![]() When I started out with this track, I had the story in my mind and how a family sailing in their boat, Quantum Wave off the coast of Cornwall, England, were struggling through increasingly rough seas. The boat is riding up large waves and almost surfing down the back of the that wave crashing into the trough and burying the bow of the boat into the sea with a thundering crash. As conditions worsen the situation becomes more dire as the family are now fighting for their lives against the raging storm. With this in mind, I started exploring various time signatures and rhythms to capture the feeling of being out at sea riding up and down the waves. As the story progresses and the conditions at sea get worse, I wanted the music to build gradually so there was the music takes you on a journey. We start off with the sound of a thunder storm with howling wind and rain. Against this backdrop, we hear the morse code SOS which sets the scene and the context of the story. The violins start with just a single note and then build in C minor, and I’ve deliberately made them more staccato so give that feeling of choppiness which works in well with the rhythm. The frame drums set the pace in the first few sections with timpani rolls giving the effect of those wales rolling in, in conjunction with the cymbal swells. In the next section, we rise to F minor which adds a bit of harmonic interest and introduces some new elements to the music. After the section in F minor, we move into the bridge section and this is where we hear the big powerful toms come in. These symbolise the power of the ocean in these stormy conditions, with waves smashing into the hull of the boat and crashing over the deck. The violins are running up and down the scale to create the effect of the boat riding up and down the huge waves. You can also hear the morse code in this section with the infamous SOS message. There is a bit of artistic license going on here to create a bit more drama. Originally, I had considered using real world radio comms of a Mayday call, however, a full Mayday message is quite long and actually overshadowed the power of the toms which I really wanted to bring out here. The morse code seemed to sit in the mix well along with the drums and orchestra so I stuck with it. In addition, there was also a bit of a story line around the morse code which might make into the final version. ![]() At the end of this section, we hear the voice of the storm, which was introduced in the previous track ‘The Storm’ and this takes us into the next part where we hear the military snare drum coming in and Rob talks about this in a little while. We also have what’s called a modulation which sees us move up a fifth to F minor? And the brass takes centre stage to change to build the tension as the father dives into the sea to save his son who has been swept overboard. As we progress into the final part, the music builds again as the choir comes in and Robs works his magic on the snare drum. All hell has broken lose in the story as the storm rages against them and the boat is taking a pounding to the point of taking on water. The father is victorious against all odds in saving his son and getting back on the boat and this is reflected in the snare drums. Moreover, they now have a mission of staying together and surviving until they are found by Search and Rescue. This track finishes with a crescendo of the toms, framedrums and cymbals which is followed by morse code SOS. This time, the morse codes carries on into silence which creates a haunting effect. ![]() Drumming by Rob Brian As a musician we tend to get given sheets of paper with many notes, dots and lines written all over it. This is fine as it gives us the parts that we are required to play to make someone’s music come to life from the page to the ear etc. But then there are the opportunities to build and create your own part from your imagination when given the tempo, feel and story of the music. This happened when I started work on Tim’s music for Changing Tides. The idea was very inspiring for me with my drums telling the story and creating the drama and the excitement of a raging sea and a family out at sea in their sailing boat, fighting for their lives against a powerful and angry storm. The fear of being out there and maybe never getting home, all that emotional content was in my mind when I was composing and arranging my drum parts for ‘Out at Sea’. The toms on a drum kit can tell many stories, on this piece they create the platform for everything else to sit on, rising and falling throughout the piece. The cymbal rolls and swells are very much to give the listener the feel that water is rising and falling all around them. I used soft mallets to create these swells and the cymbal crashes were played with sticks to add attack to the rolls and give the feeling of waves hitting the deck and so on. The tom fills leading into the middle section are played with Flams and sound very big, adding weight and intensity on top of the pounding tom part which sits within the track. The fills get bigger and weightier as the track progress’s and I wanted the drums to gain prominence and take over. Playing this part with thicker sticks gave the toms much more power and a roar, careful tuning too insured that all the pitches of the toms can be heard clearly. When the drum groove eventually comes in after the drama from the toms it gives the feel that the storm is here and its time to ride it out the best we can. The triplet feel is very much the feel that an uneven sea gives you and defining this with the steady drum beat adds to the power of the middle section. ![]() I wanted big fills and cymbal sweets to be over dubbed here so we still get the waves crashing around us as well as the waves crashing on the deck and sending the boat into turmoil. As the track moves on the double tracked marching snares come in, this signals hope and a feeling that not all is lost. I used 2 snare drums for this, a high tuned DW wood shell that was almost like a Scottish pipe drum sound. I also used a vintage 1968 Ludwig Pioneer wooden shell snare that was tuned down, to create the effect of marching drummers. Creating the part was a joyous experience as I love to create drum soundscapes like this. The narrative here really allowed me to think in a very cinematic way and I am very happy with how it turned out.
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Tim HardwickI'm a composer, producer and author. I've been creating music for many years now and over the last 8 years, I've been focused on the fusion of electronic, orchestral and acoustic music that tells a story. Archives
April 2018
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