Andy Sim and his band Fear Wasabi were the chosen winners of our soundtrack project which saw them working with visual artist Roderick Buchanan and Glasgow’s state-of-the-art Savalas Studios to create the soundtrack to two short films, Tattoo and Lament. I caught up with them to find out about their experiences of the project and their phobia of blogging!

What was the most valuable part of the experience?

Andy: The people. I think we all learned a great deal from all those whom we worked with along the way, particularly Giles and the guys from Savalas, Gaia, and of course Roddy.

Phil: The middle, in between realisation and expectation.

Imogen: Apart from the relationships that we made with people, the technical knowledge.

What was the most memorable moment of the project?

Andy/Phil: So many to chose from…I’ll go for when Roddy really started to connect with us mixing Tattoo. What had started off as a slightly awkward process as we all tried not to step on each others’ toes, burst into life as we debated the best way of ending the piece (fade out? stop dead? when?) eventually leading us to all leaping out of our seats gesticulating wildly at the particular note which we felt it would be best to end on.

Tom: Walking into Savalas for the first time.

What was it like working with Roddy Buchanan?

All: We had some good times hanging out with Roddy. In any project, identifying roles is important. Roddy had very strong ideas of the visual content, but (I think it’s fair to say) not so much the sound…while we obviously wanted to support Roddy’s works, we also felt for ourselves that we had to make a soundtrack that had an identity beyond simply accompanying the visuals. So in a way Roddy became our boss, which we don’t think he wanted any more than us. It was interesting and educational. He taught us a lot about sticking up for your work. A good experience.

What was it like working with Giles Lamb and Savalas studios?

Andy: We had a terrific time at Savalas, and in Giles I think we found someone who was able to really connect with our approach to music. It’s mentioned in one of the blogs, but there was one point when Giles went off and left us for an hour to do some mixing, and instead we bashed a violin and recorded some weird de-tuned noise from it. On his return, Giles just grinned and said ‘cool sound’. And obviously Micheal and Ian’s astonishing speed of operation and thought just blew us away at the mixing stage.

Tom: It was blinding working with state-of-the art equipment.

How did you find the experience of documenting the project through Central Station?

Imogen: In principle it’s a great idea and I’m glad we did it, but in practise it was a tiresome obligation. I want to have the time for it, but I don’t.

Tom: I think that if I was on more of a mission, I’d have time for it, and I do see the validity in it, but it’s just not part of my life.

Andy: Initially we weren’t keen on blogging. As the project developed everyone from Fear Wasabi became more interested and keen to be involved and in a way the process fed back into our own thoughts as we created the soundtracks. The thing about the internet though, is that the process becomes an outcome, and our online diary might one day embarrass us from the past. We just have to wait and see.

There has been a rise in the amount of blogging by the other members of Fear Wasabi recently, which I’ve been glad of.  In the earlier phases of the project I worried that I was failing to properly represent them, being as we were submitting collectively and so on through my individual profile.  Writing in the 1st person can have an ego-trip effect on me, I bet this turns into a philosophical ramble of some sort…

Anyway, following our now-customary travel disaster, yesterday we were back at Savalas “plush is not the word” Studios, situated in a renovated section of the old Govan Town Hall, which we found still has it’s main hall area hidden away, in all it’s grandeur.  While part of the team played with recording the reverb in there (leaping around in the dark, frightening the janitors), the others got on with some recording and arranging in-studio.

Fear Wasabi has been referring to Giles as our “5th Horseman”.  At one point yesterday while he was out, we de-tuned a violin (a hammer would have been a more subtle method to how we achieved this) and bowed some double-stop harmonics, creating a frankly bizarre noise.  That kind of stunt would have swiftly lead to our expulsion from any orchestra in the land, but upon his return, Giles simply grinned and said “cool sound”.

