How I Did It
Tools I Used
Piano: Alchemy (Gran Piano)
Effect Bells: NI Razor (Winter Bell)
Bells: Dune II (Blockbuster Bells)
Brass: Ableton French Horn Solo
Viola: Ableton Viola Section Legato
Bass: Ableton String Ensemble Legato
Sub Bass: Dune II (Organ Ultra Soft)
Process
Under the Christmas Tree
This is a very old-fashioned and nostalgic tune, going back to the 1940s and 50s, with movies like White Christmas, It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. We have an extended family Christmas and I wrote the music thinking of my young nieces and nephews reaction to Christmas, their innocent joy and wonder.
The whole tune is strongly guided by CiggiBurns vocals and I used the vocals to write the tune, taking the vocal and playing tunes on Piano till I was happy. The Piano (with MIDI) included the melody, chord hints and bass. I left the entire Piano in the track, although a bit quieter.
I wanted a christmas tune and used the waltz time to create a bass foundation that I hoped would conjure up snowy days, floating snowflakes, warmth, movement and dancing. My melody rises and falls with CiggiBurns beautiful vocals. The bass never really resolves its chords so I close each section with a 4/4 melody that echoes the tune but resolves the section. The tune starts with two bars with a false time signature of 4/4 and then changes to waltz time. Variations of the two 4/4 bars finish each section and start the next. The instruments are all traditional, apart from one clearly synthesized bell, to keep that nostalgic feel.
I copied the piano left hand onto a string ensemble, the Double Bass section plays the low notes. I made a mistake with this instrument, it was supposed to be a solo Double Bass, but I made the happy accident of using a whole string section including Cello and Violin. The Cello sounded really sweet when the higher notes play so I left it in. At 1:20 a Church Organ setting plays a simplified version of the bass melody for the verse and chorus.
I copied the piano right hand part into the bells and started adding and taking away notes until it flowed and sounded right to me. At the same time I made small adjustments to the bass so they worked together. The changes are expected as the piano has a percussive sound while the string bass tends to float and have a different interaction with the higher notes, so you have to arrange the melody to the character of the instrument playing it.
After every 4/4 section, I start the waltz with a strong beat to establish that its waltz time. Then develop it into more complex and subtle melodies after a few bars.
Its not a Christmas tune without Bells, I use several types in the composition.
I didn’t have the skill to work out certain sections of the vocal and resorted to Melodyne to discover the notes. I did not use Pitch correction on CiggiBurns vocal. I did add a de-esser, some equalisation and distortion, then a gate to remove most the noise, then multi-band compression.
At 1:20 brass sections plays in an overlapping way with two notes playing at the same time, representing two sections, but with one starting on the beat and the other on the offbeat. This gives the rise and fall you would expect from an Orchestra. Its quite educational to look at how the various sections of an orchestra overlap while playing a tune. The top notes might start on beat 1 while the lower note might start on beat 2.
I don’t know if its a mistake in my thinking, but triplet notes in a 3/4 time does not seem right, so I used half and quarter notes.
To keep it interesting every section is slightly different, either the melody or instruments playing. There is also a lot of modulation, with quiet and loud verses.
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