Final Project Description

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When I wrote my piece, I took inspiration from everyday outside sounds and noises as well as video game and movie sounds. I also was inspired by my high school band experience and the many musicians I grew up with from gospel to jazz, rock, country, R & B, and other genres. I believe my piece reflects on industrial music and groove. It could be used in a chilled and relaxing setting. It could fit in a Sci-fi setting as well. It could also make a cool theme song for like a tv show perhaps similar to Stranger Things (Another influence because I find the music for that show very intriguing) or a trailer.

For the meter of the piece, I did the first section in 4/4 time and the second section in 12/8. For the first section, I wanted a consistent groove, so I used the kick, snare, hi-hat, and crash cymbal for the drums. I had my bass follow the pattern of the Kick and follow the chords of the chord progression and harmony. Originally, I used Ultrabeat for all my drum parts, but I decided to change up on the Crash and used a Portland Crash and a Detroit Garage Hi-hat for the Hi-hats from drum sets to sound a little more organic. For the second section, I changed it up by doing a simple groove for the 12/8. For the Bass, I chose to use a RetroSynth. The RetroSynth sound was the 90’s Solid Synth Bass. I liked how it gave it a smooth bass groove. In the first section, I kept the bassline in an arpeggio like fashion for the bassline. For the second part, I made the bassline simpler but still have a groove to it. For the first section, I had the tempo at 120 BPM. For the second section, however, I did four bars at 108 BPM, four bars at 120, four bars at 108, and the last four bars at 120 BPM.

The Key signature of the piece is in the Key of F Minor. I wanted to be creative with the chord structure of the Harmony, so I inverted some of the chords in the Harmony Track. The Chord Progression for Section 1 is:  i III v i iv iiº VI VII i III v i iv VI iiº v (Fm | Ab | Cm | Fm |Bbm | Gdim | Db | Eb |Fm | Ab | Cm | Fm |Bbm | Db | Gdim | Cm). The Chord Progression for Section 2 is:  ii vsus4 V i iv VII isus2 i III VI vsus4 i iv VII isus2 i (Gm | Csus4 | C | Fm| Bbm | Eb | Fsus2 | Fm| Ab | Db | Csus4 | Fm| Bbm | Eb | Fsus2 | Fm). I chose these progressions because I wanted my music to be fun and flow but also to be unique as well. The sound I chose for the Chord Progression Track was a RetroSynth. For the Harmony track, I chose the Dusty Strings sound of the Alchemy. For the Melody Track, I used the Mysterious Synth Lead in the Alchemy. I used the Motif and Arch Melody approach to the first section. The second section I incorporated the same idea, but I did a little Rising Melody as well. I really wanted the Melody to flow well.

For the live audio tracks I recorded, I used my Volt 2 and a microphone to record them. The sounds I used for the Audio Tracks included a Cowbell, a Background Vocal, and my Trombone, and an ad lib.  I chose the cowbell to add a little extra groove to the drums. I also recorded background vocals to blend in with the Harmony and Melody to give it a chill vibe. I also had a trombone as well to add to the harmony. I included an ad lib for the new section using words of encouragement. For my sampler track, I used a recording of a metal thermos cup that I tap inside of with a stick to produce a noise for the Quick Sampler and adjusted the components in it until I liked the sound. The synthesizers I used to write the rhythms and melody were my EX Digital Wind Instrument and my launchpad device. I did the melody on the EX Digital Wind Instrument and adjusted the notes as needed to get the right pitch.  For everything else MIDI, I used my Launch Key 49 to do, especially the rhythm section. I then used the pencil tool to clean them up to ensure the correct notes were used and I adjusted the velocity on some of the notes to ensure variety in sounds.

I used EQ, Compressors, and Noise Gates for my Dynamic Processors to balance out some of the volume. I used the EQs to balance out the high-end notes with the low-end notes. I used the compressors to keep the loudness balanced. I used the Noise Gates to control how much loud noise could be released. I used the EQs on every track. I used compressors on every track except the Delay and Reverb Buses.  I use the Noise Gates on the Kick, Snare, Chord Progression Track, Harmony, Quick Sampler, Cowbell, Background Vocals, Trombone, and Ad Libs Tracks. For my Time-Based Processors, I used Delay and Reverb. I sent the Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Crash, Bass, Melody, Quick Sampler, and Cowbell to the Delay Bus. I sent the Bass, Chord Progress, Harmony, Melody, Background Vocals, Trombone, and Ad Libs to the Reverb Bus. I panned the Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Crash Cymbal, Bass, and the Cowbell to the left. I panned the Chord Progression, Harmony, Quick Sampler, Background Vocals, Trombone, and Ad Lib to the right. I turned down the faders on every track except the Melody to further ensure the Melody was not drowned out. I even added some volume automation to one of the vocal tracks. These processes help my composition to sound more mellow and add some variety in sounds.