The Composition and Sound Design Network
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Jeff Powell
- Sugar Grove, Illinois
- United States
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Jeff Powell's Groups
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Video Game Audio
18 members
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Film/Television
14 members
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Engineering and Recording
20 members
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The Business of Sound
22 members
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The Music Lounge
11 members
Jeff Powell's Discussions
Jeff Powell's Page
Latest Activity
P.S. -- I'm beginning to think the problem with that web form actually lied in IE7. While IE8 causes a lot of complaints about things, I noticed that with IE8 search box is consistantly behaving itself.
As long as we're talking cryptically (from ...
You crack me up, Matt!! Yep, for anyone just tuning in, I love to play with bombs, guns and fire...sonically speeking, of course.
I began my quest for low-end supremecy when I had just started working on Capcom's Big Bang Bar pinball game. It was...
I know I'm a month too late here. I'll bet you better understand now why I was bitching at Sony on the users forum two summers ago. A few of us were back at it again recently, as Sony has not updated or fixed anything all year. They really strippe...
Matt, that reminds me of the OCC Pinball video shoot we were on back in '04 (on my most surreal of birthdays). Remember when Mikey backed away from reading lines about his dad? Of course, with a pop like Paul, Sr., who wouldn't worry a bit?
Profile Information
- Who are you?
- Composer, Sound Designer, Musician, Film/Television, Games, Advertising, Small Business Owner
- Whats your goal?
- Composer, Sound Designer, Musician, Film/Television, Games, Advertising, Small Business Owner
- Your website?
- gamesoundz.com
- Your company website?
- gamesoundz.com
- What project are you currently working on?
- A new redemption game for Coastal Amusements.
- Whats another project you are working on?
- A new coin-roll game for a game developer in Singapore.
Also, a new merchandising platform that will contain a variety of games and stuff I can't talk about yet...coming from China, soon...I hope.
- What project did you complete?
- Namco's Hip Hop Scotch and Coastal Amusements' Sea Wolf II. A Hasbro-licensed game being developed by Coastal. A couple bar-top video games for TouchTunes.
- Whats another project you completed?
- Three redemption games for ICE -- Photo Finish, MLB and Knock Out Punch (which is a new version of Wacky Ducks, one of the longest-running redemption games still in production, which I first worked on in 1999).
- Whats a project you would like to do someday?
- Finish scoring a contemporary opera. Compose orchestral scores for smaller, upstart video or online game developers. Also, begin work on a new album.
- What's your OS of choice?
- PC
- What is your setup (hardware, software, mics, libraries, etc..)?
- At this moment, WinXP on an HP laptop (I've grown more fond of mobility these days).
ProTools Digi 002
Tapco's Link.firewire 4x6
M-Audio Delta 1010
Tascam HD-P2
Mackies: 32-ch. 8-bus (analog), 1642-VLZ3
Mics: KM184's, NTG1's, AT 4050, SM7, RE20
Keys: K2500XS, Karma, other vintage keys, plus a dozen rack synths I haven't used in years, except my JV-1080.
Sonar 7 PE
Sound Forge 9
Vegas Video
T-Racks, AmpliTube, Waves Platinum bundle
East-West Quantum Leap's Symphonic Orchestra, Choir, Stormdrums, Ra and others.
Kontakt 2
Omnisphere (love it!)
Stylus RMX, Atmosphere, Trilogy
Dimension Pro, Rapture, some Kore 2 Player stuff
Zero Vector
Sound Effects Libraries: Sound Ideas General (complete), Hollywood Edge Premiere, and 20+ specialty libraries, including faves Crash & Burn, Power Surge and Radio Meltdown.
Comment Wall (11 comments)
- At 9:51am on March 4, 2009,
Matt Kern said…
- Sea Wolf II - good stuff. I still have to tell you my fun family adventure sea wolf tale, but I have to find the picture first.
- At 4:34pm on January 25, 2009,
- Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You think they will be around after this shakes out?
- At 7:31pm on January 24, 2009,
- "Andriana Furs owner pleads guilty to money-laundering"
I would make deposit that last voice over check pretty soon, Jeff.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/chicago-furrier-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering.html
- At 9:00am on October 8, 2008,
- Jeff, a month or so ago I was on vacation with the family and saw a corvette racing redemption game from Coastal and I swear that was your voice coming out of it. Was it?
