Hi Folks,
My name is Xtruist (well it’s not REALLY my name, but it is my artistic pseudonym :) and I am the composer/sound designer at Eipix entertainment. We just finished making a game for iPhone called Golman for Mr. Ian Masters and a company called Yasoma. It was my task to make a music theme for Golman and also provide the sounds.
As the World Cup Africa is soon going to begin, it was important to make it sound African or at least hint at African music. However, if we made it really authentic we had a feeling that most of the mainstream players would be annoyed. True native music of most countries is actually more “bitter” than the fancy “remixes” we usually associate with them. From the start I knew that I can’t sacrifice drums (which are in the “drum set” form nonexistent in true African music), so I started with a standard with some pop/funk bass/drums/piano/brass lines. I didn’t even want to try to emulate African rhythm patterns or harmony. Instead I decided to use some African instruments and some Afro/Cuban percussion patterns on top just to spice up a bit. When you think of African music the first thing that comes to mind is usually percussion and vocals. I feel that the most drastic effect could have been achieved in using authentic vocals and live percussion, but our budget didn’t permit for that. Instead, I used synth patches of stringed/plucked/percussion African instruments like kora, ngoni and kalimba. Each A part of the theme is followed by a B part which is probably the most African element of the theme featuring a simple theme presented by a shakuhachi wind instrument. This instrument has no connection with Africa. As a matter of fact it’s a Japanese flute made of bamboo. However, this instrument really adds the ethnic feel and is truly beautiful sounding. It is commonly used by James Horner, Hans Zimmer and John Williams among other great composers. In the middle of the song I decided to change the direction by introducing a pure pop theme. The theme is brought by kora and ngoni and harmony is presented by the brass instruments (horns in this case) and all of this is additionally flavored by the straight eight bass playing only root notes. The end of the song comes in a form of a more Latin influenced pop theme that culminates in the B part to make a nice loop with the beginning. We wanted the song to be something that is not boring but not too engaging, so that it wouldn’t distract the player. The idea was to create a number of simple themes that would come one after the other based on the same accompaniment (similar in form to classical rondo). However, even in (Odyssey) 2010, space is still an issue so we had to cut down on the size of the music, meaning length as I didn’t want to use severe compression, and flush our mix and mastering efforts down the drain.
In the mix we accented the bass and drums a bit, as this is what we personally like to hear (take into account that I am a drummer myself).
For those who are interested the drum samples come from Steinberg Cubase 5 GrooveAgent, while most of the other instruments come from Yamaha Motif XS and Korg M3. Music was mixed in Cubase 5. No endorsement here if you are wondering, although I wouldn’t mind these guys giving me a hand.
Personally I am quite satisfied with the end result. The brass is a bit synthetic, but I didn’t have time to do serious programming, and it does add the 80s pop quality which I am very emotional about. The theme with which the composition ends is the jewel of the composition. I have a feeling that it could be a very nice pop song on its own.
