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In Frantic Waves, a McD & JanKun orchestral collaboration
Recently, @McD shared a Staffpad sketch, Piano Frenzy, a trio for piano, upright bass and drums. His composition is full of unsettling time signature changes I found very inspiring. He kindly sent me the Staffpad score and I created a full orchestration around the piano and upright bass. The piece is very short but I tried to bring some dynamic to describe those waves of frenzy during moments of euphoria.
I didn't spend much time on the mix, so it's far from perfect, but I like it. Hope some of you will like it too !
Listen to In Frantic Waves (McD & JanKun collaboration) by JanKun on #SoundCloud
Comments
Wow. This is great!. Give us some details on what you used.
That is a great orchestration!!!
Great job, it's very frantic indeed - I can totally imagine this on the soundtrack to Fantasia.
Amazing job on the orchestration! The new title really suits it. The whole piece is so full of life!
Thank you for listening ! I wish I could tell you a fancy story about using bunch of apps and gear I purchased during Black Friday to quench my GAS.
Unfortunately, for this track, I only used my iPad, my pencil, and Staffpad... So boring... Wait...
I did purchase one string library inside Staffpad (an expensive one) used on this track, does it count ?
Thank you for listening. Still amazed this kind of thing can be achieved on a thin piece of glass with only one app and a pencil.
Yes, I meant apps… Staffpad?. I don’t know that one.
Staffpad is a "niche" notation app for people interested in creating full orchestrations. You literally write the score with a pencil on a staff the old way except it is not on paper but on an iPad. Coming from rock folk pop, the app first felt very intimidating. But I heard so many amazing orchestral mock-ups that I decided to give it try cause it is another musical world I've always been interested in. I used to study classical guitar for a few years when I first started playing. My very basic notation knowledge was enough to get me going. I am not academically trained in composition or arrangement, so I have no real idea of what I am doing and connoisseurs will probably say I am doing it wrong, but I honestly don't care as long as I like what I am hearing. I believe that people without notation skills can also use this app as long as they have experience working with MIDI in a DAW and basic understanding of music. Notation and MIDI are eventually the same thing, pitch, duration, timing and velocity.
I definitely recommend the app but it is pricey...
I @JanKun @McD ,
Very joyful and complicated musical score, and I am transported in a quite puzzling and in-a-hurry world of colors and goods.
Like a Black Friday thing in a city that all went out and had a look and see.
I am truly enjoying this recording, and I am getting a very joyful vibe!!!
Thanks for this beauty.
Rene
To give you a sense of how the music was created, this is a video of the piano, bass and drum part that
@Jankun added his orchestra parts:
I like to minimize the actual “handwriting” using cut and paste and in this one I pasted 9/8 notation into
4/4, 5/8, 2/4 and ending back in 9/8. All the “red” bars indicate there are more notes than Staffpad can fit into a bar
So it just doesn’t play the extra notes. The 4/4 stretch is my favorite with a 3-3-2 pattern.
@McD must be happy with this one. You’re starting to give @ScottVanZandt a run for his money. If you haven’t listened to his stuff you must check it out on SoundCloud. Keep up the excellent work!
I don't know if this was originally an accident but this lead to very interesting rhythm patterns. I really love your original piece, especially the main theme which has a jazzy feel to it. It was a real pleasure to work on this one !
I was hoping to hear @McD s original. It stands quite well on its own. He has a European feel when dealing with modern classical. You could start out the track with this and add your orchestration. Then it’s usefully longer.
For the main theme I wanted to have a big anticipation note before the next bars “downbeat”. This syncopation is the heart of
Jazz dance music going back to ragtime and traditional Dixieland jazz. I know “swing” has been associated with mushing straight eights towards a triplet feel but the syncopated rhythms are the heart of effective dance music. It does lift you off the ground.
All of @Jankun’s orchestrations are full of smart syncopations so it makes sense he would want to build on this rhythmically lively project. Writing syncopations is hard work and most Staffpad composers tend to use a ton of quarter notes because it’s easier but for most “pop” music lovers it’s boring… they want those brain hits of anticipated downbeats.
Thanks! I feel less alone now. Your intuition/imagination (if that’s all that’s guiding you) seems pretty well developed.
Indeed, when I look at your profile picture, I can see a thousand different faces into one 😉
Ha! Sadly, it’s an animated gif with that propeller spinning behind my head but it doesn’t work here on forum.
Knowing the propeller truth completely killed the magic 😭 I was imagining all kind of weird hairdos or funny hats ...
Thank you for listening Richard, thank for the kind words.
The frenzy comes directly from @McD 's mind. There's something magical in the main theme he composed.
For some reason it immediately gave me "West Side Story" interlude vibes. I like it!
Interesting time signature changes @McD! I like both versions, the original, and with @JanKun ‘s amazing orchestral contributions!
So you want magic? : https://dropbox.com/s/o2nnapleppp43o0/Stochastically.gif?dl=0
good point.
Thank you so much for listening and for commenting. The original score already had a lot of energy... I only tried to accentuate a bit more. Glad you enjoyed !
Thank you for listening Rene, glad you enjoyed. The listener is indeed receiving plenty of different vibes in a very short time. I can definitely understand the puzzling sensation (it was the actual goal)
Thank you for listening, Mike. Wow, it is a really flattering comment, but I am leagues under @ScottVanZandt. I have already listened to a lot of his masterpieces, which are really inspiring but each time I listen to his work I feel like erasing Staffpad from my device... So much things left to learn, it can be overwhelming or frustrating sometimes...
Excellent 🤣 ! Now I fully understand what a propeller head is !
Thank you for listening ! I am glad someone noticed ! I had Bernstein's "West Side Story" epic percussions in mind while working on this arrangement. You made me day with this comment !
Thank you for listening. Glad you enjoyed. There is some true genius in @McD's composition !
Thanks… I wish I had the patience to create the extra details you add. I get too frustrated with the pencil.
Yet another amazing collaboration! I’m really impressed by the original and the added orchestration gives it a wonderful new dimension. Well done, both of you!