So i had a bit of time on my hands with a few new libraries that i wanted to try out. So i thought i would write an orchestral piece that tried to convey a calming nature while aslo keeping thematic development.
My inspiration for this piece has been simply this…
Since this Covid lockdown most of the traffic and background noise has stopped and its really effected me. its so nice to wake up and hear the birds in the woods at the back of our house, and the animals in the fields that surround. we even heard a fox the other night which was lovely, as theyre quite solitary animals around our parts (north Wales).
Libraries i used were;
Spitfire Studio collection
Albion 1
Addictive keys Grand Piano
Spitfire Earth
Spitfire Drama Toolkit
Action Strikes
Harmony:
So as I said before I’ve really enjoyed nature, but i realised that this amount of peace has been gradual. so we moved from uncertainty (at least in the UK) to a place of certainty, which brought with it an opportunity for embrace. In the same way i wanted to convey this in my piece so my initial concept was to move from a sparse harmonic context to a more rich texture, while also keeping the sense that the music was becoming more vibrant.
I did this by firstly outlining chords with clusters. pedal tones then solidify the home key to give the listener a reference point, while melodic motifs surround the tonic, creating more diverse but slightly disjunct counterpoint. The piece gradually moves towards a sense of unity, where all parts have a clear harmonic structure, which also being quite complex and dense. I did this by outlining 2 chords as the foundation and then built compound chords on top of them hinting towards Dorian, but never solidifying that modal shift so that I keep that calming sense of tonality. after the climax i continue the now established melody and simplify the harmony, which finally clarifies the melody for the final time. through the piece the melody was hinted in nearly every instrument, wether in inversion, retrograde or plain Jane doubles I tried to keep it developing throughout. This made it a lot of fun to do and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring myself during the process. Its not often that we get a chance to do that so I’ve lavished every second.
Big Thank you to Mikael for putting these fun competitions on… love it!
Ah thank you Stephan, really glad you liked it. Yeah I guess it has got that soaring adventure feel to it hasn’t it. Hadn’t considered it a filmic track until now.
Ah. That´s what I call nice. I just love music that “floats”, orchestral instruments that´s soaring(if I use the words right) and the feeling gets kind of dreamy and shimmering. This is how I experience this track. Beautiful Geoffrey.
Great track with, yes relaxing form and ambiance but with an intensity on the edge of not being relaxing (mainly with the brass being a tiny bit too loud maybe in my opinion, but still ok).
It hast just the right amount of intensity to keep the balance there and keep us floating.
Thanks for sharing.
Would like your feedback on mine, if you want. It is called “Gone but not forgotten”
Hey Johnathan. Yes I agree the bones are a little loud. I was using a new library for this so it was experimentation to a point. They are tenor bones as I needed tells range. If I were to do it again I may use bass bones as they’re typically softer on the top end… though I would have had to change the line. I was finding that was the main issue as it was getting lost when I turned it down. Also tried carving a little space in the mix but that wasn’t the issue either aha. So yes totally agree it’s slightly too loud but overall I was ok with that. It just pokes its head up a little more like a soloist haha.
Thanks for the feedback. You affirmed a few things I was thinking initially. I’ll check your track out soon! Thanks for steering me in it’s direction!
Very very nice piece of music. I would love to use spitfire but just a little out of my price range. Amazing sounds. Also the grand piano sounds great. I have pianissimo which comes pretty close to the addictive sound. But anyway this is a really nice cinematic feeling. I enjoyed it and the low end really moved the song along well.
Great Job.
Dave
Really glad you liked it. Yes the spitfire stuff is very expensive. I usually wait until things are on offer or use an educational discount as I work in a college during the week. That takes the edge off and makes them much more accessible.
Oh definitely… there’s tonnes out there just as good. The only benefit with spitfire is the sheer amount of articulations. If I were going to look elsewhere I highly recommend checking out performance samples. They sound much better that spitfire and a lot cheaper. Generally the libraries do one or two things really well. So you’ll end up spending just as much but spread out over around 20 different libraries. I have the fluid shorts and Caspian which I use often!
