Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Mark of the Devil - Liebesthema (Michael Holm) by Orgasmo Sonore feat. I...
Revisiting Obscure Film Music #17 Liebesthema - Vanessa Verliebt Sich composed by Michael Holm from the movie Mark of the Devil aka Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält (1970) directed by Michael Armstrong. Also used in the opening of Hobo with a Shotgun.
Personnal adaptation by Orgasmo Sonore 2011
Video editing by Davidfromlille http://www.youtube.com/user/davidfromlille
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Kino-tr-oniK 2 - Early Electronic Cinematographic Mix compiled by Orgasmo Sonore
Second and last part from this little cinematic-electronic mix disgression. I always liked 70's early 80's synth music and I hope this mix can show how highly evocative and athmospheric it still sounds today. Mainly euro stuffs, French library, Italian soundtracks and even some African TV gingle by François de Roubaix !
Kino-tr-oniK 2 - Early Electronic Cinematographic Mix compiled by Orgasmo Sonore by Orgasmo Sonore
TRACKLIST
1. Appels - Vladimir Cosma - Patchwork 37
2. Title Music from a Clockwork Orange - Wendy Carlos - Clockwork Orange OST
3. Track 11 - Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2 OST
4. La Bataille d'Albator - Charden, Matteoni - Albator le Corsaire de l'Espace OST
5. Flyin Bolero - G.A.G.
5. Interaction - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
6. Indicatifs Télé Zaïre - François de Roubaix
7. Spectra - James Saunders - Teletext
8. Brain Waves - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
9. Molecule Dance - Bernard Fevre - The Strange World of Bernard Fevre
10. Ai Margia della Follia - Goblin - Dawn of the Dead OST
11. Il Corpo di Linda - Riz Ortolani - Pijama Girl Case OST
12. Space Hawk - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
13. The Plot - Joseph Koo - A better Tomorrow OST
14. Action - Gérard Zadj & Jean-Pierre Decerf - Patchwork 49
15. Irena's Theme - Giorgio Moroder - Cat People OST
16. A Dive into the Past - Nico Fidenco - Zombi Holocaust OST
17. One Note Samba - Jean-Jacques Perrey - Incredible Synthsizer
18. Latin American Airlines - Claude Perraudin - Patchwork 50
19. La Dolce Sandra 3 - Stelvio Cipriani - Solamente Nero OST
Kino-tr-oniK 2 - Early Electronic Cinematographic Mix compiled by Orgasmo Sonore by Orgasmo Sonore
TRACKLIST
1. Appels - Vladimir Cosma - Patchwork 37
2. Title Music from a Clockwork Orange - Wendy Carlos - Clockwork Orange OST
3. Track 11 - Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2 OST
4. La Bataille d'Albator - Charden, Matteoni - Albator le Corsaire de l'Espace OST
5. Flyin Bolero - G.A.G.
5. Interaction - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
6. Indicatifs Télé Zaïre - François de Roubaix
7. Spectra - James Saunders - Teletext
8. Brain Waves - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
9. Molecule Dance - Bernard Fevre - The Strange World of Bernard Fevre
10. Ai Margia della Follia - Goblin - Dawn of the Dead OST
11. Il Corpo di Linda - Riz Ortolani - Pijama Girl Case OST
12. Space Hawk - Harry Forbes - Parry Music Library 88
13. The Plot - Joseph Koo - A better Tomorrow OST
14. Action - Gérard Zadj & Jean-Pierre Decerf - Patchwork 49
15. Irena's Theme - Giorgio Moroder - Cat People OST
16. A Dive into the Past - Nico Fidenco - Zombi Holocaust OST
17. One Note Samba - Jean-Jacques Perrey - Incredible Synthsizer
18. Latin American Airlines - Claude Perraudin - Patchwork 50
19. La Dolce Sandra 3 - Stelvio Cipriani - Solamente Nero OST
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Costa-Gravas' "Z" theme (Mikis Theodorakis)
Music from the movie Z directed by Costa-Gravas (1969). Composed by Mikis Theodorakis.
Cover by Orgasmo Sonore, 2011.
Costa-Gravas' "Z" theme (Mikis Theodorakis) by Orgasmo Sonore by Orgasmo Sonore
Cover by Orgasmo Sonore, 2011.
