The Witch: (Part IV: The City Gate & Alchemist)

Back to Pt. III

The Forest

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City Gate #1 - Day

She comes upon the city gates, and must find a way to get into the city.

(My art: the beggar, the guard)

Base track is piano, added instrument: African Mbira, or "thumb piano" (see right).

The thing wasn't really in tune, which bugged me, so I had to shift the pitch electronically.  I figured out it's not tuned to Western intervals, so no matter how much I edited the entire track, the pitch was never going to be OK, so I just left it.  

I was getting a bit desperate and frustrated and deadlined on this last City Gate set, so I sifted through a bunch of soundtracks until I found something I wanted to steal.

I was inspired by the piano chords from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis's soundtrack from the film "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford" The track is called "What Must Be Done" I think I only ever listened to the first minute of it...  Listen to it on YOUTUBE.

I really like the music on this soundtrack, but I've never actually seen the movie.

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**City Gates #2 - Diseased**

As she leaves the city, she finds that it has become odd.

Added instrument: a zillion layers of accordion.  

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**City Gate # 3 - Nostalgic**

As she leaves the city, she finds that the stars are out, and the way is clear.

Added instrument: a zillion layers of clarinet.

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**City Gate #4 - Ruins**

As she leaves the city, she finds ruins and wreck.

Added instrument: a zillion layers of violin.  Again, I've only been playing violin for like 2 days in this recording.  Xl

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**Alchemist**

This is her destination, where she buys tea for her grandmother's sore throat.  Then she journeys back, and finds that her environment has changed.

(My art: the alchemist)

The instruments used are accordion, clarinet, and electric bass guitar.  This is the first piece I composed that we actually used in the game.  I also did a couple others, but got sick of listening to them after a while, so ditched them.   This piece feels a little Godfathery to me.  I didn't knowingly steal from anything, though.

Back to Pt. III

The Forest      

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FIN    

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The Witch (Part II: The Bridge)

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**Back to Pt. I**            **Fwd. to Pt. III**

The Weavers                           The Forest

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**Bridge #1 - Day**

When she leaves town, she comes upon two men working on a bridge.

(My art: the bridge)

Added instruments: clarinet, and the "pizzicato" setting on my keyboard.  I was inspired by the bass line and the general pizzicato from the "Les Choristes"soundtrack.  (Shoulders of giants and whatnot.)  Listen on YOUTUBE.

Side note: "Les Choristes" is a great movie.

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**Bridge #2 - Lights**

The girl, upon returning to the bridge scene, finds the workers have successfully placed the lanterns on the bridge, resulting in well-lit nighttime passage.

Added instrument: piano.

As with the following "night-return" scenes, there is a cricket sound.  This sound is actually the sound my heater in Buenos Aires made before it warmed itself up.  I eventually figured out it was probably the fan inside the heater.  I took some WD-40 to it, (along with many other parts of the house), but before I did, I recorded the sound.  Ah, memories.

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Bridge #3 - Dark

When she returns, the lanterns have not been placed, leaving her to cross in darkness.

Added instrument: keyboard on a guitar setting.

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Bridge #4 - Burnt

When she returns, she finds that the lanterns must have been improperly placed, resulting in the burning of the bridge.

I can't remember how I got the added sound on this track.  I think it was my keyboard, but I can't remember for sure.  It's not a for true instrument.

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**Back to Pt. I**            **Fwd. to Pt. III**

The Weavers                           The Forest

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The Witch (Part III: The Forest)

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Back to Pt. II                   Fwd. to Pt. IV

         The Bridge                           City Gate & Alchemist

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Forest #1 - Day

She encounters a wolf in the woods.  Will she tell him a story?

(My artwork: the trees, the wolf, and the girl)

Base track: accordion and piano. (I'm pretty sure I used a real piano).  I didn't steal from anything.  The chord structure is pretty basic.

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Forest #2 - Sick

When she returns through the woods, she finds that the dog is sickly and unresponsive.

