On Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:18:35 +0100 (CET)
Cedric Roux <sed(a)free.fr> wrote:
----- "Folderol" <folderol(a)ukfsn.org>
wrote:
let me know what you think. I'm sure you are
all familiar with the
title :)
http://www.musically.me.uk/music/Desiderata.ogg
I don't understand very well spoken english,
so I don't know what you say. :-)
Anyway, I wanted to know what tools (hw/sw) you used
for the musical background. And the effects (compressor
on the voice?) and so on.
If you feel in the mood to give some details, that
would be a nice reading for me! If you have no time
or if you don't like giving details, no problem.
Regards,
Cédric.
Well, seeing as you asked :)
The words are here:
http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm
I started off just reading the text through several times to get an idea of the
length. I read it out loud as you get a very different time compared with just
reading it in your mind!
Knowing roughly how long this was I then composed the music to create what I
hoped would be the right atmosphere but around a minute longer to allow for some
form of intro and an, as yet unimagined, tail.
This was produced using Rosegarden as a MIDI recorder of each track while at
the same time playing a click track in a loop for timing. All the synth parts
are my own voice patches in one instance of Yoshimi.
With this mostly in place I then started to make recordings of the voice parts.
For this I used headphones, routing both Yoshimi and the unmodified mic (shure
PG58) input direct to them via jack. I also routed the voice part through jamin
with its default compression settings but EQing out some room resonance and
cutting the lower frequencies that the mic tended to boost. This was then
routed to timemachine.
I recorded several complete passes like this one after
another, taking a short break between each, then selected the one I thought was
best. I didn't try to cut and paste the best bits from each as I found that
each one came out slightly, but noticably different due to me not being in
exactly the same position relative to the mic each time.
I loaded the recording I wanted to keep into audacity and used the noise remover
plugin on it, then did some compression by hand to deal with a few places where
I was too loud for just a few words. I then saved this track.
Next I loaded it into Rosegarden and lined it up with the start of the second
musical 'verse'. I readjusted the second soft breathy synth part and added in
the strings and later choir part.
I then ran the last part in a loop continuously while playing that bright lead
synth part until I had something that I thought fitted. Originally I intended
to play it after the speech was finished and the first few notes were just a
quiet lead-in for timing, but I found the overlap fitted so well I left it as
it was.
Finally I added the rhythm guitar part (Squier Tele). This was recorded direct
from the soundcard panned to one side then some reverb added with rakarrack.
Phew!
Synth patches:
pad - 'Smooth'
bass - 'Soft' + 'Ocarina'
(both playing the same track gives a very smooth deep bass)
1st lead - 'Rushes'
strings - 'Full Strings'
2nd lead - 'Another Choir'
Last lead - 'Tunnel Piano'
--
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.