An original piece for the first time in a while. A fusion of orchestra, blips and wubs. It was mostly experimenting with various sounds to relax a little and practice with mixing in a non-orchestral setting.
An orchestration of UNATCO from the original Deus Ex soundtrack. It was originally to test out Adagio a little and practice some techniques, however I ended up taking most of Adagio out and it’s now mainly CS2 and Spitfire Albion.
A little piece I made up as I went along that uses the themes and motifs created by Garry Schyman. It is an original improv piece but it’s heavily based on (and borrows melodies from) several tracks from the Bioshock II soundtrack. Mostly made to force myself to improve my string writing. I really tried hard to resist using anything else in the orchestra – there’s a little woodwinds/brass here and there but it’s mostly strings (and piano)
An orchestration of the original Deus Ex theme composed by Alexander Brandon. The original was a badass mod tracker file, so I brought it up to date with the latest musical technologies. It proved quite hard to mix so hopefully it came out okay. I’m not completely happy with it, but it’s as polished as it’s going to get with the time I have. Mostly to practice mixing libraries and playing with my newly recorded private string samples.
An orchestrated medley of some of the tracks from the Resident Evil II soundtrack. I was playing the recent re-release on PSN and felt the urge to tackle some of the tracks from it. This piece features orchestrations of ‘The Beginning Of Story’, ‘Raccoon City’, ‘The Front Hall’, ‘Leon With Clare’ and ‘Secure Place’.
An orchestrated medley of some of the tracks from the Resident Evil II soundtrack. I was playing the recent re-release on PSN and felt the urge to tackle some of the tracks from it. This piece features orchestrations of ‘The Beginning Of Story’, ‘Raccoon City’, ‘The Front Hall’, ‘Leon With Clare’ and ‘Secure Place’.
I’ve just popped a new freebie on the website – You can find it by clicking FREEBIES from the menu at the top (or the download link below). It’s a little toy trumpet for Kontakt 4/5 that features 4xRR short notes (two dynamics) and 3xdynamic sustains. It also has quirky button press FX and release notes for added realism. It mixes in really nicely with some of the libraries I’ve worked on recently such as Cinebells. Let me know what you think of the instrument in the comments section.
An orchestrated and crazy wiggly rendition of ‘All Gummed up Inside’ from Adventure time. It was mainly to test some new things and have some fun to relax after a long day’s work.
An orchestration based on the motifs from the Killzone games. I tried to stick closely to Joris De Man’s style while adding a little of my own touches. It’s a blend of original composing and following the orchestration of the Killzone themes.
An orchestration of Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Again, testing out various libraries I’ve bought recently and also experimenting with techniques. Not completely happy with it, but the original song’s style of orchestration isn’t something I’m completely competent with yet.
Hey Blake! More recent follower, but a big fan no less of your work. Quick question in regards to mixing:
Do you worry much about EQ’ing the sampled instruments when you’re mocking up? Or use any other plugins for mixing purposes?
I also notice you don’t carry very many samples of the EastWest line. As I’ve upgraded my library, I’ve slowly started to understand why, but curious of your reasoning. The PLAY engine? Inherent wetness in (most) samples? Lack of CC parameters to mold sequences into more realistic performance? Or just brand loyalty to clients you’ve worked for?
Thanks for your time. Look forward to hearing more of your work!
Adrian Hernandez
Hi Adrian! Thanks for your question.
In regards to EQ, I tend not to worry about it that much. When it comes to orchestra I find that you don’t need to do very much EQ shaping. There are a few exceptions where a library developer has made something too sharp or to dull, but in general you can get away with doing very little. In terms of actual mixing, I have set up my project in FL Studio so that each instrument is output to a separate bus. I then have 5 other busses called ‘Strings’, ‘Brass’, ‘Woods’, ‘Percussion’ and ‘Choir’ which have basic convolution reverb. I tend not to use these unless an instrument has no multimic support, or is recorded dry.
In regards to EastWest, I have always had issues with the PLAY engine and so have avoided it. I am also constantly tweaking my own instruments (I have rewritten and rescripted many of the commercial libraries I’ve purchased) and PLAY really doesn’t let you do much in that regard. I also prefer Kontakt’s performance and stability and it has many great libraries that rival any EWQL ones.
