Portfolio I Project
Music
Final Track Description
Tempo: 120
Key: C# minor
Harmony Chord Progressions:
Measure 1- i VI iv v
Measure 5- VI iiº v i
Measure 9- i v VI iv
Measure 13- i i iv v
Relative Key: E Major
Harmony Chord Progressions:
Measure 17- I iii V Vsus2 ii
Measure 21- IV I iii V
Measure 25- iii IV ii Isus2 I
Measure 29- IV ii V IVsus2 IV
Live Audio Recording: One of the audio recordings took place on track 31 and is called Clanking Metal. I used a metal cup and hit it with a plastic hairbrush. The second audio recording was from a few projects ago where I got to record my own sound effects for a cartoon using my microphone. It takes place on track number 36 and it is called Clanking Glass because I hit the inside of a glass ashtray with a pencil.
Dynamic Processors: The Kick on track 1, the Hi-Hats on track 3, the Bass on track 28, the Plucked Synth on track 33, the Flute sample on track 34, the Clanking Glass audio on track 36 and the Clanking Metal on the audio track 31 all have compressors to prevent clipping. Kick on track 1 and Snare on track 2 both have their own noise gate. Both Harmony tracks and the Melody track has Expanders on them. All tracks have a Channel EQ.
Time-based Processors: The Hi-hats on track 3 have a large room Reverb. The Bass on track 28 has a Strange Room Reverb and a Delay. The Flute Sample on track 34 is bussed to a Reflection Room Reverb. Clanking Glass has a 1/8 note Delay.
The Full Track Description
This track is in the Electro genre and has some of a jazzy rhythm to it. When choosing the sounds I wanted in the beginning, I found that I liked the electronic drum kit the best for the upbeat groove I was going for. I used the harmony and melody to add a dark tone to the track. I used 4/4 common time with a tempo of 120 bpm. The drums change a total of six times throughout the track. The kick skips the third beat and sometimes the fourth with snare taking up the space on beats three and four and sometimes beat two. The Hi-hats mostly ride throughout the song filling most of every measure but given a little space to breathe. The bassline also is set with an electro sound and it follows the kick drum and the harmony’s root notes.
I used two different keys for my harmony with the first one being C# minor, lasting till measure 17, and the song continues with the relative key E major. The first four chord progressions are: C#m A F#m G#m A D#d G#m C#m C#m G#m A F#m C#m C#m F#m G#m. The second four chord progressions, starting at measure 17, are: E G#m B Bsus2 F#m A E G#m B G#m A F#m Esus2 E A F#m B Asus2 A. Starting at measure 17 I used a track stack to blend a different sound for the harmony using a Polyphonic Synth from scratch. For the melody I took the chords from each key and made both sections their own arch melody by deleting two notes on each chord. The harmony and the melody both have Electro preset sounds.
In this track I have two audio tracks that were recorded using my personal microphone. Both were created from things I had laying around the house. I recorded the first audio track, named Clanking Metal, when this project was only 16 measures long and I hit a metal cup and a hairbrush a few times to the beat of the track. The second audio track, named Clanking Glass, was recorded from a previous project where I got to make the sound effects for an older style cartoon. Its sound is made from a pencil hitting the sides of a glass ashtray to sound like a bell. For my first original Synthesizer I set the virtual sliders and knobs to create a blended harmony in a track stack and named it Original Harmony Synth. The second original Synthesizer is named Original Plucked Synth and it is set to sound like a firm plucked instrument. There is also a sample used in this track named Flute Sample and it was created using the Q-Sampler and trimming up the audio of Jazz Hustle Flute 03 from the apple loops.
I used Dynamic and Time-based processors in this project. For Dynamics, the kick, Hi-hats, Bass, Original Plucked Synth, the Flute Sample, Clanking Metal and Clanking Glass all have compressors to control volume. The kick and snare both have their own noise gates and all tracks have a Channel EQ inserted on them. For Time-based effects I used a Large Room Reverb on the Hi-hats sent to the aux named Large Room using bus 7. On the bass I used bus 4 to send it to a Reverb and Delay on the auxiliary named Bass Reverb and Delay. I used bus 8 to send the Flute sample to a â…› note delay on the aux titled Flute Delay. The last Time-based effect I used was a Reflection hall Reverb on the Clanking Glass using bus 6. For my mixing I brought the Harmony, Bass and Original Plucked Synth the closest with the Drums, Melody and Clanking Metal not far behind. The Flute Sample and Clanking glass was set the farthest away and the entire track top peak is -7.5.