New song: "The Gamblers"

 Hi again folks,

despite I haven't uploaded a lot of songs lately that doesn't mean I've been idle. Not at all! So here goes my latest song: The Gamblers.

This epic orchestral song was created to be the main theme for the Digital Combat Simulation's "The Gamblers" campaign by Baltic Dragon.

After creating other songs for him, Baltic Dragon contacted me in the winter of 2022 to create a new song for his new F16 Campaign. The song took many iterations until reaching its final form, and despite being much longer initially, the final version was shortened to suit the trailer lenght.

This version was completed in April 2024. It was originally uploaded on May 3rd 2024 but wasn't publicly available until July 11th, the release date of "The Gamblers" DCS campaign.

"The Gamblers" DCS campaign official trailer (only music):

"The Gamblers" DCS campaign official trailer (music and audio):

(Trailer video by Max Pettersson)
 

Stream/purchase the song at Bandcamp:

 

Hope you enjoy it! More music comming soon ;)

Have a nice summer!

Improvising at night

 Hi again,

Here's a short piano improvisation I recorded last summer. I've added some old videos I shot quite some time ago to make it a bit more entertaining. It's not highly produced, but I hope you enjoy it anyway:

 

The song is also available on Bandcamp (only audio, alternate mix):

 Regards

September

 Hi there!

This is how I spend my time while everyone else is sleeping...

I recorded this demo a few days ago. It's just an improvisation around an idea I had while playing guitar. I recorded it on video in one take, and added all the other instruments later, to make it a bit more interesting.

I hope you like it :)

Regards

Happy 2023 and a new song!

 Hi again folks,

first of all: Happy New Year to you all!! 

Oh God...Another year has passed... but I guess that's always good :) So long 2022, and welcome 2023! Yes, I know: the World has gone completely nuts during 2022, hasn't it? But hey, there's always space for hope, right? So let's wish this brand new 2023 brings some sense and good stuff.

So... here is my little contribution to that! "The Fighter Pilot Podcast" has decided to jump from the audio realm to full video glory on YouTube, and the guys needed a new theme for the show. So here it goes: this new song is call "Firewall":

 

The song started as a 10 sec hard-rock jingle as requested by the team. But I thought it was a pity to leave it like that, so I created a longer version of it that might be considered as a song. It has a "80's guitar hero" intro section which evolves into a hard-rock theme similar to the ones you probably associate now with the show.

Here you can watch the video where it has been used for first time:

As always, I've also uploaded the audio version:

Hope you like it! :)

Regards

Dominant Fury

 Hi again,

well... here goes another song: "Dominant Fury" is a 3 min long cinematic orchestral song. It features a calm first half section and an epic second half. It has some Middle East flavor, as it was created to be used in the premiere of the Digital Combat Simulator Campaign "Raven One: Dominant Fury", which takes place in that part of the World. 

The campaign was created by Baltic Dragon and is based on the book trilogy "Raven One" by Kevin Miller. This new campaign is a prequel of the successful DCS "Raven One" campaign, also by Baltic Dragon. 

Baltic Dragon provided some guidelines about what kind of song he had in mind and gave me feedback during the creation process of the song. This is the result:

This is the audio version:

 

The song was featured for the first time on this preview video of the "Raven One: Dominant Fury" campaign:

 It also appears at the end of Air Combat Sim Podcast Ep. 30, where the campaign was previewed:  

 

Days later the official trailer of the campaign was released, featuring the whole song:

 

 It also appeared in the campaign's quick guide video:

Hope you like it :)

Kindest regards

Talk To Me, Goose!

 Hi again,

yep, I know, I know... I just released a new song. But here goes a new one!

"Top Gun: Maverick", the sequel of the movie "Top Gun", has been premiered a few days ago and it's going to be available for the general public in a few weeks.

Being the original movie an icon of the 80s, and the premiere of "Maverick" having being delayed for two years due the COVID-19 pandemic the hype has been pretty high about this one.

