Gothic Storm's latest release ‘Opulent Overtures — Period Drama Crescendos’ is finally here. Brimming with elegance and intrigue, 'Opulent Overtures' is masterfully composed by Wan Ying Chan and complete with live strings recorded in Vienna. Hear from Wan Ying about the composition journey, the nuance of adding live strings and more.

Firstly, congratulations on creating this exquisite and elegant album! How does the creative process begin for you? Is it chord progressions, individual motifs or something else that kicks off your compositions?

Thanks! For this particular album, most tracks start with a motif that later flourished into the full track. Variations of each track’s main motifs can be heard dotted throughout the music.

Did you take inspiration from any particular composers in this style? If so, was it classical, trailer music or otherwise?

Yes I did. I had to find a fine balance between classical and trailer music so I listened to both. My favourite two being Vivaldi’s Winter and Karl Jenkins’ Palladio. I also drew inspiration from Mozart’s Piano Sonata №16 in C Major, K. 545 “Sonata Facile” I. Allegro as that was ingrained in my mind from playing it as a child.

Did you picture a particular genre of movie or franchise that these tracks would work well with whilst composing?

Yes, I think the tracks would work well with Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte and other period dramas or comedies.

What was it like working with live strings? And what did this element add to the overall sound and feel?

The live strings added an element of realism to the tracks that would have otherwise never been achieved by only using samples. The string players did brilliantly even though some passages were not the easiest to play.

As an established trailer music composer, is there any advice you’d give to composers looking to start out or to those looking to adapt to the trailer world?

Listen and copy. I don’t mean getting yourself into copyright troubles! But for your own practice, find a trailer music that you like, listen to it and copy note by note. Eventually you will start developing your own ideas and write great tracks!

Finally, other than the live strings, were there any particular production tools that were key to creating the overall sound?

There are many sample libraries I have used to achieve the overall sound. Cremona Quartet, Eastwest Symphonic Orchestra and Cinematic Studio Brass, just to name a few.

Opulent Overtures — Period Drama Crescendos is available to stream and license now.