Elements: A 4-track EDM EP. Alastair Wilson

Elements: A 4-track EDM EP Alastair Wilson

Elements: a 4-track EDM EP Choosing an EPQ based on writing electronic music was an easy decision to make I relished the opportunity to expand my knowledge and ability to create music into different genres and try new techniques, all while heading towards a creative goal which would require a variety of sound production and musical ideas to work effectively. To this end, I decided to choose a project that would require a balance of both technical research and arty, creative decisions: representing the 4 elements (Water, Air, Earth, and Fire) through electronic music. General research came in the form of reading online articles and blogs on the use of effects and Ableton Live 9, watching tutorial videos by professionals (e.g. Point Blank Music School), my music technology lessons at school (improved by further research into topics such as sound design and time-stretching after covering them in lessons), and experience from over a year of practicing all the techniques I learnt to create 4 electronic tracks of a relatively high standard. Unfortunately not all of the research became useful in the end, such as subscribing to the Sound On Sound magazine no relevant articles came up, with the exception of a paragraph on Hamilton: An American Musical 1 saying that keeping a large dynamic range and tempo changes gave the impression of rawness to the original Broadway cast recording album. I almost used this approach to the dynamics on Fire, before deciding instead to use the aggression of loud, highly compressed (and parallel compressed) instruments, as I was working on a production-heavy track rather than a live recording with human feel however, I did use a change in tempo. Water was started with the basic idea of a thick-textured, bass-heavy dubstep track following the basic dubstep section structure that I took from an article on electronic song structure 2 and the common elements of the tracks featured in liquid/bass-heavy dubstep mixes 3. Adapting principles I learnt though a tutorial 4 on creating the famous dubstep wobble bass to the Operator synth in Ableton and using white noise to recreate the sound of waves 5, I built the track on the idea of the intro being on dry land by the sea, followed by diving underwater during the drops. The intros therefore contained filtered white and pink noise sweeps to simulate background waves and a piano playing ascending and descending arpeggios to symbolise the tide moving in and out. This was followed by a kick drum with the low frequencies filtered out which increases in volume and speed like someone running closer, until finally there is a cymbal splash as the person jumps into the water and goes under. The whole intro has practically no bass, contrasting massively with the drop, which contains 2 sub basses an octave apart. Other elements which contributed to the idea of being underwater were rising bubble effects made using LFOs and pitch envelopes, synth plucks swamped with reverb, fast resonant 1 Paul Tingen, Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Tim Latham & Derik Lee, Sound On Sound, (September 2016), pp. 122-131: 131. 2 Song Structure in Electronic Music and Dubstep, Subaqueous Music blog post, 14 November 2012, <http://subaqueousmusic.com/dubstep-and-electronic-music-song-structure/> [accessed 25 February 2016]. 2 Liquid Dubstep Mix September 2013, YouTube video, Duration 34:00, Posted 10 September 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hjpuzknbvi>. 2 Dark Passion (Dubstep Mix), YouTube video, Duration 53:08, Posted 4 November 2012, <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=1walbzkoybs>. 4 Dubstep Wobble Bass in Logic ES2 LFO Explained, YouTube video, Duration 8:28, Posted 17 June 2011, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufoodnphae>. 5 White Noise Tips, GearSlutz forum post, < https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-musicinstruments-electronic-music-production/425510-white-noise-tips.html> [accessed 25 February 2016].