Apart from being tremendously encouraging and understanding, Giles has been manning the mixing-desks for us, and until we met Iain he was the fastest man we’d ever seen at the controls of Pro-Tools.  There were one or two moments of revelation for us in there, first hearing our rough sketches played through the Dolby system in the studio, and then hearing the difference once Iain had a chance to do a quick (really quick) 5.1 mix and give the various sounds some space…completely different listening experience.  The skills these guys bring to the table totally transform whats being produced.

Yesterday afternoon also brought an always-welcome opportunity to talk with Roddy and Gaia about the ideas and sounds we have been toying with.  Different perspectives and opinions are, to my mind, essential in the creation of work that is interesting and satisfying not only to those making it, but objectively too.  I can’t help but feel privileged to have been able to work with such a group of diverse talent as this.

Enough talking about working, best go get on with some!

Andy (Fear Wasabi)

PS. Told you I’d ramble.

buses.

disappearing. breaking.

cars.

high speed chasing.

the small orange metro glow of underground glasgow.

a walk to the studio in the right direction.

horses galloping.

children running.

coffee shaking.

around the worlds with pictures meeting sounds and

around the words with ideas and positions and intense tiny movements confined in spaces between one wednesday and the next.

this is time travelling

bouncing back between here and there

and forth between cuts and locks and edits and changes and the

time is stretching

shared equally among friends and pulled tight to accomodate the right amount of bounce for free falling ideas from all the directions around.

what amazing places to go

the studio is max

its the tardis- all lovely on the inside and we are surrounded by the people and things which help you hear what you are trying to say.

its 5.1 (a new 5th horseman)- we are all there and the sub bass is underneath us.

all the frequencies

it all went click clack compacted, and then WE broke free and made the sounds we didnt know we wanted to make.

and then it was time to go

return

back on the bus

backsides on the back seats.

back to dundee

back to thinking about the future

and how we are going to fit

everything into the time

stretching from here to then.

thanks to roddy and giles

Roddy talked to us about the difficulties in the collaborative process, and elaborated upon his ongoing involvement with the project. We discussed with him our ideas that had been previously presented as sketchy, partial recordings. We played our most up-to-date composition for Lament, and heard Roddy’s comments. Gladly, he was honest about aspects that he thought were inappropriate, and thankfully, these were generally details of the composition which we agreed needed work.

Our initial priority was to record an important aspect of the Lament soundtrack – so the first thing we focused on was clapping. In a flamenco style rhythm, to speed up in time with each other… we did many takes, some approaching the desired effect. It felt good doing this; building a rhythm together. Some takes were just one or two of us, others were all four – with Giles faithfully manning the mixing desk.

Our mentor at the studio, Giles was with us throughout the day, lending us his professional expertise, giving us both advice and encouragement to follow our own ideas. In many ways we were all pretty clear, and agreed, on the approach we were taking to the two pieces; though with Lament there was some doubt over the structure of the composition. We spent time discussing this. There were objectives we felt unable to progress on until the final voice recording was made for this piece. We also realised that the newest cut of the Tattoo video, being significantly longer, would require us to re-record our soundtrack piece for it. Chatting to Giles about the facilities available, as well as the techniques we could use to sculpt or enhance our recordings, we were able to plan what we needed to do in time for the next session at Savalas, and used our last hour or so to record some improvised tangents. The session therefore concluded with a sense of achievement, and as we made our way back to Dundee we firmed our resolutions for the next stage in the plan.

The guys are beavering away as we speak – refining their ideas and trying some more stuff out with a view to spending the day on wednesday in our foley/recording studio to explore all our sound props, sfx library and record some old fashioned playing of musical instruments.  with a mix of video artist, sound artist and classically trained musicians, we are confident of something that will work with Roddy’s film.  Onwards

I’m a little stuck for words (particularly non-cliched ones), being as I genuinely never expected us to win.  In fact, I suspect we haven’t, and this is either a strange dream or The Matrix.
This began as soon as the other finalist’s entries were posted online: Nil’s and Daniel’s were ingenious, Lu Sisi’s was incredibly brave, Jonnie’s excellent and Martin’s seemed to be along similar lines to our entry, except much better.  I felt distinctly like an outsider in this group; they were all far too good.  Rogue cells in the back of my brain crackle, convinced that there has been some mistake.

