Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
…
The pines were roaring on the height,
The winds were moaning in the night.
The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.
…
Lets create today variation of composition “Far Away from Misty Mountains Cold …” from film Hobbit in DAW REAPER. MIDI notes I took from Internet, thank you goes to their original author; there was almost no need to change anything in them, I only made pauses in the beginning and at the end of composition. There were only 2 instruments : playing main melody and basses, I added 1 track with additional basses to enhance composition. Melody is played by instrument DSK Overture with french horm ( to this instrument I added band compressor ) and ESI Piano, their united sound is processed by reverberation. First basses party is played by instrument DSK Strings with violas section and cello and effects phaser and small reverberation; second basses part is played by DSK Brass with french horn and tuba instrument, the same way processed by phaser and small reverberation. Via this link completed composition in FLAC format and archive with project file and sounds can be downloaded : Far Away from Misty Mountains Cold … ( Hobbit ) in DAW REAPER.
To mixed sound I applied compressor, which does not give to spikes to overflow dynamic range, and at the same time did not overcompressed it too much to leave a freedom for the movement; this way compressor touches only singular spikes areas and lets other parts to play freely. Also I increased its Release parameter, so that on the spikes following each other closely volume movement is not noticeable. Main melody instrument has one area, on which sounds with 1 – 1.5 kHz frequency are very loud; I applied band compressor to it, to reduce its volume, so that it does not cut the hearing. And made smooth automation of its Threshold parameter, so that it will not touch other areas of composition and descended to needed volume only on this part. Then, to make compositions parts more highlighted and differentiating from each other, without loose of interest and intensity, I smoothly switched off second basses track in the beginning of composition and enabled it only on the first and second strong parts, disabling it at the conclusion as well. Second part is stronger, than the first one, due to high intensity of composition, and is a culmination of the whole soundtrack, so I did not changed anything in them to increase their differentiation.
Also in the Internet I found MIDI keyboards emulator FreePiano 2, which allows to play music on usual computer keyboard and record MIDI notes; there is also ability to plug in to it different VST instruments, to hear sound close to the result, and there is ability to set layout in a convenient way. It allows to control different MIDI parameters of the track, such as sustain pedal signal, notes velocity, octaves shifting and others; after notes recording, there is ability to import them into DAW and perform more fragile notes tweaking in editor, for example, correct their timings or presses velocities. With it I made small addition in the composition conclusion, repeating basses notes, for more melodic epilogue.
Before compressors application I also balanced volumes of instruments, so that they play in accordance with each other and do not silence each other; with compressors I only withheld volume’s peaks, leading to overflows, when all other parts play in composition. I also have MIDI notes of Song of the Lonely Mountain, it is very much like this one, but longer and more complex and melodic, I’ll make its variation next time, shaping it to my taste. This is all for today, look in the REAPER project for details and write your questions in the comments, see you next time.
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Free Piano
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