Costa-Gravas' "Z" theme (Mikis Theodorakis) by Orgasmo Sonore by Orgasmo Sonore
Monday, October 31, 2011
"Kino-tr-oniK" - Early Electronic Cinematografic Mix compiled by Orgasmo Sonore
Some electronic soundtracks and library gems that I decided to compiled for my pleasure. This is influenced by mixes from the like of DJ Alfonso and Finders Keepers dude and I picked from the early electronic stuff between 75-85, golden age of analog synth. A nice balance beetween the dark and the cheasy, the emotionnal and the cold, the downtempo and the uptempo.
Some hard to find songs, especially the last one, a real pain to find !
TRACKLIST :
"Kino-tr-oniK" - Early Electronic Cinematografic Mix compiled by Orgasmo Sonore by Orgasmo Sonore
1. "Menard's Duty" - Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2 OST
2. "La fête des deux avions" - François de Roubaix
3. "Tron Scherzo" - Wendy Carlos - Tron OST
4. "Action Beginning" - Joseph Koo - A Better Tomorrow OST
5. "Uranium Astral" - Sauveur Malia - Telemusic
6. "Movin Along" - Dave Richmond
7. "Evacuation" - Mike Oldfield - Killing Fields OST
8. "The President is Gone" - John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - Escape from New-York OST
9. "Il Morti Viventi" - Marcello Giombini - Le Notti Erotiche dei Morti Viventi OST
10. "Guest" - Severed Heads - City Slab Horror LP
11. "Sklaven Ballet" - Günther Fisher - Im Staub der Sterne OST
11. "Sustain" - Stelvio Cipriani - Incubo Sulla Citta Contaminata OST
12. "Samba in Tribunale" - Ennio Morricone - Il Gatto OST
13. "Indicatif Spatial" - Jean-Jacques Perrey - Moog Sensations LP
14. "Quiet Village" - Martin Denny
15. "La Petite Fille de la Mer" - Vangelis Papathanassiou - L'apocalypse des Animaux OST
16. "Les Maitres du Temps" - Jean-Pierre Boutayre - Les Maitres du Temps OST
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Recording, mixing and production
Recording of the Obscure Film Music
One year ago, I wrote on a piece of paper the title of a dozen of film music tunes that were all musics that have influenced me at some point in my life. I filled the page with titles from the soundtracks of my youth, like John Carpenter's Escape from New-York, but also with things that I had discovered more recently such as the music of composer Stelvio Cipriani.
The goal was to pick my guitar and bass, a couple of computer programs and plug-ins, and with the help of my little home studio, to make a re-interpretation of these classic themes and see how I could render them. Initially, the idea was to arrange the songs in a way that I could eventually play live with a 4-5 pieces band. It quickly turned out to be a more complicated adventure when I used more than 6 different guitar tracks in the first song I recorded !
That first song was Ennio Morricone's Mystic and Severe recorded in april/may 2010.
![]()
Now, one year later, I recorded practically all the songs that I had wrote on my list and even more !
Mixing for vinyl
On the way of doing this project, I came with the idea to produce a LP out of these. Would I be able to make it, from start to end, eventually handling in my hand my own vinyl ? That was a nice challenge.
![]()
With that goal in mind, I had to make some homeworks about the production. Indeed, you don't mix for vinyl like you would mix for a CD. The mixing process follows the recording with the purpose of balancing the levels and creatively enhance the tracks. At the end everything must blend in a consistent piece of music. You will EQ, compress, add reverb and effects, automate faders, cut and edit, group, arrange tracks together, route things to channel, pan left and right, etc... The objective is to create a final stereo track that will be sent to the mastering, wich is the last processing step before printing on the medium. In fact, you don't mix for vinyl with as much precaution as when you master for vinyl with very specific considerations (we'll see that later). But like in any job, it's good to understand what will happen next (in that case, at the mastering stage) so you can already adress certain things correctly and avoid many undesirable back and forth with the mastering engineer.
These considerations would take more space to explain in details.Quickly, they are such issues like : average sound level, maximum peak level, low frequency stereo phase, high frequency control, etc... Music is a lot of math and physic you know...
