Too much hypnosis

A while back the guys behind Kaiti Kink Ensemble asked us to remix tracks from their album "Under the Iron Sky". It took me a while to get my hands on this but I finally got other things out of the way. From the album I chose a track called "Too Much Energy" which is a pretty much an in your face electronic piece. You might want to give the original track a listen as well. Kaiti Kink Ensemble "Too much energy"

I decided to go in a totally different direction. Mysterious instead of blasting it at you. Ethnic instead of electronic. Laid back instead of pumping and raw.

I chose to base the remix on the hypnotic beating of a witch drum doubled by a normal frame drum. They beat a constant beat that makes up this tracks back bone.On top of them I layered a chilled jazz beat and and effected version of the original drum track. These loop on and on as I was going for a structure that is supposed to hypnotize you. So repetition, repetition and repetition.

I did the same thing with the lyrics. I chose a few passages that would repeat and repeat creating a sort of a chant with the various repetition coming in with different kinds of effect layers. An added vocal was a Tibetan monk singing. It gives the whole track a more mysterious quality.

For the actual instruments I chose an ivory flute and solo strings. They form the melodic core of the track. Solo cello leads the instrument section and the rest back it up with staccato lines. Though in the middle there's a bit where the flute and cello go on an acid trip and just swing away.

I am quite happy with the way this remix turned out. So give it a listen, or two:

Too Much Hypnosis (Kaiti Kink Ensemble - Too Much Energy Remix)

Getting up to speed with, well, a lot of things

Where the heck has this year gone? Today I feel like it's still the beginning of the year, but looking at the calendar reveals that it's almost December. And I've been very absent in my writings here. So I'll make a short summary of what has happened this year.

I'll start with a personal note to some how try to explain my absent minded writing. This has been a big year in regards to personal goings about. I started the year with my grandmothers's funeral. Then I started to plan my wedding which was in the summer. Then when autumn came we bought a new house into which I am just now starting to settle in. So with these things I have been rather busy. But onto Reveltone stuff.

I've posted a couple things here about my big mystery project which I said was going to be released this fall. Well, it got pushed back first to the end of November then finally to February 2013.

In Clear Sight has progressed to the point that the score is mixed (thank you Paul for the excellent work) and is being mastered by Erno. The first master is waiting on my desk for me to listen (which I will do tonight). So the movie is good shape.

I've been working on a few ideas lately. One of them is the idea of rebooting the "Sumeria" concept album which I didn't have much time to finish. I've re-concepted it and will start working on it shortly.

Also next week I'll have an interesting new track coming along. So stay tuned for more...

Anna Tallberg Kyr 2012

Anna Tallberg Kyr 2012 @ Soundcloud

Here's a wee bit of a thing I wrote with Teemu. It's another Kyr song for a young rider.

Living the quiet life

Yeah. Right.

Times have definitely not been quiet. I've been busy with two projects lately. The first one is the mystery project I've blogged and even shown you a video clip about. But I won't talk about that today and I'll focus on the other major thing taking up my time currently. I'm writing the score for a movie called "In Clear Sight".

"In Clear Sight" is a roughly 60 minute film set in Cold War Germany directed by Atso Pärnanen. It follows two soldiers on a surveillance mission of a Soviet military exercise. So, this one is right up my alley. We started talking about the music with ideas from Jerry Goldsmith's Rambo and the later addition by Brian Tyler. Also mentioned were Basil Poledouris' The Hunt for Red October and the Inception score by Hans Zimmer. From these stemmed several ideas we thought would be necessary for the score we were about to create.

The main theme of the score needed to be more human than military, so we chose to not have too many marching rhythms there. I've written a few different orchestrations of the theme, the main one having an acoustic guitar in the background and a duet of a trumpet and a french horn as the lead. The basic version of the theme is fairly simple, but it still has the potential to be really grand and big.

One of the big things in the film is the tension that is there as our heroes are operating behind enemy lines and spying on their activity. This we've chosen to create with synthetic sounds so we can create a slightly surreal feeling in it.

There is also a need for some action music in this film. The path we've chosen for the action music is more primal than your standard everyday Hollywood action score. It will be raw and big. Ok, maybe there will be some melody in there as well...

So, this is what I'm working on right now. I'll post some clips as soon as we're satisfied with the score.

