Category: Music

My original music and collaborations with various songwriters

Morning of the Battle – revised
by Paul Battersby

A story (set to original music) of what an ancient family might experience the morning before a battle.

This is a revised version in the way I always wanted to make the video but the tools were not available at the time for the original. This time I was able to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) to generate all the images that I needed and I was able to use AI to create the narration.

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Morning of the Battle
Lyrics by: Paul Battersby
Not lyrics but here is the text of the story as it appears in the video: Centuries ago … A small village awakens to the rising sun on the morning a battle is to be fought Lost in silent thought, families share a somber meal. The unspoken truth is that not everyone returns from battle. The time has come. A father bids farewell to his children. A husband shares a final embrace with his wife. The same ritual plays out at the threshold of many homes as each family fears they may have shared their last moment together. A sad reality sets in when each warrior must turn his back to his home and face toward the upcoming battle. Huddled in doorways, families are unable to turn away. Fathers/husbands glance over their shoulders for one last glimpse of those they must leave behind. Gathered at the edge of the village, men check their weapons, greet their fellow soldiers and focus their attention on the fighting that awaits them. With great anticipation, the assembled army begins the long march toward the battle field, cresting a hill and receding from the view of those left behind. Now alone, worried families are left with the final sight of an empty field wondering who will return.
Paul Battersby piano, orchestra, mixing, video
Charlotte (Eleven Labs) narration
playgroundai A.I. images
YouTube video

 

Orchestra sounds from (free) Virtual Playing Orchestra

The piano was recorded directly from my Yamaha Clavinova CLP745 digital piano. The Taiko drums are my customized library from from Taiko drums by S. Christian Collins that are available here: https://www.schristiancollins.com/vi-percussion.php

Video created using HitFilm Free – http://fxhome.com

The original video, with the same story but without images, without  narration, just text, is here: Morning of the Battle – original

Making Fire
by Paul Battersby

A short cartoon animation showing a poor hapless caveman discovering the hazards of making fire.

I liked this piano piece by Beethoven, decided to record the piano part and add my own orchestral accompaniment then I was able to fit an animation idea to the music.

It took me a while to come up with a unique design for the caveman. Having done that, I then had to figure out how the caveman should look when viewed from the side.

Beethovenoriginal piano composition (Tempest)
Paul Battersbypiano, orchestra, mixing, video
YouTube video

 

Seasons of Life
by Paul Battersby

A slideshow style music video depicting the stages of life as changing seasons. This features A.I. images and my arrangement of the horn solo from Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony. I used to hear my dad practice this and I thought it was odd he was playing Annie’s Song by John Denver, which it turns out was accidentally similar to this solo.

Tchaikovsky composition of horn solo from Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony
Paul Battersby arrangement, music, (all instruments from Virtual Playing Orchestra sample library), video
YouTube video
Audio only

Images via A.I. from http://playgroundai.com

Evolution
by Paul Battersby

This is a cartoony story of evolution from the cooling of the earth to modern times that is loosely based on the science but skips MANY details. This is not meant to be particularly serious.

This was originally supposed to be a video to accompany some already existing music of mine, but the music really wasn’t going to fit so instead I composed some new music as required by each individual scene.

YouTube video

 

Images used that require attribution:

Stars
https://esahubble.org/news/heic1909/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Acheloma
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acheloma_12DB.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Barylambda
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barylambda_BW.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Cave
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shelter_below_the_Thief%27s_Cave_-_geograph.org.uk_-_170687.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/licensing-considerations/compatible-licenses

Herpetotherium
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herpetotherium_NT.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Taeniolabis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taeniolabis_NT_small.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Purgatorius
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Purgatorius_BW.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Branchiosaurus
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Branchiosaurus_BW.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Eryops
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eryops1DB.jpg
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Mouse Chases Tail
by Paul Battersby

This is about a mouse I saw while biking. I noticed from a distance that it was running in circles. I went back to capture some video for YouTube. It occurred to me that I should compose some original music to go with it so I did.

As I was watching, a couple approached me and said they had tried to help the mouse (they called it a vole and were probably correct) back into the nearby bushes but it ended up on the road again. Another woman walking her dog gave me a peanut to put in the path of the mouse (vole) and although it’s circular path eventually brought it to the peanut, the mouse (vole) seemed uninterested in eating it. I watched for about 20 minutes before I left. I have no idea what happened to it.

YouTube video

Pirate Chase
by Paul Battersby

A short digital cutout style animation of two pirate ships chasing each other around the world featuring an original composition made specifically for the video.

Sea shanties are apparently popular at the moment so that gave me the idea to make a pirate inspired video, although the music is more along the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean than a sea shanty.

This is the first time I started with the video. Usually I make the music first. This time, the entire video was complete before there was any music. I wanted to try to “score to picture” as would be done with a T.V show, cartoon or movie. I wanted to treat the video as if it were locked – unable to be changed, and the music was forced to adapt as needed. It was challenging but I was eventually able to make it work.

YouTube video

Knights Fight
by Paul Battersby

I wanted to try something with an epic sound, using taiko drums. I originally planned to use the music for a sports themed video or a pirate or viking fight, but upon completion it felt more like music for knights fighting so I made a cutout animation of 2 knights fighting who learn that in the end, sometimes the way to win is to recognize the futility of the fight.

YouTube video
Audio only