Sunday, August 3, 2008
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10:39 PM
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INRI studio's original tracks for e' Tzaintes, "Catastrophe" and "Streaks", was done exactly the way the "Another Brick on the Wall" cover was done; everything was produced, sequenced, layered and mixed via very simple, download-for-free softwares.
Even vocal recording set up was simple ie cheap karaoke mic straight to the computer' on-board sound device (in other words, BUDGET). The only other live instrument being the guitars, contributed by Wesley Choo of E.P.I.C, played through a multi-fx rack device of which details were not available to me.
What makes "Catastrophe" and "Streaks" different, and even MORE difficult to do is that both songs were made to replace two popular and well recognised tracks. These two songs were used in two very significant scenes, which pretty much sets the tone and direction for the film. The two songs are:
1) "Bullet in Your Head" by Rage Against the Machine, and
2) "Sweet Dreams", Marilyn Manson's cover of the classic Eurythmic track.
(Btw, both these tracks appear in the extremely rare director's cut VCD. Less than 100 of these are made, so if you are one of the lucky few to own it, you have a very priced possession ;-))
One of the biggest issues that we encountered is the fact that reediting the sequence of the shots has become a non-option; by the time we had finished our director's cut version of the film, the system we used for editing is no longer available to us. Putting in a totally different track would endanger the scenes by rendering them grotesque; the music would have the danger of not matching the visuals, and vice versa.
That puts us into very tight constraints and options. Basically, to replace the above mentioned tracks, the new tracks have to meet the following criteria:
1) They had to encapsulate the same spirit and sound that the other two songs had.
2) They had to have the same (or almost similar) musical structure: same length for intro, verse, chorus etc, same climatic peaks, same sound dynamics, and even the same length of songs.
3) They have to be songs that are easy to get copyrights (the reason for replacing the mentioned songs in the first place), or,
4) If composed from scratch, they basically have to sound similar, yet original enough for them to stand on their own and give us the least amount of trouble (if any).
It took us an extra year to have both tracks completed and added to the final version of e' Tzaintes, which we consider as a miracle owing to the fact that we, being complete amateurs in film and music, had to contend with really huge obstacles. However, all that effort was worth the resultant euphoria that we experienced when we watch the finished product.
You might be wondering right now, why so much thought and effort and stress, not to mention the time "wasted", in trying to fit in something as simple as music? Plenty of royalty free music/sound banks are available at affordable cost even back then. It would have been much simpler, wouldn't it?
The answer: Because we love music.
It is really simple to articulate, but very difficult to elaborate. Suffice to say that as how it is a certain piece of art, photography and film can evoke the responses it wants out of its audience, so can a piece of music.
In this case, that ability to evoke response has become a MUST. e' Tzaintes is a raw, brash and rebellious film, hence sounds that sits in the background is just not an option. Instead, the music had to be just as raw, brash and rebellious and it has to be able to take the front seat, yet compliments the film well enough so as to not overshadow it.
(In fact, our philosophy on the importance of sound and music in our film spills over to our post-Tzaintes project, "A Wicked Tale", which hopefully will be addressed in a future blog entry.)
Even now, with almost 10 years after INRI studio was first formed, somethings really haven't changed. We still make or plan to make not-so-Singapore projects, we still love our music, we still find ways to provoke your senses and open your mind. With the upcoming double screening in less than 2 weeks away, we are about to fill our mighty pens again to scribe the another chapter.
To you, it might be just another event. To us, it's another conquest.
See you at Sinema Old School. (Armen)
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INRI STUDIO
Labels:
Another Brick in the Wall,
Catastrophe,
e' Tzaintes music,
Streaks
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