#royalsremix

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!