27th of January

A simple video blog this time. Just check it out:

Don't forget me

I recently released a single track called:

Don't forget me.

Remembering things seems to be a little difficult sometimes? You tend to forget the little things, but we usually remember the big things, the important things. Important people. But what if we didn't? What if your spouse simply couldn't remember you? What if they really forgot who you are when you've left their side?

That is the feeling I tried to channel in this track. No loud parts, no epic percussions or brass here. This one's about the emotion.

This track is basically an evolving loop since the main melody the piano plays repeats itself through out the progression of the song. I chose this form because most of our days pretty much go along the same routines as the others. We don't usually even notice it and most of it is good for us. Routines aren't that bad.

I wanted to keep the feel of this track a little hopeful. Because maybe, just maybe, she or he will remember you when come home. That would be something to look forward to.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar X1

Samplers and instruments:

• NI Kontakt 4
  
• NI KorePlayer
  
• NI Massive
  
• NI FM8
  
• Vienna Instrument Special Edition
  
• Sample Logic Cinematic Guitars
  
• NI Kontakt 4 Library
  
• Cinematique Instruments Bowed Guitars
  
• Sonivox Flying Hand Percussion
• Project SAM Brass
  

Effects:

• Vienna Suite
  

Chase

The elevator doors slide open. The first thing you see is that they're carrying guns. You don't wait to see more but turn and bolt back inside the room and towards the window...

Chase.

This one's set into the same story line as "Sunburn". This delivers even more of an adrenaline punch than the previous installation as I've upped the tempo and intensity quite a bit.

...The balcony. A quick look around. You turn and jump just as the door of the room is kicked in. The railing of another balcony, swing up, break the window, dive in. Bullets behind you...

I wanted this track to be more relentless in pace and sound. The beat drives on with force and only breaks for short periods before the release at the end. There's no time to breathe, no quiet moments of peace here. The beat makes sure your feet won't stop. Because if they do, you're dead.

...Yank the door open. Quick look around the hallway. Staircase to the right. You dash to it. Sounds from above, men rushing downward. Jump the first railing, a few steps along the wall, then another jump...

I also made the overall sound a lot harder. The sounds are sharper and more broken. I didn't want this to be as ambient as Sunburn, but rather be an in your face kind of track. The sounds will assault you and probably mangle your ears and nose a bit, but they're there for that reason. Because they are harsh. Because they will kick you. Because if they don't, you are going to die.

...You land and roll to an open door. A window there, the roof of a building visible there. It's far. But hopefully not too far. Your feet move, you gather speed. Jump. The window breaks. An eternity. Then the roof. You roll, and sprint for cover. Shooting behind you, bullets miss. A door. You open it, duck inside.

Gear I used for this track:

DAWs and editors:

• Cakewalk Sonar X1

Samplers and instruments:

• NI Kontakt 4
• FutureAudioWorkshop Circle
• Cakewalk RXP
• Synapse Audio Junglist
• u-he Tyrell Nexus 6
• HG Fortune Serenity
• HG Fortune Altair 4
• NI Massive
• Sample Logic Cinematic Guitars
• FM Future Loops

Effects:

• Vienna Suite
• Illformed Glitch 1.3
• Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter
• Kjaerhus Classic Delay
• u-he Zebrify
• Variety of Sound Ferric TDS

Burning Jetfuel

I've been a wee bit delayed in writing this but here's my rant about:

Burning Jetfuel.

I started this for a competition on Audiodraft. The competition was for a World War II era aerial battle game and the makers wanted to have that style in the music. Well, this track isn't exactly what you might expect for that era. When I laid down the first pieces I noticed that this track got out of hand. And frankly I didn't mind.

I didn't mind because I started to have too much fun writing this. Everything just sort of fell in place as I went along. I didn't think about grand aerial battles, but my thoughts were more focused on the feeling of rushing through the clouds and smoke. So this is more about the adrenaline of survival than the violence of combat.

This track though orchestral in color is really more of a rock song. It's driven forward by a heavy bass and drums and the melodies are saturated with electric guitars. Don't worry it's still layered full with lush strings and big brasses.

And that's about all I've got to say about this one.

Another calling card

We did another calling card video. This time it's for Teemu: