Most of the music and soundscapes I produce contain the human voice is some way or another. I tend to use found sounds, often old recordings from tapes, and then I add effects to give a certain atmosphere. The voices are always from the spoken word and tend not to be the main focus.
I’d like to try composing some music to accompany a singing voice and this is where you can help.
Below is a poem I wrote several year ago. It’s fairly dark and was written for Halloween. I’ve never heard it read (or sung) by any other voice than mine. So what I’d like is for someone (or several people for that matter) to improvise singing it. I always imagine it a bit folky – like ‘She Moves Through The Fair’, but I’m not suggesting that other interpretations wouldn’t be welcome.
Once I receive the vocals I’ll add a music/atmospheric sound track to it. The end product would be shared with the vocalist(s) and if anything came of it financially we’d have equal rights/shares.
So here are a few guidelines and the all important poem.
Guidelines
1 Improvise a melody using the words of “Fall Quiet’. Please do not alter the words, omit or add to them.
2 The recording should be A cappella (unaccompanied) and without effects. If you are not comfortable without some reverb that’s fine, just keep it real simple as I will be adding effects in the mix.
3 Contact me for a link to a Dropbox folder for uploading.
4 Closing date for submissions is Friday 31st July 2015.
5 If you have any other questions please contact me direct (don’t leave comments here).
Contact: info@audiodays.org
6 Have fun.
Fall Quiet
Fall quiet
And listen
This is the sound of your soul
Beating and breathing
Listen hard
And you can feel
The very moment
The sudden chill
It is within you
It is part of you
Fall quiet
A cloud of breath
Is it yours?
Is it draining the very life from you?
You feel alone
But you are not
Fall quiet
You are not who you think you are
You have become the night
You have become the darkness
You have become nothing
Fall quiet
Brush against the thin veil between
Darkness and light
Life and death
You and not you
Fall quiet
A cold hand
An icy touch
A whispered name
A life passed
Fall quiet
For now you are a cloud of breath
You are the chill
You are
The quiet
Richard Fair – 2002
