A splash of epic, hybrid, orchestral music...starts small scale with a light touch, mixed ensemble and finishes with a full flourish of orchestra and choir.

Created in Kontakt sampler.

Composed, arranged, performed and produced by Mark Taylor, March 2021

Exile's Return

Duet for Cello and Piano

Created using Kontakt 6...

Piano = Noire 
Cello = Tina Guo Legato

Ysabel's Lament

A piece that evolved out of one simple musical motif - a melodic idea that is present in each and every section of the music.

Stylistically this is very much a hybrid creation - electronica / classical / ambient...maybe others as well for some listeners?

Composed June 2021 using various Kontakt 6 libraries and Reaktor Blocks

Each Face Retains the Mask it Wore

Carillon, church organ, choir and mixed ensemble combine to hopefully create a delicate, poignant little piece with a wintry edge.

Composed, performed, recorded and produced by Mark Taylor, Chameleon Music 2021.

For those who love more info:

This one features a sample library from Tallin in Estonia...

 The world-famous Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra plus two organs—all recorded in the iconic Niguliste church. 

All hopefully used to create a wintry, minimal 'Nordic' sound...a choir and orchestra famous for their pure sound / very subtle use of vibrato.

The Snow Maiden

CHALLENGE:
Give me a short title and I will produce a piece of music that I think fits it.
Time allowed from start to finish: just 2 hours!!!

I like to do this sort of thing every now and then - hopefully keeps me sharp!!!

This is what I came up with on this occasion - a gentle, rolling piece for 2 pianos and electronics...

There is just one core musical motif in there which I have used in a variety of subtle ways as the piece ebbs and flows.

Walking Through The Rain

Short piece for a small, unusual mixed ensemble - clarinet, baritone sax, flute, double bass, kamānche, Morin khuur.

Big focus here on texture / movement on sustained notes.

Silence and Tears

Silence and Tears (Goodbye Old Friend)

Short orchestral piece that rises from a gentle, delicate beginning towards more intense interplay between solo cello and full choir.

The Space In Between

Short (and hopefully emotional) little piece for 4 cellos and choir.

Emptiness Inside

Clockwork Angels is based on a slightly pretentious narrative....

At the beginning of the piece, you hear the angels soaring through the heavens /// Suddenly they begin to lose control as their mechanical energy runs down /// Falling slowly towards disaster, they 'wind' each other up and replenish their supply of power /// Internal mechanisms once more tightly sprung, they rise again towards the clouds.

All sounds come from Alchemy by Camel Audio -  just 2 patches, (extensively modulated with those X / Y pads), designed by Martin Walker and Simon Stockhausen.

Sound 1: 'Clockwork Angels' comes from the Steamworx library:
http://www.camelaudio.com/Steamworx-Sound-Sample-Library.php

Sound 2: 'Violins...4 Bows' is from Simon Stockhausen's set called 'Alchemistry Beyond':
http://www.patchpool.de/alchemistry_beyond.html

(Copyright Exists / Registered with the PRS for Music)


Clockwork Angels

Two chilled, minimalist pieces for an unusual tuned percussion instrument called 'Morpheus'

The recordings use a multi-sampled version of the instrument created by Sonic Couture...

http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/26-percussion/g25-morpheus/

(Copyright Exists / Registered with the PRS for Music)

Hush A Bye Baby

A chilled, minimalist piece for an unusual tuned percussion instrument called 'Morpheus'

The recording uses a multi-sampled version of the instrument created by Sonic Couture...

http://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/26-percussion/g25-morpheus/

(Copyright Exists / Registered with the PRS for Music)

Dream Within a Dream

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits possible on request.

I don't generally go in for the "Epic / Science Fiction / Movie Trailer / Heavy Percussion / Predictable Chord Sequence " routine, but once in a while, why not!

SOUND SOURCES:

Opening Piano Section:
ALL these sounds come from Dan Wilson at Hideaway Studio:
'Radio TBZ' from the Blue Zone Series
'Galactic Strings' from The String Collection
'Aphrodite's Keys' from Monopolyphonix

Other sounds from the Orbitone Collection, Bass Machine and Monoplyphonix are immersed in the fuller sections as well.

Great source of very reasonably priced, warm, interesting and very useable sounds...
http://hideawaystudio.wordpress.com/



KONTAKT 5 has been used extensively for the percussion sounds.

