MD4M – Batman with Piano, Brass and Strings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV3u5-Zz1Wg
The objective of this task was to add brass and strings to my original piano themed Batman composition.
Visually, I liked Elfman’s original brass stabs and added trumpets to highlight parts with accents and heights of drama. I wanted the strings to act as a bed of tones with warmer mid range brass to drive the music and also added some high pitched strings to come out of the bed for excitement.
A well known composer I have looked at for inspiration was Brad Fiedel who composed for Terminator. I have used my low piano as the low percussion and the stabbing trumpets as his high pitched piano, and left the strings and brass wavering and changing mood in the middle.
A sequencer technique I used was to play straight from the keyboard as I watched the images to get ideas down quickly rather than frustratingly slow with the step sequencing technique. I didn’t use record straight away because it puts me under pressure so I used the shortcut which keeps what I have played as soon as I’ve played it.
A music technique I learned was how to weave different instruments together and how bringing different ones out can have a different effect at certain points. For example, the way I brought out the strings from the mid part into a very high octave for one part, then used the brass to do this more rhythmically for a sharper pulse feel.
This is practice as research because by listening to composers like Elfman and Fiedel, I have come up with my own ideas on how to handle certain instruments for different effect and have put this into my own work. For example, I learnt when tracing Batman about choppy changes to match the image, where tempo wasn’t necessary, which I hadn’t played about with before. I have also researched orchestral panning to see where my chosen instrumentation fits. This also gave a fuller feel, I found.
Brad Fieldel (1994) The Terminator (Main Title), Germany, Austria and Switzerland: Cinerama. 0022082CIN. CD, 2.14.
