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The Light

 
uploaded: Tue, Aug 23, 2016 @ 11:36 PM last modified: Tue, Aug 23, 2016 @ 11:37 PM  (add)
byQuarkstar
length2:44
BPM80
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The Light

I am working on a notional album of about 7 tunes. For the last track, I needed a song that rises out of darkness towards hope. I discovered the words I wanted in snowflake’s What This Feels Like and the mood is exactly what I wanted. I did edit the verse order to fit my needs.

I soon had a tune for the words… it was going around in my head. The e-piano plays the main tune. The tune is a bit weird and it took me and the DAW a while to agree where the bars start and end; even now phrases don’t fall on the bars and the chords are unrestrained by bars or beats. The chorus develops out of the verse, flowing from one into the other.

The backing is more conventional. Two kicks play an interleaved rhythm around a 4/4 beat. The accompanying Copper drum plays in 8/8 time with an emphasis on the 7th beat. The snare plays an 8/8 beat mixed with triplets and the emphasis on the 2nd beat. The Bass underpins the whole tune and works closely with the drums. The tune sometimes follows the Copper drum’s 7th beat and other times follows the snares 2nd beat and triplets.

The floaty chorus is created by using left and right copies of snowflakes vocals and putting a small time delay one channel (-8ms), then sending both to the an effects bus that adds a 175ms delay, reverb and a flanger. A mid/side effect is applied to the chorus which removes the mid-channel to make it sound extra wide.

Key is G Mixolydian.
.
I wanted the tune to be grand and uplifting, ending the album as a light in the darkness.
There is more explanation and the overture here: https://soundcloud.com/quarkstar/overture-for-a-descent-into

Words and vocals by Snowflake, adapted from “What This Feels Like”. I changed the verse order to make a more backwards looking song about appreciating our friends and loved ones, growing together and treasuring our memories.


Never stop raising the bar
For ourselves, for each other

(chorus) Be always there with a light and a hand
For each other

And remember not to fall
Too far apart from each other.

(chorus)

(Sitar + Copper drum interlude)

(chorus)

Sensitive consciousness
Focus and remember what this feels like

(chorus)

Exploring Uncharted Territory
With completely open minds

(chorus 2) Sensitive consciousness
Focus and remember what this feels like

Exploring Uncharted Territory
With completely open eyes

(chorus x 2)
 

"The Light"
by Quarkstar

2016 - Licensed under
Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)



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