Blackmoor Castle (Oskar Sala Tribute) by Everett Dudgeon (Prophet X)

Описание: Oskar Sala is likely a name that isn't common when discussing synth soundtracks. He was a German composer who specialized in the Trautonium, an early form of musical synthesizer invented in the 1930s. In 1948, Sala further developed the Trautonium into the Mixtur-Trautonium. Sala's invention opened the field of subharmonics, the symmetric counterpart to overtones, so that a thoroughly distinct tuning evolved.

He managed to score many films with this instrument and later used it to create a non-musical soundtrack for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

One of his best scores was for the Edgar Wallace inspired Krimi film "Strangler At Blackmoor Castle" (1963). What stands out to me is the fact that around this time most electronic scores were used in space oriented science fiction films (Ala Forbidden Planet) but this is a murder mystery set in a dark and brooding castle...with a completely electronic score. This predates the synth slasher craze by decades.

I approached this, not as a cover but more or less as creating my own unique sound using the Prophet X. I tried to create an instrument that might have been possible around this time period:

-Despite what you might think, 0 oscillators are being used. The Prophet X is being run in 32 voice paraphonic mode with ONLY a Hammond organ sample being run through the onboard ring modular effect.

-The PX's sliders are controlling the parameters of the effect and the key tracking is set to full.

-The filter has a slow attack with resonance. Given that the synth is in paraphonic mode, this is only evident during certain key presses.

Everything is done in one take with no overdubs. The reverb you hear is also from the PX as well.

I hope you enjoy!

© Everett Dudgeon 2023
℗ Everett Dudgeon 2023