This contribution to the Artists 4 Freedom project (organised by @fjfonseca of PublicSpaces) has been a long and at times, emotional, journey.
It’s the first true collaboration I’ve done and my sense of responsibility to the track’s featured artist has been strong. There are still many aspects which I’d like to improve, but I’ve felt recently that constant “tweaking” was having a negative impact.
Background
Having put together the basic idea for the track, I sent a link through to Fernando (11 July) and he immediately suggested vocals. Later that day I placed the following ‘advert’ on Twitter:
Desperately seeking: FEMALE FARSI SINGER for modern take on traditional Persian piece. #MFF #iranelection
This was picked up and re-tweeted by a couple of people including @JCLemay. I received a reply within the hour (via JC) from Shadi Angelina and sent her a link to the work in progress. She very kindly agreed to get involved and from then on I’ve been revisiting and refining this track whilst working on other pieces such as Separate.
The lyrics – and hence the title – are from The Wind Will Take Us by Forough Farrokhzad.
The Wind Will Take Us
In my small night, ah
the wind has a date with the leaves of the trees
in my small night there is agony of destruction
listen
do you hear the darkness blowing?
I look upon this bliss as a stranger
I am addicted to my despair.listen do you hear the darkness blowing?
something is passing in the night
the moon is restless and red
and over this rooftop
where crumbling is a constant fear
clouds, like a procession of mourners
seem to be waiting for the moment of rain.
a moment
and then nothing
night shudders beyond this window
and the earth winds to a halt
beyond this window
something unknown is watching you and me.O green from head to foot
place your hands like a burning memory
in my loving hands
give your lips to the caresses
of my loving lips
like the warm perception of being
the wind will take us
the wind will take us.
Forough Farrokhzad
Translated by Ahmad Karimi Hakkak
Huge thanks to Shadi Angelina for her wonderful vocals and to @Pure_Tone for mastering.
The Wind Will Take Us by Kieron James and Shadi Angelina
The laptop is back from the Apple Store and the geniuses have worked their magic (by replacing the logic board). This is fantastic news! Can’t believe it’s only been a week. It feels like a lifetime since I last plugged that Steinberg USB dongle in.
To celebrate, I’ve begun work on the Music For Freedom project kicked off by @fjfonseca and PublicSpaces netlabel. You can read much more about the project on PublicSpaces’ website. I feel very proud to play a small part in the Indaba and Soundcloud music sessions. The response from musicians has been inspirational.
My starting point is to listen to the various uploads at Indaba and select one or two samples to work with. I have already uploaded some drum loops to the session and some of the vocal samples have caught my attention.
Although there are parallels between this and the Baha’i track which I did for @thomasraukamp, I’m keen for this to be much more traditional – roots in the music of the region. With that in mind, I’m downloading the Persian melodies from Fernando Fonseca and will kick things off with those.
Update: [10 September '09]
The finished piece can be heard here.
Update: [14 August '09]
Summer holidays have played havoc with progress on this track, so just a quick update to let people know that it isn’t forgotten. I’m hoping to receive vocals before too long. In the meantime, here’s the very latest mix of the instrumental.
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Update: [25 July '09]
Not too many changes since 22nd July update below. Just a little more work on the bass sequence, changed one oscillator and increased the level of the other. Also brightened up the “slams” in the backing to Verse 2 by tweaking the EQ.
Until the vocals are added, I really am going to leave this alone now.
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Update: [22 July '09]
Did a little more work on this last night. Beefed up the bass with a new sound from SubBoomBass, worked on the EQ for the celeste, string instruments and djembe (removed some lower frequencies from the latter so that it wouldn’t fight with the bass as much) and extended the middle verse by twelve bars to make room for the extra text.
Listened to this as it’s uploading and not so sure I like the second oscillator on the SubBoomBass track. I think I’ll swap this out later for a Half Sine (it’s the higher frequency patch which answers the lower frequency one).
Also, bass is fighting with other instruments rhythmically in some sections of the track – which it didn’t seem to on earlier versions. Feel as though I’m getting too close to this and my tweaks are sending it in the wrong direction.
Very excited about hearing the vocals and looking forward to being in a position to put a final mix together. Will work a little more on that bass line tonight. It’s strange because in 12 July update I really liked the bass!
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Download .WAV file [155Mb]
Update: [19 July '09]
I probably should wait until tomorrow before uploading this for two reasons:
- I’ve been mixing all day using two pairs of headphones and haven’t heard it on any speakers at all, let alone reference monitors which I don’t possess.
- I should give it twenty four hours to listen again with fresh ears having spent some time today working with the file.
Anyway, despite the fact that it will probably change again a few times before it’s mastered, I think it’s now time to hand over to Shahryar Saberfakhr for the vocals.
