In order to set the Guinness World Record for a crowd created video game performance, and to let more musicians participate in our mad adventure, we've extended the submission deadline for our crowd created HALO THEME until March 29th, 2016.
Of course, if you can get your video in by the original deadline of March 15th, that would be great too!
As of now we have received videos from Garland Utah, Barcelona, Malaysia, Mexico, Kuala Lumpur, Sardinia, Canada, and more - with pledges from just about every cornier of the globe. This is truly an exciting time to be a musician - collaborating with such a far reaching orchestra.
Just for fun, two of our "Works in Progress"
First, iDIG repeat offenders Mark Scholl (Drums) and Joe Pignato (Guitar)
And our friend Andrew Overfield from the UK sent us this video. I'll be posting others as we get closer. Check it out!
For any of you coming late to the party, here is the instruction blog on how to participate.
Finally, if you will be in Dublin during our Dublin International Game Music Festival (April 29 - May 1st, 2016) get tickets (and more information) here:
Video Games Live Returns to Headline, The 2nd Annual Dublin International Game Music Festival April 29 - May1, 2016 get tickets for 2016
The Plan for 2016:
Days 1 and 2: Seminars and Smaller Concerts at the RDS
On April 29th and 30th, attendees will gather at the RDS Convention Center for two days of concerts and presentations relating to video game music, video games, and their creation.
Live Music: Performances on the RDS auditorium stage will feature talents such as "The Triforce Quartet," "The Spooney Bards," and "The Dublin Chamber Ensemble," among others.
The impetus to create "The Celtic Link" was born at the 2015 festival, when the audience themselves, so moved by the DIT Ensemble's performance of the great game music themes, insisted the DIT ensemble needed to be recorded and a CD released. A successful Kickstarter campaign followed.
Seminars: The musical performances will be interspersed with numerous seminars designed for aspiring game music creators, performers and fans. Included will be:
A presentation on new game music technology by Craig Stuart Garfinkle
Composer Neal Acree will show and discuss his work from many of the stunning Blizzard trailers and cinematics.
A preview of "Conductrix, A View from the Podium," Eimear Noone's upcoming 3D and VR conducting tutorials.
A handful of select Irish game developers will show off their latest projects.
One of the highlights from the seminars of 2015 was the composer "Demo Derby." For the derby, 15 composers had their music played for the audience and our panel of visiting composers. Our composers then gave advice and critiqued the composer's work.
In 2015 only an hour was scheduled for this event, but due to the number of composers that wanted to participate but couldn't, this year the Demo Derby will be extended to at least 2 hours.
Scheduled for the evening of April 30th, we will bring back our "Cosball" (cosplay ball) to a local Dublin nightclub where we will give away prizes for the best costumes and play dance remixes of our favorite game music.
Once again, on May 1st, 8:00 PM, at the Convention Center Dublin, Video Games Live will take the auditorium stage for a very special presentation.
Half orchestral concert, half rock and roll blow out, Video Games Live will perform the great game themes such as Skyrim, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft Montage, Kingdom Hearts, and more, accompanied by synchronized gameplay images and lights.
For this performance, all of our visiting composers will conduct their own works - a rare treat to experience for the game music fan.
World Premier Performances
In year one of the iDIG festival, during the Video Games Live show, there were a number of World Premier performances. One of these was the first of its kind, "Crowd Created" version of a game music theme.
Featuring legendary game music performer, "Malukah" (over 60 Million YouTube views), a world wide crowd created orchestra joined forces with Eimear Noone and 134 musicians and singers on stage to perform Eimear Noone's "Malach" from "World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor." The resulting video has since had 76K+ views on YouTube and over 1.5 million views around the world.
For 2016, the iDIG Music Festival has an even greater video challenge planned for their Video Games Live show. The team is currently attempting to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the most number of individuals to ever contribute to a single music video.
With this goal in mind, for 2016 the festival has chosen to re-create the "Theme from HALO" as their star composition.
On February 3rd, 2016, the approvals came through and now the mad dash has begun to distribute parts and collect videos from musicians around the world. You can read more about this endeavor, or sign up to participate, at this link:
A festival ticket gains access to the two day festival on April 29th and 30th, and the Video Games Live show on May 1st. Festival tickets start at €85.
