Repentance.

László

Too Many Notes
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Apr 26, 2012
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OK, this is really just a fanciful musical intro tending toward the exotic that kind of draws the listener in, but why not come up with an imaginary movie script to explain it?

OK, I had one, but decided it was stupid. I'm also going to develop some of the themes further, so consider the piece a work in progress:

 
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I started i Morocco, then slowly traveled through Egypt! Next thing I know, I was traveling down the west coast of Italy near the Amalfi coast!!! But wait, what's that ahead, NOOOOOOOOO! Oh, just an illusion, I need to drink less of that wine in the bowels of the ship!!!! Land HO!!!!! Back in port and feeling safe!!!!!

Thanks for the journey Mr. Les, always fun hearing your stuff!!!
 
I started i Morocco, then slowly traveled through Egypt! Next thing I know, I was traveling down the west coast of Italy near the Amalfi coast!!! But wait, what's that ahead, NOOOOOOOOO! Oh, just an illusion, I need to drink less of that wine in the bowels of the ship!!!! Land HO!!!!! Back in port and feeling safe!!!!!

Thanks for the journey Mr. Les, always fun hearing your stuff!!!
Full of Eastern promise. Great writing as always Les.

Thanks, guys!

The Eastern-sounding instrument that initiates the melody at the beginning is an Armenian duduk. I was looking for a sound that was evocative and emotional. I wanted to use a zhaleika, a traditional Russian wind instrument that sounds in the same registers, but couldn't find a good sample of one, so a duduk it was.

I thought it'd be interesting to hear something organic and a bit exotic play over the drone of the basses and synths in the intro. I like the contrast of natural and synthetic textures.

It's the first time I've done call-and-response in the melodic sections between orchestral and traditionally non-orchestral instruments. So it was a lot of fun to fiddle around with (you see what I did there).

I'll leave it up to others to judge the quality of the work objectively. Subjectively, on the other hand, I'm feeling like things are trending up in the work.

This is why I've written to the United States Bureau of Composing Standards, and have requested a promotion from Wannabe Composer to Composer, Grade IV.

"Their reply came today."

"Seriously? What does it say?"

"It says, 'Don't quit your day job'. Your license to own recording equipment has also been revoked."

"Bah! They simply don't understand my genius."

"To them, you're the anti-genius."
 
I've replaced the original version with a track with some minor changes, but I think the reverb now sounds more natural.

Let me know what you think of the added realism (or maybe it doesn't sound any more real to you, let me know that, too). Same link as first post.
 
Hmm... I totally missed this first time around.

Rich, velvety, enticing. That's probably been used as an overdramatic description of a candy bar, but it nails the track spot on for me!

Reverb sounds great, but I always think your reverb sounds are great, so good job again I suppose!
 
Hmm... I totally missed this first time around.

Rich, velvety, enticing. That's probably been used as an overdramatic description of a candy bar, but it nails the track spot on for me!

Reverb sounds great, but I always think your reverb sounds are great, so good job again I suppose!
Thanks! I've been messing around with chords and melodies based on alternate scales, but also wanted to bring in some non-traditional elements - in this case, to give the piece a more exotic feel.

As you know from your own experience, the creators of these orchestral libraries use beautiful spaces to record them, but often it sounds more natural to add a little reverb. So I've been experimenting with reverbs to add a sense that all of the parts are being played in a single concert hall, as opposed to several scoring stages.

I'm hoping that at some point it gels and sounds more realistic.
 
Imaginary movie?
The first minute of it conjures up a dystopian future with Harrison Ford, hunting down androids, a very scary Rutger Haur, and an extremely hot Sean Young.

Great stuff, you're ready for Hollywood.
 
Imaginary movie?
The first minute of it conjures up a dystopian future with Harrison Ford, hunting down androids, a very scary Rutger Haur, and an extremely hot Sean Young.

Great stuff, you're ready for Hollywood.
That's kind of the imaginary movie I had in mind, only set in the desert.
 
OK, this is really just a fanciful musical intro tending toward the exotic that kind of draws the listener in, but why not come up with an imaginary movie script to explain it?

OK, I had one, but decided it was stupid. I'm also going to develop some of the themes further, so consider the piece a work in progress:


Repentance...​

Ah yes, that is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! I listened to the whole tune. Problem solved, good to go.

"Repentance for what?"

Oh, THAT. Well, you see I went out and bought a guitar that was made by those OTHER guys whose name we do not speak around here. You know, those guys who used to work for PRS but are now making guitars on their own in Maryland not terribly far away from the PRS factory. I don't think it's a terribly huge sin as I already own all the PRSi I would ever want (almost) and this new one has completely different specs than anything PRS offers. Basically, just taking it out for a test drive to see if I like it or not. But I think I'll still keep it regardless of how much I ever wind up playing it.
 

Repentance...​

Ah yes, that is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! I listened to the whole tune. Problem solved, good to go.

"Repentance for what?"

Oh, THAT. Well, you see I went out and bought a guitar that was made by those OTHER guys whose name we do not speak around here. You know, those guys who used to work for PRS but are now making guitars on their own in Maryland not terribly far away from the PRS factory. I don't think it's a terribly huge sin as I already own all the PRSi I would ever want (almost) and this new one has completely different specs than anything PRS offers. Basically, just taking it out for a test drive to see if I like it or not. But I think I'll still keep it regardless of how much I ever wind up playing it.
There's no need to repent over guitar shopping experiments!

How'd you like the piece?
 
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