Snowflake - Too Young (Tribute)
Eric ELZIERE
I started working on this remix quite a long time ago (October 2010), too late though to post on time anything for the 10th anniversary.
While composing, I was so afraid of the challenge to serve at best lyrics and vocals, that I could not make progress enough to be satisfied with my work. At that time, I decided to stop the project and to give up publishing anything. A couple of weeks ago, while I was browsing for a’capellas on ccMixter, I remembered I had this project pending and I decided to work again on it. I actually changed quite a lot of things from the first try.
I wanted to write an acoustic / folk / country / classical music remix (yes I know, it is a quite long list!). So the first idea I got was just to use an acoustic guitar and a tambourine. But that was not rich enough (I can’t stop adding tracks!). I decided then to not reuse Snowflake’s fantastic piano to force me to compose brand new and different backing tracks and therefore to obtain a different atmosphere. Then while studying the vocals, I wrote a chords progression grid completly different from the original one but keeping the vocals melody as is (I love doing that when remixing!). Furthermore, I wanted to obtain a very sweet and smooth orchestration so I could not use any usual pop / rock instruments (electric guitars, drums, synths, …). I decided then to use strings (contrabass, cello and violin) playing some fast or slow rythmic patterns to express anger and despair and wind instruments (clarinet, oboe and flute) playing mostly slow rythmic patterns, perfect with their sweet sounds to express sadness, lack of understanding, hope and serenity. I added a backing vocals at the end of the main vocals phrases that were ending too shortly. I finally put reverb on the vocals to both add a bit of mystery and supernatural atmosphere and accentuate the tragedy feeling.
The verses orchestration sounds a bit too much cheerful, maybe because I did not want to express only sadness. On the contrary, the chorus orchestration is ok. This is a very personal interpretation of Snowflake’s song. I hope I did not go too far from it and that she will like this remix. Thank you Snowflake for sharing such an intimate and terrible story with us.
While composing, I was so afraid of the challenge to serve at best lyrics and vocals, that I could not make progress enough to be satisfied with my work. At that time, I decided to stop the project and to give up publishing anything. A couple of weeks ago, while I was browsing for a’capellas on ccMixter, I remembered I had this project pending and I decided to work again on it. I actually changed quite a lot of things from the first try.
I wanted to write an acoustic / folk / country / classical music remix (yes I know, it is a quite long list!). So the first idea I got was just to use an acoustic guitar and a tambourine. But that was not rich enough (I can’t stop adding tracks!). I decided then to not reuse Snowflake’s fantastic piano to force me to compose brand new and different backing tracks and therefore to obtain a different atmosphere. Then while studying the vocals, I wrote a chords progression grid completly different from the original one but keeping the vocals melody as is (I love doing that when remixing!). Furthermore, I wanted to obtain a very sweet and smooth orchestration so I could not use any usual pop / rock instruments (electric guitars, drums, synths, …). I decided then to use strings (contrabass, cello and violin) playing some fast or slow rythmic patterns to express anger and despair and wind instruments (clarinet, oboe and flute) playing mostly slow rythmic patterns, perfect with their sweet sounds to express sadness, lack of understanding, hope and serenity. I added a backing vocals at the end of the main vocals phrases that were ending too shortly. I finally put reverb on the vocals to both add a bit of mystery and supernatural atmosphere and accentuate the tragedy feeling.
The verses orchestration sounds a bit too much cheerful, maybe because I did not want to express only sadness. On the contrary, the chorus orchestration is ok. This is a very personal interpretation of Snowflake’s song. I hope I did not go too far from it and that she will like this remix. Thank you Snowflake for sharing such an intimate and terrible story with us.