These tracks were composed and recorded by the studio supervisor—Stephen Richards (aka longzijun)—for various video projects. They are available for anyone to use for non-commercial purposes (just add the credit: “music by longzijun”). The tracks can be downloaded from his website: longzijun.wordpress.com.
At the moment, the video for Background Music 12—which was composed for the Dreamers HK: What’s your Dream in Life Video— is the studio’s most popular video. The song has been used in a wide variety of videos on the Internet.
As longs as a word remains unspoken (Background Music 22) – 2:14 120-130 bpm (but with a feeling more like 65 bpm), classical
Slow Descent 1 & 2 (Background Music 21) – 4:28 100 bpm, electronica
Background Music 20 Cog in Your Machine (Machine Music for Romantic Robots – 5:41, 120 bpm, electronic, pop & industrial sounds
Background Music 19 Transect – 6:55, 120 bpm, an upbeat instrumental with elements of techno, rock and pop.
Background Music 18 Rock Funk Beast – 3:33, 95 bpm, a hard rock piece with slightly funky feel (a loop-based composition featuring loops from CM Computer Magazine Issue 151 Cyclicks Collection and a few loops from SoundPool and other collections).
Elegy – 4:52, 77 bpm, slow and melancholy with a arrangement of piano, bells and strings.
Background Music 16 San - 3:43, 112 bpm, melodic electronica with a pulsating bass line and a hint of the 1980s.
Background Music 15 Yeah! Why? – 2:32, 124 bpm, electronica. This is an energetic song with a rock feel to it.
Background Music 14 Arpology 2 (Ambient Synth version) – 6:10. 71 bpm, ambient (synthesizer). This is a very peaceful song without much going on it in. It is based on the same chords as Arpology 1.
Background Music 13 Arpology 1 (Frantic Sax version) – 2:02. 112 bpm, minimalist (synthesizer). This is a short, noisy and busy piece. It might be suitable for animation or a video montage (where there’s no dialogue).
Background Music 12: Dreams – 10:40. 120 bpm, minimalist (piano, synthesizer, drums). This is the most popular song so far. Luckily, it appear near the top of the page in searches for background music, so it gets a fair amount if views.
Background Music 12b – Outtake – 2:16. 120 bpm, minimalist (piano, synthesizer, drums)
This is a first draft of Background Music 12 (Dreams). It has a heavier beat and uses more guitar-like synthesizer sounds. The song can be downloaded here: www.4shared.com/audio/9zIcOa69/dreams_outtake_1.html
Background Music 11: Safe Harbour – 5:12. 80/160 bpm, minimalist (piano, cello, acoustic bass, harp, flute, French horn. clarinet, drums).
Background Music 11b: Safe Harbor (without drums) – 3:48. 80/160 bpm, minimalist (piano, cello, acoustic bass, harp, flute, French horn. clarinet. Basically the same as the original version, but this one does not have drums and is shorter.
Background Music 10 – 3:00. 135 bpm, electronica/pop (synthesizer)
Background Music 09 – 3:00. 109 bpm, electronica (synthesizer, drums, percussion, bass)
Background Music 08 – 0:36, 140 bpm, techno (synthesizer)
Background Music 07 – 1:50, 135 bpm, techno & rock (drums, percussion, electric guitar, synthesizer, gong, trumpet)
Background Music 06 - 2:18, 90 bpm, electronica with some funk/rock influence (electric guitar, bass synthesizer, drums, percussion)
Background Music 05 – 2:27, 140 bpm, kind of an alt-rock groove (electric guitar, bass, synthesizer, drums, percussion)
Background Music 04 – 7:21, 120 bpm, rhythmic but mellow (synthesizer, piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, acoustic bass. electric bass, Asian fiddle, drums, percussion)
Background Music 03 – 6:12, 135 bpm, a gentle, ambient synthesizer song
Background Music 02 – 3:28, 120 bpm, lively with funk. jazz and reggae influences (electric guitar, horn section, synthesizer, drums, percussion)
Background Music 01 – 2:20, 100 bpm, quite calm but with a beat (piano, flute, English horn, Asian fiddle, drums, percussion)
Short Instrumental Songs
These songs are from twelve seconds to one minute in lenght. They are suitable for intros, outros, credit sequeneces or very short videos.
Track 6. Instrumental 06: Light, ambient electronica (40 seconds). Download: www.box.com/s/atj42vurgo3dufrxkld5
Track 5. Instrumental 05: Electronic, in a minor key with a steady beat (14 seconds). Download: www.box.com/s/8mgu1rkqo1q5r88gojgn
Track 4. Love & Time: Romantic, melancholy, piano and synth strings (24 seconds). Download: www.box.com/s/d9cpxezy3jv72qab2ak8
Track 3. Just Be: Light, pop-reggae with a slightly lo-fi retro feel (40 seconds). Download: www.box.com/s/godyuun4vu9jx7gxtbvy
Track 2. Happy Virus: Techno Intro (24 seconds). Download: www.box.com/s/98h2j39j8tjs6b70fe83
Track 1. Short Intro: 12-second electronica for intros. Download: www.box.com/s/91tdhl5j4oq215hu1q83
Most of the above compositions were created as soundtracks for video projects, animation or computer games. As the focus was on video production, the compositions tend to be quite simple and also tend to end abruptly (i.e., when the video ends). Most of the work was created using loops for the rhythm tracks (various sample collections were used) with some melodic and/or harmonic parts played using a Korg MicroX or M50. Some of the works were play entirely on the sythesizer. Most of the songs were put together using Cakewalk’s Sonars Home Studio 7.
