Spencer Sternberg is a video game music composer and audio professional creating music and sound for all kinds of visual productions. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in the services offered by Spencer Sternberg.

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1. Choosing the Right Royalty Free Music
2. Oriental Fireworks Album Complete
3. Thoughts on Royalty Free Music
4. Oriental Fireworks – Disc Two
5. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Complete

Following on from disc one ‘Oriental Fireworks‘, Disc Two contains less of the ambient, distant sound effects, and more of the ‘in your face’ realistic fireworks samples. It is filled with a multitude of single shot samples making editing sound to visuals faster and more convenient. Samples are easily assignable from their recognizable file names and the album comes with a detailed description of all tracks. With 74 tracks of 24bit 96kHz fireworks samples you will surely find it easy to add sharp and explosive sounds to your visual productions.

Fireworks sound effects are useful for all kinds of visual productions, not only fireworks. Their explosive and incredibly wide frequency response allow them to be edited and processed to create amazing new sound effects. These processed sound effects can be used to add impact to titles in visual productions, used to build emotive soundscapes or even for science fiction sound design. With all samples being in 24bit 96kHz audio quality, you can surely re-edit these samples to create amazing sound effects. Take a look at Spencer Sternberg’s audio industry article concerning creating new sound effects.

‘Oriental Fireworks’ Disc Two has 74 tracks and for your editing flexibility and convenience comes in three file format versions; a 24bit 96kHz version, a 16bit 44.1kHz version, and a 320kbps mp3 version. There are 25 ambient fireworks tracks, 20 short blast samples, 3 short clap samples, 6 short cracker samples, 12 short launch samples, 6 short screamer samples and 1 short shower sample. In total there is 13minutes and 44seconds of high quality fireworks samples.

The download file has been conveniently packaged in a 472mb zip file ready for download. If you would like ‘Oriental Fireworks’ on CD, you can select to have it shipped to you for a small additional charge. If you are in need of a different file format, please feel free to contact us with your individual needs.

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Not sure about the legal side of using royalty free music? Why not read the Spencer Sternberg’s License Agreement. Simply put, you can use these sound effects in all your productions, as many times as you like, forever!

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. Oriental Fireworks
2. Oriental Fireworks Album Complete
3. Explosive Fireworks
4. New Album for Royalty Free Library
5. Fireworks Sound Effects

Microphones Used for Recording Fireworks

The following four microphones were used for recording fireworks sound effects; Firstly, the Takstar SGC-578, a shotgun microphone for dialogue and sound effects. Secondly, the Takstar PCM-6100, an instrument microphone mostly for orchestral and piano recordings. Thirdly, a compact stereo condenser microphone that ships with the M-Audio Microtrack II. And lastly, a Sony lapel condenser microphone.

All four microphones gave acceptable and usable recordings, but in regards to quality and convenience of recording, they are very different microphones. To understand the fireworks recordings below, we need to take a closer look at each microphone.

Note: All samples below are straight from the audio recorder and have been normalized for easier listening. The process of mixing samples will be explained in more detail in Fireworks Sound Effects – Part Three.

Shotgun Microphone

The Takstar SGC-578 is a decent location sound effects microphone with a bright, clean middle range. Its two polar patterns make it useful for choosing between directional and more ambient sounds. Its large size and the essential use of a shock-mount make using this microphone less convenient than the other smaller microphones. Whilst its bright mid-range delivers clear and results full of presence, its gradual roll-off above 5K misses some of the nice ‘fizzing’ sounds heard from many fireworks. It also seems to be lacking a good low-frequency response compared to the other microphones.

The first fireworks sample was recorded with a cardioid pattern.

Whilst the second fireworks sample was recorded with a hyper-cardioid pattern.

Instrument Microphone

The Takstar PCM-6100 is an instrument microphone mostly for orchestral and piano recordings. Apart from its peak at around 9K it has a reasonably flat response.

