Track Review

For this blog post, I will be reviewing a track by Smith and Pledger called "Black".



The track begins with a straight-forward beat characterized by a bass drum, hi-hat, and snare. A four-to-the-floor bass drum pattern enters, and a bass line comes into the mix as well. A simple melody line then enters the fold and is repeated. A synthetic voice pad outlines a chord progression. A glissando then leads to almost all instruments dropping out, and a new but similar bass line emerges followed by a melody, snare roll and massive drop.

The drop is accentuated by percussion dropping out right before all instruments go back in, and a glissando becomes the focus of the listener. I thought this technique was very effective, and I hope to use it in my final project.

The second dropping out of instruments is followed by the introduction of percussion, and then a bass line, changing it up from before. The synthetic melodic line comes back in as well as the voice pads and another drop.

I am giving this track 5 out of 5 stars for the following reasons. First, all of the instrumental lines are compelling. This includes the beat, melody, bass line, and pads. These elements have a simple, yet very effective progressions, melodies or beats.

Second, the arrangement works very well. This is an eight minute track, and Smith and Pledger develop each theme in different ways, as described above. After the second drop, for example, they come back in with percussion instead of bass. A lot of this arrangement work is very subtle, yet it lends a lot of professionalism to the track, and engages the listener.

Third, the energy of the track is pumping. It starts off slow, crescendos, maintains energy, and slowly fades away. It is very "danceable", and the well constructed drops lend to the exhilarating quality of the track.

In my final project, which will be a trance track, I hope to replicate what makes this track work well, and incorporate it into my work.

Drum and Bass, Go

Here is the link for the fourth and final short assignment in Professor Juraj's electronic music course. I created this track in the drum and bass style with a fast tempo of 190bpm. I had fun with the ending. 



Happy Easter!

Project 4 ideas

Here is a link to some ideas that I created in Logic for Project 4. I am creating a drum and bass track, and I have come up with a neat bass line that I now have to develop melodic ideas around, and arrange and develop a two minute track.

Ideas

Final Project Proposal

For my final, four minute track, I would like to create something in the trance genre, my favorite type of electronic music. I was really inspired by the trance lecture Professor Juraj gave, and I appreciated the trance track "recipe" he has provided us in his lecture slides. 

Given certain parameters for creating a trance track, I realize that a lot of my work will focus on development and arrangement. The key to a good trance track lies in exposition, and not necessarily the amount of musical material you have. The Paul Van Dyk track that Professor Juraj played for us in class, "Namistai", illustrates this principle well.

I hope to play around with four programs for this final composition. Logic will be the main piece of software that I will use. Specifically for this software, I will need to familiarize my self with the ultrabeat drum tool in order to create the percussion required for my trance track. I also will need to compose musical ideas and riffs that will form the basis of my track.

I will probably use Reason to supplement Logic (pun INTENDED). Finally, I hope to use ReCycle and RadiaL to get some small sampling into my track. Right now, I'm looking for samples that I could use. Two cool things I am thinking of sampling are from the post-hardcore music genre: the intro to "The Downfall Of Us All" by A Day to Remember, and the middle section to "HTML Rulez D00d" by The Devil Wears Prada. However, I have to develop my musical ideas first before figuring out if and what samples I can incorporate into my track.

Assignment 3 Review

For this post, I will review the work of another classmate, Nicholas Simmons-Stern. Given that the assignment parameters called for a one minute track, and Nick submitted a three minute track, I will selectively describe things that stood out for me in his composition.

The track begins with an ambient mood as synthesizers and pads create an aural landscape in a minor key. Nick includes some vocals in the background as the track progresses, creating a neat effect. The beat and tempo are well situated to the laid back, trance-like atmosphere that the track creates. 

I really like the way that instruments fade in and out in the track. It is clear that Nick spent time arranging his piece and it shows in the final product. Nick switches back and forth from one bass line to another as the track progresses.

Overall, I thought the track did a great job of creating a mood. The trance-like mood was facilitated by the attention to detail in bringing instruments in and out. As I am hoping to do a trance track for my final project, I hope to pay as much attention to arrangement as Nick did in his stellar track.