Massive sound with a detailed analysis about the track and its creation.
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Sidibeat and the Cryptographic Orchestra
also on DTube: https://dtube.video/#!/v/sidibeat/uu1dwrr0
This Instrumental was created without using samples. All Sounds were arranged by me in my DAW using a Keylab 88 MIDI controller. It all came with the flow while I was playing around with a new Plugin Library.
Note: I did not study music science. But since I started learning to play the piano about 1 ½ years ago I built some knowledge in basic music theory. The explanation is based on my understanding of the music I create. I start my workflow with a Loop of several instruments.
The Drums
They are as simple as they can be. Drums should serve the other instruments while still providing the basic rhythm as a driving force. A 4/4 takt with the kick switching between one and two hits after every 4th takt. The snare is laying flat on the 2nd and 4th. Finally the high-hat Brings in some variation with playing eighth closed and an opened hit after one half, in the second half it the open hit is played twice: once before the snare Hit, once right after it which rounds up the drum loop, driving it forward since the high-hat and kick-drum are alternating. And that's it. The drums for the whole track.
The Keys
As you can see in the loop-screenshot I used two different pianos. KEY-UP and KEY-DOWN. For the loop we only have a look on KEY-DOWN. The other one is relevant for the arrangement section which we will take a look on further down this post.
The piece is written in a D-Blues scale. The piano is playing the chords
D - C - A - D - G - F - D - F - A - F - G - F - G - A - G - C - D
This chord progression is from the One Piece theme “Stronger” which came to my mind in an earlier phase of the production. I’m a huge fan of the anime and especially of that battle-theme. I took the melody for the refrain and built the rest upon it. Since I now had an idea how the heart of the track should sound like I played the piano in a way that it should back up the later coming brass ensemble. The left hand is playing the melody in the root note and one octave lower. The right hand is completing the chords hitting the eighth takt.
Let’s hear it combined with the drums:
The Brass Ensemble
It is playing the same chords as the KEY-DOWN piano, hitting only the root notes. At this point i gotta say that I totally fell in love with brass instruments after recording that layer on the loop. They really add this dramatic and characteristic vibe for cinematic productions.
Next my favorite instrument in this track is coming. The french horns. Right before the first half of the chord progression ends they built up behind the other brass instruments giving that massive heroic feeling before slowly fading out.
The Bass
It is also playing the root notes, but slightly shifted before the point where the horns and piano is hitting. This shifting combined with some breaks and moving up in the scale until the octave is giving the tune a funky touch.
The Percussions
For the percussion I took a tribal rhythm and modified it. The bongos and djembes are filling gaps within the drum loop making it more interesting to listen to in my ears. There's always something going on. At the end of the basic percussion rhythm I added some highlights with heavy bangs on the djembes. They are very reduced in the whole mixing. I didn’t want them to stand out that much. Here are they:
With adding the percussions I felt that the loop was finished. Next it was time for the arrangement.
The Intro
For the Intro I played around with an awesome plugin called Kinetic Metal from NI. It is creating some really atmospheric sound. It’s the heart of the intro section. Layer after layer i built upon that melody that I’m playing in the first takts of the track, adding more and more instruments: The french horn, then the piano playing some high notes, a clicking that adding tension, the percussive metallic sounds. Then I reduced the sounds a bit, removed the clicking just before THE SWITCH: initiated by one note of the Brass ensemble:
The KEY-DOWN kicks in, forcing the horns to become louder as well. Simultaneously the percussion loop comes in. Then the Bass, shortly after it the KEY-UP. The horns become more and more present. Drum cymbals start hitting hard. Just before the main loop with the massive brass ensemble starts I added a rise and hit delivering a smooth crossing from the intro.
The middle part
I used the brass ensemble for switches inside as well as in the beginning of the middle part. Right after the “refrain” ist finished you hear a short note played by the brass instruments. The bassline switches, supporting the kick drum of the drums. I brought back Kinetic metal in the first half of the middle part.
Then again the brass ensemble initiates the switch:
Kinetic metal takes off, KEY-DOWN comes in playing the eighth. The percussive djembes play their highlights only two times . Then again SWITCH.
The percussive loop comes in. The bass gets lowered a whole octave. KEY-UP comes in with a little lick at the beginning. After it I completely removed the bass. KEY-DOWN playing 2 chords simultaneously with the kick-drum. KEY-UP builds tension with a little pre solo. Then Bass and KEY-DOWN do a funky riff coming way up from the C-note down to the F in order to initiate the grande finale:
The solo
Well what should I say.. This is my first keyboard solo since 1 ½ years of practice. Personally I like it but I also listened to the song probably hundreds of times. I will never have the first impression of it because I created it. That is why your opinion is very appreciated! I tried to record it without cutting it. On the third try It felt good. I left it as I recorded it and moved on to:
The outro
Another hit and rise ends the refrain smoothing into the outro. The clicking and Kinetic Metal comes back, going down the note scale and taking down the tension. The track ends with a last clicking.
Finished
And that is the whole song! :) I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know by writing a comment ;)
The Temple Of Sound | Der Klangtempel:
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