sweeps 6, and pads to thicken the texture all of these were filtered to remove the high frequencies, and most synths had modulation effects (chorus, flanger, phaser) on them 7. However, I ran into the problem of the track seeming too repetitive after the first drop ended, as at its core it was just a repeat of what had come before. To keep the interest of the listener, I made the post-drop verse different to the previous sections rather than repeating the intro. The chord progression was changed and midfrequency-thick synth pads filled out the space underneath the higher-pitch piano notes. This created a new contrast to the lightness of the intro and the bass of the drop. The second drop was given a slightly different drum beat and a different combination of synths above the bass line enough to make it obviously underwater again, but giving the listener something fresh to listen to. Air was based on the concept of wind and movement. Using evolving pads (most made using a breathy vocal-based synth called Exhale for an organic, airy timbre), dub delays 8, and sampled hi-hats from one of the most sampled drum breaks in the world 9 (layering multiple sampled drums with a production kit gave an authentic-but-modern drum n bass sound 10), I created a bed of sound which was constantly moving in the stereo field thanks to large use of auto-panning. Due to the complicated stereo movement, I decided to keep the musical aspect fairly simple, only using a simple melody, and switching between 2 chords in a major key: the tonic and the median. Combined, these chords allowed both minor and major movement in the groove of the sub. They also have enough of the same notes in their triads to make chord changes subtle in the pads (only one note requires changing to transition from one chord to the other), allowing smooth blending between the chords. The structure is similar to that of dubstep, as I found through listening to mixes 11, but for a more chilled vibe I didn t make the build ups as obvious, instead opting for a reversed cymbal crash and no risers - the wobble bass also comes in gradually instead of suddenly at the start of the first drop, and has much less bass than a dubstep bass would as the lowest frequencies needed to be kept empty for the sub bass to fill. A middle section without drums gave some much-needed contrast, introducing an electric keyboard made using Razor (a synth used by the DnB producer InsideInfo 12), before returning to the familiar drop but now with the extra elements for interest. While mixing I encountered a problem. My simple melody had worked during the composition phase, but now seemed weak, as if I d thrown it in last minute without 6 Wet sound, vintage synth explorer forum post, <http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/ viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74898> [accessed 13 January 2016]. 7 How to make underwater sounds?, FilmSound.org blog post, <http://www.filmsound.org/qa/ underwatersounds.htm> [accessed 13 January 2016]. 8 Ableton Live Tutorial part 3/5 The Dub Delay, YouTube video, Duration 7:34, 7 January 2011, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8d70sr8lwi>. 9 Video explains the world s most important 6-sec drum loop, YouTube video, Duration 18:09, 21 February 2006, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5saftm2bcac>. 10 Computer Music magazine, 11 cutting-edge drum n bass production tips, MusicRadar, < http:// www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/11-cutting-edge-drum-n-bass-production-tips-600957> [accessed 20 December 2015]. 11 The Journey (2 Hour Drum & Bass Mix), YouTube video, Duration 1:54:20, 2 June 2012, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8mwkshehxk>. 12 Computer Music magazine, InsideInfo shows you how to create an atmospheric DnB pad, MusicRadar interview, <http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/insideinfo-shows-you-how-to-createan-atmospheric-dnb-pad-601144> [accessed 20 December 2015].

much thought. To change this, I layered 13 it with another, similar-sounding synth which had more attack and a deeper timbre. Adding some movement in the form of automated phasing and filtering, and finally alternating soloing each synth during the middle section, solved this problem. Fire was a track that from the start was meant to be powerful and aggressive. I did not want this to be pleasant to listen to and so began by researching dissonance, finding that infants prefer to listen longer to consonant intervals over dissonant intervals, and that the most dissonant interval was judged to be the minor 2 nd interval 14. Due to the evidence that people did not like to listen to dissonant music for long, I shortened the length of Fire (after all, it is supposed be listened to fully), making it the shortest of the 4 tracks at 2:18 long. The structure of the track was similar to that of the others, based off a YouTube mix containing the tracks of a well-known hardstyle producer, Brennan Heart 15. Within this, I created the image of fire by beginning with a single line playing, which had another octave added to it with every repeat until the texture was thick and