# Norwegian Dream (Tribute to Thomas Bergersen)



## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 21, 2020)

Hi everyone!

This is certainly the biggest project I've ever tackled! I had the somewhat crazy idea of composing a very long piece as tribute to Thomas for his Birthday in July the 4rth - based on Happy Birthday and parts of the Norwegian national hymn. I came up with a main theme that kinda combines the two and that's how the whole journey started.

After 3-4 weeks of working on it in between other projects this beast was born!

A lot of different styles in it, and some nods to pieces by Thomas. I also many of libraries and sounds he uses.
It was a crazy project and I'm happy that it turned out almost the way I imagined it when merely dreaming about it!

Also - I posted it in the Two Steps fangroup on Facebook and Thomas left wonderful comments on it!!


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## Oxborg (Sep 22, 2020)

I was just expecting some "Happy birthday"-song in an somewhat epic composition and not much more.
Boy, was I wrong. This was great and in some parts utterly outstanding! Btw, which library do you use for the choir at 2:48?
This could be 2 or 3 compositions but I am happy that you kept it as intended from start. I have nothing bad to say about this at all. Only that here in Scandinavia, we do not use the same birthday song melody as the rest of the world 

Great work! I shall listen to it once again right away.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Oxborg said:


> I was just expecting some "Happy birthday"-song in an somewhat epic composition and not much more.
> Boy, was I wrong. This was great and in some parts utterly outstanding! Btw, which library do you use for the choir at 2:48?
> This could be 2 or 3 compositions but I am happy that you kept it as intended from start. I have nothing bad to say about this at all. Only that here in Scandinavia, we do not use the same birthday song melody as the rest of the world
> 
> Great work! I shall listen to it once again right away.


Many thanks! :D

The choir at 2:48 (and almost everywhere else) is an early build of Oceania II which should be released very soon.

Oh, interesting. Would have been fun to incorporate the Scandinavian birthday melody too haha... :D
This one ?


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## Oxborg (Sep 22, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Many thanks! :D
> 
> The choir at 2:48 (and almost everywhere else) is an early build of Oceania II which should be released very soon.
> 
> ...




Oceania II sounds terrific!

The one you posted is the Swedish version, but there is a Norwegian version as well but it is 3/4. This one:


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Oxborg said:


> Oceania II sounds terrific!
> 
> The one you posted is the Swedish version, but there is a Norwegian version as well but it is 3/4. This one:



offf. That's fast 

This version is crazy weird, but easier to follow haha


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## FlyingAndi (Sep 22, 2020)

That was epic! What an amazing piece of music.
I love what's happing in the low end at 04:09 (and I'm only listening through inears at the moment).
In some of the choir parts the mastering seemed a little bit too hot for me (or maybe I was just listeninge too loud because it was awesome).


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## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

Amazing. May I kindly ask what libraries you used at 4:45 onwards?


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## Nils Neumann (Sep 22, 2020)

Nice one!


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Amazing. May I kindly ask what libraries you used at 4:45 onwards?


Thanks! :D

Should be mostly Big Bang Orchestra Free, Fluid Shorts 1, customized Winds from Symphonic Sphere, EastWest RA, Embertone Shire Whistle, AudioOllie Uke, and maybe Con Moto or CSS for legato strings.
Oceania II (early version) for marcato choir and probably Venus for legato choir. Trumpets from CSB. Lil bit of the free Angry Brass Horns. 
Not sure how far 'onwards' is


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## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Thanks! :D
> 
> Should be mostly Big Bang Orchestra Free, Fluid Shorts 1, customized Winds from Symphonic Sphere, EastWest RA, Embertone Shire Whistle, AudioOllie Uke, and maybe Con Moto or CSS for legato strings.
> Oceania II (early version) for marcato choir and probably Venus for legato choir. Trumpets from CSB. Lil bit of the free Angry Brass Horns.
> Not sure how far 'onwards' is


Mercy! Mostly meant just the irish orchestrated part. Man I love irish. The trumpet in the beginning of the track is also CSB? Suprised because it's not the tone I expected (ca.0:50)
I'm also guessing you used the Hardanger Fiddle at 4:45? Never considered EastWest Products so far, but RA seems interesting if it includes sounds like that. Haven't yet found a good fiddle library yet.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Mercy! Mostly meant just the irish orchestrated part. Man I love irish. The trumpet in the beginning of the track is also CSB? Suprised because it's not the tone I expected (ca.0:50)
> I'm also guessing you used the Hardanger Fiddle at 4:45? Never considered EastWest Products so far, but RA seems interesting if it includes sounds like that. Haven't yet found a good fiddle library yet.


