Flame On The Candle
TRACK DATA
Composition tool: MuseScore 3, Studio One 6 Professional
Recording tool (DAW): Studio One 6 Professional
Number of tracks: 23
Sound source: Presence XT, Impact XT, Sample One (All built-in sound sources of Studio One)
Composition and Recording period: Mar 12 2023 - May 18 2023 , Aug 3
...Simply Forms Major Chord but also Sounds Differently
In the notation we have something called "dynamic signs" such as forte (f), fortissimo (ff), piano (p) and pianissimo (pp), meaning the degrees of strength or weakness, all of which are to show how strong or weak the player should play it. Very obvious.
What would happen if you put those signs precisely onto every note? It'd be extremely hard for the player to actualise all those. Well, what if the player were digital? The meaning of the signs could slightly or maybe drastically change. You could use them in a new way.
So, if the dynamic signs were used to have a certain frequency of wave that's irrelevant to the rhythm in the music, wouldn't it be a new style of polyrhythm? That's the concept we applied in the track called "Flowers."
Similarly, what if we put some short notes with the signs instead of long notes? Or, what if the signs continually changed and controlled the balance of the ensemble, ie, multiple instrumental parts? By doing these, couldn't we realise a sort of continual small lurching feels just like a flame on a candle?
These questions are the central concept of this work. The tentative title during production was "Lurching Minimal 2." I don't remember what I made as Lurching Minimal 1, though.
Thus, I had no clear vision of any travelling scene where there's a candle light. One could be an aroma candle during your stay in a hotel. Or, a beautiful moment at some festival featuring candle lights might be another.
Anyway, the small lurching feels are like your eyes are sometimes focused on the light but sometimes can't stay focused as it's moving.
What I call the "candle light motif" -- the minimal pattern from the beginning to the end -- appears to imply that it's in C-sharp major. But as the piano and other parts join, there occur a variety of changes to differ the implication.
One example is the synth strings that joins about after two and half minutes. They start with the dyad of D-sharp and F-sharp, as if they backed up the bass on B to form the B major chord, whereas the dyad can be perceived as the second and fourth degrees on C-sharp. Next, they play a dyad on F and G-sharp, which means simply the C-sharp major chord against C-sharp but should be more or less dissonant with the B bass. Or, you could say it implies a diminished chord, which is like F dim on B.
Then, they go up to a dyad on A-sharp and C-sharp, which is a little more friendly with the C-sharp major but is positioned as the major seventh and ninth on B. Finally, they go back down to the lower C-sharp and D-sharp, like "C-sharp sus2" towards the C-sharp major and like "B add2" against the bass.
Thus, in short, I designed the instability of the coreless structure -- or, some combination of sharp sensitivity and the beauty of generosity.
(TI writes:)
For this track I didn't add any phrases.
I mixed this track with the idea that something is going to happen and nothing is going to happen.
The synth brass part was originally written in Organ, and the Zip Noise part was originally written in Snare Drum, using Studio One's built-in synth Mai-tai and the freeware software synthesizer TAL-NoiseMaker respectively. The rest of the sounds basically follow the MuseScore sounds specified by TM.
I also used a minimal amount of effects.
Specifically, the Synth tones (Whistle, Warm Pad and Organ on the top row) were not modified at all, Syn Bass, Bass Drum and Snare Drum had their midrange slightly cut to make them clear, and the other parts had a very normal Room Rev applied to make them sound a little behind.
I don't use any modulation or delay effectors. The only effects I use are a compressor, equaliser and reverb on the piano and guitar to make them sound natural.
I don't use any delays because original phrases are delay-effect.
Modulation effect pedals are used because they expand the sound more than necessary, which makes the image of the sound blurred.
The only thing left to do is to adjust the balance. As TM explains, the dynamics are very extreme and the volume varies greatly, so it is very difficult to create the right volume balance throughout the entire track.
Comments