The Fighter Pilot Podcast is going to release a series focusing in the US Navy Top Gun weapon school, and they needed a song to fit the theme. After some demos I decided to do a partial cover of the original Top Gun Anthem, changing it a bit, most notably adding a new original section at the end (which can't be heard in the version used in the podcast).

Here it goes, I hope you like it :)

Best regards

Out of the drawer now!

Hi again folks, 

I'm not sure about you, but whenever I have an idea for a new song I record it. Even if it's just a guitar riff, or something I've come up with while noddling with the keyboard, I record it with my DAW or whatever is at hand (my cellphone, for example). This way if I need to create a new song for a project I don't need to start from scratch. I just have to search among these demos that suits what I need and use it as starting point. 

From time to time I like to navigate through my hard disk, checking all these demos. Just for the fun of it. I have a pretty bad memory, so it's not unusual for me to find something there and say: hey, thats sounds cool! 

That's exactly what happened last week. I found an almost finished song I created last summer (July 2021) for a project which is not finished yet. It mixes orchestral and metal sounds to get an epic result (hopefully). I decided it was time to give it a final touch and release it. So here it is. Well, in fact I've made it available both YouTube and BandCamp. Hope you like it. 

 

 

 

Happy new 2022 and a new song!

 Hi again folks!

so, 2021 has passed and we have a brand new year to waste. And with it comes a new song! The Fighter Pilot Podcast requested a new song to be used as theme for the whole 2022 year. Once again it had to be a metal song, so that is what I created!

The final version wasn't the usual song though. It had been created to be easily editable by the podcast production team so it could be cut or looped to created the bumper of each episode depending on the needed lenght. Thus it had a long 45 sec loopable intro, followed by two different sections separated by a few seconds so the trails of the first one didn't overlap the second section and they could be used independently or merged, depending on the needs.

Once finished I created this edited version which you may consider a "normal" song. Anyway, here it is:

Hope you like it. As always, take care out there and see you here again soon!

Regards

Iron Flag

 Hi again folks,

I almost forgot about this one... I finished it back in May. If was created to the be theme of the Iron Flag Part I campaign for DCS A-10CII Tank Killer simulation. But the campaign hasn't been available until today. So here it goes:

 If it sounds familiar to you is because they asked me if it could be inspired to certain song of the most famous heavy metal band from England ;)

Here you can listen the song as the soundtrack of the trailer video created for the campaign (note the guitar solos at the end are different that the version I post above):

 

And with this I'm going to wrap 2021. I hope you've had a good year (all things considered). See you in 2022! Have a nice Xmas and a Happy New Year!!

Kindest regards

"The Raven" - Orchestral section

 Hi again,

a couple of days ago someone posted a comment in the YouTube video of one of my old songs ("Entering Battle Reprise"). He/She suggested me to create more music like that (orchestral/epic). 

Truth be said I haven't created a lot of songs like that in a long time, mostly due the kind of projects I'm involved with lately needed rock/metal songs in most cases.

But then I remembered "The Raven", a song I did last year for a campaign that was being developed for DCS World, a Flight combat simulator. This song started with a short rock introduction and then a longer progressive metal section. After that comes an orchestral theme, which was calm in the beginning, but then evolves and becomes an epic piece.

So I decided it was probably a good idea to publish that orchestral section separately. I've just uploaded it to Bandcamp and also to YouTube, using as video the trailer created for the campaign when it was released. Here is the video:

And If you just want to stream the audio here it goes:

I hope you like it!

Regards 

The 80s are back!

 Welcome back folks!

In case you didn't notice: the 80s are back. Haircuts, clothing, movies and of course... music. Yes... even John Mayer has released an album with sounds, art and videos like the ones we had during the eighties.

So... believe it or not my next song had to be inspired by that decade. I can't deny I dig a good amount of the music and movies that were done back then (others was utterly bad though). I listen or watched them quite often, and for some time I have wanted to create some music with the kind of sounds we were listening on the radio or as movie soundtracks then. But I didn't really sit to do it. Until I was offered the opportunity to create a theme for a new podcast focused on the F-14 Tomcat. If you don't know what that is: does "Top Gun" rings a bell? Yes... that airplane :) So, the podcast is called "F-14 Tomcast" (I love the name, hehe), in case you feel inclined to give it a listen.

