the making of the Fire Ships
In 2008 I started a musical project with the aim to write, record and complete it within 12 days. 16 years later that project is finally done - 'The Fire Ships'.
The melodies were worked out quite quickly on the piano (within the 12 days), but completing, arranging, correcting mistakes, mixing, mastering took 16 years (in between other projects, work and life).
In that time my daughter went from 3 year old toddler to a fully fledged 19 year old teenager. When I started my father was in good health, but passed away in the meantime. The past 18 years have seen many changes and completing the project feels like the end of a significant chapter in my life and the beginning of a new.
Using Cakewalk Sonar and several software libraries (including Garritan Personal Orchestra, SAM Brass, Vienna Symphonic Library and Symphonic Choirs), each track was put together usually initially with a piano outline and then each instrument played in manually, followed by corrections on screen of my many mistakes and timing errors.
Choosing the right instrument with the right dynamics was a large part of the project's effort. The choirs are provided by a software library where you type in the lyrics, play the melody and the choir sings what you play. It took a lot of work to get it sounding about right, but despite all the effort, I don't think it will ever be mistaken for a real choir.
Mixing involved trying to make the instruments sound balanced and adding reverb to make it sound like it was in a hall, Also were added background noises (people coughing, fidgetting in chairs, etc) and other effects to make it sound as real as I could.
Once the basic arrangements and melodies were in place, next came working to try to make the music as impactful as my skills would allow - adjusting tempo, dynamics, adding crescendoes, adding complexity or simplicity and sometimes completely re-writing pieces until I was satisfied that I could do no more.
Then came the matter of producing a CD, making it available and getting the material onto the main streaming platforms, plus setting up this website.
Laurence F Harvey 2024
In memory of Denis Bernard Harvey 1934 - 2018
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