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"Game of Squids" (A StaffPad Joint)
Another StaffPad creation... I suspect I'll keep working on this but the other thread about creating orchestral music encourages me to publish as a "work in progress" to make a point. StaffPad works well on iPads (even a lower powered iPad) for this type of composing. Dorico is great for creating printed music but limited in it's audio rendering strengths... as most of the DAW's are IMHO. They just can't scale to add more audio details using a lot of instruments based on high quality sound libraries.
Comments
Kind of Bond. I would add the initial brass after the bass and then the strings, then the melody brass on top of that.
Yes. I can see that as an improvement. It's easy to move blocks of bars around in StaffPad.
I had a 1st version that was just a clutter collection of ideas. But it served as the source material for this version. After a period of time mulling over the playback you can go in
and either add new material or do this type of cut and paste editing. I'm sure this workflow applies to timeline based DAW's but it's not something I've even done in AUM... chopping up audio segments. Loop based workflows and clip launching are similar in the treatment of audio as blocks to be triggered.
Here's the 1st version of this project:
Before I wrote a note I thought about the "Game of Thrones theme that's in 12/8 and
uses a symphonic/ethnic mix of styles. 6/8, 12/8, 9/8 and any multiple of 3 will have a
natural swing and bring in echoes of Africa, Ireland, India, etc. It's the essence of global
dance music that I like as opposed to the um-pah 2/4 clunkiness of polkas, etc.
So I started with 6/4 as my time signature (all the Staffpad options had a 4 in the denominator) and selected some ethnic sounding percussion instruments. StaffPad libraries are slim on ethnic instrumental options but I could export audio as wave stems and add AUv3 instruments from the great ethnic apps like "World Synth" but maybe on another project.
It's fun to see what SoundCloud plays after one of your projects plays. In this case, it selected
a cool project from @barabajagal:
Version 2
I love the idea of presenting a work in progress!
I have been listening to this develop over the last few iterations and I like where it's going.
You mentioned "joint" in the description so I am assuming you are open to outside opinions.
If that is the case, I am happy to oblige.
I am hearing 2 more distinctly different parts of similar duration, followed by a return to the opening theme - ABCA.
I am particularly interested in the transitions between the parts.
If it's possible to limit the instrumentation to default libraries, it would give me an idea of what I could expect from StaffPad.
If not, can you indicate which additional libraries you used?
Nice work. Looking forward this!
Nice work @McD!
Love the bass line, I'm hoping you add a little more polish down at the lower end of the stack.
V2 is much better👍 Keep going. You need a B part now coming in after drums at 1:20, IMO.
Nice and powerful, definitely evokes the whole GOT/LOTR charging across the battlefield vibe. It's going somewhere but I hesitate to push you in any particular direction. I agree with @LinearLineman at it screams Theme B at the 1:50 mark, so what's next?
I like this vibe from you - I feel like this is far more thematic and considered than other pieces of yours I've heard. Keep going down this path - the orchestration suits you well.
Good... here's version 3 with some transpositions added and a doubling of the baseline with
a tympani. I moved a lot of parts around and added additional parts (trumpet, boys choir, more percussion, etc).
Sure... @linearline suggested I introduce the brass sooner and I had a similar feeling so I implemented that and also overlapped the melodic motif across different instruments.
See if you can map the structure in version 3... I tried to break the structure a bit by overlapping the statement of the motifs in different instrument. At this point I listen and
target my changes where something seems to stick out and need fixing or my interest lags.
Using "at N seconds" pointers to share feedback is the best way to hear a change and share in the sense that you influenced the final result.
The piece is getting pretty heavy and I suspect I'll create a completely different section that changes tempo and style.
I could create a default version just to give you a sense of the capabilities and how some instruments will loose some character due to a reduced number of articulations offered.
In this piece I only us volume(mp, mf, f, ff), legato and Attack (>) details. No pizzicato, etc.
Currently, I'm using Cinesamples VOXOS Choirs, CineBrass (which offers 1,2 4, 12 french horn samples), Cinesamples Percussion (53 unusual percussion instruments - a ton of ethnic stuff) and CineStrings Soloists (for that upright plucked bass in the baseline).
I'm learning that some instruments have very sharp attacks while others may be delayed a few milliseconds. That's due to editing by the sample creator. I tried doubling the baseline with a bass trombone and the timing difference was terrible so I found a default tympani that matched the bass well in the
mix. There isn't an option to "nudge" the audio but StaffPad can export app the parts in wave file stems and a good DAW (like Logic Pro) can nudge them
into better alignment but I try to make choices that save a hugh amount of
external mixing or processing effort. I prefer the instant feedback of making a change and hearing the results.
I'm curious to see if you see V3 as an improvement. I found a video of a dirt bike rider that I
played while the music was playing and it fit's well with a fast paced video.
The only effect inside StaffPad is a reverb setting. I'll be curious to see if the addition of the tympani playing the baseline works for you. It adds more punch as all the instruments start overlapping. The transposed sections also make the baseline more dynamic... the transpositions only last with 2 bars in most instances.
I've been getting a lot of inspiration from the music provided on the TV Shows were bingeing: "The White Lotus" has a great soundtrack with ethic percussion, sampled vocal sounds and a kitchen sink of weird noises. "Succession" is back for season 3 and I'll probably steal ideas from that. To do a "White Lotus" I'd need to capture some sounds in AudioLayer
and then use Staffpad for extra parts and assemble the audio files in AUM.
Version 3 and 4 and 5 and ...
I'm still learning StaffPad and have a ton of instruments and articulations to examine.
Thanks... I would never have the patience to build in a classic DAW they way you do. All
of the stuff I've been doing are "one shot" projects made in AUM with very little editing.
So, there's not a lot of song form or structural considerations. @LinearLineman also has a tendency to improvise massive amounts of melodic material in a single project and never
use the ABACA types of construction... he's always in the moment. I was doing that but with
a fraction of his harmonic capabilities. My improvisations are also very linear but typically based a a single scale.
Being able to take the whole orchestra and transpose creates opportunities to generate music I could never perform due to limited keyboard practice... like most of us here.
I think this will be the "Final" version...