Go to my SoundCloud page: https://soundcloud.com/vikrant-muthusamy
For this project, I was inspired not only by the scope of it, but also the reactions of my fellow classmates leading up to the due date. Arranging and composing to this song was not only challenging but also forced me to be creative. I wanted to tell a story that took place in a space fighter cockpit (similar to what you find in Star Wars or Star Trek), using the eccentricities of the voices of Ensemble 109 as well as certain soundscapes and sound effects. While the title is kind of funny yet also kind of offensive, I believe it fit the project and my story nicely. This piece of music is "Suicide Mission." Special thanks to Gary's Ensemble 109 class for inspiring this composition and making it sound awesome.
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After doing a lot of calm and contained music, I felt, in order to keep my balance and sanity in check, it was time for me to do something crazy and unsettling. This project was perfect for that. While the audio and midi files were jazzy in their own right, they all felt a bit disjointed. This gave me the idea of paying tribute to one of my favorite films of all time - Apocalypse Now. Using soundscape effects on the audio files and hooking the midi files up to gripping synths, I wanted to create an environment that captures the eccentricities and dark undertones of Carmine Coppola's score and slowly fold it around a bed of ambience where only a guitar and piano stand.
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Music Composition is considered a challenging feat by many, given the fact that you need to glue onto a certain idea. I have gone through this phase at one point and ended up being frustrated that I could not think of that one idea. So, one day, I simply decided to take a motif that I had already dreamt up and add whatever riffs or instruments I thought sounded good. The result - A Walk in My Mind.
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This piece was composed to pay tribute to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. But, more importantly, I went head first into this piece, simply to understand and grasp the feeling of real football and how it revolves and stays uplifting around the world - a quality that I think is normally hard to come by.
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For this song, I wanted to explore what kind of actual event really imposes a buildup, and the idea that I came up with was a stock car racer making it to the finish line. As he nears the end of his journey, just for a little while he is put into a trance, which is illustrated by the distant air synthesizer as well as the Gregorian ensemble. When the racer realizes it is time to put it into high gear, he starts changing gears, which is depicted by the low upright bass. The road communicates to him through the rattling pad synthesizer, and the timpani makes the finish all the more emotional and dramatic for our driver. It does not matter what position he finished in, as the engine (erosion synthesizer) roars past the listener with the help of drawn volume and pan curves.
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For this song, I decided to press on the themes of warfare and how it affects the innocent ones caught in the middle of these raging conflicts. When being introduced to the guitar part supplied by Gary Powell, I sensed an aspect of loneliness in how it was played, as if it was reminiscing on dark times while watching a surreal performance - fireworks caused by dropped bombs. So, I envisioned a couple of musicians trying to comfort a large, newly homeless population with music as they watch their village being torn apart. The guitar itself is comforting, so I tried to look for another instrument that was comforting and could be handheld; that ended up being Peruvian panpipes (which I edited to where the player breathes). So, with the guitar and panpipes panned on opposite sides as the explosions (made possible by Trailer FX 1 in Logic) are the middle attraction, I tried to create that exact image. The string movements synthesizer was used to portray the after-sparks and smoke of fireworks going from left to right along with the crowd's empowered and inspired chant (boys chamber ensemble and swells patches) to supplement the efforts of the two musicians, was stereo spread to envelope the listener(s) in this tale of war.
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For this piece, Nate and I really wanted to combine our backgrounds, in order to create something memorable. While I had a background in film scoring, Nate had a background in songwriting and song structure. As a result, we ended up creating a story of a weary traveler, yet a traveler who still had a sense of purpose and order. Hence, we used a traditional song structure with an emotional electric guitar (representing Trevor the traveler) backed up by a backdrop composed of Orchestral Strings, Piano, and Drums. To top it off, the guitar is accompanied by a synth pad to represent the air the traveler breathes and walks in.
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For this project, I decided to add a solo string instrument to arguably one of Rock and Roll's greatest songs, "Dream On" by Aerosmith. While the song itself is epic in its own right, I personally have always thought it needed another string part. So, in order to complement the song and make an instrumental duet with Steven Tyler, I added a free-form violin part (Spitfire Audio Sample). I chose the violin for two reasons. One, it did not interfere with or get drowned by the frequency ranges of the prominent electric guitars. And, two, the violin, like Steven Tyler, has the ability, unlike many instruments, to scream.
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