Project 1

Suite of Songs (Film Scenes)

The Project brief required each student to compose 15 minutes of music in either an EP formate or Sound for Screen formate, to display and discover our individual unique compositional styles. I chose to compose in the Sound for Screen formate, since that is my primary interest and passion for composing. I chose completely opposing scenes to challenge myself musically - one is a cheerful, cheeky Pixar animation short and the other is a tragic, tense scene from a horror TV Series called Hannibal.

Composition Breakdown

Full Arrangement View

Intro:

Introduction to this piece starts once the light switches off and the starting credits begin. It's composed in straight feel, with no timing, just improvised call and response between the Key's and the Kit but aligns with the visual cues of the chess match being set up on screen.

I drew inspiration from the introduction to a song called - Countdown by The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Section A:

Section A begins with the start of the Chess match and ends abruptly when Geri looses his first piece. It's composed in 5/4 with a 8th note Swing feel at 120 BPM in D Lydian Mode. It features a Rhythm Section:

Keys + Guitar - carry the chord progression

Bass - starts with a walking Bass then transitions to a more basic pattern when the Keys switch to a more complicated pattern.

Kit - simple swing feel with a triplet feel in the Ride Cymbal keeping time.

The melody is started off by the Saxophone and then taken over by the Clarinet for the last half. Composed around the Pentatonic scale.

Chord Progress:

D9 - E M7 - A - D

I - II7 - V - I

F#m - EM7 - A - D

iii - II7 - V - I

Bm - E - A - D

vi - II - V - I

Trouble Brewing Section:

The next section starts when the Chess game continues and Geri is loosing quickly and continues to build intensity until Geri's fake heart attack. The section has no melody and is quite sparse in instrumentation only featuring:

Keys - carrying the chromatically descending chord progression along aligned to the visual cues of Geri loosing the chess match. Then ascends back up the scale in a trill until Geri fakes his heart attack where the Piano then plays a descending slide and bass end key slam when he falls off his seat.

Bass - carrying the root notes of the descending chord progression.

Woodwinds [Flute + Clarinet] - provide ascending trills [aligned with the Bass and Piano] in build up to Geri's fake Heart attack.

Chord Progression:

D - Bb - G# - G - F# - F - E - D

Sneaky Section:

This section begins when Geri get's up off the floor to cheat in the game and ends once Geri wins the game. It's supposed to be quite sneaky and cheeky so I went for a simple rhythm section and a quirky melody in the Xylophone.

It's also the only section of this composition which is in 4/4 time but it's still in 8th Swung Groove.

Section C:

Section C starts after Geri wins the Chess match and ends after the closing credits. It's composed in 5/4 with a 8th note Swing feel at 120 BPM in D Lydian Mode.

Rhythm Section:

Keys - carry the chord progression

Bass - starts with a walking Bass then transitions to a more basic pattern when the Keys switch to a more complicated pattern.

Kit - simple swing feel with a triplet feel in the Ride Cymbal keeping time.

The melody is call and response between the Saxophone and Clarinet. Composed around the Pentatonic scale.

Chord Progress:

D - E - A - D

I - II - V - I

F#m - Bm - E - A - D

iii - vi - II - V - I

Bm - E - A - C - D

vi - II - V - vii - I

Guitar and Key's Scores

Composition Breakdown

Full Arrangement View

Intro:

I composed the introduction to be immediately intense, to match context of the scene the audience is about to witness. It begins at the start of the scene and ends abruptly when Abigail appears on screen. Strings (lagarto) carry the melody and harmony themselves across the five sections. The Brass (Trombones and Tuba) hold a Pedal note (D) throughout the section. I then used Percussion and FX's to create suspence and texture underneath the strings.

Chord Progression: G minor

Gm - Adim - D - C

i - iidim - V - IV

Abigail's Theme:

Abigail's theme starts once she appears on screen and ends when the camera pans to reveal Hannibal behind Will in the scene. I approached composing this theme as if she already had a leitmotif from previous in the series. So I created an almost sweet sounding melody and then manipulated the elements and instruments playing it and surrounding it to create a creepy aesthetic to it. The Glockenspiel felt like a good choice for a sweet but creepy timbre, then I created a Pad on the Virus Synth and played Sus Chords underneath the melody to give it an unsettled texture.

Hannibal's Entrance:

This section begins when Hannibal appears on screen and ends after he stabs Will. As in the scene this is the first time Will is seeing Hannibal in his true nature, I used big Timpani Drums with Crashes to make his entrance dramatic and then used a Pad and multiple FX samples including several Risers to build suspence which are dropped out to release the tension after Will is stabbed.

