Caustic Song file (optional):
***VIDEO NOW ON YOUTUBE***
Slightly "borrowed" video, but better than a static photo lol. Check it out at:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg0_TJFHoUA
A while back, I posted a tune called "The Abyss Looking Back" (http://singlecellsoftware.com/node/11807) and at the time, I said it reminded me of a tune from a film that I couldn't place, but it was stuck in my head. I since discovered it was actually "Time" by Hans Zimmer from Inception and was pretty different from my tune.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k
So I started trying to make my own version of it as a learning exercise and here it is. I learned so much from it, especially about subtlety and nuance. I still haven't nailed it, but it's more a case of 14 channels vs a full orchestra. The way the original ramps up almost without you noticing is breathtaking. There are sounds that are barely there but noticeable by their absence. The guy is pure genius and I hope I've not done the original a disservice.
I hope you enjoy this and please feel free to comment, good or bad.
If anyone's interested in the caustic file, let me know and I'll post it for you.
I still have possibly the worst headphones in the world, but other things have priority at the moment, so apologies if it sounds bad tonally. I tried to mimic things as I heard them. When I eventually get decent headphones again, I will no doubt have another stab at it.
Enjoy
Whenever I hear this song, I chills, and this time also.
Alexei, you have accomplished your mission !
Great works
PS : yes, for sure I m interested in the caustic file, I also want to learn from you
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/deeplowdocus
Will post the file for you dude. Glad you approve. I posted the YouTube of the original on facebook, saying how amazing it is that nothing but sound can move you more than physical force. I'm the same with this tune and I dont understand why, cos it's not a complicated piece, chords-wise, but thats just a testament to Hans Zimmer's genius; that he can stir so much emotion with so little.
Thanks for the comment :-)
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Insta @alexeibourdan
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Excellent work on that cover. I have pretty decent ear buds (or at least I hope so at $150) and it sounds pretty damn good to me. Cool how it ramped up like you were saying. I'll have to go and listen to the original now. I can only name 3 theatrical composers and I totally agree with you about Hans Zimmer. Believe it or not, what made me a fan was the gladiator dvd. I fell asleep one night with the menu music looping over and over and woke up the next morning a fan lol.
Just curious how long it took you to do it. And did you jump back and forth to the original? The other 2 composers btw are Vangelis and John Carpenter.
OK, had a listen to the original, then listened to this. My opinion is you've done a fantastic rendition, it sounds very authentic, and you have captured the nuances with great skill, really well done. Hans Zimmer is a favourite of mine, you wondered why it is so good when it's not a particularly complicated piece. Well I reckon it's as much to do with the listener as it is to do with the composer. And in my humble opinion just about the most important aspect is that the listener has to be open and receptive to emotional experience. Great film by the way, oh and nothing at all wrong with a more melancholic track, it's part and parcel of life...sorry lecture over...lol...
https://soundcloud.com/wellsley-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjL6zQnBNTJT_oUg3jqfuew
wellsley.bandcamp.com
@uncleafx, by coincidence, there was a post in Off Topic a while back, asking who people thought was the best composer, and my first choice was Vangelis. I actually cut the original into 8-bar segments and popped it into a pcm as reference. As for time taken, I couldn't say. I just kept chipping away at it bit by bit, more like a side project. I usually get taken over by a tune and spend huge chunks of time on it, so I guess in comparison to other tunes I've worked on, it didn't take a very long time.
Thanks for the feedback.
@wells, thanks dude. I think Zimmer pulled a blinder with this one, especially the slight chord change in the second 8 bar section. I toyed with the idea of loading different string samples into one pcm to try and emulate a more orchestral feel to it, but my head started popping like bubble wrap lol.
But mission accomplished, as I only really started it as a learning exercise.
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
Nice to see you back here! Fantastic rendition of the track.
Check out mah soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/josh-oelal
Nice tune...... yeah I enjoyed that film, and the score was ominous and chilled, I forget the composer's name.
Nice effort in the remake, it's not an easy task to run straight single-velocity orch samples in a DAW, but you gave it character and dynamics, well done.
Classy production throughout Alexei. It never ceases to scare me just how good things can sound with Caustic with a little know how.
