POST PRODUCTION: MAKING THE SOUNDTRACK

I am making the soundtrack for our Media production as this is something which already interests me and is a hobby of mine which I enjoy doing. This also has a benefit to the group as we can make the soundtrack specific to the trailer by making it fit to certain shots. For example, we can use loud bass heavy booms when we need to build tension and we can use crescendos and other uplifters to build suspense in certain shots.

Here is a time lapse of me creating the piece from start to finish. The video is long (as I had to cut a good few hours worth of footage down into an viewable but short clip) but might be of interest to some viewers.

How I made the soundtrack from Aaron Reynolds on Vimeo.


Here is the final soundtrack to accompany the video.

A lot of the gangster/thriller trailers we researched used quite guitar heavy music. This allows for quite an aggressive tone as heavy distorted guitars can be described as thrash which is a fitting sound when it comes to chase scenes and general criminal activity. When creating the soundtrack I wanted to take inspiration from this but I also wanted to incorporate some more modern elements of sound and more electric effects such as reverb and delay. I replicated a similar guitar sound in one of the synths and that was a strong bond for keeping the song linked to the conventions of a thriller soundtrack.

As I was creating my own soundtrack for the film I was able to load the video into Logic Pro and work the score out as the film went on which made it very specialised for the trailer. I could make specific sound bridges appropriate, for example, I tried to accompany the beginning of a chase with the introduction of a heavy kick for maximum sound and visual effect. I began making the soundtrack at around 140-150bpm, which is representative of the dubstep and girme genre, but half way through replaced the samples with live drum samples making it sound more like it was a live band. I slowed it down and changed the groove to give it more of an energetic atmosphere instead of keeping a straight half time beat.

I thought that making a time lapse would be interesting as well to people who might wonder how sound and music production is made, it might also encourage people to try it out.  It also shows my unique techniques and my style of work which other music producers could find interesting.

The software which will be used is Apple's Logic Pro 9 which is a highly advanced piece of music production software. It has lots of effects plug-ins and lots of VST instruments which we can use in the piece to create different sounds and it also has lots of audio effects such as reverb and distortion to make the texture of the sound thicker and make it more cinematic. 

Before the piece was started I browsed through some of my sample packs for sounds which I think would have been appropriate to the piece I had in mind. I already knew that I wanted to work at the tempo of 130bpm as this is quite andante and fits the walking pace of the gangsters. I also used influences from genres such as 'grime' and 'dubstep' as I used drum beats at half time which make the piece seem tense, because you know it is building up to something, but it teases you in the way that it appears slower than it is. 

I filtered through the sample packs (to the right) and found my favourite percussion samples and placed these onto seperate tracks within Logic. I then used effects such as reverb and echo to fill up a more sonic space and help hold the track together. 

Here is an overview of the soundtrack in Logic once it had been completed.

This picture just shows all the layers together and how the sounds have been ordered. It also shows how things layer on top of each other and work together to build the piece up. 

This picture (above) shows a few of the plug-ins and effects I have used to manipulate the sound in the piece. The plug-ins show how you can alter little parts and it shows how there is so many little things that can work together to change the scope of the sound. You can use these effects on their own with one sound or you can use several built up on top of each other, for example you can add echo to a sound you have just distorted or added reverb to so it has more to it.

This picture shows the instrument track (in green) which is where I have used a MIDI keyboard to record in some notes. They are a simple few notes, but the point was to add tension and a pace to the piece. It is also nicer to hear an actual note than just a sampled sound so it adds a more musical element to the piece. I used the plugin ES1 built into logic.

Automation is also a vital part of the production process as it allows you to bring certain sounds in and out of the piece which allows it to be specific to certain parts and it makes a sound seem as if it is weaving through the piece which is just an interesting thing to listen to.

Another key element of the production is the opening. Once the piece had finished we realised it would need some kind of introduction to bring in and accompany the opening credits, it had to be short but cinematic and fast. To do this, I used an 808 'boom' sample with a kick drum on top to giveit a punch, I then reversed another 808 drum sample so it faded out but came back in and when it finished its reverse I added a snare hit to lead the credits into the production. 

This video shows the differences in sounds after I import them in raw and then when I add effects and build around them.

how samples were done from Aaron Reynolds on Vimeo.