Monday, April 25, 2011
Raag Yaman meets Sonar X1
Well... For those who came in late, I brought myself a copy of Sonar X1 a couple of months back. Its been a roller-coaster ride ever since. Amidst the frustrations of a bug-ridden software to the learning of an entirely new way of doing things, I have seen my self reading hoards of online articles and forums. But now that's in the past. Lets talk a little about this new piece I made.
Raag Yaman by RagsInRags
For starters, this piece is based on Raag Yaman - usually the first raaga that a student of Hindustani music is taught (at least that's what the Internet says). But I started off with (Bhairav) and that did not quite turn out to be the way I wanted it. So this time, I got into quite a lot of reading and it has taken me 2 months of relentless nights and long hours to come up with this piece.
The idea was to place the listener in an auditorium. Imagining myself on RAIT stage performing during Aakarshan does the trick for me. For you, the piece starts with the general bustle of a crowd in an auditorium. Like any Indian Raaga Recital, this piece starts with the "Shruti" (drone) on the tambura.
I read somewhere that for any Raaga recital, you have to first establish the root. So the initial bend towards C is meant to serve this purpose. The short initial piece establishes the 5th and then gets back to reinforce C. The next step is to introduce the Raag. While there are many ways of doing this, I (being a novice) chose to recite a melody close to the standard "Pakad" of the raag (Ni Re Ga Re Sa - Pa Ma Ga Re Sa).
Sequencing the flute piece had its own challenges. For one, I could not find many electronic instruments out there with a true sound of the "Bansuri". The few that I got did not allow for expressions like the "swell" or the bend ("meend"). But I finally managed to design my very own flute based on various samples and my X1.
The strings (orchestra) has been mixed differently this time. In the past, I have usually used a Triton Patch that gave the full strings. But such mixes very soon ended up being muddy and noisy. So again with a lot of reading I figured that you can get a much cleaner mix separating out the 4 types of strings (Violins, Viola, Cello & Double Base). These are set as 4 tracks which are each panned differently to give that "Spatial" feel.
When I last made Dark Secrets, my buddy and best pal challenged me to get off my usual 4x4 beat pattern. So I chose the Indian taal Rupak (3+2+2) to do this composition. Tabla was the obvious choice of instrument. Then again there was a lot of reading to get some standard Rupak variations, fills and ends. The result is quite a "close-to" realistic feel of a person playing the Tabla.
With just a 7-beat rhythm through out, the composition started to sound like a devotional hymn (the Rupak is most often used for devotional hymns). So I decided to spice it up a bit. After the flute piece, there is a mish-mash of a 7 beat and a 4x4 beat measure. The Sitar asks - "ready for the meter change?" (in 3+2+2). The strings reply - "Yes, Ready" (in 4+4). The Sitar coaxes - "Alright then, change the beat" (in 3+2+2). The Strings acknowledge (in 4x4) and continues with a short piece in 4x4.
Changing the beat back to Rupak was a little tricky. So I employed the infamous orchestral trick of using the French Horn to signal change. The french horn is like a war cry and the double base supports it with a change to the marching beat.
The last part is where the piece builds up some tension and climax. I could not employ the usual suspects of using a sus-4 chord or other augmented harmonies. So I just chose to rise through all the notes of the scale with the root still playing. In the last part the vocal chorus (singing "Raag Ya-man" - for those who have not figured it out yet) and the double base following the vocal establishes the root and keeps it firm through the movement. The Brass section then just walks up the notes of the raag in harmony (C, D, Em, F#dim, G, Am, Bm and C).
So... all this work is worth the applause at the end, dont you think?
Happy listening and keep the comments coming.
Until next time....
(Disclaimer: I might write like I know what I am talking about. But this is just the internet speaking ;-))
Raag Yaman by RagsInRags
For starters, this piece is based on Raag Yaman - usually the first raaga that a student of Hindustani music is taught (at least that's what the Internet says). But I started off with (Bhairav) and that did not quite turn out to be the way I wanted it. So this time, I got into quite a lot of reading and it has taken me 2 months of relentless nights and long hours to come up with this piece.
The idea was to place the listener in an auditorium. Imagining myself on RAIT stage performing during Aakarshan does the trick for me. For you, the piece starts with the general bustle of a crowd in an auditorium. Like any Indian Raaga Recital, this piece starts with the "Shruti" (drone) on the tambura.
I read somewhere that for any Raaga recital, you have to first establish the root. So the initial bend towards C is meant to serve this purpose. The short initial piece establishes the 5th and then gets back to reinforce C. The next step is to introduce the Raag. While there are many ways of doing this, I (being a novice) chose to recite a melody close to the standard "Pakad" of the raag (Ni Re Ga Re Sa - Pa Ma Ga Re Sa).
Sequencing the flute piece had its own challenges. For one, I could not find many electronic instruments out there with a true sound of the "Bansuri". The few that I got did not allow for expressions like the "swell" or the bend ("meend"). But I finally managed to design my very own flute based on various samples and my X1.
The strings (orchestra) has been mixed differently this time. In the past, I have usually used a Triton Patch that gave the full strings. But such mixes very soon ended up being muddy and noisy. So again with a lot of reading I figured that you can get a much cleaner mix separating out the 4 types of strings (Violins, Viola, Cello & Double Base). These are set as 4 tracks which are each panned differently to give that "Spatial" feel.
When I last made Dark Secrets, my buddy and best pal challenged me to get off my usual 4x4 beat pattern. So I chose the Indian taal Rupak (3+2+2) to do this composition. Tabla was the obvious choice of instrument. Then again there was a lot of reading to get some standard Rupak variations, fills and ends. The result is quite a "close-to" realistic feel of a person playing the Tabla.
With just a 7-beat rhythm through out, the composition started to sound like a devotional hymn (the Rupak is most often used for devotional hymns). So I decided to spice it up a bit. After the flute piece, there is a mish-mash of a 7 beat and a 4x4 beat measure. The Sitar asks - "ready for the meter change?" (in 3+2+2). The strings reply - "Yes, Ready" (in 4+4). The Sitar coaxes - "Alright then, change the beat" (in 3+2+2). The Strings acknowledge (in 4x4) and continues with a short piece in 4x4.
Changing the beat back to Rupak was a little tricky. So I employed the infamous orchestral trick of using the French Horn to signal change. The french horn is like a war cry and the double base supports it with a change to the marching beat.
The last part is where the piece builds up some tension and climax. I could not employ the usual suspects of using a sus-4 chord or other augmented harmonies. So I just chose to rise through all the notes of the scale with the root still playing. In the last part the vocal chorus (singing "Raag Ya-man" - for those who have not figured it out yet) and the double base following the vocal establishes the root and keeps it firm through the movement. The Brass section then just walks up the notes of the raag in harmony (C, D, Em, F#dim, G, Am, Bm and C).
So... all this work is worth the applause at the end, dont you think?
Happy listening and keep the comments coming.
Until next time....
(Disclaimer: I might write like I know what I am talking about. But this is just the internet speaking ;-))
