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Debut Album 'Freedom' - Singles + Full Release!

ChrisSiuMusic

Senior Member
Hi friends,

I'm very proud to share my lead single 'Spark' from my debut album 'Freedom'.

Inspired by Pixar's Soul, this song tells the story of someone who is feeling lost and overwhelmed, but can be comforted knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that hope is never lost.

I really hope you enjoy it, and have a wonderful rest of your Monday! 2 more singles will be coming soon, along with the full album release on August 15th.

Thanks so much,
Chris


https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...n5FsBk8noW4x9b2GX-1oIcZj-gHJiw8zGguoImIT9DWJ8
 
Nice,

Are you releasing it yourself?

I saw your vid about mixing and mastering yourself. Are you like me, you even make the vids yourself? heh. Nice vid too!
 
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There's something very hipster about your voice. Maybe a little Death Cab for Cutie. I like it, and the rawness of the lyrics at times belies the light feel of the animation and instrumentation. Maybe you're just Canadian.

Look at you. Doing what you were going in the direction toward doing. That's inspiring. I think you understand the meeting in the middle of ideas for adults and ideas for children.

In any case, way to go. I need slammin' drums and a few rock instruments, but your work is nice.

Thanks for sharing your music, and the bunch of other stuff you do.
 
Nice,

Are you releasing it yourself?

I saw your vid about mixing and mastering yourself. Are you like me, you even make the vids yourself? heh. Nice vid too!
Thanks Peter! Yes the whole album is a self-release, so I'm very excited for it naturally. :)

Regarding the videos, being a perfectionist I'd definitely want to do it, but I know my limits when it comes to visual art, so I knew it'd be a LOT better if I handed it off to someone who knew what they were doing. Same idea with the mixing/mastering, our own @DovesGoWest offered to help me out with the mixing/mastering for the album so I handed him the reins!

Thanks again.
 
There's something very hipster about your voice. Maybe a little Death Cab for Cutie. I like it, and the rawness of the lyrics at times belies the light feel of the animation and instrumentation. Maybe you're just Canadian.

Look at you. Doing what you were going in the direction toward doing. That's inspiring. I think you understand the meeting in the middle of ideas for adults and ideas for children.

In any case, way to go. I need slammin' drums and a few rock instruments, but your work is nice.

Thanks for sharing your music, and the bunch of other stuff you do.
Well I AM Canadian... XD But thanks my man.

Trust me, there's a rockin song in the album, just you wait.
 
Hi, Chris, I understand that a lot of work went into the production of this song and I can imagine that the album is a project very important to you. Reading through this thread made me think about the style and characteristics of the "Pixar" and "Disney" genres.

For some reason it seems that your name is heavily connected with the "Disney" style and for "Spark" you refer to Pixar. If people wouldn't have mentioned that this sounds disney-like to them I honestly wouldn't have noticed. For me it seems that a typical Pixar song normally starts very reduced (voice & guitar/voice & piano) and then bringing in the orchestra slowly. Since you already start with the orchestra, this "Pixar-intimate-song"-moment is not there for me. This is totally fine, of course, it just doesn't remind me primarily of Pixar.

And with Disney I mostly associate very lush orchestration and strong melodies which could also work like themes in the instrumental scores - the themes of Disney's (animated) MULAN by Goldsmith come into mind which were also used as song melodies - or the songs of Leigh Harline, for example "When You Wish Upon a Star". Here the very strong theme is introduced in lush orchestrated strings (a lot of part-writing) and interrupted by very "sparkling" woodwinds.
In "Spark" you leave a lot of room between the individual phrases so that there is no strong line holding everything together. I don't think that the vocal lines could be also used as strong instrumental themes but are mostly shaped after the rhythm of the words and how you wanted to phrase them. So I would be very interested to know: What was before? The words or the "melody"?

So I would be very interested in what was important to you to create a "Pixar" or "Disney" feeling and which are the most important characteristics of this genre?
 
Hi friends,

I'm very proud to share my lead single 'Spark' from my debut album 'Freedom'.

Inspired by Pixar's Soul, this song tells the story of someone who is feeling lost and overwhelmed, but can be comforted knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that hope is never lost.

I really hope you enjoy it, and have a wonderful rest of your Monday! 2 more singles will be coming soon, along with the full album release on August 15th.

