Maya Jay Music

WHOA! ANOTHER THING!!!

This project was made exclusively on my phone using the app “Auxy.” This app divides everything into scenes and loops what you are currently working on automatically, which was convenient as hell.

I usually made punky, rock sounding music, and this is drastically different. The sound limitations on this app made me have to step out of my comfort zone and really think of the sound I wanted to put forth.

Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I find a lot of inspiration in drag music, club kid scenes, and alternate realities (drag, underground culture, video games, etc.) so for this i drew upon that. I know that 90s techno and electronic music is kind of cringey to listen to in this day and age, but I wanted to bring it back. I describe the sound of this song as if the club kid scene and video game music had a baby.

Unlike most others, I did not have a clue of what I wanted this to sound like, so I made the bass line that you hear almost fully throughout the work just from playing with the app. I then made a drum kit beat that I thought truly sucked by the end of it and remade it to what is played. 

A lot of this song was made by trial and error and just messing around. 

I wanted to have my structural “signature” that i tend to follow to some extent throughout every song I have made over the course of this semester. To remain true to that, I adjusted the bar numbers and scenes until I was happy with the section, building on it each time so the song stay interesting throughout.

I took different melodic tones and adjusted their high and low passes to make sure everything played through clearly without being distorted or too quiet. 

I wish I had more to say, but I made this out of pure whimsy and curiosity, and it was one of the freest I have felt making music in a long time. While it is different, this song means a lot to me in the way of mindset. 

HEY Y’ALL, I DID ANOTHER THING!!!!!

For this remix, I was inspired by Dillon Wiggins’ found sound song, “Tree Wolf.” 

To listen to his song, click here: https://soundcloud.com/dillon-fava/tree-wolf

I decided to give this song a punk makeover. I took the initial sounds of a child saying “we have to do it again!” mixed with bird chirping as the intro, similar to his. I panned each “have to do it again” to each ear until the bass line entered. 

I then took “have to do it x3″ and made that the central beat. I adjusted the EQ of it to make the background sounds more prominent. Adjusting this made it sound like there was a water droplet falling into a bucket mixed with the children sounds and bird sounds. I added an emo bass line to it and a synth beat layered on top that comes in 8 measures after the intro of the bass.

I then made a MIDI piano line that I EQed and adjusted the volume of to make it sound more muffled as a background layer instead of a frontline melody, to keep the focus more on the found sound beat.

After that comes in twice, the chorus portion happens. I took Dillon’s beat drop and turned the volume all the way up on it to make it intrusive and upbeat, as well as a different bass line that I compressed slightly in order to make it less overbearing. That runs for about 8 bars, then I brought the original “have to do it x3″ beat back in to make the bird chirps in that one to be slightly misaligned with each other to build tension and keep interest. 

I then made another MIDI piano line, meant to be at the front this time. I made that on my laptop instrument, and then adjusted the EQ, the sound of the piano, and frequencies. I then brought the synth beat back, but i moved it off a beat to add a bit of tension and cause the listener to pay attention a bit more. 

After, I cut everything out except for the two aspects of Dillon’s song that I used and let those run on their own, and brought back in the first MIDI piano underneath both.

I then brought back the original “have to do it again!” and panned them to each ear again, and returned to the first verse-type section, only this time everything came in together; bass line, synth, MIDI, and found sound. 

Claasick- Claas feat. Donnie Darko

https://youtu.be/W0rPsE2v-8E

Tragic Magic- Falling in Reverse

https://youtu.be/MtoA81CaNbQ

Claasick uses the musical line underneath the entire song. The key was changed slightly and a drum beat was added overtop for a more hip hop vibe. The chorus of Tragic Magic by Falling in Reverse is also the chorus of Claasick. It is the basis of the song as well as a good amount of the vocals and ad libs.

7 Rings- Ariana Grande

https://youtu.be/EOApBOHeBHg

My Favorite Things- Julie Andrews

https://youtu.be/33o32C0ogVM

Pretty Boy Swag- Soulja Boy

https://youtu.be/GXQ2T_FR8Nk

Sampling has been a part of music making for a long time. But, as of late, people are starting to crack down on their creative property and copyrighting their music. There is often a moral dilemma behind sampling, and whether it is acceptable as a whole.

I think sampling is morally acceptable overall, but more so if it is a smaller artist sampling a bigger one but not the other way around. Many people often use smaller artists’ work to make their music edgier in some capacity, but this often ends up further steamrolling smaller artists who are trying to break out into music. Many famous people also sample other quite famous people, such as Kanye West and Jay Z sampling Otis Redding on their song “Otis.” This, in my opinion, it more acceptable than if they sampled a small artist off of, say, spotify or soundcloud. 

Sampling is something that I understand why people want to keep their integrity and their musical property as well. This is also fully valid. The idea of putting in hard work for someone else to then succeed or profit somewhat off your work can be infuriating, but there is an understanding of sampling and using other people’s ideas through music always. John Williams is known for using aspects of other people’s music in his, Cyrille Rose adapted countless pieces for other instruments. 

