Mentioned on Twitter yesterday that the track I’m working on had a bit of a Depeche Mode thing going on. Not really sure that’s the case anymore, but for me at least, there are elements of this which are early 1980s.
That certainly wasn’t my intention when starting this track. It took a left turn towards electro-pop somewhere around the high arpeggios and by the time I’d added the opening bass riff (which has taken over from the melody which appears much later to become the dominant theme), it was game over.
This won’t be the final arrangement (a bit of a give away in the rather abrupt ending) and I was monitoring again with earbuds last night – you know the rest.
Just to reiterate, this isn’t finished at all, but I would welcome any thoughts. It’s a collection of ideas, not a coherent piece. Some will stay. Some won’t. The sweeping synth appears too frequently for my liking. Need to delete some instances of that.
All in all, I kind of liked it. Now I’m not so sure.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
To all intents and purposes, this track is now finished. As ever, I may return to mix with fresh ears in a couple of days and once I’ve had a chance to run it through the car stereo test. So far, I’ve monitored on my god awful computer speakers, a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-100s, some Sennheisers and my UltimateEars earbuds. Seems OK(ish) on those.
It’s been quite a weird journey this one. It started out with a “lost chord” – the second prominent chord on the AtmoEPiano (Green Oak Crystal VST plugin). I was fiddling around on the piano and really liked that chord.
Started to build an ambient piece, but upping the tempo to 165bpm against the lazy lead chords caught my attention. The addition of dialogue from American Graffiti came right at the end. I’m still not sure if I like it or if the track should remain instrumental.
What do you think?
Stream Original:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Stream Mastered by Pure_Tone:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download: Good Time – 320 MP3
OK, the post title is overstating things a little because I still only have 48 bars. But they’re at least 48% better than the 32 bars I had 48 hours ago.
I’m sure there’s a GCSE maths question somewhere in that first paragraph.
It’s building quite nicely now. There’s still much do in terms of mixing, modulation and EQ, but I’m not going to give a moment’s thought to that until I’ve got the main part of the piece composed and recorded. Please – it’s very raw.
Oh and I managed to resurrect the lost chord – the one I stumbled upon when plinkety plonking on the the piano and couldn’t press record for fear of losing my place on the keyboard! Had to remember four notes until I could jot it down into a Cubase file and save it for later. It’s the second of the two prominent chords on the Crystal AtmoEPiano part.
As ever, any feedback would be very welcome.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
