digital music in a digital world

Here’s the final track!! I had so much fun getting out of my comfort zone for this one!

Today I spent some time mixing my track, and tirelessly editing all the audio clips from my original sample. This was to make sure the track sounded polished, and to try and reduce the overall harsh noises that seemed harsh. 

After leaving my song for a few hours, I felt very restless and uncomfortable with calling it complete.

In response to this discomfort, I set up my electric guitar, and spent a few takes exploring potential guitar parts. Out of this experimentation, that was SO FUN, came a few riffs, chordal swells and smaller textual elements. I spread these across the track where I felt they fit best,  and then spent some time choosing which amp sounds I wanted to use.

I wanted to end with a chorus, because I love how a cyclical structure always feels very satisfying. Also, my creative vision was surrounded around royalty. In the worlds of the royals, no matter the challenges, or the hardships, or the mistakes, at the end of the day they are still royal, and I liked how a cyclical structure reflects this idea in my story. In the chorus’ restatement, I took out the bass, and allowed the drums to fill more of the space. This meant that in the second half of the chorus I could emphasise the string ensemble I had created that ends the track how it started.

Whilst yesterday I thought I could end the song on this low section, after reflecting over the las 24 hours, today I am more interested in re-launching the song. I always enjoy when tracks surprise me during my first listen by going somewhere that I did not expect. To execute this, I re-introduced the drums and created an ostinato from the original sample.

Here you can see I’ve panned 3 channels differently and rotated which part of the ostinato plays in each channel, to make this section of the track feel even more unsettling. I wanted the listener to feel curious and almost worried as to what could happen next.

When experimenting with this remix, I found the hardest part to be the transitions from section to section. Especially from this B to C section. I decided to boldly introduce the new element which was ‘don’t run in our blood’, and maintain as many musical elements as possible so as to lessen the sudden blow. For some of the bolder lyrical statements, I placed the same part in the Centre, left and right, and then shifted back the starting point in some of the tracks. This meant that the phrase sounded delayed in a controlled manner.

To distinguish this new section after the initial statement of the chorus, I changed the bassline to be playing quavers instead of minims and semi-breves. I spent some time experimenting with the ‘royal’ line, using different lengths of it to create a phrase over this section. My goal was to use syncopation to reflect the feeling of a conversation, or impending conversation.

I added some detail-layers on the introduction today by using a plugin that has cool wind, rain and thunder effects. This software was a way for me to add ‘good dirt’ into the introduction section of this track. And the software makes these sounds pitched as well, which is really great!

Today I created the first section of this track, disqualifying the introduction, that features my sample. To tie in my usual singer-songwriter style with my experimentation in this track, I chose to start with a ‘simple’ chorus. BASSLINE!! It was important for me to present the material, and then proceed to re-invent and change it. However, I still wanted this track to sound different to the original, so I experimented with synth bass sounds. I settled on layering 2 different samples to get the sound that I wanted. My vision was to have the bass take up a lot of head space, and really fill out the depth of this song.

I took one of the lesser sounds and double it, then panned one track hard left, and the other hard right. This was in an attempt to help the bass feel larger than it actually is. DRUMLINE!! I started off by looping the chorus and bass, and experimenting with rhythms and combinations over the top of the loop. After some time, the current drum pattern emerged. It featured a kick drum, occasional snare hit and cymbal as a feature.

Whilst I liked the simplicity of this rhythm alongside the vocals I had chosen for this section, I thought I could make it a little more interesting. One idea I had to change it up a bit, was to add another part that interacted with this one in a syncopated manner. My creation process for this second drum part, was similar to the first where I looped the existing layers and improvised over the top. The end result was another simple rhythm played on the rim of a snare. I liked how these two parts interacted, but still maintained their simplicity.

Usually, my workflow features a considerable amount of time away from my computer. This is because I find it easier to be creative when I am limited by my raw materials.

  For this project, creating musical ideas away from the computer was harder, as most of my musical material was composed of the sample I had chopped up. Today I experimented with different parts of the sample, trying to link together phrases with words and rhythms. In order to still limit my tools, I made myself only draw materials from the metronome engrained in my logic file, and the sample I had split into pieces. Whilst I found this difficult, I think it really helped me think outside of the box.

  During this process, I thought of using part of the sample to create the phrase ‘we ain’t caught up in your love affair, we ain’t caught up’, which I found to be interesting when presented in the right rhythm.

Today was spent recording MIDI string parts for the introduction, using them to flesh out an introduction. I wanted to create an introduction that felt regal and timeless, so aimed to reflect this in the string parts. To create a fuller sound, I layered different string samples. This also helped make the parts sound authentic as there was more variety.

I tried to introduce the sample of ‘Royals’ in a way that felt anthemic, layering different voicings, and panning them differently, so that the sound felt bigger than it actually was. The goal of this is to support the royal aura of this track.

When thinking about what I wanted this track to sound like musically, I was very inspired by music that incorporated classical sounds and compositional techniques with pop-style structures and themes.

  ‘Cosmic Love’ by Florence and The Machine was a specific track that I hope to draw influence from.

