Desert Winds

Hello fellow musicians!

I recently found a really nice virtual duduk on the Apple App Store, and here's my first attempt at writing for it.

Just a very simple piece with sparse instrumentation; but I think it showcases the haunting beauty of the duduk pipe.

I've also used a guzheng and koto as accompaniment. 

It didn't take long to write, as it's mostly improvised. 
 

Maybe I should attempt to extend the piece, or add more layers?

Or perhaps you like it just as it is?

(Revised versions will be posted further down the thread.)

Hey Alex,

2 hours ago, Alex Weidmann said:

Just a very simple piece with sparse instrumentation; but I think it showcases the haunting beauty of the duduk pipe.

I think it does show case the beauty of the duduk pipe even I have never heard of it! Your style of writing suits very well to the sparse quality as you always know less is more and enough is enough without adding too many distracting things. 

2 hours ago, Alex Weidmann said:

Maybe I should attempt to extend the piece, or add more layers?

Or perhaps you like it just as it is?

For me you should definitely extend the piece for longer! I feel like you should feature the guzheng more since now the guzheng is only plucking accompaniments for me without using its fuller potential: you should definitely use more appreggios for the guzheng to fill up some of the place in the contrasting section to make it less serene as in the first section. Glissandos are important in guzheng music as well! Probably some harmonics as well. But as you feature the duduk pipe more so my suggestion is not a must, but as a Chinese I really love to have the guzheng feature more!

Thanks for sharing and hopefully seeing your update!

Henry

40 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I feel like you should feature the guzheng more since now the guzheng is only plucking accompaniments for me without using its fuller potential

Thanks Henry.

I probably should've researched the guzheng more before I wrote for it, lol!

The duduk is used quite a bit in film scores these days, most recently by Hans Zimmer in last year's remake of "Dune".

I think it has a lovely mellifluous quality, almost like a human voice!

I actually already made an update/extension to the piece (attached below)!
 

17 minutes ago, Alex Weidmann said:

I actually already made an update/extension to the piece (attached below)!

I definitely love those guzheng fillups! It definitely adds more colour to the music when the timbre of duduk is dominating with its plucked sound. I just find the sound of the guzheng overwhelmed in the recording but I guess duduk itself is quite loud in volume in real life. As a brainstorming thought I think of the heterphonic texture frequently used in Chinese music when all the instruments are playing the variation of the same melody idiomatically; but here it won't work since the difference of volume between duduk and guzheng is quite big. Thanks for your update Alex!

Henry

NICE~! A great piece for meditation.  It has a good balance and flow ...

Mark

17 hours ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I just find the sound of the guzheng overwhelmed in the recording but I guess duduk itself is quite loud in volume in real life.

Have brought down the duduk in the mix so it's more balanced, and added a few tremolo and slide effects on the guzheng. 

Haven't listened to much Chinese or Japanese music tbh; but I'm excited to learn more about it!

Nice, but I would def go for more reverb on the Duduk especially. This kind of style is always really great with huge 'verb on the duduk, but I'd cut a notch out in the lower-mids where that sharper resonance is.

A synth or string drone underneath would also really glue it all together.

29 minutes ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

This kind of style is always really great with huge 'verb on the duduk, but I'd cut a notch out in the lower-mids where that sharper resonance is.

I'm not very good at mastering and EQ yet, but I'll have a go!

I made the piece with GarageBand for iPad.
I know there are some hidden mastering tools within the app; but can't remember how to find them.

I did think about adding a drone.

The duduk app actually has some specialist drones with a Middle Eastern flavour.

The app is called World Piano: Pro Beat Maker by Taqs.im. 
The duduk is free, but it also has a whole bunch of non-Western instrument samples available for purchase.

14 minutes ago, Alex Weidmann said:

I'm not very good at mastering and EQ yet, but I'll have a go!

I made the piece with GarageBand for iPad.
I know there are some hidden mastering tools within the app; but can't remember how to find them.

 

I did think about adding a drone.

The duduk app actually has some specialist drones with a Middle Eastern flavour.

The app is called World Piano: Pro Beat Maker by Taqs.im. 
The duduk is free, but it also has a whole bunch of non-Western instrument samples available for purchase.

 

Sounds really good for a free duduk!

On 4/19/2023 at 7:23 AM, AngelCityOutlaw said:

Sounds really good for a free duduk!

I don't think it has any round robins; but otherwise it sounds very authentic. So I'm very happy with it!

Here's a version with an A minor synth drone that moves up and down the scale.

I've also added about 50% reverb.

Haven't used a notch filter, but I don't see any peak level clipping on the frequency analyser: so maybe it doesn't need one?

Quick question for those familiar with Chinese instruments (i.e. Henry!)

Am I right in thinking my Guzheng part is unplayable here?

I gather they're normally tuned in a major pentatonic scale; whereas my piece is in A minor.

I'm guessing the glissandi are definitely unplayable; but what about the rest of the part?

If it's just the glissandi, I could maybe add another instrument to play those. Perhaps a harp; or something Chinese?

9 hours ago, Alex Weidmann said:

Quick question for those familiar with Chinese instruments (i.e. Henry!)

LoL!

Actually I am not that familiar with Chinese instruments even as a Chinese. I remembered I learned to play Erhu (a bow string instrument with two strings) and I literally played like sxxt. 💩   💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩  💩 

https://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Guzheng-(Chinese-Zither)#:~:text=In guzheng music (Jian Pu,on top of the music.

I have just seen from this website that actually the ^4 and ^7 notes are possible, even though the strings are tuned with different keys and in a pentatonic setting.

Henry