Things of Home

My first piece, "Calvert County", highlights the peaceful nature elements of my hometown. I used sounds of water flowing, local animal sounds, and a fire crackling to do this. I used a more lo-fi beat at the beginning to show the more "beach-y" aspect of my hometown. The ocean sounds with seagulls also adds to this ambiance. I then took the song for a turn when I introduced a simple guitar and drums country sound. The sounds of horses and dogs are scattered throughout the song to show the more "country" side of my hometown. The one thing that never stops in the song is the sound of the water, as my hometown is always surrounded by water .To achieve these sounds I utilized Sound Trap's loop library where I was able to simply look up the name of the sounds I wanted. I then took these sounds and clipped them to fit the rhythms I needed. I made sure to put certain animal sounds where they would fit best, for example there are no horse sounds in the first half of my song as there are normally no farms near the beach/bay. I hope this song can convey the different types and sounds of nature in Calvert County, and paint a picture of the serenity of its natural surroundings. 

My song "Buster B-Birdy" reflects the playful nature of my parrot, Buster. I chose to use funk drums, bass, and guitar to create a both upbeat and snappy song, just like Buster. All of these were used from the Sound Trap loop library, except the short piano part that I recorded myself. I also used recordings of Buster throughout the piece saying things like "Buster Birdy", "Buster Brown", and his signature clucks. For creating this piece, I started with the making of the instrumental part. I used a funk drum beat, guitar riff, and bass line to start off my songI knew I wanted to use a funk sound since Buster's favorite song 'Funky Town' by  Lipps Inc. I enjoyed being able to use Buster's whistles as an instrument in my piece, as I know how much he loves music and signing. This piece fits into my theme of my home as my animals are very important to me. Both Buster and my dog, Lucy, are some of the most comforting things from home as they are always willing to love me, play with me, or even sing for me. 

This song "Middle School Vibes" is a mashup of all of my favorite songs from middle school, but also elementary as well. This project samples songs that I would listen to all the time when I was younger.  These pieces include, "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance, "Super Bass" by Nicki Minaj, and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. To mashup these songs I took the instrumental from "Welcome to the Black Parade" and used the vocals from "Super Bass" and "Wrecking Ball" throughout the song. I also added in some of Nicki Minaj's iconic sounds and lines into the intro of the song.  I enjoyed making this song because I didn't have any expectations for it. I was able to play around with the tempos and where I wanted the lyrics to fit into the track. These songs fit into my theme of home as they are some of my favorite songs that I grew up with. I listened to these songs when I was on the school bus, having a dance party with my mom, or hanging out with my childhood friends. This song might sound chaotic and crazy, but the song choices have sentimental value to me.