Canon For A Dying Sun (For Strings and Well-Tempered Synthesizer) - WIP thread

[TwilightOdyssey]

[GuitarStv]

lol . . . were they out of 5 1/4 floppies? Those have better digital tone. :P

[TwilightOdyssey]

Okay, I'm in the thick of it now, putting the finishing touches on the demo. Here's the solo section from the fourth movement. More to come!

[GuitarStv]

I like it. Still feel that the guitar is a tad buried though.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Here's the big finale for the song; it still needs the final synth parts but even without that it's suitably epic.

[TwilightOdyssey]

I like it. Still feel that the guitar is a tad buried though.

Thanks for listening. Still early days for the demo.

[GuitarStv]

I like part five the best. I'm picturing a movie where the lead character has just suffered defeat at the hands of his enemy and is stony-faced driving down a dark road at night. Possibly with sunglasses on. :P

[TwilightOdyssey]

I like part five the best. I'm picturing a movie where the lead character has just suffered defeat at the hands of his enemy and is stony-faced driving down a dark road at night. Possibly with sunglasses on. :P

LOL, of course!

[TwilightOdyssey]

And, here's the intro!

[Phantasmagoria]

Very nice! Sweet voice samples & the synth sounds massive! Like the way it builds & the guitars come crashing in...oool lead swells at the end there too. Interested to see how it pans out...certainly has an EPIC start to it

[TwilightOdyssey]

Thanks for checking it out!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Well, the songwriting demo is done! Next step is to meet with the band and start rehearsing it, working out the verses/vocal lines, and starting to sort out the massive technical demands of this piece. If you're not into songs like Echoes by Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, or Gavin Byers, I would recommend listening to it in pieces, it's a VERY long song!

[GuitarStv]

I've given it a couple listens through. This is a really cool piece of music man. I'm very impressed at how you managed to link together and arrange all the musical ideas in a way that flows reasonably well.

[TwilightOdyssey]

I've given it a couple listens through. This is a really cool piece of music man. I'm very impressed at how you managed to link together and arrange all the musical ideas in a way that flows reasonably well.

Thanks! There are going to be differences between the live version, which will have banter and such, and make for natural breaks in the piece, and the final recording, which will have different demands in terms of making it cohesive.

Now onto the next song! I have a name and a concept only (and maybe know what key it's in).

[TwilightOdyssey]

So, two months later, and where are we?

The demo was pretty good and I started re working the arrangement to be both tighter and more harmonically complex. I also wanted to stick more closely to the actual structure of Sonata or Concerto form and see if I would strengthen the piece within these constraints.

The first thing to do was to revise the chord progression so that it fits the Sonata form; I have ended up with a 20-measure long progression, still keeping in the key of Dm. The new variant of the progression goes like this:
i - iii - VI - VII - V - i
The actual chords being
Dm - Gm - Bb - Csus4 - C - A - Dm
The VII-V-i progression gives a nice chromatic line from C to C# to D which I quite like.

Here's what I have thus far; this was tracked live, no overdubs:


The pad is a Roland JP-08; the bass guitar is a Yamaha TX7; drums are a BOSS DR-550; the spoken word is an audio file I made and is being triggered from the NerdSeq and played from the Disting Mk4. Delay and reverb are via a BOSS RV-500.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Okay, after a MAJOR re-think, I'm sticking with the chords from the Mk2 version, but working on really maximizing the arrangement textures. Same chords as above, but reworked quite a bit!

[GuitarStv]

I'm not feeling the metronome. :P

[TwilightOdyssey]

LOL. Yeah, necessary evil til I get some percussion in there!

[TwilightOdyssey]

The extensive rewrite continues, got Part 1 in the can today. It's a bit like an overture in that some of the elements buried in there will be explored further on in the piece. Off to a good start, though.



This version features live guitar and two live synth parts. Depending on the lineup, one of the synth lines may not be able to be played live. The orchestration is more sparse in this version but it sounds a lot more full, in my opinion. The modular is handing drums and two additional synth lines. Orchestral parts are violins, violas, and brass.