The strange and wonderful place/thing that is the internet has permeated this entire project for us.  During one recording-session, a member of our group could only be present via Skype, peering out of a laptop screen at the rest of us, occasionally sending opinions and/or files back and forth.  Checking the project page on CenSta became a daily ritual.  Blogging (or Clogging, as we came to call it) after some initial reticence, became fun.

In fact it’s all been fun, and continues to be (now with the added pressure of expectation, of course) for which we are honoured and grateful to all involved.  As always, we can’t wait for the next step!

Andy (Fear Wasabi)

I’m sitting in the dark, in the middle of a thunder storm anticipating stern words from my producer.

My location changed these last few days and that’s turned my head. As a matter of fact it’s an issue of professional practice. ‘Composer Wanted’ had me tied to the computer last week and I really burnt the midnight oil on the road to developing a first cut, then selecting a collaborator to run over the finish line with (next month). However, like everyone else out there in art land, I’m working other projects too. I can happily report that I was working on ‘Helpfindmyneighbour.com’  today towards an important journey tomorrow, so although I know Gaia is going to give me a hard time in 5 minutes (it’s her job), I don’t regret a thing.

Yours Aye, Roddy Buchanan

It’s a wrap!

The Roderick Buchanan Soundtrack project culminated in last Sunday’s event at Inspace at the Edinburgh International Film Festival . It was an opportunity to share this adventure with an audience, chart the project genesis and get to know all the talented individuals who brought this experiment to life. I would like to take this occasion to say a big thank you to Savalas, Fear Wasabi and Roddy Buchanan for all their hard work and their enthusiasm in accepting this challenge and also to the Edinburgh International Film Festival for their support and Inspace for being such a fantastic host. And, of course, thanks very much to all the members of this group who followed the project all along with great interest and anticipation! You can now watch Tattoo and Lament by clicking on the links.

We’d love to keep hearing from you!

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14.06.10

As eloquently described by Fear Wasabi’s Phil in his blog, we did indeed hit a crucial deadline for the project last Friday at Savalas, as the soundtracks and final mixes for Roddy Buchanan’s Tattoo and Lament were finally completed during an intense, fast-paced, caffeine-fuelled afternoon in the dubbing suite -  under the incredibly patient supervision of another one of Savalas‘s sound gurus, Micheal.

So, here we are (nearly). I don’t mean to sound corny, but it does feel just like yesterday when we were sitting in Central Station revising the submissions from all the composers with Giles, while Roddy was talking to us from Australia through a laptop screen. It’s been all very fast, a real challenge and it’s truly exhilarating to see it all coming together.

However…it’s not over yet. For a producer, one of the most panic-inducing parts of the production process it’s getting the masters organised and delivered and that’s exactly what I will be focusing on in the next few days, in view of the screening this Sunday at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where we’ll be finally able to unveil the results of all this work.

I would like to use this occasion to remind everyone who has been following this group and is interested in joining us for a free drink, a screening and a presentation of the genesis of the project, that you can book a free ticket by ringing EIFF’s box office on 0131 623 8030 or in person at the Filmhouse.

Hope to see you there!

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10.06.2010

So the embargo has been lifted and the much awaited programme of the Edinburgh International Film Festival has finally been revealed.I must admit that this year it has been particularly exciting for me with my two hats as Short Film Programmer for EIFF and producer of the Roderick Buchanan Soundtrack project. As Roddy and Matt are polishing final edits and Fear Wasabi are working away at Savalas to complete the soundtrack, I am now delighted to be able to reveal a few more details about the event the Composer Wanted initiative will culminate in.

We are thrilled to be hosted by one of the exciting new venues of the Festival, state-of-the-art Inspace, the University of Edinburgh’s laboratory exploring the synergy between informatics and new media practice. Aptly labelled Sound:Image:Art, the event will showcase the two pieces of experimental filmmaking produced as part of this audio-visual collaboration as well as a panel presentation charting the evolution of the project and the possibilities offered by Central Station to devise more creative collaborations of this kind among its members.

