On the Nature of Daylight

Published on 2011-9-13 by Michael Stanton

This is actually a post from a year ago, but it got lost when I moved blogs around.

I really love this incredible song by Max Richter, "On the Nature of Daylight," from the album "The Blue Notebooks." I decided to make my own version of the song for acoustic and electric guitar, plus some keyboard noodling. I uploaded it to SoundCloud here

It took me a few weeks. First I had to figure out the music. It's a beautiful string quartet and a synthesizer bass (I think). It's in B-flat minor, without a single accidental. Beauty and variation come from the simple lines maintained in the different parts, and the song adds layers in a minimalistic style.

My rendition can't compete with the original at all, it's just that I liked it so much I had to try. The biggest problem with mine, I think, is that I have a fixed tempo, which destroys too much musicality. I don't really know how to multitrack without a set tempo, if you have any advice let me know...

I overdubbed 4 acoustic guitar parts, and 3 electric guitar parts (2 are mostly doubling the same line).

Anything by Max Richter is great, I've become a big fan over the last few months.