Let's do some Gothic metal. Quite literally, the source melody is from the late 1300s.
Image is from Dunrobin Castle in Scotland. The exterior looks like a classic Hollywood French castle, but the innermost walls are from the stone keep built in 1401.
Dr Frog and I had planned something of a folk metal epic this week, but getting time to work is always rough at the beginning of the semester. We had lyrics, but not enough time to treat it the way we want. Another week!
So, it was a question of what to do this week. Part of that was settled by AiDeRen - in week 32, AiReDen mentioned that what I was doing on the guitars at one point sounded like a Bombarde - a medieval Breton instrument related to the oboe. So when I was late-night scroll shopping and saw a bombarde (for $35!) there was no question - I had to get it. That's the bagpipe type thing you hear in the fast section at the end.
I wasn't sure what melody to use - if to go with one of my own, or another historical. I was led here by a playlist I've been listening to on Spotify: Historical Medieval Bangers (I love the name. Also accurate). Douce Dame Joulie is a French song from the late 1300s composed by Guillaume de Machaut. I'm also familiar with the melody from the New World Renaissance Band, who did a version on their album Where Beauty Moves and Wit Delights (one of my favorites of renaissance music). Melody direction: set.
Then, TheDaeVolta sent me a Reel of someone doing renaissance music with some unconventional methods - bowing an open-tuned mandolin. You may have heard me, I ran so fast to the studio to try it out. It works! But I also broke one of my bows trying. Wasn't sure if bowing the mandolin caused it (probably wasn't) but I was disinclined to try again. But, it reminded me that I have a violin LOL That'll show up later in the drones I've set for the track with Dr Frog. I also used the open tuned mandolin in this track, added some great texture in the acoustic sections.
My big excitement for the week - PLENTY OF TIME. I pretty much spent Saturday putting this together, and then finalized on Sunday morning.
Other notes: lots of drones - I made extensive use of the Ra sample pack from EastWest for the hurdy gurdy and percussion, as well as an actual bagpipe chanter and various hand percussion. Also added some synth flavors to fill out the sound in the heavy section.
I love the heavy middle section. It always amuses me when my influences pop out - it's like, so this is what it would sound like if Type O Negative were medieval troubadours....
The end was a bit of a challenge - I knew I wanted to end on a faster section with the bombardes, but the initial struggle was figuring the key. Then - the bombard is in Bb, but I wanted to play the main melody in Am. deeckzeven, AiDeRen and Leo came in clutch on the Discord for helping me figure out how to pivot up a semitone. I'm not good at key changes in a song!
Final challenge: I wanted to end the song revisiting the melody from the beginning but in teh new key and tempo. Am is Not A Problem on recorder, but Bbm? Problem - five flats on an open hole instrument is a non-starter for me. So, I did it the easy way. I recorded it at the ending tempo in A minor, and then pitch-shifted it up one semitone. Done!
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