Stereo Microphone

The M-Audio Microtrack II ships with a compact stereo condenser, that with its mini-jack, conveniently plugs into the recorder. Surprisingly, this microphone offers a very wide and accurate frequency response, with an adequate stereo image. There is a noticeable proximity effect, though when recording ambiance or the high sound pressure sources such as fireworks this is not a noticeable issue.

Lapel Microphone

This very small microphone is designed for speech recordings and so has a very good mid-range response for fireworks recordings. Most small capsule condensers, like the lapel and the stereo microphone, also have a bright high-frequency response making them highly effective for capturing the complex characteristics of fireworks.

Final Thoughts

Microphone choice for recording fireworks samples is dependent on many factors. Of course quality is of utmost priority but its not always easy carrying a larger microphone, especially in crowded or dangerous locations. While small capsule microphones can provide excellent results, it is an ideal situation to have several microphones and spend the time recording enough samples that you can later go through and edit.

For more on mixing and editing fireworks samples, read through Fireworks Sound Effects or keep an eye out for the next audio industry article by Spencer Sternberg.

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Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. Fireworks Sound Effects
2. Making Sound Effects
3. Oriental Fireworks – Disc Two
4. Explosive Fireworks
5. Oriental Fireworks Album Complete

Racing Games require fast, fun and hooking music to excite players and keep them glued to the screen. This royalty free game music track makes use of percussive beats and funky lead lines, to create a catchy racing game track.

‘Racing Game Opener’ is a loop-able track and is suitable for all kinds of racing game applications, from opening credits to game play, to in-game movies.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. Racing the Clock
2. Sailing the Oceans
3. The Cave Battle
4. Lured into the Cave
5. Preparing to Attack

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Begins
2. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Complete
3. Music for Adventure Games
4. Fossil Hunters Documentary Music Sample
5. Adventure Menu

Take a listen to a sample below;

Spencer Sternberg also creates customized music and sound effects for all kinds of gaming and visual productions. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the services offered by Spencer Sternberg.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Begins
2. Music for Adventure Games Album Sample
3. ‘Fossil Hunters’ Album Complete
4. Oriental Fireworks Album Complete
5. Music for Adventure Games

‘Music for Adventure Games’ is a royalty free music album made for game developers. It contains a carefully composed collection of adventure game music tracks, ranging from battle music, battle preparation music, resting and rejuvenation music, calm and peaceful music and plenty of tense, low-action suitable tracks.

Music for adventure games is a delicate balance between soothing thematic tracks, highly percussive battle tracks and music that effectively persuades players into feeling or acting in a desired way.

If you are having trouble deciding how to effectively choose royalty free music tracks for your gaming projects, Choosing the Right Royalty Free Music is an audio industry article written by Spencer Sternberg that can offer an insight into more productive methods for choosing video game music.

‘Music for Adventure Games’ is a royalty free adventure music album containing 24 tracks of stereo CD quality audio (44.1kHz, 16bit) and comes also with 320kbps mp3 versions of all tracks. A brief description, and a sample of each track is below;

