a bit of pile-driving

Sorry for no update on Wednesday; I’ve just been kind of swamped. But I had a fun interview with a couple of BCIT students doing a student documentary project for class; it’ll have some of my music in it, too.

The soundtrack album is in a frustrating stage, on a frustrating cycle. I’m in a spot where I learn a bunch of new tunes well enough to play them for recording in studio – takes about a week – then timing-edit them into a basis track, the track everybody else will use as foundation for timing and rhythm. Then I drop that track entirely, move on to the next set of tunes, and repeat.

None of this is much fun or creative. I’m having to do this on both mandolin and zouk, neither of which are optimal instruments for this kind of melody; the zouk is particularly difficult. A fair number of musicians outright say you can’t do this on zouk, effectively, and often I feel like agreeing with them, particularly when I’m in hour three of timing edits making every note exactly. rhythm. perfect.

So it’s kinda gruelling and not highly motivating. It’s like being an expressive metronome.

Of course they’re a jazz band. Had to be.

But this is partly my own fault. Once I realised I was going to have to do this – the original intent was that I wouldn’t have to do this part, but, well, things go the way they go – I stacked my work schedule all together this way up front. “Pile-drive my way through this,” I thought, “and then I can get arty.”

This was not my most brilliant decision.

I’ve actually had to let myself get a little arty already. I wish I could throw you a player for the fight scene music. There’s a chapter in Bone Walker, the second book in the Free Court of Seattle series, and I’m arranging Odeo Nihonbashi (Japanese folk, and there are reasons), a Scots tattoo called Douce Dame Jolie, and an Irish jig that I’ve turned into a march, as kind of a really really short symphonic movement with leitmotifs and everything. I did this one first, because it’s the most difficult of the tune sets to integrate, and honestly I can’t wait for this one to get out there.

There are big, big drums. Really, really big drums, along with some Irish bodhran. And that is where it’s been fun. HUGE DRUMS! I love them. But it’s not finished. Those instruments are recorded, but we still need the flute – and it has to be chromatic due to key changes, so I can’d do it myself – and some other work. So not yet.

But soon. I hope.

Encourage me, will you? I’m hip-deep in the draggy part of this. MOTIVATE THE METRONOME!

Of course this had to be out there, too.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come listen to our music!