The Bell Tower and the Cross

[wagtunes]

Mark feel free to warble all you want. You're one of the most talented people here. It's obvious. And your reply confirms my suspicions.

Can't wait to hear more from you.

[eassae]

Very nice! I especially enjoyed the discordant build into the more structured section.

[Hipster Bales]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/ ... -the-cross

Bandcamp:
https://chameleonmusic1.bandcamp.com/al ... -the-cross

Title track from the new album...

This was my intention with this one:

Think Miss Marple, Father Brown, Murder She Wrote, Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

The opening scene fades from black as the camera slowly sweeps across the cemetery towards the tolling bell. Choir boys singing inside the church. A slowly evolving, warped choir drone adds a subtle, rising edge of tension.

The camera pans back out towards the Cross as disturbing vocal lines weave around each other accompanied by dissonant string runs. The music reaches a peak just as the camera focuses on the dead body of the local priest, hidden behind the cross.

Cut to the opening credits and the main theme for the programme – hopefully conveying mystery, suspense, adventure and a healthy dollop of cheesy humour!

Finally, a brief hint of the opening Agnus Dei from the Choir boys leads into the first scene via a dramatic close up of a second body hanging in the Bell Tower!

I'll leave it up to the listener on whether I achieved it or not!

Apologies to those who have been on here for years as I think I posted the original version of this one about 10 years ago!

That sounds super beautiful
It reminds me of church organs.

[Hipster Bales]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/ ... -the-cross

Bandcamp:
https://chameleonmusic1.bandcamp.com/al ... -the-cross

Title track from the new album...

This was my intention with this one:

Think Miss Marple, Father Brown, Murder She Wrote, Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

The opening scene fades from black as the camera slowly sweeps across the cemetery towards the tolling bell. Choir boys singing inside the church. A slowly evolving, warped choir drone adds a subtle, rising edge of tension.

The camera pans back out towards the Cross as disturbing vocal lines weave around each other accompanied by dissonant string runs. The music reaches a peak just as the camera focuses on the dead body of the local priest, hidden behind the cross.

Cut to the opening credits and the main theme for the programme – hopefully conveying mystery, suspense, adventure and a healthy dollop of cheesy humour!

Finally, a brief hint of the opening Agnus Dei from the Choir boys leads into the first scene via a dramatic close up of a second body hanging in the Bell Tower!

I'll leave it up to the listener on whether I achieved it or not!

Apologies to those who have been on here for years as I think I posted the original version of this one about 10 years ago!

I love it!
It reminds me of the Big Ben in London.
Also, the sound design behind this is immaculate.

[ChameleonMusic]

Good to hear this one again after such a long time. I still maintain that it would be most suitable for inclusion on a Midsomer Murders or Dalziel and Pascoe OST piece, given that priests have been known to be the victims of foul play in both series, and the second part seems to have a traditionally "English" mystery style.

Great composition and production.

Good work

Ahhh, you remember the original version...that's something that'll take as a positive! (not that it's changed much...just a few minor mastering tweaks)....''minor mastering'' sounds weird, but you know what I mean!

Many thanks for having another listen...''priest'' and ''traditional English mystery'' - yep!

[ChameleonMusic]

Great theme composition. Good arrangement and orchestration sounds dynamic… well done mix and mastering. Sounds good.

Thanks for having a listen and feeding back!

[ChameleonMusic]

I like it. Sadly it is uncommon to hear music that moves forward ie not the same loop for 3 mins then evaporate at loop end.
Melodies too! Nice and bombastic. Sounds good overall. Shame it just stops but one assumes it is part of a greater whole??

I have done things in this space with TV show themes (Father Brown, Midsomer, Hill St) as well as making a story cycle complete with slides. A lot of work goes in.

Hi Benedict - many thanks for having a listen and leaving such detailed feedback.

This one was very much written as a short, sharp 'theme tune' idea, but I have used some of the material elsewhere in longer more developed orchestral pieces as well.

Loops Loops Loops - I do that as well from time to time!

