Dren McDonald
COMPOSER PRODUCER INSTRUMENTALIST
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The PTEROUS album is out now!
PTEROUS the full length album has just been released by Appearing Records.The album, Pterous, is a collection of 'orchestral' guitar instrumentals. Each piece is played entirely by McDonald, as he layered hundreds and hundreds of tracks of guitars (electric and acoustic), steel strings, nylon strings, ukulele, baritone guitars, fretless bass, and mixed in Dolby Atmos (Apple Spatial Audio) available on AppleMusic or Tidal. The album cover (as well as each of the pre-release singles) was created by artist, Christine MacTernan.Pterous is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
Dren's previous release, polyheDren was released in April '22 with guests, The Residents, Josh Freese (NIN, Sting), Nels Cline (Wilco), Iva Bittová (Nonesuch, ECM Records) and more!
Quotes about Dren's work
"The score, composed by Dren McDonald, adds measurably to the experience..." - BoingBoing review of Gathering Sky"A journey into new territory..." - PopMatters review of The String Arcade"This is one of those examples where The String Arcade takes a theme from a game and makes it better! 5/5 Stars" - Examiner on The String Arcade"Dren's soundtrack for Dangerous Dave hit the target perfectly - 80s chip tune references within a modern hillbilly sound that's bent towards the kind of diversity that games demand in their music." - John Romero (game designer, Dangerous Dave, Doom, Quake)
Music
dren mcdonald | Pterous
Pterous is the full length album of 'guitar orchestra' pieces, just released (2023) by Appearing Records.Pterous is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
dren mcdonald | D, Pt. 2
D, Pt. 2 is the 4th piece in this series of singles, and was released on February 24th, 2022 by Appearing Records.D, Pt. 2 is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
dren mcdonald | H
H is the 3rd piece in this series of singles, and was released on January 27th, 2022 by Appearing Records.H is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
dren mcdonald | D, Pt. 1
D, Pt. 1 is the 2nd piece in this series of singles, and was released on December 29th, 2022 by Appearing Records. Another piece will follow every month, for the next 4 months after this first piece, until the entire album will be released with a sixth piece in April 2023. Each of these pieces has it's own artwork from artist, Christine MacTernan.The album, Pterous, is a collection of 'orchestral' guitar instrumentals. Each piece is played entirely by McDonald, as he layered hundreds and hundreds of tracks of guitars (electric and acoustic), steel strings, nylon strings, ukulele, baritone guitars, fretless bass, and mixed in Dolby Atmos (Apple Spatial Audio) available on AppleMusic or Tidal.D, Pt. 1 is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
dren mcdonald | J.
J. is the first piece in this series of single pieces, which was just released on November 25th, 2022 by Appearing Records. Another piece will follow every month, for the next 5 months after this first piece, until the entire album will be released with a sixth piece in April 2023. Each of these pieces has it's own artwork from artist, Christine MacTernan.The album, Pterous, is a collection of 'orchestral' guitar instrumentals. Each piece is played entirely by McDonald, as he layered hundreds and hundreds of tracks of guitars (electric and acoustic), steel strings, nylon strings, ukulele, baritone guitars, fretless bass, and mixed in Dolby Atmos (Apple Spatial Audio) available on AppleMusic or Tidal.J. is available now at the following platforms:
Bandcamp | AppleMusic | Spotify | Amazon Music | Tidal
polyheDren | PSYCHIC
polyheDren is a collaboration project, and the 1st album, Psychic, includes a list of great guest artists that collaborated with Dren such as The Residents, Nels Cline (Wilco), **Josh Freese **(NIN, Sting, Devo, Danny Elfman), Ivá Bittova(Nonesuch), Rini, and many more. 100% of the sales/streaming from this record goes to Bay Area Music Project, a non-profit after school music program.
Gunman Taco Truck Original Soundtrack
Gunman Taco Truck is an original score for the hit video game featuring Mariachi music from a dystopian future where maybe a good microphone, a tuba, or a guitarrón is not easy to come by (due to the accidental explosion of a few nuclear bombs). It features fantastic trumpets, violins, drums, percussion and lots of guitars (acoustic, baritone, electrics etc). This soundtrack is also featured as a music kit for Valve's CounterStrike Global Offensive.
Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate Hideout Original Soundtrack
A hybrid of bluegrass/country and chip tunes that we call "chipbilly", this is the soundtrack to John Romero's (Doom/Quake) classic game, but the high definition remake. The original was released in the late 80s and was one of the most popular PC shareware games in history. In 2014 it was re-released on iOS/Android.
Gathering Sky Original Soundtrack
This award winning game (and soundtrack) features a live chamber ensemble score combined with ambient synth textures. The video game is special in that there is no scoring, no language, no dying or winning...it's simply an experience.
The String Arcade
Classic video game music arranged for string quartet! There are tunes from Galaga, Minecraft, Plants Vs. Zombies, Legend of Zelda, Ecco the Dolphin, Portal 2, Sonic and more. There are a few original pieces from Dren in here as well. 100% of the proceeds from this release goes to Bay Area Music Project a non-profit after school music project.
About
Dren has made many different impressions throughout his musical adventure. From touring and releasing records with Giant Ant Farm in the 90s, founding Vaccination Records Co, to working with artists like The Residents, Nels Cline & Ivá Bittova, composing/sound designing for over 75 video games, scoring for film, TV, VR/AR and theme parks up to his current releases; his approach to sonic creativity is driven by curiosity. Visit the Nerdtracks site for details on his interactive music and audio work.
Dren performing at The Residents Secret 50th Annivesary show in San Francisco, 2023 w/ Josh Freese and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Ensemble - photo: Josh Keppel
Always creating and experimenting with new instruments, arrangements, musical structures and collaborators , new music and sounds are always being recorded from his studio.
Video
J2 (or J squared when there's no subscript available) is the last piece on PTEROUS, a series of 'guitar orchestra' compositions. Illustrations by Christine MacTernan (taken from her cover art for the album and singles), still photography and videography by Maddox McDonald.
D, Pt. 1 is the 2nd piece in the PTEROUS series of 'guitar orchestra' compositions and this is the music video, illustrations by Christine MacTernan.
Mescaform Hill: The Missing Five, is a VR animated story from Edward Madojemu that Dren audio directed and also composed the score. It’s part of 2022’s Tribeca Immersive Festival.. Mescaform Hill can also be viewed as a 2D experience (no longer locked to a VR headset) and you can watch it in your browser here.
16 Gold Candles is the song that Dren collaborated on with The Residents and Josh Freese for the full length polyheDren release, Psychic. The release is a fundraiser for Bay Area Music Project, with all sales going to support music education for children who can’t afford music lessons.
Lonely Lullaby is the song that Dren collaborated on with Czech musician, Ivá Bittova. It includes background vocals from Zoe Ellis and Ashling Cole, plus the saxophones of Kevin Robinson. This is the lyrics video for that tune.
Fingerprints is a short documentary about a music collaboration between a group of kids in Haiti and a group of kids in Alameda, CA. Dren scored this short documentary and arranged/produced the finished songs.
The launch trailer for the game/experience "Gathering Sky"
Music video for polyheDren's Buckaroo Moon song featuring Sangin' Sara Williams (Ledesi) and Daria Novo on vocals.
Music video for polyheDren's Planted A Flower song featuring Ali Paris (Alicia Keys) and Misha Khalikulov.
Music video for polyheDren's Film Stars song featuring Moorea Dickason and Daria Novo on vocals.
Music video for polyheDren's Tethys Express song featuring Rini on vocals.
Contact
You can drop a message to Dren here or add him on the twitters/Instagrams etc