Guitar
Base Jumpers

"Leap Of Faith"


This track was my fifteenth track released on YouTube.


After watching this cool documentary on the Discovery Channel (where else?) about wingsuit base jumping, I got this idea for a song. It tries to embody the feeling of scaling a cliff and then jumping into the deep, using a wingsuit and parachute.


The first part of the track is set up to be a bit moody using a slow pace and some easy going instruments. The timpani and voice give it a bit of a surreal dreamy touch. The lead guitar cuts right through the middle. At around 0:40 the rhythmic guitar begins to dictate a more pressing tempo. About 15 seconds later you will hear some long guitar strokes in the back to fill in the low end, as well as some ominous brass blasts pushing through. I think this buildup helps to imagine the climb becoming more daunting as you get higher and the wind will start hampering you in your efforts. By now you'd probably be gazing down into the abyss below and realize the absurd thing you are actually doing.


You will notice that the pattern of the lead guitar gets more eradicate and interesting from 1:10 and up. The notes become shorter and more intricate to emphasis the pressure of the climb and the difficulty along the way. At 1:49 I'd image you'd be at the top looking out at the vastness below and let the music reflect this. It goes without saying that at 2:15 you'd take a deep breath and dive off. I did a small lead-in with a nice portamento guitar dive.


To make the wingsuit journey down, flying inches away from the rocks come across in this track, I introduced regular drums and pushed the timpani a bit further into the background. All the instruments throttle up at this point. I've used around 16 channels of audio at one time. I kept it all manageable and audible by panning every instrument around. I think this is one of the most valuable tricks I learned so far. If all instruments were dead-center in the stereo field, they'd start pushing each other out quite bad. This track is a good example of what you can achieve with that frequency shift effect I like to use. It gives that extra touch of vibrance and realness to the sound. With this track you can hear the notes purposely being tuned differently. The bits on 1:49 through 2:15 will give you a good indication of the possibilities this trick can do for your tracks. They are in essence regular notes, but with the effect applied on top of it, it changes the crispness, frequency and mood quite dramatically.


At around 3:10 I'd imagine you steered clear from the rocks and deployed your chute for a  calmer way down. You'd be soaking in the scenery and gloat in your victory over death and ever so gracefully touchdown in a lush and green field somewhere in a place miles away from our hectic way of life.

Listen to the full track below.

Reason 4 Guitar Music 15:

"Leap Of Faith"


Aired: November 18th 2011

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