[ChameleonMusic]

Very nice! I especially enjoyed the discordant build into the more structured section.

That very short section took way too long to create! Glad you liked at as I was quite proud of it!

[ChameleonMusic]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/ ... -the-cross

Bandcamp:
https://chameleonmusic1.bandcamp.com/al ... -the-cross

Title track from the new album...

This was my intention with this one:

Think Miss Marple, Father Brown, Murder She Wrote, Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

The opening scene fades from black as the camera slowly sweeps across the cemetery towards the tolling bell. Choir boys singing inside the church. A slowly evolving, warped choir drone adds a subtle, rising edge of tension.

The camera pans back out towards the Cross as disturbing vocal lines weave around each other accompanied by dissonant string runs. The music reaches a peak just as the camera focuses on the dead body of the local priest, hidden behind the cross.

Cut to the opening credits and the main theme for the programme – hopefully conveying mystery, suspense, adventure and a healthy dollop of cheesy humour!

Finally, a brief hint of the opening Agnus Dei from the Choir boys leads into the first scene via a dramatic close up of a second body hanging in the Bell Tower!

I'll leave it up to the listener on whether I achieved it or not!

Apologies to those who have been on here for years as I think I posted the original version of this one about 10 years ago!

I love it!
It reminds me of the Big Ben in London.
Also, the sound design behind this is immaculate.

Thanks for having a couple of listens!

[Hipster Bales]

https://soundcloud.com/chameleon-music/ ... -the-cross

Bandcamp:
https://chameleonmusic1.bandcamp.com/al ... -the-cross

Title track from the new album...

This was my intention with this one:

Think Miss Marple, Father Brown, Murder She Wrote, Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents!

The opening scene fades from black as the camera slowly sweeps across the cemetery towards the tolling bell. Choir boys singing inside the church. A slowly evolving, warped choir drone adds a subtle, rising edge of tension.

The camera pans back out towards the Cross as disturbing vocal lines weave around each other accompanied by dissonant string runs. The music reaches a peak just as the camera focuses on the dead body of the local priest, hidden behind the cross.

Cut to the opening credits and the main theme for the programme – hopefully conveying mystery, suspense, adventure and a healthy dollop of cheesy humour!

Finally, a brief hint of the opening Agnus Dei from the Choir boys leads into the first scene via a dramatic close up of a second body hanging in the Bell Tower!

I'll leave it up to the listener on whether I achieved it or not!

Apologies to those who have been on here for years as I think I posted the original version of this one about 10 years ago!

I love it!
It reminds me of the Big Ben in London.
Also, the sound design behind this is immaculate.

Thanks for having a couple of listens!

No problem I don't hear many songs like this nowadays

[Genetic_Junk]

Excellent programmatic music. You've captured the movement and comfortable familiarity (for me) of the mystery/dramatic show title sequence. I love the music of Columbo. I only miss the degradation of fidelity caused by old tape/recording mechanisms/who knows.

[ecamburn]

I really enjoyed the progression of this piece through different moods. The mix was very clear. The back story was interesting to see and the music paints a nice story itself.

[ChameleonMusic]

Excellent programmatic music. You've captured the movement and comfortable familiarity (for me) of the mystery/dramatic show title sequence. I love the music of Columbo. I only miss the degradation of fidelity caused by old tape/recording mechanisms/who knows.

Thanks for the feedback!

Old school sound - I did experiment with that at first when mixing / mastering and then abandoned the idea purely on the grounds that I can always do it later if necessary without too much work!

[aaron aardvark]

ChameleonMusic,
Thank you for the review! Now your recording: I think I heard some Danny Elfman influence for a bit. It all sounds very professional and real to me. I would imagine it fits the scene well. Very nice job!

[CrystalWizard]

Great piece, it really hits the spot you were aiming for. Even without your description it paints a mystery/drama/British TV setting. Hopefully you get picked up to do just that.
Your posts are always worth the listen.

offtopic: Midsomers Murders has my favorite TV theme music: a theremin lead and 3/4 time. I get a real kick from episodes where there is a band of some sort in the show doing the theme music