One Dollar Trilogy: A stranger in these parts

And this is the third piece from the "One Dollar Trilogy".

A stranger in these parts.

This is again built with the same instrument set as the two other tracks. I saw no need to change the sound too much since all the parts of this trilogy are short (hence the cheap sounding name).

I imagined this as a sort of farewell for the nameless (these dudes never have names, their parents must have hated them) hero as he limps into the sunset boding ill omens for the next town he stumbles into.

Although this trilogy was a rush job it was great fun to write these and I think I will return to these on a later date to create more pages for this story.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 8.5

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt 3
• Independence Free
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
• Melda Equalizer
• Sonar PerfectSpace

Libraries and impulses:

• Project SAM Brass
• VSL Horizon series Chamber Strings
• VSL Horizon series Overdrive
• VSL Horizon series Concert Guitar
• NI Kontakt 3 Library
• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion
• Ilio Origins
• Independence Free Library
• Gnomehammer Sleigh Bells

• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion impulses

One Dollar Trilogy: Bullets, bloody bullets

So, today I finished the two other parts of my "One Dollar Trilogy". The second track is titled:

Bullets, bloody bullets.

I built this one around the same palette as the first one. It's actually in the same frigging project file. This one needed to be a battle music, but I didn't want to go the normal way and raise the tempo to make it more faster paced. I kept the tempo same but used the snares to bring a military march type feel to the track. I also gave more room for the trumpet to play to give that Texas/Mexico feel so essential to Westerns.

This is clearly a tighter sounding song and it's a track I might want to extend once I have more time to do it. But for now (and for the theme of this trilogy) it is as it is.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 8.5

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt 3
• Independence Free
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
• Melda Equalizer
• Sonar PerfectSpace

Libraries and impulses:

• Project SAM Brass
• VSL Horizon series Chamber Strings
• VSL Horizon series Overdrive
• VSL Horizon series Concert Guitar
• NI Kontakt 3 Library
• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion
• Ilio Origins
• Independence Free Library
• Gnomehammer Sleigh Bells

• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion impulses

One Dollar Trilogy: Red Creek

I received a project at work which required me to write three short western themed music bits for an awards gala. It was a rush job since I only had a few days to do everything. And to top that I didn't get the video clips the music was meant for since it was in edit at the same time. Here's the first of these tracks. I titled it:

Red Creek.

Since time was sparse I didn't even begin to create something inspired and new but started with a basic western palette of sounds: lonely primitive drums, the Mexican trumpet, the acoustic guitar. Around these I wrote a simple progression to create a foreboding mood; a waiting but driven atmosphere. The track grows as it goes along. I used a lot of other familiar elements on this one as well. The always ominous church bell is present as is the massive french horn section and the gritty distorted electric guitar.

This is not a very difficult track as it is simple in structure and melody. But I like it all the same.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 8.5

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt 3
• Independence Free
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
• Melda Equalizer
• Sonar PerfectSpace

Libraries and impulses:

• Project SAM Brass
• VSL Horizon series Chamber Strings
• VSL Horizon series Overdrive
• VSL Horizon series Concert Guitar
• NI Kontakt 3 Library
• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion
• Ilio Origins
• Independence Free Library
• Gnomehammer Sleigh Bells

• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion impulses

Way of the Fist

I've been a fan of Hong Kong action movies for I don't even remember how long. This track is a tribute to them. The name of the track comes from Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist):

Way of the Fist

I originally started this track as a way of learning to do Asian drums (taikos and Chinese style). It kind of evolved from there. The backing of the track is firmly rooted on the beating of the taiko drum, which are accompanied by Indian dohl drums (for the taiko drums I used Nine Volt Audio's Stickbreakers Vol2 and for the dohls Tonehammer's Epic Dohl). To these I combined Chinese Bangu drums from the MOTU's Ethno Instrument and a modern drum kit (well, the NI Abbey Road 60's drums, but that's close enough).

After I had the drums down I thought it would be cool to combine instruments from different continents into one. So I began to go through my arsenal and see what kind of a crazy instrument mix I could get. There are plucked strings from Japan (koto and shamisen), Finland (kantele) and North America (a telecaster guitar). Strings range from western orchestra strings to a gypsy violin layered with a Chinese Erhu. Woodwinds from North America (Native American flute from Orange Tree Samples' MesaWinds) and Japan lead the solo section of the ensemble. Then everything is layered with synths and massive orchestral brass.

This is one of those tracks that I didn't build around a story, bu rather just let it unfold itself as I went along. Rarely has it been so easy to write a song not centered around pivotal story points. What drives this one is the general mood of things happening and the hero simply kicking ass. So enjoy this one.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar 7
• Sony SoundForge 7
  

Samplers, instruments and effects:

• NI Kontakt4 
• East West PLAY 2
• UVI Workstation
• NI FM8
• NI Massive
• Sonar PerfectSpace
• Timeworks Equalizer
• Waves L3 Multimaximizer

Libraries and impulses:

• Nine Volt Audio Stickbreakers Vol.2: Ten Man Taiko
• Orange Tree Samples MesaWinds
• Tonehammer Epic Dohls
• NI Abbey Road 60's Drums
• NI Kontakt4 Library
• Project SAM True Strike 2
• Project SAM Brass 
• VSL Horizon series Epic Horns
• VSL Horizon series FX Percussion
• Bela D Media Sampled Landscape
• Ilio Origins
• MOTU Ethno Instrument 
• EastWest Quantum Leap Gypsy
• EastWest Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock
• EastWest Quantum Leap Voices of Passion

• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion impulses