Downloadables

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Week 13 - Mastering 2

Other than the actions I took in the previous post to max gain, in the post, I'll share in further detail how I mastered each song and also combined them.

Zhi Le's: Boosted the middle frequencies to make everything sound more bright. Cut off noise in bass. Also decreased everything by -5.0dB (right bar) because his on the loud side compared to Alphonse's.

Pre-EQ modification

Post-EQ modification

Alphonse: First striking difference was the volume. So I boosted it across all frequencies. To show the contrast, there's a screenshot of all 3 sound waves later.

Zooming into Alphonse's piece. I boosted the bass as I think it was a nice bass and gave the song more depth. I also liked the instrument that is doing a panning sound (the arpeggiated one I think), but it's very soft compared to the melody, so I decreased the high frequencies as well.

Pre-EQ modification

Post-EQ modification

Vincent's: Vincent's song was also decreased across the board to better match Alphonse's volume. Vincent's bass was also too boosted, some frequencies peaked a lot (see screenshot), so I reduced the bass frequencies. Also discarded some of the random top frequencies, taking care not to chop off too much because his song has fillers that use that frequencies.

Pre-EQ modification

Post-EQ modification

And now here's how I combined them (will talk about the three versions but two main ones will be posted):

This is the first version. Zhi Le -> Alphonse -> Vincent. 

The reason is because Zhi Le's was the most upbeat and energetic, hence I wanted to start with his and get the listeners engrossed and hyped up first. Alphonse's was kind of like a cooling down after a party kind of vibe (but still at the party) so I thought it would go well after Zhi Le's. As for Vincent's it was a clear finale song because of the soothing touch (the 'ooh' voices, the slow/very few notes of flute on the melody line, the shimmery sound, and the way it loops). It was calming and suitable to wrap up the playlist. 

At first, I put the songs back to back with no overlapping (version 1). However, I really did NOT like the way Alphonse's song comes in after Zhi Le's with a long and slow introduction. 4 bars of only drums, bass comes in next 4 bars, panning fills come in next 4 bars. Then only verse starts. 12 bars of intro was to long given the sudden drop in energy from Zhi Le's song. The long time it takes to build back up to a middle-energy range did not sit well with me. I overlapped 4 bars so there was still some intro to the chord progressions (4-8th bar), and a bit of the panning sound which I liked.

From Alphonse's to Vincent's, I added a 1 bar break because both their songs ended on the dot. Anyway, here is the playlist merged as one song because of the overlap/breaks so I can't put it into a playlist (version 2).

However, I am not sure if we are actually allowed to do an overlap... And I wanted to play around with the songs more. Finally, I decided on this arrangement:

Alphonse -> Zhi Le -> Vincent.

The reason is so that I can keep all 3 songs as their original form without cutting any parts. The order is inspired by the standard story telling form! Namely, Introduction -> Climax -> Resolution.

As mentioned above, Alphonse's song has a long and steady introduction. Therefore, it is appropriate as the first song. 

Old energy level: starts on a bang -> steadily decreasing.

New energy levels: steadily increases from nothing -> peaks -> steadily decreasing

While the introduction now is less energetic, I think it's a good build to Zhi Le's and Zhi Le's piece serves as a good climax tying the songs together. The energy is more balanced through the playlist, not concentrated and over with the first song. With that, here is the final playlist.

Week 12 - Mastering

Things I did for mastering:

Put songs into 3 different tracks

EQ -

• Roll off bottom end: we can't hear the 20-30 Hz frequencies (subsonic material) but muddies track. So remove them.
• Adjust the EQ across 3 songs. Alphonse was too soft compared to the rest. All three songs had a lot of sound in the higher frequencies to I didn't want them to be too loud too.

Compression - for peaks:

• Threshold reduces signal
• Keep meter within -2 to -3 so as not to chop off too much sound
• Ratio about 1.4
• Tweak make up knob to make up for the sound that we just cut away with 2-3dB
• User a Multimeter to keep track of the overall volume and make sure it never peaks above 0 !