Yup, entirely CSB at this part.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Oh, at 4:45 it's the Uilleann Pipes from RA. This library is super outdated and satisfying the sampling standards of today at all. I can't recommend it, but it's the best I have for this. And Thomas uses those too for whatever reason.


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## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Oh, at 4:45 it's the Uilleann Pipes from RA. This library is super outdated and satisfying the sampling standards of today at all. I can't recommend it, but it's the best I have for this. And Thomas uses those too for whatever reason.


Well I don't have any good up-to-date alternatives to that in mind right now, either


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 22, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Well I don't have any good up-to-date alternatives to that in mind right now, either


Ilya Efimov, CineWinds Pro or Eduardo Tarilonte maybe have some


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## Bluemount Score (Sep 22, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Ilya Efimov, CineWinds Pro or Eduardo Tarilonte maybe have some


Nothing I currently own but will check those out, thanks

EDIT Ilya Efimov seems interesting and has a fair price... added to watchlist


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## JPQ (Sep 25, 2020)

nice what samples you usewd?


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## Lionel Schmitt (Sep 25, 2020)

JPQ said:


> nice what samples you usewd?


Would be here all day listing all of them! 

Which sounds are you curious about?


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## JPQ (Oct 2, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Would be here all day listing all of them!
> 
> Which sounds are you curious about?



bell/celesta type sounds in beginging i think and some woodwinds what hear sametime and brass and there choir what sings in beging. mostly these. maybe mainly all stuff what i hear first 1:30 minutes.


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## Patrick.K (Oct 3, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> This is certainly the biggest project I've ever tackled! I had the somewhat crazy idea of composing a very long piece as tribute to Thomas for his Birthday in July the 4rth - based on Happy Birthday and parts of the Norwegian national hymn. I came up with a main theme that kinda combines the two and that's how the whole journey started.
> 
> ...





DarkestShadow said:


> Would be here all day listing all of them!
> 
> Which sounds are you curious about?


Compliments ! ( in French ha ha !).Very great job, really rich and beautiful orchestration! apart from Ocania II what other libraries are used for choir and strings? that sounds really good.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Oct 3, 2020)

JPQ said:


> bell/celesta type sounds in beginging i think and some woodwinds what hear sametime and brass and there choir what sings in beging. mostly these. maybe mainly all stuff what i hear first 1:30 minutes.


The celesta in the beginning is from VSL.
Piccolo from 8dio.
ArtVista Malmsjö Piano.
Cinematic Studio Brass (Tuba from EastWest Symphonic Orchestra I think, French Horns later are Hollywood Brass). 
There isn't any choir in the beginning. But here are female vocals from Hephaestus and 8dio's Francesca.
Braahms from 8dio Equinox.



Patrick.K said:


> Compliments ! ( in French ha ha !).Very great job, really rich and beautiful orchestration! apart from Ocania II what other libraries are used for choir and strings? that sounds really good.


Many thanks! There is just Venus, apart from Oceania II I think. I also use Organic Samples' Solo Opera is "first singer" in legato lines quite often.
Strings are generally a pretty wild combo, none of the libraries sound like in the track out of the box.
I this track I'm mainly using Cinematic Studio Strings, Fluid Shorts, Hollywood Strings, Con Moto (Violas and Cellos I think) and some Adagio Violins and maybe Violas.


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## thov72 (Oct 3, 2020)

great job weaving all of this together and nice way of playing around with parts of the melodies!!!!


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## Andrajas (Oct 3, 2020)

You are very talented man!  amazing track and showcase great skills!

Out of curiosity, what goals do you have with your music and career? You obviously have an amazing future a head and I'm sure you will achieve what ever goal you have!


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## Lionel Schmitt (Oct 4, 2020)

thov72 said:


> great job weaving all of this together and nice way of playing around with parts of the melodies!!!!


Many thanks! :D
I'm glad you find it cohesive. It's quite a leap to go from dramedy type writing with celesta, pizzicato etc to massive braaahms and synths etc  


Andrajas said:


> You are very talented man!  amazing track and showcase great skills!
> 
> Out of curiosity, what goals do you have with your music and career? You obviously have an amazing future a head and I'm sure you will achieve what ever goal you have!


Thanks a lot for the kind words! :D 

I plan to stick to writing production and trailer music (and sample library demos on the side). I can't imagine ever scoring a film or any other media. 
That's actually it, nothing more, nothing less! :D


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## JPQ (Oct 8, 2020)

choir is this human voices i think.


