A few days ago, Michael Maas uploaded his track Zion and told us more about the creation of the track that was featured in international TV Spots for Tarzan, Warehouse 13, Labor Day, and CSI: Cypher. Zion was originally published on Warner/Chappell‘s “ER1012 – Trailer Beast” album consisting of TV and trailer oriented tracks not longer than 1:30 minutes.
“In general, opposed to writing single tracks for album compilations, I write complete albums for trailer and production music libraries (mostly 10 to 15 tracks)”, he told us. “I write the music, develop the concept with the library, and hire the right cover designer. Afterwards, I deliver all audio files to Mastering Studio Audio Animals and discuss the final sound of all tracks. This way, the production music library has everything from a single source, and I can make sure that the album has exactly the sound to match the concept that we thought up before.”
In terms of the structure of Zion, you will have noticed its classic trailer music structure of intro, middle, and end section: “When writing, I tend to not overthink or plan too much, I just write. It should just be epic, massive, and very good to be licensed with a clear sound and idea. Important for such tracks is the clear separation of the different parts through sound design elements. For example, from second 28, the intro is separated from the middle part with a drop-down, which then turns into a riser. Here, I actually just reversed the same dropdown. From second 44, the middle part is separated again by complete silence to the end of the track. Such points are very good for editors, as these have perfect edit points for video ideas. From 1:06 on, begins the so-called C-part, here I combine a riser with different hits and long reverb braams which I have designed. The C-part is often used at the end of a trailer or TV spot and should be very well and simply structured. It consists of very few elements.”
To create his own sounds Michael Maas designs most of his sound design elements himself but he also used a variety of libraries on Zion:
- Sound Design: Various Audio Imperia libraries, 8Dio Hybrid Tools as well as custom-made sounds
- Orchestral Strings: Metropolis Ark
- Choirs: Strezov Rhodope Choir
- Brams: a mix of Metropolis Ark Trombones and Horns, Hybrid Synths and Valhalla Reverb
- Drums: Audio Imperia Decimator Drums
More info about Michael Maas is available on his official website.
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