It’s guaranteed to be an evening of discovery, in the best spirit of EIFF, where you’ll be able to hear from all the people involved about the opportunities as well as the challenges offered by this sort of ground-breaking collaborative process.

The event is free but ticketed and you don’t have to be a delegate to attend.The best way to book a space is through the Festival’s box office, either in person at the Filmhouse or over the phone on 0131 623 8030. Please note that tickets for this event cannot be booked online.

So here is the info for your diaries: Sunday 20th June at 9pm at Inspace. Come along, learn about Central Station, have a look around the site, watch some faboulous films and have a drink on us!

EIFF will be releasing a blog about the event in the next couple of days, I won’t fail to keep you posted!

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31.05.10

Roddy certainly didn’t get too much of a chance to rest from his long-haul flight from Australia as we went straight into a voice recording with actor Billy Mack the morning after his arrival! We met Billy at Savalas Studios and after having a chat over coffee to discuss the idea behind Paddy’s Lament and the way it’s going to be used as part of a short film piece – as explained by Roddy in his creative blog – Kahl at Savalas took great care of us at the mixing deck. By fine-tuning his storytelling approach with each reading, Billy did a fantastic job in bringing the text to life under Roddy’s direction.

This week is going to be packed with important dates for the project. Last week Fear Wasabi had their first full-day session at Savalas during which they met Roddy for the first time, exchanged ideas and used the studio’s facilities under Giles’s guidance. Imogen recounts their adventure in her latest blog inclusive of pictures documenting the band recording in the studio as well as the slightly less exciting aspects of their trip from Dundee to Glasgow, which was fraught with an unexpected logistical problem!

Tom, another member of Fear Wasabi, also gives his rendition of their first session at Savalas in the form of a beautifully fragmented account capturing the short, glimps-like nature of the creative process characterising this project and the diverse group of people who are bringing it to life.

Tomorrow our editor Matt and Roddy will meet up at Central Station’s headquarters to lock the picture for both pieces to be able to provide Fear Wasabi with it in time for their next recording session at Savalas on Wednesday. To add a ittle bit of glamour to all this, tomorrow is also the day of the launch of the programme of Edinburgh International Film Festival, so I will soon be able to reveal the details of the special event as part of which the Roderick Buchanan Soundtrack project will be showcased. In the meantime, grab yourself a programme and look out for us!

The week will wrap up on Friday with yet another sound session at Savalas, which will bring us very close to having a final soundtrack and mix.

So more news to come very soon!

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24.05.10
Exciting week ahead for the Roderick Buchanan Soundtrack project!

Andy, Imogen, Tom and Philip (aka Fear Wasabi) are putting together ideas for their first session at Savalas Studios on Wednesday. As described by Giles’s latest blog entry, last week’s meeting with the band highlighted how stimulating it can be for a group rather than a single individual to work on a soundtrack when everyone brings in their unique talent and expertise and keeps the process fresh with their input and criticism.

Today Roddy is coming back from stormy Australia to sunny Scotland – how crazy is that? – painfully jet lagged but with a busy diary ahead! As he was 30,000 feet above the ground, he managed to put together a creative blog outlining the history behind  the Soundtrack Project and where he drew the inspiration from for the two short films. If you have been following us, I’m sure you’ll find this an interesting reading.

On Wednesday we will all be at Savalas where Fear Wasabi will meet Roddy for the first time to talk through some of their ideas before spending the day in the studio with Giles‘s support to make the most of Savalas’s facilities. On Thursday morning, Giles and his team will be our hosts us again as we are back in their studios for the voice recording of Paddy’s Lament with actor Billy Mack.

On the visuals front, picture will be locked for both projects this week, our editor Matt has put the finishing touches and adjusted frame lengths and timings as per Roddy’s latest notes.

