Adobe Audition has been glitchy, my computer has been bitchy, and life has been…well…life. So, for over a year now I haven’t been able to touch Symphoniacal. But after figuring out the conflict that was constantly rebooting my computer (Audition doesn’t like Microsoft Intellipoint) and making enough room on my hard drive, I’ve finally begun working on the next version. As I’m typing this, Brian Tyler’s score for “Eagle Eye” is pounding through my headphones, taking its rightful place among the other powerful sounds. It’s so intense that I’m having a little trouble thinking of what to type. More than anything, I wanted anyone who’s paying attention to know that Symphoniacal 8.0 is in the beginning stages. I’m not sure when it’ll be ready, but I’m already to version 7.2 and some major changes are starting to take place.

It’s official: Symphoniacal has so many friends on MySpace that they’ve allowed me to stop approving them. That’s right, I’ve approved ten thousand profiles. Oy. Still, it’s great to know that so many people are paying attention.

If you’ve never heard Symphoniacal all the way through, there has never been a better time to give it a listen. Even if you have heard it before, it’d be worth it to listen again. I’ve changed, added, and deleted so much that many sections are completely different, and now it’s a whole new monster.

I’ve put a lot of time, energy, love, and obsession into this project over the past few years, and I hope you enjoy the hell out of it.

Go to the download page right now to get Symphoniacal!

Please use BitTorrent (if you can) to help save bandwidth. If you don’t know what BitTorrent is or you can’t use it on your computer, don’t worry…you can always download the file the old school way.

Okay, so I’m closing in on the big 7.0 release, which will be the last one until I can find more time to work on it (or if some great music just falls into my lap). I’ve been re-working large sections, and this is a very different version. I’ve stuck to a few themes, updated a few songs, deleted a few duplicates, and moved at least a dozen songs around. But 6.9 in particular just got a cool upgrade, and it’s the namesake of this version.

I finally got the soundtracks for “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later” and they are juuuuust creepy as hell. I’m not sure I’ll use the main theme unless I can find a place for it, but instead, I’ve found (at least) five places where I put bits of it for ambiance, intensity, or to otherwise enhance what’s already there. If I can find a few more places to put some of it without it becoming too obvious, I’m definitely going to do it. This particular method, of using many parts of the same thing through Symphoniacal, is a relatively novel addition. Until now, I’ve only occasionally used more than one or two pieces from the same movie, video game, or television show (except for Star Wars). But the overall sound and fuh-reaky nature of John Murphy’s score is just too perfect for this project.

Other than adding the 28 * Later soundtracks, I had to remove a couple tracks to make room for the massive shuffling of music I did this version. Fortunately, I’ve always felt like some of them were filler that had long since lost their usefulness, and others were duplicate versions of the same series of music. These changes are going to ensure that 7.0 is a completely unique version from any before, so even if you’ve already heard it, you should consider upgrading when it comes out.

• added: “Outbreak”, “Tammy Kills Her Dad”, “Crowd Breaks Out”, “The Beginning”, “Rage”, and “Code Red” by John Murphy from 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later
• removed: “Immortals Battle” by Tyler Bates from 300 – there’s another track from the same movie just a minute after this one, and I changed the entire section anyway
• removed: “Cylons Fire” by Bear McCreary from Battlestar Galactica – I have a better track in mind from McCreary, that genius…

There are major changes taking place and I’m getting really excited about them. Though there is plenty of work left to do before I can release version 7, I am now much closer to the big release. With a set length, a halfway point, lots of good music, and a couple of large goals in mind, this one is shaping up to be my favorite version ever.

Since the last release (version 6.4), I’ve added the following songs…

• a genuine, completely unedited audio recording of the Huygens probe as it plunged into the atmosphere of Io
• “Decepticons” by Steve Jablonsky from Transformers
• “Heeding the Call” by Bear McCreary from Battlestar Galactica
• “Brain Bug” by Basil Poledouris from Starship Troopers
• “The Floating Fat Man (The Baron)” by Toto from Dune
• Alien’s theme by David Arnold from Independence Day

Stay tuned because I’m working like crazy and big things are coming soon!

Though the title of this version is about Beethoven, there were no songs added by him on this one. It’s called this because I recently discovered that the 74-minute CD was (allegedly) made that length because the execs at Sony were obsessed with Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

Consequently, I have had to rearrange several large sections, add several songs, and (unfortunately) delete a couple. The good thing is that the song has a distinctive halfway point (which has been there for a long time) but this time it’s actually at the halfway point. If you listen carefully at 37 minutes, you’ll hear the moment when it happens. It was something I’ve been planning for a looong time, but only now is it starting to come together. Of course, there are a lot of wrinkles to iron out, so I’ve got a lot of work to do before I’m happy releasing it.