HEY SO INSTEAD OF DOING A THING, I REDID A THING!

My most recent song assignment was titled “Multiple Intelligences” referring to the 2 distinct sections of the song. Well for this, I wanted to mix them up and turn that thought on its head. I kept the consistent bass throughout, but the Tokyo guitar riff that was only present in the “bridge” or second section of my first song becomes the main focus lead riff in this one.

I kept the beat the same throughout, and added the maracas in this one’s “bridge” as well, but did not put them in the beginning because I wanted my book pages to speak for themselves more.

For the opening, instead of combining @julianaduenas found sound that I utilized with my own, I just cropped my favorite portion of hers as the first measure opener. This was to give it a focus so that when it returned throughout the song, it was not as random or discombobulated. 

I brought the orchestral riff back in during different parts of each section, while highlighting part of Juliana’s song and the beginning of that in a small break that introduced the orchestral bit. 

For my bridge, I kept the found sounds out completely and just focused on the loops and adjusting them. I brought the windmill bass back to give the second section its clarity, then broke up the orchestral part into chunks and spread it over 4 measures to build tension before the orchestral part made its way into the “bridge” or second section. This in contrast with the maracas made for a sound and a vibe that was not present in the original Multiple Intelligences.

Song: Bad Girls Club- Falling in Reverse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzLZN1K-PUE

Chronologically

1. Sample of women laughing and talking

2. Synthesizer for intro and percussion

3. Ronnie Radke’s Vocals

4. Other voices for harmony

5. Different Synthesizer pattern

6. Electric Guitar 

7. Human drums

8. Synth bass line

9. Electric guitar

10. Electric bass 

These sounds repeat in patterns throughout the song to create the verses and the chorus.

11. Backtrack of Ronnie laughing at 1:44

12. Ronnie speaking before the bridge at 2:32

13. Sample of women chanting in unison at 2:43 that then repeats again at 2:55

14. Ronnie joining the chant at 2:49 that then repeats at 3:00

15. Sample of a woman saying Ronnie’s named and laughing with other women

Bad Girls Club- Falling in Reverse

Fashionably Late (2013)

Real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulsgz6zi9J0

The real song and video I selected was a live performance of In The End by Black Veil Brides at 2015 Warped Tour. The video has a realness in the vocals because they are unfiltered or edited, you can hear every growl and mistake. There is also an audience that is clapping and singing along which is affecting the sound. At 1:37, if you listen closely, you can hear a microphone feed back a little bit, which is not a quality heard in studio recordings. There is also the visual of watching the band perform and seeing the crowd work along with the playing of instruments and singing as well. You can also hear the volume adjustments that happen during a live performance and everything does not sound flawlessly balanced all the time. Things such as the guitar solo at 2:26 being slightly muffled by everything else gives it a human experience and a realness that studio recordings do not contain.

Hyperreal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8v1iWVTIM

The hyperreal song and video I have selected is a music video for Wounded Healer by Watsky. This song has nothing but acoustic guitar, vocals, and harmonica briefly. However, each aspect has no mistakes and sounds too clear to be real. It is still acoustic and real in the sentiment of the song, but it has a balance that is just too perfect to be live or unedited. For example, the harmonica solo is clear and heard over the guitar, but the visual acting does not line up perfectly, indicating that it is a studio recording over a music video. 

Surreal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl2p4G3CUrI

HEY GUESS WHAT? I DID YET ANOTHER THING!

This song is called “Multiple Intelligences.” I was inspired by the difference in the found sounds used vs the music I created around it, as well as the sonic difference between the main theme and the break. 

I used my own sound of a book’s pages flipping, as well as @julianaduenas sound, which was her walking around Washington Square Park. I heard the flipping of the pages and instantly thought of maracas in the intro. I then wanted to make it more hardcore in nature by adding in a vibrant bass and drum kit, and increasing the tempo to 150. 

I then wanted to add something regal into it, hence the classical instrument sounds that come in at bar 41. This was a good way to segue into the break that consisted of the same maracas from the intro, a different bass line, and lead electric guitar instead of orchestral string sounds. This felt like a proper transition. The guitar made for a nice contrast at bar 84 when the transition back to the original theme occurs. 

I DID ANOTHER THING!

The second song assignment for my music tech class was to make a song ONLY using MIDI files. I immediately knew I wanted to mess with a famous classical piece, and which piece came quite easily.

To begin it, I used a progression of vi, IV, I V, chords in a pop rhythm only using my computer’s keyboard and the software sounds allotted by Garageband. I did these in A major, and shortly after found a rendition of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 in F# minor. At that moment it clicked for me right away:  I was going to use the relative major and minor keys throughout and tease the idea of Hungarian Dance 5 before officially introducing it to the music. 

I then made a bass line that tends to go with pop chord progressions, but shortly began toying with the bass lines from the original piece’s MIDI file. I made it shorter and more consonant in the moment, and used it as kind of an ostinato through the beginning of the song. After doing this for about a minute, I used the chords and bassline under the iconic opening melody of Hungarian Dance 5, but on a software electric piano before introducing the actual MIDI to the mix. There is a dissonance with the F# and F natural in one spot, but that crunchiness is ear-catching an most people would be mildly alarmed, which is what I was going for.

