Tim Clark's Notes on the Music for RUBY 7.5 "The Tookah's Tales"

Here are some things off the top of my head about the different tales:

1 & 2. I Only Have Three Eyes and Jazuli 3. This one took the longest because nothing I did worked. I got the intro okay right up until the Tookah says "Ruby" for the first time. After that it took over a week to figure out where to go. I finally realized that mostly, these things needed some kind of simple bass and percussion stuff going on to support the voices with hints of other things on top to suggest whatever was going on in the scene. I decided to use a combination of theremin and English horn playing pretty stereotype Middle Eastern lines to make it almost, but not quite, a cartoon.

3. A Sad Day in Noodle Town. Most of the tales start with some kind of percussion and then quiet down for the telling of the story. This one has a strange combination of tabla, theremin, and a recording of some guy blowing into cardboard tubes. That sound really conjures up the feeling of some kind of steam powered noodle factory. When Zita appears, I add some gamelan gongs on the top of everything else. Pretty weird.

4. Bug-A-Boo 13. Starts with just electric piano and then I add a weird electronic wash that sounds a bit like electric insects. After that the rhythm starts. On top of it I put sounds to suggest insects singing.

5. Nighttime in the Right Time. Starts quietly with the English horn. Then the rhythm starts with bass and tabla. When the poo-doon-ga shows up I start adding theremin and sparkly sounds like celesta, bells, and wind chimes.

6. Moonless Sonata. After the intro the Tookah tells about Moonless Sonata. The sounds are an out of tune piano on top of strings and a low electronic wash. The piano plays a couple of phrases of Moonlight Sonata to get into the scene. Interesting using this piece for setting a bleak scene. Really works. This sound clears away and the music becomes rhythmic and heavy. I can imagine the Tookah waving his tentacles to this. The story ends with the piano playing the last couple of measures of Moonlight sonata.

7. The Platinum Blonde in the Pillbox Hat. I wanted to give the feeling of an old fashioned vamp but using strange instruments. The theremin plays the theme with electric finger snaps and strings. When the hat opens there is a little Tookah band playing. I did this with a loop of middle eastern drums with a lot of the frequencies dropped out. On top of that I put another middle east loop of a violin. Then when the Tookah sees the glass, I bring in the theremin and a string orchestra on top which makes the whole scene kind of creepy. Toward the end I bring back the opening theme with a kind of Kurt Weill feeling

8. You Who Hear the Angels. Starts with a fast Tookah theme and almost immediately breaks apart for the beginning of the story. The transition sounds are many layers of pizzicato strings, glockenspiel, strings and chorus along with a big cymbal crash. That fades away to harp, chorus, and glockenspiel for a real "heavenly" sound. Gets heavier for the dark side with low chorus and strings.

9. Everything in Going to be Alright. This one is a real adventure. Lots of changes. Starts with the harp, left over from the previous tale. I get into a nice heavy beat for the introduction of the "Tookah Goddess of Time." It gets quiet for a while, then goes into the tavern music which has, among other things, African drums and Australian jews harp along with the English horn playing the Tookah music. The ice floe music takes over with wind sfx and metal wind chimes. I use a big gong for the goddess. At the end there's a variation of the tavern music.

10. Clipper and Snipper. I decided for this one to use a pretty constant rhythm. Starts with Tookah music. For the story, the drums drop out and are replaced with an electronic percussion sound. Once in a while there is a very simple melody that comments on what's going on.

11. The Lost Temple of the Cross-Eyed, Silver-Tongued Serpent. All kinds of stuff in this one. Start simply with an electric piano and theremin. When the scene shifts to the jungle I start a percussion beat and add weird electronic bends along with a very strange Indian bamboo flute. The snakes were done by taking a sample of air being let out of a tire, resampling them at different pitches, laying the samples out on the keyboard, and playing a bunch of different samples at the same time. For the descent into the tunnel, I used a metallic grinding sound with a large pitch bend which made it get lower and lower. For the temple, there is a combination of Indian singing voices, chorus, gongs, strings, and a big electronic wash. The sound under the goddess is an altered recording of an Indian singer.

Tim