Featured Composers

While working on Episode 5, I saw a post on Incompetech introducing people to the work of Alexander Nakarada. I liked quite a few pieces of his work and am excited to be adding his work to the show.

Here’s a little bit about him:  Alexander Nakarada, 25 year old composer from Norway. I started composing when I was 15 and hasn’t been able to stop since. With a huge passion for everything from orchestral music, to black metal I worked a lot to “find my style”, but gave up just after a while and figured out I simply don’t have one.

Tabletop Audio is a website I have been using for a long time. Even before I was running my own game, I would check out the work on Tabletop Audio as background music while I was working on a project or gaming. Since I have started the podcast, the work that Tim has done has become extremely useful for times where I need some ambient noises without full background music.

Tabletop Audio is the premier, advertising free / free-to-use, user supported ambient game audio site on the web. It has been nominated for the prestigious ENnie awards every year since it's launch and was awarded the Silver Medal at the ENnies for 'Best Website' in 2015 and the Gold Medal in 2017. Each year millions of tracks are played and downloaded from the site and it is entirely supported by it's users via Patreon and donations.

The site contains over one hundred 10 minute ambiences across a variety of genres. For more control over your sounds, check out the Tabletop Audio: SoundPads which allow you to mix and match your own ambient creations.

Adrian von Zielger is musician I found on YouTube a while ago whose music I have used as inspiration while working on preparing for a session for quite some time now. He has been putting music on YouTube for nearly a decade with a focus on folk and instrumental metal tracks. While I was getting in touch with some musicians whose music we have been using under creative commons, I decided to cast a net out to Adrian and ask if he had a license like we already use. He doesn’t, but he was open to allowing us to use his music with his permission. Some advice I’ve been given before, “You already not using it, the worst they can do is say no, and you’re right where you are now.” We’re happy to be adding his huge catalog of music to our shows options!

I came across Michael Ghelfi’s music on Reddit, which is really a great place to keep an eye on if you are looking to be introduced to great creators in the spaces you follow. I knew instantly once I started browsing his work that I wanted to be able to use it. Funny enough, I actually checked out his work and left a comment asking if I could use it in the show before I even finished reading the post, where he linked to a video explaining how it could be using in projects like podcasts. What really had me set on Michael is he focuses a lot on ambiences instead of just music. Don’t get me wrong, I love having such a wide range of artists who let us use their music, and Michael does that as well, but as the show has grown I have been wanting to use more scene background instead of constant music. Keep an ear out on the background towards the end of Arc 2 of the Erylian Epic, I’m sure you will hear his stuff more and more.

Scott Buckley is a musician I stumbled across while making a slight change in the way I add music into episodes. I was looking for music that had a bit more of a background and ambient feel to it, instead of the more "in your face" feels that you get from fantasy themed music. I searched around and checked out a few different artists, but Scott was the one I found myself returning to time and time again.

I discovered Vindsvept through a post over on the Dungeons and Dragons subreddit. The music he composes is great for cinematic fantasy, as well as listening to to get inspired for a session of D&D. We use his song, Last Stand, as the outro music in the Mieveht Story campaign.

Here’s a bit from Vindsvept:    Ahoy, I’m Vindsvept. I’m a musician from the frozen north of Sweden. I’ve been writing music most of my life, a few years ago I started a YouTube channel and started to upload my tunes. Since I started four years ago I’ve released almost 100 tracks in varying styles, though mostly focusing on minimalist folk-pop and orchestral arrangements.

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Every once in a while you come across on ad on Facebook that grabs your attention. It probably sounds too good to be true, but you check it out anyways. That is what happened to me with Monument Studios. They were having a sale on their All In One bundle and their website had plenty of samples for me to check out to see if I thought it would work for us. Since then, I have purchased every album that they have released. Two things have turned me into a loyal customer of theirs. First is the variety of work that they put out. They have released ambient pieces, musical pieces, some that have epic builds, other that sit well in the background, and they have even branched out into sound design pieces with one shot sound effects and pieces meant to be put together and layered on top of. Second, and most importantly, is the long term support of their projects. I bought their Fantasy II album when it came out and it got 6 content updates, totaling hundreds of additional tracks. They have also been very open to conversations and are always looking for feedback and ideas on what to add to their offerings next.

Monument Studios has also decided to offer our community and listeners 15% off of any orders made on their website. Use the coupon code ERYLIA15 to get 15% of your entire order!

Check out Kevin MacLeod’s website Incompetech. This is one of the first artists that we started using on our show and he has a vast catalog of many different styles of music available. You’ll recognize his song, The Path of the Goblin King, as the intro song for early episodes of the Mieveht Story campaign.  

Kevin actually played D&D with that horrible rounded d20 they included with the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (the red cover with the green dragon and the wizard on it).

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