Layering for Orchestral Effects

My Hiding Place is one of my favorite tracks on the With All My Heart CD.  This track was composed and produced by Claudius Cazan.  The melody is gorgeous and so is the arrangement.  One effect that Claudius tried to achieve is the sound of a true string section without the use of string orchestra.  He played sixteen tracks of backing violin parts to accomplish the sound heard in this track.  The effect is a unique and luscious sound.

Claudius was born in Romania, and the Romanian influence can be heard in this piece.

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Superimposing

I was reminded how much I enjoyed listening to I’ve Seen That Face Before, by Grace Jones.  In her version of Libertango lyrics and an altered melody are superimposed over this Astor Piazzolla piece.  This concept is not new, and it is quite effective.  Another very good example would be the Ave Maria, by Charles Gounod, where the basis for the piece is the first prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier, by J. S. Bach.  The jazz piano improvisation below is played over a track that I produced using a piece by, Oretade Ravanello.  The piece has a tempo marking of Andantino expressivo.  I started with a keyboard sound and then added bass guitar and drums/percussion.  I love playing to this track.

The Mirror

KeysAbout four years ago, I was playing for a few University of Connecticut functions, in venues like The Aqua Turf Club, in Plantsville, CT.  This used to be a yearly gig for me.  They would also book places like the Marriott, in Hartford, CT.  Playing for these banquets was kind of tricky.  Finding a good volume that would not be too loud, while maintaining that “live” feel was a challenge.  Also, maintaining that “background music” volume meant that at times I was struggling to hear myself.  This would at times become rather frustrating and a temptation to not accept any other receptions.  My other challenge was finding appropriate music for the banquets.  After playing strictly religious music for many years, mostly in Churches, I really didn’t have a proper collection of backing arrangements.

At first, I played most of the inspirational music that I had readily available, and it was well received; however, it somehow felt like the music was out of place.  So slowly I started to make the arrangements that would become the Quicksand CD.  The song that I’m posting below, The Mirror, is a bit of an accidental song.  It was initially meant as backing music for a vocal track, but necessity called for it to be a flute solo.  As usual I’m playing all of the instruments on this track, as I do on all of the tracks I record.

If you would like to play-along to this song you can click this link to open the solo sheet music> The Mirror.pdf  …BTW. This stuff works great with saxophone too!

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The Mirror — Play Along Video