Be sure to check out my Soundcloud page!

My Soundcloud page is now up to date with my most recent projects. I have links on the top of my page and on the sidebar. Please be sure to take a listen to my creations. There is a mixture of game scores, game narrative, and some side projects!

With that I just thought I would post a piece by one of my biggest inspirations Two Steps From Hell. This song is beautiful, powerful, and epic. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite orchestral pieces. Also check out their new album SkyWorld. It is an absolutely amazing album with tons of variance between the pieces.

Composing for fellow DSU Students game "Arcana"

I recently created a piano track for one of my piano courses. It was a simple midi track of just piano. I posted it on Soundcloud with little hopes of it going anywhere. About 10 minutes later it was being added to on of my friends video games entitled "Arcana." When I wrote the song I was going through kind of a rough time and got stuck in the writing process about halfway through. My day got a lot better eventually and I picked up the song again and finished it. It starts slow and solemn  almost hopeless, and then picks up. As the song picks up there is a sense of confidence growing. It hits its peak and then the confidence quickly dissipates. This caught the eye of the team creating the game and according to them it fits the mood of the game perfectly.

The song will be re-recorded, mixed, and mastered in the future (When I have free time).

Here is a video of the song being used in game. (It will eventually be split into stems to fit the game as it needs to)

"Arcana" Demo [With temporary audio]

And here is the link to the full song on my Soundcloud.

"Dreams" on Matt Lyon Audio Soundcloud

Music Promotion through Youtube

For years now, Youtube has been the number one place for me to find new music. It seems like an unlikely thing, but its really not. There is so much music on Youtube it is almost ridiculous. The old way I used to find music was by simply typing in a band name and using the related videos and so on to find other songs like the one I typed in. For the past year or so now, though, I have been discovering many different Youtube music promotion channels.

While exploring the vastness of Youtube about a year ago, I discovered this peculiar channel called Liquicity. I had no idea what it was but I was attracted to the channel's unique logo and beautiful backgrounds. But, the best part about Liquicity was the music. Liquicity is a Liquid Drum and Bass promotion channel, which means that artists can submit their liquid drum and bass track to Liquicity and Liquicity will create a video in their channel with that artists track, if they like it. 

There are so many music promotion channels on Youtube now, especially in the electronic genre. 

Here are some that I found and regularly listen to. 

• MORchillstep [Chillstep] http://www.youtube.com/user/MORchillstep 
• UKF Dubstep [Dubstep] http://www.youtube.com/user/UKFDubstep
• Liquicity [Liquid D&B] http://www.youtube.com/user/Liquicity
• Mr. Sucicide Sheep [Varies] http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSuicideSheep
• Going Quantum [Mixes] http://www.youtube.com/user/goingquantum
• Monstercat [Varies] http://www.youtube.com/user/MonstercatMedia

Music promotion channels such as the ones listed above are great ways to get your name out there. If you are a dubstep artist and are featured on UKF Dubstep, which is a huge promotion channel, its almost assured that you will get a lot of exposure. The kicker though; you have to be good enough. 

But seriously, these channels are a great way to find new music and I feel like these simple Youtube channels could one day be the future of music promotion, at least to a degree. 

- Matt

A typical Liquicity video.

The standard UKF Dubstep video.

Audio Production III Project - Bon Iver - "Calgary" Remix

One of the most intriguing projects that I have worked on recently is a remix of Bon Iver's "Calgary." Originally this remix was assigned in my Audio Production III class, but as I worked on it I made it more of my own personal project than simply being an assignment. I am fairly new to remixing as I had only done one other remix at the time. Recently I have been messing around with Massive VST and thought it would be cool to remix this song into a chillstep track. I have been itching to use a harp in a song so I really focused on that in this remix and I think it brings a very unique feel to this mix. Since I am rather new to the midi world it took me some time to do this project. Initially I created all of the sounds in Ableton Live using Massive VST and Garritan Personal Orchestra. After completing everything I needed to do in Ableton, I then exported all of the raw tracks and did the mixing in Pro Tools 10. It was not my preferred way of doing things but it was easy enough and required for the assignment. I do not currently have a preview of the track as I am currently working on a new version of it.

- Matt

This is a screenshot of my Ableton Live session before I exported it to Pro Tools 10. 

Avian Sunrise at Dakota State University.

On September 20, 2012, Dakota State University Live Concert Productions (DSU Live) hosted Avian Sunrise and openers, The Seen. It was a pretty exciting night as it was Avian Sunrise's third trip to DSU and there is always a good turnout for them. I ran sound for the majority of the night with minimal problems. The only problem with sound that happened that night was a problem with the crossover that we couldn't figure out. It is a long and funny story that I probably will not go into detail about. With this being my final year as a member of DSU Live I really soaked in this concert as there will not be many more left for me to run or attend. The Seen was an unexpected surprise and I thought they actually sounded great! Avian Sunrise sounded awesome as usual, with the exception of the crossover issues. All in all, it was a great night and a great concert. 

Here is a video of the concert that was made by Nathan Fields and Cody Welu.
http://fieldsrecordingphoto.wordpress.com/
http://WeluPhoto.com/

Rameses B - "I Need You" - Daily Song Posting

Of all the artists I listen to, Rameses B is among my top three favorites. The guy can not put out a bad track. No one, and I mean no one, comes close to being able to create melodic dubstep and drum and bass like Rameses B does. The song I am posting is an older one by him, but one of his best tracks to give you an idea of what I am talking about. This song is called "I Need You." [LIQUID DUBSTEP]

This was a very short review, but I am in class and should probably get off blogger.