For the ones who are interested, here is a nice list of things to keep in mind when mixing for a vinyl release :
http://www.totalsonic.net/vinyl.htm
In the meantime, I subscribed to an overnight music recording and mixing course which turns out to be a very good thing to help my project to evolve. In fact, at the time I'm writing these lines, I'm still working on my mixes, because for most of them I just started over from scratch 2-3 times, always trying to enhance my production with the new skills I've learned in my courses. This means one thing : what will end up on the LP should be of a higher level of production than everything I uploaded on the internet so far (on Youtube for instance). So once you'll put the needle on and ear the comforting crackling of the vinyl, the music shall comes with all the warmth and presence that justify the use of this medium.
Well, that's what I'm still working on... :)
One year ago, I wrote on a piece of paper the title of a dozen of film music tunes that were all musics that have influenced me at some point in my life. I filled the page with titles from the soundtracks of my youth, like John Carpenter's Escape from New-York, but also with things that I had discovered more recently such as the music of composer Stelvio Cipriani.
The goal was to pick my guitar and bass, a couple of computer programs and plug-ins, and with the help of my little home studio, to make a re-interpretation of these classic themes and see how I could render them. Initially, the idea was to arrange the songs in a way that I could eventually play live with a 4-5 pieces band. It quickly turned out to be a more complicated adventure when I used more than 6 different guitar tracks in the first song I recorded !
That first song was Ennio Morricone's Mystic and Severe recorded in april/may 2010.
Now, one year later, I recorded practically all the songs that I had wrote on my list and even more !
Mixing for vinyl
On the way of doing this project, I came with the idea to produce a LP out of these. Would I be able to make it, from start to end, eventually handling in my hand my own vinyl ? That was a nice challenge.
With that goal in mind, I had to make some homeworks about the production. Indeed, you don't mix for vinyl like you would mix for a CD. The mixing process follows the recording with the purpose of balancing the levels and creatively enhance the tracks. At the end everything must blend in a consistent piece of music. You will EQ, compress, add reverb and effects, automate faders, cut and edit, group, arrange tracks together, route things to channel, pan left and right, etc... The objective is to create a final stereo track that will be sent to the mastering, wich is the last processing step before printing on the medium. In fact, you don't mix for vinyl with as much precaution as when you master for vinyl with very specific considerations (we'll see that later). But like in any job, it's good to understand what will happen next (in that case, at the mastering stage) so you can already adress certain things correctly and avoid many undesirable back and forth with the mastering engineer.
These considerations would take more space to explain in details.Quickly, they are such issues like : average sound level, maximum peak level, low frequency stereo phase, high frequency control, etc... Music is a lot of math and physic you know...
For the ones who are interested, here is a nice list of things to keep in mind when mixing for a vinyl release :
http://www.totalsonic.net/vinyl.htm
In the meantime, I subscribed to an overnight music recording and mixing course which turns out to be a very good thing to help my project to evolve. In fact, at the time I'm writing these lines, I'm still working on my mixes, because for most of them I just started over from scratch 2-3 times, always trying to enhance my production with the new skills I've learned in my courses. This means one thing : what will end up on the LP should be of a higher level of production than everything I uploaded on the internet so far (on Youtube for instance). So once you'll put the needle on and ear the comforting crackling of the vinyl, the music shall comes with all the warmth and presence that justify the use of this medium.
Well, that's what I'm still working on... :)
Friday, July 1, 2011
Orgasmo Sonore goes Vinyl !
When I say there is a hell lot of details, you have no idea. Let me remind you that I do this as a part time independant producer, between family and job. It's a lot of personnal investment that involve time and money and that can be frustrating for people around you. If my experience can inspire other people who are in the same kind of situation, with similar goals, I'd be very happy.
I'm already at a pretty advanced stage in the process. Enough advanced to affirm that this is going to happen. There will be a limited edition of Orgasmo Sonore - Revisiting Obscure Film Music Volume 1 available soon. But for the sake of that blog, I will rewind back a bit in time so you'll know every step that I had to deal with. These steps include :
- Recording of the songs
- Mixing and production
- Copyright matters
- Mastering and cutting the lacquer
- Making of the cover design
- Printing of the jacket
- Pressing the LP
- Release and distribution
Now, curious about this project ? Let me give you a nice teaser. Following is the complete and definitve songs list that will goes on this volume 1.
