Hey friends and fans, some pretty cool news that I’ve been meaning to share for the past few days:  The good folks at Image Line software, the makers of FL Studio have appointed me the honor of being considered a “Power User” when they found out about my use of their software for my work in Mass Effect 2.   I’m very honored and flattered by this, though truthfully I feel a little… out of place, haha.  Most of their other Power Users are successful producers, DJ’s, or performers who largely deal in electronic/pop music.  But it’s all good, I’m proud of my work on Mass Effect, and it looks like Image Line is as well, enough so that they figured it was worth giving me this cool badge, so to speak.

Regarding FL Studio, I’ve used it for some 6 – 7 years at this point as the primary host/sequencer program for probably over 95% of the music I’ve made.  Like any software it has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but it’s definitely played a key role in all the commercial music I’ve written, whether for video games, film, or television.  So thanks again, Image Line.  Keep up the hard work with your software!

For more information, visit my Power User page here – http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/jimmyhinson.html

Feb 22 - Leif Chappelle reviews Mass Effect 2 OST at Original Sound Version

Feb 1 – Mass Effect 2 OST reaches #11 in Top Soundtrack Albums on iTunes

Jan 31 – Jack Wall interviewed by Daily Best Articles

Jan 29 – Mass Effect 2 sales hit over 2 million 3 days after game’s release

Jan 28 – Mass Effect 2 attains top rankings with over 40 perfect scores

Jan 26 – Mass Effect 2 released in North America

Jan 19 – Mass Effect 2 Soundtrack released on Amazon, iTunes, etc.

Jan 11 – Gamespy announces composers

Jan 11 – EA announces composers for Mass Effect 2

The past several months have been some of the most exciting months of my life.  I have so much to be grateful for, and I’ve been really humbled by it all.  When I was formally brought on board to be a part of the Mass Effect 2 composer’s team, I felt a huge mixture of excitement and anxiety.  Those were serious shoes to step into, and initially, I think the anxiety occupied a bigger chunk of my emotions than the excitement.  As time went on though, the thrill and excitement gradually overtook that anxiety and converted what remained into humility.

Honestly, I think of my involvement with this magnificent game as the result of a kind of butterfly effect that notably began some 10 years ago when friend and colleague David Lloyd created OverClocked ReMix.  Without OC ReMix, I may have never found that outlet to share my love for the music that has accompanied me through the countless hours I’ve spent playing video games throughout my life.  The dominoes continues to fall as I met more and more people, and made more and more friends through the site.  I was later fortunate to be offered the opportunity to donate my time as a submission evaluator on the site.  I was given the opportunity to hear many fantastic pieces of music from many great or aspiring artists.  Eventually I made my way to see Video Games Live, where I met Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico.  I found employment at Guitar Center and met some great people there like Jeremy Cole, and I  I was able to build up my arsenal of high-quality plugins.  I wish I could name everyone, but the list goes on and on and on, and I’m thankful for each of you who would be on it in any extent.

I can say, working with Jack was a real pleasure.  Not only is he a super talented dude, he’s also a very stand-up guy, and to me, that says a lot, especially considering his numerous achievements and recognitions in the industry.  I’m truly honored to count him a friend.  Brian DiDomenico, David Kates, and Sam Hulick are also amazing people, and I have nothing but respect and appreciation for them.  I learned a great deal from them as well, and I continue to be inspired by their music and talents.  To you, the fans who have bothered to read all this, I’m deeply grateful for your love and support.  Like most other musicians (I hope), I’m only here to try to add something that will give you joy on some level through my words and music.  I hope I can continue to entertain and enlighten you throughout my career, but in the meanwhile, I hope you will pick up the Official Soundtrack and perhaps even the game. BioWare really knocked this one out of the park, and I’m only glad I was able to be a part of it.

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Songs for the Cure ‘10 from Josh Whelchel on Vimeo.

Hello friends and fans!  As some of you may remember, last year I participated in a cancer drive headed by friend and fellow composer Josh Whelchel in the form of writing music for the “Songs for the Cure ‘09″ album.  My participation is what gave birth to the track “Far Beyond Eyes” which you can hear over in the music player on the right of this page.  and assisted Josh, along with the many other talented musicians who also contributed their work to the album.  Collectively, the album raised over $5000 to help fund the American Cancer Society in the fight against cancer.

This year, I’m doing it again.  Josh like many others has lost someone dear to him to cancer, and this year he has raised the bar by asking all of you to help us raise $10,000 by April 23rd, 2010.  The way it works, is a $10 donation will earn you a digital download of the CD, in mp3 and lossless FLAC format.  Dontations of $25 or more will receive a physical CD in addition to the digital download.  Dontations are tax-deductable, of course, but more importantly, they’re going to a great cause!  Please visit the website for more information, including where and how to donate.  Thanks so much for your love and support of not only me and my music, but those who are struggling with the fight against cancer.  I extend my own love and utmost appreciation to all of you.

http://www.cancerdrive.org/

Songs for the Cure ‘10 from Josh Whelchel on Vimeo.

