So, I’m a bit behind in my update. July was a productive month though. Not only did I finish Landscape 8: Palm Glade, but I edited and mixed the Musiversal recording of the orchestra part for Landscape 4: Sand Dunes. Unfortunately, the horn players were absent for this recording session, which doesn’t matter too much as the horn parts were not super crucial to the orchestration. However, Musiversal has promised to email me recordings of the horn parts in the near future, and the isolation on the recordings should be excellent.
As noted in a previous update, the Musiversal 30 piece orchestra has some issues with reading syncopated rhythms. Both orchestral excerpts used in Landscape 4 have orchestral chords once every three eighth notes in common time, forming a hemiola. Knowing that this rhythm would pose a problem for the ensemble, I rewrote the orchestra part, which was originally at 120 bpm to be at 80 bpm in a compound meter. That way those chords that hit once every three eighth notes are now consistently on the beat. When mixed with the other recordings, nobody is the wiser. I was also able to take some of the chord hits out of the mix and place them at some other parts of the piece to add a bit more orchestral goodness to the movement.
Thus, the musical example for the month is Landscape 4: Sand Dunes. This recording not only features the Musiversal orchestra recordings (sans horns), but also has Carl Bugbee’s guitar tracks and my harmonica tracks (bass and chromatic) . . .
In the month of July I also managed to write an orchestral part for Landscape 7: Mountains, which I hope to get recorded in the next few months. Unfortunately I am a bit behind my August work on Landscape 9: Desert, but I hope to catch up a bit on my writing quota this afternoon.