Unhinged Beast Section:

This section starts directly after Will is stabbed and ends after Abigail is stabbed. It starts with emotional legato strings section carrying the harmony/melody, with a Tuba playing the root notes of the chords accompanied by an ambient Pad to give texture. Then the strings drop out and the rest of the sections drop out to accommodate for Hannibal's speech. I then built up the suspence again with the Blackhole and Phantom Pads I created from the Virus Synth along with Risers and FX Samples which I time aligned more with what he was saying than any visual cue until the very end where they are aligned with Abigails stabbing.

Post Blood Bath Section:

This section starts after Abigail is stabbed and until Hannibal's outside in the rain. I composed it trying to emulate the feeling of wailing in tears but through sound. I used Piano to carry the chord progression along with plucked Strings and Woodwinds (Flute and Clarinet). The melody is carried by the Oboe and texture is given via Virus Synth Pads and the Ambience Pad.

Chord Progression: C minor

Cm 9/11 - Ab 9/#11 - Fm 9/11 - C# 9/#11

i - IV - iv - I

Cm 9/11 - Eb 9/#11 - Gm 9/11 - Ab 9/#11

i - III - V - IV

Cm 9/11

i

Hannibal's Lullaby:

To end the composition and scene I composed a anti-lullaby titled Hannibal's Lullaby. It is meant to leave the audience creepy out and very uncomfortable, so there is no set BPM and it's only loosely based on F minor so I had something to build the chord progression off. I sung the Vocals, the original take I completely mangled until it was unrecognizable and used it for a creepy whisper texture underneath the main vocal. The Guitar also has heavy FX on it, to make it a little easier for Marcus to record without a click track only using the Lyrics/Lead Sheet as a guide.

Song a Week Projects

Each week we where either set a task or self directed our own task to compose a piece in a six hour time frame. Below are a few of my personal highlights from this trimesters Song a Week Project entires.

Inspired by Visual Art

Step #1: Sound Mapping + Inspiration

After selecting and viewing the artwork, I found some reference tracks to draw inspiration from and went searching for sounds and samples I could use to create the ethereal aesthetic I was aiming for.

Step #2: Percussion + Drums

I started by creating multiple percussion lines and a Drum kit line. This helped me confirm and set the tempo of the song to 90 bpm. The percussion starts off thin and then builds in intensity, peaking with the reset of the composition when the Drum Kit line enters near the end. Adding the amount of percussion that kept the rhythm helped build the song towards its climax.

Step #3: Key + Chord Progression

It took me the longest amount of time to find a chord progression I thought was close to ethereal but it still misses the mark for me even after I added 7th's for more harmonic colour. I created my chord progression from the F Mixolydian scale (no sharps/no flats).

Chord Progression:

F7 - Bbm - Em - Dm7 - C7 - Bb - F7

I7 - ii - iii - vi7 - V7 - IV - I7

Step #4: Vocal / Spoken Word Samples

Next I added some of the vocal and spoken word samples I uncovered in my inspiration stage at the beginning. I utilized effects to alter and/or improve the sonic qualities of the samples so they better fit the aesthetic of the composition. They don't particularly make sense together in a lyrical sense, however they weren't supposed to. I intend them to be more of thought provoking audio clips than telling a story.

Step #5: Melody Line + additional elements

I created a melody line using the Logic Chimera instrument and then utilized Logic Chimes + Synth to fill the space and add colour and curiosity to the composition. All improvised over multiple takes, cut and then edited together.

Simple Song

Piano:

I started with Keys because it's the instrument I use to work out chord progressions. After choosing my chord progression, I took the tactic of one of my peers and added reverb and echo to the instruments FX Chain and experimented with rhythms and chord changes until I was satisfied. Still need minor MIDI touchups, but this approach definitely worked better for me.

Chord Progression

D - Dm - G - Gm - Bb - F - C - A

I - i - IV - iv - VI - III - VIII - V

Bass:

Next I added a simple Bass line to give the bottom end more depth. I had to keep it simple because it was tricky to. make it sound in time with the Keys since the echo caused a Delay that made any more advanced Bass line sound out of time. It jumps in 5ths between the notes of the scale.

Drums:

I added Drums next. I felt like it needed a build out of the Intro and into the main section of the song. So I brought the Kit in slowly, Kick first, Then High Hats and Snare to build intensity, vice versa to finish the song I dropped them out in the reverse order. I like the symmetry that accidentally occurred here.

Vocals:

Next I chose to do Vocals. Essentially I just mucked around humming a melody and until I found a few that stuck, then I came up with Lyrics. I then re-recorded the melody with the Lyrics and added Harmony's and backing Vocals with echo effects and EQ to add texture to the song.

Lyrics

Rest my eyes,

My precious child

Why can't you rest tonight?

(I drift away)

My previous child,

(I drift away)

What ails you?

I am struggling to be,

be more for you.

(I'm drifting away)

When will I be free again?

When will I learn?

