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Orchestral Variations on a recurring unvaried rhythmic theme in 15/8 decaying.


by

cchaplin

 Genre: Classical

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Description
The title tries to describe pretty much what the music is doing, and the music is playing pretty much what the title is trying to describe.

This is a work in progress in which I have combined my BFD drum software with my East West Orchestral Gold edition software; both of them recently acquired. It took some planning to achieve: 5 VST instruments uploaded (4 of them solely for East West Gold Edition) resulting in 30 midi tracks. With only 1GB of RAM, my PC came close each time to suffering major heart failure. The whole thing had to be cajoled and recorded in stages resulting in 5 audio tracks which were mixed down to what you hear now. I think the realism of the sound quality is pretty amazing in both products, so much so that that aspect might have taken over to the detriment of other aspects in the creation of this piece.

I am in the process of notating the score, and have already made some minor changes which will be included in an updated MP3 some time in the future. At this stage, I wouldn’t mind hearing some feedback as I’m not sure whether the piece is too long, too short, and whether the whole things stands on its own as a unit.
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Song Stats
Hits: 2395
Comments: 25
Fans: 9
Plays: 366
Downloads: 97
Votes: 9
Uploaded: Jan 14, 2007 - 12:14:06 PM
Last Updated: Jan 14, 2007 - 12:14:06 PM Last Played: Nov 24, 2009 - 06:14:08 PM
Song License
Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Creative Commons

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Hardware:
Ha,ha,ha,ha... get out of here!
Software:
East West Orchestral Gold Edition
BFD Drums
Comments
Reinholt56 said 1047 days ago (January 14th, 2007)
The orchestral sounds....
The orchestral sounds are very real. All in all the sounds and the production are excellent. There is a very real placing of instruments in the aural spectrum.

The piece itself, in my opinion does need, as you say, some more work on the theme/s and how the piece compositionally fits together but I think that the piece is well worth the time that you will need.

I for one have really enjoyed listening to your ideas come together into this orchestral colouring piece.

Good luck with future works.

R.


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cchaplin said 1047 days ago (January 14th, 2007)
The orchestral sounds....
Thank you Reinholt for your input and for stopping by. I tried to base the theme of this piece on a recurring rhythmic pattern where stresses are found on the 1st, 5th,10th and 15th beat, but without sticking too religiously to the rule. I think I will finish notating it for now, and then take a break, and come back to it at a latter stage.
Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
Mute Albino said 1047 days ago (January 14th, 2007)
Very, very enjoyable
This is great stuff (I'm telling you). I just love contemporary music (I think the term "classic" is misplaced here. Probably this style of music is not in the list? I love the change halfway (more "dirty" sounds, more Stravinski-like tension). I'm missing some really dark, dramatic heavy changes, but that's very personal.
... Oh sorry, very short ones, but there they are!

I've tried a bit orchestral too, but not that good (The mole's vision, on this site) I'd be honored if you'd listen to my music.
Check out my latest song called Flies On Oranges
cchaplin said 1047 days ago (January 14th, 2007)
Very, very enjoyable
Hey Mr Oniblah ! I’ve been listening to your stuff and I like very much what I hear. Thanks for stopping by. I might just follow your advice, and try and stick a dark bit in this piece.
Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
kristyjo said 1047 days ago (January 14th, 2007)
Very vertical
in orchestration. Yes, the instrument sounds are quite good!
Perhaps a more lyrical line in here near the beginning would help establish the meter you're conveying, as most of us don't listen to meter in 5 on a regular basis. (You do some of what I mean a bit later in the piece, and it helps me get my head around it, and lends a sense of melodic anticipation.) I like those blatty low brass notes. The stab chords are very nice. I like the declamatory ending!
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cchaplin said 1046 days ago (January 15th, 2007)
Very vertical
Yes, the meter is strange and I'm not even sure 15/8 is actually the right signature for it. But what I like about it is the jerky and uneven feel it creates, a kind of feeling of inebriation, where things are not so steady.

However, some of my fears about this piece are related to the fact that by sticking to this meter throughout and making it the basis on which it was created, it ends up being a bit too rigid and repetitive (I guess I couldn't quite pull off what Ravel achieved in his Bolero). I constantly wanted to break free with a wild transition and go off in a completely different direction.

