For the ocean - Somewhat haunting - And it is as huge as this - Man
for some reason this piece makes my soul shiver w/ respect - Maybe
it's because I can't swim - Chuckle - Very nice work here - Looking
forward to hearing the rest of this - Thanks for sharing - Dion

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For the ocean - Somewhat haunting - And it is as huge as this - Man
for some reason this piece makes my soul shiver w/ respect - Maybe
it's because I can't swim - Chuckle - Very nice work here - Looking
forward to hearing the rest of this - Thanks for sharing - Dion

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well, i'm a little stuck right now on a technical problem. two other parts of
this need (i think require) some sound recordings that i can only get off of
commercial CDs which is a big no-no here. unless i hire a lawyer i guess.

one sound effect i know i need for sure, no doubt, is a nice pounding ocean
surf. i guess i'll need to go out and record it myself. that in itself could
actually be a lot of fun, so why complain?

the other one i need is a recording of a huge crowd of people - somewhere
between so few that you can hear their words - and so many that it is only
some form of filtered noise. i'm at a loss about how to get that. i've been
exploring some technical methods of synthesizing such a sound - but i have
no clue at the moment. something called granular synthesis might help here.

BTW - several songs i have completed, but not posted here, include
unauthorized sound samples. i really would love to share them, but i think i'd
get nailed for doing it. so i'll hold back those tunes. it's a shame that "collage
art" is so inhibited by copyright laws. it's an area with tons of potential, but
no one is allowed to do it. unless you want to head out into the land of
lawsuits...

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B^)

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This would even work without the strings (that's a compliment)! Your piano playing is quite fascinating, even though minimalistic, I guess it's the sound of the piano and your keyboard stroke that make it stand out. Nice expansion towards the middle of the piece. How did you record this? Real piano? Beautiful!

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thanks for the encouragement. i really wanted the strings in there, because i
guess the idea is that you're slowly sinking, past seaweed and fish, and the
light is fading away into darker and darker green, and it's becoming a sensory
deprivation scene. and the human mind turns inward when this happens, and
the strings are i guess all your neurons going off. or something like that.

you had to ask:

the piano part was captured by a two stage process: first i noodled around on
the keyboard while thinking "i sink into the sea" - that's the rhythmic
component behind a lot of this. once i was comfortable playing it, i recorded
it into garageband with no metronome. i also captured some improvising in a
goofy scale i think is called hungarian gypsy mode or something (D Eb F# G A
Bb C# D).

then i edited the heck out of it in garageband! the beginning and end are
quantized (honest!) timing. i left the improvised part in the middle as is,
because i wanted to keep the ritards intact (or is that called rubato?). so
garageband's nice even measures mean nothing in the middle.

i also changed around the pitches of many of the notes as i refined the string
part, so half hte pitches changed: only the velocity and timing remained of
what i had originally recorded for the beginning and end. well, even that's not
quite true. i also reduced the loudness of several notes (i guess i really
pounded them too much).

so, in summary, it's a "live" recording with lots of fixing up. i had hoped to
not lose the "human" feel - i guess from your comment that it worked!

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B^)

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That's interesting, so you're saying that the piano sound is from GB's software instruments? How did you get it to sound so real?! Amazing.

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you bet! it's all GB2. i did add some reverb. if you like, i can go find exactly what
settings i used.

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B^)

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That would be great!

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the instrument is Orchestra Steinway Piano - it comes from JamPack 4 Symphony
Orchestra. it appears i did not change the default settings: Volume 80%, Cutoff
0%, Release 40%. maybe i changed release? it has Equalizer on and Reverb on -
again, i suspect i did not change those either. Master Track reverb is set to
Large Hall. that i think i did change.

if you don't have JamPack 4, and you want to buy it - be warned: on a iMac G5 it
loads very slow (30 seconds? more?) i imagine on a G4 it would be unusably s-l-
o-w.

---
B^)

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Bought JP4 a while ago. Fortunately once loaded in it works just fine. Even on my old Dual G4. Appreciate the description. Never thought the piano could sound so good in GB! Thanks again.

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Its quite a talent to be able to envision a scene and express it
musically. I think you've found an excellent process for you music; a
combination of improvisation and post-production. How cool to be
able to think "I wish I had played Ab there," and then actually be able to
alter the note while keeping the performance intact. You did an
excellent job at not over-working the performance in post. The music
remains expressive even after your alterations.

The composition is very effective. I'll be interested to hear the entire
suite!

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thanks, but... i need to explain

i should point out that, unlike a movie soundtrack composer with very precise
goals, i did not have an exact endpoint in mind. it evolved as i composed it. i
like to think of it like writing a poem: like buk - no goal in mind. just the
moment. it's lots of fun writing free-form. if i had to write to a schedule or a
specific topic - i'd be lost.

my comments expressed what i thought about as the music came into being.
the two are totally intertwined. my only "goal" was that it's about the ocean -
and all the symbolic nonsense people associate with that: life, death, the big
picture, etc., etc. (well, maybe not nonsense, but at least well rehearsed in
our psyches?)

---
B^)

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Yup. I'm reading you. These are abstract scenes, or rather expressions of the
"Freudian" emotions experienced while meditating on concepts associated
with the ocean. These are things difficult to express with words but that
become tangible and can be artfully expressed through music. A very
interesting theme to explore for both the composer and the listener!

---
Want to hear the lonely anguish of my Mac Classic? Visit my song: <a href="http://www.macjams.com/song/15738">Obsolete</a>

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There were moments while listening to this that I actually held my breath. This piece is evocative and beautiful.

The orchestral Steinway is my favourite piano sound from GB and jam packs. I use it for all my piano parts.

When I have time, I'll be listening to your other posts as well. Cheers.

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thank you so much. it's nice hear i could touch someone with a song.

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B^)

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thank you so much. it's nice hear i could touch someone with a song.

---
B^)

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Beautiful track. The piano part is simple, yet sophisticated sounding. The
mood is consistently very quiet without turning boring. My compliments!
Very good.

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Very serene, somewhat exotic sounding due to the Hungarian scale you
used, and the sparse texture makes it feel a bit new-agey to me. It's all
very nicely done. I heard it before checking the title, and I must say that
for me, the title seems a bit incongruous, I guess because it seems so
peaceful, and the idea of sinking into an ocean doesn't. I also thought it
might evolve into something else, maybe even change key, but it didn't.

In any event, I really enjoyed it, and I hope to hear more from you.

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thanks for the encouragement.

i actually toyed with the idea of modulation for the last part, but i thought
that would have been too much. this is (someday) going to be part of bigger
piece, and as such might be an "entrance" of some sort into somewhere. (you
can see i have really a definite plan here! :-) ) so, i need it to flow...

the 'sinking into the ocean' idea isn't meant to be like the Titanic going down.
perhaps i need to rethink the title. it's supposed to be a gentle transition
somehow... but it's good to know you got a different impression - something
i'll think about.

thanks again

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B^)

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ahh ...this is wonderfull ... and yes I m very
familiar with this scale way at the 80s when
the iraqi symphony Orch. based on arminians
masters ..they used to compose very very close
to this scale ...
your piece so imaginary more than passionate ..
its raining .. very very impressed ...!!
well done !!

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Iraqi Symphony Orchestra?! a fascinating angle on this mode/scale. this adds
another dimension to the album this song in a part of...

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B^)

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