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The Coronation (Pure Piano, Synth, World Instruments, Orchestra, Cathedral Organ, and an Elephant)
Synopsis
Now, after all this, I can say that, besides the pleasure of the sight of these glorious things, I may now shut my eyes against any other objects, nor for the future trouble myself to see things of state and show, as being sure never to see the like again in this world.
S. Pepys on the coronation of Charles II of England, 23 April 1661
Creative notes
It's been a while since The Exile returned:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/53969/the-return-of-the-exile-synthwave#latest
... and now in a lavish and ancient ceremony he is to be crowned king.
Overall I wanted to capture the spirit of a 'returned hero' type theme as I tried to do before, but I also wanted to make a 'universal melody', sketching first on piano, using simple progressions that would work in a variety of contexts.
For example, if you were to speed up the chorus and alter the rhythm then it works as a folk tune.
(An idea for the future perhaps...)
Building on this concept, following the slightly nervous start and quiet first statement verse and chorus, I followed a developmental path of using a shorter 2nd verse (to get to the chorus again faster), and then ever escalating instrumentation as befitting of such an occasion.
Upon arrival at the final chorus, the crowd outside the Cathedral lets out a roar, and I knew I had to go full Tchaikovsky for the finale.
Tchaikovsky 'only' had a full Orchestra, Church Bells, and Cannons at the end of his 1812 overture, so without wishing to give too much away, I've always felt that Elephants are underused in Orchestral or Electronic music (notable exception of J.M.Jarre with Zoolook), so listen carefully, and you might just hear one :-)
Technical notes
The real hero wasn't the music at all, it was Cubasis on my 2020 iPad Air, pushed to its limits with the 122 tracks the piece uses. To be fair, the track count is almost doubled through me freezing all non audio tracks, there was no way to do this otherwise, but still, well done Cubasis!
I used a large number of synths, including but not limited to:
Pure Piano, Xinematix (lots of Orchestral patches), Cantoria, SoundFont (for more Organ), Decent Sampler Duduk, Jubal flute, Pipa, Decent Sampler Choir Ooohs, Tal-U-O-NX (synth strings), OBXD (synth pads), Audiolayer (Orchestral strings), Swam trumpet, Swam french horn, Primer (pulse), Synthmaster 1 (arp), Moog Model 15 (bass), Cubasis drum kits, Audiolayer Taiko drum samples, Church Bell samples from 'Ringing room', and a bunch of one shot samples.
Hope you enjoy it.
Comments
Wow, what an incredible piece of music. Majestic.
You know what it reminds me of so much? Rick Wakeman’s early solo ‘concept’ pieces. Last year I went to see Rick at the London Palladium when he performed the entirety of Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Your mini epic takes us on a journey in that way. And those strings coming in around 4.45 - wasn’t expected and takes it to another level. The whole thing grows and develops throughout - deserves to be heard widely 👏👏
This is a really good composition and arrangement. Has a lot going on and doesn’t ever sound too heavy. Very well done.
One of the first books I read in college is Pepys diary. Fascinated me reading first hand account of historic things, like the London fire and the plague.
Wow. Well thought out track. It got really good for me around 4:10 with the string phrase. The string melody there is very strong, too. 61 tracks is a bunch. Can you post a project screenshot?
Outstanding! I can hear the time and thought put into this, and it motivates me to do better. I think our methods are similar. I freeze everything, and lots of it. I thought I was pushing Cubasis with 70+ tracks of audio, but 122 raises the bar for me. I have found that all versions of Cubasis handle huge amounts of audio without any problems. However, I have found that the latest version is a bit sketchy in the way it handles audio editing. Personally, I don’t like it overall, but have found times when it works. Audio rendering is a lot faster, but I don’t mind waiting.
The composition, arrangement, and production are extremely good. Always very musically interesting from start to finish. Like I said, it motivates me to do better. I don’t need a screenshot to see what you’re doing. It would be a mile long!
You mentioned that you have been away for a while. I know why. You have been busy!
Make more.
Thanks all, a lot to unpack here, lets start with Pepys.
I started getting 'realtime updates' from his diary through Twitter last year, just with a 362 year time delay! This then stopped working and I go to the website below every few days.
A new entry matching current day of year is posted daily.
I'm not even sure I should attempt to summarise the full entry that inspired the piece, but I'll give it a go...
Our man Pepys got up early, went to the Abbey, watched most of the coronation ceremony but missed the end because he needed to relieve himself, went to Westminster Hall, enjoyed the '24 violins' (an idea copied from the French), ogled the ladies (not unusual for Pepys), went to the pub (a near daily occurrence too... in the 17th century they skipped breakfast and had a 'morning draft' of beer instead), eventually sent his wife home, then continued drinking, slept in the same room or even bed as a man (its probably not what you may think), threw up in bed, and casually mentions a couple of serious injuries that impacted others during the chaotic celebrations.
He closes the entry with the quote I used.
https://pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/04/23/
@BillS, the Rick Wakeman reference is very much appreciated. I missed the main body of his work the first time around, but considering wikipedia's description of "Progressive rock is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism", then I get it. I don't necessarily finish up with the same genre or instrumentation than I start with, although I struggle a bit more to jettison form completely and envy those that can and make great pieces.
I gave 'Journey to the centre of the Earth' a listen last night, hadn't heard it before, enjoyed it, and what a talented keyboard player he is!
@LinearLineman, you asked for this, remember that :-)
Also remember that nearly all the tracks are frozen so appear doubled.
Cubasis started struggling after around 100 tracks with DSP spikes on playback, but could still render the mix.
The strings which folks commented on (perhaps too aggressive on my part if that noticable?) were simply the "Full Marcato Strings 1" from Xinematix and are in track 56.
Also notable were the powerful 'melody brass' in track 62.
These were Xinematix 'Epic French Horns', 'French Horns & Bones 1', and 'French Horns Section 5'.
Happy to share what I used for anything else if folks want to know.
@BillS, @LinearLineman, @Dav, @Paulieworld ... and finally, thanks for your comments on the music, very much appreciated. Every time I frequent this establishment I'm blown away by the talent here, so very much a case of standing on the shoulders of giants more than anything else, and if something I do inspires you then that's a win for me too as I benefit from listening to the creations here.
Wow. That’s a lorra, lorra stuff! Quite the journey. I particularly liked the slow, almost funereal intro. Could imagine that extending into a wholly different kind of piece. Excellent work
@Svetlovska, thanks so much, and not surprising you liked the beginning.
Feel free to use it / be inspired by it.
The low chordal pad is very 80s sounding from OB-XD and the choir is:
https://pianobook.co.uk/packs/st-helens-cantores/
I was trying for the sort of understated 'background music' you sometimes hear before a cathedral service while folks find their seats, while also making it a bit anticipatory through the phrasing. I originally had it slower and used a kick as a heartbeat getting faster but found I was getting into polyrhythm trouble with the bells and decided I didn't want that kind of complexity just seconds after starting out!
@belldu : thank you, very gracious of you. Yep, I guess I am my own stereotype now
I might take an audio snippet of it and see where it takes me. 
*Update: just posted it now over in Creations. Interested to see what you think.
That’s impressive! I came to hear this after listening to the remix by @Svetlovska and I’m glad I did. I’m amazed at all the layers you used to create this. Excellent work.
All I know about Pepys is that he buried his parmesan cheese to keep it safe during the great fire of London.
Nothing cheesy (sorry 😊) about this creation … lovely piece of music Duncan and as Mike said you must have put an awful lot of thought, time and effort into it 🙏
Superb 🥰🥰🥰