zirconMusic » site stuff

FL Sidechaining Tutorial, More Text Guides

zircon — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:43:38 +0000

I get a LOT of questions about how to do sidechaining (or, more accurately, sidechaining compression in FL Studio 9. This is a very common effect in dance music, so I recorded a short video explaining how it’s done. Check it out below, or on the Video Tutorials page! I’ve also added two new written guides to the Guides page for those of you interested in the business end of music.

New Written Guides Section Added

zircon — Sat, 08 May 2010 02:40:08 +0000

Are you a composer, songwriter, producer or any other kind of DIY musician, hobbyist or professional? If so, you’ll be pleased to learn about my revamped Guides page! All video tutorials can now be found in the Videos subsection. The new written content thus far is being ported from SoundTempest, but I’m planning on writing and releasing tons of new stuff too.

Got a request for a new guide, tutorial or video? Let me know and post here!

Written Guides for Musicians, Songwriters, Composers & Producers

Video Tutorials

50 zircon Tracks (and Counting) Now Available for Licensing

zircon — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:55:46 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that over 50 original tracks (many of which have never been released) are now available for licensing at my Licensing Store! This collection includes tracks from Antigravity and Fittest, plus original instrumental hip-hop, dramatic orchestral pieces, subtle underscore, New Age/world and more.

The new licensing store, provided by LicenseQuote, allows anybody to easily browse my collection of available music by genre, tag and description. Upon finding the right track, a quote can be generated by using the intuitive licensing calculator, which determines an approximate fee based on the type of usage and a number of other factors.

So, if you have a film, video game, advertising, TV, DVD or any other kind of media project, no matter how big or small, check out the new store! I’ll be updating it regularly with new music from now on, so if you have a consistent need for music, keep checking back (or shoot me an email to talk about custom/exclusive compositions.)

Peppers – iPhone / iPad Puzzle Game – Now Available

zircon — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:41:21 +0000

Earlier this year, I mentioned that I had written several tracks for an iPhone puzzle game, Peppers. That game is now available for both iPhone and the new iPad! You can read more about it at this link, which also has a gameplay video and screenshots. The lovely voiceover in the video (also present in the game) is by Jillian Aversa.

The game is a lot of fun, essentially based on the “match-3″ genre of puzzle game popularized by Bejeweled. Peppers has a total of three game modes from easy to hard, each of which scales in difficulty within the mode, changing the gameplay and mechanics as well. It’s one of the most unique match-3 games I’ve seen yet, and it was a pleasure writing the music for it, too.

Check it out at http://www.peppersthegame.com/, and don’t forget to download “Spatial Recognition”, the main music track!

Presenting the New Impact Soundworks Website

zircon — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:45:05 +0000

I co-founded Impact Soundworks with LucasArts composer Will Roget, II nearly two years ago. Today, we unveiled the revamp of our website, featuring a completely new (and highly spiffy) design!

We’ve integrated our new shop system throughout the site, improved the visibility of the (such as free downloads, product updates and demos), added far more info to the front page and generally made the whole thing look much better.

Check it out at www.impactsoundworks.com!

New services page: Let me write, produce and design music for you

zircon — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:12:18 +0000

If you look at the navigation bar, you’ll now see a link to Services, a page that outlines all the custom and commissioned stuff I can do for you. These services range from custom music composition (film, TV, radio, DVD, podcast, or anything in between), music production and engineering (for fellow musicians and artists), synthesis and sound design (great for composers and producers looking for unique sounds) and sample library development.

I’ve been writing custom music, mixing, mastering, designing sounds and creating sample libraries for awhile: this is just the first time I’ve made a comprehensive page for it! Whether your budget has six zeros or just one, I can work with you on just about any project or deadline. This is what I eat, sleep and breathe, so please don’t hesitate to send me an email if you’re interested!

New Licensing Page – Use zircon Music in Your Games, Films, Websites

zircon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:18:25 +0000

I regularly receive emails from individuals or companies who are looking to license my music for podcasts, video games, compilations, DVDs films, and other projects. So, I’ve created a brand-new Licensing Page where you can input the details of your project, get a quote and license a song… automatically!

If you want to skip directly to the store, here’s the link. Right now, you can license ANY song from Antigravity as well as a few other originals. Whether you’re doing a podcast, student film, major theatrical release or anything in between, you can custom-tailor a license for your needs. I’ll also be uploading more music soon, including the Fittest OST.

Enjoy!

New Free MP3s Page – Download Lots of zircon Music!

zircon — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:12:19 +0000

While you can stream and download my remixes and original songs from the Music page, now you can download MP3s even more easily at the new Free MP3s directory!

Besides access to all of my video game remixes, various originals and non-video game remixes, I’ve also added the six winners from my Antigravity remix contest.

Once you’re at the Free MP3s page, just click on the directory you want and download away!

Store Back Online, New Zebra 2 Presets

zircon — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:38:36 +0000

The web store is now back online! While you’re checking it out, take a look at the Soundware category, where you can find my newest library of Zebra 2 (Mac/Win synthesizer VST) presets.

This new collection contains all the presets I’ve ever done plus 65 new ones and 65 variations. The total count is over 330 sounds! Most of them are intended for dance and electronic music, and I’ve used almost all of them in my own tracks, so if you want a nice range of pads, leads, basses, analog and digital type sounds with my own personal flair, check ‘em out.

You can hear demos on the Soundware page, but here is just one example song done using ONLY the new patches and no external effects of processing:

“Z-Squared” (click to download)

Pick it up for only $30, or $5 as an upgrade from one of my previous Zebra collections!

Web Store Down for an Update

zircon — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:13:50 +0000

While mucking around in the website e-commerce backend, I apparently triggered some setting that re-sent a bunch of purchase receipts. If you received a purchase receipt erroneously, just ignore it – it’s purely a database glitch. You weren’t charged!

Update: Now the entire store is, temporarily, down for an upgrade. It should be back within the next 24 hours if all goes well. Sorry for any inconvenience! If you want to purchase my new Zebra 2 preset collection, you can simply PayPal me $5 (for the upgrade) or $30 (if you didn’t have the older collection). My PayPal is aaversa (at) gmail (dot) com.