There are also moments which I fear are too filmic, not that I have anything against film music, but they end up sounding like mood music. Lastly, although the quality of the drum software is great, I think it takes over in some parts, but this might simply be corrected through remixing it more into the background.

Anyway thanks for all your comments. This has also allowed me to verbalise some of what I feel about this piece.

Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
Mute Albino said 1046 days ago (January 15th, 2007)
at least
at least you're constantly questioning your own work which is the only method to improve. (I think we are connected souls)
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composerclark said 1045 days ago (January 16th, 2007)
Uncompromising
Wonderful stuff here! The quality of sounds just blows me away... having spent 20 years working on MIDI orchestrations of my stuff, I am hugely impressed by this... very inspiring.

The piece is quirky and uncompromising; I like that. It avoids thematicism in any traditional sense, and instead we have lots of punctuation, lots of colour. I'm not sure what you feel you need to work further on... this sounds fantastic as is.

Will you be able to arrange for a performance of this? I hope so; it really deserves it.

(The genre, by the way, is correct! Of course this is classical... classical music has continued to evolve right up to the present day, and music like this is a great example of that.)

10-10-10-10
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cchaplin said 1045 days ago (January 16th, 2007)
Uncompromising
Thank you Clark for your enthousiasm. I must say that I’m a that stage where I have heard this so many times that I don’t really know what’s what. I think if I do decide on some changes they will have to be implemented after a long break from this piece.

I am now in the process of laying out the score, and I wonder whether you could help me out on a question I have regarding the French horns : about one 3rd of the way into the piece I used an articulation called “French Horn Shake” (that’s the name given by East West) you can hear them distinctly in the piece. I have notated them (the shakes) as semi quavers with tremolo bars across them. Is this right ? Or is there another notation or technique that you are aware of to achieve this effect ?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
composerclark said 1045 days ago (January 16th, 2007)
Shake n' Bake
A "shake" is, to the best of my knowledge a trill, meaning you'd write the main pitch using whatever duration you want (like, for example, a whole-note), and write the "tr" above it, followed by a squiggly horizontal line indicating how long the trill to last.



But I'm not sure that what you have there are trills... I may be thinking of a different spot, but almost half-way through the piece you have some sustained, 'blatty' horn (and maybe tuba too) sounds, and they sound to me like flutter tongues, which you notate just like a trill, but instead of the "tr" abbreviation, you use "flutter" or "fl." (if you use an abbreviation you should explain it in a footnote, so no one thinks you mean "flute"), followed by the squiggly trill line.



Hopefully that helps... but I may be referring to an effect that isn't the one about which you ask.

---
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cchaplin said 1044 days ago (January 17th, 2007)
Shake n' Bake
'A "shake" is, to the best of my knowledge a trill, meaning you'd write the main pitch using whatever duration you want (like, for example, a whole-note), and write the "tr" above it, followed by a squiggly horizontal line indicating how long the trill to last.'


Thank you Clark, I think that's what I was sort of doing, only differently. I was putting tremolo bars across the tie of the note. I will change it to what you suggest above.

Cheers.

Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
TobinMueller said 1045 days ago (January 16th, 2007)
Recombinant DNA
To answer your last question: In my ears, yes, the whole thing stands on its own. I liked the staccato nature of the piece, like rDNA pieces looking for a home. Altho it doesn't need it in my ears, there could be sections of longer solo violin phrases, as layered counter to the short strokes, to make the piece dance slightly more, be a more complete journey. The software instruments are the best I've heard, but software usually sounds less convincing when legato phrases are played and your piece has few of those; you played to the software's strengths. Excellent work.
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cchaplin said 1045 days ago (January 16th, 2007)
Recombinant
Thank you Tobin for tacking a listen, and for your feedback which I value.

The Orchestral software is amazing. I’ve already bought the upgrade which I will now have to install on an external hard drive because of its size, and I am putting in another 1G of RAM into my PC. That should act like a pacemaker. I hope it holds out !
Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
Cameron said 1044 days ago (January 17th, 2007)
wonderful colors and vitality
What an excellent piece of music!

This is orchestral in the best sense of the word, with a very wide, varied palette of instrumental colors. All of the instruments are used in very artful sound combinations and rhythms; each gets its place of prominence at one time or another.

