Kevin Penkin. My Music

Hey Everyone!

I'm Kevin. I'm a video game and anime composer born in England but I've been in Austalia since I was 6 hehe.

I play flute, sax and piano but I'm dominantly a composer. I also started a small anime studio with my girlfriend this year and we're goign to finish a second project soon ^^

I'veb een rewriting music for games and anime since the very end of last year and it's gone down well with people. They seem to like it haha.

Feel free to check out my music at my webiste (main), my uni website or my youtube page.

Nice to meet you all!

Hi Kev good stuff. I think someone likes Joe Hisaishi??? Think he does a fantastic job on the studio Gibli stuff and I can tell he has influenced you. Had a listen to 'summer's day' - very well constructed piece and you use synths really well. One thing I might have done is modulate to minor key and create a second theme when the mood of the visuals changes when Sen & Fam veer off track. Have to say Spirited Away is a bloody fantastic film.

Anyway definitely one of the better collections of pieces on here ( thumbs up)

Hey! Really some good stuff! Just watched a couple of your videos on youtube--you have an excellent knack for sync and hit points. Definitely Hisaishi influenced, which is perfect for the anime stuff you're doing. Are those vienna samples? They sound very good.

Yes they are Vienna samples ^^ Thank you for the comments and suggestions :) I am going to attempt to navigate through the massive about of posts here and comment on other composer's music soon haha! I'm still "getting used to the water" so to speak haha.

Yes they are Vienna samples ^^ Thank you for the comments and suggestions :) I am going to attempt to navigate through the massive about of posts here and comment on other composer's music soon haha! I'm still "getting used to the water" so to speak haha.

Are you using the Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition? I'm thinking of getting it. It seems to be much better than the other budget libraries.

Are you using the Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition? I'm thinking of getting it. It seems to be much better than the other budget libraries.

Mmn. Special Edition. It's very good. The brass does sound funny though..If you have a good hold of the technology then it will sound better, so just remember that first impressions can be pretty bad.

Hey.

I stumbled onto train of dreams the other day and really enjoyed the music and now i stumbled onto this forum and found its composer here.... very odd haha.

anyway, just to say enjoyed the soundtrack to train of dreams, and some of your rewrites were really good as well, the project trico one i thought lost a bit of the innocence from the original.

I was really impressed by the FFX one, i was really not expecting it to be able to live up to the scene, but it managed, although it didn't seem to go anywhere, and it wasnt memorable [compared to To Zanarkand].

but still, good stuff! I can hear inspiration from Final Fantasy in your piano works.

edit: hm, just re-read it and the tone sounded kinda negative, but it really isn't, but obviously if you rewrite the music to FFX opening you are opening it to be compared with some pretty awesome music, so you come off pretty well. hope you know what i mean!

Hey.

I stumbled onto train of dreams the other day and really enjoyed the music and now i stumbled onto this forum and found its composer here.... very odd haha.

anyway, just to say enjoyed the soundtrack to train of dreams, and some of your rewrites were really good as well, the project trico one i thought lost a bit of the innocence from the original.

I was really impressed by the FFX one, i was really not expecting it to be able to live up to the scene, but it managed, although it didn't seem to go anywhere, and it wasnt memorable [compared to To Zanarkand].

but still, good stuff! I can hear inspiration from Final Fantasy in your piano works.

edit: hm, just re-read it and the tone sounded kinda negative, but it really isn't, but obviously if you rewrite the music to FFX opening you are opening it to be compared with some pretty awesome music, so you come off pretty well. hope you know what i mean!

Hey thanks! That is a funny run of events haha! Thank you for your comments on my music. It makes me happy when you say you enjoyed it :)

I'm wondering. Can you say an opinion about the ico rewrite without thoughts of the original track in your mind? hehe. It would be interesting to hear them if possible. ^^

I thought the track itself was good, i liked the flowing melody and it was harmonised nicely.

It fitted well to the video in terms of timing (the part where the camera pans over the vista), and also near the end.

I just felt that it was a little busy because the scenes at the start were very tranquil and the arpeggiation of the cellos (i assume they are cellos?) seemed to be a little too much movement.

I think the ending was very nicely done though.

I thought the track itself was good, i liked the flowing melody and it was harmonised nicely.

It fitted well to the video in terms of timing (the part where the camera pans over the vista), and also near the end.

I just felt that it was a little busy because the scenes at the start were very tranquil and the arpeggiation of the cellos (i assume they are cellos?) seemed to be a little too much movement.

I think the ending was very nicely done though.

Ahh. I see what you mean now :) I'll remember this for next time!

Thank you!

Ahh. I see what you mean now :) I'll remember this for next time!

Thank you!

you're welcome. :)

If you have time, mind checking out some of my stuff? I just posted a bunch of old works.

you're welcome. :)

If you have time, mind checking out some of my stuff? I just posted a bunch of old works.

