# Meditation (Mostly CinePerc and VOXOS)



## Rodney Money (Feb 10, 2017)

I call this little track "Meditation." Thank y'all for both listening and commenting! It means a lot. It uses mostly CinePerc and VOXOS.


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## Jaap (Feb 10, 2017)

Loving it! Great atmosphere and gosh I forgot how beautiful a marimba can be!


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## Rodney Money (Feb 10, 2017)

Jaap said:


> Loving it! Great atmosphere and gosh I forgot how beautiful a marimba can be!


Thank you so much, my friend. It means a lot especially coming from you. Yes, the marimba is my absolute favorite percussion instrument, well besides the tamtam, lol.


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## Jaap (Feb 10, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Thank you so much, my friend. It means a lot especially coming from you. Yes, the marimba is my absolute favorite percussion instrument, well beside the tamtam, lol.



Oh yeah! I used to say back in the conservatory "My kingdom for a tamtam" 
Can give so much (dark) flavour to a piece, specially when played soft like you did at 1.26 in your piece


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## Rodney Money (Feb 11, 2017)

Jaap said:


> Oh yeah! I used to say back in the conservatory "My kingdom for a tamtam"
> Can give so much (dark) flavour to a piece, specially when played soft like you did at 1.26 in your piece


I believe we had the same exact motto in school, my friend! One of these days I think I'm gonna have to write an entire piece just for tamtams and gongs.


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## Jaap (Feb 12, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> I believe we had the same exact motto in school, my friend! One of these days I think I'm gonna have to write an entire piece just for tamtams and gongs.



Oh yes me too! Wrote an exam for a Korean percussionist during my study and she wanted to use mainly gongs, tamtams and marimbas. Loved writing that and should do it again


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## Deleted member 422019 (Feb 14, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> I call this little track "Meditation." Thank y'all for both listening and commenting! It means a lot. It uses mostly CinePerc and VOXOS.




Very nice Rodney, appropriate title that speaks of the gentleness and quiet solitude the work conveys.


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## markleake (Feb 15, 2017)

I really like this piece Rodney. I don't have much of an idea on how to write for marimba, but I love the sound of it and intend to learn and try writing for it when I have time. I must confess I've been eyeing the Soniccouture marimba off for over a year now and absolutely love the demos, especially the softer repetitions/tremolo/trill style of playing... it's just a beautiful sound. Your track reminds me of those demos. Seems CinePerc also has a good sounding marimba instrument, although I'm sure musical talent is involved at some point also.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 15, 2017)

Jaap said:


> Oh yes me too! Wrote an exam for a Korean percussionist during my study and she wanted to use mainly gongs, tamtams and marimbas. Loved writing that and should do it again


That sounded like it was a wonderful opportunity! Do you happen to have a recording?

I have found myself here lately wanting to steer away from writing for full concert band or orchestra focusing on small chamber music where each instrument feels like an individual bearing their soul in comparison to being lost in the masses. I don't know if you can tell, but my wife's original home was the Philippines where their native music was also composed of gong and marimba ensembles. Maybe when we visit in the near future I can write for one of the performing ensembles also like the opportunity you had with your Korean friend.


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## Jaap (Feb 15, 2017)

No unfortunately I don't have the recording anymore. I am trying to get in contact with the percussionist, but she moved back to Korea after her study and that was before it was normal to exchange emails and such and haven't had any luck yet, but hopefully one day I will get it back. It was recorded during her exam on video and audio.

True, I agree on your point on moving towards small ensembles and the why. Couldn't tell so quickly from seeing your photo that your wife is from the Philippines btw, but that would be awesome if you could get such an oppertunity!

I just finished a theater piece for alto flute, piano and storyteller and though nothing exotic in those instruments, it was lovely to work with a small setup again (nice change from writing this big library music tracks, which is nice and good for the money flow). It's great to work out those details and colours with limited instruments and perserve their soul and spirit!


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## JanR (Feb 15, 2017)

Love this!!! Captivating piece, well done Rodney!


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## kurtvanzo (Feb 15, 2017)

Nice piece! Although you didn't share where the ambience track came from (train station?), I use Cineperc and Voxos but it was def not from either of those.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 15, 2017)

kurtvanzo said:


> Nice piece! Although you didn't share where the ambience track came from (train station?), I use Cineperc and Voxos but it was def not from either of those.


The "ambience track" starts with a sound of a guy chanting drenched in reverb. Then I added Cinesample's room tone and VOXOS'S effects such as the inhales, exhales, shhh, and the men's and women's whispers with stereo widening, delay, and Space's reverb. Then to top it off I used the large bass drum in CinePerc Core's bass drum rubs and effects for texture and animal like sounds. And plus, the releases of the tamtam creating even more air.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 16, 2017)

jsg said:


> Very nice Rodney, appropriate title that speaks of the gentleness and quiet solitude the work conveys.


Thank you for stopping by and taking a listen! It means a lot that you found the title to be appropriate. I am thinking about expanding this piece to make it longer. Do you have any suggestions?


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## Fer (Feb 16, 2017)

Hey Rodney, nice composition, i like the ambient too, you treated it like a true musical element, i like it!


