Waking the Dragon was composed and recorded over a period of five years, beginning in 2009, using a somewhat ancient PC running Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. I won’t get into all the complexities required to achieve this music on this system, but let us say the process was painstaking.
I see this recording as a tribute to the fans of the music I wrote for Bloodsport and Kickboxer, so I have alluded to the scores of those films with certain sounds and attitudes, though I add the disclaimer that all the music itself is completely new and original.
The opening track, “The Need,” begins with a bell-like sound produced on the Yamaha DX7 that I used throughout Bloodsport. I continue using that sound both as a melody instrument and a sound effect across almost the entire CD. The fighting tracks, “The Renewal” and “The Final Battle,” are underpinned with the same tuned triangle sounds from the Alesis HR-16 that I used in Kickboxer. The pulsating ostinato sound underlying the final section of “The Final Battle” is the same DX7 sound that provides the main pulse of “Fight to Survive” along with many of the fight cues in Bloodsport. Several other DX7 sounds from both films make appearances here and there, along with some sounds from the Roland D50 that I used on Kickboxer. Anything that sounds like an electric guitar is from my first sampling instrument, the Ensoniq Mirage (one of the first built – it created almost all of the guitar sounds on Bloodsport and Kickboxer and much of the percussion on those scores), though the Mirage gave out about halfway through this project. (If you know anyone who can repair them, let me know.) I also use a few sounds from the Proteus 1 that I used on Breathing Fire, but the bulk of the sounds on this CD were produced by the Emulator X, a software sampler that resides in a slightly more up-to-date PC than the one that runs Cakewalk, though it, too, is more or less obsolete.
I am very fond of many of the Emulator X sounds, which include the main lead instrument, an Irish flute sample, virtually all of the drums and percussion, many of the sound effects, all of the strings, the basses, the harp, and too many others to name. Obviously I had to record each sound separately, so I am ever so grateful for all the years I spent recording various songs one musician at a time.
Tunes that sound more in the pop vein, “The Renewal” and “Miles to Go” for example, I wrote directly into the computer. The more complicated cues that required orchestration, such as “The Need,” “The Search,” “The Awakening,” and “The Fall of the Ancient Warrior,” I wrote out on score paper before entering into the computer so that I could get my voice leading into proper shape. String parts especially need to appear visually on score paper for me to understand the relationships between the individual lines.
Throughout the composing process, I tried to keep in mind the fans of my scores while also allowing my music to reflect my growth as a human being and musician since the late ’80s when I wrote my film music. Also I have now the advantage of decades of technological improvement. It amazes me how primitive my earlier music sounds as well as how much it cost to produce in traditional studios with engineers, musicians, tape costs, etc. etc. etc. Now anyone with an ear can produce infinitely more sophisticated recordings in the home studio than I did back in the day in expensive, well-equipped studios. And that is what we have here: a group of tunes written, performed, and engineered entirely by me in a corner of my home office.
I see this recording as a tribute to the fans of the music I wrote for Bloodsport and Kickboxer, so I have alluded to the scores of those films with certain sounds and attitudes, though I add the disclaimer that all the music itself is completely new and original.
The opening track, “The Need,” begins with a bell-like sound produced on the Yamaha DX7 that I used throughout Bloodsport. I continue using that sound both as a melody instrument and a sound effect across almost the entire CD. The fighting tracks, “The Renewal” and “The Final Battle,” are underpinned with the same tuned triangle sounds from the Alesis HR-16 that I used in Kickboxer. The pulsating ostinato sound underlying the final section of “The Final Battle” is the same DX7 sound that provides the main pulse of “Fight to Survive” along with many of the fight cues in Bloodsport. Several other DX7 sounds from both films make appearances here and there, along with some sounds from the Roland D50 that I used on Kickboxer. Anything that sounds like an electric guitar is from my first sampling instrument, the Ensoniq Mirage (one of the first built – it created almost all of the guitar sounds on Bloodsport and Kickboxer and much of the percussion on those scores), though the Mirage gave out about halfway through this project. (If you know anyone who can repair them, let me know.) I also use a few sounds from the Proteus 1 that I used on Breathing Fire, but the bulk of the sounds on this CD were produced by the Emulator X, a software sampler that resides in a slightly more up-to-date PC than the one that runs Cakewalk, though it, too, is more or less obsolete.
I am very fond of many of the Emulator X sounds, which include the main lead instrument, an Irish flute sample, virtually all of the drums and percussion, many of the sound effects, all of the strings, the basses, the harp, and too many others to name. Obviously I had to record each sound separately, so I am ever so grateful for all the years I spent recording various songs one musician at a time.
Tunes that sound more in the pop vein, “The Renewal” and “Miles to Go” for example, I wrote directly into the computer. The more complicated cues that required orchestration, such as “The Need,” “The Search,” “The Awakening,” and “The Fall of the Ancient Warrior,” I wrote out on score paper before entering into the computer so that I could get my voice leading into proper shape. String parts especially need to appear visually on score paper for me to understand the relationships between the individual lines.
Throughout the composing process, I tried to keep in mind the fans of my scores while also allowing my music to reflect my growth as a human being and musician since the late ’80s when I wrote my film music. Also I have now the advantage of decades of technological improvement. It amazes me how primitive my earlier music sounds as well as how much it cost to produce in traditional studios with engineers, musicians, tape costs, etc. etc. etc. Now anyone with an ear can produce infinitely more sophisticated recordings in the home studio than I did back in the day in expensive, well-equipped studios. And that is what we have here: a group of tunes written, performed, and engineered entirely by me in a corner of my home office.