A limited number of Video Games Live Only tickets are also available. Video Games Live Tickets start at €40.
In April of 2015, the inaugural Dublin International Game Music Festival (iDIG Music Fest) brought some of the most well respected talent in the video game music industry to Dublin for a three day celebration of the art-form.
In attendance were Grammy winner Christopher Tin (Civilization), Russell Brower (Audio and Music Director for Blizzard Games; World of Warcraft, et all), Neal Acree (Blizzard Cinematic Composer), Eimear Noone (Blizzard Composer and Conductor) Craig Stuart Garfinkle (Blizzard and Baldur's Gate DA II composer) video game performers Jillian and Andrew Aversa, piano virtuoso J.J. McNamara and many more.
All of the 2015 attendees have pledged to attend in 2016 (subject to availability), along with some soon to be announced additional guests!
Musicians, here's your chance to perform with us at the iDIG Music Fest in Dublin, April 4th, 2015, from anywhere in the world!
The iDIG Music Fest YouTube Orchestra is in full swing! We already have 70+ musicians and ensembles from 3 continents working with us to "Crowd Create" a music video of Eimear Noone's "Malach," from "World of Warcraft; Warlords of Draenor."
Click to Preview "Malach"
If you are a musician and you want to contribute your performance to our video, email me at zeldaconductor@gmail.com, let me know the instrument you play, and I will send you your part as well as a guide track, and instructions on how to video record yourself performing the part.
Likewise, if you know anyone (especially in Australia, Africa or either Arctic - then we'd have all continents) who might join in, send them our way!
After we have collected all the videos, we will edit them together into one massive montage.
We will debut the montage at the Video Games Live show on April 4th, at the Dublin International Game Music Festival, synchronized with our live orchestra conducted by Eimear Noone!
Check out this awesome example from master percussionist Mark Scholl!
Mark is formerly of the Winnipeg Symphony and music director for Barry Manilow, to name just a few of his 100's of performance and recording credits.
What you see here is Mark playing in sync to the guide track we supplied. His video is from an iPad, but as he is set to record percussion remotely, his audio is from the microphone (not a requirement to participate).
We've edited out the video where Mark is simply counting bars rest, but know, if you are contributing a video, we need these bars rest to make sure you are in sync.
Here's where we make history!
For the past few weeks, we have been brainstorming with Google and YouTube to add one more layer to our video:
Live performances, in real time, by ensembles at each of the YouTube campuses around the world!
We don't even know if it's possible, but when you are teamed with the guys who created a self driving car and the best map program ever, anything can happen.
So, if you are a musician who wants to perform in our world-wide ensemble, send an email to craig@isigmusicfest.com, let us know what instrument you play, and we will send the guide track and a part.
We will also need contacts at universities and ensembles in the YouTube cities - as soon as we confirm our methodology for the live ensembles.
But hurry! Our deadline for submissions is March 4th, 2015, so we can make our April 4th show!
And if you are in Dublin and want to catch the fun: Tickets are available at:
This blog posting has a very specific message: We need your vote now!
To continue bringing great orchestral music to the concert hall, we are competing for a $250K "Small Business Grant" from Chase Bank. We have a little over a week to secure 250 votes for our company, Twelve O'clock Arts, in order to progress to the next round of the competition.
If you already know and love Eimear's work for Blizzard, Zelda, her classical, film and video game concerts, go directly to this link and vote now!
The rest of this newsletter will be dedicated to describing just a taste of what we have planned for the upcoming year.
Our Goal: Exposing New Audiences to the Symphony Through Multimedia, Video Game and Film Music.
You may know Eimear Noone from her video game music concerts, but these are only the latest adventures in a long musical journey. Eimear Noone (and her partners at Twelve o'clock Arts) have spent a lifetime dedicated to performing and promoting orchestral music of all kinds!
A conductor since the age of 15, by age of 21, Eimear had co-founded her own ensemble, "The Dublin City Concert Orchestra." With nothing except a sheer force of will, she sold out a series of concerts at Dublin's National Concert Hall that were dedicated to performing film scores as well as classic repertoire that was used in this films. Although much more common now, an orchestral concert dedicated to "film music" was unheard of within the classical establishment at the time.
