This semester I have been exploring making music in a filmic style, designed to evoke particular environments and moods. Following the theme of film-scoring I composed each track entirely in a digital audio workstation using samples.
Across the Meadow Through the Veil
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A Town by the Sea
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The tracks are presented in the order that I wrote them. In 'Across the Meadow' I tried to create a reflective mood which leads to a joyous climax, imagining someone walking through nature and reflecting before being caught up in the beauty of it all. The piece begins sparse and slow to create a reflective space, then registral range, dynamics and movement increase to suggest joy.
In 'Through the Veil' the aim was to create an atmosphere suggesting a dark fantasy world. Some of the tools used to achieve this were the sound of wind, low droning strings and winds, dissonance including a polytonal section and a heavy plodding tempo. 'A Town by the Sea' is whimsical and somewhat nostalgic. String flourishes and pizzicato support the melody in the winds, the piece is full of movement to emulate a bustling urban environment and the melody passes between instruments frequently as though between people conversing. |
Reflection on the Process
Depicting environments and moods through music is a subjective process, however I think I was successful in creating distinct impressions. I drew inspiration from films and composers I enjoy, for example Joe Hisaishi's music had a substantial influence on 'A Town by the Sea'. I enjoy composing in the DAW because you can play in lines and easily improvise over what you've written. The bulk of the work was in learning to program and mix the samples so they sound as realistic as possible; this required recording mod wheel movements for dynamic layer control, adjusting mic positions within libraries, EQ, reverb and saturation. Through the process I've arrived at an orchestral session template that I will continue to refine.
Film Music
Keaton and I wrote music for a Screen Production film called ONE. The film is a horror/thriller. The button below directs you to OneDrive where I have uploaded excerpts. Although we finished everything on time, unclear communication was an issue that led us to a time crunch to finish all 10 tracks by the due date. Keaton and I divided the work; Keaton wrote most themes and melodic material, I created the final mockups of his material, wrote sections that were mostly synth-based and did some sound design.
Other Work
Below is a link to miscellaneous projects for other assessments including WALO and Sound Mastering (in progress).