Vespertine Noise

An oversight: I never posted the actual film that we, Go Woof, entered in the June 2009 48 Hour Film Project. Relatively speaking my part was small–I did the soundtrack–and I worked in the background, in solitude. I have already posted the soundtrack, albeit in pieces. Here they are in the order in which they appear in the film:

1. BadFloat
2. SubGroveBreath
3. Shaman

At long last, here it is…

• The film that the world, nay the universe has been waiting for…
• Meg Ryan said, “Turning down the lead role was the worst mistake of my career.” But she said it about some other role.
• Quentin Tarantino was heard to say, “Ahhha, come on, now that’s just sick.”  Shortly thereafter he ran screaming from the theater in terror.
• Brad Pitt said, “This is one sorry-ass excuse for a movie.”  So I kicked his ass.  Okay, so that never actually happened, but I could kick his ass if I really wanted to.  Pretty sure.  If he was drunk.  And 60.  And a girl.

Without further adieu, the MOST AWESOMEST MOVIE EVER…

Misconceptions!!!

I’ll release the tracks over the next several days, holding my favorite for last because I plan to expand upon it.

I just noticed that I never did this, i.e., I never posted my favorite track from the most recent 48 Hour Film Project, SubGroveBreath. I played with it for a couple of nights sure enough, but I didn’t make any recordings worth releasing. I find myself running up against the limitations of Garage Band and my laptop, so I’m dreaming of an improved rig with Logic Studio.

A few observations.

The percussion is tuned: it is in the same key as the other instruments. This is easiest to notice toward the beginning just as the breathy track comes in.

It is monotonous as hell. Which perhaps isn’t so great for you the listener, but that’s not always my first concern. I often find long tracks fertile for improvisational practice, particularly when the tempo is medium to slow. When a piece is fast I often break into well practiced riffs, and this is lazy. When a piece is slow, and when I’m in the right frame of mind, improvisation becomes…and I’m not really sure of how to say this…it becomes a quest for melodic and harmonic opportunity. You find a melodic line, maybe work in a harmonic line, perhaps something dissonant or even out of tune, bend a few notes, just to see how far you can take it.

So here it is, SubGroveBreath, for future expansion, or not.

SubGroveBreath.mp3

This is the first piece that I recorded for our entry in the 48 Hour Film Project. The script called for a shaman or mystic which at first had me thinking about the sounds of the Middle East and South Asia, but lacking decent sitars or dulcimer samples I settled instead on a flute.

You can almost hear me wondering what to do with this theme as I tap the same key many times before wandering off. By fortunate accident my choice of flute as the featured instrument works, because the actor who plays the shaman comes across as something of a Neo Celtic/Burning Man/Techno Hippie. It took form on Friday night shortly after I had a look at the script outline. On Sunday morning the editors asked me to make it creepier, hence its reincarnation with layered under swells.

Shaman.mp3