I'm working on a potential theme tune/song for the Unknow Sounds podcast, so today was a charge into this. The criteria were perfect, strict enough to inspire by limits, free beyond those.
I've written a few jingles and themes before, many for the ArtsLab show, and a theme for a possible animated DVD Review programme (an ambitious concept!) proposed by Stuart Ashen. This was somewhat similar to all of those, lots of saw-based synths, a bit like the music I've written for IndieSFX over the years.
I began with a bass made from two detuned saw waves an octave apart, and a chord of C-Major, then added some saw stabs, and an orchestra hit for emphasis. I wanted an electro-pop feeling, so created a beat of broadly synthetic sounding drums, something like 'Maniac'. Many iterations later, I decided to slow the tune down and break into something like a rock rhythm, as the music show has a lot of indie rock, then it moved into some strings (yet more tracks! There are more sounds, tracks and things happening in this 30-second theme than any song on Another Violet Night) and a French horn. Initially the main theme was C-F-G, and the rock part A-min, F-Maj, E-Maj, G-Maj, but I changed the rock art to A-min, F-Maj, E-min, E-Maj, then used a plain G for the strings part to lead back into the initial melody.
There are some necessary lyrics, but I didn't worry about the melody for these, simply fitted a tune to the chords without much thought. I always imagined the main words in a vocoder, like Kenny Everett's many jingles. By 4pm, I was ready to record those, and recorded a short guitar part, and some chord strokes too. The guitar lead config, for my future reference was 0AA, Modern-Lead, B-string.
Main vocals remain. All day has been spent here, though an early hour until 10am was spent with Deb looking for possible furniture. I spotted a nice frame, so bought that for a future painting. I have lots of frames now, and lots of surfaces, and lots of paints. Now I need lots of plans, and lots of ideas.
