I’ve a whole backlog of String-y compositions that I’ve always avoided mocking up in virtual software instruments because I’ve never been able to get the Strings patches to sound right. Well I’ve been making friends with Logic Pro and the EXS24 instruments. I think it’s definitely getting there and would really appreciate some feedback from additional ears. I’ve been tweaking knobs and buttons for what seems like days now that I’m not sure I’m the most objective person when it comes to reviewing the results.
Anyway, here’s a little medley featuring bits of three compositions titled: The Story Begins; Arise, Sir and This Is Me.
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I write contrapuntally for parts so no block chords and most of the resulting harmony is a consequence of individual part-writing for the orchestra.
As an orchestral player I’ve really tried to use my experience of real orchestras to physically lay out my orchestra in sonic space. So if you were sitting in the audience listening to an orchestra in front of you, I’ve actually arranged the strings (from left to right):
Violins I (front left)
Violins II (mid left)
Cello (mid off-centre/right)
Violas (front right) and
Double Basses (far right, behind cellos and violas)
Physically this is a very common orchestra layout because you achieve the maximum sonorous and darker-tones of violas.
This is some of 2009 in a bite-size audio morsel. Although I haven’t been writing full-time this year, I’ve actually ended up with a lot of music—many of which have not yet seen the light of day. I needed to prepare a montage of my music for screen for some music editors. Simple enough in itself, but as I started thinking more and more about which tracks to include, it was a total nightmare. So here’s what made the cut:
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Track featured are:
The Story Begins, Bicycle Music, [untitled], Breaking the C-ode, Dorian, Comedic Antics, Mischief Managed, Suspect Intuition, Festive Bustle, The Magic of Christmas (Choral), [untitled], This Is Me.
On a little aside, I’ve been battling away in Logic Pro and the EXS24 instruments for a while now trying to model a good orchestral palette. I’m definitely getting there—particularly with the challenging espressivo Strings so brace yourself for a whole bunch of big tunes I’ve wanted to upload for a while but haven’t due to bad String section rendering. The top and tail of the montage above are a little taster of my developing String tuttis.
I’ve been working on some generic production music recently with the aim of licensing them out under the YouLicense system. Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be uploading tracks that fall under a number of umbrella genres, themes and subjects. A YouLicense “album”. So from a Thriller & Suspense album, I’ve added the following track called Suspect Intuition. Minimalist; methodical; idiomatic and questioning.
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Score:
Fire any questions and comments about this orchestration using the comments facility for this post.
A while back I posted a sneak peak of some festive production music I was working on. Well, in between upgrading to Snow Leopard; my Sibelius installation and battling with ReWire and Logic, I’ve managed to complete the suite cues.
Under the umbrella title of “The Magic of Christmas”, there are five parts to this suite. They are fashioned to work together with varying characterisations of a single audio identity. The target use is in channel ident branding and programme continuation links.
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Order
1 – The Magic of Christmas
2 – ‘Lyrical’ (0′:32″)
3 – ‘Choral’ (0′:55″)
4 – ‘Dreams’ (1′:21″)
5 – ‘Vamp’ (2′:00″)
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Score:
Fire any questions and comments about this orchestration using the comments facility for this post.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Score:
Fire any questions and comments about this orchestration using the comments facility for this post.