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!