Pumpkin King - Depths of the Ocean - February 11

[Pumpkin King]

So, I finished this song a few days ago. It is basically a song to illustrate a calm and flowing atmosphere for swimming underwater in the ocean. I used garageband for the strings and orchestral sounds, while using soundminer for the sound effects.

This was actually a project for one of my classes...I had to make a multitrack file for quicktime. So, basically I also had a slideshow going at the same time....which showed pictures of sea life, which you will hear a little of in the track.

It's called Depths of the Ocean. I suggest headphones for listening.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10246074

I might even post up another song this month (if it's any good ), since I will be working on something in garageband soon for one of my projects.

[ellll]

Hi Again, Appreciate your ideas always..!

Well, this one really seems to go some great places !

I love the quad notation in the last section, and the use of a major 7th with a first inversion is rather quiet, calming, and even pretty .., so, calming indeed... The aqualung sound is also VERY effective....!

The bubble-like background from the beginning was a tad strong to me but effective. Some of your sound fx. seem to be very much cetacean in sound, bringing to mind the great creatures of the ocean as well! Nice feel...

When the four note broken chords appear, (at about 1:15 ...) the ebb and flow of the sound feels very strong and moving, the instrumentation varies and I hear xylophone, piano? others? at different spots.

In the entire composition, I also hear bells and other tuned instrument sounds at times but it may be simply the bell and piano like sounds with the FX causing different additional sounds... .......,

Quite an emotional impact in any event and rather touching..., and .., I felt that a bit myself ..... it.... rather has a certain emotional appeal at that point that has a touch of real pathos in it...? ?... rather touching and powerful!

I felt it ended to quick ........., or perhaps I mean too soon ...? ?

THIS., I would like to see expanded a LOT maybe to some 6 or more min, with some solo instrumentation and maybe even the human voice as a foil for the underwater feel. also a touch of a woodwind sound...

VERY impressive to me in any event ! This is a very nice sound indeed and you should work with the idea a little? Maybe?

Most impressive!!! Thank You!

My Regards!!! Really enjoyed this!!!! John .(..Johnny ...ellll )

[Pumpkin King]

Thank you John, I'm glad you enjoyed this.

With that bubble like background noise, I had to make sure to lower the treble by a lot, or else it would sound to bright, and sound like you're above the water. It was meant to resemble swimming motions. The other sounds in the beginning were a whale, then a spooky effect to resemble a shark, and then dolphins. The rest of the sounds were underwater ambience noises.

As for the instrumentation, I used strings, a harp, and a marimba, along with that echoing beat. Also I used a xylophone and slowly faded it in at around 2:10.

I definitely could extend the song, it's just that the length was supposed to be around 2-3 minutes. And the base underwater ambience effect lasted the 3 minutes. Initially I experimented with some solo instrumentation, but it was hard to make it sound just right....slowly having the instruments fade in and out. If only I had a live orchestra right in front of me

Thanks again.

[georgeinar]

Finally got a chance to listen. The bubbles sound a bit bassy to me, maybe cut some of the lows as well. The coming and going marimba etc is a nice effect. Hey, it sounds very cool though. It's interesting what you come up with when tasked with a project with a clear direction. It's easier to compose for me when I know where I'm going. And classes are a good way to make you work out of your own box. This was interesting. I do have a plan to do an ambient piece for my cd, but I have no plan. Maybe this will serve as my inspiration.

[Pumpkin King]

Yeah, maybe i could just lower the volume overall of the bubbles. Easy to do. I'll see how it sounds, and update it today if it sounds right to me.

And yes, I love composing something when there is a clear direction...when there is a theme. I have done this before, and that idea really drives me to find the right melodies and sounds to make everything work properly.

I hope this serves as inspiration for one of your pieces then. Thanks George.

Btw, I'd just like to mention that this song was indirectly, not directly, inspired by Aquatic Ambience by David Wise. He is a video game composer, and composed songs for most of the games in the Donkey Kong Country series. I love his music, and didn't realize how my song sounded pretty similar to that. It's worth checking out. It is a surprisingly great piece of music.

[CharlesFerraro]

Btw, I'd just like to mention that this song was indirectly, not directly, inspired by Aquatic Ambience by David Wise. He is a video game composer, and composed songs for most of the games in the Donkey Kong Country series.

Hah that is EXACTLY what I was going to say, sounds like DK. I think the composition is great. Seems like a movie scoring or something that could be used in a water themed level in a video game, sound effects and all. If you were trying to use the piece in an album it would need more variance, but I'm pretty sure your aim was to create an a gentle atmosphere, not a standalone song.

[sewa]

Hi Pumpkin,

you've made a very nice soundtrack. Those whales remind me of my favorite ambient CD called Atman's Project. Really well done. I'm just curios, what is the 'class' you were referring to?


sewa

[Pumpkin King]

@Charles

Yeah, the objective was to make a multitrack audio background for a series of pictures. Music wasn't required. I had ideas for some variance, but didn't sound perfect. I wanted to have some melodic solo lead strings come in during the second part of the song, fading in and out.

@sewa

This was for Desktop Audio...almost like an introductory course for sound design, which I am majoring in. We've been working with quicktime, soundminer, a little bit of soundtrack pro, and now garageband.


Thanks for listening guys.

[ronbo27]

I`d say you`ve accomplished your objectives here......nicely done!
Cheers!
Ron

[joet63]

Hi Joe, Listening on headphones is definitely the right choice, it's so atmospheric, I love ambient stuff and this really good, well done Joe.

[Pumpkin King]

Thanks Joe and Ronbo. Much appreciated.