building towards a climax, based on the idea of kindling catching fire and starting to burn. Once the first drop was reached, the aggressive synths never let up, even after the first drop ends in fact, I sped up the tempo towards the second drop to increase the impression of wildness, despite having started the piece at 155bpm, faster than most hardstyle 16, for the sake of aggression. My dissonance research was used in the use of the diminished 5 th interval at the end of the first line, the minor 2 nd interval in the screech just before the drop, and the slowly-increasing detuning of one main synth against the other in the drops. Issues arose when I tried to recreate the distorted kick drum that is the most recognisable element of hardstyle, however. This was much more difficult than I had anticipated, and online forums were unhelpful until I was pointed towards a 3 rd party plugin specifically designed to distort kick drums 17. Nevertheless, the finished kick used 3 layers of synths, 19 external effects, and a lot of restarting, for the purpose of just creating the base sound of the kick (I didn t use a processed sample as I would have described this as cheating when the kick is such an important sound in the genre, and I used synths as a starting point rather than a kick sample as I wanted to have complete control over the sound of the kick and be able to change its pitch without issue). Aggression was a large factor in my sound design process; I initially used heavy saturation on most of the synths and virtual amp modelling to recreate a distorted electric guitar tone, but I was failing to achieve the power I wanted and the synths seemed to blend in with each other, becoming just noise. After researching, I returned to my sound design using low harmonic saturation, low-mid frequency boosts and use of layering 18, as well as making the synths more distinct by using different distortion (or none!) on each. This way, I created a thick bed of warm, powerful synths, which only gave way to abruptly quieter bars, dubstep growls, and painful screeches. The 2 main melody-carrying synths ended up with different methods making them sound aggressive: while one was highly distorted, the other was doubled with white noise that saturated the frequency 13 Martin Walker, Warmer Sounds From Digital Synths, Sound On Sound blog post, January 2010, <http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/warmer-sounds-digital-synths> [accessed 10 October 2016]. 14 Marcel R. Zentner and Jerome Kagan, Infants Perception of Consonance and Dissonance in Music, Infant Behavior & Development, 21.3 (1998), 483-92. 15 Special Brennan Heart Mix 2013, YouTube video, Duration 1:41:37, 16 March 2013, <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp8ddbqgdya>. 16 17 HARDSTYLE, Q-Dance, <http://www.q-dance.com/hardstyle/> [accessed 6 October 2016]. Disto::Fx, Distocore, <http://www.distocore.net>. 18 Walker, Warmer Sounds From Digital Synths, <http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/ warmer-sounds-digital-synths>.

spectrum. Both had octave-doubled melodic lines to increase their tessituras. To separate them in the mix, I moved one up an octave, used a quick stereo delay panned left and right to create the illusion of one synth being wider, then panned them apart. Earth became a percussion-based track due to the belief of Indigenous people that drums are the heartbeat of Mother Earth 19. The structure was built around this and the common structure of electro/house/big room derived from listening to a large number of tracks from those genres 20, gradually bringing in more percussion for complexity and alternating with verses that contained only a clap to keep the driving 4-to-the-floor rhythm that dominates dance music 21. The basic premise was to contrast Air and Water and use little-to-no reverb, with more saturation, to create a much drier, crackly sound. Originally, the only reverb I planned to use was the huge gated reverb that was put as an insert effect onto a snare to create the Pryda Snare 22; however, after problems with giving certain sounds space in the mix arose, some reverb was applied via send channels to certain synths 23. To be more deliberate with creating an image of dryness, I used a bit-crusher effect to make the percussion sound sampled, followed by a vinyl crackle effect. Similar distortion effects were applied to many of the synths to make them dirtier. Still, I wanted another element that embodied Earth, as one of the images I started with when writing this track was that of gravel falling down a hill, kicking up dust, yet I didn t feel like I had accomplished bringing to life this image. Recently I had been taught about the time stretching effect in my music technology lessons and how it can create bitty sounds if used too extremely, so I researched this further by listening to examples of time stretching 24 to see if this was close to the sound I wanted. It turned out to be, and extremely time stretching an 808 kick sample gave an excellent basis to add bit-crushing and other distortion effects for the gravel, then sent to a reverb on a send channel to add a cloud of dust. The main bass comes from an electro bass tutorial video 25 from which I adapted the principles to another synth that I owned, edited to my track and heavily saturated to add a lot of grit. This bass was then high-pass filtered to leave the sub clean and clear, working with the kick to provide a groove (the idea for a groove rather than a repeated tonic note came from tracks such from well-known producers such as D.Ramirez 26. The other main distinguishing element of 19 Harlan Mckosato, Drums: Heartbeat of Mother Earth, Native Peoples, <http:// www.nativepeoples.com/native-peoples/july-august-2009/drums-heartbeat-of-mother-earth/> [accessed 8 December 2015]. 