Custom Music for Special Events
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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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