I have to start off by saying that this was far and away the most enjoyable project. With the past two projects, it has been tempting to make the songs longer and see it through to completion, and this project provided the opportunity to do so.
My inspiration from this project drew a lot from Trip-Hop, House, and Rock forms, and was heavily influenced by the band Ratatat.
Compared to my other projects, I composed this song much differently than the previous ones. I started out with a laid-back, Trip-Hop style beat, with a lot of syncopation on the snares and hi-hats. I added a classic-sounding electric piano chord progression in a minor, and to complete this part of the song added a thick bass line which utilized a high degree of passing tones to tie the chords together. After looping this progression three times, I shifted to a more four-to-the-floor drive drum beat, and changed up the chord progression, utilizing a clavichord type instrument. Over this I layered a string section, and added a violin lead.
At this point, I decided to start adding the guitar tracks. To record the guitar, for the sake of the objective of the class, I opted to record directly into the computer using an M-Audio Fast Track direct-in box. While I believe that a better sound could have been achieved using the standard miking technique, I wanted to have a chance to use the amplifier modeling software in Logic Pro. The first guitar track I added was the first riff heard over the first progression. I opted to use a phaser (among several other effects) to achieve both a fuller and somewhat other-worldly sound. After this, I added a quiet, reserved, descending guitar line that utilized the delay designer. On the next progression, I recorded a guitar track that uses the chords, and ran it through overdrive and filter effects. The overdrive gave it a thick, heavy sound, and the filter, with its rate set to run every bar, which gives it that rising, pumping type feel. Towards the end of this progression, I also added an additional guitar riff based on the progression, voiced in a higher register.
After 8 bars, everything but the guitar and and drums, which have switched a kick-only pattern, drops out. The guitar stays in the same register but switches to a progression based in C major. Soon after, a guitar lead and snare claps come in. Another lead follows soon afterward, and as the song builds, a final lead fades in. Suddenly, everything but a single lead and the claps drop out, providing a sense of resolution to the song.
Perhaps the most valuable part of this project was getting significantly more comfortable with mastering in Logic. I had a hard time grasping how to effectively use compression and similar inserts in previous projects, but I became much more adept this time. I used compression on most of the instrument tracks, and learned how to use the Multipressor in the master track. I found the Multipressor to be an extremely valuable tool, as it allowed me to adjust the levels of compression across the frequency bands that needed it most. Using the Multipressor allowed me to create a much more polished sound. After the Multipressor, I ran the master track through both EQ and finally a Limiter to make sure the signal didn't clip. I also learned to love Panning and automation. In the first part of the song, I panned the keyboard slightly to the left and the guitar slightly to the right, which gave the track a real feeling of space. I did the same things with the guitars and violins in the second part, and in the final part, I panned several of the leads wavily to the left and right to avoid cluttering the sound too much. Obviously, it sounds best through headphones (where the feeling of space is more noticeable) but overall, it also makes the track sound much finished and polished.
This was an extremely enjoyable class that I learned a TON of useful skills from that I will certainly continue to use in the future. I have to give a big thank you to Juraj and Matt, and without any further ado, Indigo Run:
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