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My Second Composition

Treatment:

I recently have an interest in some of the more relaxing but at the same time energetic type of music. I’ve been thinking of creating a composition that can fit in some sort of cruising music you normally hear in the air plane menu screen in front of you. The type that combines both modern synth and digital sounds with a few classical instruments to balance it out. I can safely say this turn out better than the previous composition.

Day 1: 

I’ve decided to first create the right ambience to a cruising flight music. Something of a pad sound but with a touch of arpeggio 8 bit effect. Some kind of electronic orchestra. It took me a while to experiment the combination of 3x oscillators I can combine with the phaser and chorus effect to create the sky-like atmosphere. However the metallic sound defeats the point of being relaxing so I need to balance it out with another 3x oscillator. The ambience will appear throughout the entire piece as the main chord provider.

Pad sound:

8 bit sound:

Balancing ambience:

Day 2: 

This day is where I start structuring how my piece will go. It’s unfortunate that my composing abilities is still limited so I can only go as far as 5 contrasting sections. It would take another week if I were to extend it even longer. The 1st section would be the introduction with minimal orchestration. Then, the 2nd section will be slow paced but bright texture and colourful melody. Followed by a 3rd section of another contrast down to a quieter and relaxing mood with a second melody. The 4th section will be a repeat of the 2nd one but with some alterations. Finally the coda of the piece will combine both characteristics of the 2nd and 3rd section together and come to a close.

Day 3: 

At this point I have figured out the instrumentation for the first 3 sections of my piece. I figure the introduction should have a muffled like melody and the autogun plugin I used from the previous composition. As for the main section, I want to start it slow therefore each beat of the kick should be wider apart. I also found out a fun way to manipulate the piano chord sounds. By reversing the wave of the piano sound, not only have I created a calmer version of a riser, I can place each of them right before a different chord plays so it sounds like I’m constantly spinning the volume knob of the piano. In order to make it sound more heaven like atmosphere, I added a loud and echoing clap as if it is contained in a huge room. As for the melody, just a basic reverb of the grand piano playing arpeggios would do to make a watery sound effect.

As for the contrasting section, I have to remove some of the unnecessary instruments and replace them with a guitar to let the piece relief itself. I have to admit although it is a predictable structure, I can’t imagine how annoying it would be if the entire piece consist of only the texture of the main section for 4 minutes straight. Both piano and guitar will be playing something similar to a duet with a slow and soothing melody. Then the slow kicks and echo claps will return to turn the intensity back up again and signal the incoming repeat of the main section. But before the repeat, I added a cut between for a sudden surprise. Instead of leaving it empty like the last time, I actually had the rhythmic sound from the last section just in case.

Day 4:

I started working on the repeat and the coda. I figure an alteration is in order so for percussion, I have created a drum kit pattern to keep the repeat as different as possible. I could not think of any other way to make it anymore different however. As for the coda, the guitar comes in to join the entire instrumentation but this time strumming the chords instead of a second melody. As for the piano melody, I had the melody I made from the contrast and then add the arpeggio elements from the piano of the main section. Again, another effort to make it sound similar but different.

Layer Cake:

*Note: The boxes with no names means it’s basically the same as the previous one

Day 5: Made some finishing touches and fixes to the piece and writing this blog about it.

Challenges & Difficulties:

The guitar I have sounds very nylon. It doesn’t fit to the piece. I’d wish I have the real guitar plugin but I don’t have the budget and money for it. Let’s just say if I had the money, it would’ve been steel string and sounds way better.

The second half of the piece is where my creativity reaches the limit. I was advice to make it a similar repeat but try to make it as different to the first half as possible. However, I really can’t think of any fitting instruments to add or any alteration on the harmony. Also, I’m aware some of the music ends in a non-tonic chord and I try doing that but this time it feels empty. I don’t understand why.

