Facing Worlds (2003)
Lonely flute and solo piano playing the main melody lead into this track. The gradual addition of cascading strings, raw guitars, cellos, trumpets and piano all combine to make this a rich, orchestral overture throughout. The track gradually winds down to an atmospheric finale leaving the listener with a sense of infinite space.
Sadly, I lost the original version of this track, and since then was never quite able to restore the original feeling of it.
An elaborate rhythm was constructed from different drum samples, and passed through some different effects, resulting in a harsh percussion sequence. I tried many times to re-create this, without success.
But I managed to get hold of extracts from the original track, and then effectively stitch them together to form the basis for the new version. This was not ideal, but it at least worked.
Origins
The name of this track comes from a map on Unreal Tournament which I used to play a lot. The name adequately describes the two halves of this track - the soft main melody is joined with a harsh rhythm. Both are complete opposites of each other.
I originally came up with the melody for this whilst playing around with a music program called LiveSet, which allowed the playback of several instruments at the same time (something I couldn't achieve up until that point.)
At the time, I decided to record what I came up with. I still have these recordings, so you can now hear the first ever time I played this!
Download the original improvisation
And here are a few excerpts from the original Facing Worlds...
The introduction. Basically a properly edited version of the original improvisation. The main melody is far too quiet in this version. Also, there's a few bars missing as this launches right into the main melody with guitar and drums backing during the chorus.
Similar to the above, this next clip was a later version without any of the drums etc.
You'll notice part of this in the final version of the track, but the words are difficult to make out. It's one of my friends from college saying "we are trying the design of our new rocket to get us off this foul planet. If this doesn't work, we're all going to die." This was from a video we made of another friend of ours who was trying to make a plastic bottle launch into the air. (Long story...)
This is followed by a guitar solo which is pretty much the same in the final version, except the instrumentation was changed.
Toward the end of this extract, you'll hear part of the original final guitar solo, which I never quite managed to get to sound the same again.
Download my first attempt at the end guitar solo
The original ending of Facing Worlds, which was eventually re-used in the final version and looped. The original version had the guitar playing right up until the end. The final version fades out the looped clip and has no guitar from that point on.
All Is Not Lost
Following the loss of the original track, I spent a long time trying to make it again. I kept a few snapshots to compare to the original.
This one has no distorted drums and a different backing guitar sample. The guitar doesn't really work well as backing, but fits quite nicely in the guitar solo.
Going overboard with the effects here. The drums sound awful, the guitar isn't much better!
The guitar backing in this one is, again, a bit too much. The solo in this one is one of my favourites though. The drums are a little better but aren't as punchy as the original.
Again, the guitar solo in this is the best bit and the drums aren't punchy enough. Note the rhythm during the solo which is also featured in Rust.
This is what happens when you accidentally choose the wrong sample/patch! (In this case I got one which was full of feedback sounds.)
And if you strip away the melody, the drums, and pretty much everything else, you're left with this rather gentle sound...