New Ambience: The Stranger

Edit: The attached audio files were updated on July 27th with better versions (I made some silly mastering mistakes that heard when I re-listened with fresh ears!)

Greetings Patrons,

Here is the second installment of my (apparent) Western trilogy. I've never done this before, but I found that as soon as I started working on the first track (which will end up being the third in this series), I had to work on two others at the same time.

Where the previous installment, 'Frontier Town' was a bright, breezy look at life in a small Western outpost, 'The Stranger' casts a dark shadow over the town. Who are they? Why are they here? Eyes peer from behind drawn curtains, children scatter indoors. Clip clop go the feet of his massive horse.

'Stranger in town' is a well worn storytelling trope for a reason. It's a great way to inject mystery, danger, and unease. Where the story goes from there is anyone's guess. Maybe the stranger ends up saving the town and only looked off-putting. Maybe the townsfolk were right to be afraid and their worst fears come true.

Musically I wanted to create a sense of breath-holding, without actual dread. Something is happening, but we don't quite know which way the needle is going to swing. It could be bad, it could be good. Electric guitar, acoustic guitar (I took them off the wall again!) live percussion, live tagelharpa, cello and some odd phrases of ney. This is layered with some sound design-y bits and some synth drones for effect.

For the ambience, I wanted to focus on the central character and their inexorable journey into the town. The stranger's horse is slow, methodical, unafraid. Get a good look, there's nothing to hide. The sound of the horse/rider is consistent throughout the track.

As this track is in Patreon sneak-peek mode, I've included the mixed , ambience-only, and music-only versions here. Additionally, I created two horseless 'Walk' versions where the stranger makes the same approach to the town, on foot.

Thank you all, as always, for your continuing support.

Best,

Tim

https://tabletopaudio.com