Friday, 31 May 2019
My New Track: Orbital (for Sonic Underworld Solaria)
Here's a new track I wrote for Sonic Underworld's Solaria sound set for u-he's Dark Zebra.
This was a lot of fun for me
Musically, the track is simple. From the sounds, I want to express the serenity and beauty of endless space. I was never fluent composing and working with electronic sounds and instruments. This was partly due to the fact that prior to auditioning the sounds from the set, I can't imagine how the end composition will sound like. Not being able to visualise the final sound is like working blind.
Thus, I tried to keep the premise simple and to express more through the naturally evolving sounds from the sound set, to let the patches sing. I listened closely to each patch noticing the kinds of feelings they evoke. Then I think about how to use them effectively, playing to their strengths.
At the end of the piece, I felt like I achieved a new sound that isn't originally in my commonly used musical "vocabulary" if that makes any sense at all. :)
Please leave a comment if you like it, and I hope you do!
Hear this track and others in the Sonic Underworld Solaria playlist: www.soundcloud.com/sonicunderworld/sets/dark-zebra-solaria
Wednesday, 15 May 2019
NewTrack - Grow
My latest instrumental track features a piano in an orchestral setting. Giving the music a swaying movement of the waltzing 3/4 beat, I hope to bring out swelling and ebbing emotions of warmth, gentleness and love, as well as that of bitter-sweet heartbreaks. These are all part of growing, as we strive to be versions of ourselves.
I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment if you do.
I hope you enjoy it! Leave a comment if you do.
Tuesday, 5 February 2019
Lunar (Chinese) New Year
Happy Lunar New Year to one and all. The new year in the lunar calendar is celebrated in many Chinese / Asian traditions.
This celebratory track is done for a greeting video for the church where I attend. Robin the staff laid the percussive and melodic track with a synth patch. I fleshed out the rest of the arrangement.
I hope you enjoy it!
This celebratory track is done for a greeting video for the church where I attend. Robin the staff laid the percussive and melodic track with a synth patch. I fleshed out the rest of the arrangement.
I hope you enjoy it!
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
New Track - Skyward!
My newest track is entitled Skyward!
This is a demo track created for Sonic Underworld's Nyah soundset for the Uhe's Zebra synth.
For this track, I tried to evoke an uplifting and dare I say, euphoric feeling of breaking through at the end.
Instruments and mixing wise, I included orchestral elements like brass, light strings and voices. With the exception of the final swell, I try to keep these non-synth elements at the back, so the synth sounds can shine through.
In the Nyah playlist, there is an additional "naked" version that contains only the Nyah patches. You can find it at the second last entry of the following playlist.
When I start writing a new piece of music, I usually start clueless what I was going to write. Usually the first one or two ideas would not be usable. By 30% into the track, I would usually get a good feel of whether the idea is worth developing to the end.
For Skyward, it was different. After coming up with an opening section, the direction of the song just continued to write itself in my mind.
It was not all uphill, unfortunately. At about half-way through the song (around 1 minute 30 seconds), I hit a block and did not know how to proceed. How do I start to resolve and bring the music to an end. As I continued to build up and bring the tension along, the mood of the piece seemed to get darker and darker, and my hope of ending it in a strong and positive light became further and further from my grasp. At that point I was even wondering if I should start with another idea. This part of the production took the longest.
After I managed to resolve it, the rest of the song became almost automatic. I was merely executing the plan that would resolve the idea to the end, and the efficiency spiked at that point.
This is a demo track created for Sonic Underworld's Nyah soundset for the Uhe's Zebra synth.
For this track, I tried to evoke an uplifting and dare I say, euphoric feeling of breaking through at the end.
Instruments and mixing wise, I included orchestral elements like brass, light strings and voices. With the exception of the final swell, I try to keep these non-synth elements at the back, so the synth sounds can shine through.
In the Nyah playlist, there is an additional "naked" version that contains only the Nyah patches. You can find it at the second last entry of the following playlist.
When I start writing a new piece of music, I usually start clueless what I was going to write. Usually the first one or two ideas would not be usable. By 30% into the track, I would usually get a good feel of whether the idea is worth developing to the end.
For Skyward, it was different. After coming up with an opening section, the direction of the song just continued to write itself in my mind.
It was not all uphill, unfortunately. At about half-way through the song (around 1 minute 30 seconds), I hit a block and did not know how to proceed. How do I start to resolve and bring the music to an end. As I continued to build up and bring the tension along, the mood of the piece seemed to get darker and darker, and my hope of ending it in a strong and positive light became further and further from my grasp. At that point I was even wondering if I should start with another idea. This part of the production took the longest.
After I managed to resolve it, the rest of the song became almost automatic. I was merely executing the plan that would resolve the idea to the end, and the efficiency spiked at that point.
Friday, 21 December 2018
My Featured Interview on the 8Dio Blog!
https://8dio.com/2018/11/14/interview-with-our-top-facebook-fans/
I recently got approached by 8Dio to be part of an interview article on their page. What an honour and privilege!
Super excited to share my works and experiences with the music community out there!
Tuesday, 4 December 2018
New Track: Christmas Medley 2018 for Grace Assembly of God Singapore
It's the Christmas season, and I want to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas!
