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This is our second magnatone/kassia piano/orchestration collaboration, and we had just as much fun the second time around as the first. We started by asking if there would be way to write a piece of music that would allow each of us to play in our own very differing styles. (For Shay that typically means slowly, with depth, richness and a very light touch; and for Karen it usually means speed, movement and um, not so much of a light touch). With that goal in mind, we settled on an idea of Shay writing her part in F, and Karen in corresponding Dm, at 90 BPM, and went off to our separate pianos.
After much passing of improv files back and forth, we landed on a couple of themes that we started to weave together, first by playing separately in F and Dm respectively, then together briefly in F, followed by a call/response section in Dm, and finally a true duet in Dm. Getting all the notes to work out in the duet section was an odyssey in patience and tweaking!
Once we had the piano parts completed and knitted together, it was time for the “Adventures in Orchestration” portion of our process. Again, we come from two somewhat opposite ends of the spectrum, with Shay inclined toward sparseness, while Karen is more apt to throw in the kitchen sink (ok ok, the whole kitchen - thus "KSA" was formed). And as before, we found a happy medium somewhere between those two poles, that we feel expresses each of us quite well. Although we started the orchestration with “assignments”, i.e., “you do the strings, I’ll do the woodwinds”, it wasn’t long before we were each having a LOT to say about each other’s ideas. (Thank goodness for Skype)
So ultimately it is fair to say that almost every note in this song was worked on by both of us at different times in the process, and each instrument choice, each bit of phrasing, and all the big and little decisions that go into orchestration and mix, were done together, from start to finish. Collaborating this way is an act of both trust and confidence, as well as lots of negotiation and compromise. It took us about 4 weeks to complete this song, and in that time we went through over 100 file swaps, and wound up with a total of 39 instrument tracks in the song file. And we’re still friends!
Many thanks to drakonis and futzpucker for the “almost done” feedback, and very special thanks to futzpucker for the use of his two “real percussion” aif sound files. At the end of the song, that timpani roll and cymbal crash you hear are the real deal!
** Song art borrowed from: http://a-rainbow-of-spirituality.com
After much passing of improv files back and forth, we landed on a couple of themes that we started to weave together, first by playing separately in F and Dm respectively, then together briefly in F, followed by a call/response section in Dm, and finally a true duet in Dm. Getting all the notes to work out in the duet section was an odyssey in patience and tweaking!
Once we had the piano parts completed and knitted together, it was time for the “Adventures in Orchestration” portion of our process. Again, we come from two somewhat opposite ends of the spectrum, with Shay inclined toward sparseness, while Karen is more apt to throw in the kitchen sink (ok ok, the whole kitchen - thus "KSA" was formed). And as before, we found a happy medium somewhere between those two poles, that we feel expresses each of us quite well. Although we started the orchestration with “assignments”, i.e., “you do the strings, I’ll do the woodwinds”, it wasn’t long before we were each having a LOT to say about each other’s ideas. (Thank goodness for Skype)
So ultimately it is fair to say that almost every note in this song was worked on by both of us at different times in the process, and each instrument choice, each bit of phrasing, and all the big and little decisions that go into orchestration and mix, were done together, from start to finish. Collaborating this way is an act of both trust and confidence, as well as lots of negotiation and compromise. It took us about 4 weeks to complete this song, and in that time we went through over 100 file swaps, and wound up with a total of 39 instrument tracks in the song file. And we’re still friends!
Many thanks to drakonis and futzpucker for the “almost done” feedback, and very special thanks to futzpucker for the use of his two “real percussion” aif sound files. At the end of the song, that timpani roll and cymbal crash you hear are the real deal!
** Song art borrowed from: http://a-rainbow-of-spirituality.com
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