Blog #5 - Review

I mentioned several blogs ago that I liked trace. When I went through my iTunes playcount of possible song choices (for this review), one stood out. Though, as expected, the works of Ratatat and MGMT along with pump-up tunes by Darude and DJ Mangoo dominated my most-played, among this list was another song I have found myself coming back to again-and-again.

Here it is (my version is a little different, but this is as close as I could find on Youtube):



When the song began, the first time I listened to it, I though that it felt very thin. It builds slowly, and much of the first minute is simply a repeated melodic riff (with the occasional intrusion of three beats from the bass drum. Indeed, as I looked at the total length of the song (a short three minutes), and the time elapsed, I wondered how Tiesto was going to bring the song to a satisfying climax in such short time.

Then I realized that was not what this song is about. Though the second minute gradually adds layers beneath the melodic line, and introduces a stable beat from the drums (at about :48), it never really comes to the heightened climax that I had come to expect. Tiesto builds, and builds, finally arriving what is undeniably the song's focal point, and climax, at about 1:50. He adds the drum rolls and amplitude escalation, but, unlike many other songs, this climax doesn't rock you.

That's what I like. In many songs I have listened to recently, when they reach the climax, you're literally blown away. They are overpowering. This is not. From the vocals at the very beginning, moaning and whispering "ayla," you know immediately the song is not supposed to rock-your-socks-off. Which is why I have gone back to it again and again.

After the climax, the melody shifts. We lose, for a little while, the opening riff that carried us through the first two minutes. But he introduces a new melody. The song is "thicker," with numerous tracks and layers, various synths and instruments. But unlike other songs, which often grow dynamically as well as in layers, Ayla doesn't get loud.

So, if you want a great piece, which builds you up and puts you down without knocking you over, have a listen.

Assignment #4

First off, take a listen. Then I'll tell you how it went:






This project was much more rewarding than the previous project (#3, using Reason), but also much more difficult. As we transitioned into Logic Pro for the first time, the number of things we could do for our piece exploded - literally anything I could imagine musically was possible. I thought, in the first five minutes, that this would make the project much easier. Wrong. The more things I was able to do, and the more features, instruments, and variables I discovered, the more overwhelmed I felt.

So, in the end, I took it back. I thought of the approach I used with my last project. Develop a beat. Lay that down. Map out the song in your mind. Literally, draw it out (as in, on paper. Weird, I know - that thin white stuff is worth something). And then go from there.

I started then with a very simple bass-drum line, for the four-on-the four feel, that I developed as I moved through the piece, gradually adding instruments (hats, and club bass, etc), to help the "build."

Then I got stuck. My paper-outline had a big BUILD, layering in various sounds. This is harder than it would seem.

I eventually added some layers of bass (this is the first :30 of the piece, approx.), to "fill out" the sound. Then, I introduced some harmonies until (after a brief roll), I introduce the piece's melody - it's harsh, it's loud, and (I hope) it's catchy.

Then it cuts. This was the most fun part of the piece. Dropping everything out except for a simple bass line, and then building up again. With 2 minutes to work with this time (and 3 would have been easier, honestly), I felt like I could try something new.

I hope it worked.

Compression and Loudness

After our conversation about compression (and what it is?) in section, I stumbled upon a couple relevant articles in the past day or so.

This one is on why Vinyl can be preferable to CD's primarily because of reduced compression:
wired.com

And this wikipedia article explains the "loudness war" and how compression use has become rampant and detrimental to the sound of many artists today:
wikipedia.org

I thought they were interesting...

- J