Wednesday, June 18, 2008 "Silence"

That's the name of the song I'm currently developing for "Dark Ritual". And no, it's not 3 minutes of nothing.

It's actually a departure from anything I've ever done before. The entire song will be made up almost entirely of vocal sounds. Most will be layers that are clearly voices, but a few will be "instrumental" material created by disguising vocal material with a multitude of effects until it sounds nothing like a human voice.

I've just arranged to have a Cello player record some material for an instrumental bridge, but that will likely be the only non-vocal sound in the song.

The composition is a different process as well. Usually, I create the melody first, inventing the chord structure after the melody has been completely established. Then I record once I have the chord structure figured out. But now I'm recording and mixing the melody before I know what the chord structure will be.

I'm also recording some vocal loops in the same key as the song, but without knowing yet where I may use them. So the recording process is very different for me since I'm basically needing to create all of my "loops" and "synth pads" with my own voice.

So it all feels just a little backward, but it's an enjoyable change of method for me. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work. See ya!

-Paeter Frandsen