Assignment 3:

Project Output

Brief Project Context

The project I proposed was creating my reimagined version of Imagine Dragons’ song “Dream,” turning it into a film score. With that concept in mind, here is the final result of what I had envisioned. Initially, I also stated that I would like to retain the rock side style of the original version, and also because rock is kind of like the style of the playwright from the film in one of my inspirations for this project, “Tick, Tick… Boom.” However, as I work on the project, I realized that I would like to incorporate more of my personal style, as I would also really like to try and create a full film score-style soundtrack.

Arrangement

Originally, I wanted to keep the original structure of the song: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, chorus, ending. You know, the usual. But I find that it wouldn’t work for what I had in mind. So I went with a structure that will align with that of a film; I wanted it to have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. To be honest, I did try the original plan, but when I got into recording the vocals, with the full song lyrics, I realized that my vocals—both the register of my voice and my vocal skills—do not work well with either the film score nor the original song’s genre and style. It’s just that, when I listened to it, it felt messy and just out of place. So, I decided not to go with it and go completely into the film score style. I will show you just a quick sneak peek at the whole arrangement of the final result below.

Software, Tools, and File Setup

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

I made the project using FL Studio as my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The DAW is the main software used to create, edit, and arrange music on a computer. It is like a digital studio where you can record sounds and add virtual instruments. All of the production for this project was done inside the DAW. Also, I would like to mention that the tempo for this project was set to 72 BPM.

Virtual Instruments

I do not have any recorded instruments. All of the instruments I used are virtual and are the ones that are already included inside FL Studio. This is because the film score I have imagined in my mind will be played through an orchestra, which will mainly consist of strings. But I do not have any string instruments, nor can I play one pleasantly. That is why, as you’ll see in the picture, my project contains mostly MIDI tracks. A MIDI track does not really contain recorded sound. Instead, it stores information such as which notes are played, how long they last, and how hard they are played. Though sometimes, since I’m having a hard time controlling the velocity of the notes while playing in real-time, I just manually adjust them inside the DAW. The virtual instruments I used inside FL Studio are the following:

Close Grand (Keys)
Strings Section
Strings Solo
Pad_CloudOrchestra
RD_Kick (Drums)
HIP_Bass

Audio Tracks

Even though I have not recorded any instruments, I have recorded my vocals to include in the project. Nothing major, most of the vocals just consist of short lyrics from the original song and some fillers, like “Ooohh’s” and “Aaahh’s.” For these, I have some audio tracks in my project. Audio tracks contain recorded sound. I mainly have tracks for the main vocals and a couple for sub-vocals.

On the left side, you can actually see a screenshot of all my instruments and audio recordings as displayed on the channel rack of my project file. The channel rack is where the instruments and sounds are listed and controlled before they are arranged or mixed.

Creating the Film Score

Now that we have established some of the important concepts and foundations needed to start the project, I will now proceed with the actual breakdown of creating the tracks to form the score one by one. The breakdown will be divided into four parts:

Setting Up The Instruments

For this part, I will show the chord progressions and melody that I formed with each instrument to allow you to create the patterns. In FL Studio, these patterns are like small musical building blocks made using the Channel Rack and the Piano Roll. We will put these patterns out later on the playlist tab---layer them---to actually create the score. I have already listed above the virtual instruments that I have used inside FL Studio. To clarify, you will see some of them used repeatedly below, especially with the strings, and this is because I divided them into sections of low, mid, and high, and I needed to have more control of each section and have them assigned to different channels to allow me to have them with different dynamics on different parts of the score, just as how it actually is with a real orchestra.

Now, I believe these details would be a helpful guide to start the project:

BPM: 72
Key: E
Chords:
- 1. C#m
  2. E
  3. A
Most, if not all, progressions will be done in this order: C#m, E, A, C#m
You can play with the velocities of each note so that you can get some kind of variation and a bit of realism. You will see these on the clips of the patterns I will show you later on. I played a little with the velocities in the MIDI tracks. I find that it really helps a lot to make the virtual instruments feel a little closer to real ones.