SIDE A
1. Mistico e Severo (Ennio Morricone - Da Uomo a Uomo/Inglourious Basterds)
2. Deshominisation I (Alain Goraguer - Fantastic Planet)
3. Escape from New-York main titles (John Carpenter - Escape from New-York)
4. Under the Earth (Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo)
5. Zombi 2 - seq 1 (Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2)
SIDE B
6. La Dolce Sandra (Stelvio Cipriani - Solamente Nero)
7. l'Atesa (Stelvio Cipriani - Incubo Sulla Citta Contaminata)
8. Ecologia del Delitto (Stelvio Cipriani - Bay of Blood)
9. Connexion (Goblin - Alien Contamination)
10. Chaser (Piero Umiliani - Il Corpo)
11. Klaus Kinski (Orgasmo Sonore)
12. Jean-Pierre Melville (Orgasmo Sonore)
How about it ? This is really intent for the fans of these old soundtracks and I'm putting all the love and respect I have for this music into the making of it. I promess it will be a very nice object to hold in you hands and obviously a nice disc to listen to !!
Stay tuned for more details about it !!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Big Gundown Cover - Now what ?
For my few fellow readers who don't know it, the result of my interpretation of The Big Gundown is now online on Youtube with a nice video montage from my friend David from France :
What happened with the blog making-of is, at some point, I had to choose to concentrate myself entirely on the cover making itself or I would have died trying to show a day-by-day description of what I do, how and why. The reason is things became complicated at some point and I had to go throught a serious amount of recording to push the song on another level. It' good to mention that creation is not always a linear thing and I found myself splitted between the will to make a structured tutorial and the need to plunge myself in the music making with all the improvisation and uncertainty it involves.
My apologies for that, but here is a disorder list of post-mortem though about the interpretation, as a sort of conclusion.
What happened with the blog making-of is, at some point, I had to choose to concentrate myself entirely on the cover making itself or I would have died trying to show a day-by-day description of what I do, how and why. The reason is things became complicated at some point and I had to go throught a serious amount of recording to push the song on another level. It' good to mention that creation is not always a linear thing and I found myself splitted between the will to make a structured tutorial and the need to plunge myself in the music making with all the improvisation and uncertainty it involves.
My apologies for that, but here is a disorder list of post-mortem though about the interpretation, as a sort of conclusion.
- As you can testify by listening to the song, I haven't been precious on guitar tracking. For many musical lines that were originaly played by either strings or brasses, I voluntarily choose to run them on the electric guitar. There's two reasons for that. The first may seems obvious but I didn't want to make a instrument per instrument version. The second reason is I felt this music would deliver well if played a bit heavy on the side thus replacing the orchestral epicness of the original by electric guitar wall of sound epicness. I used a lot of doubling and tripling of the tracks (recording more than once the same line and blend them in the mix), I tried to pan (left and right use of the stereo) things with some logic and I did a lot of high pass filtering on the guitar tracks to avoid mudiness and crushing of the bass. In some place, you can hear as much as 6 guitar tracks overlayed simultaneously.
- I did some vocal takes, doubling and tripling the takes of lower and upper octave, trying to achieve some kind of choral feel. However, my vocal abilities are limited and I was lazy trying to work that for hours in the search of the perfect take. I decided cleverly to not put them in front of the mix as much as the original. There was enough electric guitar to play the role of fronting the music so vocals were pushed in the background. At 0:60, it's a take of me pitched one octave higher than it was recorded. Hey, I can't sing that high !
- A complete list of the instrumentation I used includes : vocals, virtual drums (BFD Ludwig kit), Godin electric guitar with Amplitude amp emulator, acoustic guitar (doubling the intro theme with electric), Ibanez bass on which I put some foam under the bridge to mute the notes sustain and gives a 60's-70's feel (listen to the bass lick at around 1:20 to clearly hear the effect), a little organ freebie called MK III, Sampletank player for piano (free), Pro-53 VST synth (emulation of the Prophet-5) and a bell sample.
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Big Gundown cover - first bass track
If you haven't read the other posts :
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The Big Gundown Cover : Guitar Track
The Big Gundown cover - opening piano
The main guitar and the piano are now recorded. I will introduce the electric bass that overtake after the piano and complete the opening sequence. Later we're going to add the drums and some other overdubs.
