Howdy,
This last year I was quite busy recording my basses for WAVEGROUP, WAVEGROUP produce the recordings for the video game "Guitar Hero".
I have been under contract not to discuss any of this work until this week with the great news that the songs are now available as downloads at itunes and other dig sites.
It was a lot of fun to revisit songs from my favorite rock groups and some new favs. Songs from Deep Purple, Rush, Oingo Boingo, Coheed and Cambria, The Knack and many, many other great bands. It was a challenge to transcribe and then try to record with the same exact bass sound etc. Playing my Rickenbackers again was a real pleasure as well.
Some Awards for these recordings include:
Best Soundtrack at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and Best Soundtrack at the BAFTA Games Awards.
If you want to check out the recordings go to itunes and give them a listen. Here is the official press release from this week. cheers, ric
MEDIA RELEASE
THE GUITAR HERO-- RECORDINGS AVAILABLE FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
Featuring the in-game song recordings performed and produced by music collective WaveGroup
Fremont, CA – October 18th, 2007 – Today WaveGroup
(www.wavegroup.com), the award-winning collective of musicians and studio professionals who produced the song recordings for the video games Guitar Hero--, Guitar Hero-- II, and Guitar Hero-- Encore: Rocks The 80s--, announced The Guitar Hero-- Recordings will be available for digital download on October 23rd, 2007. Millions of Guitar Hero-- fans are intimately familiar with these recordings and now have a new way to enjoy them. WaveGroup has partnered with digital distribution company INGrooves to secure distribution for the seven volumes of The Guitar Hero-- Recordings on music download sites including AOL, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo!.
WaveGroup produced virtually all of the music for Guitar Hero--, Guitar Hero-- II, and Guitar Hero-- Encore Rocks The 80s-- and worked closely with Harmonix Music Systems-- and Red Octane® to develop the original playable guitar parts. To optimize the player's gameplay experience, WaveGroup arranged, performed and produced enhanced versions of many songs, adding cool guitar solos, interesting guitar flourishes, and custom endings. Dozens of musicians, producers and mixers were involved in the creation of the 97 songs which are all included in The Guitar Hero-- Recordings:
• The Guitar Hero-- Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero-- Recordings Volume II
• The Guitar Hero-- II Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero-- II Recordings Volume II
• The Guitar Hero-- II Recordings Volume III
• The Guitar Hero-- 80s Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero-- 80s Recordings Volume II
Please visit www.wavegroup.com/gh_songlists for the complete songlist of each volume.
"It was a blast recording these great rock tunes and we wanted to make the Guitar Hero versions available to everyone," said Will Littlejohn, President/CEO of WaveGroup and Lead Music Producer for Guitar Hero--, Guitar Hero-- II, and Guitar Hero-- Encore Rocks The 80s--. "In addition to experiencing these tracks when playing the games, we're excited that fans can now load up the in-game renditions on their iPods."
WaveGroup's in-demand recordings from Guitar Hero-- and Guitar Hero-- II have garnered numerous awards including Best Soundtrack at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and Best Soundtrack at the BAFTA Games Awards.