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## Rodney Money (Feb 17, 2017)

markleake said:


> I really like this piece Rodney. I don't have much of an idea on how to write for marimba, but I love the sound of it and intend to learn and try writing for it when I have time. I must confess I've been eyeing the Soniccouture marimba off for over a year now and absolutely love the demos, especially the softer repetitions/tremolo/trill style of playing... it's just a beautiful sound. Your track reminds me of those demos. Seems CinePerc also has a good sounding marimba instrument, although I'm sure musical talent is involved at some point also.


Thank you so very much, my friend, and you could easily learn how to write for marimba quite quickly. It's almost like writing for piano or choir, almost, with rolls for the sustains. They can do scales, arpeggios, and runs very quickly, have soft, medium, and hard mallets, and can play chords up to 4 notes at a time. With this sticking technique though I tend to not go further than an interval of a 4th. This particular marimba part was scored exactly like one would score for choir SATB including proper voice leading and chordal progression such as German Augmented 6th leading to V. This is scored for two marimbas, one playing SA and the other playing TB. This could almost be played by one player if memory serves me correctly, but the rolls would not be as smoothed nor the individual parts as expressive. Thank you again for you comments. It means a lot, and I love talking about these things.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 17, 2017)

Jaap said:


> No unfortunately I don't have the recording anymore. I am trying to get in contact with the percussionist, but she moved back to Korea after her study and that was before it was normal to exchange emails and such and haven't had any luck yet, but hopefully one day I will get it back. It was recorded during her exam on video and audio.
> 
> True, I agree on your point on moving towards small ensembles and the why. Couldn't tell so quickly from seeing your photo that your wife is from the Philippines btw, but that would be awesome if you could get such an oppertunity!
> 
> I just finished a theater piece for alto flute, piano and storyteller and though nothing exotic in those instruments, it was lovely to work with a small setup again (nice change from writing this big library music tracks, which is nice and good for the money flow). It's great to work out those details and colours with limited instruments and perserve their soul and spirit!


Absolutely! Do you have a link to the piece? I would love to listen to it.


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## Jaap (Feb 18, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Absolutely! Do you have a link to the piece? I would love to listen to it.



I have posted a video from a small part of it here: http://vi-control.net/community/thr...rent-piano-alto-flute-storyteller-live.59796/
It's the only recording I have so far (still in try-out fase and we will have it's full premiere at the second of June this year and I hope to make some good recordings then)


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

JanR said:


> Love this!!! Captivating piece, well done Rodney!


Thank you, my friend, for stopping by and commenting!


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

Fer said:


> Hey Rodney, nice composition, i like the ambient too, you treated it like a true musical element, i like it!


Thank you Fer! Yes indeed, I think I worked harder on the background ambience than actually writing the piece, lol. I have been "secretly" working on a trumpet concerto for a few clients and these recent ambient experiments have been helping me on the trumpet piece, because the main client wants the piece to be for trumpet and background track only. So, I have been trying experiments on creating different ambiences for different moods.


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## Architekton (Feb 19, 2017)

Really really nice from artistic and creative side, respect...only little problem I can find here is the mix, dont like it that much, it can be much more focused, less muddy.


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## Fer (Feb 19, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> the main client wants the piece to be for trumpet and background track only. So, I have been trying experiments on creating different ambiences for different moods.


Just for solo trumpet and ambience? thats cool... it sounds vanguardist stuff : )


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

Architekton said:


> Really really nice from artistic and creative side, respect...only little problem I can find here is the mix, dont like it that much, it can be much more focused, less muddy.


Curious, and I will explain in a little bit, which parts in particular?


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## Rodney Money (Feb 19, 2017)

Fer said:


> Just for solo trumpet and ambience? thats cool... it sounds vanguardist stuff : )


Hopefully! Some days I love working on it, and some days it feels like passing a kidney stone, lol.


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## calebfaith (Feb 20, 2017)

Nice work  I also enjoyed the marimbas and the ambience of the track


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## Architekton (Feb 20, 2017)

Rodney Money said:


> Curious, and I will explain in a little bit, which parts in particular?



So, most of the instruments sound too distant for my liking, maybe too much reverb (wet/dry mix ratio)...also I would cut here and there between 220 and 380hz, it sounds a bit muddy...but those are my personal preferences, I would do that to make it mix more focused.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 21, 2017)

Architekton said:


> So, most of the instruments sound too distant for my liking, maybe too much reverb (wet/dry mix ratio)...also I would cut here and there between 220 and 380hz, it sounds a bit muddy...but those are my personal preferences, I would do that to make it mix more focused.


Ah reverb, the great debate. How much is too much, and should the listener feel like they are in the ensemble or in the audience? I personally believe it depends on the piece, of course, and the purpose of the recording. I believe I know the sound you are looking for though. It's a close, focus, no mud sound like I did here for this commercial:

The track "Meditation" is purposely from an audience outsider point of view. The whole idea is that someone is trying to find inner peace but cannot quite reach it thus the distance. The track, to me, sounds both spiritual but eerily creepy at the same time because of this. Thank you for the feedback. It means a lot that you took the time to explain it to me.


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## Rodney Money (Feb 24, 2017)

calebfaith said:


> Nice work  I also enjoyed the marimbas and the ambience of the track


Thank you, my friend!


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## Rodney Money (Feb 26, 2017)

Jaap said:


> I have posted a video from a small part of it here: http://vi-control.net/community/thr...rent-piano-alto-flute-storyteller-live.59796/
> It's the only recording I have so far (still in try-out fase and we will have it's full premiere at the second of June this year and I hope to make some good recordings then)


I loved your piece, my friend, thank you for sharing!


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