(When will I learn?)

To be, at peace,

(again)

once more,

(drifting away from you)

Accompanying Instruments:

Finally, I selected accompanying instruments to fill out the space in the mix and hopefully achieve a wide frequency spectrum coverage. I chose Strings and Flute. I like how I used the Flute as almost a call and response to the Vocal melody however I feel I missed the mark with my use of strings. A lot of songs use legarto strings to build intensity as I did with the Drums earlier but within the time period I couldn't quite find a good spot for it.

Full Arrangement View

Push It - Trap Remix

Vocals:

At first I attempted to use the full studio recording of the original Salt n Peppa song, using the Utility plug in and phase inversion combined with EQ to try and extract the Vocals. I was unsuccessful in this venture, so I searched for an acapella version release and found one so that's what I used for the vocals. I spent a lot of time editing the vocals and rearranging them to fit the new structure of my remix. I added an Echo plug in, but also played around with manipulating some of the vocal samples. I pitched down, add chorus and echo to create a descending vocal cadence.

Marimba:

I used the Marimba to carry the hook of the song. I just recreated it by ear from listening and playing it in on the MIDI keyboard. The sound of the dry marimba did not blend well with the rest of the sound sources I was using, so I used multiple plugin's to manipulate the sound to blend into the mix more cohesively. I aimed to smooth out the sound, so it had less attack but wasn't legato, but also had a little grit to it.

Bass:

Again, I recreated a version of the Bass line hook from the original track by ear using the MIDI keyboard. It was difficult to find the timing of this Bass line since it's essentially being played in half time, even now it still feels a little off in places. I think it's likely in the right place just my warping skills (of the vocal audio sample) might be causing the difference. I used multiple plugin's to manipulate the sound, I aimed for that big saw wave, airy, harmonic, buzz Bass synth sound you can hear in some of the reference tracks or other Trap music.

Drums:

The percussion was the most challenging part of this composition. After listening to the reference tracks it occurred to me that the Drumming patterns are either really simple or highly erratic with constantly altering rhythms/instrumentation. Not simple - Kick Snare HH grove patterns repeating. Which sounds really cool and interesting but is actually not so easy to recreate. I also noticed that the songs usually feature a Snare fill of some kind in a build before a drop so I so I manipulated a few samples together to create the fills. I mostly created the pattern myself with the 909 Kit and Ableton Samples some of which I sound manipulated within the parameters or with plugins - e.g. chorus on the Click so it was more full and I tried to manipulate a the parameters of the Kick so it was really full and phat but it's still missing umph.

FX + Risers:

Absolutely the most time consuming part of this process. A lot of learning here, manipulating Samples is just an un-ending rabbit hole of directions to go. I searched Splice for Trap FX's and Risers and found some sirens, alarms and unique risers of which I incorporated. I still feel like there is A LOT more here to explore especially within the Sampler instrument itself. I successfully programmed a riser to be longer by manipulating the audio to loop in the middle several times before continuing which was cool! The only Sample that I still really don't think fits is the Mood Atmos Pad, although I pitch corrected it to be in G Major, it feels like it doesn't fit the genre, however because the instrumentation is so sparse in the sections where I used it, if it wasn't there the entire track lacked body and felt very empty and strange. It doesn't seem like my reference tracks used a moving chord pad like this one and it doesn't totally fit the genre I feel but I couldn't work out what was used in the reference tracks to fill out that space. It wasn't simply white noise because I tried that and it didn't sound great.

Full Arrangement View

Reflection

Overall it's been a great trimester, but it's certainly had it's up's and downs due to lockdowns and restrictions. All things considered I think I've made the most out of this trimester. I further refined my skills around scoring to visuals throughout Project 1: Suite of Songs. It's fantastic how flexible the project briefs are, it allows students to explore and refine their compositional style in the genre or media formate they wish to pursue a career in. Thanks to the Song a Week Project I have also explored composing in my different and often unfamiliar genres that I had never tried before. A few new genres I explore this trimester were - Jazz, Trap and House. I also refined my lyric writing abilities a lot this trimester, featuring it somehow in almost all my projects. I believe aside from the exponential growth I've observed in my abilities to use DAW's and sound design - I have noticed that I can achieve the flow state more easily and compose more effortlessly. Less thinking critically about whether the music theory is correct or the arrangement is tight, more trust in myself that I know what I'm doing and can let it flow more organically, straight from the heart. We did have another Project this trimester which was going to be a live performance of our original composition to be displayed live at the Exhibition evening however due to restrictions we're unable to perform. The whole team; peers, mentors and collaborators worked hard to create this concert and I know it saddens us all not to be able to share it with you tonight. Hopefully in the near future, we can share joy of a live performance all together again!

Thank you SAE for another challenging yet fulfilling trimester.