Jeff Ball

Game Music

Original SoundCAST: Episode #015

August 6, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Original SoundCAST: Episode #015 Share this Original SoundCAST: Episode #015

We’ve got a fun episode for you guys today. It’s also a fitting follow-up to our previous episode, so … cheers to proper progression!

Brenna and I grill young-and-aspiring composer / violinist / audio engineer Jeff Ball on all topics related to Jeff Ball’s life. Okay, not all of them. But many of them. As Brenna is herself (re)learning violin, we get into the nitty-gritty of violin technique. We also talk about Ball’s work on the Globulous soundtrack, his performances in collaboration with Sam Hulick on Red Orchestra 2 and Mass Effect 3, his take on how to forge an identity (without getting pegged and typecast as, for example, “the violin guy”), and of course, we get the full backstory on how Ball even got started in the biz. Hint: GDC is a special, special place.

Download: Original SoundCAST Episode #015

Want to know which songs we used during the show? Find out after the jump. (more…)
Featured, Game Music, Music Production

Original SoundCAST: Episode #014 (feat. Andrew “zircon” Aversa)

July 17, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 8 Comments Share this

To us, Andrew Aversa is one of the few people who really represents what game music is all about. That’s because, even in the past year, Andrew has shown himself as a force to be reckoned with on all fronts: AAA game music, indie game music, and fan-made arrangements.

In this episode, Brenna Wilkes and I talk with Andrew for a solid hour about his work on Globulous (which Brenna recently reviewed), on Soul Calibur V, and the super-funded Kickstarter campaign for the OCRemix album under his direction: Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin. This last topic takes up over half of the episode, and it should! At the time we recorded this (Saturday), the campaign was at $60,000, 400% of the $15,000 goal. As I’m writing this post, they’re now at $75,000. I also got *this* in a Kickstarter Backer’s email:

What does that mean? Well, everyone who’s getting a physical copy of “Balance and Ruin” will also get a newly-printed, *all 4 disc* version of Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream as well. That’s good stuff.

Anyway, listen to the episode to learn about everything zircon’s up to. And if you want even more podcast-delivered info on the Balance and Ruin project, please check out this great Nitro Game Injection “after-show” recording with Larry “Liontamer” Oji, which was just recorded on Sunday.

Download: Original SoundCAST Episode #014

If you want to know what BGM we have behind all that talk-talk-talk, click the “more” button. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

All Falling Into Place – Globulous OST (Review)

July 13, 2012 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on All Falling Into Place – Globulous OST (Review) Share this

So there once was a game called Tetris. It was a captivating and innovative puzzle game that took simple block-in-hole concepts and a few 8-bit tunes and just ran with it. There have since been dozens of varieties and variations of the game in the past 25+ years.

Then you have Globulous from Canadian indie game producer Firestarter Games. Not only does it take the basic concepts of Tetris and rev them up with 3D graphics and spherical gameplay, but the music of the game has been given the royal treatment with fresh and original sounds from Mass Effect 3 violinist Jeff Ball and Soul Calibur V composer Andrew “Zircon” Aversa. With such a team of effective melody maestros, Globulous manages to set itself apart from several of the other Tetris-clones of the gaming world with classy beats and ambient resonance.

Sit back and don’t let the colorful moving blocks distract you from enjoying the atmospheric themes of Globulous after the cut. (more…)
Featured, Game Music, Reviews

Spacial Soundcraft: Astroman OST (Review)

June 7, 2012 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Spacial Soundcraft: Astroman OST (Review) Share this

Back in the hay-day of video gaming, there was a genre of game that was coined the “platformer” — in reality a 2D game where your main objective is traversing over the screen and through levels that consisted of many obstacles; most of which were platforms and the like. It was a popular type of game through the 90s that, within the past few years, has really been making a comeback in grand retro-style. Downloadable games seem to be leading the charge recently, with games like Braid and ‘Splosion Man becoming hits in their own right, enticing players with oldschool finger-twitching gameplay.

One of the more overlooked games for the Xbox Live Indie Arcade was a release earlier this year titled Astroman: a platform side-scrolling game featuring an adorable little spaceman romping through the solar system trying to repair his ship as he blasts aliens to bits as he goes. It’s a short, cute game that goes for about $3 on XBLA. However, what really shines about the game isn’t it’s nostalgic gameplay, but rather the music, which has gotten some well-deserved attention due to the recent release of the Indie Game Music Bundle 3.

A short but sweet original soundtrack crafted by composer Jeff Ball, known for his composition and violin work on games such Mass Effect 3 and Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, he has delivered some fantastic work for the little indie title and really makes the game shine. Journey with us into the star-stricken foray of music that is the Astroman Original Soundtrack. (more…)