A perfect moment of freedom

Do you know that feeling of total independence of the world when you're pushing yourself to the extremes of your performance ability? That moment when the world around you just fades away, all the stress of daily life disappears, your mind is freed from all arbitrary things and the only thing left is you, your body and the movement?

A perfect moment of freedom.

This is my first track of the year 2010. For quite a while now I've wanted to do a track about movement. The idea came out of watching pictures of parkour and free running. Both sports break the norms of moving in the urban environment by finding alternative routes going about. They both contain a certain search for freedom. Then again one can experience freedom from the world in basically any sports you really concentrate on. For me this happens every time I walk into a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym. What's outside the walls doesn't matter, it simply doesn't exist. The only thing that matters is the movement you're doing right then and there.

I actually had less trouble figuring out where to start than with most tracks. Somehow this track seemed so clear from the start. I wanted to use a lot of airy instruments in this one. For that I fired up several NI Absynths and a few NI Reaktors, since they provide some of the best soundscaping possibilities. Also on the top of my list was Soniccouture's Pan drum, a sampled hang drum. It has an amazing out of this world sound, which was just perfect for this song. They created the backbone of this track. On top of them I layered lush strings, ethnic percussions, massive french horns, a Chinese Gu Zheng zither, the legendary Japanese Shakuhachi flute and a Boesendorfer grand piano.

As I said this track is more about the feeling than head on action. That's why I didn't write hectic drum lines, even though there is a strong beat in the song. Hectic just wasn't what was needed. Tranquility is more like it. A slight meditative state of mind, without actually being meditative music. This thought I carried with me to the melodies. They're ambient in nature, but there are parts you can grab a hold of. The different instruments play with each other, one taking the lead after another. I'm thrilled that the mesh of different sounds came out so well. For me the sounds of this track breathe positive energy out of the speakers.

This is also one of those tracks I'm completely satisfied with. I wouldn't change one note or sound from it. Creating this track has been a real pleasure.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 7
  
• Sony SoundForge 7
  

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt 4
  
• NI Absynth 5
  
• NI FM8
• NI Battery 3
• NI Massive
• NI Reaktor 5
• Vienna Instrument
• EastWest Quantum Leap PLAY
• UWI Workstation
  
• Noizware TriDirt
• Cakewalk Perfect Space
• Sonic Timeworks Equalizer
  
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter

Libraries:

• Analogue Drums Big Mono
  
• Fixed Noise OTTO
  
• Soniccouture Gu Zheng
  
• Soniccouture Konkrete
  
• Soniccouture Konkrete 2
  
• Soniccouture Pan Drum
  
• Vienna Horizon Series Epic Horns
• Vienna Special Edition
  
• Tonehammer Epic Dohl
• EastWest Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock
• MOTU Ethno Instrument
  

EMMA music awards gala 2010

I had an interesting project to work on: writing music for a music awards gala show. This was again new ground to tread on, since I've never composed music for a live awards show before.

The theme of the show was the circus. But we didn't want it to sound like your traditional circus but a more modern, a little macabre circus. Then again we didn't want it to sound like any other Finnish award show and so we opted to go big.

To get that massive sound I turned to Tonehammer's Epic Dohls and slave ships. You know the age old worn out image of slaves rowing and an obese guy in a loin cloth beating their pace. That's what I started from. To get that kind of driving solid beat at the core of the music. The same drums control the music in different variations from one cue to another. The music in all is percussion driven with several smaller percussions and electric and acoustic drum kits joining in.

The next step was to create the kind of circus atmosphere without going too traditional. Electronics was what everybody wanted. But what kind of electronics? You couldn't go too spacey and or too pop. In the end I chose to use some really odd electronic sounds to form the basic progression. They're on the border of being really out there, but still have an edge of familiarity. They also gave the music that desired macabre feel. Needless to say that I relied heavily on NI Absynth. An important element was also Tonehammer Phonautogram library.

On top of these core elements I wrote layers of stuff ranging from light string arrangements to rough and tough heavy guitar riffs via ethnic flavors and electronic buzzings. They come and go as the elements of the show require them to do so.

An interesting part of the project was writing background music for a magician performing there. This is where I broke the basic back bone which had dominated the other cues. It needed to be swifter than the rest and I think it needed a more mysterious air about it. The sound here is still dominated by the Epic Dohls, but massive brass and strings come out to play essential parts. The end result is a mixture of awe and fright. And I like it.

One of the things about this project was that I didn't actually get to see the results until the show was aired. Everything was being developed still on the day before the show I had no idea how all the elements would work together. In the end it worked well, which is always a relief.

As I've said all along this was an interesting composing project and I'm glad I got the chance to do it.

Update 6.2.2010: Finally I have these in presentable form so here's a bite of what the music sounded like.

EMMA 2010 Theme (short version)
EMMA 2010 Theme (longer version)
The Magician
The Nominee Categories

The Nominee Categories is mixed from several different loopable elements, so don't mind the rough edges.

Gear I used for this project:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 8.5
  

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt 3
  
• NI Absynth 4
  
• NI FM8
  
• NI Massive
• NI B4 II
• NI Battery 3
  
• NI Koreplayer
• NI Guitar Rig 3
• QuikQuak Upstereo
• MeldaEqualizer
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
  

Libraries:

• Tonehammer Epic Dohl
• Tonehammer Phonautograms
• Tonehammer Gnomehammer Kazoo Ensemble
  
• NI Kontakt 3 Library
• NI Battery 3 Library
  
• Project SAM Brass
• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion
• Ilio Origins
  
• Hollow Sun K3 Bass Station Library