The planning for the EIFF event is also shaping up, but with the Festival programme under strict embargo until 1st June, I’m afraid I’m not allowed to reveal any details just yet but I promise I will provide more information as soon as the mystery can be unveiled!

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19.05.10

As you know by now, the much awaited announcement of the winner of the Roderick Buchanan Soundtrack competition has been finally made!

In his latest blog, Giles from Savalas gave an extensive breakdown of the selection process as well as providing detailed feedback on all the submissions, a truly inventive and inspiring variety of approaches. After much consideration Andy Sim was selected, much to his genuine surprise and excitement, as you can read directly in his words as he describes how elated he felt at the thought of embarking on this journey to complete the soundtrack for Roddy’s audiovisual explorations. A journey which indeed starts this afternoon, when we are going to have the first meeting with Andy and his faithful band Fear Wasabi at Savalas to discuss the 2 weeks and a half ahead of us.

On the other side of the globe, Roddy has been following the process closely whilst travelling around the country to end up in a very stormy Sydney. As we were having our regular skpye update, the sound of slamming doors and creaking walls trickled down the internet pipe making it all sound very spooky! Needless to say, Roddy sounded very excited about the way things were progressing forwards! As he expected to be told off by me, I decided to use an extra gentle approach and sweetly remind him of all the forthcoming stages by providing him with a neat list of unmissable deadlines. No pressure! This project is moving very fast indeed but it gets more exciting by the day.

On the visuals front, our editor Matt has been revising the cuts for both pieces, which are now very close to a polish stage, as you can read in his latest update.

Off to Savalas now to meet Giles and Andy and do some more planning.

Keep following us!

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17.05.10

And the winner is…
Well, not quite time for this yet, just a couple more hours and an official announcement will be made on the group by Giles from Savalas, who will be able to give a clued-in breakthrough of the selection process and feedback on the all the submissions we received.

What I can say so far is that, as I’m sure you can imagine, making a decision wasn’t easy, certainly not when you are dealing with such a talented bunch of people. What we hope is that everyone benefited from taking part in the project and, more importantly, that all the composers will stay involved and follow the forthcoming developments. I will regularly update this blog with news so keep your eyes peeled!

Talking about what’s coming next, starting from this week the winner will spend time at Savalas studios and work with Giles to bring his ideas for the soundtrack to life. The visuals are very close to a final picture sign off – brilliantly overcoming timezones,our editor Matt and Roddy have managed to bounce ideas back and forth and nearly finalise the overall structure of the pieces. You’ll read directly from Roddy about his vision on the group, so far I can briefly say that this collaborative project will culminate in two pieces of shortfilmmaking: an exploration of the collective identity of Parkhead Republican Fluteband in the shape of a journey through their tattoos, and a a juxtaposition of audiovisual sources to create historical perspective between two situations distant in time but resonant with common concerns.

Savalas will mentor the composer through a 3-week process culminating in the final soundtrack for both pieces, which will be showcased as part of a special event in June at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010, so all very exciting!  More about this event will be released on Central Station in the coming weeks.

Keep following the group for updates from all of us, join the group if you haven’t already and talk about the project on your social networks: the more interest we generate, the better! It’s a unique collaborative opportunity for an emerging composer and we would really appreciate your help in giving it as much exposure and online presence as possible.

Check later today for the winner announcement and don’t forget to have a peek tomorrow for the winner’s initial reactions as well as the other composers’ thoughts about taking part in the project.

Over and out for now.

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13.05.10 Rough cuts…

In his first blog uur editor Matt Rochester talks about how he got involved with the project.

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13.05.10 Nearly There!

All the submissions are now in and have been sent around as far away as Australia, where Roddy has been eagerly waiting for them!

We are ready to start the reviewing process and, as the project producer, I’m personally very excited to see how each composer has envisaged and translated Roddy’s ideas into a soundscape. The blog entries have provided a precious and really stimulating insight into the composers’ creative processes and personal approach.

