http://brandonstrader.bandcamp.com/

The main advantage is that you’ll get the CD quality audio this time as 320kbps MP3, FLAC, or one of the other more nerdy formats. I think there might also be some artwork included if you download the whole album, so you could print up your own CD with a case from that! There’s even a lyric page. Thank you!

These are all remixes that I’m making for OC ReMix.

** EXTENDED HIATUS **
Ask for details if you’re confused.

Recently Completed:

1. 8/2/2010 Donkey Kong Country 3 – Let It Beat
2. 8/3/2010 Seiken Densetsu 3 – Ironlung
3. 8/21/2010 FBRC – Jackal – Stage 1 & 4

Stuff starting with ** is for immediate completion or as soon as possible. This list does not include secret projects, or my upcoming solo album.

I have about 4 CDs worth of music that I need to make! It’s very overwhelming. There’s personal projects that have been on the back burner for months because I’ve been trying to focus on things with deadlines. Anyway, that’s what is up here now. The computer is working great. It’s just time to start whittling away at the huge stack that piled up while it was out of commission.

I hope nobody saw what I wrote here yesterday. There were new drivers for the Alesis io|26 on Windows 7 64-bit. Long story short, I tried them and they didn’t work. I tried to work in Cubase and that didn’t work either. I’ve been trying to set up this refurbished Gateway DX4300 we got, and it was defective. It’s obvious that they didn’t test it before shipping it out, because it was freezing and crashing on day one. Not a good sign when you’re getting a new computer. Anyway, I am so darn tired of trying to work with computers that don’t run. It’s almost enough to make me want to quit. I don’t guess there’d be much of a difference though, between not selling CDs and not selling cassette tapes. ;-)

I’m putting some of my remixes on Youtube. I’ll start off with my NiGHTS remix, Celestial Entrance, and my Final Fantasy X remix, Dreams of Death. I’ll be adding a bunch more as my life continues to go on, so if you enjoy the music, you might want to subscribe to me on Youtube just to get your updates! Click the goofy icon to see my channel.

Some others I’ll probably be putting on… A couple of Wild Arms remixes, Maybe a Kirby Superstar or two, some Teen Agent… Some of the stuff I’m going to hold on to until the respective albums are released though, like Sonic for example, so you’ll have to wait for that. Sorry!

This isn’t the video I originally had on here, but I updated the other song. And this one got 5x more views than the other ones.

These are exciting times, indeed. I’d record footage of me playing, but I literally can’t do that, ever. I always get too self-conscious and mess up too much. Maybe some videos later though, that show how to play different riffs.

The album should also be opening up for CD sales at Amazon soon at a price of $10. You can get a nice jewel case with some lyrics, professional quality printed CD. Of course that would be a lot easier for people who can’t or don’t  want to download the mp3s. The band only sees 50 cents per CD that way though, so the best way to support the music would either be through the mp3s, buying a CD from me directly (request one!) or just making a donation. I’ve got a donation button out there somewhere. I’ll see if I can figure out how to add it to the site! In the meantime, if Amazon mp3 is something you regularly do, enjoy this! Thank you!

Interview with a ReMixer: Volume 9

And now, a Mirby Studios web-exclusive! Actually, I’m only posting this here. Brandon Strader, formerly known as Oinkness, alias BrandonS is a bit infamous for various reasons at OCR. But he has started a few bands, and remixed a few tracks, so he knows his way around a soundtrack and a sound system. He requested an interview, and all I could do was oblige. So here it is!

Mirby: What started your interest in video game music?

