This week I have been exploring the party music for the pool party in the movie. You can do two things: license music, or create your own. Since we are on a composing exercise, the only way to go is creating my own.
This is harder than expected. I like melodies. I can think of a melody and then play it on an instrument. That decision is very clear for me: the melody line, and which instrument should play it to get the desired effect.
For the party music I wanted a basic house tune. And this definitely is not something I am very good at. You are looking at creating a sparse, repeating set of bars, and add effects, instruments and whatever other elements you can think of to make it sound not boring. At least one thing will not be achieved. It will be either boring, it will have the wrong combination of instruments, or will have too many instruments, sounds and noises included that the actual song will be completely lost.
Here is a minute of what I have so far in its raw, unmixed form:
It is somewhere, but whether it is good or will become something good remains to be seen. It will need a lot of work and listening to other house producers to get some inspiration and a feel of what should and should not be done.
As far as composing for the movie goes: it is completely separate from the movie score itself. It has no relation to the characters or the stories. As a piece of music, it pretty much stands on its own. And in that sense, you might as well pick a piece from any producer and put a new soul in the spotlight.
With that in mind, the party music may not make it on the final album. Do what you are good at, and let others do the rest.
Do what you are good at, and let others do the rest. Share on XAs always, let me know what you think about the piece in the comments.