Limiting - allow max gain:

• Set ceiling to just below 0
• Up gain until the most we can

Will rearrange the pieces again next week and post the playlist!

Final Mix

PRODUCERS!!!! You can get my file from this google drive if we didn't manage to exchange details in class (click here) Thanks :)


This is the version I'll be sending to my producers for mastering! :D Well, unless there are any negative comments on the 'new melody line', I'm open to changing that part.

All major changes detailed in previous post : Week 11

Enjoy!
   

Week 11

CHANGE IN FORM

First and foremost: Found out my verse sounded more like a chorus and vice versa. Hence, I will be changing the naming from now on (however, original order of themes were not changed)!! Thus my form has also been changed to:

Intro | Intro | Chorus | Verse | Verse | Chorus | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Chorus | Outro
(each part is 8 bars)

I'm not SO sure about the naming (e.g. I'll consider the second 8 bars as still the introduction but actually it is very much similar to the Chorus, without a clear melody).

More importantly, learnt that after introducing new ideas in the bridge, I cannot just end the song abruptly. A mash of the chorus and verses was placed after the bridge, then I slowly removed instruments through the Outro, leading to the same end with the xylophone playing 1 note :)

***

Now on to what else I did this week:

SPREADING OUT OF SOUND

Learnt that we should not apply Stereo Spread (shortcut: X!) on lower frequencies. I spread the fills and rhythms out, but kept the melodies centred. However, I did not know how else to spread the sound out and it still sounded very cluttered. Other than the bass, everything else was playing in the mid-range frequency.

During project review, Dr. Hess showed me how to solve that problem: transposition. We moved the classic trance instrument (instrument playing the arpeggiated melody) an octave (I think?) higher. And that not only added interest in the higher frequencies but also removed a huge chunk from the middle frequencies. Perfect.


MORE SPREADING OUT + CLEANING UP

Initially, I had the classic trance playing throughout the song as I thought I needed a common theme throughout the whole song to tie it together (back when I was struggling with the very bipolar sounding sections). However, since I have fixed that weird sound with a consistent bass, it was not necessary to have the classic trance playing throughout. Dr. Hess suggested to remove it from the 'chorus'. This also makes the piece MUCH cleaner and easy to follow -I'm keeping the removal.

However, with the removal, the flow from verse/chorus was a little abrupt so I did the reverse cymbals trick suggested,  which I learn from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LVjn-vggAk


CHORUS MELODY
Finally, added one more synth that carries the melody in the chorus section. (Simple melody that is of the same theme as the arpeggiated classic trance).


ETC.
Chorus drums: had this really weird 'doink' kick bass sound. I finally figured out how to remove it but I don't really know what I was altering. In the provided drummers, under the "Kick, Snare & Claps" bar, I reduced it from 6 to 5, and the ugly 'doink' sound was gone. But what was that changing?

Anyway, I will post my music up soon :)

Week 8

Song: Draft 5
Mixed up the bass. And I changed the bass to have the same chord progression throughout the song. So hopefully it's less bipolar sounding.




Mixing
Reverb
Compressor -> Drums and Guitars
Delays
EQ

Side-chain compressor on a pad -> pumping sounds

Side-chain compressor kick drum on a bass guitar -> cuts off compressor on guitar for a brief moment for drums to come in (share frequency space so that they can both sound 'equally' loud).

Week 7

Week 7 updates!

I tried to make the 2 sections match a little bit more with more common themes in both sections. I don't know if it works or if it became too noisy. I removed/softened most of the "old themes" from way before event he first draft so I could add those new themes. Do I have to change the chord progression totally?? :O

It's really interesting though how we create a sound or two at the start and end up not using them at all.... Yet, the piece actually stemmed from those removed themes. Even though it sounds nothing like the first idea, writing one part led to the next, which led to the current, where it was only right to remove the starting themes.

***

I added a second bass to have greater depth at the lower freq, and just more power in my piece.

Then I worked on the EQ. This is probably the most amazing part in terms of hearing the change of sound!! I realised most of my instruments were going way over the dB limit and by simply changing the EQ, I actually had to decrease the volume controls back into the "normal -3 to -6 dB range". In fact, some are going way below -6. will that cause other kinds of problems?