So 2009 turned out to be a pretty awesome year for your friendly Big Giant Circles.  I wish I’d done a better job of logging it all, but since I have a new site anyway, I figured this would be a good time/place to share with you all some of the particularly awesome experiences I had   So in not-perfect order, here you go!

1. Attended Magfest 7, rubbing shoulders with folks like Grant Kirkhope, Tommy Tallarico, and many other awesome folks in the game/music industry
2. 4 ReMixes posted on OverClocked ReMix
   
3. Led the OCR Fundraiser month to raise over $5000 for the site, marking the 1st year the site was fully funded by fans
4. Contributed to Josh Whelchel’s “Songs for the Cure” album, which raised over $5000 to assist in the fight against cancer
5. “Songs for the Cure ‘09″ graciously covered by Jeremy Cole on Guitar Center’s GAIN website
6. Attended Video Games Live’s 100th show in Richmond, VA
7. Music featured on FOX Sports
8. Received some cool coverage from Capcom’s Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix soundtrack
9. Interview and first ever composer/remixer collaboration with Alex Brandon in Deus Ex – Siren Synapse
10. Torley amplifies the awesome with a stellar remastered version
11. Exciting news TBA very soon!

All in all, I feel unbelievably lucky and blessed to have had so many great experiences this past year.  It definitely set a high precedent for 2010, and I’m eager to see what the future holds for this year!  All I can say to you, my friends who are taking the time to read this, is thank you so much for your love, friendship, and support.  I’m truly blessed indeed!  I suppose my only real goal for 2010 is to continue to improve my own abilities so I can continue to uplift, inspire, or simply entertain you through my music.  In the meanwhile, I also promise to not wait an entire year to update you on groovy BGC-related news, so stay tuned!

All my best,

-Jimmy

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Season’s Greetings from BGC! I hope each of you finds joy and peace this holiday season whether it’s from the company of friends and family, good food, the pleasure of giving and receiving, the seasonal music, or anything else that you might look forward to this time of year. As a small wish of merriment to each of you, I’m posting a few songs that I did for a Christmas special for HGTV. I hope you enjoy them, and I wish you all a very happy holiday season!

Ladies and gentlemen, today I found out some sad news.  It seems a very beloved website has been discontinued, and it’s domain passed onto someone else for different purposes.  That website is music4games.net.  For those of you who don’t know, M4G was an incredible resource for information on video game music and VGM composers.  It had a powerful reputation among gamers and musicians alike.  One of my earliest experiences with the site was a couple years ago when OCR released Voices of the Lifestream, and we had a nice feature article there that highly praised the music.  And it was a big deal to me, to see my name dropped and music praised alongside some of the greatest game composers of our day by such a credible and well-known site.  I can’t help but feel like discontinuing the site is a bit of a disservice to video game music and it’s fans, but for whatever reason the decision was made, I hope it was for a good reason.  I can only hope that we’ll see another website step up and fill the big shoes that M4G left.

Alright, so this post is about a week old, and I would have posted it on my old site if I wasn’t planning on replacing it, but anyway, better late than never.

Some of you might know that I’ve been honing my music skills over at OCR for the past few years.  It’s given me some great experiences–I’ve made lots of great friends and contacts, as well as sharpened up on my composing and producing skills in general!  And I’ve enjoyed some of the most enriching and diverse music I’ve ever listened to!  I owe a lot to OCR, and I only hope to see it continue to thrive and grow for many years to come!
And now, the official article, taken from the site:

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December 11, 2009
Contact: press@ocremix.org

FAIRFAX, VA–OverClocked ReMix today celebrates its ten year anniversary. Started on December 11th, 1999, the website has grown from a small group of avid musicians and gamers to a larger community of artists making a case for the appreciation of video game music as an art form. Over 1,800 fan arrangements of video game music have been posted, along with sixteen albums. To celebrate, ten mixes will be posted today, from ten different games and ten different artists, with each mix writeup briefly summarizing a different year from the site’s history.

Site creator David W. Lloyd writes:

“When I started this site in my parent’s basement back in 1999, I thought it would be a fun diversion that could help me get better at making music, but also serve as an outlet for VGM fans everywhere to pay homage to their favorite songs. When I was much younger, I remember tape-recording the output from my Sega Master System and making mixtapes filled with Alex Kidd, Shinobi, and Space Harrier music. I’ve always loved VGM, especially for its strong original melodies, and this site seemed like a good way to express that. While I didn’t have any idea it would become what it is today, I did have a certain faith – faith that there were others like me, faith that the Internet was full of a lot of talented people who would contribute their music and their time and their energy freely, and faith that we could show the world that video game music is an art form.”

Fans are invited to share their memories of OC ReMix over the last ten years on the site’s forums.

About OverClocked ReMix

Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans.