'The Red Dragon's Theme (Rough Draft/Demo)' - New Original Music/Song Idea Inspired by Splinterlands! Orchestral/Instrumental + Walkthrough!

I wanted this to be

my submission for this week's Splinterlands Music/Lore contest, but unfortunately it's no where near finished. But, I figured that this would be a good time for a little series of posts, as I work on this more and make it more complete. The general harmony I like a lot, though everything is just held out/legato, so I think it needs some variation at some points. Additionally, I hate the timpani part, mostly just half notes, and the drums sort of get lost in the mix, so that will DEFINITELY be changing, and hopefully accenting the strings/brass a bit more, rather than just keeping a straight beat.

Listen to The Red Dragon's Theme (Rough Draft) here.

Track 1 is our strings,

using the string ensemble from Spitfire Audio's LABS. Unfortunately, I do not have any awesome brass ensembles, so I used the Ableton pack. They don't sound amazing, but they get the general idea across. The harmony parts here were inspired by Gustav Holst: The Planets. He does some cool stuff with a single bass notes, while other instruments use chord planing (moving around a chord shape). We have a C being hold out in the bass, while the higher instruments play various chords: C, Db, D, Eb, F, and G, then back down again. It made for a cool effect, sort of epic and adventurous, without feeling like a typical diatonic major or minor progression.

Tracks 1 and 2, first 4 bars.

Listen to The Red Dragon's Theme (Rough Draft) here.

Track 6, woodwind.

Track 3 is the timpanis,

which are definitely going to change. The rhythm right now is boring, and was just there for me to jam over. Tracks 4 and 5 are the cymbals, with one being a single hit, and the other the cymbal swell. Finally, we have the Ableton Woodwind Ensemble in Track 6, which doesn't do anything too crazy, mostly filling in the beginning of each section, before the brass melody comes in, then just harmonizing over the chords.

I will DEFINITELY be working on this more, hopefully making it feel a little more clear, with each instrument/section having a more clearly defined place in the mix. Harmonically, I love what's going on, so hopefully the rest of the tune can reflect that with some more work.