But what about the bass in this song ? Well apparently there is no electric bass, but if you pay attention you can ear what seems to be cellos in the background, but you really need to listen carefully.
*TIPS - If you're looking to identify a particular instrument in a busy mix, you can try to do some equalisation filtering to isolate the instrument. Althought in those days there is advanced software that can litteraly remove vocal track or grab a string line out of a song, EQ filtering is a quick and easy way that can help. In this case, I'm looking to identify the cellos' part, a low frequency instrument, so I have put a low pass filter over the song to get rid of all high frequency instruments. This will help me to focus on the low end only. Then it's easier to listen and pick out the line.
If I trust my ears, here is what the cellos (or is it a double bass ?) does after the piano, starting at measure 12 :
|----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------|
|----------|-----------|-----------|-5------7--|-------------|
|-7--------|-3------5--|-7----3----|-----------|-7--5--3--7--|
|----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
|--------------|-3--3--3-----|--------3--3--|--------------|----5--------|
|-0--0--0--0-0-|----------5--|-0--0-0-------|-3--3-3-3--5--|-7-----3--5--|
|--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-5--5-5------|
|-7--7--7--7-7-|-3--3--3--5--|-7--7-7-3--3-3-|--------0----|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-------------|
Now watch the video to see what it gives with the electric bass :
Please note that I don't have any real musical scholarship and that english is not my first langage. Please, kindly indicate me the mistakes I could have made, especially the ones that prevent you from sleeping. :)
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The Big Gundown Cover : Guitar Track
The Big Gundown cover - opening piano
The main guitar and the piano are now recorded. I will introduce the electric bass that overtake after the piano and complete the opening sequence. Later we're going to add the drums and some other overdubs.
But what about the bass in this song ? Well apparently there is no electric bass, but if you pay attention you can ear what seems to be cellos in the background, but you really need to listen carefully.
*TIPS - If you're looking to identify a particular instrument in a busy mix, you can try to do some equalisation filtering to isolate the instrument. Althought in those days there is advanced software that can litteraly remove vocal track or grab a string line out of a song, EQ filtering is a quick and easy way that can help. In this case, I'm looking to identify the cellos' part, a low frequency instrument, so I have put a low pass filter over the song to get rid of all high frequency instruments. This will help me to focus on the low end only. Then it's easier to listen and pick out the line.
If I trust my ears, here is what the cellos (or is it a double bass ?) does after the piano, starting at measure 12 :
|----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------|
|----------|-----------|-----------|-5------7--|-------------|
|-7--------|-3------5--|-7----3----|-----------|-7--5--3--7--|
|----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
|--------------|-3--3--3-----|--------3--3--|--------------|----5--------|
|-0--0--0--0-0-|----------5--|-0--0-0-------|-3--3-3-3--5--|-7-----3--5--|
|--------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-------------|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-5--5-5------|
|-7--7--7--7-7-|-3--3--3--5--|-7--7-7-3--3-3-|--------0----|
|--------------|-------------|---------------|-------------|
Now watch the video to see what it gives with the electric bass :
OK, I'm not very happy with this audio recording. I will do some other takes for the bass part and choose a better one later. This is time to say you always have to look for a good performance and do multiple takes for a given part. I always do 5 to 10 takes before reaching the G spot with a performance. Patience is what you need and don't be satisfied with a recording that is 1. not sounding good and is badly recorded and 2. is not as tight as you'd wish. Although we will see later how to correct some of these issues in the mix, always try to have the best out of your recording sessions.
As you can see, all my recording are concentring on the opening sequence only. Don't worry, I will work the other parts of the song later. The next post will actually be about the drums tracks and I will write down a drums track that will help as a reference from the start to the end of the song.
NEXT POST : drums track for the whole song.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Big Gundown cover - opening piano
If you haven't read the other posts :
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The Big Gundown Cover : Guitar Track
Now that I sorted out the opening guitar track and wrote down the partition, I did a little recording in FL Studio (more on the recording process later) so it became my first recorded reference track.
However I quickly felt I had to lay down the piano track to get a better feeling of the timing and to see how the main guitar track was acting against the piano. What is the song structure in term of tempo and beat ? It's fun to play a line without any structure in mind, just playing it with foot taping but as far as you're going to record and overdub many tracks, it's better to work with some kind of defined grid and tempo.
