The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #401: Musical Interlude – Finishing “Battle Theme” Part 2
The Thirteenth Hour Podcast · Joshua Blum
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Show Notes
Originally April 17, 2023.
This week, I'm finishing the battle theme I started in episode 399. When that episode was done, I tweaked the theme a bit more but it just didn't feel finished. However, I couldn't put my finger on what it needed. I experimented with a few ideas, some in my mind, some digitally or on the keyboard ... but it never quite worked. Shortly before I recorded this episode, the muse finally came. I was inspired by imagery around the Armorer character in the Star Wars show, The Mandalorian.
The Armorer is a mysterious helmeted character who serves as the spiritual mentor and historian of her tribe and is not only the leader but also the tribe blacksmith, making their weapons and armor. The are a number of scenes that show her at the forge, working with molten metal, pounding into shape with her tongs and hammer, and sometimes even using those same tools offensively with great skill. I think this is from the first season of the show (as an aside, if you have not seen the series but are a fan of the Rocketeer, this show is probably about as close as we'll get to a modern day show of helmeted heroes flying around on rocketpacks, of which there are many most excellent scenes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f95vJDnpQro
In any event, since the track was partly inspired by the rhythm of the 1984 Terminator theme by Brad Feidel, which has metal on metal machine noises, I thought that what the track needed was not addition melody; it needed percussion - specifically the sound of metal hammering on metal. I experimented with a number of sounds until I decided to use a tuning fork hitting a metal weight. I added that part with some reverb and echo effects to the latter part of the track. To be uploaded to Bandcamp once I've listened to a few more times to see if there needs to be any last minute tweaking.
Edit: it's available at https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/frontal-assault-the-thirteenth-hour-battle-theme
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