- At 3:38am on August 24, 2008,
Dawn LaBuy-Brockett said… - I don't think I've been out here in 2 weeks. It's not because I'm sluggish. If your mother thinks you are sluggish, she's probably right. Mother's know their sons! ;-)
Anyway, Dad was doing very well at home, starting out in a hospital bed, surrounded by hospital things, but this bugged him enough to where he started getting up and exercising, and was making bathroom visits totally unassisted. Unfortunately, one of his chest tube holes from the infection isn't healing well, and he's got a bed sore that's just eating him alive, even with a great diet. He's back in the hospital for a few days to take care of this. At 88, he was all healed from pneumonia and a nasty lung infection, working out to get mobile again, and the poor guy's back in the hospital again. I told him he gets to see his favorite nurses again, but he has to behave himself. They love him there. He's quite a character!
That parental push and support. I don't know where I'd be without this. Never having made it anywhere, at least my Dad is always there to tell me what I do is good. He goes to sleep with my symphony playing. He loves it... The classical world is a tough place to survive, unless you manage to write something that meets their immediate needs. This, in no means, alleves you from the responsibility to write what's in your head, and don't be sluggish about it! ;-)
I managed to get lucky, and just inherited quite a bit of money from my Father-in-law passing away last December. We're buyinb a new house, I'm buying all new furniture, and, on top of all of this, being hired full-time at my exercise job at work. Then, my husband, who lost his driver's license way before I met him, 22 years ago, needs to get it back with having no ride to work from the new house, so it's back and forth to Waukegan for 3-6 months, tons of money, but I'm tired of taking him shopping because I hate to shop! I haven't done a creative thing in a month, and don't even have a lingering concept in my feeble brain. It's usually when you have no time that the creative ideas happen, but it's null here. Thank goodness I don't do this for a living.
Oh, I did edit music for my son's wedding experience on a Caribbean Cruise in Oct. He asked me to hadle the music, but the ceremony's only 15 minutes. So I chopped up Luther Vandross 4 times, threw in some edited Bach, and they play soft music during the ceremony. The inlaws are Catholic and we're Lutheran. I used the Bach/Gounod/Brockett version of Ave Maria with no words, just music, with my version of strings over the top of piano playing th Bach invention and a horn playing the melody. I did a bang up job on the splices, finding my own beginning and end, a major splice to the verse, and all smooth as silk. His studio mixes are horrible, and I fixed that too with normalizing and a few tweeks. I also did Eton's Can You Feel The Love, cutting it down, but this mix was good.
I have this great ear for any audio blurbs, and think I'm lucky with edits, but it probably has more to do with the fact that I know what I'm doing and have a great ear. If I did this for a living, I'd do a great job, but weigh 350 pounds for sitting at the computer all day editting. I think I like things the way they are for me.
Actually, I'm quite happy with my low paying exercise job. It's keeping me fit and trim. I'm happy to do the creative work when an idea hits me, and not have to deal with the requests and demands of others. I'm quite jealous of what you do for a living, and wonder what that world would be like for me. I think we've both found our niches of survival and are quite happy where we are. What do you think?
Dawn
- At 12:54am on August 9, 2008,
Dawn LaBuy-Brockett said…
- Jeff,
I just joined the composition and theory section out here. I posted some personal stuff and a link to the most gut feeling song I've ever heard, done by some friends of mine. Take a listen!
Dawn
- At 11:14pm on August 2, 2008,
Dawn LaBuy-Brockett said…
- Thanks for the summer update. Whatever happens, you are out there in the field doing it, and that's the place to be for you, so it sounds. I'm happy getting my exercise at a bread job at night, coming home to be creative on my own without having to produce what someone else wants, and do it now. I write what I want to. This is not the way to pay one's bills. Some one may appreciate what I do someday.
I have the urge to do this for a living, but know I'd lose my creativity for my own projects, doing what other people want me to do all day, and would find another venue to do at home in my spare time, like watching TV. I have a rule that I don't do anything at home that I've done for work. I don't vacuum or clean, do the dishes, or cook. Well, actually, I tried to barbeque a year ago. I couldn't light the fire, so I used a paper towel. Threw the paper towel into the barbie, the barbie lit up, a wind caught the towel, blew it into my kitchen, and the kitchen rug started on fire. I'm not allowed to touch the barbie anymore, and have gotten banned from the kitchen for not being able to hit the pot with the multitude of spices I like to add. I do cut the lawn occasionally, but my husband doesn't get as much exercise as I do at work, and demands the experience.
