Week 2

Context: Lost in the airport

Emotion: Isolated, Numb

Other: Dream-like

I focused more on creating the emotion and keeping the texture etherial.  I used absynth and a couple other synthesizers, and I tried to keep everything cold and square/harsh.  It stays floaty, thins out at the bridge, then winds its way out.  The glitched drums are jarring and especially effective at pushing the anxiety.  There's a percussive bell instrument (synth) that plays out of time and flails into missed notes and accidentals that takes over during the bridge, and adds to the un-reality.
In retrospect, I think it should fade out for starting at halfway through the B section.

Again, much more atmospheric and textural than melodic.

Keep on submitting!

~græy

Week 1.2

A follow-up to the week 1 choral piece, this one starts with a thin, yearning, high-tension bit, then moves into B, a gradually thicker variation on the theme from the A section, with a repeating cello line that sketches out a more hopeful chord. It moves back into some of the minors from A, as it nears the end, revitalizing some of that tension in a thicker form. The resolution at the end speaks especially strongly to me at least, a minor chord that melts into major.

Would you like more specifics?  Am I making sense?  Should I stop talking about emotional impact and get down to gritty music theory explanations?  Or something in between?

In other words, how's it workin for ya?

Thanks for listening

~græy

Week 1

Well there you go

Week one. I decided to write a mostly choral piece that could be looped, with two main sections. The A section is a denser, traditional choral arrangement. I tried to keep it longing, almost mournful, but moving fluidly. The pipes fit texturally just enough into the vocal parts (throaty resonance) that it doesn't shine out too much, but it can emerge clearly when it has a line that should pop.

The B section steps back from the tension built in the first section and takes the piece to a simple, floating finish with a few false resolves, and ends with a thin, floating, yet satisfying finish.  I feel like I'm talking about wine.  The vocal samples are from the London Symphony Orchestra's Symphony of Voices, which is my favorite set of vocal samples, by far.  

Send in ideas you'd like to hear on the form to the right!

~græy

Weekly Composition Happy Fun Time Lucky Game!

The pretext behind this idea is that you, the humble reader, will write in to me, the vaguely talented artist, with florid descriptions of a context that you'd like to hear sonically illustrated. Think of film score or video game background music. You'll say “Aww mans! What my lifelong dream to hear is: An ominous piece of musics for the darkest cave of the hideous frog-people of Angkanore, whose throaty croaks bring the blackest bile rising in those who would dare to walk alone in their domain!”

Then I'll respond “Ok friend, here's some phresh beats, made to order!”
I'll sit down and jam out some music in one day, post it and add some comments explaining what I did.  For now, we're running two compositions a week.

The idea is to give me practice writing things I might not ordinarily attempt, and for you to have some fun coming up with a situation you'd like to hear. It's a win-win situation

You'd be losing money NOT doing it!

-græy