Camel  Audio's ALCHEMY  leads on the big synth sounds.

Also:

Audjoo Helix VST a great little synth with a big sound.

Hybrid Generation

‘Subterranean Daydreams’ is based on Stuart Fowkes's field recording of an S- bahn journey from Reeperbahn to Stadthausbrucke.

The music is meant to portray the imaginary adventure taking place inside the head of one of the travellers.

Stuart's field Recording:

http://audioboom.com/boos/2591323-s-bahn-journey-from-reeperbahn-hamburg

It was composed as one of two tracks I contributed to the HAMBURG SOUND MAP project on the 'Cities and Memory'  site.

More here:
http://citiesandmemory.com/2014/10/hamburg-sound-map/

Cities and Memory is a sound project that attempts to record both the present reality of a place, but also its imagined, alternative counterpart – remixing the world, one sound at at time.
Every faithful field recording document here is accompanied by a reworking, a processing or an interpretation that imagines that place and time as somewhere else, somewhere new. The listener can choose to explore locations through their actual sounds, or explore interpretations of what those places could be – or to flip between the two different sound worlds at leisure.
The project is completely open to submissions from field recorders, musicians or anyone with an interest in exploring sound worldwide.

Subterranean Daydreams

ALL of the audio in my re-imagined version is taken from this original field recording by Stuart Fowkes of 'Cities and Memory'; nothing has been added:

https://audioboom.com/boos/3280358-corpus-christi-procession-seville


Granular synthesis and sampling techniques played a central role in the task – mainly within Native Instrument’s Reaktor.

Various sections of the original recording were extracted and became the basis for the five strands of my remix:

•	Woodwind and Brass phrases = opening mysterious chords.
•	Everyday background sounds = wind effect.
•	The bell ringer = the fragmented church bell like chimes.
•	Flute and drum = regular melodic pulse.
•	Drums = distorted, percussive loop.

I’ve always found musical processions to be quite magical, mesmerizing experiences – everything else seems to grind to a halt as they pass by…as if time beyond the parade slows to a crawl. Combining this thought with the deep symbolism behind the idea of Corpus Christi I decided to try and create something quite mystical, but still with a hint of that pageant passing by the listener.

Cities and memory is a great idea - get involved!

More info about the various projects here:

http://citiesandmemory.com/what-is-cities-and-memory-about/



SEVILLE CORPUS CHRISTI MYSTERIUM (based on a field recording - see notes)

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits possible on request.

The Man Who Sold the Moon

City of Illusions

City Of Illusions

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits possible on request.

The Icon for this image is in fact the inspiration for the track. It's one small square of a woodcut map from the second printed edition of Utopia - 1518.

Full map here:   http://citiesandmemory.com/utopia/


The track is meant to represent the sounds that might be heard in this area of the island!

In the spirit of the Cities and Memory website, I used a lot of new and old field recordings as the basis of the piece; if you want more details, then read on...

I’ve gone for a dreamy, mysterious atmosphere with this one. Bells ring out as the sun rises. You hear the burbling river that is still not far from its source*. Wind blows through the crow’s nest as waves swell around the ship. A gentle horn sounds from the castle battlements and is quickly joined by monks singing inside the monastery.
* Ignore the banner that says OSTRIUM ANDYRI (The mouth of the river Anydrus) – it’s generally regarded as a joke.
In the middle section the soundscape changes dramatically as a second horn rises outside the castle; 
drums of war herald an approaching army and battle is joined.

The fighting fades away and we return to relative tranquillity; this time we also hear a lonely voice 
from the battlements – first speaking and then singing a short lament.

Production-wise, everything is in this one, including my kitchen sink!
•	Opening shimmering drone = Bells of St Anne’s Church, Moseley, Birmingham through 2 modules in Reaktor.
•	Burbling brook – outlet pipe from my kitchen sink.
•	Wind and waves – pure synthesis in Reaktor
•	Horn – it’s a weird old alpine style horn I bought years ago – finally used it in a project!
•	Amen – monks! :0)
•	Deep brass chords – pure synthesis in Absynth.
•	Horses – Earlswood Stables, Solihull.
•	Swords – kitchen cutlery
•	Elven language – gobbledegook based on the addendum to the book.! 
•	Female singing – synthesis.