Added “Heeding the Call” by Bear McCreary from Battlestar Galactica. If you’ve been keeping up with the show (don’t worry, I’m not giving spoilers), this is the music from the last few minutes of the third season. You know, the moment where four main characters suddenly walk into the same room…? Yeah, I’ve gotta add that moment to Symphoniacal.

Also, I added a track from the show “Heroes,” though it may be a while before I’m happy with it. The problem is that there hasn’t been an actual soundtrack released, so we can just gather moments extracted from the show while it’s playing. Don’t worry, I’ll get my hands on something…

So, I made a decision to do a major shift and now there are several songs added, a couple songs removed, and large chunks being moved around. This is the first step towards releasing version 7.0, which will be a significant change from any before it. The whole thing is now exactly 74 minutes long, several minutes longer than any previous version. Of course, longer doesn’t necessarily mean better, so I’m not planning on releasing any future versions until I’m ready for version 7.

Interesting thing to point out…by shear coincidence, I added a whole section that is currently called “Villians” with some of my favorite bad guy themes. Notice the version number? I swear it was an accident. I know some people are thinking, “Ooh…like the devil,” and some are thinking, “Ooh…like order 66 that Palpatine gave,” and still others are thinking, “Huh? I don’t get it.” There’s really nothing to get, honestly. It’s just a coincidence! ;o)

I upgraded from Adobe Audition 1.5 to 3.0 and decided to spend this version updating little problems and tweaking things that always bother me. Most listeners won’t notice a difference, and that is kind of the point. If I can clean up these little problems and you not notice, I’m doing exactly what I want. There are a few things I do want to point out, though…

• I mixed “The Kraken” around a little to give it more meaning at the end. “The Beginning of the End” (the second-to-last track) now starts off with a nice momentum it didn’t have before, all because it’s a different section of the same song. The trick now is getting other things in there that continue the momentum and highlight my favorite antagonists…

Added: “Ocean Whispers” from Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Badelt – Just felt like it fit nicely and gave it a little more darkness without adding too much melody to the intro.

Added: “The End of Our Island” from Dinosaur by James Newton Howard – This is the moment near the beginning of the film when the mating ritual of the lemurs is broken up by the sudden presence of strange lights that start falling from the sky. Then a gigantic ball of fire (the meteor that killed the dinosaurs) suddenly appears and then disappears on the other side of the horizon. There is a small pause as the animals watch this strange, silent spectacle for a moment, and then…

Added: “Vespera” by Libera – I stumbled upon this randomly and was haunted by the sound of it. I love it when I know exactly where a piece belongs as soon as I hear it. Doesn’t happen often, but sometimes you just know it.

Added: extra crowd effects during Hitler’s speech – I wanted his creepy cadence in there because everyone in the world knows what that idiot sounded like, but I didn’t want to make it too prominent. And the crowd this time is an angry mob, which you can interpret as you wish.

Added: a few extra cricket, water, frog, and other ambient effects to “Elbamohtafnu” – this is the beginning of the second half, and it comes straight out of Lord of the Rings, so I thought I’d give the listener a little extra to work with. Plus, it’s after one of the loudest and most intense sections of the entire piece, so it helps bring the listener back down a bit.

Added: the alien’s theme from Independence Day by David Arnold – I just love this soundtrack, and this theme is one of the coolest and yet least played pieces in the soundtrack genre. This was one of the first soundtracks that eventually led to my inspiration for Symphoniacal, and yet it took this long for it to get in here…

I made a mistake and saved over the session file, and it set me back a few versions. So, using the MP3 I had of the most recent version, I went back through and had to approximate it. In the process of doing so, I inevitably found several little things I wanted to polish. This version probably only sounds different from 6.3 to me because I’m so intimately aware of every second of this piece. I’m only releasing it because I can, really. I could’ve called it version 6.3 and no one would ever know the difference. That’s the problem with being obsessive, I guess…

I would go through a list of all the changes, but that’d be superfluous considering I’ve started developing a detailed listening guide. Just know that there is a new version, and if you haven’t experienced Symphoniacal, now is a good time to do it.

For those who are curious, however, the most important (and serious) moments from the Star Wars movies are now in order at various points. These moments include:

• when Darth Maul reveals himself to the Jedi
• when Mace Windu and Yoda are discussing the potential threat of more Sith at Qui-Gon’s funeral
• when Anakin reveals a hint of his dark side to Padmé by insisting that the Republic needs a single leader (a.k.a. dictator)
• when Anakin’s mother dies in his arms and he slaughters an entire village of Tuskens
• when Anakin leads an assault on the Jedi temple, killing every one of them (including the children)
• when Luke Skywalker comes home to find his only family murdered and charred
• when Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father after slicing his hand off
• when Darth Vader finally reverts back to Anakin Skywalker and kills Emperor Palpatine

I was obsessed for about a week, and this is the result. I have made some significant changes, and (of course) there are some things I feel need improving, but it’s here and available for your listening pleasure. It is only an upgrade from 6.1 to 6.2, but I could’ve considered it a version 7 for all the changes I made.