In a flash! (So to speak)

Heya, just checked out some of your other "fan music" things.

First the FF7 Battle Theme, it had a very celtic tone to it, and i'm not quite sure it fit all too well to the FF7 flavour, but definately an interesting track. I think perhaps it would have done better with a bit more backing / different instruments leading the melody, as the violin was left on its own working furiously for a lot of the time and it got a little repetitive.

Also saw the One Winged Angel rewrite, boy you don't like to shy away from challenges do you? haha.

This piece was pretty awesome i thought, really nice variation, good theme development, love the use of the choir, fits with the whole angelic theme. The only criticism I had is that it doesn't loop easily, but i guess the original OWA didn't really either :P.

It cast the whole final fight in a different mood. To be honest i was never a big fan of OWA in the midi form, only in the orchestral form, so if your track was playing in that final battle, i would have no problem with that, don't know how to give a better compliment than that.

I have to ask, what sound libraries are you using? i've been wanting to get a decent set of electric guitar samples and your vocals are pretty awesome.

Well. I'm going to take a picture of the OWA compliment haha! WOOT!

Ok libraries lol. This is a hardware/software list :)

Hardware:

Mac Pro with 9 gigs of RAM

Apogee Duet Sound Card

Yamaha P-70 Electronic Piano

Axiom 49 Midi Controller

Yamaha HS80M Studio Speakers (x2)

Software:

Logic Pro 8

Vienna Symphonic Library (Special Edition)

Omnisphere

Kontakt 3

Ivory Grand Pianos

EW/QL Symphonic Choirs

Voices of Passion

BFD 1 (Big F'ing Drums)

Independence Free

I want ur mac and libraries!! I just got a new mac book pro I hope it is going to do the trick and cope with VSL Spec Ed when I get it. What's logic like?? I'm using Cubase...purely because it's what i'm used to.

Hehe. Well logic is what I was "brought up" on and it's really good for me. Excellent reverb plug in called "space designer". I don't think to succeed you need anything specific, it's what you do with what you got that will see you make amazing music.

If Cubase is comfortable for you, I say use it! :P However don't feel you have to limit yourself to what you know. Do what you want to do. Keep yourself as happy as possible and your music will be better.

Uploaded a film I did with my girlfriend and friend.

You might like it/find it interesting. It "talks" about teenage suicide. Not the most positive subject in the book, but it's powerful according to my friend and teacher. Enjoy

YouTube - A Life is Better than No Life

Yay :) New song :) I've had what I guess you could call "writers block" for the last few days so I'm happy to come up with something nice!

To explain the piece, it's pop. I imagine lyrics sung in Chinese (it feels right :P) sung by a voice similar to

The opening and feel is based off Yoko Kanno's Cloud 9, hence I named it Air 10 haha.

Obviously I don't have Chinese singers on sight at 8pm-1am at night haha, so the melody is played by synth.

Enjoy!

Air 10 (Synth Melody).mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Nice portfolio, I enjoyed the original and rewritten pieces. I particularly liked the rewrite of To Zanarkand, it was a very beautiful.

Nice portfolio, I enjoyed the original and rewritten pieces. I particularly liked the rewrite of To Zanarkand, it was a very beautiful.

Hey thanks! ^^ It's nice to hear feedback hehe. Thank you again!

Kevin

Sorry it took me so long to get to you. You are obviously talented and it shows in your works.

In the future I would suggest that instead of pointing us to a number of works, link to a single piece so that we are all talking about one piece.

I listened to few of your pieces and watched a couple of your movies and enjoyed each of them.

Ron

hey, you have some really nice stuff going on, joe hisaishi is one of my biggest influence too! ^5!.

Woot! Go Hisaishi haha. Ok...focus on one piece haha. I'll be back :P

Yep Kev I second that one. Kid in a sweet shop scenario... don't know what to choose :-)

I already commented briefly but I'm really impressed with your stuff for your age...or anyone's age for that matter.

Having said that...I would really love to see you out of your comfort zone though. Do you have anything in a different style? Your work has a formula - structure and orchestration, which I suppose could be called your style. But I think as a composer it's very healthy to break your formula and experiment with lots of different styles outside of your immediate interests.

If you've got anything with a different style please share it I would love to listen :-)

I need to stop saying 'style' so much

Wow, great stuff! From both a musical and a technical standpoint I think what you've done is fantastic!

I read your bio and I must say that I absolutely loved the Phendrana Drifts Main Theme the first time I heard it. Assuming I am thinking of the right place, which I think I am, it was amazing seeing the snow fall in such a beautiful environment with the tranquil music playing in the background. Wow! That was a really good game.

I can't believe you are using the Vienna Symphonic Library :) I've heard that it costs thousands of dollars. You use it well.