Flash forward to the past few years where now hundreds of thousands of fans have seen Eimear onstage conducting video game music at venue such as The Sydney Opera House, Madison Square Garden, and The Greek Theater (To name but a few). Likewise, she's lead countless venerable ensembles such as the Sydney, Dallas, Baltimore, Colorado, Pacific and Houston Symphonies; The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Royal Philharmonic.
Those who have attended these concerts know, the music from these video games are bold, brash and every bit as dynamic as the traditional repertoire. They are the classical music of our day.
Most importantly however, at a time when orchestras are struggling to find a sustainable audience, these concerts of video game music regularly sell out.
And what do the symphony managers ask Eimear at these video game music concerts, when they see full houses treating their orchestras like rock stars? They ask, "How do we get this audience back to the concert hall to hear the classics?"
This is where our new adventure begins.
Eimear rehearsing "This is Ireland," her St. Patrick's Day Multimedia Celebration, featuring Pierce Brosnan
Our New Project!:
Bringing Video Game Music, Stunning Visuals, and Classic Repertoire Together in One Multimedia Celebration.
At Twelve O'clock Arts we love all types of orchestral music, regardless of the origin. It can be a game score written last week or a symphony from the 1800's - to us they are all pure magic.
Our key motivation is the desire to share any and all of these in a setting that resembles the multi-media extravaganzas that our audiences have come to expect from Eimear: Beautiful moving images, synchronized to every beat and phrase of the music - as only her expert conducting can allow. If it's the score from a movie, every moment is synchronized to the composer's intent for the film. Likewise a game score.
This is how we are used to seeing video game concerts - but we want to take this to a new level!
What if we could take all of this talent one step further? What if we could bring all the wonderful multimedia technology available from Broadway, rock concerts, and the movies to the concert stage? Imagine a 3D enveloping experiences, dancing dragon holograms and more, all interacting with Eimear and the orchestra. That's what we have planned!
To execute this vision we have teamed up with Broadway producer David L. Garfinkle, who's productions of "Ghost" and "Spiderman" have already rewritten the rules for what can be presented on a stage.
We've also teamed up with some yet to be announced top game composers and game companies - you will absolutely know them!
Together, our team is going to rewrite the rules of what you can do with the orchestra!
At the core of all of this, though, is the same excellence of symphonic performance that the audience has come to expect whenever Eimear takes the stage. There will be your favorite video game scores, performed to picture, but also, video interpretations of some of the great classics that influenced the video game scores. We are not quite ready to release all the secrets we have planned, except to say the fans will not be disappointed!
But we can't do any of this without your help! We need your vote for "Twelve O'clock Arts! Please click on the link below and vote now! Help us get to the next level!
The Ultimate Tempo Map - Remixing The Legendary Choir Anúna
The last time we were in Dublin, Eímear introduced me to her old friend Michael McGlynn, founder and composer for the magnificent Irish choir, Anúna (old, not in age, of course - they have just known each other a long time).
For those of you who aren't aware, the music Michael performs with Anúna, their unique sonority, and his wholly original compositions are simply stunning. The first time Eímear played their recordings for me, I felt an instant connection.
Here's their website: Check it out for yourself: Anúna Website
As often happens in Ireland, over a few lovely drinks at one of Dublin's great new restaurants, a plan was hatched: As I am often called upon to make "Trailer Versions"of existing music - after it's been licensed for a film - wouldn't it be fun to create a few "Trailer Remixes" of Anúna's recordings? Just for the laugh, and maybe a future license? To my pleasure, Michael agreed and I set to work determining which cues from his vast recordings would be appropriate (10+ CDs and counting). For my first attempt, I chose Michael's composition, "Dúlaman." Here's the choir's version:
So how does one even start to create such a remix? You need a tempo map!
Let's consider how Anúna performs and records:
No click track (no two beats are the same)
One take
No overdubs
Straight to two track mix
Their long-time intrepid engineer, Brian Masterson, has a unique series of techniques he uses to capture the depth of the choir, with little or no bells and whistles - It just "is."
Hmmm... this isn't going to be easy...
Create a Tempo and Meter Map
Before I can add a single element to a remix, I need to have a tempo and meter map that exactly matches the recording down to the sample.