This track is an instrumental medley of a few Carols and songs:
1. Joy to the World
2. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
3. Lord I Want Nothing More (an original worship song from Grace Assembly of God Singapore)
4. We Wish you a Merry Christmas
This is a music video project that my church is producing. It features is a medley of a few songs, some are carols, some are original songs composed by the church. The MTV will feature church staff singing and a few pastors saying some greetings in between the different pieces.
I was asked to creatively arrange and plan progressions of the transitions, constrained to the number of bars present in the guide track. my arrangement will also set the style and mood of each piece. It means I can set a traditional piece to disco or EDM, or hip hop, etc. i have a bit of free-play.
Before the media team goes out to shoot people singing, they need a "guide track" for timing, duration and tempo, so they know much to shoot, how long (duration) to edit, and what to show in the MTV, while I go off arranging the music.
Here I'll elaborate a bit on the challenges I faced.
- creating smooth transitions in tempo at portions that had to go slow then bringing it back up again naturally and smoothly for the finale ending on a high
- making smooth transitions on key changes which had a lot to do with Chord and scale changes, and that must make sense.
- this one may not be so apparent if done "well". It is to fit each transition within a fixed number of bars.
this challenge is similar but not as tough as something I also do: writing music to picture. Take that first transition from a capella hark the angels which I had the slower and then the rock version. The transition is 12 bars. Coming from a pop biased background like myself, my mind is mostly wired to multiples of 8 bars, it was a challenge to fill up a musical space with the usual 8, 16, bars etc.
- realistic and believable arrangement/"recording" /programming (whatever you call the process of composing with virtual instruments on a computer with no "real players" native to those instruments.) Since I also play-in those parts myself in the end, I need to know how each instrument would need to sound, in the context of the music style.
- finally, something that I personally try to achieve whenever I do "cover versions" is to create a combination of style and chord progression of the song that is somewhat different from the common/original version. That makes my time spent more worthwhile since I have get to leave my fingerprint on it in the end. But of course, in my years of doing arrangements, I started off with trying to replicate and imitate. That definitely has some learning value in itself.
This track is an instrumental medley of a few Carols and songs:
1. Joy to the World
2. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
3. Lord I Want Nothing More (an original worship song from Grace Assembly of God Singapore)
4. We Wish you a Merry Christmas
This is a music video project that my church is producing. It features is a medley of a few songs, some are carols, some are original songs composed by the church. The MTV will feature church staff singing and a few pastors saying some greetings in between the different pieces.
I was asked to creatively arrange and plan progressions of the transitions, constrained to the number of bars present in the guide track. my arrangement will also set the style and mood of each piece. It means I can set a traditional piece to disco or EDM, or hip hop, etc. i have a bit of free-play.
Before the media team goes out to shoot people singing, they need a "guide track" for timing, duration and tempo, so they know much to shoot, how long (duration) to edit, and what to show in the MTV, while I go off arranging the music.
Here I'll elaborate a bit on the challenges I faced.
- creating smooth transitions in tempo at portions that had to go slow then bringing it back up again naturally and smoothly for the finale ending on a high
- making smooth transitions on key changes which had a lot to do with Chord and scale changes, and that must make sense.
- this one may not be so apparent if done "well". It is to fit each transition within a fixed number of bars.
this challenge is similar but not as tough as something I also do: writing music to picture. Take that first transition from a capella hark the angels which I had the slower and then the rock version. The transition is 12 bars. Coming from a pop biased background like myself, my mind is mostly wired to multiples of 8 bars, it was a challenge to fill up a musical space with the usual 8, 16, bars etc.
- realistic and believable arrangement/"recording" /programming (whatever you call the process of composing with virtual instruments on a computer with no "real players" native to those instruments.) Since I also play-in those parts myself in the end, I need to know how each instrument would need to sound, in the context of the music style.
- finally, something that I personally try to achieve whenever I do "cover versions" is to create a combination of style and chord progression of the song that is somewhat different from the common/original version. That makes my time spent more worthwhile since I have get to leave my fingerprint on it in the end. But of course, in my years of doing arrangements, I started off with trying to replicate and imitate. That definitely has some learning value in itself.
Monday, 18 June 2018
New Track: Set Free (for Sonic Underworld Aquatica)
Here's another track for Sonic Underworld's Aquatica for U-he's Zebra 2.
And here is that same track on my Soundcloud profile.
Aquatica is a sound-set that has heavy references to oceanic themes in the names of the patches. The sounds themselves are quite awesome. Some of them instantly transport the listener into the deep waters. As I was exploring the sounds I was a kid in the candy store. The sounds took me away to the depths of the ocean, and the finished track is that end result.
In the track, I want to portray the feeling of calm and weightless freedom, submerging in deep water. As the track progresses I want to portray a realisation of that freedom, that the viewer's new-found freedom urges him/her to go forth and explore the vast expanse of the ocean.
And here is that same track on my Soundcloud profile.
Aquatica is a sound-set that has heavy references to oceanic themes in the names of the patches. The sounds themselves are quite awesome. Some of them instantly transport the listener into the deep waters. As I was exploring the sounds I was a kid in the candy store. The sounds took me away to the depths of the ocean, and the finished track is that end result.
In the track, I want to portray the feeling of calm and weightless freedom, submerging in deep water. As the track progresses I want to portray a realisation of that freedom, that the viewer's new-found freedom urges him/her to go forth and explore the vast expanse of the ocean.
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