I then let the MIDI play a bit to give a taste of what it actually sounds like, then put the drum beat back in underneath it to tie it together and make it more contemporary. For the last minute of the song I just traded off my MIDI files with the piece’s MIDI files. 

For my most recent assignment, our class had to make small beats using the NYU online server, The Groove Pizza. 

Clare’s Loop Song was extremely fun. It was good to listen to while doing work and chores, and was uplifting. The intro is 4 bars of percussion, followed by 4 bars of bass, followed by 4 of auxiliary percussion, into guitar lines. The structure then stays pretty consistent of everything together throughout the remainder of the song. It has a few changes throughout regarding percussion presence, but it is predominantly at the end when the guitar line and auxiliary percussion begin to drop out that there is a noticeable change. 

There was a good variety of loops throughout the song that she managed to blend together nicely and that created a very west coast summer feel to it. 

I think this song was really good and gave off a good sense of her throughout. It sounded very much like something she wrote. If there was something I would look out for, there was a guitar loop that came in at 0:43 that was not in the same key as the rest of the song and, while it had a unique dimension, it sounded somewhat incorrect. 

SO I DID A THING!

The first song that was due for my music technology practicum class was supposed to be made solely out of loops on garageband/soundtrap. I use garageband so those were the loops I had access to.

I had originally made a song resembling a more EDM/indie style that I had completed using about 8 loops from garageband. Unfortunately, my laptop crashed and I lost that one.

So this one. This is the one I ended up making.

I was up at about 1:30am scrolling through loops because I had a new laptop and certain loops that refused to load finally were. I heard “edgy rock bass 11″ (the predominant bass line) and was immediately inspired. I then knew I wanted to make a rock type song, and had been listening to a lot of Avenged Sevenfold recently, so that was my inspiration.

I then found multiple guitar loops I thought would sound good and be useful to make the song flow and have a structure, and found a drum beat I liked. I started piecing my intro together before even coming up with a groove or chorus because I liked the way that sounded. The background guitar throughout the verses is “modern rock guitar 7.”

I then started using different lead guitars to make the verses and chorus. My verses are “rough and ready lead guitar” and “brixton lights lead guitar.” I knew I wanted them to be showcased throughout, and that is what I did.

For my chorus, I found a different drum beat to change it up a bit, so instead of essential drum beat 1 throughout, I used essential drum beat 2, which is similar but different enough. I then used the same bass line, but with “modern rock guitar 9″ and “disco trance lead guitar” for a bit of contrast to make it known that was a different section of the song.  These were repeated throughout.

For the breakdown/bridge in the middle, I wanted it to resemble a metal band’s break down while still fitting in the feel of the song. I found a guitar loop called “dark and heavy riff” and felt it was perfect. Pairing that with “jam rock drumset 3,” “edgy rock bass 10,” and “hot pursuit guitar,” the breakdown started to kind of form itself. 

I then brought the intro back in briefly to reintroduce it to the listener, and continued with the third verse. 

I brought the chorus in once as it was, then the second time added in “modern rock guitar 7″ to tie everything together. I then used the same 3 intro loops to create my outro, keeping it similar but slightly different.

A Little Piece of Heaven- Avenged Sevenfold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onCZOgWlr1U

I selected this song because of its meaning, duration, and how at times is dances around a pop song structure. It has all the components but the time signature and duration of the song create tension in having a basic song structure. The song itself is about a man who is paranoid his girlfriend is going to leave him, so he kills her as a precaution and rapes her corpse occasionally.

The first 26 seconds are an introduction, and a variation of that introduction that adds in heavy percussion and guitar. 

At 28 seconds, the verse starts, and continues on for about 16 bars, followed by another 16 bar pre-chorus consisting of a more violent vocal track to indicate a change as well as a chorus entering in the middle.  

The Chorus starts in a pickup from the pre-chorus, and continues for about 32 bars. There is a clear musical change in style, volume, and instrumentation.

The verse, pre-chorus, and chorus happen again after in the same lengths. 

This is followed by a long instrumental break that mixes metal and classical sounds together and the bridge, which introduces the woman’s voice that the song is referring to. This then goes into another instrumental break, then a recapitulation of the intro with vocals added.

Black Veil Brides- The Outsider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRIj2IJwQbI

I want to start by saying I like Black Veil Brides as a group. I find them to be extremely talented, but remaining true to their sound. This song, off their most recent album, Vale, is exceptionally good because of the dynamic guitar riffs and runs throughout. The vocals by Andy Black are as good as always, since I’ve always considered his voice to be velvety and rich. The lyrics being sung are all deep and meaningful, as well as compliment the musical quality of the song itself. Black Veil Brides has always been a band that impressed me with their abilities and musical endeavors, and this song is no exception.

Thank U, Next- Ariana Grande

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OeR5XBEahU