The end of a few listless days of programming and the angst and self-avoidance of creative work. A few bugs found in my music software, mainly related to effect buffers, and one naughty one about division-by-zero when copying a blank engine, I'm back to music.
I spent an hour or two last night, visualizing and feeling how I want the album to move next. I had been stuck partly because of dead ends, which when pursued, can linger in the mind, a desire to finish them or use them, but there are times when the best option is to discard. I've had a few false starts with this section.
The first 'movement' (well, the first few songs) lead to a natural gentle close, and the next step, the start of the next section always felt like it should grow from darkness, like the sparkles around the creature in Night of the Demon, or the golden letters in Rembrandt's Belshazzar's feast. I also wanted a Christian Catholic section in the album. I could make some general comments about god-ness and beliefs, but my experience is this, and this is where the emotion must come from. I can't be emotional about analysis.
I've spent the morning working on the entrance of God the father, as stated, something like Zadok. The goal chord was D minor, the broad tonic of the album, so I began with it and migrated away on a wandering journey, in steps like something from The Spiral Staircase. The hard part is adding a melody, the right amount if it, of sorts to simple two-syllable words and powerful chords that generally lack the need for melody, but without it, music is nothing, it's a void.
Anyway, the chords are complex:
But the music is progressing well. The key part, with sequenced music, is to work dry and simple, so that the melody and the mix of notes are clear and as simple and efficient as possible. I never use any form of equalisation to balance music, merely melody and the timbre and loudness of the instruments, and I keep effects to the optimal level, which, when composing, is as few as possible. After this, space can be added and the feeling of each note sculpted.
After this orchestral choir music, the music will jump into drum and bass, or something like it, a high speed rock song about confession.