I set the metronome at 106 bpm which is the same as the original. The tempo is in 4/4 so I theorically have quarter notes 4 beats per bar.
Well, the piano is actually the instrument that initiate the song. With a large 3 octave A chord. There was something that intuitively intrigue me with the timming of the piano vs the guitar introduction. Try to sit down with real song, wait for the piano chords and then tap with your hand when you think the guitar is going to come. Not easy isn't ? It's because the guitar is not coming after an exact count of beat, the guitar enter after 2 and 1/2 beat following the piano ! Welcome in the world of Ennio.
Watch this short video to understand how to start the guitar against the piano
Please note that I don't have any real musical scholarship and that english is not my first langage. Please, kindly indicate me the mistakes I could have made, especially the ones that prevent you from sleeping. :)
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The Big Gundown Cover : Guitar Track
Now that I sorted out the opening guitar track and wrote down the partition, I did a little recording in FL Studio (more on the recording process later) so it became my first recorded reference track.
However I quickly felt I had to lay down the piano track to get a better feeling of the timing and to see how the main guitar track was acting against the piano. What is the song structure in term of tempo and beat ? It's fun to play a line without any structure in mind, just playing it with foot taping but as far as you're going to record and overdub many tracks, it's better to work with some kind of defined grid and tempo.
I set the metronome at 106 bpm which is the same as the original. The tempo is in 4/4 so I theorically have quarter notes 4 beats per bar.
Well, the piano is actually the instrument that initiate the song. With a large 3 octave A chord. There was something that intuitively intrigue me with the timming of the piano vs the guitar introduction. Try to sit down with real song, wait for the piano chords and then tap with your hand when you think the guitar is going to come. Not easy isn't ? It's because the guitar is not coming after an exact count of beat, the guitar enter after 2 and 1/2 beat following the piano ! Welcome in the world of Ennio.
Watch this short video to understand how to start the guitar against the piano
The piano is not very difficult to get. Being a poor pianist myself (but with good ears) I've been able to quickly lay down the partition. I recorded throught my MIDI controller keyboard with SampleTank free VST piano (not the best out there I admit). Check the video to catch the piano partition :
Ok good enough so far ! After that part, the piano seems to disappear and somehow is replaced by the cellos for the following sequences. There is no electric bass in the original recording, rather some background cellos that seems to be buried in the mix under male vocals, rolling bass drum and brasses. So that's where I will start to deviate from the original by introducing a nice foreground electric bass.
Next Post : Electric bass - first track
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Big Gundown Cover : Guitar Track
Previous Post :
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The song is build around the opening guitar theme so it will be the first thing i'm going to record. We will discuss two things concerning this track :
1. Getting the line correctly
2. Getting the sound right
1. Getting the line correctly
When you listen to the guitar introduction, it's easy to think it's a very straightforward line that should not pose any difficulty to get quickly. As it is often the case with Morricone's music, it always sounds simple on the surface until you go deeper and find some hidden level of complexity either in the timing or in the partition. That's a big part of Morricone's genius in my opinion : making easy listening music and simple idea through subtle musical complexity. That's why you will sometimes hear people covering the man without taking care of some little details and so they deliver an interpretation that doesn't sound quite "right".
And it's exactly what happen here if you're not listening carefully.
Indeed, my first reflexe was to pick the axe and play what looked to be a simple figure on the open A string that would go like this :
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-7-|-0-5-0-7-0-5-0-3-|-0-5-0-7-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
Watch the video of this : Wrong Interpretation
Sounds good isn'it ? And quick to get ! I was happy with this and ready to record the line and be able to move to something else after. Then, a more carefull comparison with the original revealed it all wrong in bars 4 and 5.
So I picked up the axe again and after some struggle I figured it out correctly like this :
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
Now that's better ! You can see the difference is the ostinato being no longer play with the open A but rather from the C in bar 4 which bring a little bit more challenge to perform. Close inspection of the bar 5 also reveal you a change from an easy A-D-A-E-A-D-A-C to A-D-B-E-C-D-A-C !
This sequence is reapeated another time when the drums and brasses begins and it's then transposed to E, then up to A and up to E. It ends abrutly half of the last bar. Here is the complete tablature. You may note again a little subtlility : each 5 bars pattern ends differently before it moves up to the next.
