If you’re a composer, sometimes you have to stray off the composition for a while to explore the capabilities of your instruments. It’s one of the many ways that we can expand our musical vocabulary and in any case we need to take breaks sometimes.
And if you’ve been around since the invention of consumer level keyboard synthesizers, you’ve no doubt come across the ‘Orchestral Hit’. Yes that’s right, a magic option on many keyboards that seems to promise to make a sound that as an orchestral composer, i cannot even conceive of. Some theoretical ensemble where every instrument is capable of playing in every register from the low bass notes of the tuba to the high scream of the piccolo. Instant orchestral music with nothing but piano skills? Guess again…
The Orchestral hit sounds like the most hideous, pointless, useless piece of sound junk you ever laid ears on. That’s not to say it never found it’s uses, ask the writer of ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. And as it turns out, an orchestral hit is actually just an entire orchestra playing the same note but in whatever octave is possible for them.
Which raises the question…which octave is each instrument playing in? Or maybe each instrument plays only in those chords in which their instrument is capable of joining in? But then there would be no chord where we hear both low instruments and high instruments. So actually…the orchestral hit is impossible with real acoustic instruments in a conventional orchestra.
The way these pitches are combined is completely out of your control if you write only with a synthesizer. The ‘orchestration’ has been done for you really. But anyway, we’re losing sight of the greatest question of all time…for synth players.
What does an orchestral hit of orchestral hits sound like?
Ok so perhaps this question hasn’t been bugging any of you. But if it has, let me show you what a series of orchestral hits sounds like, performed by the East West Quantum Leap Symphony Orchestra…Sample library…
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Sounds pretty useless right? Well…unless you breakcore-style beat sliced it or filtered it and slapped on a hundred delays, this sound is not likely to be terribly useful to you. Here’s an attempt at writing a melody with orchestral hits.
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Just as you thought? I have to admit I haven’t written too many emotional scenes where this kind of sound has ever come in handy. But this is nothing. The point is that, we have always wanted to know what an Orchestral Hit of Orchestral Hits sounds like. Well now, feast your ears on the loudest, screechiest, most terrifying sound you can imagine, and compare it with this monstrous noise…
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And here’s what it looks like on paper.
So there you have it, you can rest your mind now because you no longer have to waste precious minutes wondering what an orchestral hit of orchestral hits sounds like. Next time, we’ll be testing the sound of every drum from those monster film trailers playing at the same time.* Because who knows, maybe that’s the sound you’ll want in your next flick.
*We’re not really going to test that.
At the end of July my research paper on ‘Music and violence in Videogames’ was published online at Game Career Guide! I’ve been busy with some composing and performance this month so it completely passed me by and I’m only updating now.
The paper discusses themes of violence from the fluffy kind in Pokemon to the psychogical exploration of a killer in Super Columbine Massacre RPG. Music is a tool which is used in plenty of media for the purposes of promoting, selling and commenting on violence and as such I believe it is intensely important that any video game creator be aware of what message their game in sending to those who play. The influence that a trusted game publisher can have on a large group of people is vast and the ways in which games can do this is a big part of this research.
As a composer obviously I take a huge interest in this subject as I write music which I am comfortable with ethically and morally. While no publisher can guarantee what kind of effect a game will have on young impressionable minds, a sense of what is possible may help us, as creatives, make experiences that are more responsible and well thought out. I even believe that this had lead to new genres of gaming such as brain training, Wii fitness, and games that specifically limit the number of activities possible each day like Martin Hollis’s Bonsai Barber.
Check the essay out and see for yourself at Game Career Guide at the link below.
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/876/rules_of_.php
I was totally totally unimpressed by a news story I happened to come across today regarding the loss of the UK Film Council (UKFC).
Followers of Major C Audio may remember our close friends at ‘The Butler Did It’ productions (http://butlerdidit.co.uk/) with whom I wrote the score for their short film ‘Furnace Four’ which was premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2009. This project involved ‘completion fund’ money and training to help 6 selected productions to complete their promising films which were in some way or another incomplete (i.e. vfx, sound design and music work).
It’s a film that i’m particularly proud to have been a part of and the help and advice we received from the UKFC made a huge difference! According to the cull, the UKFC handed out somewhere around £160m in Lottery funding (per year?) to fund over 900 films including the likes of ‘Bend it like Beckham’, ‘Donkey Punch’, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ and ‘Fish Tank’. The UKFC website details all the incredible work done there at http://bit.ly/djbY14.
According to the article I read, the UKFC films often go on to make £5 at the box office for every £1 of lottery money spent. It’s raised over £700m worldwide for filmmakers.
Do i have a better solution to the economic crisis? sadly, no, but that doesn’t change the fact that our cinemas will be in many ways a poorer place without the guidance, support and hope that many filmmakers will no longer be able to turn to.
There’s opinion on the web to the contrary also, some saying that the UKFC may have been stifling creativity at this guardian article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/27/axing-uk-film-council-rethink-british-film
Well, on a personal note I’d like to say I’m sorry to see it go. For me, as a composer, the UKFC wasn’t really even aimed at helping me but I was invited to mingle at the training sessions with really great directors and even got projects out of it. Let’s hope that something positive springs up in its place.