The bass and xylophones especially became much clearer and like what I wanted.

***

I really like my group mate's Tze Yuan's dance piece so I'm happy I got to learn some effects from him. Like using Big Room GB to create drum hits and adding MIDI FX. I haven't figured where to put drum beats, and my music is getting full already, so I don't know if I still want to add kick drums for a more 'dance' feel. Hmm... Anyway this is what's up for now (draft 4 because 3 was not good).

P.s. Going to listen to it after a day or two and decide if it's too noisy and if I should remove the effects...

P.s.s. Andddd I changed the ending :) I think it's interesting like this but if it is too weird, please let me know. Thank you!

Week 6 - Updates

Did:
-Re chose a few instruments
-Added a line for the verses because of mismatch previously.

Here's the latest update!



Need to do:
Add more bass/double bass and make it more interesting.

So I have decided to use the Echo Lead even though it's a very staccato lead...


Problem: I wanted to do electronic music but I think it's far from it (ohno! hahaha)

Week 6

See Draft 1 for latest updates as documented in the last post. Thanks!

The lead used here was Pharoah's Lead. But still deciding!



Drums
Base, Snare - accents (1 - 2 - 3 - 4)
Hi-hat - time feel and keeper

Week 5

Two notable things I did last week:

The first was to complete the pre-chorus and chorus. With this I have the intro | verse 1 | verse 2 | pre-chorus | chorus.

I now have a melody line in the pre-chorus/chorus but the choice of instrument still bugs me... At first I used the Echo Bass, and I rather like the sound, but it is kind of a inappropriate lead? However, I have not been able to find wind instruments (as discussed in class) that seem to fit the sound of the piece. I will report what instrument I've decided on on Thursday together with the upload of the latest song. (Sorry, I did not manage to save the file and will only be back in the lab Thursday!!!)

In the added sections, I have also tried out the call-and-response technique. At first I used the guitar and flute combination like in my reference song. But the flute sounded too full compared to my other instruments :( I switched to a Xylophone variation instead.

Secondly, I cut a few (quite many) things from the earlier parts. E.g. with the introduction of the ultrabeat drums, the introduction pad sounded extremely weird and mismatched. But I like the beats over the sustained pad, so I'm scrapping the pad!

I also cut one instrument in the second verse (the one that originally had clashes back in week 3).

However... because the method I wrote the verses vs the chorus was different, the two parts are extremely mismatched now. I need to do something about that for sure. Recap: the verses were random ideas while the chorus was done after I did the bass.

Working from bottom up was definitely the "right way" for a starter like me. I spent considerably less time creating a melody + rhythm in the right key than struggling to create everything else from the melody line alone. So perhaps it'll be better to just rewrite the verses in this "right way" that worked for me.

***

Finally, I changed the 3 4 time in the chorus back to 4 4 time.

I will be duplicating what I have based on my earlier proposed form. In the interest on time, the outro may be cut or kept very basic, and what I have will be the working file for production.

I also looked at this sound designer talking about music production and the creative aspect of music production (which was what I struggled with most). As he mentions in the video, most 'tutorials' are done after a song has been produced, so they skip discussing the creative process and making decisions, but focus on what to do to create x and y sounds. He also mentions not touching EQ (automation etc.) that should be left to the mixing stage.

These all overlap with what you have discussed in class/your advice to me.

After listening to his song, I concluded it has similarities to my reference song.
- Having a simple distinct /contrasting sound (water droplet / gun load sounds)
- Having breaks between verses/chorus
- A phrase repeated (the scale sound)

I would like (when I get to mixing) to try out 2 or all 3 techniques in my music to keep interest.


***

Class notes:

Mixing
Sub-bass: double the bass, not too loud

EQ: Volume control for frequencies
1. Graphic EQ: E.g. Room EQ

2. Parametric EQ:
- Center Frequency (Hz): The peak
- Gain ( + / - )
- Q (width): how many decibels (dB) to decrease/increase
-- lower it: width is wider (think plateau)
-- increase it: width is narrow (think sharp peak)

3. Shewing EQ

4. Filters
- Hi pass filter
- Lo pass filter

Week 4

Last week, I have been adding a bass line as recommended.

