- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Here's the description of my piece "Shakedown Time"
It's pretty lengthy with its 6 minutes, It's my take on the Halo universe, inspired by the original soundtrack, not by its melodies (which are awesome don't get me wrong), but rather by its overall mood generated by the instruments that are being used and style of playing. This is supposed to be like the song which has all the themes of the soundtrack in there, John Williams and Hans Zimmer often uses the kind of technique where they puts all the themes they used troughout the movie in one big epic song, which is often the longest on the soundtrack. (not that my song compares to their compositions, but just to give you guys an idea why it's so long)
What follows is a description of what goes on in there instrumentalwise, and is probably pretty lousy just to read it by itself:D
Go here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/468559/ad248014/sharing.html
Be aware that the volume of the mp3 is quite low, I couldn't quite get it up to the right level. I made it with my keyboard and Cubase.
Although the beginning of the piece has a sort of apocalyptic feel to it, with only a choir and a piano to set the tone, there is overall feeling of revenge (let's face it, the Covenant pretty much thrashed the planet already) as well as hope troughout the song. Gradually the tension is built up as more instruments come and join in. First the horns, followed by the strings who take on the weight of the song as they accompany a duel between horns and choir (with some piano and harp backing up the latter). The volume continues to swell as the lead violins and flutes join the fight, duelling trough contrasting contrasting melodies. They converge in a theme which is the first real "hero tune" of the song. As the piano comes in again the tension is risen to it's utter peak, with a single violin taking the deep breath before the plunge.
Then it's main theme time, the second "hero theme"which has been hintend troughout the piece, played multiple times in stark contrast a piano/choir interlude that is followed by the very final build up to the complete theme, which ends brutally, just like Halo 2, or the trailer of Halo 3 for that matter, (hopefully) leaving you wanting more. Hungry to finish the fight of all fights. Hence Shakedown Time, A Max Payne quote, a part of it anyway.
[Edited on 6/5/2006]