Interview with Gavin Dunn of Miracle of Sound

Hey everyone! Hitokiri Akins here! Today, I've got an interview with Miracle of Sound himself, Gavin Dunn.  Many of you will known him from his most well known song, Commander Shepard, but he's done much more than just that.   Gavin has had a huge impact on the music and gaming industry, having a call out to said song in Mass Effect 3. (Link to said call out here.) And like many other internet based artists, Gavin is talented in many different types of music, even though he is mostly based in rock and roll.  Over the last couple of weeks, I've been in contact with Gavin and asking him questions about how he got started in the music industry. 

 

1. First off, Gavin, I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to do this interview with me. I would like to say that, on behalf of all of your fans, we greatly appreciate what you are doing.

You're very welcome!

 

2. What inspired you to pick up your first guitar?

When I was a kid I used to put on my Iron Maiden and Guns & Roses records and jump around the room playing guitar on a tennis racket - I kind of always wanted to play guitar and be a musician. I got my first real one when I was 15, changed my life! 

3. I was kind of the same way, though my musical endeavors never really panned out.  Though I am curious, what are some of the artists that have influenced you the most?

Well, the above mentioned 2 bands for sure, as well as Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, U2, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel... people who tell great stories in their songs and always try different things. 

4. It's always interesting to see what influenced people.  You never know what to expect when you ask that question.  Now, since you do all writing, singing, play all the instruments, mixing, etc...what equipment do you prefer to create your music?

I use Cubase 6 as my main recording & mixing hub, running Kontakt 5 for orchestral stuff and Ableton Live for synth programming. 

5. I've seen mention that you have had problems with record companies and bands in the past, and that eventually chose to make a song that you wanted to make your way.   What kind of obstacles have you had as a solo artist? What kind of troubles have you had with releasing your music exclusively on the internet?

The internet is great for independent artists. Obviously I don't have the same budget for advertising & promotion as with a label, but I keep 100% of my profits as opposed to less than 10% on a label. Piracy is a double edged sword, I like that so many people have the songs but I'd prefer if they bought it, haha. But as it stands I earn a modest living from MOS and that makes me happy. 

 

6. Yeah, piracy IS the the worst part of the internet, but at least you've got a mature attitude about it. Anyway, out of the songs you've written under your Miracle of Sound name, which one is your personal favorite?

It changes from day to day, but Calamity, Life In Bullet Time, City Of Night are 3 I love right now. 

 

7. Always cool to hear that, and I'd be curious to hear what your favorites would be in a few months.  Now, one thing I'm curious about is that, except for your bout with Tinnitus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus), you have kept to a "one or two songs per month" schedule.  How do you keep up with this schedule?

It became difficult to maintain the level quality last year doing one every 2 weeks, hence switching to monthly. I tend to create better work when inspired by an idea that pops into my head, as opposed to sitting down going 'Now I must write something'. I like when the idea comes to me but it does I work like crazy to get it done. Most songs take me between 50 and 80 hours to record and mix.

 

8. What's it like having become an icon in the gaming community for your music?

It's wonderful. MOS keeps growing and I keep getting more lovely messages from all kinds of gamers all over the world. It makes me a very happy guy!

 

9. And I'm glad to be part of that, Gavin. Do you have any tips for those starting out in the music industry?

Yes - learning to take advice and criticism is important, but learning which advice and criticism to ignore is equally important ;)

10. Do you have any tips for those trying to make a living through the internet?

Not really, if I knew the secrets i'd be doing it myself! I guess just make sure to have a product that is different and original and helps set you apart from the crowd. It has to be something you're passionate about, because passion is contagious.

11. Thank you very much for your time, Gavin, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future!

Thank you too!

And there you have it; Gavin Dunn's musical inspiration and tips for new artists.  Check him out at the websites below, and look forward to more from me soon!

https://www.facebook.com/MiracleOfSound
http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/miracle-of-sound
http://www.youtube.com/user/miracleofsound
http://www.youtube.com/user/MiracleOfSoundGaming
http://miracleofsound.net/

Internet manners, or lack there of.

I was playing Star Wars The Old Republic, and someone said something that kind of stuck with me. What was said doesn't matter at this point, but I haven't stopped thinking about it.

Now, anyone who has played an MMO knows the worst you can see there; sexism, racism, sexuality-ism...pretty much the worst things you can think of people.  And because they are anonymous online, they think can get away from it.

I think because of the lack of accountability for their actions online, people tend to act like jackasses. But that makes me wonder; are these the real thoughts of these people, or just them screwing around?  Unfortunately, I believe the former.  That they actually look down upon others, and say the worst of their thoughts in a forum where they can't be hit for it.

