Welcome to my portfolio pages! Scroll down through this page to check out my different songs and click the Soundcloud player below each title to hear the song. You can also read the description of each song below the player. Click one of the links to the right to advance to that type of music or song with the page. Thanks for checking out my portfolio! If you have any questions or comments or to request sheet music feel free to contact me at the contact page above!
Enjoy!
Dallen Robinson
My Music
Orchestral Music
Of Bunnies and Bosses (2015)
An orchestral arrangement of composer Koji Kondo’s Turned into a Rabbit, and Boss ~BGM~ from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past video game for the SNES.
Of Bunnies and Bosses is an arrangement of music by Composer Koji Kondo from the Super Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I liked playing the game as a kid and still enjoy it today so decided that music from the game would be a good first choice for me to arrange. This arrangement began as I had the theme Turned into a Rabbit! pop into my head one day and I had the thought, “That would make some cool action music!” After beginning an arrangement and getting through about the first thirty seconds of music, I realized that the one theme alone would be good but it would work better if I added another theme. Enter the Boss ~BGM~, the background music for most of the dungeon bosses that you fight in the game. After lots of hours of work, I ended up with the piece as it currently stands.
The main challenge of writing for orchestra that I found this time (and especially as I was just getting started) was the question of how to write music for so many instruments. I’m most experienced with writing electronic music and with that, I don’t usually have more than about 10 tracks consisting of synth drums, basses, leads, as well as acoustic samples. This means about 4 to 6 instruments or voices in all. When it comes to orchestra there are at least that many parts in each section of strings, winds, percussion, and even voices. I feel I handled the 20+ instruments/voices well and hope to improve as well as add more (such as the missing obo, English horn, bassoon, and harp) as I write more for orchestra.
Some of my favorite parts of the piece are those that I wasn’t expecting. When I had about two minutes’ worth of music I hit a wall and couldn’t decide where to go next. It was then the solo piano and percussion introduction came to be and I think it sets the tone well for the piece. The ending also came somewhat unexpectedly as a result of the piano intro. Once the introduction was complete I knew I wanted to do a similar thing to end the piece but adding in the entire orchestra. The results create both a “home” to start from and “home” to return to that gives the piece not only a satisfying return to the beginning but a victorious finish.
For me, Of Bunnies and Bosses has been both a challenging project and a fun adventure. I hope you enjoy and I look forward to doing more arrangements like this one as well as original works. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!
Classical No. 1 (2015)
An original video game themed orchestral work
My original comments after finishing The Heros’s Path, “After somewhere around 40 hours of work I've finished my first full orchestral piece! The Hero's Path (Suite) is divided into six sections following the path of the rise, fall, rebirth, and entry into legend of a hero.
"This has been a monumental undertaking for me. Over the past six weeks this song has been written, changed sound sets, tweaked, changed sound sets again, added to, and tweaked some more. I'm very happy with what I've been able to achieve and I hope you will enjoy what you hear!”
The sections are titled as follows:
-
Dark Times (Start)
-
The Calling (0:38)
-
Hard Knocks/Hard Won (1:19)
-
Refined by Fire (2:13)
-
Reborn/Renew the Call (2:54)
-
A Legend is Born (4:16)
When I started The Hero’s Path (Suite) I was completely new to writing for orchestra and so the challenge was a huge learning experience for me. I discovered that not only is it a time consuming process but that it is way different than writing for electronic instruments particularly in getting the instruments to sound realistic. I also struggled to level parts and mix the end result without crazy amounts of artifacts coming from my speakers to ruin the music. I’ve learned a lot since then but I still consider The Hero’s Path one of my better works to date.
The Hero's Path (Suite)(2015)
Fanfare (2015)
This song is an unfinished work in progress
Fanfare is the working title for this orchestral work-in-progress. As it is a work in progress I encourage anyone who listens to give their feedback about its current state keeping in mind that this is nowhere close to a finished piece.
This piece started from a little noodling I did on the xylophone (or maybe it was a sampled version I don’t remember). Either way, what resulted was the current western sounding fanfare that’s somewhat reminiscent of Copland’s Rodeo. I hope to make this a full piece in the future.
March of the Hopeful (2015)
This song is an unfinished work in progress
March of the Hopeful is an orchestral work-in-progress. As it is a work in progress I encourage anyone who listens to give their feedback about its current state keeping in mind that this is likely nowhere close to a finished piece.
March of the Hopeful is based on a theme I originally came up with on the piano. That theme can be heard throughout but is closest to the original at about 1:04 on the recording on this site. The original theme is called A Time of Rain and like this work is unfinished. I hope to finish both the piano work and the orchestral march version in the future.
A short classical style, orchestral work.
Both the title of this short piece and the style are reflective of what most think of when they hear the words “classical music” – or at least what I think of. I tend to think of classical works (i.e. those of Mozart or Hyden) as having have rather boring titles and a style that, (now days) puts some people to sleep.
For me Classical No.1 may be written in an older style but is still a good example of orchestral music. Writing this piece, though short as it is, was a challenge in harmonizing a melody with orchestra as well as writing countermelody and controlling balance between parts. It was equally a lesson in those things as well as fun to write.
The Boss of Prankster Keep (2015)
A video game themed orchestral work.
The Boss of Prankster Keep started as an attempt to create a less “action” style piece, something perhaps more atmospheric. If you’ve listened to the piece you can probably tell that it didn’t turn out as I had originally intended and instead of atmospheric it’s more cartoony.
No matter my original intentions I think The Boss of Prankster Keep turned out to be a fun representation of the kind of music you might find in a role playing video game with a cell-shaded art style. For me it brings to mind what tends to be the comical type of dungeon boss that doesn’t look threatening but still manages to put your skills to the test.
I love the cartoony style of the main theme and the tense dissonance of the beginning and middle themes that serve to illustrate different points in the boss battle. From the mysterious introduction, to cartoony battle, a heroic struggle, back to battle and eventually defeating the boss, The Boss of Prankster Keep is tense, quirky, and fun!