‘Cosmic Love’, Florence and The Machine: https://open.spotify.com/track/1myEOhXztRxUVfaAEQiKkU?si=9b6d15e05c364392 

Growing up I was trained as a classical musician playing the French Horn. As a result of this, I have played in many orchestras and wind ensembles over the years. I thought this project would be the perfect time to put my knowledge, skills and experiences to use. 

I also thought string ensembles and chords could be an opportunity to ironically reflect ‘royal culture’ in this remix. I hope to bring some grunge influences into this track as well to provide it with some interesting contrast.  

I spent some time today cutting my sample up into smaller pieces that I thought were interesting. This allowed me to compile a sound bank of sources.

  Before being creative with the sounds from my sample, I spent some time thinking about my creative vision for this piece. My goal is to create something that explores the beauty and darkness of royalty in a modern context. I aim to tell a story of modernity through the lense of life being, at its simplest, bittersweet whilst making sure it still feels timeless.

  I really hope this piece has the ability to reflect nature’s turmoils and patterns, and those of people as well.

Below is the mood board I created for this project to encapsulate my vision visually:

This semester, I have decided to take the advanced version of last semester’s class, ‘Advanced Digital Music Techniques’. Whilst I am nervous, I am also excited for a challenge and a space where I can learn lots of new things.

The first assignment for this class is a remix which is very out of my comfort zone, as I’ve previously only produced songs that are my own. Having material to piggyback off is exciting, and something I am ready to explore.

I’ve spent the last couple of days brainstorming potential samples for me to use, and finally decided on using an excerpt of the vocal stems from ‘Royals’ by Lorde. This is a track that has always been enjoyable and interesting to listen to, so I’m excited to make it my own for this assignment.

‘Royals’, Lorde 

Here they are! Two tracks about the trials and tribulations (mostly trials) of getting older. I split my track into two parts:

Song 1: ‘Birthday Eve’ - a musical and thematic introduction into my thoughts on society’s expectations for birthday celebrations. 

https://soundcloud.com/holly-benson-310157495/birthday-eve?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing 

Song 2: ‘Birthday Candles’ - a track that is very near and dear to my heart. 

https://soundcloud.com/holly-benson-310157495/birthday-candles?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Listening instructions:

Please listen to ‘Birthday Eve’ first, and queue ‘Birthday Candles’ so that they flow directly into each other. They are made to be played consecutively.  Song Credits:

Songwriters: Holly Benson 

Producers: Holly Benson 

Audio Engineers: Holly Benson  

Basically both songs are written, composed, recorded, produced and engineered solely by me! I hope you enjoy. 

I spent most of today putting the final touches on my track, which included: • Making two different mixes of the track, and deliberating on which one I liked the best • Adding some panning details throughout, especially in the bridge piano • Refining string sounds • Adding some wet sounding keys behind the chorus and verses to fill in some of the textural space. • Cutting up some audio clips of me crying in the rain, and layering it over the bridge. • Removing reverb echoes from sections that were intentionally silent • EQ’d the acoustic guitar and some of the drum parts • Added reverb to one of the main vocals, but I wanted most of the vocals to sound dry, so I used reverb sparingly. • Introduced an arpeggio-style part in the introduction and the second chorus • Listened to the song with my eyes closed a couple times, and took note of any minor details I wanted to change. Below are some images of some of my EQs, where my main goal was to remove any obvious unwanted noises.

When making these final touches, I kept my artistic vision in mind: that is, I wanted to make a song that would evoke bittersweet emotions, and feel intimate to the listener. 

Obstacles to overcome:

- Originally, I wanted the two different vocal harmony stacks in the intro song to be layered over each other and staggered, but when I tried this it became too cluttered. 

- There are a few moments in the second chorus where the vocal melody becomes too loud, but I could not find a way to overcome this. 

- The chord progression I originally chose made writing a bass line very difficult, because it did not follow conventional chord structures. I worked around this as best as I could, but if I could turn back time, I would possibly alter the chord progression slightly. 

Vision for the bridge 

I recently finished writing the bridge of this song, so I wanted to record it today. I wrote the melody to the arpeggiated piano part, using a poem I had written the day I came up with the idea for this song.

Audio clips 

Before the bridge, I decided to insert the backend of the audio clips that appeared at the beginning. The second halves of these audio clips finally get round to saying ‘happy birthday’. I wanted to leave this text until just before the bridge, so the rest of the song prior to the bridge could be my deliberation over birthdays, and blowing out candles, and so that the bridge could be the somewhat depressing aftermath of refusing to act happy on your birthday.

Producing the bridge 

In terms of production, I wanted it to feel distinctly different to the rest of the song, so I used piano as the foundations. After a couple hours of messing around and recording the vocals, and the doubles, I wrote a few string parts to accompany the bridge. I thought they tugged at my heart strings (literally) and added a bit of much needed texture.

Randomly I came across this weird string sound which you can hear somewhat in the background of the bridge – I thought this was haunting, so I included it in the introduction as well.