When choosing instruments and sounds for the different pieces of my song, I tried to have different sounding instruments, but also several kinds of each type so they could build off of and support each other more. My drone was a pulsing rhythm, and I only had one drone to help with the uniformity that it brings to the piece. The rhythm for my piece was two different drum loops, and they build off of each other to the rhythm is more full. This is enhanced further when I add a third drum loop later in the song. For my harmony, I had two different parts, a part with piano chords, and one that sounded like a lead or melody, but also functioned as a part of the harmony other than the drone. Both of these tracks had a duplicate that plays at the same time sometimes, but an octave lower or higher to help add depth. For my melody, I had the synth-y track playing sometimes, but the main parts of the melody were the higher pitched instruments I picked out to play something I made over the rest and stand out. There were two of these tracks, and near the end of my son, I had both of them playing at once so the song almost had two melodies at the same time, except one of them was slightly lower, and ended up becoming more of a harmony than the other.
When creating the structure of my song, I knew I wanted to start off the song with a hint of the melody accompanied by a beat and the drone. Then, I wanted the song to develop a bit without the main melody, where near the middle it climaxes with all instruments and melodies at once. Next, I would have everything fade out slowly, one by one, until I had just a melody left at the very end. I did this with my song, but I also had extra parts added in. Right before the climax of my song, I have a part without all of the drum loops, which makes it seem more like a bridge to where the song really picks up. Once the climax starts, I began with just my main melody, but added the second one later on, as well as a third drum beat to help strengthen the base a little more so the song would have more feeling and depth. After everything plays a bit, the main melody got a little bit more of a more complex rhythm to it, and afterward, I brought the instruments out until just a few remained. The very end ended with just the melody, which helped finalize it in the listeners' memory.
New things I learned in this project are how to use a drone, how to use modes, and how the different parts of the song work together. Using a drone was interesting because this was the first time I created a song that had a track that was only one note. I thought it would be boring and not help the song, but it actually helped strengthen it. I felt like this was very apparent at the very end and beginning of the son where there are fewer instruments to drown it out. It seems to function similar to how a drum beat does by adding that base, but in this case, it also added a layer of harmony. For modes, I don't really remember which mode I used (probably Mixolydian) but I was fun learning how all of the different scales sound. What was kinda difficult was learning how also to fit this with the clips I got from the packs, since they weren't necessarily in the right mode. I'm not even sure if the melody I created is even in the mode I chose, or if I accidentally chose notes from a different one that was also part of the one I intended to use. Either way, it sounds nice with the song, so I don't really mind. The last thing I learned was how the different parts of a piece of music really work together and lean on each other to sound the best. Just like how a song sounds bland without a melody, it sounds too flat without a rhythm or harmony since those add depth. In fact, I realized that if you have several of each type, the song can get even better!
When creating the structure of my song, I knew I wanted to start off the song with a hint of the melody accompanied by a beat and the drone. Then, I wanted the song to develop a bit without the main melody, where near the middle it climaxes with all instruments and melodies at once. Next, I would have everything fade out slowly, one by one, until I had just a melody left at the very end. I did this with my song, but I also had extra parts added in. Right before the climax of my song, I have a part without all of the drum loops, which makes it seem more like a bridge to where the song really picks up. Once the climax starts, I began with just my main melody, but added the second one later on, as well as a third drum beat to help strengthen the base a little more so the song would have more feeling and depth. After everything plays a bit, the main melody got a little bit more of a more complex rhythm to it, and afterward, I brought the instruments out until just a few remained. The very end ended with just the melody, which helped finalize it in the listeners' memory.
New things I learned in this project are how to use a drone, how to use modes, and how the different parts of the song work together. Using a drone was interesting because this was the first time I created a song that had a track that was only one note. I thought it would be boring and not help the song, but it actually helped strengthen it. I felt like this was very apparent at the very end and beginning of the son where there are fewer instruments to drown it out. It seems to function similar to how a drum beat does by adding that base, but in this case, it also added a layer of harmony. For modes, I don't really remember which mode I used (probably Mixolydian) but I was fun learning how all of the different scales sound. What was kinda difficult was learning how also to fit this with the clips I got from the packs, since they weren't necessarily in the right mode. I'm not even sure if the melody I created is even in the mode I chose, or if I accidentally chose notes from a different one that was also part of the one I intended to use. Either way, it sounds nice with the song, so I don't really mind. The last thing I learned was how the different parts of a piece of music really work together and lean on each other to sound the best. Just like how a song sounds bland without a melody, it sounds too flat without a rhythm or harmony since those add depth. In fact, I realized that if you have several of each type, the song can get even better!