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2---9-7-------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-----10----|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------7------|------------7---------|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10-|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10----|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------7---9-|----7----9----7------|---7--------9----10----|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7---|-10---10---10---7-10-|-7---9-10-7---10-------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------7------|------------7---------|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10-|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10----|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------7---9-|----7----9----7------|---7---9-9-11-9-12----|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7---|-10---10---10---7-10-|-7---9----------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|-------------10------|-------------10---------|
|-9-11-9-12-9----9-12-|-9-11-9-12-9----9-12----|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|-------------10---12-|----10------|----|
|-9-11-9-12-9----9----|-12----12---|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
Now watch the right interpretation
Never as easy at it first looks...
2. Getting the sound right
First thing that you may notice when listening to the song is the very plucky nature of the guitar sound. I'm not sure but it sounds to me like it's an acoustic guitar miked and amplified with some amount of spring reverb. However, I'll choose to play it on the electric guitar and I will work a sound with Ik Multimedia's virtual amp Amplitube a little more saturated, to get a bit more agressivity to the theme. I will be careful to play with my right hand very close to the bridge where the strings are more tensed so it will gives a plucky sound.
Next post : Piano track
Please note that I don't have any real musical scholarship and that english is not my first langage. Please, kindly indicate me the mistakes I could have made, especially the ones that prevent you from sleeping. :)
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
The song is build around the opening guitar theme so it will be the first thing i'm going to record. We will discuss two things concerning this track :
1. Getting the line correctly
2. Getting the sound right
1. Getting the line correctly
When you listen to the guitar introduction, it's easy to think it's a very straightforward line that should not pose any difficulty to get quickly. As it is often the case with Morricone's music, it always sounds simple on the surface until you go deeper and find some hidden level of complexity either in the timing or in the partition. That's a big part of Morricone's genius in my opinion : making easy listening music and simple idea through subtle musical complexity. That's why you will sometimes hear people covering the man without taking care of some little details and so they deliver an interpretation that doesn't sound quite "right".
And it's exactly what happen here if you're not listening carefully.
Indeed, my first reflexe was to pick the axe and play what looked to be a simple figure on the open A string that would go like this :
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-7-|-0-5-0-7-0-5-0-3-|-0-5-0-7-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
Watch the video of this : Wrong Interpretation
Sounds good isn'it ? And quick to get ! I was happy with this and ready to record the line and be able to move to something else after. Then, a more carefull comparison with the original revealed it all wrong in bars 4 and 5.
So I picked up the axe again and after some struggle I figured it out correctly like this :
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
Now that's better ! You can see the difference is the ostinato being no longer play with the open A but rather from the C in bar 4 which bring a little bit more challenge to perform. Close inspection of the bar 5 also reveal you a change from an easy A-D-A-E-A-D-A-C to A-D-B-E-C-D-A-C !
This sequence is reapeated another time when the drums and brasses begins and it's then transposed to E, then up to A and up to E. It ends abrutly half of the last bar. Here is the complete tablature. You may note again a little subtlility : each 5 bars pattern ends differently before it moves up to the next.
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3-|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0-3----|
|-----------------|--------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|---------------2-|---0---2---0-----|-------2---9-7-------|
|-0-2-0-3-0-5-0---|-3---3---3---0-3-|-0-5-2---3-----10----|
|-----------------|-----------------|---------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------7------|------------7---------|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10-|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10----|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|------------7---9-|----7----9----7------|---7--------9----10----|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7---|-10---10---10---7-10-|-7---9-10-7---10-------|
|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------7------|------------7---------|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10-|-7-9-7-10-7---7-10----|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|-------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------7---9-|----7----9----7------|---7---9-9-11-9-12----|
|-7-9-7-10-7---7---|-10---10---10---7-10-|-7---9----------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|-------------10------|-------------10---------|
|-9-11-9-12-9----9-12-|-9-11-9-12-9----9-12----|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------------------|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|-------------10---12-|----10------|----|
|-9-11-9-12-9----9----|-12----12---|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
|---------------------|------------|----|
Now watch the right interpretation
Never as easy at it first looks...
