LO3: Developing Track 4

I plan to make Track 4 an instrumental song. My main inspirations for this song include the works of Makeup and Vanity Set – mainly focussing on the song ‘Eidolon‘. I broke it down to see what elements I could use for my song.

Point 1 – It’s very progressive. Melodies loop throughout while other musical ideas/instruments are added or taken away.

Point 2 – Automation is also used to create a sense of progression throughout the song.

Point 3 – Drum selections are constantly changing. Throughout the song, cymbals and other percussive instruments are constantly being added, layered or taken away. I don’t think this was done for the purpose of mixing and level-balancing. Rather, it was more a musical/writing choice than a technical one.

My first demo for Track 4 (can be heard HERE) was just a simple loop and drum beat. Although I wanted to keep the melody, I realised that the drum beat would have to be completely rewritten if this song was to resemble anything by Makeup and Vanity Set.

I made a simple 1/4 drum pattern and looped the drums and melody a few times. I then started brainstorming ways I could make these loops progress into something. With point 3 in mind, I first began introducing cymbals to the drum loops. Next, I added some more synthesisers. One played chords in the background. The other added height, as researched in Production Post 7, by introducing a high-pitched volume-automated riff. It was an idea I picked up from Makeup and Vanity’s song ‘It’s Our Rules Now‘. It really contrasted with the other instruments in terms of frequency range. With the song reaching a musical peak, I decided it should switch to a minimalist section. I added a bridge that removed the high-pitched riff via a downwards automation in pitch, giving the impression that it was slowing down (like a vinyl record effect). Only the lead synth, drums and bass are present in this minimalist section However, I kept it interesting via changes in EQ automation on the bass line.

I ended the song by further progressing what had been developed in the peak of the introduction section; And so the chords and high pitched riff were all re-introduced. To progress the final section, I wrote a more complex bass line for the song to finish on.

I took another idea from ‘Eidolon‘ and made some final adjustments to the drums by subtlety layering cymbals above the kick drums. They can be heard whenever the background chords are playing. I also added some width, as researched in Production Post 2, by splitting the notes of the background chords into individual tracks and panning them to different speakers. One note was automated in pitch and pan to create a howl-like sound.

Listen to the development of Track 4 HERE.

References

‘Eidolon‘ and ‘It’s Our Rules Now‘ by Makeup and Vanity Set

LO1: Creating ‘Space’ Within My Mixes – Height

Having a variety of frequencies and dynamics in your mixes can create a lot of interest. Varying frequencies can also help make instruments distinguishable. For example, vocals might be difficult to hear if other instruments are playing within a similar frequency range to them. However, frequency can also be interpreted as height. As a result, using various frequencies within your mix could also create various ‘heights’ within your sonic space.

Some think that this could be because of the structure of most speakers, with woofers being placed below the tweeters (The Pro Audio Files, 2013). Psychoacoustics, the study of sound perception (The Power of Sound, no date), could also hold some possible answers as to why we perceive sonic frequency on a vertical scale, some being psychological and others physiological. Either way, by using a range of harmonics, I can make my mixes sound ‘tall’. To do this, I must carefully choose instruments and synthesisers that contrast with each other. If they don’t contrast enough then I can separate them via changes in EQ settings.

LO1: Creating Space Within My Mixes – Depth

Depth can be created within mixes by mirroring the ways in which depth is heard all around us. Since lower frequencies can travel further than higher frequencies, cutting off higher frequencies with an EQ plugin can help make a sound seem far. Volume can also be used to create depth as louder instruments can be perceived as being closer than quieter ones. Reverb can also be added to create echo-like effects. However, you must be very careful when using reverb as too much can cause many problems (EnvatoTuts+, 2014).

Using reverb on multiple tracks will layer the reverb effects and swamp the entire mix. It could also overwork your computers processor. Instead, it’s best to create a separate reverb track and then route your instruments into it.

References

EnvatoTuts+ (2014) How to Creatively Use Multiple Reverbs in One Mix. Available from: https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-creatively-use-multiple-reverbs-in-one-mix–cms-19841

The Power of Sound (no date) Psychoacoustics, defined. Available from: http://thepowerofsound.net/psychoacoustics-defined/

The Pro Audio Files (2013). How to Create Width, Height and Depth in a Mix. Available from: https://theproaudiofiles.com/width-height-depth-in-a-mix/

LO5: Imagery

To promote my music, I need some imagery to accompany it. I’ve had a few concepts for cover arts so far, each of which use the same font as that used in my last EP. I want to use the VHS tape-style font as it is the most prominent Vin McLo iconography I have so far.

I think idea 1 is the most stylish. However, there’s very little meaning to it. It’s just an interesting looking mash-up of colours.