The process I followed to make my composition was first to choose a mode to do my song in. I played around with different modes and ended up composing a couple tunes in A# mixolydian despite being in D locrian I believe. After I had some tunes, I started to manipulate them into more basic and complex versions of themselves so that I would have more variety. I am only really proud of how I put my drone in my chord sequence that plays the entire song, since there is always that one note playing and the chords play the entire song. The instruments I choose were generally jst ones I thought sounded since for how high or low the notes were, and I also used a shaker from the world instruments samples we got. As I made the song, I really just played with it to make something that sounded since and ended smoothly. Once I had the song mostly done, I panned and EQed it, as well as automating the volume a little, but while I did I still was fixing the song as a whole and tweaking it.
What I learned was all of the different types of modes that songs can be in and how to use them and combine them with different instruments and sounds to make cooler songs. What I really enjoyed was being able to play around in the different modes, and realize that different modes of different notes actually can have the exact same notes from a different starting point as a separate mode and note. Using modes to make songs is very fun cause you can get some funky melodies.
What I learned was all of the different types of modes that songs can be in and how to use them and combine them with different instruments and sounds to make cooler songs. What I really enjoyed was being able to play around in the different modes, and realize that different modes of different notes actually can have the exact same notes from a different starting point as a separate mode and note. Using modes to make songs is very fun cause you can get some funky melodies.
When selecting and creating additional material for my remix, I first chose different drum beats that could go along with the different sections of the song. I also took the second measure from the first two measures of the song, and I used that as an additional drum beat as well. Once I had all of the different drum beats for each section, I recorded them and the song using the push to create the first version of my song. After that, I recorded and created some original stuff that sounded like a bassline almost that could accent the song.
For mixing, since the original song audio I had split into two tracks, I decided to pan one to the right and one to the left, so halfway through the song, everything ends up switching sides. I also had some volume adjustments to make sure nothing got drowned out. For EQ, I high passed and low passed the original audio, and did the opposite alost for the drumbeats I added. For reverb, I just played around with them until I found one that sounded nice, and then I increased the volume a bit since it was hard to hear the difference.
What I learned most from this project was how to warp and remix a song to get it to be able to be remixed. The whole warping process I new to me, but it was very fun to use a song like that and try to give it my own touch. I also figured out how to make tunes that go along with other audio, since for my original content I created, I had to play around to find what I think were the notes of the scale the song was in, or at least something that sounds good enough.
For mixing, since the original song audio I had split into two tracks, I decided to pan one to the right and one to the left, so halfway through the song, everything ends up switching sides. I also had some volume adjustments to make sure nothing got drowned out. For EQ, I high passed and low passed the original audio, and did the opposite alost for the drumbeats I added. For reverb, I just played around with them until I found one that sounded nice, and then I increased the volume a bit since it was hard to hear the difference.
What I learned most from this project was how to warp and remix a song to get it to be able to be remixed. The whole warping process I new to me, but it was very fun to use a song like that and try to give it my own touch. I also figured out how to make tunes that go along with other audio, since for my original content I created, I had to play around to find what I think were the notes of the scale the song was in, or at least something that sounds good enough.
For the lyrics, we discussed what we thought the color represented or what feelings it invoked, and we decided on something like new beginnings or spring, which was based on the fact that it is similar to the color of pre-dawn. This thought inspired the lyrics to be about that moment before dawn, and the spring aspect off of the fact that some of the names for this color are also flower names and that spring is also sort of a new beginning. As for the music itself, it was supposed to be pretty lighthearted and something that is uplifting as if new opportunities or something is coming. This lead to a happy but calm piece of music that is supposed to inspire feelings of anticipation but also assurance that something good is happening or coming. When I was making my parts of the music, I pretty much just took a certain range of notes and played whatever I wanted while listening to the chord track already made while recording. This was polished and then certain parts were repeated or altered to create the other tracks I made.
So, what I did was that I created the lyrics for the song, composed the parts of the song that are not the two chord tracks, and organized most of the song. My partner made the decision of the type of music, what drum clips to use, composed the two chord tracks, recorded the lyrics, made the ending (in this version at least), and did the finishing touches that made some parts sound a little better. We kind of jointly picked the color and both of us mastered different parts. We actually had two versions at one time, one that each of us made, and then decided which of them we wanted to keep and build off of.
What I enjoyed the most about this project was working with someone who had a different type of skills than me when it comes to music, but still is really good at making it. This meant that my weaknesses when it comes to songs, like chords and organization, are covered, allowing me to focus on the parts I'm good at. The lead to a song that, in my opinion, is absolutely amazing and probably one of the best songs I've ever created. The biggest challenges, however, was trying to make a decision when my partner and I disagreed on stuff. I actually have my own version of the song with a completely different ending I made and was the original one that I prefer and is the one that I listen to and consider as my own.