The main chord progression I've chosen to work with is one I've encountered before: doowop progression/50s progression (I vi VI V)

By Hyacinth at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10298735

I've chosen it as it's really famous and I've also watched some videos about how so many tons of music use this chord progression, so I want to experiment with it and see how I can work with this progression to create music. I want to find out for myself why people keep using this over and over again -it is easy for composers? Does it just sound nice naturally, like the pentatonic we heard last week? While it may be a bad choice if I don't have melodic ideas to make my song sound unique, I hope I will be able to work it well too.

I was also interested in Pachelbel's Canon chord progression as the Canon in D is personally one of my favourite classic of all time. I'll see if I can find any segments to use both, or is that not advisable?

"Almost the godfather of pop music because we've all used that in our own ways for the past 30 years". -Pop music producer Pete Waterman (2002) speaking about Pachelbel's Canon in D

Back to my bass line:
- I chose a bass guitar
- Not the whole song uses the doowop progression. I've used it in the pre-chorus and chorus so far. The first part, since I've written a melody, I've added the bass line as such: E-D-C transposed into my song's key. Not sure if there is a name for this?

I've re-enabled the drum beats I made with ultrabeat as recommended to add a pulse to the intro. I modified it to make it less noisy and random (last week, I was just testing it out and not serious about using it in the song). I like how it fits in now that my direction of the song is changing as I progress. However, I can't figure out if I can actually turn the ultrabeat drums off at some parts of the song?


Other things to look at next week:

1. Quantize: playing in time
2. Groove quantize: drummer and bass to play in same time
3. Strength
4. Range

Week 3 Progress

An interesting fact I learnt last Thursday: I unknowingly used a minor pentatonic to connect the intro to the verse (just learnt the term in class)! I used to randomly play the piano using only black keys as I also noticed it almost always sounded great and you can never go "wrong" or create disjointed, horribly-sounding melodies. I never knew this was an actual technique with a name to it.

You can hear the intro and the minor pentatonic at the end of it on my Soundcloud playlist embed below.

I have also created two short verses which ended up sounding very much the same, just building up to the pre-chorus (instead of A-B pattern I envisioned).

Problem I have with the verse: not all the sounds are perfectly synced like I anticipated. Even though I duplicated the tune I played, different instruments put off the tempo slightly. I have spent much time adjusting the notes individually, a very useful function I must admit. I thought some of the instruments I chose went well together but hearing it again after a short break from editing, I think they clash and don't like them anymore. I might change out the guitar for a more subtle instrument like the piano.


Last Thursday, I also learnt about some other features like automation which allows me to edit the instrument channels. Basically, I needed it most for adjusting volume and doing fade-in/outs.

Actually I also created my own drums/foundation using the Drum Kit. But I don't really like what I created so far. I can't seem to turn it off or select portions to keep (the channel is empty but I can hear the drums playing when I press play?), so I just mute it completely. I'll stick to using the preset drums until I get more of the melody down. (I'll post up the drums sounds I created if it's necessary?).

Finally, I experimented with the knobs but I forgot the names, I'll post it up next week in class so I can get screenshots.

Stuck with progressing: So I also came up with melody for the pre-chorus. Unfortunately I realized my music was in 4-4 and this melody I came up with is in 3-4... No wonder it didn't fit the drums!!! It perplexed me until I realized the problem. Now I don't know if there is any way to extend this melody to 4-4 or start from scratch, but as I've mentioned in previous posts, it's so difficult to come up with a melody!!!


Other Notes:
Steps in music production:
Songwriting
Recording
Production
Final Mix
----------------
Mastering

Week 2 / Model

Model Construction

I will borrow the form from Sing Me To Sleep, but probably come in with a longer introduction. I'll standardize each part to be 8 bars long for starters.