With my EP being focussed around Sutton-in-Ashfield, I thought it would be a good idea to include some Sutton iconography in my art. And so, idea 2 contains the star-like pattern seen underneath Sutton’s iconic sundial (the largest sundial in Europe). Idea 3 contains the sundial itself and is a lot more minimalistic. Since I’m going to be releasing an EP with a small number of tracks, I though a minimalistic cover art could be quite fitting.

I digitally recreated images of the star and sundial myself. However, I fear that I might one day be faced with some copyright implications if I use these images with for my EP. I read that pictures of sculptures that are permanently situated in public areas are exempt from copyright laws (CJAM, 2016). However, just to be safe, I’ve sent an email to the Ashfield District Council to find out more information on the subject. Hopefully they’ll get back to me soon. If not then I’ll either have to get more information from another source or just not use images of the Sutton sundial at all. If I do get a response soon then I’ll be sure to ask them about ideas on further promoting my music.

As well as designing cover are, I have two EP title ideas: Odyssey (since this is a musical journey through ideas of Sutton) and Sun_Sutt (a SMS-language title derived from the nickname ‘Sunny Sutton’).

References

CJAM (2016) Copyright and Taking Pictures of Sculptures. Available from: http://cjam.info/en/copyright-and-taking-pictures-of-sculptures-2/

LO3: Developing Track 2

The Demo for Track 2 only consisted of a short intro and chorus idea – I needed to create some ideas for verses. In the song ‘Fantasy’ by Mystery Skulls, the verses can be distinguished from the choruses as the higher frequencies are reduced on everything other than the vocals. I wanted to create a similar effect. However, I wanted to achieve this via a change in instrumentation rather than by lowering the higher frequencies with an EQ effect. As a result, I wrote some drum and bass parts.

With fewer instruments playing in the verse, the reverb on the drums was a lot more. It also prevented the parts from flowing into each other. I tried altering the ‘wet’ level, EQ and room size but the reverb effect just couldn’t stand out far enough without ruining the rest of the mix. To get around this, I decided to take some inspiration from the ‘Chariots of Fire‘ theme song and use a delay effect instead.

The intro in the demo needed improving as well. Although I want the song to begin with a sense of minimalism, the lone synth seemed too bland. As an improvement, I added a synth in the background. It was the same as the synth used in the chorus, however, its MIDI chords were shortened and the reverb was turn far up, resulting in a pad-like sound, adding harmony and atmosphere. Similar harmonies were also added to the verse section

The track so far can be heard HERE.

References

‘Chariots of Fire‘ theme song.

‘Fantasy‘ by Mystery Skulls.

LO2: Organising my Projects

“Inspiration is rare – Don’t let a messy project kill your creativity” (Music Radar, 2017). As my songs developed, it’s important to keep my project files organised within my DAW in order to maximise my productivity. I’ve noticed that my unorganised projects often result in me wasting time looking for unlabelled tracks. The post I found on Music Radar has given me a lot of useful tips on how to organise my workflow.

Firstly, I labelled my tracks. Most tracks were labelled based on their assigned instrument (guitar, individual drums, bass, etc…). However, I labelled some of my synths by the sounds they made or the parts they played rather than their original VSTi name. For example, I labelled one synth track ‘wah’. It’s odd and minimalistic label made it easy for me to distinguish.

Some instrument tracks were duplicated for reasons like double-taking and different panning settings. I distinguished the duplicate tracks by various codes. For example:

(C) – Centred

(R) – Right

(L) – Left

(F) – Folder Track

Folder tracks in Reaper are similar to grouping or bussing in other DAWs. Any subtracks routed into a folder track will be affected by any effects or plugins applied to said folder track. In one case, I had four tracks labelled Synth 1 (F), Synth 1 (L), Synth 1 (R) and Synth 1 (C). Applying FX to folder tracks and routing subtracks into them, rather than having FX applied to individual tracks, kept my work organised, saved CPU usage and decreased project load times.

To help organise my work even further, I also colour-coded and grouped my tracks based on their instrument types. Folder tracks and their subtracks were also colour-coded. Below is an example of some of my labels and colour-coding from Track 1 V2. Folder tracks can be distinguished by the folder icons below them. The yellow tracks are minimally-used instrument tracks. I put them into the ‘Reverb Folder’ track so that they may share the same reverb plugin.

To further save CPU usage, I also took some tips from a video (Home Music Studio 1, 2014) and rendered some of my MIDI takes. By rendering MIDI takes into audio takes, I can disable the instrument and FX plugins. I mainly applied this technique to takes on my yellow tracks as I found it would be wasteful to have so many plugins on tracks that are barely used. For example, I have one track with a music box instrument, an EQ plugin and a reverb plugin that only plays 2 notes throughout the entirety of Track 1 V2.

References

Home Music Studio 1 (2014) Lowering CPU Usage In Your Daw (Reaper). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUl2-F8G5c

Music Radar (2017) How to ogranise a DAW session and improve your workflow. Available from: http://www.musicradar.com/how-to/how-to-organise-a-daw-session-and-improve-your-workflow