Listen to (or download) the latest version right now!

Here is a list of all the changes:

• added “Waking the Sleeping Giant” by Cris Velasco from the God of War II to “Bringer of War” – My hope is to create an entirely new version of Gustav Holst’s “Mars, Bringer of War” to this piece. There are a million versions of the same music, and I wanted to give it my own spin.
• added part of “Revenge of the Sith” to a handful of sections – I’m trying out a few things and seeing which ones I like the most. The first appearance mixed serendipitously well, so I’m leaving it for now.
• added “Enlightenment” by Jeremy and Julian Soule from Supreme Commander to “Evey Reborn”
• added “Immortals Battle” by Tyler Bates from 300 to “The Middle Passage”
• added “No Mercy” by Tyler Bates from 300 to “No Mercy, My Suite” – The name of this chapter has changed because the content has changed significantly. Though I love Cristophe Beck’s music from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the section was a little too uplifting for that point in the piece.
• added Richard Burton’s performance of the prologue from Jeff Wayne’s version of “War of the Worlds” to “They Came, But Not in Peace”
• added John Travolta talking about Hollywood from the movie “Swordfish” to “Sans Glimmer” – This isn’t Travolta worship in any form, but more of a commentary on the next piece of music that follows what he says about Hollywood. The music that follows what he says is from “Black Hawk Down,” a very realistic and gritty movie about modern warfare.
• added “Into the Trap” by John Williams from “Return of the Jedi” – This may or may not stay here. I don’t want there to be too much of one thing from any movie or composer (except, of course, Hans Zimmer), but I like it a lot right now.
• added “Peters Does His Worst” to the end of “Sleepy Hollow” – The section you hear is the moment when Dr. Peters opens the vial that contains the supervirus that will eventually kill most of the people on the planet.
• added the alien’s theme by David Arnold from Independence Day to “The Beginning of the End”
• added “The End Begins” by Gerard K. Marino from God of War II to “The Beginning of the End”

After almost losing all my data in a hard drive crash–

Back your important files up RIGHT NOW! I’ll wait until you get back…

Got them backed up? Good. Anyway, I finally got to work a little more and now have added a few new sections, which completely bypasses version 6.0, not that anyone would notice. ;o)

Added:

• “The Craziest Mess I’ve Ever Seen” by Steve Jablonski from The Island
• “Corynorhinus” by Hans Zimmer from Batman Begins

Added:

• “Final Battle” by Alan Silvestri from Van Helsing

Added:

• “Swords Crossed” by Klaus Badelt from Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Added:

• “The Katra Ritual” by James Horner from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Added:

• “Babylon” by Jeff Beal from Carnivale
• “Cylons Fire” by Richard Gibbs from Battlestar Galactica
• “Governments Should Be Afraid of Their People” by Dario Marianelli from V for Vendetta

Added:

• “Tocatta and Fugue in D minor” by Vanessa Mae

Added:

• “1969: Main Title” by David Arnold from Independence Day
• “1969: We Came in Peace” by David Arnold from Independence Day
• “Checkmate” by David Arnold from Independence Day
• Suite from “Hush” by Christophe Beck from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• “Strength and Honor” by Hans Zimmer from Gladiator
• “The Kraken” by Hans Zimmer from Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest
• “…to Die For” by Hans Zimmer from The Lion King

Added:

• “Beyond Rangoon” by Hans Zimmer from Beyond Rangoon
• “Firestorm” by David Arnold from Independence Day
• “Main Theme” by Hans Zimmer from The Contender

Added:

• “Chant” by Hans Zimmer from Black Hawk Down
• “Dies Mercurii I Martius” by Hans Zimmer from The Da Vinci Code
• “Strength and Honor” by Hans Zimmer from Gladiator
• “Main Theme” by Hans Zimmer from Tears of the Sun

Added:

• “Apocalypse” by Jesper Kyd from Hitman

Added:

• audio from “God is in the rain” scene in V for Vendetta
• “Nexus Energy Ribbon” by Dennis McCarthy from Star Trek VII: Generations
• audio file: “Battle: Swords, Axes, and Horses”
• audio file: “Medieval Battle”

Added:

• “One Ring to Rule Them All” by Howard Shore from Lord of the Ring: Return of the King
• Aldous Huxley speaking about psilocybin and LSD