BrandonS: My introduction into video game music is probably the same as a lot of people; it was Final Fantasy VII. That was one of the first real non-pong type games I played when I was a kid. Then I moved on to FF8 and loved it too. My love for video game music continued from there in a predictable fashion.
M: What started your interest in remixing?
B: I visited OC ReMix in 2000 and was very impressed by the music I heard there. I tried to make a remix in 2001 and it was simply terrible. I think it almost passed at OCR, but times were different back then. Kingdom Hearts techno was a perfectly reasonable venture and wouldn’t have been ridiculed at the time. After a couple discouraging defeats, I left OCR for several years and started the bands Rainwound and In Staid Grace, as well as performing with other bands. I came back to OCR in August 2009 in an attempt to finally pass a remix there, and have a reason to make more musics.
M: Are there any tracks you’ve done that you’re more proud of or like more than the others?
B: That would definitely be “A Hog In His Prime” for the Sonic – Sound of Speed album. I did the staff credits, also known as the ending medley. It includes most of the themes from the game, including the special stage and drowning music… It really covers that whole game. Nothing I’ve made since then has come close to how great that one is.
M: Are there any remixers or musicians you haven’t collaborated with in the past that you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
B: That’s really a tough one.. I’ve been lucky enough to collab with the people I like. I got dialogue from Brushfire and Level 99 for a ZeroWing remix, and am working on a couple songs with halc. I’m also working pretty hard on a lot of material with Usa. I think if I had to choose someone, it would be blackguitar. He just had an awesome Metroid song pass at OC ReMix.
M: Any tracks you’d like to remix in the future?
B: I’m hoping to do The Shire theme from Lord of the Rings for the SNES.
M: Do you have a favorite track from a game? B: That’s way too hard to choose. I love Nobuo Uematsu’s work, and Motoi Sakuraba.. Garry Schyman makes some awesome stuff. I usually like a game’s whole soundtrack instead of just a single song.
M: That leads into my next question, oddly enough… Do you have a favorite video-game composer?
B: Nobuo Uematsu, for sure.
M: Lastly, what do you enjoy most about remixing video game music?
B: I enjoy hearing the music from a different perspective. You can take a soft song and turn it into metal, or you can take a heavy battle theme and turn it into an acoustic ballad. I’m not particularly fond of the electronica remixes but I’m guilty of making a few of those myself. I really love working on a song for a bunch of hours and having a really good idea, and then hearing it all put together and finished. There’s not a much better feeling when it comes to making any kind of music!

I can only hope that someday, the people who care for you, give you a bath and a tune-up. Also, shame on you for your booby-traps when I try to take you off… grrr.

The main difference is that I used the knowledge I have of the guitar and wrote the songs out in MIDI without actually playing the songs. I did this so that Dan L. could work his magic on the drums. He did, as the drums are really incredible. But this also separates some songs from some of the other songs that already existed. I was planning to make this a very high-class album with a couple piano-oriented songs that were driven by the piano with orchestral accompaniment. The problem is, we are rapidly speeding past the time constraints of a full-length album.

I personally love 75 minute albums, but not for this genre of music. When it’s progressive rock, that is fine. But you want an album like this to be more around 45 or 50 minutes so that you don’t overwhelm the listeners. Not to mention the fact that nobody listens to hour long albums anymore, they usually listen to the first handful of songs on a CD and then move on to something else. The iTunes generation is even worse, with their iPods on shuffle or just listening to 1 or 2 songs from a CD. I’m not talking about commercial CDs where there’s only 1 or 2 good songs on them anyway.

I digress though — I caught myself before I headed into a rant. I have split the songwriting for this album into 3 broad categories: There’s the epic pieces with Daniel’s drums. There’s the piano instrumentals which there are 3 of, one of which being the inspiration behind the whole concept behind this CD. The third category is the great acoustic stuff I’ve been playing just when I pick up the guitar, very similar to the way I wrote the first CD.

There’s way too many ideas, and not enough space on a CD for them. I think it was Mike Portnoy who said music is never completed, only abandoned. Another problem with the way we wrote this CD is that I have gotten used to the songs as instrumentals with no vocals. I don’t know if I will be able to write lyrics that match the love that I’ve gained for the music.

It is very likely that if I just stick to the base of what I’ve prepared for this CD, we will end up with 60 minutes of music. That would be 13 or 14 tracks… It is going to be an incredible journey if it ever gets completed!  I’ve been recording a ton of songs lately. I have a lot of material that are “one hour compositions”, as well as an entry into the Conceptual Music Competition #33 at OCR which I really enjoyed and entered an original song. Entering things like that really helped me become more comfortable making new songs that don’t necessarily have a specific purpose. I used to just write for CDs I was planning. Now I’ve got songs I made that I don’t even remember.

Anyway… too many songs. They’re all good, too. I might be able to cut one or two songs, but I don’t really want to. It’s going to be a blast to work on all of this music — I can barely stand to wait any longer.