- Matt (muzen)

Just because I am proud of this.

This picture I have posted is my current desktop on my laptop. I (for some reason) decided to go all out on my laptop. I was going for a Walking Dead-esqu wallpaper and I thought the one I used fit that style pretty well (wouldn't mind if there was a zombie somewhere in the pic though. maybe ill photoshop it). The addition of the clock actually gave me a Zombieland impression. So yeah, I am pretty proud of this for some reason and is the first desktop setup I have truly enjoyed in a long time. Though, I have no idea why I decided to post all of this on here. But here ya' go anyway.

- Matt (muzen)

MakO - "Home" - Daily Song Posting

MakO is a growing favorite of mine. He seems to still be relatively new to the scene but he really impresses me. This song is called "Home." I originally discovered it in the Goint Quantum Podcast no. 58. I heard it and was like, "wow, that side-chaining (to create the "swell" bass he features) is amazing." He really uses it to keep the song flowing. His drops fit well with the rest of the song. One of the things I hate about some dubstep songs is when an artist puts a drop into his/her song and it absolutely does not fit with the rest of the song. It's unnecessary and is why you will find me listening to liquid dubstep or chillstep, which are melodic forms of dubstep, over dirty dubstep or the likes. Believe it or not those nasty "wubs" can sound beautiful.

- Matt (Muzen)

Moving Onward

As my life as a college student comes to a close, many other things that I had previously been committed to have fallen through. I am often one that tries my hardest to fully complete something I begin, but as my time here dwindles, so do my previous projects. Some may know that I was doing audio for a game called "Perpetuam Memoriam" that a group of us started at last years Global Game Jam. The few of us that remained on the team after Global Game Jam just recently decided that it is within all of our best interests to shut down operations on the game. School has been becoming very time consuming for all of us and we were all losing interest in continuing the game. With that said, I am on a much smaller scale project with my good friends and colleagues, Travis Till and Cody Putzier. I will be doing audio for it and I am very excited for the opportunity because the game is very focused on the Foley Artist side of audio. In fact, it is so focused on sound effects and ambiance that I will not even be writing a score for the game. I will release more info about this great opportunity for me and the others when I, basically, get permission to be able to release some information. The only thing I can really tell you at this moment is that it will be SCARY. The conceptual ideas being thrown around lately for this game are some of the most unique concepts I have heard in while and I am positive it will scare players 90% of the time.

Later today I will be putting up a new daily song and some class related assignments. So keep in touch!

Matt

MitiS - "Born" - Daily Song Posting

Lately I have been considering creating a youtube channel to feature my daily favorites of drum & bass and dubstep. I have been inspired to do something like this because of youtube channels such as Going Quantum Podcast, Liquicity, MORChillstep, Mr. Suicide Sheep and Spread The Jams. So, while I haven't come up with a name, a design, or even a youtube channel yet, I will start posting songs that I really enjoy once every day or as much as I possibly can. Eventually I will create an official youtube channel and from there I will develop more plans on what I am going to do with this.

The song I am featuring today is a chillstep track called "Born" by MitiS. He has a very relaxing sound with very positive and uplifting melodies. If you are a fan of easy listening but are pretty new to electronic style music, this is the place to start. Since I don't have a youtube channel yet I am borrowing this from Mr. Suicide Sheep, a huge inspiration for me. Enjoy. 

"Perpetuam Memoraim" Soundtrack Preview V 0.1

Here is a mix of the original 4 tracks I created for "Perpetuam Memoriam" that helped "Team RuggMatt" and "The Pink Tutu's take home the best audio award at Dakota State University Global Game Jam 2012!

http://soundcloud.com/hav3n/global-game-jam-2012-perpetuam

Project: "Perpetuam Memoriam"

Global Game Jam 2012

Project: "Perpetuam Memoriam"

[My audio setup at Game Jam 2012]

Global Game Jam 2012 was my first experience with composing a video game score. I was tasked with creating the score in a 48 hour time frame. I was teamed up with the group "Pink Tutus" and was ultimately overjoyed with being able to work with them. I came into Game Jam hoping I could work on a soundtrack for a dark/survival horror style video game and was pleasantly surprised when the pink tutus decided to work on a darker style video game. The game is entitled "Perpetuam Memoriam" and basically recreates the process inside a drug addicts head while he tries to escape his addiction to this unnamed drug. 

During the 48 hour period I created four looping tracks for the soundtrack. I created the tracks as I watched the art developers create the concepts for the game. What I got out of it was extremely dark and unsettling. My tracks at the time I feel were spot on for the mood of the game. Unfortunately, due to the amount of time given to create the games, my tracks were limited to being short looping songs. 

Nevertheless, being teamed up with Mike Rugg, who handled the sound effects for this game, we were able to pull off the award for "Best Audio" at the event. "Perpetuam Memoriam" also won "Honorable Mention for Edgiest Game" which was possible because of the amazing art work and fine audio work. Unfortunately, we were unable to achieve many other awards because our game was not yet complete. 

We are now working on "Perpetuam Memoriam" as a full time game project and very shortly I will be opening up the audio files for this game, editing them, and then creating a full soundtrack as this game will soon be a fully developed horror platformer! 

Check my soundcloud for updates on the soundtrack!

[The Pink Tutus working hard at Global Game Jam 2012]

Thanks for reading!

HAV3N (Matt Lyon)

Neo Rebellion Audio