2. Getting the sound right
First thing that you may notice when listening to the song is the very plucky nature of the guitar sound. I'm not sure but it sounds to me like it's an acoustic guitar miked and amplified with some amount of spring reverb. However, I'll choose to play it on the electric guitar and I will work a sound with Ik Multimedia's virtual amp Amplitube a little more saturated, to get a bit more agressivity to the theme. I will be careful to play with my right hand very close to the bridge where the strings are more tensed so it will gives a plucky sound.
Next post : Piano track
Please note that I don't have any real musical scholarship and that english is not my first langage. Please, kindly indicate me the mistakes I could have made, especially the ones that prevent you from sleeping. :)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Making Of : The Big Gundown - Ennio Morricone Tribute
Now, here we go. There is this song that I want to remake from The Big Gundown soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone. I will upload on this blog a step by step making of the cover. You will see every details of my work, filled with tablatures, video and explanations of the recording and mixing process.
I will first invite you to watch an old cover I did of the Maestro. It was the song Mystic and Severe from the movie Death Rides a Horse (Da Uomo a Uomo), a song also featuring in the movie Inglorious Basterds. Based around a cool bass line, the song slowly build to epic proportions. Check it out !
This time, I'm going to work out the theme from the The Big Gundown (La Resa dei Conti). So before going further, it would be a good idea to listen to the theme in question. You will note that the song start with a great guitar line and it will the first thing I will discuss in the next post on the blog. Here's the music :
A great song, one of Morricone's best scores ! You got it all : guitars, rolling drums, vocals, brasses. strings. Let see how we can rock this out !
My objectives with this remake are to come with something as punchy and kickass as the song I did from Death Rides a Horse. Epic is the word and this is from Ennio so there will be a couple of musical tricks to unlock, that's for sure.
If you are a musician, fan of Spaghetti soundtrack or a Morricone's enthousiast, please subscribe to this blog and be sure to read me !
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Orgasmo Sonore Project
Welcome to this blog.
Orgasmo Sonore project - Revisiting Obscure Film Music - is born in 2010 out of the mind of Frank Rideau.
Video and Audio of the project can be find here :
http://www.youtube.com/user/frankrideau
http://soundcloud.com/orgasmo-sonore
Up to this day, all of these songs have been re-interpreted by Orgasmo Sonore :
1. Stelvio Cipriani - Incubo Sulla Citta Contaminata
2. Ennio Morricone - Mystic and Severe
3. Alain Goraguer - Fantastic Planet
4. Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2
5. John Carpenter - Escape from New-York
6. Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo
7. Goblin - Alien Contamination
8. Piero Umilani - La Ragazza Fuoristrada
9. Stelvio Cipriani - Tentacoli
10. Stelvio Cipriani - Medley (inluding Bay of Blood)
11. Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond
This blog will try to go deeper in the origin and motivation behind each cover. It will also reveals the "Making Of" the music and video and will also discuss related topics and opinions.
In the next post, I will explain the origin of the project, how it started and what are the objectives.
Everybody who's a fan of film music in general, Italian composers, obscure soundtracks, cult movies and the golden era of film score between 1965 and 1985 should find interest in this blog.
Your host,
Frank Rideau
Orgasmo Sonore project - Revisiting Obscure Film Music - is born in 2010 out of the mind of Frank Rideau.
Video and Audio of the project can be find here :
http://www.youtube.com/user/frankrideau
http://soundcloud.com/orgasmo-sonore
Up to this day, all of these songs have been re-interpreted by Orgasmo Sonore :
1. Stelvio Cipriani - Incubo Sulla Citta Contaminata
2. Ennio Morricone - Mystic and Severe
3. Alain Goraguer - Fantastic Planet
4. Fabio Frizzi - Zombi 2
5. John Carpenter - Escape from New-York
6. Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo
7. Goblin - Alien Contamination
8. Piero Umilani - La Ragazza Fuoristrada
9. Stelvio Cipriani - Tentacoli
10. Stelvio Cipriani - Medley (inluding Bay of Blood)
11. Fabio Frizzi - The Beyond
This blog will try to go deeper in the origin and motivation behind each cover. It will also reveals the "Making Of" the music and video and will also discuss related topics and opinions.
In the next post, I will explain the origin of the project, how it started and what are the objectives.
Everybody who's a fan of film music in general, Italian composers, obscure soundtracks, cult movies and the golden era of film score between 1965 and 1985 should find interest in this blog.
Your host,
Frank Rideau
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