Close Grand - Keys

I have 3 patterns made for the keys. One for the beginning, middle, and end sections of the score. I will show you each pattern made, and you may also play the video, so you can get an idea of what it sounds like.

The first pattern is pretty simple, and this will be used in the beginning part.

Pattern 1:

This next pattern, I feel, is heavier, and I used this for the middle to end section of the score. I modified their velocities from softer to louder as the chords repeat. And, I feel like that really adds more depth to the emotion of this progression.

Pattern 2:

The last pattern just plays the main melody that I will be using throughout the score. Although, this pattern will only be played in isolation in the ending.

Pattern 3:

Strings Section - Low

For the low section of grouped strings, I have created and used two patterns.

The first pattern is simple and pretty much the same as the first pattern of the keys.

Pattern 1:

The second pattern is used for the middle to end section of the score. This will actually be played as one of the dominant sections for those parts.

Pattern 2:

Strings Section - Mid

For the mid section of grouped strings, I have also created and used two patterns. These patterns are actually exactly the same as the ones for the low section, just played on a higher octave, so that they'd sound better with more texture as they are layered together on the track.

Pattern 1:

Pattern 2:

Strings Section - High

The high section of grouped strings only have one pattern, and it's the same chord progression from the low and mid section's pattern 1, just played on a higher octave.

Pattern 1:

Strings Solo - Low

The only pattern for the low solo strings plays the main melody of the score.

Pattern 1:

Strings Solo - Mid

The mid solo strings has two patterns. One plays the main melody, and the other plays the melody for the climactic part of the score.

Pattern 1:

Pattern 2:

Strings Solo - High

The high solo strings have only one pattern, and it is the other dominant part of the climactic section of the score.

Pattern 1:

Pad_CloudOrchestra - Pads

There is only one pattern for the pads and it also plays only one note. This only used for ambient purposes and will be played for the majority of the score.

Pattern 1:

Strings Section - Bass

The strings bass has two patterns: one for the simple chord progression, and the other plays the same notes/melody as the low strings section pattern 2. Pattern 2 was used to help add more depth and intensity for the climactic part of the score.

Pattern 1:

Pattern 2:

HIP_Bass - Bass

There are two patterns for the bass. Only one note, but played on different repetitions. These will be on the same pattern as the strings bass.

Pattern 1:

Pattern 2:

RD_Kick - Drums

The drums has 3 patterns: one for the beginning, one for the pre-mid part, and the last one is for the mid or climactic part of the score. For the drums, I will show the pattern played on the channel rack.

Pattern 1:

Pattern 2:

Pattern 3:

Vocals & Sub-Vocals

The vocals only consists mainly of the main melody used in the score, and some lyrics from the song, specifically the following lyrics: "I wanna dream," and "Leave me to dream." These are done in different variations and used on the tracks with a bit different modifications, but mainly, the goal for the vocals was to sound like an echo, to sound like the dreamer is trapped.

Layering & Texturing

Now that the patterns are ready, they can now be layered onto the Playlist. The Playlist is where all patterns and audio clips are arranged to build the full song. I will try to break down the full score into three sections: beginning, middle, and end.

Beginning

I started the score with simple keys, bass, and ambient sounds. The aim was to make it simple, but heavy enough to feel the tension and the intensity of the score.

As the tracks play on, the score builds up as the string sections get layered together along with the drums, but only up to a certain point. The buildup is only to give the listener a glimpse of what will be as the score continues.

Middle

I like to start sections with something like a breathing room. So, after the buildup in the latter part of the beginning, the middle starts more calmly; this is also the case before the climactic part of the score, which is what you can see on the pretty crowded right side of the picture of the tracks in the middle section. I do this as the score moves from the beginning to the middle, so the listener can feel the gradual intensifying of the instruments as they become layered on top of one another.

