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New Ambience: Lady of the Wood
🕑 Added 2025-10-22 17:10:26 +0000 UTCA mysterious presence inhabits these woods. Halloween 2025. (Patreon patrons receive 4 additional versions of this track)
Greetings Patrons,
Happy almost Halloween 2025!
I wanted to do a classic spirit-in-a-barren-wood that was kind of 'beyond good and evil'. You're not being hunted (per se), but you're also not sticking around to see if this slow-moving, luminescent being is going to hand out elven gifts to your fellowship.
One of the key sound design elements here is the subtle swishing of this ladies robes. I didn't want to build the track around it, but it's there, subtly in the background.
One of my all-time favorite films (as long term patrons are no doubt tired of me banging on about!) is Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film "Throne of Blood". It's basically a re-telling of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" (sorry, "The Scottish Play" for you theater people), set in Feudal Japan. The Lady Macbeth character here is Lady Asaji, an equally sinister, ambitious person - but in Kurosawa's hand, inscrutable, and devastatingly creepy.
Kurosawa uses Lady Asaji's swishing robes masterfully in a scene where she fetches sake to give to the soldiers to make them pass out. You can watch that here at the 42:18 mark.
That being said, there is absolutely nothing about Lady of the Wood that is feudal Japanese in nature. (I explored that a bit with the track 'Yokai Forest'.) The music for this one makes it much more current. It's a more tension than atmosphere, and has a decent amount of propulsive rhythm and ostinato to almost make it a chase track. Drone synths, vocals, piano, live percussion, live guitar, and live violin added to some processed orchestral brass make this a modern hybrid score that could work across a number of genres - as long as there's some uneasiness!
Aside from the swishing kimono (which I made by stretching nylon tent-material over the back of a frame drum and scratching it with a wooden ruler). Real and synthesized wind, guttural raven squawks, dead leaves, branches and various ethereal 'spirit' sounds make up the ambience.
As this track is in Patreon sneak-peek mode, I've included the mixed version of this track (live on the site next week), as well as music-only, and ambience-only versions here. Additionally, I added 2 tracks without the footsteps/swishing. I hope you find these useful additions.
Thank you all, as always, for your continuing support.
Best,
Tim
Comments
James Miller
I'm sitting here, playing this in the early quiet of my office. It's really impressive. Your work and skills have evolved so much over the years, I'm glad to be back supporting it again.
