How an Epic Orchestral Sound Gets Captured on Secret Place by Mikael Ratilainen
A Turku Composer Writes Eight Short Cinematic Pieces Around One Shared Title Track
The album cover shows a lone figure on a lakeside jetty under the northern lights. On Secret Place, Mikael Ratilainen scores that scene in eight short pieces of cinematic, chillout and classical writing. The title track also carries a second credit, Michaela Tuomenoksa. The album came out on 6 October 2022, and now it returns as a catalogue release that rewards patience.
Mikael Ratilainen’s title track, Secret Place, sits in the playlist below, and the Mikael Ratilainen profile collects the rest of the coverage. The album came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Press play, then read on for how the album is built.
How Secret Place by Mikael Ratilainen Opens With Short Cinematic Cues Written by a Trailer Composer
Ratilainen works from Turku, Finland, and the job description is practical. The portfolio site presents a composer and producer who writes music for trailers, films and television. In addition, its services page lists mixing and mastering, music licensing, commissioned composing and notation. Scores, it explains, can come from existing MIDI tracks or a Cubase project file. Meanwhile, the Facebook page sums up the output as epic orchestral music.
That toolkit explains the album’s first decision. For instance, Destiny opens the record at two minutes and five seconds. In total, three of the eight pieces finish in under two and a half minutes. Short running times are a media composer’s habit. After all, a trailer cue has to set its mood quickly and leave before the picture changes.
The model is a familiar one. For example, Two Steps from Hell began by writing trailer demos for licensing. Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix founded the Los Angeles company in 2006. Listeners kept asking to buy that music, so the pair released the cues as albums, starting with Invincible in 2010. Likewise, Secret Place makes that move on a smaller, quieter scale. It gathers media-style pieces into a sequence for listening at home.
For the quieter end of the record, however, the closer reference is Ólafur Arnalds. The Icelandic multi-instrumentalist mixes strings and piano with loops and beats. Secret Place sits near that Nordic meeting point of classical calm and modern production. That is why its chillout tag fits that company.
The Track Titles Carry the Story, and the Title Track Shares Its Credit With Michaela Tuomenoksa
The titles do much of the storytelling. In running order they read Destiny, Uncertain Fate, Peaceful Morning, Hope, The Last March, Secret Place, Left Alone and Unhola. That last word is Finnish for oblivion. Read together, the titles outline an arc from fate through hope and departure to solitude and forgetting. In other words, it is the shape of a film that nobody has made yet.
The title track, meanwhile, stands apart on paper. At 4:17 it is the longest piece on the album. It is also the only one that credits a second artist, Michaela Tuomenoksa, alongside Ratilainen. Placing that shared piece sixth, straight after The Last March, therefore gives the record a turn in its final third.
Eight Tracks in Twenty-Four Minutes Shape Secret Place by Mikael Ratilainen for Patient Listeners
The full album runs just over 24 minutes. At first it alternates short and long pieces: Destiny (2:05), Uncertain Fate (4:03), Peaceful Morning (1:35) and Hope (4:09). After that, the second half moves through The Last March (3:14), the title track (4:17), Left Alone (1:54) and Unhola (2:57). As a result, no single mood lasts long. Instead, the brief pieces work like breaths between the longer statements.
That pacing suits a particular listener. Above all, Secret Place is for people who like the considered arrangements of chillout and the formal shape of classical music. It also suits anyone who plays soundtracks away from the screen. For that reason, a quiet hour serves it better than background use. The short pieces reward attention to where one idea ends and the next begins.
The album also doubles as a calling card. Indeed, Ratilainen’s portfolio invites licensing enquiries for ready-made music. These compact running times are the kind a music supervisor can work with. Beyond this album, the wider Spotify catalogue continues in the same vein. Its titles include Prelude to Sorrow, Hollow Souls, Outlaws and Unilaulu, Finnish for lullaby.
The AcousticMusic.News curator team put it this way:
“Secret Place plays like a score that has lost its film. The short pieces state a mood and step aside, while the longer ones take their time. Because the running order alternates the two, the album keeps moving across its 24 minutes.”
Where to Hear Secret Place by Mikael Ratilainen and Follow the Composer From Turku
Stream Secret Place in the Spotify player above or on Apple Music. Then follow Mikael Ratilainen across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Finally, the official site lists commissions, licensing and notation services.
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