Intro | Verse 1 | Verse 2 | Pre-Chorus | Chorus | Verse 1 | Pre-Chorus | Chorus | Bridge | Outro

Here is the preview of the arrangement set up in Logic:
















Instrumentation:
Drums, Percussion, Bass - Foundation
Keyboard Synth 1 - Rhythm
Guitar - Fills
Keyboard Synth 2 - Lead
More synths/flute/piano - Fills

Since this is an electronic music piece, I would be using the synths to do the lead and rhythms. Sing Me To Sleep also included piano, guitars, flutes, soul lead etc. which I think would be nice additions if I have the capability. For now, I would try to add in at least one filler, the guitar.

Harmony:
This is where I am a little bit lost. I know there are common chord progressions we can follow but I don't know how to identify the harmony in the short melody I have started working on. For me, I started thinking about a melody first since I would not know how to create a melody based on given chord progressions?

What I do know is that my music will be in the minor key, the progressions will be simple: 1-1-1-1 | 1-1-1-1

Week 1

Last week, I was mainly focused on testing out Logic. I looked through the instruments list and recorded a few random tunes to hear how they sound like, and layered a couple of instruments together to hear if they sound good together.

I'm quite sure I want to have a piano in my song too, so I tried the piano instrument out a little more: shifting notes, cutting notes, elongating notes, changing sound of piano.

This week, I will need to test out other features. EQ, Auxiliary tracks? Excited to find out what else is in store. I will also try to think of a concept/basic tune to work on by experimenting and playing more random tunes.

Alan Walker - Sing Me To Sleep (Analysis)

After breaking the song down into its form, I realized that the song is both simple and complex. Before I explain this simple but complex idea, let me go through my analysis.

FORM & INSTRUMENTATION - The Breadth and Depth

I have named the arrangement as such: Intro - Verse 1 - Verse 2 - Pre-Chorus - Chorus - Verse 3 - Pre-Chorus - Chorus - Bridge - Outro. It is key to note that:

1. The song is in 4 4 time
2. There is no real introduction - the song jumps into the first verse after an almost 1 bar ascending sound effect. The ending is similarly abrupt with just 1 bar of descending sound effect.
3. Every pattern (A/B/C/D) is 4 bars long
4. Every main section of the song is 8 bars long, formed by repeating 1 pattern twice
1. i.e. Verse 1 = A + A, Verse 2 = B + B etc.
5. Verse 1's pattern A | A is repeated in Verse 3
6. However, Verse 2's pattern is not repeated (unique)
7. Pre-Chorus and Chorus ( C | C | D | D ) appears twice in the song as typical of modern pop music
8. While I call the second last section the 'Bridge', it is really a repeat of the Chorus ( D | D pattern) with a variation of Verse 2's lyrics/melody layered on top of it

As we can see, the simplicity of Sing Me To Sleep lies in points 3 and 4. The patterns are no longer than 4 bars long, plus every section is simply exactly 2 times of a selected pattern. On the first listen, there are clearly two parts (Intro-Chorus + Verse 3-Outro), with the latter seeming like a repeat of the former.

However, it is complex in that instead of having only 2 patterns for just verses and choruses (A/B), I managed to identify what seems like 4 patterns. Pattern B is a standalone and appears by itself only once, although its elements are borrowed in the Bridge, forming Pattern D.

The complexity of Sing Me To Sleep is even more evident as I go on to talk about the instrumentation (depth complexity). I think I have a headache from trying to hear all the different sounds over 2 days, especially since I am not familiar with identifying instruments and the effects in electronic music masks the true sound of instruments. The ones I have most problems with was the Synth/FX versus the muted Guitars, Snare Drum versus Percussion, so pardon me if I mixed their roles up, or heard something that wasn't actually there!

