U S A
Author Comments
Well, looks like I’ve finally decided to emerge from my grave hidden within 2.5 months’ worth of caverns. I would be lying if I told you this project took that long to make; it took only 2 months to make. I say only; that’s a huge amount of time for any of my music, and this right here is the big project that has been in store for all that time. This description I will literally max out the character limit of 12,000 because of how long it’s going to be as I dive in to this song. So let’s begin, shall we?
This behemoth is a 13.5 minute long 4 movement piece all based on one thing: a melodic trumpet line from the third movement of the following obscure piece below (note: everything after 1:28 had no influence basically on this piece, the main thing to note is the trumpet line at 0:59):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=enfvCNQHxWg
This whole project is a challenge. Not just a challenge for me, but a challenge given to me by one of my closest friends (who also happens to be in orchestra) and he wanted me to turn this funny trumpet line into its own symphony. I went and that’s exactly what I’ve done. This is my first attempt at an orchestral piece, so bear with me.
The first movement was a test and a test alone, I never designed it to be actually decent because it not only sounds the most derived from the original (and hence the least inspired), it was only made to try out the new sounds and was made before I decided I have more than one movement. Its main purpose is to introduce the context of the trumpet line that would guide the rest of the song. By the end of it, you’ll notice that there is no pause between movements. I did this to make it flow better and to alleviate the reverb issues I’ve been having with these songs. I think it sounds quite cool to have it all sound like one big piece instead of four separate ones.
The second movement was originally intended to be a waltz/dance. I’m not even joking. Obviously what it turned into was a slow thing, but the core melody has remained the same, a pattern that will continue all the way to the end. In this movement I used several interesting techniques, namely the obscure, neglected technique by the name of “a cello solo.” You may not know what this is, but I assure you, it’s here because I play cello and not much else. In all seriousness, the strings are nearly entirely sidelined for the rest of this piece after his movement and so I wanted to give them their time in the sun. Speaking of which…
The third movement is my aforementioned friend’s favorite movement, followed by the fourth, and then the first two are about the same, according to him. The third movement and the fourth are my favorites as well, it’s hard to decide which is better. But it’s clear that by the third movement, I had learned at least partially what I was doing and was more able to take advantage of the resources at my disposal, and apply techniques I learned in the past to make it sound cooler. The main was used here was sidechain; I used the organ as kind of a synth, then sidechained it, and I think it sounds quite nice indeed.
The final movement took me the longest, probably because it was the final movement. When it comes to sheer complexity, it takes the cake, and I really like how it turned out overall. It’s super catchy, just like the third movement, and is the crowning achievement of the piece due to the sheer scale of it. I suppose it’s time to address the elephant in the room:12:05-12:22. This part was literally just fan service to my friend, and I made it actually sound decent by using jazzy chords to mask its ridiculousness. He said he wanted to hear the sped version, I gave it to him. Anyways, if I had to say anything bad about this song, it would be the first movement and the transition at 12:30. Something about it just didn’t seem quite right, and I may go back and fix it later.
So, what does this have to do with Tennessee? Well, it’s a very long, horizontal state, just like how this song is long. There’s not much else that I can think of, I know almost nothing about this state in particular, but hey, it’s relatively well known and was the largest, most notable state that was left to do, so it gets the honor of this amalgamation of a song.
Overall, this is the most ambitious thing I’ve done in a while, and this project took me months to make for that reason alone (also for other reasons lmao). This is the true sequel to Washington I’ve always wanted to make, and I’m fairly satisfied with the way it turned out. Enjoy!
Final countdown: 7 left…
Frontpaged again?! Thank you so much! I’m so happy people get to hear this. Ignore the first movement though, it’s not as good as the others. No part of me actually expected the front page, as this is a sequel to one of my worst performing songs, but I’m so happy it managed it.
50Steaks responds:
My pfp is only the US flag (zoomed in on the stars) because that’s what I’m doing. Don’t worry, I’m fully aware of the many issues of this nation that make it really hard for me to be patriotic most of the time.
Wow, I was not expecting you to come up with something so long when you said you were busy with school. I guess I was right after all on saying that you're going to make something giant. I apologize for not responding sooner. I popped onto Newgrounds to accept a thing for a game I'm helping with (I only did the end part of it) and I made the same mistake as before. Anyway, I saw that you had composed a new song and I meant to review it but I never actually got back to doing it. The reason why I saw it now was because I just finished a song of my own :).
My first impressions
I do have to say, the SoundFont you used for the instruments are quite interesting. They don't sound realistic ( can't really say much haha) but they have their own sort of slightly nostalgic sound to them. It reminds me of early video game music.
Movement 1:
The beginning of the movement is very cool. It starts as this big and slow womp womp woooommp (My music vocabulary is horrendous) which then leads straight to a section which is much faster and lighter. I think that's a really neat contrast and it instantly hooks the listener. I really like the harmonies you used in this section. Everything is done very delicately and everything has such a clear and obvious purpose. I know you're probably thinking "Well of course, why else would I use them?" well, using too much and clogging everything up is something I really struggle with because I always want to keep adding. Listening to this I can get a few ideas on how to do layering really well and with purpose. At around 01:41, I really like the way you layered the two melodies. It sounds really nice. I really like the way you ended the movement as well. Bringing in the main ideas which were used throughout the movement and putting them in a new slightly toned down finish. Very nice! Anyway, sorry for keeping this so brief, it's just that I have 11 more minutes to get through.
