Andrew Aversa

Game Music

Tangledeep Original Soundtrack Now Available

February 2, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Tangledeep Original Soundtrack Now Available Share this

The soundtrack to the retro-styled RPG by Impact Gameworks, Tangledeep, now features it’s soundtrack live and available for purchase. The game features compositions from several big-name composers such as Hiroki Kituta (Secret of Mana), Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid), Granbt Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie) and Andrew Aversa.

“Just as the game’s visual aesthetic is modeled after SNES RPGs such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Lufia 2, my influences for this soundtrack include those fantastic games as well. I was honored to invite composers Grant Kirkhope, Hiroki Kikuta, and Norihiko Hibino to each contribute and put their signature mark on the world of Tangledeep.” – Andrew “Zircon” Aversa, Composer & Project Developer

The Tangledeep Original Soundtrack features 30 tracks of music inspired by RPGs of the 16-bit era, with a variety of styles that all fit a central theme denoting a fantasy adventure setting.

<a href="http://zirconstudios.bandcamp.com/album/tangledeep-original-soundtrack">Tangledeep Original Soundtrack by zircon</a>

The soundtrack to Tangledeep is currently available for digital download on Bandcamp for $9USD. You can also purchase the game and sondtrack bundle together on Steam, which is currently discounted at 21% off for the combo.
Gear, Music Production, Reviews, Software

Celestia: Heavenly Sound Design (Review)

April 9, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Celestia: Heavenly Sound Design (Review) Share this

Here on OSV we focus primarily on the music of videogames. However, we do occasionally review music software, as these programs are a vital aspect of music writing and creation. While there are some game composers that are lucky enough to work with live musicians and orchestras, many still rely on sound libraries and samples to produce our favorite game music.

Today, we are looking at the Impact Soundworks library Celestia: Heavenly Sound Design. The library was created by Andrew Aversa, Jordan Aguirre, and others at Impact Soundworks. Many videogame music remix fans may be more familiar with Aversa and Aguirre by their artist names, Zircon and bLiNd respectively. This latest library is advertised as a collection of atmospheric and ambient hybrid synth sounds. The focus is more on the softer and ethereal synthesizer instruments, rather than heavy hitting and dramatic instruments. With all that said, let’s take a look at this latest product. (more…)
Miscellaneous

Alexander Brandon “Just Fun” Kickstarter Brings the Talent

February 3, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Alexander Brandon “Just Fun” Kickstarter Brings the Talent Share this

If you’re a fan of Dues Ex and Unreal Tournament composer Alexander Brandon, you might be interested in the Kickstarter that went live today. “Just Fun” is slated to be an original album of Brandon’s design, featuring 45 minutes and beyond of original compositions by the gaming composer. Even better than that, he’s not alone! Several big names are lending their musical skills to the project, including Jake “Virt” Kaufman, Andrew “zircon” Aversa, Grant “Stemage” Henry, Erik “Viking Guitar” Peabody and a ton more! All of this on a 14-song album with a ton of extras open to backers, including additional songs, download codes to additional albums, credits in the album notes and more!

Via the Kickstarter:

Roughly three months of full time effort has gone into this album over a period of over a year. Evenings, weekends, early mornings spent by myself as well as the fine folks who have collaborated with me. I’d like the ability to have this release be to a wider audience, with the ability to supply things like cool signed CDs as well as even more digital downloads of previous works.

The Just Fun Kickstarter goal for $6,000 ends on March 5th with several reasonable pledge tiers for the digital album, the physical album and thensome. Check out the page for the full list of contributors, rewards and details of the album!
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…)
Game Music, Reviews

Zirconian Darwinism: Fittest OST (Review)

June 8, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

I’ve listened to a few tunes from zircon (real name Andrew Aversa, husband of vocalist Jillian Aversa) in my time. He’s done some cool arrangements for OverClocked ReMix in his time, he’s released some original albums, and he’s worked on a number of games as well (most recently, on Soul Calibur V, which is a pretty big deal!).

As part of the Indie Game Music Bundle 3, zircon offered up his soundtrack to the 2009 XBLA release Fittest. Real talk: I hadn’t even heard this soundtrack until the bundle’s release. So it’s safe to say that I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the VGM scene, at least not as thoroughly or as often as I tell myself I do. Shame, shame, Mr. Gann!

But enough about me. What about zircon’s soundtrack for Fittest? You’ll find out by joining us after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Carving Out Its Own Destiny: SOULCALIBUR V (Review)

February 13, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

When it was announced that an international team of composers would be scoring SOULCALIBUR V I think all of us were a little bit nervous about how it may turn out given the consistent quality of the franchise’s soundtracks over the years. Despite the names involved, I wondered to myself if composers like Hiroki Kikuta and Inon Zur could effectively capture the truly epic orchestral yet memorably melodic essence that has defined the series.

While those who picked up the collector’s edition of the game were treated to a single disc “best of” soundtrack in the US and Europe, Eminence has released the full three-disc soundtrack, including some snazzy packaging (an unboxing video to come later) and a special behind-the-scenes DVD.

But will the music do the trick for SOULCALIBUR fans? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)