20 Dirty Electro & House, Melbourne Bounce Car Blaster Music Mix 2015 #3, YouTube video, Duration 1:09:53, 25 May 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7kbekwtu7y>. 21 History of Dance Music, EnglishClub, <https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/musicdance.htm> [accessed 8 December 2015]. 22 The Pryda Snare; History and Recreating It, Splice blog post, <https://splice.com/blog/pryda-snare/ > [accessed 7 September 2016]. 23 Ernie Rideout, Tools for Mixing: Reverb, Propellerhead blog post, 8 March 2006, <https:// www.propellerheads.se/blog/tools-for-mixing-reverb> [accessed 28/12/15] 24 Extreme Time Stretching Max/MSP/Jitter Spectral Sound Processing 3, YouTube video, Duration 2:36, 28 December 2008, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5sobe8jsx8>. 25 Learn How to Make a Gritty Electro Bass in Sylenth1, YouTube video, Duration 10:16, 9 June 2014, <http://www.adsrsounds.com/sylenth-tutorials/learn-how-to-make-a-crispy-electro-bass-insylenth1/>. 26 Noir My MTV D.Ramirez Evil Business Remix, YouTube video, Duration 8:41, 6 May 2010, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay0oc9fmw9k>.

Earth is the descending chord progression, driving the idea of weight and heaviness contrasting with Air. The final tasks were to mix and master the 4 tracks. To begin with, I purchased professional studio monitors (KRK VXT8s) earlier in the year for both EPQ and personal use, so that I could learn their frequency response in the acoustics of my room before I began mixing. To improve the acoustic properties of my roughly-rectangular, solid-walled bedroom 27, I installed diffusers on my walls and changed the layout of my room to better diffuse the sound and break up any standing waves. Despite my efforts there was still a boost in volume at around 132.7Hz at the place where I sat at my desk, so I solved this with a simple cut at that frequency on the master channel, which I later removed. Most mixing was done at lower levels in order to create a balanced mix, due to the phenomenon of the Fletcher-Munson Curves 28. Using the Hardcore Mixing: Mixing Cheatsheet 29 as a basic starting point for EQ and compressor settings, I mixed the tracks as described in the above paragraphs. Mastering was mainly a case of compressing the tracks individually and limiting their dynamic range to bring up the average volume (RMS). Before this, I used stereo EQ to force the bass of each track into mono and then added some more stereo width to the higher frequencies to make the contrast more obvious. After researching the Loudness Wars 30 I decided to not overdo this compression to the point of obviously crushing the size of the dynamic peaks. In order to not change the audio tone, but only the volume, I used a compressor before the final limiter on each track 31, and only limited them to the point of having a similar final perceived volume level between the tracks, without obviously distorting the output. Overall, I think I balanced research and creativity successfully to produce 4 tracks which sit comfortably in their genres whilst each having a specific arty basis. Implementing both general and genre-specific techniques alongside musical ideas and music theory was not as difficult as it might have been, due to the set ideas for each track I had to begin with which I used as a basis for my research. Although individually, each track may be slightly extreme in certain ways the bass in Water, the stereo movement in Air, the distortion and dissonance in Fire, the bit-crushing in Earth I believe they work well together as an EP and clearly convey each element through the medium of music. Glossary: 27 Petr Elsea, ACOUSTIC TREATMENT FOR HOME STUDIOS, 1996, <http://artsites.ucsc.edu/ ems/music/tech_background/te-14/teces_14.html> [accessed 28 December 2015]. 28 Louder is better The Fletcher-Munson Curves, SURFACED STUDIO blog post, 20 October 2010, <http://www.surfacedstudio.com/blog/louder-is-better-the-fletcher-munson-curves> [accessed 1 November 2016]. 29 CHEATSHEET, Hardcore Mixing, <https://s3.amazonaws.com/freedownloads-hcms/ HardcoreMixingCheatsheet.pdf>. 30 Earl Vickers, The Loudness Wars: Background, Speculation and Recommendations, AES 129 th Convention (San Francisco, CA, USA, 4-7 November 2010), <http://www.sfxmachine.com/docs/ loudnesswar/loudness_war.pdf>. 31 Ian Shepherd, Mastering limiters how and why to use them, Production Advice blog post, 2 November 2011, <http://productionadvice.co.uk/brickwall-limiters/> [accessed 1 November 2016].

