Miracle of Sound
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| Miracle of Sound | |
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Gavin Dunne, better known as Miracle of Sound
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gavin Dunne |
| Origin | Ireland |
| Genres | Video game music, Rock, Pop, Electronic rock, Hard rock, Heavy metal, Alternative rock, Dubstep, Jazz, Doo-wop |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Website | Miracleofsound.net |
Gavin Dunne better known by the name of his music project "Miracle of Sound" is an Irish indie musician known for his music inspired by video games, films and TV shows.[1] While not widely known in his home country of Ireland, his music is very popular with the online gaming community, and he has been described as Ireland's most successful indie musician.[2][3][4] Miracle of Sound is generally a one-man-band, though he occasionally collaborates with other musicians and singers, such as his 2011 collaboration with Malukah on his song "Legends of the Frost". His songs vary widely in genre, typically using the genre that best fits the song's subject; these have included rock, pop, electronic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock, tribal music, dubstep, jazz and even doo-wop.[1] He is the son of late Irish poet Seán Dunne.[5]
Contents
Origins of Miracle of Sound
After the breakup of his previous band "Lotus Lullaby" Gavin became inspired by the video games he was playing and wrote several songs based on his favorite games. Beginning with the song "Gordon Freeman Saved My Life",[6] based on the character from the Half-Life franchise. Following a positive reception, Gavin went on to write several more songs based on his favourite hobby; video games.[2]
One of these early songs "Commander Shepard," based on the character from the Mass Effect series, went viral and eventually amassed over 2 million views, leading to rapid rise in popularity for the musician.[2][7]
Escapist Magazine
From 2011 until the end of 2014, Gavin released new music videos based on video games or video game characters on The Escapist (an online video gaming website) every two to four weeks, in addition to releasing them on his Youtube channel.[7]
Coordination with game developers
Gavin eventually met with the marketing team from Bioware while he was at Gamescom in Germany in August 2011. There he released another Mass Effect song, "Normandy", based on the ending of Mass Effect 2.[7] Coordinating with Bioware, Gavin became involved in the marketing campaign for the next game in the series, Mass Effect 3. Both voice actors for the male and female Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series (Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale), respectively, performed dramatic readings of parts of the song "Commander Shepard" before the release of the Mass Effect 3, to raise publicity[8][9] and Bioware subsequently sent Gavin advance footage for use in making a song and accompanying music video based on Mass Effect 3, so that his release of "Take it Back" could coincide with the game's launch[2] and later made two additional songs based on the game, "Crucible" and "Kalros".
His song based on the indie CRPG Wasteland 2, titled "Cries of a Dead World" was included in the game itself, being used for the end credits.[10]
2015-2016
In early 2015, Gavin joined video game critic Jim Sterling and gaming journalist Laura Kate Dale (Laura K Buzz on social media) on a weekly podcast, the Podquisition, which primarily discusses video game and pop culture related news.[11]
His seventh album, "Metal Up", a heavy metal compilation with some songs based on Irish folklore, topped the iTunes Metal charts for 2 days following its release in early 2015.[12]
Shortly before the Wasteland 2 Director’s Cut re-release in 2015, Gavin released a parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing", titled "I want my RPG". The lyrics of which criticise modern free to play games, microtransactions and downloadable content and expresses the desire for more games of the old CRPG style.[13] Gavin has also used his music to criticise quick time events in his Resident Evil 6 song "Wigglesticks".[14] It has been suggested that other indie games on limited budgets could improve their the quality of their music by employing indie musicians such as Miracle of Sound.[15]
Many of his songs have received very positive reviews, such as his doo-wop song "Going Nuclear", based on the then-upcoming game Fallout 4, which drew praise from video game journalists for matching the tone and style of the game's aesthetic very well,[16][17] and his song "The Lucky Ones", which was considered unique by being written from the point of view of the background characters, rather than the player characters of Tom Clancy's The Division.[18][19] He has written two songs about the Uncharted franchise "Keep Drifting" and "Here we go Again", inspired by the main character's sense of adventure and being a drifter at heart.[20]
His songs have continued to perform well throughout 2015 and early 2016, with 2-3 million YouTube views per month, with total views of over 100 million.[21] He makes the majority of his income with sales of his songs and albums on Bandcamp and iTunes, as well as monetisation of his Youtube videos.[2][3]
Collaboration with other artists
While Gavin generally works alone, performing or synthesising all of the instruments for his music, he has collaborated with several other artists in the past. He has worked with several guest vocalists; Malukah on the song "Legends of the Frost",[22] Irish singer Ailín Kennedy on "Lady of Worlds",[23] Youtuber Sharm on "Fires Fade",[24][25][26] and Lorna Dollery on "Dream of the Sky", "Dream of Goodbye", and "Evacuate".[27][28][29]
He also had guest musicians Jack O'Rourke (piano) and Gary Baus (saxophone) perform for his jazz song "Sweet L.A.",[30] and guest musician Gwen Boyle (violin) on "Dream of the Sky".[27]
Discography
- Level 1-The 2011 Collection (2011)
- Level 2 (2012)
- Level 3 (2013)
- Level 4 (2013)
- Vistas (2014)
- Level 5 (2014)
- Metal Up (2015)
- Level 6 (2015)
References
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