You provide a great deal of rhythmic vitality with the running eighth-notes which re-occur periodically throughout the piece. These quicker sections alterate with longer, held-out notes, but you still manage to maintain a sense of rhythmic urgency.

There is quite enough variety in both rhythm, textures and chordal/melodic content; it is in NO way monotonous! (to my ears, anyway.) It is also a good length, especially if it were part of a larger suite of movements.

I am amazed at the realistic sound of the instruments -- are we Mac people MISSING something??? I am also amazed at how much work this must have taken to assemble, with your limited RAM resources.

This is a very, very good piece. My only suggestion would be to end on a stronger chord; it seemed ever-so-slightly "incidental". But this is an extremely minor point.

EXCELLENT job! I am totally impressed.
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futzpucker said 1044 days ago (January 17th, 2007)
Very, very impressive
I agree with the comments about your use of the software instruments. East West is a great package, but that doesn't guarantee success. You used the sounds brilliantly.

The composing is highly creative, grabs the listener, and doesn't let go. So very well done. Congratulations.
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Peter Greenstone said 1044 days ago (January 18th, 2007)
amazing
Those are great instrument voices. Very natural and expressive. Your composition is quite captivating. It's quite an interesting listen. There are some moments where it comes together in more of a structured way and some times when it gets pretty out there but playfully. There are a few instruments that do sound quite artificial at times, the solo ones only, I think.

Overall the orchestra sounds very life-like. Sometimes it sounds a little like some instruments are not in the same space though, different environments. Different reverb? It makes it interesting but seems a little unnatural. Depends what you want. Nothing says you have to stay to exactly how it would normally sound in a live orchestra recording situation.

Technicalities aside, this is developing into quite a great piece. Must be inspiring to work with those voices.
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alfalpha said 1044 days ago (January 18th, 2007)
there are plenty of...
...orchestral variations...as you mentioned...

Clearly you have a wonderful grasp of orchestration (as well as 'gigabyte economy'!)

....I'd really like to hear the themes more developed...there are many ideas happening which, I guess, could turn into Mahleresque, or Bruckneresque proportions! *)
Thank You for this!
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cchaplin said 1043 days ago (January 18th, 2007)
You're welcome
Thank you chaps. Nice of you to stop by. You're feedback is very welcome.
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haribo said 1042 days ago (January 19th, 2007)
beautiful...
beautiful...wordlessly
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cchaplin said 1041 days ago (January 20th, 2007)
beautiful...
Haribo ! I'm honoured.
Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
Leon said 1042 days ago (January 19th, 2007)
musical wizardry
Will you be holding a lecture on how you came about doing this? 'Cause if you are, put me on that list! I wanna know the genius of artistry and tricks that were employed to make this project sound so amazing! Especially love the various strings. How you managed to make them sound so real is really beyond my comprehension at the moment.
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cchaplin said 1041 days ago (January 20th, 2007)
musical wizardry
Hey Leon, thanks for stopping by. I'm not really the lecturing type, besides there was no artistry required on my behalf regarding the quality of the sounds - that's all due to the very good East West software. What was tricky, however, was working with such Gigabyte hungry software on a computer that does not have sufficient memory. It means doing things in stages, and not really being able to hear what you’ve done until the very end.

Check out my latest song called Rappatack suite
Enrique Gil said 1036 days ago (January 26th, 2007)
quite an interesting piece with very realistic sound.
I can only imagine the time enregy and talent invested in this piece. Way beyond my possibilities. I loved the sound but I would have liked to hear a recurrent melody "to glue it" all together. Thank you for sharing!
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rainfice said 1009 days ago (February 22nd, 2007)
stunnng
this is a marvelous piece of music. i'm glad to see that it's only half over as i write this. i'm completely enveloped it the atmosphere of this composition.
I with i could write something like this. i try to make abstact rock music. I certainly stray from the verse/chorus/verse theme, but still i have no pieces to my credit that are as whimsical in thier exicution as this.
Bravo!
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guitapick said 939 days ago (May 2nd, 2007)
Awesome...
...many of my favorite composers rolled into your own unique style.

Beautiful...glad I found you.
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