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## R. Soul (Nov 30, 2020)

I somehow ended up listening to this. I hardly ever listen to music here, but this one is just downright incredible. For a 10 min. piece incorporating the happy birthday song, and a tons of other things, this is very cohesive.
Composition, production and mix are also superbly done. 

I really enjoyed your 'We dream with open eyes' as well. Quite amazed on how well you execute two so different genres. Is that all live guitar in that one? It certainly sounds like it.


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## tebling (Nov 30, 2020)

Glad this thread got bumped as I missed it the first time around. I'm also a big fan of Thomas, though probably not big enough to do something like this 

The track is really amazing, and like Thomas said (I just had to look up the FB post), "you're on your way!"


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## Lionel Schmitt (Dec 1, 2020)

R. Soul said:


> I somehow ended up listening to this. I hardly ever listen to music here, but this one is just downright incredible. For a 10 min. piece incorporating the happy birthday song, and a tons of other things, this is very cohesive.
> Composition, production and mix are also superbly done.
> 
> I really enjoyed your 'We dream with open eyes' as well. Quite amazed on how well you execute two so different genres. Is that all live guitar in that one? It certainly sounds like it.


Thank you very much! :D 

The guitars in that track are samples, like everything else. I pretty much never use live players because I'm scared about what I'll get and try to avoid dealing with people in general  



tebling said:


> Glad this thread got bumped as I missed it the first time around. I'm also a big fan of Thomas, though probably not big enough to do something like this
> 
> The track is really amazing, and like Thomas said (I just had to look up the FB post), "you're on your way!"


Many thanks! His comments are still making my day


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## Bluemount Score (Dec 1, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Many thanks! His comments are still making my day


Is there a link to your facebook post? I'm not using FB and therefore even missed that Humanity Chapter II was released


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## Lionel Schmitt (Dec 1, 2020)

Bluemount Score said:


> Is there a link to your facebook post? I'm not using FB and therefore even missed that Humanity Chapter II was released


Would be a bit too much to dig it out, was like a half year ago or so.. but those are his comments


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## Bluemount Score (Dec 1, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Would be a bit too much to dig it out, was like a half year ago or so.. but those are his comments


I think it's really nice from Mr. Bergersen that he took the time to listen and to reply so kindly.
And, as far as I can, I have to agree. Just realized we are the same age (and german) and focus on a similiar style of music but I feel like I could learn quite a bit from your music... once again, well done.


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## R. Soul (Dec 2, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Thank you very much! :D
> 
> The guitars in that track are samples, like everything else. I pretty much never use live players because I'm scared about what I'll get and try to avoid dealing with people in general
> 
> ...


I just heard 'Time of our lives'. Superb.
What libraries are you using on that one?
It sounds very organic. Very hard to hear it's not live instruments


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## Lionel Schmitt (Dec 2, 2020)

R. Soul said:


> I just heard 'Time of our lives'. Superb.
> What libraries are you using on that one?
> It sounds very organic. Very hard to hear it's not live instruments


Thanks!
If you mean the guitars - that's mostly ISW Archtop (the clean guitar throughout), Musical Sampling PLCK and probably a bit of ISW Serpent, some Audio Ollie UKE and Embertone Mountain Dulcimer strumming. Maybe also some Sunbird Strumming..
And a combo patch from Omnisphere. 18 Strings Guitar or so...
I don't have many Guitar libraries and never used a lot of guitars before.


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## R. Soul (Dec 2, 2020)

DarkestShadow said:


> Thanks!
> If you mean the guitars - that's mostly ISW Archtop (the clean guitar throughout), Musical Sampling PLCK and probably a bit of ISW Serpent, some Audio Ollie UKE and Embertone Mountain Dulcimer strumming. Maybe also some Sunbird Strumming..
> And a combo patch from Omnisphere. 18 Strings Guitar or so...
> I don't have many Guitar libraries and never used a lot of guitars before.


I just meant overall really, but no need to list 60 libraries I guess 

Cool. I only have Archtop and Sunbird of the ones you listed. 
Plck seems interesting. 
Where's the drums from? They gel really well with the track.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Dec 2, 2020)

R. Soul said:


> I just meant overall really, but no need to list 60 libraries I guess
> 
> Cool. I only have Archtop and Sunbird of the ones you listed.
> Plck seems interesting.
> Where's the drums from? They gel really well with the track.


Archtop is about 80% of it  
Steven Slate Drums - a few different kits combined, Metropolis Ark 1 and maybe some Musical Sampling Renegade too, but probably just in the other track.
But due to my aggressive processing the libraries themselves will sound rather different than in my tracks.


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