A quick re-render of my old Stalker Duke Nukem 3D remix while I’m in a Duke 3D mood. This has been posted long ago but I updated the samples to use my latest libraries and tweaked bits here and there (and made the picture more SFW).
An orchestration of the end song from the Portal 2 game. I did the first one and wanted to have a stab at the second as it’s an equally-as-awesome tune. It’s a little more experimental than usual and has quite a bit of added accompaniment.
An orchestration of the end song from the Portal 2 game. I did the first one and wanted to have a stab at the second as it’s an equally-as-awesome tune. It’s a little more experimental than usual and has quite a bit of added accompaniment.
An orchestration of Bloody Tears from the Castlevania series of games. This started as a test of something I’m working on and then progressed into a sort-of-full piece. Features some Sample Modelling behind the CineBrass to give it a little oomph more realism.
Skip over this video if you’re just here for the tunes, but keep watching if you’re interested in watching what goes on behind the scenes. Feel free to throw any questions you have about my workflow, FL Studio or Kontakt or music composing using the ‘Ask a question’ link above and I’ll try to answer.
An orchestration of the ending theme from Super Mario World by Koji Kondo. I posted a shorter version of this a while back, but this has the ending now where I tested out Sample Modeling’s Horns & Tuba. So much awesome but I really need to work out how they fit into my template!
This is an orchestral cover of the Select Screen from Zelda A Link to the Past. I’d never paid much attention to the Zelda music until recently. I wish I had gotten into it much earlier as there’s so many good pieces of music hidden behind 8bit blips and blops. I have a ‘making of’ video for this piece of music that’s coming as soon as I chop it up!
The Lapis Philosophum piano solo from FMA:Brotherhood is one of the only things I can really play that well on piano. This started off as me simply recording myself performing the piece but I went back to it and added strings, dings and tings as accompaniment.
An orchestration of the ending theme from Super Mario World by Koji Kondo. I posted a shorter version of this a while back, but this has the ending now where I tested out Sample Modeling’s Horns & Tuba. So much awesome but I really need to work out how they fit into my template!
Another week, another epic pirate piece. I’ve recently worked on the soundtrack for Exit Strategy Entertainment‘s upcoming game, Pirates of New Horizons. They’ve just released a preview version that you can play in your browser as well as the option to pre-order the Buccaneer or Captain’s edition (Captain comes with a complete version of the Soundtrack on release). If you like space, pirates or my music feel free to check out the site and give it a go!
Here’s another full length track from the game’s score, composed by myself. This features on the volcano level where dangerous lava splashes around you as you loot the planet of its stash of treasure
An orchestration of Fountain of Dreams from Kirby’s Adventure with a little Alan Silvestri feel added to it. I was testing out a few new libraries I’ve purchased recently and not had the chance to check out properly.
An orchestration of To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X, made for my girlfriend. I kept it simple and based on the original, though added in a full orchestra here and there. Also the first time I’ve test driven the new Cinematic Strings 2. They’re awesome.
An older piece of mine with the original Gears of War theme played on piano with a little orchestral accompaniment. It’s quite interesting to listen back to this stuff before Kontakt and it’s many libraries were the staple of my audio setup.
This comparison is slightly unique in that I made this before the full game was released. My remake was built from ear by listening to the various trailers of the game available. Therefore, the tone and EQ of mine is considerably different, but I figured that this comparison may prove useful in other ways. I’m also pretty happy with the end result’s realism.
This is the main theme from the most recent Zelda game, Skyward Sword and was made complete with commercially available sample libraries.
This site contains a collection of orchestral music, covers, remixes and doodles made by me, Blake Robinson. Everything on here is the work of my Synthetic Orchestra, a collection of sample libraries, software and hardware that I use to create ultra realistic orchestral music.
If you want to stay up to date with what I get up to, free free to check me out on the social networks below:
I get a lot of messages saying 'Blake - SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!'. If you've got a few coins spare and want to give back to the Synthetic Orchestra, feel free to use the donate button below:
All donations go towards feeding the Orchestra brand new software and samples to keep them sounding in tip-top condition and keep me pumping out cool new remixes and music.
