5115 research outputs found
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From Bricks, to Roses & Cubes
No full textFrom Bricks, to Roses & Cubes explores an artist’s mind trapped in grief, isolation, and substance use. Heavily inspired by visual art, Joseph\u27s culminating project started at the MET while looking at some paintings. He scribbled down his thoughts, and took them home to write the story using his preferred outlet, music. The project consists of 5 songs selected from 3 separate EPs: Blue Bricks, Roses, & Cubism. Inspired by the likes of Mac Miller, A$AP Rocky, The Alchemist, and more, Joseph’s unique take on Hip Hop carves his own space for reflection, and leaves room for potential growth. Joseph’s release cycle begins July 2025, with his debut single Roses. Accompanied by the single will be a minisite gallery experience, and a lyric video filmed in Studio G at Powerstation. He hopes to continue his pursuit of building community by combining art forms with his music, and looks forward to releasing the music!https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-cmat/1115/thumbnail.jp
TEMPT FATE
No full textTEMPT FATE is an 8-track concept album that charts the journey of the obsessed artist, confronting both his identity and the limits of his mortality. Over four phases, the project follows this protagonist as he builds, questions, and ultimately reimagines his place in the world. Focused on ideas of fate and predestiny, the project considers many challenging philosophical questions - how real is our past, if we can only access its events through our memory? Does life gain its meaning from death? Can someone live in a fulfilling way if reincarnation proves true? The work invites the listener to ask pressing questions that they otherwise might never consider. Sonically, TEMPT FATE blends alternative hip-hop and neo-soul with elements of jazz, funk, and rock. The production features live instrumentation—most notably saxophone and piano, paired with distorted vocals, gritty drums, and experimental sound design. The album is meant to be experienced as a full, cohesive project, with each track building on the last to form a continuous narrative. The finale of the album invites the listener to consider the way they live their own lives, and how they might set out to live it in a way they couldn’t possibly regret.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-cmat/1147/thumbnail.jp
No Land\u27s Man
No full textNo Land’s Man is a full-length album and artistic exploration of cultural identity, heritage, and musical synthesis. Born and raised in Zimbabwe but of European descent, I navigate the tension of not fully identifying with either African or Western culture. This project merges traditional Zimbabwean mbira music and African percussion with contemporary jazz composition and improvisation, seeking to create a new musical language rooted in reverence and authenticity. Rather than presenting a traditional or superficial fusion, I aimed to integrate African sounds as essential compositional elements while reflecting my personal experience of cultural ambiguity. The process involved the construction of a custom chromatic mbira to extend the instrument’s harmonic possibilities. The resulting nine-track album marks the beginning of a lifelong journey to foster musical dialogue between traditions and communities and has been transformative both artistically and personally.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-global-jazz/1181/thumbnail.jp
Reflections EP - An Exploration of Ultra-Portable Recording Systems
No full textReflections” is a 5-track ambient tape composed, produced, and mixed using the Teenage Engineering Field Recording System; a collection of ultra-portable music devices designed to replicate traditional analog console and recording techniques in a package small enough to fit in your pocket. With this project, the author pays homage to the founders of Ambient, Hip-Hop, Turntablism, and Dub styles through a collection of instrumental soundscapes weaving synthesis, sound design, and eclectic sampling to forge a unique sonic vision. Building on experience with professional mixing and recording, the author attempts to break free from the confines and restrictions of the studio environment and demonstrate what can be achieved with minimalist hardware micro-setups. The author utilizes new and innovative recording equipment, wireless connectivity, digital turntables and tape machines to present his vision for the future of music.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1416/thumbnail.jp
PORTEÑO: A Sonic Experience of Modern Buenos Aires
No full textPORTEÑO is a multidisciplinary artistic project that explores the contemporary identity of Buenos Aires through an original musical and visual narrative. Conceived as a creative response to the city’s cultural energy, the project culminates in two main deliverables: a seven-track concept album and a live performance that integrates music, scenography, and visuals. Blending pop, funk, and R&B with tango, folk, and other Latin American genres, the album captures both the emotional tone and the sonic landscape of Buenos Aires in the late 2010s. Developed between a home studio and Berklee Valencia’s professional facilities, the production merges DIY authenticity with high-level technical execution. The live show further expands the project’s scope, translating its themes into a dynamic, collaborative stage experience featuring original video art and an international band. The Culminating Experience focuses on the project’s artistic direction, songwriting, production, and conceptual development.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1417/thumbnail.jp
Planet Earth II: Ways of Life
