The Making of: “Enigma Part 2 — Deeper Cello Investigations”
With the new year brings a brand new album “Enigma Part 2 — Deeper Cello Investigations”, the second instalment in the “Enigma” series written by the wonderful Andrii Yefymov. The enigmatic, dramatic and suspenseful first album enjoyed immediate success gathering trailer placements at a tremendous pace, so it was only right to develop this popular concept into a sequel. We spoke to Andrii about his processes, inspirations and reaction to the first album. Enjoy!
How do you begin the composition process, is at a particular mood or a melodic idea that gets you started?
Usually it all starts from the mood… like I feel that today I wanna go for a dark thriller track. Then I conceptualise a video in my imagination, just a kind of random trailer-ish atmosphere of that mood. Next I play around with signature sounds. Once I get one or two cool signatures, the track starts to write itself , building and building on ideas.
Are there any new musical inspirations for this second Enigma album?
Well, of course… I always try to work with references. Usually I investigate recent trailer campaigns and try to analyse what worked. But with the second Enigma album I was trying to bring to the table something that could complement and expand on the first album.
What are your favourite tracks on this album and why?
I would say “Macabre Night” is probably my favourite. This track is slightly different from the others, it leans even more to the dark side and sometimes even approaches the horror genre. When working on tracks for both Enigma albums, I’ve tried to balance between darkness and dramatic emotions, but with “Macabre Night” I just let my inner “dark passenger” free.
Tell us about the instrumentation on the album, was it difficult to achieve the perfect dramatic cello sound?
The initial idea behind the Enigma series was to combine emotional neoclassical strings with dark raw sound design. I used lots of various stringed instruments on these tracks, including bowed mandolin, bowed guitar and some medieval ethnic bowed lyres from my collection (I am a bit crazy regarding unusual and rare musical instruments and recently started to build a collection of some). And of course for the neoclassical parts I’ve invited a world class soloist for recording sessions. To achieve a more “raw” sound I’ve used a close microphone technique, so all the scratchy and nasty details were captured. I just wanted to create a soundscape that is slightly different and stands out from all the other neoclassical trailer albums that are on the market.
You’ve had some fantastic placements from the first Enigma album, has there been one that you’re particularly proud of?
Oh yeah, the first Enigma had some really awesome usages. I particularly loved how “Behind The Mirror” set the tone of the official teaser trailer for Apple TV’s “Mosquito Coast”. Btw, this placement happened ridiculously fast! Literally within weeks after the album release!
What would be a dream trailer usage for any tracks on this album?
A dream trailer usage… hm… honestly, the dream is to see every track landing in trailer campaigns! I’ve tried to cover a vast range of emotional aspects with these tracks, so I would love to see all of them be successful :) well… we all can dream, can’t we? We must! Dreams are the pushing power of the world!
Now you’re an established trailer music composer, is there any advice you would give to your younger self when you were starting?
My advice to myself (and anyone else) would be to never give up and keep the faith! Actually, that is what I did… but of course I had some moments in life when I was afraid that my efforts were in vain and I wouldn’t achieve anything... the faith was leaving me. But thanks to my beloved wife, I’ve overcome those crises with her help. She always supports me. But if for some reason one doesn’t have another person to show support, inner faith has to be concrete solid! You are not defeated unless you fall! Just don’t let yourself fall, keep on moving.
- Enigma Part 2 — Deeper Cello Investigations is available now for industry use, with a full public release coming soon.
