Suite of Songs

Ali Sar / Divergent/ Wonderland

Week 1 - Euphoria.wav


Euphoria

Pad 1 / Serum:

This is an old pad sound that I created back in trimester 1 for my Single Production! I didn't realise - it was actually a coincidence. I was looking for an uplifting trancey pad that I could potentially adapt later to a techno / trance track. It was really interesting to go back and re-watch a tutorial from a year and a half ago now! It made me realise a few things -

  1. There is so much to serum I still don't know and haven't utilised such as warp mode

  2. There wasn't an in-depth explanation in this tutorial for me to truly understand what was happening back in the early days

  3. There are modulators within Serum that I'm used to using but not consciously thinking of how they are working because I'm so used to just following along with tutorials, so it's great to come back to something such as this and sit there and think about it exactly what is actually happening

Uplifting Trance Tutorial | Free Serum Pad Preset. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved June 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZgCm6DZFXQ&t=1s

Ambient Pads in Vital From Scratch. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImWJixBPZj0

Pad 2 / Vital

  • Adding samples to pads it 'tickles' the senses in a different way than the oscillators do

  • HOLY SH*T VITAL IS UNREAL WTF

  • Due to creating our own wave forms free hand, the random harmonics are going to make each one sound uniqe. I've decided also to use the 3 osciallators not just the two (at this stage anyway), so it's a bit hectic and not bang on the original, but close enough

  • I ended up making this my own, I'm glad I'm at the point with tutorials where I can use them as a recipe to give me the foundational idea and then change it up

Serum Tutorial - Soft PORTER ROBINSON Style Lead Synth. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVxrVX97DDM

Language Lead

Pretty simple tutorial, I may develop this sound in time to fit better with the track, but it's nice to have the harsher contrasting elements with all the soft powdery stuff

Porter Robinson Lead

So I wasn't able to use the preset from this tutorial as it wasn't appearing in my email, so I sorta did my own thing and ended up using two oscillators and it still sounds pretty cool.






Porter Robinson Sound Design | Language Synths | Serum Tutorial in Ableton Live |. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdN490rjJE&t=271s

DREAMERS.wav

Dreamers

Reference

See case studies: Glass Animals

Feedback


  1. CHORDS COULD BE CHOPPED AT AND USED SPORADICALLY

  2. COULD CREATE A MOTIF AND TAKE EXCERPTS AND INTRODUCE

  3. THE INTRO IN THE OTHER VERSION, REVERSEY THING UNDERLYING, SECTION A, SECTION REVERSED, GOING INTO PRETTY, AND THEN FINISHING MELANCHOLY REVERB TAIL OUT

  4. C SUITE PLUG IN IN SPECIAL PROCESSING, C SUITE CVOX, USUALLY THE FIRST PLUG IN IN THE TRAIN PROCESSING OFF VOLUME AT ZERO BOUNCE IT OUT AND BOUNCE IT BACK IN


What I have done:

  • Put the reversed guitar underneath the main guitar for the entirety (or most of) the track and it sounds wicked! It's really glued the whole track together

  • Added 8 bars of reversed guitar in the beginning which has also helped tie it all together, and cut out the ending. It feels a lot more cohesive

  • Introduced a couple of notes / chords that usually come in at the end at an earlier section in the track to help tie it together

What I have yet to do:

  • Used the C suite plug in on campus to eradicate background noise

  • Adjust the guitar chops up in the third section so they aren't clipping

  • Created a motif of the reversed guitar to introduce sooner, although I think since it's introduced in the well, intro and also sitting under the entire track, it works as is.

  • This wasn't in my feedback as I wasn't really up to there yet, but it needs some love in the world of mixing and more importantly, sample selection (808 bass for example). Thinking to select something from the Mad Zach pack.

  • Transitions

  • Rhythmic variation

  • An outro

Reflection

I did not leave much time or energy for this track and it definitely deserves it. I went pretty overboard with giving it time over the course of almost 2 weeks, going really hard and really struggling with it. It started off magical, then got more magical, then got stuck.
I couldn't decide which direction to take the track and it just wasn't flowing. I kept thinking I'd stumbled upon the magic moment and then I'd be unhappy with it shortly after. I was worried the track had too many sections and was a bit confusing and tiring to listen to but I just wasn't sure what to keep and lose, and in the end the feedback was my saving grace. It turned out to be a lot easier and less that I had to do than I thought and it really gave the track what it needed. I was pleasantly surprised with this feedback in the class as I had really been anticipating otherwise. It can be hard to know as we lose objectivity.

The best part about this track was the collaboration:

  • Bengee helped me come up with the initial chord progression

  • Ethan played beautiful guitar

  • I plan to let Lewie add some cool or trippy effect to give it a dreamy feel in a different way

Lydia

I'm so proud of this and myself! I've worked so so so hard and it's paying off! I also love that I allowed mya ctual Alice self to come along and bring the magic at the end, because up until that point I had very much tried to stick to what I thought that melodic techno had be, omotting the pretty melodies that came while playing on the midi as they didn't feel like they fit. So it was nice to allow some creative insipiration take hold right at the end, while putting in the hard work to fit the style and genre that I wanted to. The end result is that I managed to make it my own :) I think I have no trouble making things my own but they can wind up being unrelatable or not understandable in the way that there is so much going on and they are all over the place. When I can contain and idea, really ground it and give it focus and direction, but also not cut off the source of my own innate self, but rather allow me to use me and not be used by me (you get me?), that's where the magic can really happen.

Tale of Us v1 JL.wav

Contact Details

Name: Alice Magill

Skillsets: Composition, top line melodies, production, mixing, occasional mixing, killer ears

Email: ali.inwonderland.music@gmail.com.au