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I've been a big fan of 1970's Private-Eye TV shows, like Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, etc. and have always wanted to try my hand at writing thematic music for a fictional PI show. Since I recently read a book revolving around PI "Cash Register", written by Tai Baker (our own Al-David!), I combined these two and developed this track.

"Cash on the Case"

It contains 4 short themes, each 45-60 seconds, that might be used in key phases of the PI show:

1. Main Title Theme
2. The Girl (who is she? what does she really want?)
3. The Stalk (careful now--who might be lurking in that dark warehouse?)
4. The Chase (speeding cars or running down a back-alley)
5. Reprise, same as #1, just a bit fast tempo, over the closing credits.

I used some RT's, esp for jazz bass and drums, but most of it is midi content, and I used SampleTank3 principally.

For anyone who is interested in my methodology and approach, following are more notes.
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Seems to me, listening to soundtracks for these shows, esp those by Lalo Schifrin, 45-60 seconds is about all you have to state your case, musically. And you need to use styles and harmonics that evoke/compliment what is being shown visually. Here's a breakdown of each theme and the thought behind it.

Main Theme
The first few notes have to be a catchy phrase that the listener will always associate with the show and character. Plus, that small phrase is going to be used in other contexts (minor key, slower/faster) throughout the drama to tie it all in. I chose a simple 7th riff as my main hook, stated it right up front, then tried to repeat it in some of the other themes. I used RT's for drums and bass here, but did the rest in midi. I kept the instrument in the vein of a jazz combo (horns/vibes). It runs just about 60 seconds.

Girl Theme
FIRST, let me state that I'm a complete mysogonist when it comes to detective characters and authors--completely a male realm--sorry about that! So there's always a girl, some mysterious, sexy beauty who enters the story early, invariably introduced by some sultry, solitary sax riff--and so I have that here. And it seems to be based on a minor scale, maybe m9th. Then, as the action warms up a little, it seems like it always morphs into a gentle bossa, and I've done the same. I found the sax phrases in my SampleTank library, and used RT's for bossa drums and bass, otherwise all midi. Runs about 40 seconds.

Stalk Theme
These kinds of scenes are accompanied by a collection of random rhythm elements (a snare drum, a shake of a shaker) and isolated musical elements, like the piano low notes I used here. And, of course, diminished chord phrases to suggest mystery. I tried to place those main theme notes in there as a tie-in to the overall motif. No RT's, just midi sounds. Length = about 40 sec.

Chase Theme
RT's for jazz brushes and bass, tempo = 300bpm. Entire sequence chord harmony is Cm7. In order to get the fast solo's for vibes, I used the "Generate Midi Solo" feature and found "Long Phrases, Fast Tempos"..then tweeked some of the notes to get the flavor i wanted. There's also a cool "gliss down" sound that I got out of ST3. Time is about 40 sec. And--to end the 'chase' there's a familiar Cm-maj7th chord.

Reprise Theme
I just cut out 8 bars of the original track and sped it up a bit..seemed like, at the conclusion of the "show", you'd state the theme with a little more energy and speed.

I`m going with the Stalk followed by Chase as being the most instantly recognizable in my memories of such shows ( mostly from British 60`s tv).All are thoughtfully composed, well orchestrated and fun.
I admire your dedication in learning and interpreting the genre.
The detailed breakdown will be useful for MIDI buffs.

Robert

Thanks Robert.
My MIDI toolkit consists of the built-in Coyote sounds--I usually use this when I'm building my track, for convenience sake...later I switch out most of them to either SampleTank3 or a keyboard vst that I like called 4FrontRhode. I have ST4 but have never been able to install it properly. When working with MIDI, I either enter via my MIDI keyboard, but lots of times I'll key-enter into the piano roll tool in RealBand. For this particular project, I really needed brass sounds, and I found several that seemed "acceptable", but there are probably better samples available, but I'm not inclined to spend $$ on them.

In this project, I had a lot of unison notes with multiple brass tracks, and I like to use the "Randomize" feature in RB to avoid making the tracks all completely identical. Sometimes I'll render the midi track to a wav file so that I can add reverb or something, but SampleTank has good functionality to add effects to the midi sounds.

Hi, Tom.

Thanks for setting the stage for this on. If definitely catches the classic cliche detective sound you were aiming for.

I had fun listening! The use of MIDI reminded me a bit of the Sam and Max Hit The Road game soundtrack. (They're freelance police, so it has the same vibe as the spec you're writing to).

Nice MIDI noir!

Impressive!

You captured the mood of that type of show perfectly I think, very well done.

Loved this tune. True Detective cinema music.

Mike B.

Fun song!! I've also read some "Cash Register" stuff.....fun!! Nice job with everything in this tune.......would work really well for that genre!! Take care. Greg

Hi Tano ...

Finally got over to hear this. I was out of town all night and just woke up from a very long nap!

I think you captured the several nuances so perfectly. You have a good ear and the ability to create what you hear in your head to a wonderful soundscape for everyone else. I think Cash would be very happy with this. I know I am!!!

You nailed it my friend. And it's a real feather in my cap that my novel was part of the vehicle you used to put this wonderful piece together. Much enjoyed! Great job!

Wishing you the very best ...

Alan

Hi Tano Music,

This is just amazingly well done... The music send me back to the 70's and brought so many memories back... wonderful piece of work. I am so impressed by your imagination and the skill you showcase here!

Thanks for sharing your gift with us,
Will

Wow. Reading your post and the response to Robert reminds us again that
other than MST's we know zip about midi. I can't conjure up the imagination
and knowledge required to put a production like this together. So
we have very little to offer regarding what you used and how you
accomplished it but what an amazing outcome.

We've listened several times and man is it ever nuanced. Great mix.
It's fun listening and reading the theme descriptions as they play.

70's detective show vibe? Nailed.

Great production indeed!

J&B

Clever and really engaging.

Loved it!

Peter

Man.... That's good. And so cool. I think you did a great job with each of the themes.

Using midi actually worked well.

I have a nit that I want to run by you. In the signature lick, which is epic BTW, the first 5 notes have very minor timing issues.
It's the 3,4,5 notes. They seem to be slightly rushed rather than being perfectly timed and swinging. Maybe it's just me and my persnickety ears.

Regardless of that, this is an amazing example of what can be done with imagination and BB.

Tom,

Amazing!
This is exactly Lalo Schifrin.
Many TV dramas for which Lalo Schifrin is in charge of music are also very familiar in Japan, so this work is really fun.
I also wanted to listen to a long version of The Girl part that was developed separately from this work.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks, everyone, for listening in and commenting. This was a lot of fun (also challenging at points), and I'm glad to hear that I captured the feel I was looking for. There are elements of it that I can surely tighten up, and I appreciate those suggestions.

Definitely captured the genre and showcased your arranging skills.

Thanks for sharing.

James

Thanks James