No full textThis thesis presents my Culminating Experience for the Master\u27s in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games at Berklee Valencia: a rescore of the trailer from the acclaimed documentary Planet Earth II, recorded with a full orchestra at AIR Studios in London. Through a creative and analytical approach, I explore the process of scoring nature-based visual storytelling, focusing on translating natural imagery into musical emotion. Breaking down the trailer into different sections, the project traces my compositional journey from initial concept and thematic development to orchestration, professional recording, and final mix. I also discuss how cinematic tools such as cinematography and editing influenced my musical decisions, and how techniques such as motivic transformation enhanced narrative and emotional depth. This project aims to reflect on the emotional and technical implications of scoring this nature documentary and provide future composers with an in-depth view of a scoring process rooted in artistic sensitivity and structural rigor.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1324/thumbnail.jp
I See
No full textI See is a rescore of a cinematic piece that I selected to show my skills and the knowledge I have gained throughout my one-year study at Berklee College of Music. This composition represents a fusion of musical traditions, blending a full Western orchestra with traditional Chinese instruments to create a rich and unique piece. By incorporating the pentatonic scale and harmonies characteristic of Chinese music, I aimed to complement the visual narrative of the Chinese-style animation while authentically reflecting its cultural roots. Throughout this project, I carefully considered how musical elements such as theme development, orchestration, and harmonic language contribute to the emotional and narrative impact of the piece. The orchestration balances the textures of the Western orchestra with the distinct timbres of Chinese instruments, creating a dialogue between these two musical worlds. Additionally, the use of harmony and melodic material is designed to highlight the animation’s storytelling and enhance its cultural atmosphere. In this thesis, I will discuss my creative process in detail, focusing on the development of thematic material, the choices behind orchestration, the application of harmony, and how these musical components interact effectively with the visuals. This project reflects both my technical growth and artistic vision as a composer working at the intersection of Chinese and Western musical traditions.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1326/thumbnail.jp
Finding Home
No full textThis paper documents the many successes and challenges I faced while working on my culminating experience for the SFTV program, built from the ground up around a central theme: “What is home?” The theme guided me through finding a video, developing musical ideas, orchestration decisions, all the way through conducting and recording a piece within a top-level environment at AIR Studios, one of the best moments of my life, and a process detailed in this paper. This project also represents my journey at Berklee Valencia and is an ode to all of the people who have helped me along the way to shape my musical voice. My chosen visual was the trailer for The Red Turtle, a heartfelt animation with a strong narrative arc that encompasses this theme. Its structure encouraged me to create dynamic music while also giving me the freedom to test my compositional abilities to try to create a lush and modern orchestral score. I delve into the unexpected challenges that I encountered in the project, but also why facing those ultimately resulted in a piece that I am proud of and represents a snapshot of where I am as a composer at the moment. Moving forward, I hope to help composers explore and trust their unique musical voice by building around a simple idea.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1315/thumbnail.jp
Ocean\u27s Serenade: An orchestral re-score of Blue Planet II’s Official Trailer
No full textThe purpose of the Culminating Experience Project for the Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games Master’s program is for students to encompass their experiences and learnings and showcase it via a 51-piece orchestra recording project in the world class recording studio of AIRStudios in London. It is designed to act as a bridging gap between a fledging composer and the professional work environment. For me, this thesis paper will be a recount of the experience and process of working on the project from start to finish and the analysis of the resulting piece of music. But this will also be a platform to express my thoughts on my reason in being in this program and how working on the Culminating Experience Project coincided with my search of my musical identity among the workplace and finding a place within film, television and video game scoring.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1313/thumbnail.jp
Scoring a Game Trailer: Glass Eden
No full textThis thesis documents the experience of recording an original orchestral composition at London’s renowned Air Studios, realized as the final project of the Master’s program at Berklee College of Music’s Valencia campus. Over the course of a year, the project was developed around an original concept: a cinematic game trailer for Glass Eden, a fictional video game created to inspire and contextualize the musical narrative. This paper describes the process involved in coming up with the idea for the project, creating an original game trailer using AI and stock videos, as well as composing and orchestrating an original score, preparing professional-quality orchestral materials, and managing the logistical and artistic demands of a high-level recording session. The culmination of this work was a full orchestral recording at Air Studios, bringing together months of creative development, technical preparation, and collaborative execution. This project explores the intersection of world-building, multimedia storytelling, and orchestral music production, offering insights into contemporary workflows in media composition.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1327/thumbnail.jp