Some explanation of terms:

• The Pluck is what Walker described as a ''plucky melodic, almost percussion-ish sound'' created with ''chopped off vocals''. It occurs at the beginning of each A-phase, coming in with and at the same pitch as the first note of the piano. It's most obviously heard in Verse 1. It may have occurred throughout the rest of the song but it was too difficult to catch.
• The Soul Lead is the bouncey sound (*) that comes between "Sing * me * to sleep * now * Sing * me * to sleep * ...".
• The Percussion in the Verses and Pre-Choruses were clicking-like sounds (like going tick-tock-tick-tock) right in the background, playing the rhythm a fraction of a second after the synth/guitars 
• A new percussion seems to be added in the bridge, sounds like cymbals (hear it between the voice "A-a-*cymbals*-nytime")

I love the choice of instruments (the flute!), the Soul Lead, and the melody. It gives the electronic music a more pleasing and melodic feel.

Something about 'the piano' I identified

• The piano is clearly heard at the start (playing a tune) and during the pre-chorus (playing the chords).
• In the remaining sections where I marked the piano as "Pad/Fills, I'm referring to the very low/bass sound playing the chords... It is possibly another instrument but I've identified it as the piano in here.

What else I like about the song is that it starts really 'calmly' and the build up was done well. As mentioned, each section repeats 1 pattern. In order to keep the song interesting, the build doesn't come only in between sections (i.e. adding instruments when going from Verse 1 to 2), but during sections. One example is in Verse 2, where the bass drums are added only in the second B phase.

At first glance, some might argue the section I named 'Pre-Chorus' should be the chorus since it has the most instruments thus enabling the fullest sound. From this, I learnt that that's not always the case and that the choice of instruments matters. The change in lead from a 'softer' voice to the synth causes the sound to be much fuller in what I call the 'Chorus'. Also, as an electronic music piece, I find it suitable to refer to the instrumental section as the chorus, because voice should not be focal in electronic music.

MELODIC CONSTRUCTION

The Call and Response Technique
One call and response I identified was the flute and guitars (or is it synth) 'answering' to the voice:

Flutes 1 (high): E - F# - G - F# - E - D - C
Guitars 1         : E - E - B - E - F# - G - C

Flutes 2 (low) : C - B - C - B - C - B 
Guitars 2         : E - E - F# - E - F# - G
- What's interesting here is that while the flutes low melody seems to complete the idea, the layer of guitar melody seems to suggest a continuation (think what's this increasing pitch of notes leading to ?)

Guitars 3        : G - G - G - G - F# - D

In Verse 2:

Anywhere, anytime
I would do anything (flutes/guitars) for you
Anything for you (flutes/guitars)
Yesterday got away
Melodies stuck inside (flutes/guitars) your head
A song in every breath

And Verse 3:

Remember me now, time cannot erase (flutes/guitars)
I can hear your whispers in my mind (flutes/guitars)
I've become what you cannot embrace (flutes/guitars)
Our memory will be my lullaby (guitars)

Another call and response, not too sure if this can be considered one, is simply the Soul Lead coming in between 'sing me to sleep', thus 'answering' to each word sung. Hmm... Well even if it isn't, at least it's the hook of the song!


The Hook
"Sing me to sleep" sung with the soul lead in between each word. The soul lead is a signature sound in Walker's music - also heard in Faded and Spectre, and here it is aptly incorporated into the hook.


Other Notable Points
At the end of the Verse 2 ("A song in every breath"), all instruments go out except for the voice: this is a a good way to signal the end of a section, and also create tension/interest before jumping into the pre-chorus build up?

HARMONY

Finally, the harmony (no guarantees, I tried my best...). The song starts in a minor tone (E minor?) and transitions into its relative major sound in the Pre-Chorus, Chorus and Bridge (G major). 

Here is a simple breakdown of the chord progressions (recall: each section is 8 bars long):

Notation: numbers in each cell indicate how many bars each chord lasts

With that... I've come to the end of my analysis! Phew! *wipes sweat off everything* The question now is, how do I apply these elements?! The part I am lacking is actually coming up with a tune... :( wish me luck!


References:
1. Original Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i2khp_npdE
2. Instrumental: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6hWKp95Kp8
3. Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanwalker/singmetosleep.html
4. Behind-the-scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLoqggFdVU8 (really helped in identifying unique sounds)

Reference Song

My reference song: Alan Walker - Sing Me To Sleep