The panning and volume balancing is one thing that got me a headache. Trying to balance out the layers of my music while making sure when I listen to the piece the listener can actually distinguish between them is one thing I have still yet to master. Still, I made an attempt to pan the drum kit part as if the placement of each drum part is significant.

The ambience I started on day one took me an entire day to experiment. I had to learn what each of the effects do to the sound. Phaser, chorus, EQ, etc...Not to mention I had to adjust the delay effect so it matches the tempo of the piece.

The melody is the most irritating part to be honest. I had to run a few miles and walk a few parks to come up with something. It really challenges my creativity as a composer. There’s only so much combination of notes I can come up with I almost made it into a over-the-top crazy melody you hear from Japanese anime, and I don’t want that. Simple yet beautiful it’s more difficult than I thought.

Inspirations:

As I said before, I woke up and I suddenly have an obsession with flight cruise menu music. Maybe because of the constant travel I have from Sydney to my homeland. My goal is to master the technique of creating something beautiful yet the instrumentation is simple and easy. 

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My First Digital Composition EVER (Diary)

I always had an interest when it comes to creating music in my own style and imagery. My first interest sparked the second I listen to my first music when my father gave me his phone and earplugs to listen. Which inspired me to composing. Now that I am studying in Sydney Uni in the art of music, my first attempt in digital composing is finally completed. Hopefully it will be quite impressive even if it’s my first try. (You can find the music link below)

Day 1: It took me an entire day to come up with the melody and chords for the music. However, by wandering around near the park and running down the streets I’m familiar with actually helps develop my first unique melody. Let’s just hope when I created it, it isn’t heavily inspired by popular songs I’ve listened all over the years.

Day 2: Just in case you don’t know, I use FL studio for my first try. I had to say even for a trial version, it gave me more than enough for me to start off! However, I may have started off differently than other composers by creating the contrast part first of any digital musics out there (because this is what I had in mind at first in day 1). By using the piano roll and switching between presets and instruments, I finally got the melody done. 

Day 3: I added a special bass unique for my track and somewhat sci-fi like affect to it. It is called Poizone and it sounded perfect atmospherically. The only downside is for some reason it will cut off and stop playing for some reason only to play it again. Added my own percussion from the presets given by the trial which I feel pretty guilty since it is made by someone before.

Day 4: Now that the contrast is done, I need to make the transitions clear and apparent. That brings me to something I learnt - white noises. I get to know how exactly I manipulate the frequency and resonance. Took me a while but it turned out eventually great. Then for the main theme. Took another walk on the park for me to finalise it.

Day 5: Now for the main theme to be mixed with the percussion and bass. It took me a lot longer than expected since the plugin ‘Autogun’ contains more than a million custom made presets. And the worst part is since it is trial version, I accidentally closed the app and then I have to redo everything from top to bottom. Processing, EQing, mixing, balancing, panning, effects and more importantly - finding that darn preset I wanted in Autogun which took me almost forever. It is a waking nightmare.

Day 6: Finally after that traumatising 5th day, I got everything back together and finalised my piece with some additional auxiliary percussions and bit of a effect textures I found on the Internet. I went to my lecturer for advice and I’m somewhat relieved to hear he say ‘sounded good’. My first accomplishment after all those years! Of course, there are a few things still missing. I was told that all my instruments sounded like they are fighting for the centre spot which needs panning. Also the fact I needed to add sfx to the repeating part of my theme to make it less boring and repetitive.

Day 7: One day before submission due. I tried the advice given by my lecturer but it wasn’t easy. Not only am I a first time, but also no experience when it comes to panning and sfx implementation. I had no idea so I tried the Internet for panning tutorials. It did sounded a lot better and spacious compared to my previous draft but I got a feeling I could’ve done more. And don’t even get me started on sfx. Not only can I not find the sci-fi genre I wanted, I also don’t know how to properly use them. I just putted them randomly in the repeating section of my piece but of course I do it in sense and not ruining the entire mood of the piece. Then, it is time for submission. Hopefully I got a good first impression of what composing is. Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-951643035/galaxy