"The Castle And The Monastery" Utopia Map D4

Re-Imagining:
The Haunted Swing

Based upon...

Original field Recording:
France restaurant Creaking Swing & Laughter - Gavin Prior

This was created by chopping up the original and processing the various fragments through granular sampler transformers in Reaktor 5. Only the original field recording was used; no other sounds were added…

•	Travelizer was used to introduce elements of pitch to the piece
•	Random Step Shifter was used to add extra rhythmic elements.
•	Grainstates was the ensemble used to create the general background ebb and flow + the ‘new’ swing sound.

The final mix was processed through a chain of modules in Native Instrument’s Guitar Rig and then mastered with Izotope Ozone 4.


The Haunted Swing

Created back in April for the Cities and Memory website - 'Prison Songs' project: http://citiesandmemory.com/projects/prisonsongs/

For various reasons, I didn't quite get around to uploading it at the time! 

This was a tricky project – so many possibilities! I experimented with numerous ideas including a full on expansion of the track involving drums, bass, organ, horn section etc!

This more ambient version is based around the simple concept of being trapped somewhere unfamiliar and not being able to get back home.

It was created in Reaktor 5 using various granular modules. No new audio has been added - everything in the piece is taken from the original prison song recording - "Duckin' and Dodgin'" by Hogman Maxey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5WCsRdm0eM

The pulsing strand was created from a short clip of the strummed guitar.
The two deeper threads were created by manipulating fragments of the original vocal line.

Trapped In The Void - No Way Home

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits available on request.

The latest in my long line of science fiction influenced compositions!

With the exception of drums and percussion, this one was composed using sounds from CL Projects BLUE ORB TRILOGY for Kontakt 5.

More info here: 
http://www.cl-projects-sound-design.com/blue-orb-trilogy.html

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits available on request.

Short and simple piece of 'old school' melodic electronica.

Last Dance of the Cyborg Assassin

Written as part of the Cities and Memory 'Politics and Protest' project.
Launches August 7th 2017: citiesandmemory.com

A simple little piece based on a field recording from a political protest march in Paris 2015. 

I absolutely loved the original recording by Ben Gale and wanted to highlight it’s qualities as much as possible in my remix – one of the reasons why you will hear it at the beginning and end of my piece with no editing whatsoever!

This composition was inspired by my own experiences on various protest marches over the years and my ability to almost completely shutdown external stimuli; to be ALONE IN THE CROWD. It’s a defence mechanism really, but at times almost spiritual – an ‘out of crowd’ experience! I don’t enjoy large gatherings that much at all and I think my brain simply needs time-out from the revelry! 

•	My piece starts with Ben’s field recording in its raw state.
•	Slowly the sounds of protest morph, warp and fade into the background.
•	They continue to ebb and flow, almost like a living breathing creature, but always slightly distant / faded. 
•	A simply, dissonant piano motif represents me in the middle of the throng. A choir theme adds that little edge of spirituality! 
•	The piano and choir fade away. Slowly the sounds of protest re-enter my consciousness and I rejoin the masses.

Warped Sounds of Protest – Reaktor 6 (Metaphysical Function with 14 layers of automation)
Piano – Kontakt 5 (‘Giant’ piano module)
Voices – Omnisphere (Boys Choir)

Alone in the Crowd

Alone In The Crowd

Cities and Memory - Italy Project (Launching August 2018)

https://citiesandmemory.com/

All the music in my reimagined version was created directly from fragments of the original field recording:

Nothing new has been added. Various snippets of bowed and pizzicato violin were used alongside tiny grains of crowd noise that formed the percussive groove in the central section.

To my ears, the original field recording gave the impression of everyone walking past and ignoring this highly talented busker. What if the musician decided to exact revenge in a warped, hypnotic, death-dealing twist to the performance? First of all, my distorted version creates an appropriately dark, disturbing ambience before sliding into a ‘Dance of Death’ section.

I used a new editing environment for this one – the synthesis capabilities of Omnisphere 2. I’ve owned and used it for a few years now, but this project gave me the chance to delve more deeply into its sound design side.

The violin, of course has often been associated with Death / the Devil in music - Danse Macabre, and many more compositions.

