Music Creation - How the SoundCloud tunes were created

12/02/2013 14:15

 

Having for many years played other artists records and remixed them, I had a desire to create musical pieces of my own, that were memorable or unique. So I looked at what the experts say you should do and set about composing a number of tunes which I then placed on SoundCloud.  Of course if you want to create something unique, you have to ignore - to some extent - what other people say you should do, nevertheless it is wise to start with a basic understanding of the Elements of music and composition, the techniques for composing and the tricks of the trade for gaining and holding the listeners interest.

 

The fundamentals of music and song composition contain various of the following:

 

Elements of music and composition

 

Musical ideas

 

·      Pitch sets

·      Harmonic systems

·      Motifs (rhythmic and melodic)

·      Chord progressions and patterns

·      Tone rows

·      Riffs

·      Hooks and loops

·      Sound palettes (Samples, synth sounds)

·      Transposition

·      Transformations (inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion)

·      Cut and paste techniques

·      Additive and subtractive processes

·      Diminution and augmentation (rhythmic and pitch)

·      Displacement

 

Manipulation of layers - Process techniques - Textures

 

·      Phasing

·      Canon

·      Instrumentation

·      Polyphonic/homophonic

·      Contrapuntal textures

·      Melody and accompaniment

·      Contrasts and juxtapositions

·      Pace and momentum

 

Forms and structures

 

·      Formal block structures - binary, ternary, rondo, arch

·      Developmental forms - theme and variations, ground bass, sonata form;

·      Song structures - 12 bar blues, verse-chorus constructions, riff based songs

·      Effective use of repetition and self-reference

·      Circular/repetitive structures - such as in some minimalism or dance music

·      Not forgetting Novelty and interest

 

The eight pieces I have on SoundCloud - in the order I created them are:

 

1.   Desolation         

2.   I Have Been Faithful

3.   Uneasy Does It

4.   No Borders

5.   Voices

6.   If It's Fixed Break It!

7.   Go'an Pentatonic

8.   Drum & B Minor
 

All these pieces were created using Apple computers. 

 

Desolation         

 

This was my first composition using the Apple Library and Loops and Ultrabeats for the drums.  It was a simple approach, laying down a drum beat first and editing, cutting, moving beats, quantizing then putting a bass line before adding loops, editing, repeating sections, changing velocity and note length. I  input chord progressions using a Midi keyboard and added more bass notes, also bringing in riffs and licks to add interest to the piece.  I then processed the tracks using reverb, compression and other effects. Finally, I used automation for volume and panning.

 

I Have Been Faithful

 

This was a live DJ Mix performance I gave, using Ableton Live and consisted of a number of vinyl tracks, mostly Dubstep and experimental post-Dubstep together with loops made from recording various records and cutting them up in Apple Logic Pro 9.  The mix was recorded from a live performance in 2011 at Cambridge College.

 

Uneasy Does It

 

This was mostly a remix - starting with three vinyl records that I recorded from a turntable to a CD recorder then transferred to the Apple Logic Pro 9.  The records were: Faith Healer by the British - Sensational Alex Harvey Band; a dubby rock number, Snowflakes Are Dancing consisting of Debussy tunes created on early samplers by the Japanese composer - Asao Tomita, and Faithless by Actress, a British new comer to the post-Dubstep scene.  Some drum loops were created using Ultrabeats and other loops added using Apple Logic pro 9.  The effects processing facilities of Apple were widely used.  The vision was for an unsettling but exciting piece of post-Dubstep experimentalism.

 

No Borders

This piece was created using a Midi keyboard to input various drum patterns into Ultrabeats and adding other tracks from the Apple Loops and Apple library. The vision was for a multi ethnic - somewhat film soundtrack piece of music that could accompany a journey across the Asian and African continents but with a rather ambient/trancy beat holding it together and bridging the varied content.

 

Voices

 

This was a variation on the previous track but bringing different voices together - African choirs - Asian chants and western choirs.  All the voices came from Apple Loops.  

 

If It's Fixed Break It!

 

This was composed entirely using synthesizers such as ES2, ESX24, Ultrabeats and Sculpture in Apple Logic Pro 9 and applying their additive and subtractive processes to model the sounds I desired. The notes were input using a Midi keyboard and extensive editing, Panning, Automation and effects processing used.  The piece was quantised to 1/16th.  Working from scratch, it was necessary to build chord progressions, harmony sets favouring the minor scale, repetitions and a sense of expectation - with the goal being withheld - some of the time, from the listener.  Other techniques used were transpositions and transformations, layering using polyrhythms and applying Diminution and augmentation techniques to the tracks. The beat change in the middle of the tune adds texture and surprise.  I am particularly interested in electronic music and post dubstep - experimental developments, so this was my own shot at something experimental.

 

Go'an Pentatonic

 

This was a construction of an Indian piece with all melodies created using the pentatonic scale and the traditional Tin Dar, Tin Tin Tee and Dho Dar Tabla patterns used in Ragas. The Tablas were created using the EXS24 synthesizer. I added ambient pentatonic melody tracks using EXS24, to glue the piece together and drive it along, then embellished and decorated the melody with additional layers using a Tamboura, Indian Pots and Temple sounds. These latter were created using  the Sculpture synth on Apple Logic Pro 9. The piece was inspired by and created during a trip to Goa in South-East India last November, where I had the opportunity to listen to and buy Indian traditional music and research the musical rules behind it.  I added the ambient sound to create a fusion of Eastern and Western music, a style of music I have always admired.  On reflection, the tabla which I used minimally could have been developed into a much more complex rhythm that is is often a feature of Asian music.

 

Drum & B Minor
 

This was the creation of a Drum and Bass piece using the minor scale and at 180 BPM which is within the typical range of D&B.  I looked for some inspiration to a friend D&B DJ, A-Sides, who constantly tours the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and occasionally pops back to the UK.  I looked at the use of Hooks, riffs and Drops and tempo changes together with some dirty sounds to make it sound dark and dangerous. The EXS24, Sculpture and ES2 synthesizers were used exclusively in creating this piece, with drum shots downloaded into the EXS24 then re-arranged and edited for velocity and timbre.  There was extensive use of panning, automation of velocities, effects processing and cutting and pasting. 

 

I researched the genres for all the pieces and came up with something representative of their styles although there is great scope for further development and of course improvement. With many pieces, the problem is letting go of them, like seeing your children off the first day of school - sometimes you just have to let them go.