I would like to thank all the composers for all the time, effort and passion they’ve put into this project and for having shared their talent and inspiration on this group. We would encourage you to continue using this forum to keep the dialogue open and generate debate. The winner will use this space to chart the progress of his collaboration with Savalas in sculpting the soundtrack for Roddy’s visual explorations of collective identity and historical perspective.

I hope this experience has been as enriching for you as it has been for us. Time to start reviewing now.

The winner will be announced online on Monday. Watch this space!

Gaia

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12.05.10

Some final thoughts from our composers as they hit the submissions deadline!

http://bit.ly/soundblogJC2

http://bit.ly/soundblogAS3

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10.05.10

As Martin outlines in his blog entry, having some visuals to work from really ignites the creative process for a composer!

Roddy and our editor Matt have worked together on an edit which has been made available to all the composers. Andy’s initial reactions to this rough cut reinforced the direction he had decided to take his soundtrack in, while Nils’s blog provides a very interesting insight on how the visuals have sparked his imagination.

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3.05.10

Composers Andy Sim, Nils Miguel Meisel, Martin Rebelski and Jonnie Common share their thoughts about taking part in the project and how they are going to approach it:

http://bit.ly/soundblogAS1

http://bit.ly/soundblogNMM1

http://bit.ly/soundblogPLISH1

http://bit.ly/soundblogJC1

First of all I am sorry for not having posted many comments and information about my creative process. I have been very busy working. I know that there is always time to write something into the blog, but I am a very slow writer and my “Avatar” is a bit shy. It feels like the Russian doll effect, first having to write in a different language and than projecting my “internet presence” or avatar into a different culture, oh yes so it is, if I would just directly translate my thinking from Portuguese into English believe me that some things would sound rather strange or even wired.

Anyway… today I am going to talk a little about my creative process, ideas I have taken and ideas I have abandoned. The short listed sound designers or composers were asked to prepare two soundtracks for the Savalas/Roderick Buchanan soundtrack project. The projects are entitled “Tattoos” and “Paddy’s Lament”.

TATTOOS
As the title suggests, the video is composed by a sequence of Tattoo photos. The tattoos show pictures of Irish/Scottish national identity, pictures of imprisonment, of religious meaning, violence, death, oppression and symbols of freedom and hope. The tattoos are united by the same ideas and aspirations. The sequence of Tattoos tell a story in images, I will try to tell the story in sounds. I started by doing some research into related conflicts in Glasgow: Celtic v.s Rangers, Catholic v.s Protestant, Unionists v.s Republicans and so on. The only thing that keeps repeating is the “v.s”, representing conflict, competition, opposites and dialectic, the idea that one must be right and the other must be wrong. My first sketches are a result of the idea of conflict. I posted one .mp3 audio track, where you can hear the sketches. The audio track is divided in 5 parts: 1 is the sound of a football game, you hear to ball being kicked from the left speaker, the ball will hit a church bell in the right speaker, the idea is to combine the competitive element of football with religious elements. The second track is the sound of a table tennis game, again the sound goes from left to right to give the idea of conflict between two parts, but I have inserted the third part, as it is “collateral damage” goes always to the weaker parts like babies. The third sketch begins with the sound of a military tin drum and a church bell, mixing the religious and military elements, the sketch is composed by five national hymns, two of those hymns belong to countries starting with the letter “I” and the other one with “U” and the other with an “A”.  This made me think a lot, as national hymns have a very strong military and nationalist element, all national hymns are marching music, and some of the well known hymns have rather odd lyrics, telling us to kill and so on. The fourth sketch is directly linked to the physical element of the tattoo: the skin, so in the fourth track you will hear the sound of hands scrubbing skin, I was almost tempted to take this idea for the final submission, by adding the sound of someone taking a shower and whistling a hymn, having the element of naked skin, the water has another connotation. And finally the 5th and final sketch is very simple, but works as an idea, I managed to find all national hymns of the world and mixed them into one track, the result is noise and confusion, talking about the incommunicability between nations. These are only sketches that I used as an brainstorm exercise for the final sound. For tattoos I want to keep a very “close-up” approach, amplifying and recontextualizing everyday sounds.