Thanks so much,
Chris


https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--MrbIRNxS8&fbclid=IwAR1xe_JEiU6K9RDiE_8SHqXoIze6HWO93OIB_NMXC9hcDoAMlGbvi8OLJ_o&h=AT3zfv23Q9ahS_sekigHavUP33vX0_CZBVjrC-SEuOI7j9FibBauJuvQ45cDs6-6bIFUYpzJ2Zjy4_nb3zjuJQsMxG8FJEO0u6b_SVXGMZsRHg9XQY9AjaEMVXnK2XUKw5FFMYU&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT3IYoR3BGg7raQTKsJp5Q6Vmp985VmpazzLiOaaJGQOmCtZIWhdWqDiwsA5D2zXHVsX4mkq42egQhXwGLoj7gTAnuDpfTU31OGjMvbFTHMv3VnWNtI_FB7BwEDhHg033tzofR6uSgn5FsBk8noW4x9b2GX-1oIcZj-gHJiw8zGguoImIT9DWJ8

Congratulations Chris. Nice idea having a custom made video for the first single.
 
Hi, Chris, I understand that a lot of work went into the production of this song and I can imagine that the album is a project very important to you. Reading through this thread made me think about the style and characteristics of the "Pixar" and "Disney" genres.

For some reason it seems that your name is heavily connected with the "Disney" style and for "Spark" you refer to Pixar. If people wouldn't have mentioned that this sounds disney-like to them I honestly wouldn't have noticed. For me it seems that a typical Pixar song normally starts very reduced (voice & guitar/voice & piano) and then bringing in the orchestra slowly. Since you already start with the orchestra, this "Pixar-intimate-song"-moment is not there for me. This is totally fine, of course, it just doesn't remind me primarily of Pixar.

And with Disney I mostly associate very lush orchestration and strong melodies which could also work like themes in the instrumental scores - the themes of Disney's (animated) MULAN by Goldsmith come into mind which were also used as song melodies - or the songs of Leigh Harline, for example "When You Wish Upon a Star". Here the very strong theme is introduced in lush orchestrated strings (a lot of part-writing) and interrupted by very "sparkling" woodwinds.
In "Spark" you leave a lot of room between the individual phrases so that there is no strong line holding everything together. I don't think that the vocal lines could be also used as strong instrumental themes but are mostly shaped after the rhythm of the words and how you wanted to phrase them. So I would be very interested to know: What was before? The words or the "melody"?

So I would be very interested in what was important to you to create a "Pixar" or "Disney" feeling and which are the most important characteristics of this genre?
Hi there, thanks so much for taking a listen! Super interesting impressions you share.

Many of the influences I grew up with include Alan Menken classics (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, etc), plus some classical music and orchestral game soundtracks, which has shaped the way I write a lot of my pieces/songs.

Funny enough, I never assigned myself to that particular genre of Disney or Pixar, but since people mentioned it to me I rolled with it. :)

I think this association is in large part due to a couple of things: firstly, most of my music is diatonically based, with a few non-diatonic chords for enriched harmony and interest, which is something a lot of my favourite songs do as well. In addition, my preferred use of the string ensemble as the foundation, with woodwinds, brass and percussion contributing to the overall texture might have something to do with it.

Regarding this vocal melody in particular, I totally agree with you. The lyrics came first in this song, and because the message is on the more pensive and reflective side of things in the verses, I opted for a more spaced-out approach between each phrase. To me, this results in a slightly more poppy sound, rather than more musical theatre/Disney. In any case, I'll be putting out more in the coming weeks, and hopefully you'll hear a variety of styles that you'll enjoy!

But ultimately, if someone were to ask me how to achieve that classic Disney sound, I'd always come back to a few things:

- First and foremost, the melody and harmony are very important. I tend to like melodies that don't feature too many repeated notes in a row, and mix small/large intervals for emotional contrast. Harmonically, a diatonic base with some secondary dominants/modal mixture evokes that timeless quality in my opinion.
- Orchestrally, a base in the strings is quite typical, with woodwind flourishes, brass chorales/fanfares, and percussion tinkles/emphasis enhancing the overall arrangement.
- The lyrics always have a story to tell, whether happy, sad, empowering, hopeful, angry, etc. A clear message is definitely on my to-do list at all times.

Anyway, thank you again for listening! I hope this ramble made a little bit of sense haha!
 
Good morning my friends! Great news: 'Freedom' officially releases August 15, 2021! That's just over a month from now, so please feel free to pre-save it on Spotify so you can hear it right away when it drops.

This has been a labor of love for me since the beginning of the year, and I seriously can't wait for you to hear the results. Thank you so much for all your support!!
❤


https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/christophersiu/freedom
 
I like to support the musicians I meet on here, a nice opportunity to add great music to my collection - supporting the makers at the same time. Hence my question.
 
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