(My artwork: the trees, the wolf, and the girl)

Added instrument: keyboard on guitar setting.  It descends chromatically at an unplanned rhythmic trot.  When I was recording this, I couldn't actually hear what I was playing on the keyboard due to a temporary wiring set-up.  It seemed to line up OK, though.  This is one of my least favorite recordings, probably because it took me less than 2 minutes to put together, and I felt super-lazy and uncreative afterwards.

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Forest #3 - Magic

When she returns, she finds that the woods have been transformed into a magical place.

(My artwork: the trees, the wolf, and the girl) 

Added instruments: chime sounds from my keyboard, and a free Gayageum app on my iPod. 

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**Forest #4 - Fearsome**

When she returns, she finds the woods to be a fearsome place.  The wolf is hostile.

(My artwork: the trees, the wolf, and the girl)

Added instrument: keyboard on timpani setting.

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Back to Pt. II                   Fwd. to Pt. IV

         The Bridge                           City Gate & Alchemist

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The Witch (Part I: The Weavers)

So - this is the beautiful and well-written game "The Witch" that my bff Elizabeth Swensen created for her Masters in Interactive Media.  (Go her!)  When I heard she was doing it, I offered my services.  (She is probably my favorite person to collaborate with.  We've been doing various casual creative projects since middle school, so I would know.)  Anywhoo, ended up doing the music and some of the artwork, which was cut from construction paper.  I cut some stuff, then handed it over to Elizabeth, who edited the layout/colors, etc.  She worked really super hard on this project, and it even made one dude cry when he was telling her how much he loved it.

(My artwork: Everything but the city wall, top right.)

So an overview of how the game works:

One travels through the world as a cloaked female figure: the Witch, choosing WORDS that define how others perceive and react her, such as "Friend" or "Half-Wit" or "Diseased"   Once she picks up what she needs in the city, she returns back to her hometown, passing familiar landscapes.  However, these landscapes are not what they were before.  The words with which you have chosen to mask yourself have affected the landscape, and you travel back through a world that both familiar and changed.  I'm not going to get into detail, because as soon as it's up and running for reals, you should play it.

So in composing the music, I wanted to create the same sort of feeling.  I created what I called a "base track" for each level (often piano) and then layered other tracks on top of that depending on the mood of the scene.  

I play all the instruments in the recordings.  

This blog is organized by landscape, not the actual order in which the game progresses, as I composed music based on landscape.  The track names with the double asterisks **Before and after the Title** are my favorites.  

PART I: The Weavers

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**The Weavers #1 - Day**

The Witch, a young girl, is leaving home to go to the city.  

(My contribution to the artwork in this scene is the Witch figure.)

The four Weavers tracks are by far my favorite. This is the only set I where I actually notated the piano part, and didn't borrow anyone else's material.   (I think I really need to notate things: it seems to turn out better.)

The piano is my base track.  You will hear it in the return three Weavers scenes.

I used only piano for this opening scene.  The timing is a bit odd: 

[ Section A: 7/4 (x2) 4/4 (x3) ] x2

[ Section B: 4/4 (x4) ] x2

[ Section C: 5/4 (x3) ]

[ Repeat Section A ]

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**Weavers: #2 - Young**

The girl comes back to her hometown, and sees a reflection of herself as a young woman.  

(My art: both Witches.)

In this track, the added instruements are violin, and a free synth keyboard app on my iPod. Funny story: I've always wanted to play a stringed instrument (no, piano doesn't count), so I finally bought a violin. Yes, It's bright purple. Before this recording, I'd probably only held a violin for about two hours (a generous estimate.)  Which is why the violin tracks used in the recording are sliiiiighly off key. On purpose.  Heh.

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**Weavers #3 - Wise**

The girl returns, and finds a wise reflection of herself.

(My art: both Witches.)

Added instrument: guitar.

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****Weavers #4 - Ragged****
My very favoritest track of them all

The girl returns, and finds a ragged, old reflection of herself.

(My art: both Witches.)

Added instrument: clarinet.  I adore seconds!  

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**Fwd. to Pt. II**
The Bridge

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