Anyway, with that movie in mind I created this song, "Catapult". The name is descriptive enough if you're interested on jet fighters, aircraft carriers and that kind of jazz. And for this special occasion I've even created a music video. Here it goes:

As always the song is also available as audio streaming on Bandcamp:

 I have to say that despite it's not perfect  I'm quite proud of the final result. I think the goal was achieved (sounds like the music you may expect hearing while watching a jet fighter movie from the 80s) and I think my recording and mixing are improving. And I kind of like the song itself too.

Enough talking... hope you like it.

See you on the next one!

So... that was fast!

 Hi again folks,

a request for a new song for the Warbirds series came out of the blue last week and I just had a few hours to create it before leaving for the weekend. 

 So I came up with a couple of ideas: a hard rock song that was discarded, and this one. Is just a simple metal song, and I created, recorded, mixed and master it in around three hours, so... that was fast! and also that means it's not that well rounded, but a deadline is a deadline! :)

Hope you enjoy it anyway!

See you soon!

Celebration!

 Hey folks,

I hope you're doing extremely well :)

Year 2020 is coming to an end, and it's also the moment when The Fighter Pilot Podcast has reached its episode 100th. To celebrate such special event I've composed this new song "Celebration":

Believe it or not it started as a funk/disco song inspired by Kool & The Gang's "Celebration". Then it morphed into a kind of western movie soundtrack But in the end it has ended as an orchestral fanfare, very, very far from the first version of this song.

I do hope you a Happy New Year (Xmas has already passed but let me wish you a belated Happy Christmas too). Let's hope 2021 will bring back some of the things we've lost during 2020.

Regards

The Army Song

Hi once more folks,

how is it going? Is the Summer being hot enough? :)

Let me introduce you the last song being featured on The Fighter Pilot Podcast: "The Army Song".

When I was asked to create some music for the upcoming "Army month" this song instantly came to my mind. It was obvious that a punk/rock cover of "The Caisson Song", or "Army song" as is called nowadays, was going to be the perfect choice. So here you have it: a two minute long version with a lot of guitars. I'm sure it will almost invite you to march while listening to it! ;)

 

"The Raven". Or a proper epic song.

Hi again folks,

 

 Summer is already here, and is time to show you some new music!

This new song is quite different to the ones I've been releasing lately. Instead of a fast paced, direct 2 minute long song this one is not short by any means (6:36 min), and is the kind of song I love: longer, with a lot of different sections and music styles and epic.

It has been created to be used in the Digital Combat Simulator F-18 Campaign "Raven One", created by Baltic Dragon and based on the book "Raven One" by Kevin Miller. I had less than a week to complete it, so there's a lot of space for improvements and I'd be glad of change some parts and do a proper mix if I get the chance of releasing an updated version. But you have to accept how creating music for a specific project works: a deadline is a deadline.

You'll see it is anything but boring, and it gets better as it gets going... It starts with a short and calm rock guitar section (which I'm not totally happy with but I reached the tight deadline before I could replace it with anything better) and then turns into a progressive metal section, which I like quite a lot, despite I'd have liked to get even better...

 

But don't worry, if you're not into metal it doesn't last long anyway: at 2:35 the songs leaves behind all guitars and drums and becomes an orchestral theme, similar to some song you may hear as part of the original soundtrack of a movie. It starting quiet and calm, but it evolves constantly, reaching at the end its most epic section, with the whole orchestra, including the choir and all the rings and bells (literally). 

 

Be patient and listen it untill the end, you'll see why I wrote that it gets better as it gets going. Hope you like it. Enjoy your summer! :)

Eat 'Em All!!

Hi there,

first of all I hope you all are doing well. COVID19 is hitting hard around the globe and sadly is taking a high toll, mostly but not only on elderly people.

I've been in lockdown at home for more than a month now, and it seems it will last at least a few weeks more. I'm not bored by any means, because working from home and taking care of everything else keeps me busy most of the day. But I'm speding all the time I can working on my music. And that helps a lot about staying positive and enjoying these uncertain times we're living.

