also put together the following clips of singing work (again, just click on the links to listen):
Pop Vocals Demo: This is still one of my favorite songs.
Ballad Vocals Demo: Japanese musical tastes are no different than most of the developed world. Meaning, they love sappy ballads just as much as you do (even if you won’t admit it).
Kids Vocals Demo: No, not me singing when I was a kid, but for a kids-type program. You know, those silly, nonsensical songs that get stuck in your kids head and then get stuck in your head from them singing it all day. Yeah, that type
Rock Vocals Demo: A quick verse and chorus of singing in a rock tune.
Kids Vocals Demo 2: I just like this tune and it could really apply to anything, but I think kids would like it the most
In any case, it was fun putting the portfolio together. Now I just have to figure out how to fit them all into one email to the agencies… Or actually burn a CD and use postal mail? Ugh…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy some of it