Movement 2: 02:47 (Let me know if I don't get these movements correct).
I really like the slow and powerful beginning of the second movement. I really like how you use the lower register of the strings to hold the same chord for the duration of the beginning. It really builds the atmosphere and leaves you wondering what's going to happen next. 04:06, I really like the chord change. I don't really have much to say other than, I really like the way you did it. You really played with the lower register of the strings and other instruments and I really like it. It's a wonderful contrast to the first movement which used primarily used instruments with a higher register. I really like the melody in the second half of the movement. It is really easy to listen to. Simple yet sweet. This feels so different to what you usually make. It's a really nice change and I would love to see you produce more music like this.
Movement 3: 07:45
I think the transition between the two movements was a little rough and quick, but it's alright. I really love the chord progression in this movement. If you know anything about me, then you'll know that I really love descending chord progressions. 08:54, I really like the interesting rhythms. I feel like if you did the quick notes on the pizz strings less rapid at the beginning of this section then it would sound really nice, Then you bring in the normal version in the later part of it. I climax of the movement is also really neat. I don't really know what to say about it so I will move on.
Movement 4: 10:20
This final movement gives me vibes from the third movement and the first one. It reminds me of the first movement because of the slightly upbeat tempo with the drum set and the quick lightness of the melody. For the third movement, the instruments and general vibe of it carried over a little. 12:09, I don't even know if that's possible on a trumpet but I really wouldn't the surprised if it is. It sounds really really synthetic and it breaks the atmosphere for me a little. I don't know if it's a personal preference, but it throws off the flow of the song a little for me. Honestly, I am really just nitpicking here. 12:30 really reminded me of some of your older songs and the style I hear you use a lot. Maybe it's just the timbre of the song or the way you used the harmonies, but it's the sounds I correlate your music with. Not the fast notes or anything, but the general feeling of the ending. I hope you know what I mean.
Finishing thoughts:
Honestly, you kind of blew me away with this one. I didn't think it was going to be entertaining the whole way through, but you proved me wrong. I have a very short attention span and you managed to hold my attention full throughout the entire 13 minutes. Very well done, not even my own music can do that. This was quite the beast of a song to leave a review on but it was fun picking apart the sections of it which I do like. I apologize for not writing more feedback because most of it was just very nitpicky small things which just come down to my personal preference. Overall, I really think you did a great job and keep it up!
Also congrats on getting frontpaged again. I really do think this piece deserves it.
50Steaks responds:
A behemoth of a review, not something I’d expect to see from you. I suppose I should respond by movement as well.
Movement 1: I really thought this was the worst of the bunch because it didn’t use any of the audio techniques I used especially in movements 3-4 when it should have definitely. I did layer melodies, that’s something I’ve always been doing, although here it was slightly different because I had to choose specific instruments to layer that I knew would sound good together.
Movement 2: I’m glad you enjoyed that one, because I would only come back to listen to the last two most of the time. This movement really wasn’t that hard to make at all, since I already knew that this type of slower music was exactly what the soundfont I used was for. I may do something like it again in the future, although I think my next song will not be classical (need a break after a 13 minute basically 4 songs of classical).
Movement 3: I’m surprised you didn’t seem to have much to say about this one. It was my favorite for a long time out of the four movements, and you can tell that I constructed the last movement to emulate the same feeling.
Movement 4: I’m very sad that 12:05-12:22 brought down the rest of the movement, but to be honest I’m not surprised. That part was not really meant for more than 1 person, and so I was like “haha just ignore this, it serves as a bridge and not much else.” Despite that part, I think this movement is on par with the third, especially with the surprise piano at the end that I really enjoy. Think of 12:05-12:22 as a comic relief for the song, after 9 minutes of nothing but intense atmosphere and minor chords.
No, you definitely wrote a long enough review this time that extended the scroll bar on the side to record levels.
In seriousness, thanks for the what amounts to an essay review like I’ve done for some of your songs. Just going to remind you to not feel entitled to making these types of reviews if you don’t really want to (knowing that in the past, you’d do like one word reviews).
P.S. I like for the listener to decide when the movements start and end, makes it more interesting that way.
As a person from Tennessee I can say this song is good
50Steaks responds:
I get that a lot.
In seriousness, thanks for the five stars. I’m surprised so many Tennesseans (Tenneseeans? Tenneseeians? Tenneseers?) find that this song fits the state well.
This is coming from someone born there- Accurate representation of Tennessee.
50Steaks responds:
Well, that’s good to hear. Obviously I was worried it wouldn’t represent the state due to the bizarre circumstances by which this was created, but I’m happy to hear that it does in fact symbolize it.
This is cool but it’s not great
50Steaks responds:
Idk, I’ll take a 4.5/5. I know the first impressions aren’t great, but it does get much MUCH better near the end.
Plenty more like this here!
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