Synth: A synthesiser/digital instrument. EQ/Filtering: Editing the volume of frequencies in sounds. For instance, low-pass filtering means cutting out the higher frequencies, creating a more muted sound. Compression: Editing the volume of audio by decreasing the size of dynamic peaks. More compression = less dynamic range. Send channel effect: Sending audio from to a second channel with an effect on it (usually reverb or delay), to create both an unprocessed signal and a processed signal (one with an effect). Insert channel effect: The opposite of a send channel effect an effect placed directly on the audio track so that it fully affects the sound, rather than a duplicate of the sound on another channel. Mixing: The process that comes partly during but mainly after composing the musical material. It involves making the different instruments work together, such as through changing relative volumes of instruments, and filtering out frequencies from some instruments to allow others to be heard better. Mastering: The process that comes after mixing, that focuses on the track as a whole. It is used mainly to increase the track volume via compression and make small final changes. Bibliography Ableton Live Tutorial part 3/5 The Dub Delay, YouTube video, Duration 7:34, 7 January 2011, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8d70sr8lwi> Baldwin, Kieran, The Rise of Drum and Bass, Fantazia Rave Archive, 2010, <http:// www.fantazia.org.uk/musicgenres/drumandbass_theriseoff.htm> CHEATSHEET, Hardcore Mixing, <https://s3.amazonaws.com/freedownloads-hcms/ HardcoreMixingCheatsheet.pdf> Computer Music magazine, 11 cutting-edge drum n bass production tips, MusicRadar, <http:// www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/11-cutting-edge-drum-n-bass-production-tips-600957> Computer Music magazine, InsideInfo shows you how to create an atmospheric DnB pad, MusicRadar interview, <http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/insideinfo-shows-you-how-to-createan-atmospheric-dnb-pad-601144> Dark Passion (Dubstep Mix), YouTube video, Duration 53:08, Posted 4 November 2012, <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=1walbzkoybs> Dirty Electro & House, Melbourne Bounce Car Blaster Music Mix 2015 #3, YouTube video, Duration 1:09:53, 25 May 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7kbekwtu7y> Dubstep Wobble Bass in Logic ES2 LFO Explained, YouTube video, Duration 8:28, Posted 17 June 2011, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufoodnphae> Disto::Fx, Distocore, <http://www.distocore.net>

Elsea, Petr, ACOUSTIC TREATMENT FOR HOME STUDIOS, 1996, <http://artsites.ucsc.edu/ems/ music/tech_background/te-14/teces_14.html> Extreme Time Stretching Max/MSP/Jitter Spectral Sound Processing 3, YouTube video, Duration 2:36, 28 December 2008, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5sobe8jsx8> HARDSTYLE, Q-Dance, <http://www.q-dance.com/hardstyle/> Hilo, Steve, TUTORIAL: HOW TO ADD INSTANT GRIT TO YOUR SOUNDS, 123creative.com, 3 May 2016, <http://www.123creative.com/en/articles/tutorial-how-to-add-instant-grit-to-your-sounds/ > History of Dance Music, EnglishClub, <https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/music-dance.htm> How to make underwater sounds?, FilmSound.org blog post, <http://www.filmsound.org/qa/ underwatersounds.htm> Jahoo, How to create an underwater effect?, Ableton forum post, 26 March 2011 <https:// forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=161211> Learn How to Make a Gritty Electro Bass