PADDY’S LAMENT

Paddy’s Lament makes a historical link between past and contemporary conflicts. Paddy’s Lament is text rewritten by the author Thomas Gallagher. It is based on the original text by the English Rev. Osborne during his visit to western Ireland in 1840. Osborne writes in a rather poetic and romantic way about the famine situation of those times, showing a certain sarcasm and indifference to the situation. Thomas Gallagher’s reinterpretation emphasizes this “polite” and distant approach. It tells the situation where a young girl runs ceaseless after a coach, without words she begs because she is hungry, Rev. Osbourne and his friend sit in the coach and make comments about her will and resistance and only give her something when they fear she could die of exhaustion. It is a story of resistance. This text will be read out loud and than cuts into a similar situation filmed by American troops in Iraq. For the first part (text) I decided to have a more cinematic approach and build a more movie like soundscape to be in consonance with the romantic and poetic point of view, that I think is the main point of the text. I think that the text should be read with an Irish or American accent. Some parts of the text are talks between the English characters present in the text, in those cases the accent should be English-English. So, my approach to this soundtrack is straight dramatic and cinematographic. So is the music I have composed, resembling a little bit Yann Tiersen, but I only noticed after… the idea was to make a music that would create the “strange harmony” between the girls legs and the coach as described in the text. But when it cuts to the “real” video of the similar situation, I think we should keep the original sound, so the impact will be greater between the “poetic” atmosphere and the pure reality of the youtube video.

RESUMING:
Both videos can have a political approach in terms of sound. My work should only have a complementary relation to the ideas and images of Roddy. Sound has the power to change the meaning of any image, I try to work intuitively on both. I would like to give my own opinions on the subject explored but that is a personal matter. I will try to hit the target from a certain distance.

QUESTIONS:
Giles: What do you think about my “sonic ideas”? what approach would you take on Cinematic music for Paddy’s Lament?

Roddy: What do you thinks about my approach in relation to the poetic/romantic v.s The Real? Can I read your work that way? Can I ask you to talk a little about the historicity in your works?

Cheers

Roddy’s Reply:
Hi there, I’ve only just discovered the blogging element on this ‘Roderick Buchanan’s Soundtrack page’.

Cheers for throwing your research open for all to see.

It’s very exposed out there isnt it. I had Matt the editor sending me files to proof that went out to you guys before I even had the chance to say yes, no or maybe.

I’m trying to get closer to the visual today – just as you guys send in work to coax us on board with your ideas.

It’s a tough world out their – ‘Hump of die’ as Mel brooks would say in the ‘History of the World, Part 7′.

From your audio files I liked the showering sounds and the football crowds and bell.

However, whatever you offer I’ll give it my full attention, I’m also working flat out to bring this thing together as well, fingers crossed for all of us.
RB

Giles’ Reply:
sorry for taking so long to reply.  Likewise thanks for opening up your process.  It isnt easy and I must say I have always taken refuge in the privacy of music creation particulrly as it is so much judged in the eye of the beholder.  I am a firm believer in being as intuitive as possible when working to picture, if it ‘works’ for you then it will ‘work for the audience – whether people like it or not is a different matter.  You have really thought about the juxtapositional issues of sectarianism – not something I know a lot about but very much at the root of Roddy’s work.  I quote Roddy in saying he doesnt like dramatic artifice – he is a reality man which in some ways makes this whole process full of juxtaspoisitons because music’s power is in taking the audience away from reality and having ones emotional perceptions ‘manipulated’ altering how you percieve the pictures.  I love dramtic artifice and feel cinema is all about that.  The great thing with Paddy’s lament is with no pictures, the sound is the experience so you have a lot of creative scope.  Yes go cinematic especially as we have surround sound mixing – lets make the most of it.  I agree the contrast could work between the cinematic vs utube reality – I think you could use the sound to suggest the parallels between the narratives.  All great stuff.  look forward to hearing more.