So emotional !
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkYNaEbyJr3nJHtdWJIuD8A Subscribe ! <3
Cheers guys.
Caustic is for sure a beast. Of course, there are limitations, but it blows me away that it can do so much. Orchestral is always gonna be tricky, no matter how sophisticated the daw is, due to the lack of feeling that you can put into playing a real instrument, but it makes for a great challenge and great feeling when you pull it off.
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
That's truely awesome. Must have taken a while to get the atmospherics spot on like that? Well done :)
Ok, I had to come back and give this an
EIPSO Thumbs Up after listening to this again.....
Again, excellent work
Cheers guys. Really good to hear. And getting a second positive comment and a thumbs up from the dancing banana we.know as Jason is just awesome, so thank you dude.
@Paulie, I gotta put my hands up and give credit to the man, Hans Zimmer for the dynamics. If I didn't have his original cut up and playing alongside my versin, I'd seriously be lost lol.
I've used tge technique on three posts now to nail the essence.of the original; this tune, my version.of the Ex Machina Theme and the intro to my Black Tables cover. The tricky part with this was nailing where the octave climbs and where the volume climbs. Would've loved a velocity sensitive piano soundfont, but made do with volume and cutoff. The guy is a genius.
Thank you again for the feedback
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
Some of these orchestral pieces being submitted in the show and tell are really setting the bar high now. This is great stuff Alexei.
Just shows how powerful the app is too!
Emotional and mellow;)
Love it!
♬ Lu!G
Cheers guys. I gotta say, I've been using Caustic for about a year now, and I am still amazed at the capabilities with every tune.
I've asked cor quite a few things in the feature requests section in my time, but it's a bit like finding Angelina Jolie naked in your bed and wishing she'd brought beer.
There are limitations but when.I hear the quality.of stuff here, it's hard to believe it was made on mobile devices.
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
Look how much brass he uses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1FIv7rFbv4
My Soundcloud profile is _dredge_
I watched so many clips while making it to learn as much as I could, and its astounding to see everything when it's live. There's one in particular, I think for AMPAS, and the size of the.orcheatra is ridonkulous. The strings alone were immense. I think I had about four different string/chord slots, but still nowhere near enough.
I thought about reprogramming the pcms to add more string sounds to play at the same time for richness, but then I'd have run into polyphony problems, cutting the release effect off early etc. Brass is the same; u only get the true richness with multiple timbres to complement each other.
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
Have you played about with the new "merge rack to instrument" tool? Load up a few brass samples, offset the tuning, spacial positioning etc. Bounce down to a new PCM instrument.
My Soundcloud profile is _dredge_
I have played with it. Very good. I like combining snares and claps to create a totally new hit. I hadnt thought about that. No doubt I'll come back to this style again so something to bear in mind, although if I'd thought more about it, I probably would have used multiple slots early on for the brass and exported them out to use in the pcm. Also, quite annoyingly, after I finished it, I found about 200MB of strings, brass and woodwind sounfonts I'd downloaded while making The Abyss Looking Back, tucked away in a bizarre folder on my phone, but the tune was already posted and I hate changing a tune once its posted lol. Plus all the parameters woulda needed changing etc so I left it
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw
Hi AB, is it just me or has it been a while since I've seen your name here? I did the opposite of Wellsley and did not listen to the original and taking this as it is with no comparison ... I thought it was awesome. What a nice touch you brought to the orchestral sounds. As you suggested, it is a mistake to focus on what you couldn't do and focus on what you've done which is very, very nice.
There has been some great orchestral tracks recently, (richsmith comes to mind) and this has now joined their ranks. It shows that Caustic isn't a tool for a genre, it's a tool that can create anything.
JHS
https://soundcloud.com/jhsound-2
Cheers JHS, Every time you call me AB, I think of Justin in Ugly Betty lol.
I gotta give credit to Hans Zimmer for the beauty of the piece, though.
But you're right, the capability of Caustic is only really limited by our set ideas of what digital music production is, but really, anything's possible.
Thanks for the feedback.
www.soundcloud.com/lexeiourdan
Insta @alexeibourdan
Twitt @alexeibourdan
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCYKUy18KH5lh1N8xVSQaCmw