In folk tales, the Devil enjoys wagers - betting his own gold fiddle against the souls of his opponents.  He may also bestow musical talent in exchange for a soul - a prominent part of the myth surrounding Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” Sonata.

The great Italian virtuoso Niccolò Paganini was the subject of vicarious rumours that he had sold his soul, and worse: Theosophy founder Madame Helena Blavatsky included Paganini in her story The Ensouled Violin suggesting that the strings of Paganini’s violin were made from human intestine, and that his uncanny ability to mimic the human voice with his playing actually came from a spirit trapped within the instrument.

Death and the Violin: Revenge of the Busker

Death And The Violin: Revenge of the Busker

The ceremony in the cathedral must go ahead; it must not be disrupted by the followers of Cardinal Richelieu...

Outside the doors of the cathedral a deadly game of 'cat and mouse' ensues as the vastly outnumbered musketeers fight valiantly to hold the intruders at bay!

Central section - we swoop back inside for a brief glimpse of the ongoing proceedings!

The big finale takes place ever closer to the cathedral doors; the interlopers break though but it's too late!

Flash of the Blade

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits possible on request.

A traditional Indian vocal combines with full choir, insistent drum beat , flute and many other elements to create a very powerful, haunting atmosphere.

Originally composed for the International Edinburgh Festival...

Main theme for:
'Killing Time'  - a play performed by Heart Productions and written by Frank Bramwell.

Copyright Exists / Registered with the PRS for Music.

Killing Time

Public broadcast license available - contact me directly for a bespoke service with various edits possible on request.


A haunting mysterious atmosphere...

'Gregorian Chant' style voices combine with orchestral, ethnic and synth sounds. Very strong melodies immediately grab the listener. 

Copyright Exists / Registered with the PRS for Music

For All Time (Opening Titles Short Edit)

Short Prayer Song for SATB - based around just two words:

CRUCIFIXUS and LACRIMOSA

Created using DOMINUS CHOIR by Fluffy Audio.

Crucifixus

https://citiesandmemory.com/

March 2020 Project: Future Cities

Future Cities is the largest ever survey of the sounds of urban spaces around the world, examining how the soundscapes of our cities are changing and what that means for us all.

Original Field Recording: 
023 ITALY Venice Fondamenta Zattere and Calle Scuola water, boats and accordion

What if Venice and all its wonderful canals were lifted off the earth’ surface and became a floating metropolis in outer space?

In terms of the sound world they create, I’ve always found journeys on water to be discrete and utterly disconnected from their immediate surroundings, so I’ve tried to create a more cosmic, outer space version of travelling by water!

The first 90 seconds of the piece are 99% taken from the original field recording:

The opening waves of sound are taken directly from the original field recording – snippets of water sounds were processed using granular sampling and synthesis in two instances of Reaktor 6.

The outer space tinkles, clicks and beeps area combination of tiny vocal samples from the original alongside synthesis in Omnisphere.

The pad sound that enters at around 50 seconds was created from the accordion playing towards the end of the field recording – sampled and processed in two instances of Omnisphere.

The original music was all created using Omnisphere.

The Cosmic Gondolier

Cities and Memory Project: Dante’s Inferno 

https://citiesandmemory.com/

Music inspired by Cantos 1 and 2
(Note: Other composers from around the world continue the narrative in their pieces as Dante descends through the gates of Hell and continues his journey).

Opening Section: 
Dante is halfway through his life. We find him walking along contentedly, but there is an edge of melancholy to his mood; something is missing.

Section 2 (starts at 1 min 4 seconds):
He has unwittingly wandered into a dangerous forest. Panic rises - he feels more and more desperate, trapped and hopelessly lost.

Section 3 (starts at 2 min 32 seconds):
Just as he feels that all hope is gone, Dante sees a shining light above a distant hilltop. Maybe he can find his way back to the right path?

Section 4 (starts at 3 min 6 seconds):
Dante tries to climb the hill and reach the light but his path is blocked by three terrifying beasts. A heroic confrontation ensues as he tries to find a way past them and reach salvation.

Section 5 (starts at 4 min 16 seconds):
A despairing Dante is forced to retreat back into the forest but his misery is lifted by the unexpected appearance of the Roman poet Virgil. Virgil’s spirit has been sent to guide Dante back towards the light.