1. Adventure Menu Music
   Description: Mystical harp arpeggios with light choir harmonies.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
2. Character Creation
   Description: Mysterious flute and strings with arpeggio harp.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
3. Leaving the Village
   Description: Luscious harp arpeggios with light strings.
   Duration: 2min (Loop)
4. Entering Dark Valley
   Description: Pan flute with sharp strings and crisp slow beats.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
5. Dark Valley Battle
   Description: Fast tense string strikes with fast action percussion.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
6. Rest and Rejuvenation
   Description: Slow guitar with peaceful oboe and flute melodies.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
7. A New Village
   Description: Playful strings and bass with glockenspiel.
   Duration: 1min (Loop)
8. Through the Forest
   Description: Playful forest woodwinds with light strings.
   Duration: 0min 55sec (Loop)
9. Meeting in the Garden
   Description: Heavenly choirs and strings with woodwinds and harp.
   Duration: 2min (Loop)
10. Walking the Path
    Description: Slow moving harp arpeggios with choir and light percussion.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
11. Entering the Ruins
    Description: Low piano with sparse harps supported by choir and pizzicato bass.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
12. Exploring the Ruins
    Description: Sparse eerie piano with light percussion.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
13. Ruins Battle
    Description: Hooking action string progression with action percussion.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
14. The River Passage
    Description: Thematic piano and oboe with choir and string accompaniment.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
15. The River Dragon
    Description: Fast harp and guitar plucking with oboe and flute.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
16. Sailing the Oceans
    Description: Slow watery harp with calm flute melodies.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
17. Preparing to Attack
    Description: String swells with cinematic ambience and glitch percussion.
    Duration: 1min 11sec (Loop)
18. Battle in the Harbor
    Description: Fast tense strings with bright horn swells and heavy percussion.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
19. The Deserted Temple
    Description: Eerie guitar and harp arpeggios with warm strings.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
20. The Valley Passage
    Description: Tense piano melodies with provocative filtered percussion.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
21. Meeting in the Valley
    Description: Light playful woodwinds with plucked harp and strings.
    Duration: 1min (Loop)
22. Lured into the Cave
    Description: Tense ambient and percussive buildups for battle scene preludes.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)
23. The Cave Battle
    Description: Tense fast percussive hits with swelling horns and strings.
    Duration: 2min Variation (Loop), 47sec Variation (Loop)
24. A Friendly Reunion
    Description: Light thematic piano melodies supported by warm strings and choir.
    Duration: 2min (Loop)

The download file is in the zip file format and is 398mb in size. You can also have it mailed to you if you wish, on a CD for a small additional charge. If you need a different file format, please feel free to contact us with your specific needs.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Begins
2. ‘Music for Adventure Games’ Album Complete
3. Music for Adventure Games Album Sample
4. Adventure Menu
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The endings of adventure games are an important moment to connect with players. It is integral to instill in their memory the experience of the game and to be easily reminded of it in the future. Thematic music can help to instill this memory in players. By utilizing themes and motifs from earlier in the game, and creating variations of those compositional elements, the game can be more deeply impressed on players.

This royalty free game music track is a piano variation of ‘Meeting in the Garden‘, the ninth track from ‘Music for Adventure Games’, and through its theme and instrumentation brings closure to the game.

‘A Friendly Reunion’ is a two-minute loop-able adventure game music track and is suitable for ending sequences and end titles of adventure games.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. The River Passage
2. The Valley Passage
3. Battle in the Harbor
4. The Deserted Temple
5. Exploring the Ruins

Adventure Games are filled with battle sequences and require music that is percussive, tense and exciting. This royalty free game music track makes use of swelling horns and strings, with fast percussive strikes and a modern sounding drum track, to create an exciting and tense battle game track.

‘The Cave Battle’ is a two-minute loop-able game music track, with also a forty-seven second loop-able variation, suitable for use with battle stages in adventure games. If you are in need of more battle scene music, just browse the ‘battle music‘ tag in the Spencer Sternberg royalty free music library.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. Lured into the Cave
2. Dark Valley Battle
3. Battle in the Harbor
4. Ruins Battle
5. Preparing to Attack

Battle scenes in adventure games have a stronger impact if they are preceded by tense and uneasy music, so when the percussive element of the battle stage music track begins, players are immediately aware they are entering a battle sequence. This royalty free music track makes use of textured ambient sounds, that swell and strike, together with percussive hits, to create a tense game music track. The track is supported in parts by light percussion which helps to create a build up towards a heavier rhythmic battle stage.

‘Lured into the Cave’ is a two-minute loop-able track and is suitable for scenes that require tense game music.

Related posts at Spencer Sternberg:

1. The Cave Battle
2. Dark Valley Battle
3. Battle in the Harbor
4. Preparing to Attack
5. Ruins Battle