So, what I did was that I created the lyrics for the song, composed the parts of the song that are not the two chord tracks, and organized most of the song. My partner made the decision of the type of music, what drum clips to use, composed the two chord tracks, recorded the lyrics, made the ending (in this version at least), and did the finishing touches that made some parts sound a little better. We kind of jointly picked the color and both of us mastered different parts. We actually had two versions at one time, one that each of us made, and then decided which of them we wanted to keep and build off of.
What I enjoyed the most about this project was working with someone who had a different type of skills than me when it comes to music, but still is really good at making it. This meant that my weaknesses when it comes to songs, like chords and organization, are covered, allowing me to focus on the parts I'm good at. The lead to a song that, in my opinion, is absolutely amazing and probably one of the best songs I've ever created. The biggest challenges, however, was trying to make a decision when my partner and I disagreed on stuff. I actually have my own version of the song with a completely different ending I made and was the original one that I prefer and is the one that I listen to and consider as my own.
First I picked some music loops that I thought sounded nice just alone, and then played them at the same time as each other in different combinations after adjusting them to be in the same key, and seeing which ones I liked best when paying at the same time as each other. After that, I picked out several different drum and percussion loops that I thought went with what I already had, and ended up cutting it down from about three or four to two of them in the end, with one that had a lot of shakers that I liked, and another one that sounded almost heavier and had some cool other sounds mixed in. Eventually I wondered if I needed a bass loop, but some of my music loops from before actually included a bass loop almost, so I just stuck with that one. Additionally, I already had several loops at that point and didn't want to add any more for fear of having too many.
To create the climax I first organized my song by cutting it up into sections and adding holes until I had a product I was mostly fine with. Then, I found the place where I wanted my climax to be, and started to shorten the loops in the measure in front of it to create a lack of sound right before the climax to serve as a drop, but I didn't like when all of them stopped at the same time, and there was one loop that just sounded wrong when it was gone, and I wasn't very happy with how it sounded when nothing was playing at all for a beat, so I ended up making my drop have the loops gradually drop off a few beats before in a scattered way so that not all of them were stopping at the same time, and I had this one loop playing the whole time, which made the drop sound less awkward due to the complete lack of noise even if I did have reverb. I then tried out the different risers until I found one that I liked.
First, I automated right where the climax starts since some of the loops that were coming in sounded too abrupt and I wanted them to be slightly more gentle when coming in, so I did the slightest volume drop and then rise in the instant that it started so that when I first came in at the climax it was slightly quieter to reduce that abruptness, but it increased in volume back to the original almost immediately which left the result also unnoticeable. Next, I added automation to the volume of the riser since it was much too loud and felt like it needed a way to add to the suspense, so I stated it off quieter and slowly raised the volume until the riser was at the ned when it was much louder and more noticeable. After that, I automated a few of the other tracks to make their appearance and disappearance less noticeable. Lastly, I added the riser again at the end of the song since I felt like it needed another way to end then just stopping since the loops weren’t really made to end a song, so I added the riser at the very end, chopped off part of the beginning of it, and automated the volume to be very low and not very noticeable but still there, until on the very last beat of the song I raised the volume up a lot so that the very last thing you hear in the song is the last beat of the riser that adds a almost finishing touch to it as it echoes slightly due to the reverb. I'm pretty proud of it since the ending of my song was bothering me since it just never sounded right, but then I found this really cool way to fix the problem and add a unique part to my song.
I learned how to create a song that had a clear build to it and didn't overwhelm with too many loops at once until the climax. I also learned how to make drops in the music which was actually pretty fun, as well as learned how to do a curve with the automation to make the volume transitions sound a lot smoother. Lastly, I learned how to effectively decide which loops go well together regardless of key and how to combine them all together to create an awesome song.
To create the climax I first organized my song by cutting it up into sections and adding holes until I had a product I was mostly fine with. Then, I found the place where I wanted my climax to be, and started to shorten the loops in the measure in front of it to create a lack of sound right before the climax to serve as a drop, but I didn't like when all of them stopped at the same time, and there was one loop that just sounded wrong when it was gone, and I wasn't very happy with how it sounded when nothing was playing at all for a beat, so I ended up making my drop have the loops gradually drop off a few beats before in a scattered way so that not all of them were stopping at the same time, and I had this one loop playing the whole time, which made the drop sound less awkward due to the complete lack of noise even if I did have reverb. I then tried out the different risers until I found one that I liked.
