Halloween entry - "This was the Place"

[Skysaw]

I thought I'd put together a little Halloween contest entry. It's not exactly the creepiest music, but at least it's hauntingly plaintive.

This was the Place (http://www.allhands.com/mp3/this-was-the-place.mp3)

For the instruments, I used only the Garritan Strad, GPO Harp, Tubular Bells, Bass Drum, and Wind Machine. However, I did a lot of effects processing on this one, and thought I'd share, since I had so much fun mangling the sounds.

VIOLIN - I turned off the convolution reverb for the body of the violin, and replaced it with the impulse for a grammophone horn. This trick works suprisingly well with many of the resonance impulses that come with Kontakt 2, particularly the metal box sounds, plastic bucket, and wine glass impulses. I've also run it through an acoustic guitar body impulse, and it was very interesting! In this piece I use a lot of slow gooey vibrato and pitch bends, and it sounds like some strange unidentifiable ethnic string instrument.

HARP - This I processed through both NI's Spektral Delay and Guitar Rig, and panned the effects somewhat wide. All the sparkly watery, drippy, boingy sounds are the harp through these effects.

BELLS - Just EQed out a lot of the bottom end, then fed it through a gigantic space reverb.

BASS DRUM - Using Perfect Space convultion reverb, I put the drum inside of an upright piano with the pedal down.

WIND MACHINE - Chopped off the bottom end to get it a little more whistly.

[etLux]

Rather an interesting departure from much of your
work, at least that I've heard, Jamie... but only in
the surficial elements. The core is still Kowalski,
with that considered sparse use of resources.

I doubt I'll be the only one to say this, but to me...
the flavor of whale song in this is what came most
immediately to mind.

This is a short segment; but from the general feel
of it... it would seem a very fruitful area to explore
further.

My best,


David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Skysaw]

Rather an interesting departure from much of your work, at least that I've heard
I usually only share one facet of my work here. I've actually done quite a number of things that might seem a bit out of place on these forums, including some progressive rock and a number of very hard to classify things. It is sometimes fun to share something different here, though, and using all GPO gives me a good excuse!


I doubt I'll be the only one to say this, but to me... the flavor of whale song in this is what came most immediately to mind.
Believe it or not, I didn't even hear the whale song in this until you mentioned it. But yup, it's definitely there! I guess that makes it a stringed grammophone horn being played by Moby Dick. ~|

[jmc]

wooooo! Chilling! This is wonderfully creepy. LOVE that tingly effect. The violin has some haunted creepy moans. It's a very convincing performance.

[GaryBric]

Whoaaaaa....now that is processing the processing to get all these errie effects. The only thing lacking was the howls of a departed black cat, processed of course :D

Gary

www.garybricault.com (http://www.garybricault.com)

[Reegs]

Let's leave the cat processing to the chinese restaurants, Gary.

Really great piece, Jamie. Thanks for describing how you twisted the sounds. I think the silence in the piece works as an entire instrument in its own right. There's all that sound, yet it's still so hauntingly......transparent.

[Skysaw]

Joe, Gary, and Reegs

Thanks for the posts and your kind words. I'm not sure this is worthy of the contest, since the parameters were "creepiest," but I still had a lot of fun with it. I think I'll play some more with "alternate" violins. :)

[wrayer]

I agree with David, definite whale song. "There be whales here" - Scotty (from Star Trek IV)

I hope you consider exending this pieceas a true whale song. The piece brings to mind the opening of a work by George Crumb: Voice of the Whale - Three masked players: electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano (alas, now I have truly dated myself). It also brings to mind the wonderful piece by the Winter Consort (Paul Winter) where he uses a real whale song and plays in duet with the recording to create a wonderfully melancholy and haunting piece.

I really enjoyed this short work (please make it longer) I wish I had all those 'toys' you talked of to create those wonderful and mysterious sounds. I Love it.

[Skysaw]

The piece brings to mind the opening of a work by George Crumb: Voice of the Whale - Three masked players: electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano (alas, now I have truly dated myself).
I haven't heard the Crumb piece, but I remember a Hovhaness orchestral piece called "And God Created Great Whales" that used recorded whales.


I really enjoyed this short work (please make it longer) I wish I had all those 'toys' you talked of to create those wonderful and mysterious sounds. I Love it.
I'm not sure this piece will be extended. What I'd really like to do with this type of short work (of which I've written many) is shop them around for theme music for television shows. Not an easy sell, but it's the best use I have for something like this that feels complete to me, but clocks in at under two minutes.

[DPDAN]

cool Skysaw!
I bet that was fun making.


fun stuff
Dan

[jmc]

I haven't heard the Crumb piece, but I remember a Hovhaness orchestral piece called "And God Created Great Whales" that used recorded whales.

The Crumb piece is BEAUTIFUL!!! I had the good fortune of seeing it performed live at a flautists Masters recital. It is such a beautiful and transcendent piece of music. You should definitely seek it out.

[Michael A. Wiktor]

Hey, Jamie... I agree with the others that even though your composing for a specific effect that your voice still shines... The sparse writing is like a well composed thriller... the fragments of emptiness leave the listener's imagination to run a bit... Like the best horror films that don't "show" it all... Leave some for the viewer to think about...
Enjoyed...

Michael