I’ve left spaces in the track for the three verses of The Wind Will Take Us by Forugh Farrokhzad which will be sung in Farsi by Shahryar Saberfakhr:
The Wind Will Take Us
In my small night, ah
the wind has a date with the leaves of the trees
in my small night there is agony of destruction
listen
do you hear the darkness blowing?
I look upon this bliss as a stranger
I am addicted to my despair.listen do you hear the darkness blowing?
something is passing in the night
the moon is restless and red
and over this rooftop
where crumbling is a constant fear
clouds, like a procession of mourners
seem to be waiting for the moment of rain.
a moment
and then nothing
night shudders beyond this window
and the earth winds to a halt
beyond this window
something unknown is watching you and me.O green from head to foot
place your hands like a burning memory
in my loving hands
give your lips to the caresses
of my loving lips
like the warm perception of being
the wind will take us
the wind will take us.
Forugh Farrokhzad
Translated by Ahmad Karimi Hakkak
The spots in the track I had in mind for the three verses are:
1′55″ -> 2′19″
2′44″ -> 3′08″
3′58″ -> 4′22″
I’m really not sure if these will be long enough (particularly for the second longer verse) and I don’t want to be prescriptive at all. If vocals fit elsewhere in the track (e.g. during the introduction) that’s fine too!
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Download .WAV file [150Mb]
Update: [15 July '09]
Had planned to work on this track last night – and wished I had trusted my instincts and left well alone. Given that I wasn’t feeling too inspired, I thought I’d do some “admin” on the Cubase file – organising tracks into folders, creating marker and arranger tracks and starting to consider structure and arrangement.
I had a few other questions to consider too:
- How long should the introduction be?
- Which instruments and effects would feature in the intro and final sections of the piece?
- How and where should the vocals be incorporated?
- Should I create a bridge?
The so-called “admin” (tidying rather than organising) is one part of the process which I find anything but creative, but since I wasn’t feeling too musically inspired, it seemed a good opportunity to take care of it. So an hour into moving things around, track and part labelling and considering the overall structure, I was horrified when Cubase froze.
I’ve set up the iMac to create backups every so often, but had neglected to do this with the MacBook, so all was lost. Thankfully, I had created a new file before I started, so the fact that I’d inadvertently deleted the entire third part of the riff (every instrument) during my rearrangement tasks was not as horrendous as it might otherwise have been.
Software crashes are a fact of life with digital musical creation, but that doesn’t make them any easier to bear! So I’m no further on with the arrangement and all the parts below are STILL playing in unison!
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Update: [12 July '09]
Didn’t get very long to work on this tonight as I was unexpectedly required to drive Dad’s Taxi. Tonight’s pick up: Three rowdy teenagers (including my highly charged 13 year old daughter) from ten pin bowling in Rochdale.
Spent some time later working on a bass line with Rob Papen’s excellent “SubBoomBass” and I’m uploading a small section here, first solo, then with one of the drum kits (no percussion) and an additional synth part. After the second time through, I add one of the melody instruments, just so you can hear how it fits together.
I know I must seem to labour this point, but this isn’t an arrangement and it isn’t mixed at all. Call it a preview of some of the instruments which may (or may not) make it to the finished track.
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Update: [10 July '09]
Pleased with how this is beginning to take shape. I’ve added another synth track – the one which opens this teaser – and some other instruments playing the lead melody. At the moment, they’re all playing in unison, which won’t happen in the final mix, except perhaps at the end.
Other than a bass (SubBoomBass from Rob Papen looks to be likely VST) and a main drum kit, which I’m still unsure as to whether I’ll add, think I have all the ducks (or camels) in a row now, so it’s time to start work on the arrangement.
I’m starting to hear this build – Ravel’s “Bolero” style – to a loud and rhythmic climax.
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Update: [9 July '09]
Spent a little more time on this last night. Worked a lot on the percussion and was able to make substantial (still early days) changes to the sound by replacing the instruments used in the melody – thanks to import of a copy of the Persian midi file which Fernando emailed me.
I also dropped the tempo by around 4bpm. I want the rhythm to “groove” and with it being predominantly based around sixteenths, I think it has more chance of doing this at a slightly slower pace.
My favourite part is still the two notes played on the FXpansion Orca (“Beating” preset) with BigSeq2 plugin effects and REVerence (Cubase 5) reverb. Simple.
There’s still no arrangement or mixing here. These are just elements I’m planning to incorporate. And I’m convinced there are a couple of bum notes in that midi file at around 0′57″.
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First upload: [8 July '09]
I only spent an hour or so last night, using the traditional_melody file uploaded by Fernando and a short drum loop of my own. I’ve added a couple of notes using Orca (FXpansion) and my favourite VST from AudioDamage, BigSeq2.
I’m uploading an eight bar teaser, but this has a LONG way to go yet!
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