That's kind of why I not only advocate not feeding trolls online, but maintaining the same civility online that we give others in real life.  To do as Jesus said in Luke 6:31; Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

Now, whether you are a Christian or not, the Bible is a good basis on how to be a good and civil person.  Particularly the Ten Commandments and Jesus' teachings.  It's unfortunate that kind of thing is becoming a thing of the past, with the anonymity of the internet.  It's kind of disturbing, to be honest. Seeing so many people acting like this is not a good sign for the fate of this world.  That this is the true nature of these people....

So, I leave this entry with the same verse I brought up earlier. Do to others as you would like them to do to you.  Treat others with respect and honor as you would like to be treated in real life everywhere, and the world will be a better place for us all.

Update on my situation

Okay, here's what happened since October.

First, I quit my job at Infocision, the company that does telemarketing.  I was about to have a nervous breakdown because of it, so I HAD to quit. Now I am without an income, but because my dad is a trucker, he's willing to pay my rent and internet bill, so I'm safe on that account.  And my dad promised a LONG time ago that, so long as he lived, he would ALWAYS provide a home for me when I need one, so he has no problem with doing this.  Make no mistake, at 30, I don't like asking him for help, but it's necessary at the moment.

Of course, he won't help me get the equipment I need to start my webseries, but I don't blame him; it's not a real job for a long time, after all.

I also turned 30 last month. I was dreading it up to the day, but now that it has passed, I'm fine with it.

I also started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I'm going to review it once I complete all 8 classes.  I'm over halfway through the first Chapter of the Jedi Knight story, and I have 2 acts for the Knight, and seven other stories to go. That's what I like about SWTOR; you not only have a story, but once complete story for each individual class.

So, life's not great at the moment, but unlike in October, I'm not going insane anymore, and that is worth more than a steady income in my book.  I have family who love me, a roof over my head and food in my stomach, and a new game to play during my off time of searching for a job.

So to all, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and let's pray that 2013 is a better one for me!  :)

Repost of an old review: Dragon Age: Origins

This was originally posted on February 4, 2010, and I am doing this to bring my ads back to where they should be; games and other nerdy stuff.


Today, I'm doing a review on the newest Bioware game I own; Dragon Age Origins. I'm going to go right ahead and say it; I'm a Bioware fanboy. But I'm not the stupid kind of fanboy; even though I will buy every game that comes out that's from Bioware, I am NOT willing to overlook some of the flaws. The version I own is the Xbox 360 version, since my computer can't handle the PC version.

The basic story is this; you are a Grey Warden recruit who's been put in a position to save the world from the Blight. You were betrayed by Teryn Loghain Mac Tir (voiced by Kain himself, Simon Templeman) during the battle of Ostagar, where King Cailan Theirin had gathered an army to face the darkspawn horde. Loghain was supposed to be respond to a signal flame that you and your fellow Grey Warden Alistair (later revealed to be the half brother of Cailan) lit, but he retreated and left Cailan to die. The story is about your and Alistair's efforts to recruit an army to fight the Blight, and your efforts to stop Loghain from making things worse.

Now, here's the big thing Bioware made a big deal about in the pre-release; the origins. You have 6 origin stories; Human Noble, City Elf, Dalish Elf, Dwarven Commoner, Dwarven Noble, and Mage (Either human or elf, but not dwarf. The reason dwarves can't be mages is explained in the game.). Each origin gives you a different view and mindset for the rest of the game, which plays out exactly the same regardless of the origin. Granted, you are looked at differently depending on your origin; the Dalish Elves are MUCH more accepting of you when you enter their territory then they would be if you were human, but the game plays out the same way regardless. You do have certain points where you can diverge your story; you can, for example, let the werewolves kill the Dalish and have them in your army, , or choose Bhelen over Harrowmont when trying to get the dwarves to elect a king, or choose to let the mages be wiped out and gain the aid of the templars in your army, and that DOES stuff affect the ending you get, but the story still flows the same way to the end; you still have to fight the archdemon at the end, and everything after the Landsmeet happens exactly the same regardless of your choices.

My take on the Origins is simple; they do add a lot of little things to the story. For example, say I play as a Dalish elf. She's one of the wandering clans elves who are trying to rediscover their lost history and lifestyle. The Dalish Warden knows she's looked down upon by humans, but unlike the City Elf, she looks carries a bit of anger at the humans, and looks at them unfavorably in turn. In her mind, she will not be treated like a slave by the humans, despite her defending them from their own folly. Her every thought is filtered through this mantra, which she was taught since childhood; "We are the Dalish, keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path. We are the last of the elvhenan, and never again shall we submit."

Her interactions with the humans of the world differ as well. Since the Dalish believe that the humans attacked the Dales because they would not worship their god, she has a very low view of the human Chantry, if you choose the right options.

