Sunday 30 December 2012

Duck Squadron - Epic Music




Duck Squadron: (Make sure your speakers are on so you can hear all the action!)  This aviation squadron is a classified unit comprising of combat ducks!  Some of the combat ducks land perfectly but others haven't got the same skill and experience. The squadron is led by Wing Commander 'Mr. Quack', formerly a member of the US Air Force.

This Duck Squadron articulates its core functions in its 2012 Posture Statement as Special Feathered Operations, Command, Quack and Control, Bird Recovery, Building Partnerships (ie. Mating) and Agile Combat Support.

I did the filming, editing, sound effects and music.  Thanks for watching!  Please comment, like, subscribe and share.  Thanks!

The video footage was captured in Bramhall Park, United Kingdom.

Music: "National Day" by Jon Brooks.
Sound Design: Jon Brooks
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/jonbrookscomposer

Tags: Duck Commander, US Air Force, Royal Air Force, Air Combat, RAF, Duck Squadron, Squadron, Squad, Aviation, Wing Commander, Flying Ducks, Ducks on Ice, Epic Music, Dramatic Music, Sound Effects, Sound Design, JonBrooksComposer, Squadron 633, Snipers, Sniper, Squadron 42, The Duck Song, Bramhall, United Kingdom, Helicopters, Air Combat, Planes, Airplanes, Military, Army, USAF, Commander, Duck Hunting.

Friday 14 December 2012

EPIC Orchestral Music - Ocean Odyssey - Jon Brooks




Epic Orchestral Music "Ocean Odyssey" composed, orchestrated and programmed in Logic Pro by Jon Brooks.

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/jonbrookscomposer
Please comment, like, share and subscribe.  Thank you for your support.

For additional information or more music, please visit my website: www.jonbrooks.co.uk

This music is subject to copyright and is provided for demonstration purposes only. © 2010 Jon Brooks.

ORCHESTRA (As cited on Wikipedia):
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but changed very little in composition during the course of the 20th century.

A smaller-sized orchestra for this time period (of about fifty players or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra. A full-size orchestra (about 100 players) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these modifiers do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra).

A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. A leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians; some are much smaller than that. Orchestras can also be found in schools. The term concert orchestra may sometimes be used (e.g., BBC Concert Orchestra; RTÉ Concert Orchestra)—no distinction is made on size of orchestra by use of this term, although their use is generally distinguished as for live concert. As such they are commonly chamber orchestras.

The typical symphony orchestra consists of four proportionate groups of similar musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings, and also the fifth proportionate group of similar musical instruments like the rhythm section in modern times. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the standard instruments in each group. In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time, often agreed to have been standardized by the classical period and Beethoven's influence on the classical model.

The so-called "standard complement" of double winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Ludwig van Beethoven. The exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No. 4, which each specify a single flute. The composer's instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, and 9 for an innovative effect. The third horn in the "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but also the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver storm and sunshine in the Sixth. The Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to the "Eroica" (four horns has since become standard); Beethoven's use of piccolo, contrabassoon, trombones, and untuned percussion—plus chorus and vocal soloists—in his finale, are his earliest suggestion that the timbral boundaries of "symphony" might be expanded for good. But for several decades after his departure, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethoven's well-established model, with few exceptions.

Apart from the core orchestral complement, various other instruments are called for occasionally. These include the classical guitar, heckelphone, flugelhorn, cornet, harpsichord, and organ. Saxophones, for example, appear in a limited range of 19th and 20th century scores. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, the saxophone is included in other works, such as Ravel's Boléro, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.6 and Symphony No.9 and William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.

Monday 10 December 2012

"DNA" - Music by Jon Brooks




"DNA"  (Music by: Jon Brooks)

I composed, orchestrated and programmed this music in Logic Pro using high quality multi-samples.  It was commissioned for a Malaysian UMW (United Motor Works) Rebranding corporate video.

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/jonbrookscomposer
Please comment, like, share, favourite and subscribe.  Thank you for your support.

For additional information or more epic, dramatic, quirky and emotional music, please visit my website: www.jonbrooks.co.uk

This music is subject to copyright and is provided for demonstration purposes only. © 2008 Jon Brooks.

Friday 7 December 2012

Horn Sound




"Horn Sound"

Every sound in this composition, from the melodic to the percussive, the atmospheric effects to the bass originates from a Paxman French Horn.

Please comment, like, subscribe and share!  Thanks for your support.
www.youtube.com/jonbrookscomposer

FRENCH HORN: Paxman 25m full double, medium bore, titanium valves, gold brass with a detachable bell.
MOUTHPIECE: Paxman-Halstead-Chidell 23mm AS Mouthpiece.
MUTE: Steve W. Lewis mute.

This composition was created for a Kingston University assignment 10 years ago.
Music by: Jon Brooks (© 2002)

Recordings for this composition were taken from three places: De Lissa Hall, the De Lissa Hall Lecture Theatre and my home studio.  The acoustic was rather different in all three locations: my home studio being dry, De Lissa Hall having a little reverberation and the De Lissa Lecture Theatre which seemed to have a short echo delay.  I found the lecture theatre's acoustic was pleasing for softer tones but not suitable for anything above mezzo forte.  I recorded over 23 minutes worth of material of which I knew a lot would be discarded.  I then transferred the material to an Apple Mac computer and began to discard unnecessary remnants using Peak (editing software).  From there I created single samples and manipulated them.

My main considerations for this composition were timbre and spacialisation.  Originally, different timbres were produced by use of dynamics, hand-stopping, glissandi and muting.  Once the samples were in the computer I manipulated them to produce more variation in tone.  Some samples were manipulated to imitate the sound of a trumpet, muted trumpets and even a tuba.

In terms of spacialisation, I recorded a range of sounds with regard to microphone positioning.  For example, the 'rattling of valves' and the 'air through the horn' have a more intimate sound due to a closer microphone position.

The composition's structure is similar to the ABA form, the A section being quite short.  The first A section realizes the horn's preparation to play.  First we hear the mouthpiece going in (this sample was manipulated to produce the rhythm heard, and then pitch shifted down an octave).  We then hear air being blown down the French Horn later combined with rattling of valves.  Section B begins with a horn glissando that evolves into other related manipulated samples.  Section B expresses the following parameters: timbre, pitch, attack, duration and amplitude.  The last section is similar to the first A section and 'bookends' the composition.

Still Images: (All under a creative commons license).
Thanks to: usarmyband, Sadie Hernandez, rmhowie, Paco Vila, congaman (Dave) and Calsidyrose.

For additional information or more music, please visit my website: www.jonbrooks.co.uk

This music is subject to copyright and is provided for demonstration purposes only.  © 2002 Jon Brooks.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

BELIEVE IN ME - Inspirational Quotes - Dramatic Music




A video featuring some of the greatest inspirational quotes accompanied by dramatic orchestral music.  Feel free to include some of your own quotes in the comment section below.

Music: "Believe In Me"
Vocals: Doreen Tang
Music Composer: Jon Brooks

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/jonbrookscomposer

Please share, comment, rate and subscribe.  Thanks for your support.

Music composed, orchestrated and produced using Logic Pro with numerous sample libraries and plugins.

This music is subject to copyright and is provided for demonstration purposes only.  © Jon Brooks.

For more information and music, please visit my website: http://www.jonbrooks.co.uk

Inspirational Music
Inspirational Song
Inspirational Video
Inspirational Orchestral Music
Epic Orchestra
Dramatic Orchestra