Among other things I'm revisiting a lot of music I've been recording in the past. Not sure about how many, but I think I have hundreds of not-finished songs or song ideas recorded, but I'm trying to focus mostly on the ones I created in the last couple of years.

This little Old school thrash metal song is one of these. It's a little homage to the sound of the first record released in 1983 by the most famous metal band out there (so far).

I composed it back in August 2019, but didn't have the time to record it again  and mix it until now. It's mostly a "tone demo", and that is why is that short... Hope you enjoy it!:

Take care of yourself and your close ones. And use well the lockdown time ;)

A new decade, a new podcast and more rock!

Hi folks!

Xmas is already over and we're well into 2020 at this point. With the new year and decade comes a new song for a new podcast: the Air Combat Sim Podcast.

Despite is different to the Fighter Pilot Podcast this one is also focused around combat airplanes, but from a different perspective: PC combat flight simulator, as DCS, IL2 and the likes.

The team behind it requested me a rock song to be used as main theme and I came up with this idea after several tries. It sounds like a 80s guitar hero song, as that is what comes to my mind when I think about that kind of thing (yep, I grew up watching those cheesy 80s air combat movies...)

Hope you like it! :)

Xmas is almost here, so let's drop some bombs!

Hi again!

December is "Bomber month" on The Fighter Pilot Podcast, and for this mini series I was asked to create a specific theme.

Being bombers not particularly fast or agile I had to create something resembling that. So, some old school heavy music was needed.

I was playing guitar in my parents' garage back in the 90s when I came up with a riff that was that kind of thing. Despite I didn't intend to do such thing it sounded (to me at least) like Black Sabbath. I remember recording it on cassette with a friend playing some home made drums (don't ask) and it sounded great on that big space, reverberating from wall to wall, which contributed to make it sound even heavier.

When I was requested to create the bombers' month song I remembered that riff, and thought it would make the trick as bomber themed song. So, I recorded and mixed it trying to sound similar to the earliest Black Sabbath albums of the 70s.

The overall recording, mixing and mastering process tries to bring that vintage sound back too: how instruments sit on the stereo spectrum, the tape noise, etc. Is my personal XXI century homage to that sound!

The guitar, which uses the Laney amp model Tony Iommi used back then, is doubled and panned to the right, while a saturated bass is panned to the left. The guitars' reverb is panned to the left too to create a wider guitar sound, which was a mixing trick used back in those days.

I kept a heavy sound for the drums with a lot of reverb also. No fancy playing, just "caveman" playing and fills.

The song was used for first time on the first episode of the Bomber series: The B-17 Flying Fortress.

Anyway, hope you like it!

If you want to listen the full episode click HERE.

Kindest regards

Summer is over, but we keep the summer mood on with this new song!

Hi all,

yeah, well... Summer is over. We're back at work and the rest of our daily routine. But this last song I've published kinds of keeps the happy mood of the Summer on!

Meant to be used in a podcast episode out of the "aircraft series", the goal was to create a more festive song. But it couldn't go "full party mode", it had to have a quick pace to fit the opening of the episode while keeping it tamed and with a happy mood. So, what came out was a straight and simple rock song, even with pop touches (that drum pattern is anything but used on metal).

The song was released on September 22th 2019, as the "Cargo song" featured on the C-2 Grayhound episode, but was created, recorded and mixed during early August. If case you want to listen the podcast episode where it was featured just click HERE. Hope you enjoy the song! :)

Back from holidays and new song!

Hi again folks,

summer holidays are almost over for me. Just came back from a couple of weeks of relax away from the city, but before leaving I left one song ready to be released (well, it was more than one, but the rest will be released later). As always it's a one minute long metal song. But that's what bumper music for fighter pilots' podcast is all about, isn't it? :)

If you want to check the podcast episode where this song has been featured click HERE. The episode is also available on all big streaming platforms, including Spotify and YouTube.

During this two weeks of holidays I've been playing guitar around 6 hours a day, so expect to have new songs comming soon ;)

I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer. I'll be back soon, that's for sure...

Enjoy the song!