There are countless programs out there that can interpret recordings and do an adequate job of tempo mapping when the song is the latest Bieber crooning, but when music gets really rubato, or, as it is in the case of Dúlaman, the tempo is around 190, no two beats are the same, and the meter changes just about every bar, they fail miserably. The tempo map has to be created manually - a bar, or even a beat at a time.
Having started this type of work long before the technology existed to do it for me, I developed three methods that I use to match tempo to existing recordings, one of which I used on Dúlaman. They are:
"Tap Tempo" in Digital Performer, then manually drag the beats against the timeline
"Hack and Slash Locked Audio" in Logic.
"Identify Beats" in ProTools, then manually drag tempos against the timeline
I used "Identify Beats" in ProTools, as it is the best method when the music is truly complicated.
"Identify Beats" in ProTools
In this technique, after I have dictated the desired meter, 7/8, and basic tempo 1/4 = 190, I use a combination of the "Tab to Transient" command and the "Identify Beats" command to have ProTools interpret the exact tempo and create my tempo map.
I then listen to the click against the track to see if it feels right and adjust the identified beats by dragging them in the timeline. Here it is, step by step:
Enable "Tab to Transient"
To enable "Tab to Transient," I click on the icon, second from the left at the bottom of the tool selector so that it is highlighted as below.
Many of you know, when this icon is enabled, every time you press the "Tab" key on your computer, the curser will find the next impact transient within the audio file where you have placed the cursor (in theory - it isn't a perfect technique!).
Tab to the First Transient, and Slice the Audio
As in the image below, after I have established the basic tempo (1/4th note 190) and the basic meter (7/8) I then tab to the first transient, the first note of the song.
Side note: ProTools timelines hate working in anything other than 1/4 note clicks! Even though I could hear this song was a combination of 1/8 note meters, I would never tempo map that way.
Align the Audio to the Timeline
Slicing the audio file at the selected transient (by using either Command E, or the "Alpha B" keystroke), I then align the audio file with the downbeat of bar 1.
OK - a moment of personal admission of stupidity: I struggled for ages with the first bar because I had not interpreted the meter correctly. Usually, I can transcribe just about anything, but this was kicking my behind a bit so I cheated. I Googled the sheet music and found it online (buy it here).
Here's the real notation for the first bar. There's a pickup note!
Identify Beats and Lock them to the Timeline
Now that it is clear the first note is actually beat 7 of bar 1, I move the audio accordingly. I then park the cursor at the beginning of the audio file and press "Command I." Notice, the add Bar/Beat Marker opens preloaded with the correct position, 1/7/000.
Pressing "OK" locks this moment to the timeline (provided the track is locked to Samples, not Ticks).
Tab to Next Identifiable Beat
I then tab through the transients (by pressing "Tab") until I reach the next easily identifiable beat, usually the downbeat of a bar. In this case, I have tabbed to what I hear is the downbeat of bar three.
Pressing "Command I," the identify beat window opens again.
Notice, when the window opens, it indicates the current position of the cursor, in this case 2/6/311, and the current meter, 7/8.
I then type in the desired location, 3/1/000, and the desired meter, 6/8 and press OK.
Notice how the tempo and meter line now indicate the changing tempo and meter.
Lather, Rince, Repeat
We repeat this process, over and over again, for every bar, until we get to the end of the piece and the timeline looks something like the one below. Notice all the tempo and meter changes.
Export the "Tempo Map" for Logic
As my students know, I use ProTools for all my audio editing, mixing, recording, and delivery, but I actually do all my sequencing in Logic (I also use Sibelius for printing).
In order to translate all this work to Logic, I first create a "dummy midi track"in ProTools consisting of quarter notes, that runs the length of the song. I then export this track from ProTools as a single track midi file.
I then open the midi file in Logic, and as you see below, all the tempo and meter changes are there.
Export the Audio File for Logic
Finally, I select the edited audio region in the ProTools audio bin, and I export the audio region as a single audio file.
Remember - we have trimmed the audio file to the exact moment that occurs at bar one, beat seven. As long as we place this audio file in the same position in Logic, the tempo map should line up for the entire song - at least it should.
Now the fun begins, actually creating my arrangement. I'll save that for another blog, in the meantime, here's the remix I created. Enjoy!
