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Custom
Music for Special Events
There are many reasons for having
custom music written and produced for your event. Copyright restrictions are
certainly one. Even if you have a licensing agreement with ASCAP or similar
organization, it does not, for instance, apply to the video you may want to make to give your
event an after life. This afterlife is often of greater use than the event
itself. With custom music you own it and you can use it where and whenever you
want.
Original
music also
insures that the music you use is completely appropriate. Custom music is exactly
that; customized to your specific needs. It also lends an air of sophistication
and creativity.
It does not take long for an audience to realize that they have not heard
this music before and they notice that it creates the perfect environment for whatever is
happening. Whether its function is presenting specific lyrical ideas, excitement
generation, or
even just audio masking (as you will see in the following example) you know that
by providing appropriate combinations of music and sound effects, you will be
creating an environment that is exactly what you want and need.
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This fundraising event (and
gold medal winner of the 2001 CASE awards) was held at the KSU Student Recreation and Wellness Center and covered 4
contiguous basketball courts. The guests were brought in small groups of fifty at
a time to "a clearing in the forest" where they were greeted by large, guarded
entrance doors. The doors were then ceremoniously opened and they were welcomed and
invited into the future. I composed a sound and music combination to
contribute to the wonder and mystery of the moment.
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The
guests were then led through a series of rooms, each with a different message
concerning the future of Kent State University but all maintaining a "jungle
future" feel. There was an overall ambient sound track throughout the space that
needed to serve three functions. One was to maintain the feel. Both the nature
of the music and the additional animal sounds accomplished this. Secondly, the
ambient sound track needed to be an "audio mask." As you can see in the photos,
each room was separated only by a thin sheet of hanging plastic. Each room
featured presentations by both actors and live video interplay, making sonic
isolation was an issue. This isolation was accomplished by the thick texture of
the music. Thirdly, other music needed to be played simultaneously. The
video sound tracks as well as the "traveling music" that played when the guests
moved from room to room had to be pitched and arranged to be compatible with the
ambient music and establish a common theme. All the music for the event carried
this theme albeit in different forms and styles.
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The next four audio
clips include an informational video theme song described to me as "an
America's Most Wanted" style program, the sound of a collapsing time portal
for the end of the tour of the future, an underscore for speaker Linda
Allard's support video, and an underscore for the president of the
university, Dr. Carol Cartwright.
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After dinner and speeches, there came the
final culminating moment when, to fanfares and cadenzas, runners, gymnasts, and
acrobats came streaming onto the main floor. Then the "Culminating Moment" music
play as the student delivered informational packets to the seated and somewhat
surprised guests. The cast of actors was presented for a final curtain call.
Following that they heard the familiar "Traveling Music" this time in an
extended form with instrumental melodies and chordal rhythm added for a full, finished, musical sound. As you
play all of these tracks I hope you notice that, despite different styles and
functions of the
music, there is a central, recurring theme used throughout. This
theme is the unifier of the design and composition.
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