Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Early Access Choice Snippet: Calypso cut song snippet + explanation

Hello friends! Here is the 2nd Early Access Choice Video! This is a snippet of the cut song "Belong to You" from Calypso in Act 2 as well an explanation as to why it was cut! This song eventually got replaced by Not Sorry For Loving You.

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This early access content is meant to be exclusively for y'all until release, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on October 24 or later.

Early Access Videos: Casting (3 of 3)

Here's part 3 of the Early Access Videos on the casting process! In this video, I answer your questions about how we approach characters played by actors who don't identify as the same gender, and I talk about character chemistry in auditions.

Early Access Video: Casting (2 of 3)

Here's part two of the early access videos on the casting process! In this video, I answer some of your questions about finding the right voice and taking liberties in the audition!

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This early access content is meant to be exclusively for y'all until release, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on October 24 or later.

Early Access Video (Casting -> 1 of 3)

Here's the early access video on the casting process (1 of 3). In this video, I talk about what exactly I mean when I say that "anyone can audition."

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This early access content is meant to be exclusively for y'all until release, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on October 24 or later.

Early Access Choice Videos Poll

Hello friends! Here are the suggestions I received for the early access choice videos this month! Let me know which 2 you prefer and I'll get to working on them! :)

Early Access - Remember Them Snippet

Hello my friends! This month's early access video is a snippet from Song 8: Remember Them!

After suffering HEAVY losses in their battle against the cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus must boost his comrades' morale (as well as his own) and make a plan quickly before the Cyclops wakes up.

Something in EPIC I haven't talked about too much is the set of burdens that come with leadership. Odysseus rarely has the time to grieve after tragic events, always needing to continue leading so that his men don't die. What I think is musically fun here is hearing Odysseus struggle to carry on in these moments, pronounced by him singing in such a low octave before mustering the strength to sing in his normal tenor range.

UPDATE TO MONSTER TIER

Hello friends!!!

Because of where we are in the EPIC process right now, I'm no longer in the situation where I'm constantly writing, orchestrating, and recording demos for songs, and so I will be replacing the current Monster Tier livestream perk starting in October.

In its place, I am introducing a new perk: on top of the Mortal Tier early access video, the Monster Tier will include two more early access videos each month, the topics of which will be chosen by you guys! Similar to the God Tier, I will collect your video suggestions in the Discord chat and then I will post a poll for you guys to vote which topics you'd like to see the most! You guys can choose whatever you like so long as it's not too spoilery and doesn't require me to use the other vocalists/team members.

Some examples for what you could suggest are:

-A video explaining how I made the music for Get In the Water

-A video talking about how I chose the instruments for each character

-A video of me singing a verse and chorus of Ruthlessness live rather than a pre-recorded snippet.

-A video showing part of a cut song (depending on the song) and explaining why the song was cut

-A video talking about the casting process and how I go about selection

-A video showing a bunch of video game references/inspirations in EPIC

and so on! They can be more creative than these suggestions too, these are just the ones that came to mind. I'm open to most things so long as they are reasonable and are related to EPIC and/or my writing process. :)

Some examples of suggestions that I wouldn't be able to provide are:

-A video revealing what happens in the secret first 2 songs of Act 2

-A video of one of the other vocalists singing their song live

-A video of me going to a crowded area and randomly singing EPIC.

If the highest voted suggestion isn't something I can do then I will go down the list in descending order of votes until we reach a suggestion I can do.

For those who still want to spend time with me on streams, I am currently looking into other streaming options and will hopefully be able to share them with y'all soon! :) I'm also now able to spend more time in the Discord Backstage Chat VC's to hang out.

Thank you all for your continual support! I appreciate you all so much and I'm excited to make more beautiful memories with y'all. <3

Recording Demo for Song 8: Remember Them

Hello friends!

Here's the livestream playback for this month's exclusive livestream, where I recorded the demo for Song 8, Remember Them! I walked through my process of recording each character's voice and recording different sounds for the Soldiers and Cyclops!

Recording Personal Demo for Song 8: Remember Them

Hello friends! For this month's exclusive livestream, I'll walk you through the process of how I record my personal demos!!! It just so happens that I have yet to record the demo for song 8: Remember Them. These demos are what I send to the voice actors so that they are able to learn their parts of the songs! I'll walk you through how I record my voice as Odysseus, the soldiers, the cyclops, etc. and how I go about editing those vocals so that the demo feels full and complete despite only using one voice!

Tomorrow at 4pm EST!