in Sylenth1, YouTube video, Duration 10:16, 9 June 2014, <http://www.adsrsounds.com/sylenth-tutorials/learn-how-to-make-a-crispy-electro-bass-in-sylenth1/> Liquid Dubstep Mix September 2013, YouTube video, Duration 34:00, Posted 10 September 2013, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hjpuzknbvi> Louder is better The Fletcher-Munson Curves, SURFACED STUDIO blog post, 20 October 2010, <http://www.surfacedstudio.com/blog/louder-is-better-the-fletcher-munson-curves> Mckosato, Harlan, Drums: Heartbeat of Mother Earth, Native Peoples, <http:// www.nativepeoples.com/native-peoples/july-august-2009/drums-heartbeat-of-mother-earth/> Noir My MTV D.Ramirez Evil Business Remix, YouTube video, Duration 8:41, 6 May 2010, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay0oc9fmw9k> Prebble, Tim, Underwater, Music of Sound blog post, 13 March 2011, <http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/underwater> Point Blank Music School videos, YouTube channel, <https://www.youtube.com/user/ pointblankonline/videos> Rideout, Ernie, Tools for Mixing: Reverb, Propellerhead blog post, 8 March 2006, <https:// www.propellerheads.se/blog/tools-for-mixing-reverb> Robjohns, Hugh & White, Paul, Room For Improvement, Sound On Sound, December 2007, <http:// www.soundonsound.com/techniques/room-improvement> Shepherd, Ian, Mastering limiters how and why to use them, Production Advice blog post, 2 November 2011, <http://productionadvice.co.uk/brickwall-limiters/>

Special Brennan Heart Mix 2013, YouTube video, Duration 1:41:37, 16 March 2013, <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp8ddbqgdya> Song Structure in Electronic Music and Dubstep, Subaqueous Music blog post, 14 November 2012, <http://subaqueousmusic.com/dubstep-and-electronic-music-song-structure/> Techniques: Ableton Live, Sound On Sound, <http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/software/ daw/ableton-live> The Journey (2 Hour Drum & Bass Mix), YouTube video, Duration 1:54:20, 2 June 2012, <https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8mwkshehxk> The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse, npr music, 31 December 2009, <http://www.npr.org/ 2009/12/31/122114058/the-loudness-wars-why-music-sounds-worse> The Pryda Snare; History and Recreating It, Splice blog post, <https://splice.com/blog/pryda-snare/> Tingen, Paul, Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Tim Latham & Derik Lee, Sound On Sound, (September 2016), pp. 122-131: 131 Vickers, Earl, The Loudness War: Background, Speculation and Recommendations, AES 129 th Convention (San Francisco, CA, USA, 4-7 November 2010), <http://www.sfxmachine.com/docs/ loudnesswar/loudness_war.pdf> Video explains the world s most important 6-sec drum loop, YouTube video, Duration 18:09, 21 February 2006, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5saftm2bcac> Walker, Martin, Warmer Sounds From Digital Synths, Sound On Sound blog post, January 2010, <http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/warmer-sounds-digital-synths> Wet sound, vintage synth explorer forum post, <http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/ viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74898> White Noise Tips, GearSlutz forum post, < https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-musicinstruments-electronic-music-production/425510-white-noise-tips.html> Zentner, Marcel R. and Kagan, Jerome, Infants Perception of Consonance and Dissonance in Music, Infant Behavior & Development, 21.3 (1998), 483-92