I composed and drummed on this Big Band jazz tune done remotely!

[Seafroggys]

Hey guys, so I'm a member of the Reddit Symphony Orchestra, an online collab orchestra based on Reddit and Discord. We primarily do orchestral pieces but also do the occasional jazz tune. We mostly do existing repertoire, but I decided to use my composing chops and put them to the test and wrote my very first Big Band tune. Let me tell you, harmonizing 13 horn parts is a pain in the ass, but I did it. I, of course, also drummed on this, and did the putting together/mixing of it. Hope you guys like some swing!

 

[GetAgrippa]

Wow that’s a great effort/ I’m listening on iPhone so want to hear with headphones but I dig it. Parts sound familiar is it inspired by something- or you just created a tune and decided to give it a go? Drumming sounds great BTW. Oh and do you also play a horn? No simple feat to orchestrate all that-I love it.

 

[WhoIsTony?]

great work

 

[Jonathan Curtis]

Yeah! Nice work man!

 

[LarryJ]

Nice composition and arrangement and great drumming. I really like the dancers and musicians graphics.

 

[Seafroggys]

Thank you everyone for your kind words!

Wow that’s a great effort/ I’m listening on iPhone so want to hear with headphones but I dig it. Parts sound familiar is it inspired by something- or you just created a tune and decided to give it a go? Drumming sounds great BTW. Oh and do you also play a horn? No simple feat to orchestrate all that-I love it.

Not necessarily. I wanted to make just a traditional big band chart, so its gonna have influences from a lot of tunes and songs I've heard over the years I'm sure. Didn't sought out to make an original work of art or anything.

I did play trombone briefly when I was younger, but that's not where I got my theory from. I played piano for 7 years before I became a drummer, and started composing when I was 13. This was the first time I just wrote for 13 horn parts. The trick was to make sure I kept the notes in a respectable range for most the instruments.

 

[Anon La Ply]

Bravo!

 

[Andy]

Wow - that's a seriously impressive result. So difficult to get distance recorded parts to sync in terms of both timing and feel. This really sounds like a polished group performance - great work!

BTW, I love the line graphic video of the dancing couple / instrument performances. What did you use to achieve that?

 

[Seafroggys]

Thanks again guys!

BTW, I love the line graphic video of the dancing couple / instrument performances. What did you use to achieve that?

Its just done in my video editor. I use Shotcut. There's a couple of filters/effects built into it, I just created an effects chain in the right order to generate that rotoscoped effect. The prime filter use is called "Sketch" which turns the video into something like out of an Aha music video. From there I just apply different generic effects like blurs, contrasts, color grading, etc. to get to where I want.

 

[Habrddrums]