And there are minor differences when you've chosen the other origin stories. The Human Noble has a special link to Arl Howe, while the interactions that you have as a Dwarven Commoner in Orzammar will be different than if you are a Dwarven Noble. And the things you do as a City Elf affect what happens when you return to the Denerim Alienage near the end of the game. And the vast majority of people are scared shitless of you when you're a mage, because the Chantry has vilified magic so much.

The combat engine is reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic; auto-attack and skills that you can use that use your stamina/mana pool (depending on the class you choose.) Unlike Mass Effect, however, you can switch party members on the fly, giving you complete control of the battlefield.

Class choice goes back to the regular fantasy classes that are well known; warrior, rogue and mage. Warriors and rogues are self explanatory; warriors tank, draw aggro and do high damage, rogues are great archers and are the only ones capable of unlocking doors and chests, and are most effective when they "do it from behind". Mages are a little different; they are more like the D&D sorcerer class than the mage class; they use a mana pool to cast spells it has learned.

The specializations add to the game play very well, though some specializations are better than others. Each class has 4 specializations which add new strengths and skills. For example, the mage specialization, Spirit Healer, allows a mage to cast very powerful healing magic, while the warrior specialization, Champion, allows a warrior to buff their party and debuff their enemies. (I'm not a fan of the rogue specializations, to be honest, but that's just me.) And the different specializations give you different stat buffs; Berserker, a warrior specialization, gives you a +2 to your strength stat and 10 more HP, for example.

I'm pleased with the voice cast in this game, as well. Instead of doing like I did with my Mass Effect review, however, I'll just post a link to the Dragon Age Wiki with the voice actors.

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Cast_%28Voice_Actors%29

Now, I will comment on a few;Ohgren, Gorim and First Enchanter Irving are all voiced by the same guy; Steve Blum. Which is funnier when you consider that, if you aren't playing as a Dwarven Noble and bring Oghren with you when you first talk to Gorim in Denerim, they talk to each other. Granted, I know it's not how voice acting works, but I can just imagine Steve Blum in the booth, switching back and forth between the voices.

Romances are well done; You have 4 people to romance in this game; 3 for a male PC, 3 for a female. For female, you have Alistair, Zevran and Leliana, and for a male, you get Morrigan, Leliana and Zevran. That's right, you have a male romance character who is bisexual. And while I don't swing that way myself, I'm glad that there's the option in the game for both gay men to have someone to relate to.

Now, I am prepared to talk about the things I don't like. First, the influence system. Now, I've ranted on influence systems in the Kotorfanmedia forums, but my main gripe is this; they are needlessly metagame concepts that take you out of the gameplay. Instead of bringing along a party that is best suited for the situation, I have to take a less than idea party with me, just because I don't want to lose influence with a certain party member because of the choices I'm making on this playthrough. It doesn't help that positive influence gives tangible rewards as well; the better influence you with a character, the more of a boost to a certain stat they get.

Another thing how the game handles random encounters; when I don't want to deal with them, they pop up, and when I want a certain random encounter to happen, it never does. For example, there are two good random encounters; the meteor metal ore (which comes from a Superman reference. Check this video to see!)



Anyway, the other good random encounter is a store that has a few good items.

But the random encounters, while good for a few EXP, really disrupt the flow of the game.

I do have a complaint, however. EA and Microsoft forced Bioware to push out a DLC that was essentially a virus; the"Return to Ostagar" DLC originally deleted all specializations that you weren't using at that moment for your individual characters. So, I could continue playing with my warrior-Templar/Champion just fine, but if I wanted to create a new mage, all the specializations I had unlocked were gone. And every time I turned the system off, the specializations I unlocked during the game session got deleted when I turned the system off. Granted, I learned a way around that problem, and Bioware fixed the glitch, but it was irritating for a few days until I learned how to fix it.

I can only hope that this isn't going to become the standard of EA, to force Bioware to put out something before it's done.

Finally, the "sex scenes" in this game. I think Bioware made them look incredibly cheesy because of the controversy regarding the Mass Effect; you see underwear the whole time on during the "sex scene", all the time. And they don't even try to hide that fact; there are several scenes where you see the character's entire body. I laughed so hard when I first saw this. It's almost as if Bioware is saying "Go ahead Kevin McCullough and Cooper Lawrence, make yourselves look like fools again with our game. This time, Sesame Street is racier than what you can see!"

All in all, I like this game. It's flawed, yes, but what game ISN'T flawed? But, even a flawed Bioware game is better than most games that are made today.

The Dolphin Experiment

I found this on youtube. The audio was taken from the Roosterteeth podcast.  Roosterteeth is best known for the Red Vs. Blue series. 