As you may see, not all sections of the strings play all at once and with the same loudness. This is why I have a lot of strings on the channel rack assigned to different channels. Because, as much as possible, I wanted to make the score sound as close as it can to a real orchestra, which is not easy at all, considering everything I'm using is virtual.

End

The transition from the climactic part of the middle to the end was far from gradual. As opposed to the flow from the beginning to the middle, I wanted this to be abrupt. I want the listener to hear and feel that difference in intensity from the middle to the end. When you listen to the score, coming from the latter part of the middle, which was really heavy, it suddenly turns quiet, but not totally. With that, the end of the score felt actually even more lonely and heavier despite the less use of instruments because of that sudden change. Anyway, the score ends with the melody being played on the keys.

Additional: Vocals

These are the vocal and sub-vocal tracks.

Mixing

Once the layers are layered together, it is now time to polish the experience and balance everything. The purpose of mixing, I think, is to get as much clarity and balance as possible, so that the tracks and the instruments are all in harmony and does not sound like they are fighting one another. This will be done with volume balancing, panning, and the use of filters, such as EQ and reverb.

Volume Balancing & Panning

The image below shows the mixer. The number on the left side of the instruments on the channel rack will assign them to their number here on the mixer. Now, their place here on the mixer is where you can modify the sounds of the instruments in terms of volume, panning, and this is also where you will assign filters to them.

The majority of the dynamics consist of the strings because there are a lot of them and they are the dominant instrument of the score. Although, the low frequencies of the strings and the drums I have given more volume to since I did want the score to feel heavy and have tension. Also, the loudness you see in the image is not the case throughout the score. I have assigned automations to certain channels/tracks depending on the dominance I want for the instrument. These automations will adjust things on the mixer as the score/project plays. For example, in the climactic middle part of the score, I wanted the low strings section to dominate; therefore, in that part, I made channel 2 increase in volume, much more than it already is.

In terms of panning, I placed the low-frequency sounds/instruments, such as the drums and bass, in the center or near the center. The higher frequencies and most of the melodies, I placed on the sides. One of the vocals (the main one) is centered, while the sub-vocals are placed on the farther ends of the sides, since, as I have mentioned, I wanted it to feel like the voice is trapped.

Filters

Filters are audio effects used to control which frequencies of a sound are heard. They can remove unwanted frequencies, such as very low or very high sounds, to make an instrument cleaner and less cluttered in a mix. I have also used them to modify the instruments into sounding the way I want them to and to add more character to their sounds.

Throughout the score, here are the filters I have used, and they are all inside FL Studio:

Fruity Parametric EQ 2 (All except Pads)
Fruity Reeverb 2 (All)
Fruity Delay Bank (Drums & Sub-Vocals)
Fruity Compressor (All Vocals)
Vintage Phaser (Pads)

You can use and modify these to your liking.

I have used the Parametric EQ mainly to lessen the higher frequencies of a few of the instruments, and also increase the lower frequency, particularly of the drums, since I wanted to get more of the bass and heaviness. As for the reverb, I used it to give more space and make the instruments sound and feel as if they are played inside an orchestra hall. The phaser added more character to the ambient sound of the pads, and the delay added a fading effect on the drums and more intended character for the sub-vocals.

Final Adjustments & Automations

Automations

For the final adjustments, I would like to show you these automation clips that I have mentioned above. Automations let settings change automatically over time to add movement and expression to the music. For this project, most of my automations are used on volume, some on panning. The volume automations are used, again, to add realism. Since what I used are virtual instruments, they are not really close to how the real instruments actually sound, especially with the strings. With that being said, I had to make use of automations to get that gradual increase in the loudness of the strings, as the default one has a very sharp attack, which is not what I wanted. Other than that, as mentioned, I used the automations to assign dominance in the instruments, depending on the section of the score.

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