First, I automated right where the climax starts since some of the loops that were coming in sounded too abrupt and I wanted them to be slightly more gentle when coming in, so I did the slightest volume drop and then rise in the instant that it started so that when I first came in at the climax it was slightly quieter to reduce that abruptness, but it increased in volume back to the original almost immediately which left the result also unnoticeable. Next, I added automation to the volume of the riser since it was much too loud and felt like it needed a way to add to the suspense, so I stated it off quieter and slowly raised the volume until the riser was at the ned when it was much louder and more noticeable. After that, I automated a few of the other tracks to make their appearance and disappearance less noticeable. Lastly, I added the riser again at the end of the song since I felt like it needed another way to end then just stopping since the loops weren’t really made to end a song, so I added the riser at the very end, chopped off part of the beginning of it, and automated the volume to be very low and not very noticeable but still there, until on the very last beat of the song I raised the volume up a lot so that the very last thing you hear in the song is the last beat of the riser that adds a almost finishing touch to it as it echoes slightly due to the reverb. I'm pretty proud of it since the ending of my song was bothering me since it just never sounded right, but then I found this really cool way to fix the problem and add a unique part to my song.
I learned how to create a song that had a clear build to it and didn't overwhelm with too many loops at once until the climax. I also learned how to make drops in the music which was actually pretty fun, as well as learned how to do a curve with the automation to make the volume transitions sound a lot smoother. Lastly, I learned how to effectively decide which loops go well together regardless of key and how to combine them all together to create an awesome song.
Creating this project was interesting because it was made on a different software than the one I usually use. My process was largely the same, however, even if I did have more of an exploratory phase in the beginning to get used to the differences. I started out with finding an instrument I liked, and then making a melody to go along with it that I could base my song off of. While I liked the clarinet and guitar combo that I started out with, I ended up scrapping it once I got further into my process since it didn’t fit. My next step was to use some of the loops I was provided with to build up my song more, but as I added them I realized that the original part that I had didn’t fit so I made more parts of my own to fit the new theme. After repeating this process a couple of times, I ended up with a set of loops and my own content that mixed well together. It was mostly just a guitar in the background that was a loop while the rest was different melodies I made up and tried to fit together. Once I had all of the different melodies, I started changing the instruments since I had all of the parts that I made in the same instrument. Eventually I ended up with a blend that I liked and mixed the result by adding panning and changing the volumes.
What I learned from this project was how to use a different software from the usual one and still create a product I am satisfied with. It was a little difficult in the beginning to find all of the functions I needed since I wasn’t used to the format, but after exploring for a while I was able to figure it out. Once I knew how it worked, I was able to complete the song as usual even if it was on a different software, and was able to enjoy the little differences such as the different instruments available and selection of loops.
What I learned from this project was how to use a different software from the usual one and still create a product I am satisfied with. It was a little difficult in the beginning to find all of the functions I needed since I wasn’t used to the format, but after exploring for a while I was able to figure it out. Once I knew how it worked, I was able to complete the song as usual even if it was on a different software, and was able to enjoy the little differences such as the different instruments available and selection of loops.
The goal of this project was to design a videogame and then make a song to go along with it, but it was much more complicated than it seemed. Firstly, I ended up making the song first, and then trying to fit a game to it, and the presentation around the game involved making a video. My process started with trying out to create a song I liked, since I figured I could just fit a game to it later. I started out with some melodies, added some more, and then chords, and then slowly uncomplicate the melody as it progressed and added an alternate one, and then used five different drum kits to create the evolving drum sounds over the course of the song. The end result was something I was very satisfied with, but it was kind of difficult to fit a game to. Until I had the thought that the song sounded similar to the music that pays when your call is on hold for a service of some sort, and then my game was born from there. I slowly expanded upon my game, making enough slides to fit the length of the song, and recorded the timings for the automatic slide changes with the music playing in powerpoint. Once I had my presentation, I also had to make it into a movie, which I did by converting it and then uploading it into a video making software where I then created the video of the slideshow which is here on the website.
I learned a lot of new things with this project because of the extra component of the presentation to go along with the song. I learned how to fit a theme to a song, although I suppose I was supposed to learn how to fit a song to a theme, and how to turn that theme into a more detailed creation that was the powerpoint of my videogame. I also learned how to use powerpoint to play music automatically and have the slides go automatically as well. Afterwards, I was also able to learn how to convert the slideshow into a video format, and then turn that into an actual video with the music playing still.
I learned a lot of new things with this project because of the extra component of the presentation to go along with the song. I learned how to fit a theme to a song, although I suppose I was supposed to learn how to fit a song to a theme, and how to turn that theme into a more detailed creation that was the powerpoint of my videogame. I also learned how to use powerpoint to play music automatically and have the slides go automatically as well. Afterwards, I was also able to learn how to convert the slideshow into a video format, and then turn that into an actual video with the music playing still.
And for a extra bit, here is a remix of a song I made last year that I remade this year in my free time. It is a more relaxed version that is slower and more reminiscent of a lullaby with some extra parts added in.