New Background

I just updated the background to a picture that was done by Madolin Bee. During the heyday of Kotorfanmedia, I was looking for someone to do a visual rendition of my character Jake Katarn.  I actually have this as my desktop background, and have had it since 2007.  I love her drawing THAT MUCH.

Anyway, check out her deviant art page, and know that I've loved her art since I saw it and look forward to seeing how her work has and will improve.

Madolin Bee

Mass Effect 3 review

Having finished my playthrough with all six classes, but NOT Insanity (because that's just challenge for the sake of challenge, and it really doesn't do anything for the narrative or gameplay aspects of this.  Well, a little on the gameplay, but not enough to change my opinion.)

Anyway, the story is as follows; The Reapers are here.  All of Shepard's efforts to stop them have failed, and they're here, and they are wiping out all "advanced life" in the galaxy.  And they started with Earth. 

So yeah, things are VERY grim when the game starts.  But, there's hope.  A short trip to the Mars archives with your squad gets you information that, as you have been led to believe, will destroy the Reapers. 

The rest of the game is spent building alliances and getting the resources you need to build the superweapon.  The main missions are for the alliances, and the side missions are for the resources.  Both contribute to your Effective Military Strength, or EMS.  The EMS determines your ending; if it's below a certain point, you only get two of the endings, but if it's high enough, you get all four.

Now, for the gameplay.  I actually like the changes that were made to the system over the past two games.  They kept the powers progression from ME2, which I like, since they focus on the abilities instead of improving accuracy with weapons.  But, they added the weight system, giving your proficiency in all guns.  This actually fits in the old adage "every marine a rifleman", allowing me to give Shepard an assault rifle no matter the class, and, if you upgrade it and upgrade your weight capacity, still grants you very little cooldown on your tech and biotic powers.  And if you're a soldier, you don't have to worry about that fact at all, since you've only got one power with a cooldown; they removed the cooldown on ammo powers in this game, which is a vast improvement in ME2.

Next, they overhauled the planet scanning; it's still necessary if you want to boost your EMS, but it's not as annoying.  You give off a scan pulse in the different systems, seeing if you can find resources for yous military or the superweapon, and you only scan for one thing.  Of course, you get a sense of urgency, since each pulse alerts the Reapers to your presence, and too many pulses and the Reapers start chasing you down.  The only way to escape is to leave the system, although you can return and continue to scan, but the Reapers chase you down every time.  So, if you're quick and careful, you can come back in and catch something you missed when the Reapers chase you off the first time.  Of course, when you complete a mission, the map resets and the Reapers won't chase you down in a system you've been to previously. Of course, this means the Normandy's stealth drive plays a bigger role in this game because of this; the only reason you are able to enter Reaper Controlled systems is BECAUSE of the Stealth Drive.  So, the setup from the two previous games actually some practical use in this game.

The classes are pretty much the same in this game as ME2, with the exception that that tech powers now have the ability to do the same chain attacks that biotic powers could in ME2.  They also added grenades back into this game, though they are thrown overhand in this game, instead of sidearm like ME1.  Heavy weapons are different this game; they have limited ammunition, you pick them up on the battlefield, and discard them when you run out.

Finally, the classes; I still hate Sentinel, as I have in both ME1 and 2, I still really like the biotic classes.  I also really liked Infiltrator, but my favorite is still the basic soldier. 

And finally, the endings.  I'm not going to bother with the original controversy about the original crappy endings, because it doesn't matter at this point; the extended cut is free to download.  It fixes everything that was wrong with the original endings.

So, there's four endings; Destroy, Control, Synthesis, and Refuse. Destroy shows you destroying the Reapers, Control shows you becoming the guiding consciousness of the Reapers, Synthesis shows you combining organics and synthetics, and Refuse shows you refusing to cooperate with the three choices.  All four shows victory in some way, though Refuse shows Shepard's failure against them and the next cycle's victory.  Strangely, I prefer the Control ending the most, because there's actually three different versions of it, depending on your alignment meter; Full(or mostly) Paragon, Full(or mostly) Renegade and Neutral.  But with all endings, you see the effects of your choices in the game.  For example, if you chose to have Jack's students do barriers instead of fighting, you see Jack standing with them, but if you have them fight, she stands over their graves.  And you see this for the majority of the gameplay choices; the genophage, Rannoch, your party members from ME2...all of it, and specifically how you handled those situations.

And finally, multiplayer.  It felt tacked on, and it was, but it is fun.  Every time I've played multiplayer, I've had fun.  Unfortunately, most of the DLC has been multiplayer packs, which, while fun, is not what I expect out of a Bioware game.  I've heard that they are planning a new storyline pack, but I'm disappointed in the focus on multiplayer so far.

All in all, I enjoy this ending of Shepard's story.  And while it is pretty much the Swan Song for how Bioware used to be, it's an enjoyable one, from beginning to end.