Productions

I was able to experiment with different audio effects to enhance the quality of the mix, the separation of instruments, and the tone quality of the instruments that were recorded. It was easy to "fix" this mix because it was well recorded and well thought-through, so I mainly focused on bringing out instruments properly.

I had used compression and eq earlier in the year on a very superficial level so it was good to really experiment to see how things would sound if different things are changed, and to see how eq an compression are applied differently to different instruments.

This project was very far removed from any music I have created and most music that I have listened to. I chose drum beats sampled from existing songs that seemed to complement each other, and filtered each so they would sound separate. I did my best to write bass lines but because of the music I typically listen to and what music I have written or analyzed they were not very exciting or interesting. 

I learned a lot this project because everything was completely new. While I learned about sampling and sfx addition, I also continued to learn about the instrument and tools at my disposal and how to use them effectively. Being exposed to new music and new styles is always a learning experience as well.

In order to create music that matched the mood of the video it was first necessary to take note of different elements of each each artwork and how they would match up to musical ideas. This is almost entirely left to the interpretation of the listener but I made sure to be specific and translate the artistic style and specific elements of each work into musical mood and specific elements of the mix. With the first, there was a slow build in the artwork and so I slowly layered instruments and textures into the mix to replicate this effect. There was a dramatic climax and though the colors in the painting were bright I felt that the relationship and the darkness of the background fit a minor mood better. In addition, I feel that minor music can yield more majestic climaxes and I felt that the climax of the art warranted a much more steady and magisterial finish. The second video was much more chaotic, so I decided to use chord sequences with frequent suspensions and color tones. The sequences were sequenced as well, moving up by a half step, till a return to the home key where the sequence descends much longer till a dominant 7 chord is reached. As the sequence moves up by half step I chose sounds that felt almost delirious and at the climax, the melody comes in without any warning. It is bright and Ionian but the background has the same delirium and chaos that characterized the beginning. I chose a chord sequence that felt triumphant and dignified for the last piece, and included a rhythmic strings section that fit the forward-pushing nature of the painting. I did not feel it warranted anything as dramatic as the previous two and that a much more traditional chord loop was best.
As always I improved my skills with Ableton in many different ways with this project. I still feel that it can be difficult to translate the ideas in my head into the software with ease, because it is still relatively new to me, but I practiced working with the different views, with midi effects and the master bus. I experimented with different sounds and learned more about what electronic music can do differently in comparison to music written for traditional instruments with traditional notation. I also learned more about how to use music to express certain very specific aspects of the artwork which is helpful even if there is not as specific of a prompt to write music for

This was my first time using Ableton live or becoming somewhat familiar with its features. My process mostly consisted of experimenting with different effects and components of the program, as a skill that requires practice. I am familiar with the basic principles of music and tried to emphasize dynamic and textural contrast with different combinations of clips. There were three sections, an A, a B and an A', and I tried to make the overall arc of the music fit some sort of narrative style. 

As I work to combine my understanding of classical music with my interest in all areas of music, it was interesting again to listen to clips made by others and see how they utilize different instruments. The main learning came from practicing basic push techniques and from observing how a professional uses sounds and creates a full panel of clips to make a complete song. It was interesting to experiment with character changes in the music and learn about the aural effects of different changes to the music

Most of my music education has dealt with classical music, and much of my deep musical analyses have been with classical scores. So, it is difficult to switch style/mindset and make music in this very different style. In this piece, I felt like this classical understanding of music came through in terms of how I dealt with the main theme and the flow of the music. This music was supposed to be a video game soundtrack so I wanted the first part to sound like an entry theme, which is why I used the french horn (I wanted to use the trumpet but the MIDI sound was awful). I changed the melody of the MIDI theme each time to add some subtle changes and make it not as repetitive. I used fragments of the theme to lead up to the main climax and restatement.

As with most of the assignments in this class, much of what I learned just came from experimenting with the sound effects and combinations of sounds that I am very unfamiliar with. Playing around with effects and presets also was helpful to start to understand how you can change the sound of an instrument or track electronically. I feel as if I have less control over the music when I compose this way as opposed to writing on a traditional staff. In this way, I also continued learning about how to think about music and compose in a different style as well as learn how to best use the tools that I have

I had to start and stop a lot of times on this project because of whatever was happening with saving the project. So in my final draft I don't think I was as creative as I could have been. Initially I had composed a piano solo using mainly the minor pentatonic and blues scale, as well as the chordal harmony that I inferred from the bass. I am used to seeing a score that has each and every part and so it is different for me to solo over something that I don't exactly know is comprised of or don't know the exact notes/harmonies/rhythms. In my final draft I followed the process that Mr. McCready had laid out: mix left to right with pan, mix up to down with effects, and then mic front to back with volume. As I stated before, I wasn't as creative as I could have been; I mainly just experimented with different effects and listened to how they changed the sound of the music, and then decided what I liked best.

This project was my first introduction to a lot of different effects. Learning how to compose in a program like bandlab is relatively new to me and my classical experience, so I feel like I am continuing to learn how to use the program. This is very different because most of the music has already been composed and a lot of the work comes from effects and the production of the recording, whereas I am more used to composing the music and leaving the sound to the musicians. More specifically, I feel like I learned improvisation by improvising something that wasn;t explicitly written out, and I feel like I am starting to learn how to focus on very specific nuances of the actual sound quality.