Okay, it's time to start the second floor! There is nearly as many rooms as in the first one, and even more interconnection.
Last week, I've written al the chords I wanted to use for each rooms. And doing this, I came back on a choice I've made for the first floor: the scale. On the first floor, I was playing on a Harmonic Minor E (E F♯ G A B C D♯). A bit mysterious and dark, perfect for a haunted manor. But as I was searching chords, I realized that A Major sounded really nice! But this one requires a C♯… So for the second floor, I decided I will change the scale for a Dorian E (E F♯ G A B C♯ D). Still a minor scale, but more cheerful, allowing some epic contrasts. After all, once the player comes this far it's no use to pretend this manor is scary.. Plus, having a different scale for the second floor will give it more identity!
What is there to find on the second floor? Six rooms, and two vestibules to connect them. Each room has its own theme, and its own kind of music. Let's start with the most simple ones:
Vestibules
The first floor had corridors to connect rooms, the second has vestibules. More exactly, two: the red vestibule, and the fountain vestibule. Named as so because the first is… red, and, uh… the seconde has a… fountain… Hey, it's still better than "second corridor"! It's a textual game, I have to identify rooms as I can!
These rooms act a bit like corridors: they are here to create connections between rooms, spatially and musically. Like corridors, they must focus more on percussions than melodies, so that they blend well with other rooms. However, I didn't want them to have only percussions like the first floor's corridors. I wanted them to have a bit more personality. So I composed as I did for the second corridor: I looked at the most used chords in the different rooms, and alternated between those two. Here, it is minor E (present in every room), and major A. This second chord will really be the second floor signature, so it deserve to be introduced early!
The red vestibule is accessed from the corridor on the first floor. So I kept it close to it: jazz percussions, and a contrebasse. The exact same contrebasse actually! But this time, it isn't playing the motif. It's like the player was bored and decide to play something completely different. Hopefully it will make for a nice transition. I just added a high pitched bass to play the motif, and a rhodes that just play the chords, and accentuate the rhythm defined by the contrebasse.
https://vocaroo.com/i/s1Vf4lkX4L3J
Sooo… It wasn't planned, but I ended up with a bossa nova rhythm. Woops.
Oh, well. Let's go for it! Fountain vestibule will be even more latin. I'm keeping the same contrabasse, but the percussion change for something definitely bossa nova. And I intended to use a harp to represent the water, but this turned out to be a bit too cliche (sorry Grant Kirkhope). So I replaced it with a bright piano that sounds just as well.
https://vocaroo.com/i/s0bKtLReThdN
Talk about a haunted manor soundtrack!
Now it's time for the second floor first room. The “Room 1”, also known as:
Kids Room
The second floor has 4 numerated "bedrooms", each one with a distinct theme. Actually I'm not sure they all have beds… This is where the house becomes really weird. But for now, it's still pretty conventional: the Room 1 has tiny skeletons, toys, and clumsy drawings on the walls. It's a cute room for children. Its music should be playful and naive. And let me say this: it's pretty hard to do on a minor scale! I found some chords that do a bit the trick, but it still has creepy vibes. Well, it's supposed to be a bit spooky after all…
I also set a challenge for myself: I wanted to use only xylophones, vibraphones and the likes. Not even any percussions! Sure, pizzicato violon could also sound great, but I wanted to see what I could obtain with a restricted set of instruments. It was in interesting exploration. I also used marimba, glockenspiels, and music box… It makes a simple melody, that creates a nice atmosphere.
https://vocaroo.com/i/s1sh6OdA9kIh
Not the most complex part of the soundtrack. Actually what you hear here is only a part of the melody: the external instruments add some depth to it. Mostly the skeletons' one, which remains permanent once clicked.
But we are not done yet! There is a little detail that makes the kids room a but special…
Air vent passage
That's right, there is a “secret” shortcut between the kids room and the Club. I wanted more than one way to travel between the two floors, and I didn't want the Club to be a dead end. The reason I chose the kids room is narrative: I like the idea of naughty children secretly accessing to a room exclusively for adults. While this is never explicitly stated, I hope the player will have this impression as well.
There's nothing very special about this air vent. It just connect the Club and the kids room. It's still a passage, so it needs it own soundtrack. I wanted to make it simple, so I stood in minor E. To make a proper transitions between the two rooms, I mixed a bit of electronics instruments with a vibraphone. Then I added a bit random sounds and notes. The goal is to obtain something a bit claustrophobic and unsettling. The result sounds a bit like ambient music, I'm quite satisfied with it.
https://vocaroo.com/i/s0zoJdkGsok0
Since I'm currently on holidays, I should have plenty of time to work on the project next week! So hopefully there should be a few more rooms added.