Hey all,
So this has been kind of an odd question for me since I've started developing music for video games.
I am a musician, but at heart, I love rock and metal music. Opeth, Protest the Hero, katatonia, Dream Theater, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, stuff like that.

As I've started doing stuff on my own, I find myself trying to do a lot of music that isn't quite me: http://soundcloud.com/dakota-potts

I'm having a lot of fun doing it, but I'm bad at it and a lot of it feels forced. Before this, I was pretty heavy into an original rock band where I played bass. You can hear it here: Obviously, that recording is somewhat melodyned and quantized, but it was our best foot forward.

Lately, I've been watching a lot of anime and laying a lot of video games that have music more i line with what I would like to do. Sort of an instrumental rock project. I'm wondering if I should continue pursuing the kinds of things I have up on my Soundcloud, or pursue what I know and love?

I know that in certain contexts, it can work:



I won't link spam anymore, but I just waned other people's take? Should I focus heavily on the rock and spend some time on the side getting better at other stuff? Focus heavily on getting better at other stuff? Forget about rock in video games altogether?

I must say I am loving your guitar work, nice riffs and could listen to more. You must put up more!!!!

I must say I am loving your guitar work, nice riffs and could listen to more. You must put up more!!!!

Unfortunately, I was "only" the bassist. We broke up and the drummer went crazy and removed them. That's the only song left online. I suppose, since I own 1/5th of the songs (same as everybody else), I can re post them on Youtube, especially where some of my better basslines are featured.

I wish I could play bass but that is tough to play, I can kind of play guitar lead but I am not that good at it. I think you should continue playing and maybe start a new band

Thanks. I am definitely trying for a new band on my own and I am continuing to play bass.

However, I am wondering if it is worth pursuing as a method of composing for media vs. as its own project. Does that make sense?

I think this may all depend on exactly what YOU want. When it comes to composing for media, you kind of have to be versatile. But the most important thing, you should LOVE doing what you are doing. It should never feel forced. I experienced this a couple of months ago. I was contacted by someone who wanted me to write reggae music for a singer of his.

Now, I absolutely LOVE reggae. But... I love traditional reggae. And traditional reggae wasn't what this guy was looking for. He wanted more of the mainstream reggae that I am not too fond of (plus his singer used a lot of electronic sonorities that I highly disagree with, like autotune, plus I wasn't impressed at all by his lyrical ability).

Needless to say, I didn't work with them, and the reason I didn't was because the more I wrote, the more I started to despise what I was doing. If instrumental rock is what feels right to you, do that! There are going to be projects out there that are going to need it. Heck, I had a project where I was doing a instrumental old school, westernish rock soundtrack (of course it fell flat on its face), but had it pulled through, it would have been a pretty sick game. But, more importantly, if you do what you love, and do it well, people will come to you wanting music, be it playing at venues or writing for a game.

Oh, by the way, I'm really digging the heavy stuff man. One dream I've always wanted to make a reality was performing in a metal band. Something like Gojira! (I think I'd be a pretty good rhythm guitarist, but I'm not really good at lead)
I hope you start another one! You guys had potential.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement, everybody.

This thread has showed me something important: People loved the rock work that I did, but no once has my other soundtrack been brought up. Maybe it's my passion and familiarity with rock music coming through. Who knows? But that tells me that there is validity in the rock that I want to do. I'll do what I've been told before and put work into what I'm passionate about.

I still wonder if I should try to expand into some of my soundtrack stuff, though. Does anybody have a take on that?

The game FUEL has a rock soundtrack - you might check it out for the usage. Probably more rock than metal, but edgy rock. They could've used a bit more variety in their tunes - what they had was good - but not enough variation as it does get repetitive after awhile.

Sometimes when I write rock instrumentals I'll imagine sports imagery/highlights running to it like on ESPN or something. There might be a market in that direction to. (I don't know - this is new to me - but I used to hear Satriani tunes behind sports highlights all the time, so maybe that market is still there somewhere).

The game FUEL has a rock soundtrack - you might check it out for the usage. Probably more rock than metal, but edgy rock. They could've used a bit more variety in their tunes - what they had was good - but not enough variation as it does get repetitive after awhile.

Sometimes when I write rock instrumentals I'll imagine sports imagery/highlights running to it like on ESPN or something. There might be a market in that direction to. (I don't know - this is new to me - but I used to hear Satriani tunes behind sports highlights all the time, so maybe that market is still there somewhere).

I would probably be doing more rock than metal anyways. However, there is a local MMA organization I booked an event with once that has a weekly TV show. I could possibly do a theme for them. Just waiting on the funds for a guitar and recording interface.