Section 6 (starts at 5 min 10 seconds):
Virgil warns Dante that before they can climb the hill they must first pass through the place of eternal punishment (Hell) and then a place of lesser punishment (Purgatory); only then can they reach God’s city (Heaven). Slowly but surely, they begin their journey. Dante is determined but still full of doubt.

Section 7 (starts at 6 min 14 seconds):
Approaching the edge of the forest they see a distant, first sight of the Gates of Hell.

Composed, arranged, performed and recorded using Native Instruments' KOMPLETE ULTIMATE.

Dante's Inferno

The Lost Poet

The Lost Poet: Dante's Inferno Cantos 1 and 2

My tribute to Ennio Morricone whom I studied not only as a film composer but also through his avant garde musical creations as part of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.

Whispers Across the Wasteland is  a suite of pieces from an imaginary Spaghetti Western...

Section 1: Echoes of a Long Forgotten Love

Section 2: Say Hello to Francesca (2:12)

Section 3: Old Grandpa Jones and a Chipmunk called Sam (2:46)

Section 4: Francesca Returns (3:20)

Section 5: Picnic at the Farmstead (3:54)

Section 6: A Deadly Game of Hide and Seek (4:26)

Section 7: Follow that Rodent - The Chase is On! (5:43)

Section 8: The Stranger and the Music Box (6:47)

Created in Komplete and Omnisphere.

Whispers Across the Wasteland

Morricone Tribute: Whispers Across the Wasteland

Cities and memory: The 'Orange Garden' project - due for release Spring 2021

https://citiesandmemory.com/orangegarden/

Rome's Orange Garden is extraordinary - a spiritual place of deep significance to so many people over hundreds of years. 

My piece starts with a gently sweeping, dreamy soundscape that is 100% created from the awesome original field recording - so many possibilities in there! Granular synthesis and sampling techniques have been used on nearly every sound from the recording (including the mechanical noises - turned into deep, gentle booms). 

At around 90 seconds, an acoustic guitar enters and the mood changes. In my mind the story moves from a nebulous set of memories where you can almost (but not quite) pick out individual sounds from the garden, to a more definite musical 'moment' accompanied by the gentle sound of the fountain (again - processed via granular synthesis). Other sounds from the
original recording heard behind the music include the first percussion entries at 2 minutes - created from layers of various sounds, including the gravel footsteps. 

The musical story rises and falls, led by the warm tone of a xaphoon (single reed wind instrument
that has similarities to the more well-known duduk). A battered old dulcimer takes on the melody for the contrasting section before dramatic live vocals and a duduk join with the xaphoon as the main melody returns. 

As the guitar fades away, the narrative slips back into a more ethereal dream-state to finish.

The Orange Tree, The Fountain and a Long Forgotten Love

The Orange Tree, The Fountain and a Long Lost Love

Mark Taylor, Birmingham, UK

Professional music and sound design for all media since 1994…

TV // Live Theatre & Multimedia Events // Radio // Advertising // Film // PC games

Always interested in providing music and sound design for projects around the Birmingham area and across the world.

All of the composing, arranging, performing and recording is done in my own private studio. In the last 25 years, I have provided music and general sound design for productions all over the world – USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Panama, Ireland, and mainland Europe.

Recent clients include:

• Nocturnal Works – ‘Eleusis’… a 3d first-person adventure game

• RTE (Irish National TV and Radio) – Ident / Jingle

• Chevrolet Malibu / MSN -online advert.

• Fifteen (festival of short plays from some of the UK’s most exciting artists and playwrights).

• Bally Technologies – Pirate themed casino game

• Castrol UK – ReMix of their classic jingle.

• PBS (US TV Network) – ident / jingle

• Collegehumor.com –  underscore

• BBC World Service – documentary



• Catalyst Design on behalf of TV’s interior designer Tess O’Hara – Ident / Jingle

• Novelist Maria Isabel Pita – Underscore for Promotional Video

I recently had the dubious honour of having one of my tracks beamed into space from the Goonhilly satellite earth station in Cornwall, UK…took just 5 hours to go beyond the solar system and is now well into deep space. If aliens do finally arrive and they look angry, you now know who’s probably to blame!

Message to Will.i.am…music on Mars…that’s nothing…I’m way ahead of you! :0)

Chameleon Music

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