Emunator Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Cover Track Information Arranger: Chromatic Apparatus Performers: Cello: Chromatic Apparatus Piano: Flávio Teles Description: Broken Reflection (a cover of "Promise" from Silent Hill 2) is a track featured from the new Silent Hill tribute album Monochrome Dreams by Pixel Mixers. I confess I haven't played any of the Silent Hill games--horror games aren't my cup of tea 😅 but when I was perusing the tracks to see if I could work with something to participate on the PM album, this one track immediately jumped out to me. The simple, plaintive melody that the synth/guitar picks out over the rhythm guitar's ostinato, got stuck in my head! I could "hear" an adaptation of the soft rock vibe into a more melancholic version, both more placid and more intense, featuring two live cellos (performed by me) and a piano (many thanks to Flávio Teles for his performance on keys). The feeling I was attempting to capture is the sense of solitude and self-reflection, and the intense, spiraling self-doubt, fixation, and turmoil that can come from being alone with your own thoughts for too long. Arrangement Details The original track featured a standard Soft Rock instrumentation, with electric guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums. I reduced the band to just two cellos and a piano to give it a more intimate, pensive quality. 0:00 - The original's guitar-peggios, are the left hand of the piano--this ostinato will run through nearly the whole piece. There are no drums anymore, the piano functionally takes over the rhythm role--this changes the vibe from a restless, bar-room melancholy, to something more isolated and self-reflective. I left the tempo alone--it's one of those illusions of comparison, it feels subjectively slower (to me, at least), but it isn't. 0:13 - One cello enters, playing a short 4 bar introduction. 0:26 - The main melody begins with the cello. 0:47 - The cello is playing in its tenor range here, I intentionally tried to keep the vibrato down here, even including open A string notes (which gets beaten out of you when learning to play the cello) because it matched the raw, almost "pleading," sound I was looking for. 1:16 - In the original, the intro and melody is repeated again, with the guitar reprising its starring role. Instead of doing that with the cello, the baton is passed to the piano, and the cello pads (now with a buddy to fill out the acoustic space) during the tail end of the bridge. 1:39 - After the bridge, the main melody repeats again, the celli drop out here and the piano solos for a bit. 2:01 - One cello re-enters, playing in unison with the piano (albeit two octaves lower). 2:12 - The second cello enters during the second repetition of the wandering melody, harmonizing with the first cello. 2:24 - The big crash. In the original this transition is less of an Event than I wanted to make of it, with the introduction of distorted guitars, and more crash cymbal--the acoustic space is fuller, but burying the lead a bit. I took it in a slightly different direction, by punctuating it with an accent across the board, using intense vibrato in the first cello to draw focus, and having the piano pound away in the lower register (to keep some of that full distortion from the original). 2:44 - I loved the little gliss the bass guitar played in the original and gave it to the second cello here. 2:49 - The E section has the first cello copying the original guitar line, with the second cello providing a staccato chug just to maintain the intensity. 3:10 - In the original, the guitar starts harmonizing in thirds with itself, the original maintains this intensity through to the end, but I wanted to start backing the drive off a bit here--instead of the punctuation heard in the piano and second cello from earlier, this is section is calmer, and more legato. 3:22 - I added a little four bar piano solo here on top the repeated phrases, just to add some contrast and interest as the cellos decay. 3:34 - The piano reprises the figure it was playing so intensely at the big crash (2:24), but now it, too, is calmer and more distinct, more haunting, being played in a higher register rather than deep in the bass wires. 3:46 - I love the little harmony the second cello plays here. 4:00 - We end as we began, with that arpeggio pattern. I decided to keep the stepped slowing of the original, rather than smoothing the ritardando out because I liked the mechanical-ish wind-down--like a machine running out of steam. Links: Chromatic Apparatus Web: http://www.chromaticapparatus.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3xl7t4KyN89GYzwwPET0Dq YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/ChromaticApparatus Flávio Teles Instagram: https://instagram.com/flaviotgt Gear Notes: Mixing done by Chromatic Apparatus in Studio One 6.5.0 Album mastering done by Erika Richards in Studio One 6.5.0 Cello: - 2007 Romanian Euro "Standard Antique" (Peter Prier & Sons) - Recorded using two AKG C414 XLS in mid-side configuration through a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 Gen 3 Piano: - Recorded on a Roland FA-08 - Studio One 6.5.0 Stock VSTi, Presence: Acoustic Piano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 you stole my thunder with the play-by-play, so now i'm stuck writing actual notes. bah! opening piano is beautiful. it's a bit hammer-heavy of a tone but it's surprisingly organic as a result. opening cello work is, as you described it, pretty raw and emotive - there's a lot of bow sound/fuzz in the tone, but it feels very adjacent as a result. there's a few scoops which fit the style very well. the next section starting at 1:16 is a little slow to get going, but the sustains in the cello sound really nice when they come. there's a big shift at 2:22 for the 'big crash' section. i don't feel this is quite as well-handled and integrated as the equivalent part in the original. there's a lot of left hand in the piano so it sounds a bit dense, but that's more a recording issue than it is an arrangement element. the next section with the repeated ascending motif and slow decrescendo is really nice, though, and when it goes to the harmonized riff, the delicate backing in the keys is really pretty. there's some noodling through some chord progressions after that section, and a fade that i think probably could have been the end of the track comfortably. a few more times through the initial guitar arp in the keys and it's done. this is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the original. there's a lot of neat little things done to keep it from being a straight cover, and i appreciate those little bits and bobs here and there. i think that the transition in the middle to the bigger section could have been handled in a less angular fashion, and the end drags a bit, but overall this is a great arrangement with a lot to like. the realization of it is also superb - it feels very close to my ears and the recording is done in a very transparent manner. nice work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted August 31 Author Share Posted August 31 What's there to say here? It's absolutely stunning - CA has become one of the most reliable collaborators in the community by delivering tight, well-recorded, and emotive cello performances, so it's no surprise that his solo work is held to an even higher standard of quality. The performance and technical engineering quality is unimpeachable. The entire mix and master sounds warm and present, with just the right amount of reverb. The arrangement, although fairly safe, clearly surpasses the bar for creative interpretation just due to the expressiveness of the performances, not to mention a myriad of other fills, dynamic changes, and harmonies that elevate it even further. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 (edited) It's like a warm hug for my ears. Such a rich mix, a great handling of the source, and an emotive set of performances. YES p.s. I also hate horror games so there's that too Edited September 5 by Flexstyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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