What do I say after all this?!?
Well, my Dad's been in the hospital for 2 weeks. We almost lost him, but were down to the last venue of clearing up a nasty lung lining infection. He's in ICU with drainage tubes in his lungs, about ready to be removed, and then concocts this nasty bed sore about 3 inches wide, right where you don't want one of these. Oi!!! The worst is over, and they're fixing his diet to get rid of the bed sore. He's so funny. His hands were swollen, and I asked him why. He said that someone was bugging the nurses, so he layed him out. Then he says, what's worse is someone else followed him in the door, harrassed the nurses too, so he laid him out with the other hand. Not bad for an 88 year old man in ICU!
He's my play editor, has attended every concert I ever put on or was in, has been a major support in my life, listens to my music all day long on CD, and keeps me going. Everybody should have a Dad like this!!!
Time to get some ZZZ's...
Dawn
- At 10:45pm on July 12, 2008,
Dawn LaBuy-Brockett said…
- Thank you for the information, Jeff. One advantage I had was writing the entire musical myself, and managed to get it done. Through most of the music writing, I was a Counselor at Lake County Juvenile Detention, putting in long, hard hours. I'd write every spare moment, make a CD, and write myself notes while driving back and forth from work.
It sure would be nice if more universities included marketing in their artistic programs. Entering this new arena, I feel like Tom Hanks going to the company Christmas party in "Big." Totally dressed wrong, wide-eyed, and unprepared.
I've learned a lot in the world of music, theatre, and musical theatre, and think the best way to get this musical out there is to do what you did. Get some type of promo video out there, in any form possible. If I did animation, this would be a completed project out on the market.
When I went to Northern, people were available and up for any project that came along. The only similar experience I've had since was producing a children's play of mine one year, and 3 shorts the next year at AbbieFest, held at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre on the north side. For the children's play, I managed to find 5 wonderful actors, 3 of whom started their own company after meeting through my play, and the other 2 are very, very busy now performing in Chicago. At least I have 4 plays with proven performances, all on video.
My sister is an elementary school teacher, and said that the schools are always looking for theatrical companies to come in and do children's plays performed by adults. She also heard that they are always looking for plays. I can't find anyone willing to take mine on, even providing the props for a first performance. I'd question the play, but it was a huge success at the Mary-Arrchie, even though someone delivered a line 8 pages ahead of it's time, and some when running offstage to peek at the book. Somehow, they recovered very nicely through all of this, and filled in all the blanks to make the play make sense. I was doing tech, and about had a heart-attack in the booth. Nothing like a live performance to get your blood flowing and make you feel alive!
Well, we've pretty much covered that subject. I've enjoyed the discussion. So, what's up for the summer?
Dawn
- At 10:36pm on July 11, 2008,
Dawn LaBuy-Brockett said…
- So, Jeff!
How does one sell a musical play with a huge cast, a little off the beaten path, but sure attractive to people not in the business? Quite honestly, I find Andrew Lloyd Weber quite boring, and sure don't appreciate his style. He seems to be the standard out here, and I'm feeling they all want us to be Weber clones. Disney and ASCAP put on workshops to find these clones. Before this they had competitions going on which I submitted to, and didn't win. I especially don't like the one note libretto idea, so I was guanteed not to make the cut. I was bored to death with the music at "Phantom" when I saw it on Broadway. The only thing that kept me wake was the scenery design, which was totally awesome!
I've contacted every university on earth, and many, many theatrical companies who were looking for new musicals. I even contacted Disney, with a scared to death e-mail telling me not to send unsolicited works, because I might sue if something they actually do ends up to be similar.
Right after seeing "Jesus Christ, Superstar" at Concordia College in Maywood, someone got back to me from Seattle and told me I was crazy for having such a large cast. The stage at Concordia was very small, and they had more people onstage than I have in my musical.
I would love to see this on film or video. It's like a cartoon gone live, so it would be going backwards, but a cartoon of this would also be fun.
Short of funding my own performance, do you have any suggestions for me?
Thank You!
Dawn
- At 2:54pm on July 9, 2008,
- Hey Jeff, are any of your pinball games here?
Pinball Museum
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