-Christopher
Had a great meeting with Unity3d indie sensation Russ Morris before the videogames event at Bafta tonight. It’s also been a while since I kept this blog up to date so I thought I’d better get back into the habit of writing!
I haven’t described Starlings on this blog before now so here’s a summary. I was contacted by the developer, Russ Morris, who had received my name through the friendly chaps over at Beatnik Games. Since then we’ve been frequently brainstorming, drinking coffee, updating starlings, drinking more coffee, and creating previews which are usually available at http://starlingsgame.co.uk/. Below is an video of the game at the moment.
The project struck me as particularly exciting because of the relationship between game and music. Russ’s idea was that you fly around the space as a bird collecting more birds for the flock. Larger flock = Larger Orchestra. A deceptively simple concept which huge opportunities for creating new game experiences.
With today’s discussions Russ has impressed me yet again with some great ideas to make the game more rich in terms of content and we brainstormed some great ideas for the ‘social’ side of the game which I’m particularly keen to see in action!
More news and hopefully some music to come!
-Christopher
I’ve recently completed music for the highly anticipated release of ‘Plain Sight’ made by Beatnik Games and is available on steam. It’s a hugely fun game with absolutely beautiful visuals in half-3d, half-cartoony cel-shading. I’ve put together a jazz-tastic soundtrack for the trailer too, hope you like it! Highly recommend downloading this especially at a £7.99! (I remember when all games cost £35 minimum and came on 8 glorious floppy discs and said ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’ on the front)
It’s a good time for gamers right now, and especially so for those of you with a penchant for jazz, robots and ninjas all in one package.
-Christopher
Concert – Royal College of Music – Friday March 5th 2010
Enter an extraordinary soundworld for piano(s), electroacoustic sounds and a myriad of electronics. Laptops, Wiimotes, microphones – we have ‘em all. Not to mention an entire Steinway tuned a quarter tone flat. What more do you need?
Programme:
Charles Ives: 3 pieces for quarter tone pianos
Christopher Chong: Judgement *
Björn-Olle Johannesson: Sempre Pianissimo
Ruaidhri Mannion: Concealing Isis *
David Rafferty: Space in Time *
Denis Smalley: Piano Nets
Colin Alexander: New Work *
* world premieres
Featuring the pianistic (and other) talents of Tara Clifford, Robin Green, Joseph Houston, Bryan Kelly, Denise Lee, Alex Wilson and the man himself, Antoine Françoise.
Special thanks to Michael Oliva and Chris Moulton as well.
Admission free.
http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Events/Piano+Fever!
Laptop Orchestra update! Our first rehearsal with the network up and running! Cables a’plenty. Check the link below for details :)
http://bit.ly/8Zgwd3
or browse your way over to my sister site http://www.MajorC.co.uk/ for info!
-Christopher
On March 5th, 6pm at the Royal College of Music you will have the great pleasure of seeing some of the best pianists I’ve seen in contemporary music in ‘Pianos and Plugs’ run by the unstoppable force, Antoine Francoise. Last year this concert was an incredible event and this year he promises us even more craziness!
Rumours are about the Denis Smalley will be around to watch RCM pianist Denise Lee performing his piece ‘Piano Nets’ which we got a taster of last year. Denise will be performing all three movements this year on Piano + Tape.
My piece, entitled ‘Judgement’ features 3 pianos, 5 performers, and so much electronic goodness that if I added any more I’d have to call the piece ‘Crash Inevitable’ which I reserve for use in a future piece hehe!
Not much info yet but here’s a screenshot of how the animated graphic score looks so far -
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The score evolves based on rules from John Conway’s ‘Game of Life’
Notes live, die, and in groups they even ‘eat’ other notes
Before a note dies, it extends its arms to become a chord with nearby notes, if there are none it dies :(
As for the non-score elements, expect to see microphone operators, wiimote shaking, and a surface speaker installed in a 3rd piano. For more details check out http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Events/Piano+Fever!
New info on the gaming page for my music written for the exciting suicidal ninja robot game Plain Sight at http://majorc.co.uk/blog/?page_id=5
Hurray! Welcome to the new and improved (as of Feb. 20th 2010) Major C Blog! This site will most likely replace the MajorC.co.uk homepage eventually as the media plugins powered by WordPress are far more powerful than my previous site features. Until then, this site will be more or less similar to the main homepage but with extras like the twitter news feed on the left, the ability to submit comment, tag clouds and other up-to-date web features.
You should already be able to access the showreel tab to hear my demos :) Just mosey on over to the Showreel tab.
So there you have it, you can rest your mind now because you no longer have to waste precious minutes wondering what an orchestral hit of orchestral hits sounds like. Next time, we’ll be testing the sound of every drum from those monster film trailers playing at the same time.* Because who knows, maybe that’s the sound you’ll want in your next flick.