Done For - Odysseus's Music

Hello friends! This month's early access video is a breakdown of Odysseus's music in Done For! I really enjoy this song because it just screams BOSS BATTLE and it's one of the few times we see Odysseus getting to use magic, which means I get to make his music a liiiiitle bit more electronic. :) 

I did my best to make each song have details like these so that the musical language of magic=electronic is consistent throughout the show. I wanted it to be simple as a concept, but have a lot a depth in practice, and it was a lot of fun to do!

Livestream Playback - Final Touches!

Hello friends! Here's the livestream playback from last month's stream! We added some fine-tuning to the orchestration in Ruthlessness, Remember Them, and more!

My apologies for the delay, my Vimeo has been acting weird with uploads. 

FINAL TOUCHES - August 26th at 3pm EST

WE ARE SO CLOSE TO THE END OF THE EPIC WRITING PROCESS!!! Tomorrow I'm going to be adding some orchestration final touches to songs like Ruthlessness, Remember Them, and more, and I'll see if I can finish any lyrics I'm still missing!!!

Song 8 Early Access Snippet - Storm (verse 2)

HELLO FRIENDS! This month's snippet is from Verse 2 of Song 8, Storm! This song occurs right after the Cyclops Saga as Odysseus and his crew sail home towards Ithaca but are halted by a divine storm. This second verse is a lot of fun because we hear the Acoustic Strummed Steel Stringed Guitar, which I often associate with Odysseus's pride, along with his classic cunning Electric Guitar. We even get some Eurylochus in this song, as well as a teaser as to what's to come. Can you figure out what the ending melody is referring to?

This song was my first ever song in 7/8, and I'm very happy with how hectic and storm-like it feels!

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This is meant to be exclusive content for y'all, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on August 14 or later.

Song 10 Snippet - Storm (verse 2)

HELLO FRIENDS! This month's snippet is from Verse 2 of Song 8, Storm! This song occurs right after the Cyclops Saga as Odysseus and his crew sail home towards Ithaca but are halted by a divine storm. This second verse is a lot of fun because we hear the Acoustic Strummed Steel Stringed Guitar, which I often associate with Odysseus's pride, along with his classic cunning Electric Guitar. We even get some Eurylochus in this song, as well as a teaser as to what's to come. Can you figure out what the ending melody is referring to?

This song was my first ever song in 7/8, and I'm very happy with how hectic and storm-like it feels!

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This is meant to be exclusive content for y'all, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on August 14 or later.

Working on Song 8 Livestream Playback

Hello friends! Here is the livestream playback for the Working on Song 8 stream from yesterday. Thanks everyone for the great time! We talked about the specificity of each line helps us understand Odysseus's thought process, and how maintaining consistency in the musical language serves the story!

Working on Song 8 Exclusive Livestream

Hello friends! This month's livestream will be on song 8! In this song, Odysseus and his surviving soldiers outsmart the cyclops and escape his clutches, but not before Odysseus makes some life-changing decisions.

Just a heads up, my work-setup is a bit more improvised at the moment because I'm currently in LA, but I will do my best to make sure y'all are still able to hear/see everything! :)

My Goodbye - Odysseus's Verse

Hello friends! Here's Odysseus's response to Athena in My Goodbye. What I love a lot about this song is the big difference in instrumentation between Athena's and Odysseus's verses. Athena's verse relies more on piano and introduces the clock beat as well as the marching snare, whereas Odysseus's mixes acoustic and electric guitar as he goes from small moments of vulnerability to retaliating with his own insults and criticisms. This is one of my fav songs in the show, and especially in Act 1. :)

Working on MULTIPLE SONGS Livestream

This was such a fun livestream! Thank you all so much for attending! We worked on 11. Luck Runs Out, 17. There Are Other Ways, and 39. Royal Wisdom Burst!

WORKING ON MULTIPLE SONGS!!!

WE'RE WORKING ON MULTIPLE SONGS TODAY!!! Some Eurylochus, some Ody/Circe, MAYBE CYCLOPS AND GOD GAMES IF WE HAVE TIME!!! ARE Y'ALL READY FOR THIS!?!?!?

Odysseus/Crew vs. Cyclops pt. 2 -- Song 7: Survive

HERE'S THIS MONTH'S EARLY ACCESS VIDEO! In this snippet, the battle between Odysseus + crew. and the cyclops, Polyphemus, continues!

One of my favorite things to write in EPIC is Odysseus's battle tactics. It's so fun to see his mind in action as he figures out his opponents and develops strategies in songs like this one, The Horse and the Infant, Charybdis, etc. This is also the first major boss battle in the show and I'm very excited that it's such a large scale fight.

The electric guitar goes crazy as Odysseus unleashes an all-out strategic attack on Polyphemus, capitalizing on his weaknesses. The crew gets a moment to shine too, as we see them dealing combo attacks on Polyphemus. The usage of triplets in this song foreshadows Odysseus's inner ruthlessness, which we'll see much more of in Act 2.

POLYPHEMUS Livestream Playback - May 31st

Here's a playback from yesterday's livestream!

Working on Song 6 - Polyphemus // May 31st at 4pm EST

For this month's exclusive livestream, I'll be working on the cyclops's song! The cyclops saga is proving to be one of if not the most difficult saga to write in EPIC. This song has to juggle MANY plot points and details while also giving us a sense of Polyphemus's attitude, and foreshadowing events that happen in songs 7-9. On top of that, it's a CYCLOPS singing.

I'm very pumped. >:D

Athena "My Goodbye" Snippet - Song 9

Here's the early access snippet for this month! This is the first verse and chorus from Athena's "My Goodbye." After Odysseus stands his ground with his own philosophical beliefs against Athena's during the battle with the cyclops, Athena decides he is no longer worthy of being the Warrior of the Mind.

The actual key of this song is 3 semitones higher than the key in this video! If you want, I can show y'all the "Jay chipmunk" version, which is what I send to other demo singers (in this case, Teagan) so that they can learn the song in their key without having to worry about transposing. It's very funny to listen to.

I'm really excited about this song; the orchestration changes throughout the verses, focusing solely on piano, marching drums, and a beat made out of a ticking clock for Athena's verse, then transitioning to electric and acoustic guitars along with some cinematic and orchestral percussion for Odysseus's verse. The two go back and forth in the bridge and the instruments reflect that as the song reaches its climax. This song is important because we see Odysseus and Athena go at each other's throats verbally, leading to a separation that lasts many years. By the time they see each other again, they will have both undergone massive changes. Character arcs!! :)))

Working on Hermes Act 1 - Livestream Playback

WE'RE SO CLOSE Y'ALL!!!

Working on Hermes Act 1 - Exclusive Livestream

HELLO MY FRIENDS! Join me as I work on the all-new Hermes Act 1 song (which I have yet to name)! I'll talk through my process and lyrics and I'll work through the orchestration for this first encounter between Odysseus and Hermes!

Monster Snippet

Throughout Act 1, Odysseus suffers many losses. We see him make an impossible choice in Troy. We see the cyclops kill several of his men. We see Poseidon decimate his entire fleet as they cry out for their captain in vein. We see Odysseus battle a witch, only to learn that his final hope of getting home lies within the knowledge of a prophet in the Underworld. After he sails through the Underworld and is forced to hear the souls of the hundreds he failed to save, the prophet tells Odysseus that the man who will make it home is not Odysseus.

In this song, Odysseus reflects with his few remaining men on the being he must become in order to make it home.

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This is meant to be exclusive content for y'all, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on April 14 or later.

Working on Song 10: Storm Livestream Playback

Here's the playback of yesterday's livestream! I'm really excited with how Storm is coming out! This re-write means a lot to me as the Draft 1 version (which was in 4/4 and 110bpm rather than 7/8 and 160bpm) was my least favorite song in EPIC!

WORKING ON SONG 10 - STORM Livestream

THIS SONG IS GONNA BE AWESOME!!! IT'S MY FIRST TIME WRITING IN 7/8 AND I AM SO PUMPED!!! ODY AND THE FLEET SAIL HOME FOR ITHACA AFTER THE CYCLOPS EVENTS BUT ARE STOPPED BY WHAT APPEARS TO BE A DIVINE STORM!!!

Livestream Playback: Working on Song 7 - Survive

Here's the playback of yesterday's livestream! I'm excited to figure out the rest of the Cyclops Saga.  :)

Open Arms Snippet (New Polites/Lotus Eaters song)

Here's a snippet from the new Polites song, Open Arms, where Polites and Odysseus do recon on a mysterious island! This song shows Polites's stance in relation to the show's theme of ruthlessness, while developing the friendship between Polites and Odysseus! It also gives me a chance to have some fun with the Lotus Eaters. :)

In order for you to get the most out of your Patron membership, please do not share this video outside of Patreon. This is meant to be exclusive content for y'all, and that can't work if this leaks. :) I will be releasing this video on TikTok on March 14 or later.