Project: “Feelings in Paradise” by Olivia Savell

 

Calvaria Audio is a studio that provides rentable audio equipment and audio tips, along with recording, mixing, mastering and troubleshooting services. We assist Leesville, Louisiana’s low budget businesses with all their audio needs. I am the owner of Calvaria Audio and as an example of my work, I would like to present a song I created, mixed, and mastered in Ableton Live. “Feelings in Paradise” was designed during week four of my Contemporary Production Techniques class in February of 2024. This song is a chill conga beat, in the key of G, that makes listeners feel like they’re in paradise. 

 

Drums:

I used a MIDI clip called “Bossa Nova Conga Tumba” from one of Ableton’s Latin Percussion pack. This clip is also the starting point for the 100bpm that “Feelings in Paradise” follows. I changed out the two bottom rows of drum rack pad components with different variations of bongos, congas, a cascara and a cabasa. I added various fills and variations every 8 bars to give the drums more character. I adjusted the parameters inside the device’s built-in effects to give it an aggressive edge with a meaty kick drum and tight, focused snare. Parameters inside a soft snare compressor, soft reducer, kick boom filter, bright room reverb, drum enhancer, and subtle funk chorus were also adjusted to give the drums life. The drums only stop for a brief second at the end of chorus 1 for transition. The same 71% wet bright room reverb and 65% wet subtle funk chorus from the drums is used on all tracks to keep a similar space or environment.

 

Tambourine:

The tambourine shake is a one-shot audio sample from Ableton’s Core Library pack, named “Tamb Shake.” Since this is part of percussion, I used the same drum enhancer from the drums track. I added a 4-2 groove delay in fade mode with 23% feedback. The tambourine can be heard in every verse of the song. Starting in the middle of the 4th bar, each tambourine shake has 2 bars of space between them. The last shake of every verse leads into the choruses and bridge for a smoother transition. 

 

Guitar:

The Heavenly Plucks sound preset was used in the Gt3 GitPop MIDI clip instead of the guitar’s provided sound. I increased the attack to 8 then decreased the filter cutoff, timbre, decay, sub gain and layer blend until it sounded well with the drums. A multiband compressor with peak and soft knee settings is used on this guitar. 

 

Verse Piano:

I took an Ableton Voice Box MIDI clip called “A Day In The Country” and replaced the vocalizations with the Basic Suitcase DI piano sound preset. I decreased the tone, key off volume, tremolo speed, tremolo pan, and velocity. The comp, reverb and tremolo amounts were all increased. I played with the individual parameters within a classical compressor, thin mover filter and piano EQ 1 to fit with the guitar.

 

Chorus/Bridge Piano:

Choruses and bridge MIDI piano clips utilize the same sound as the verse piano, the Basic Suitcase DI. However, the key off volume, reverb amount, tremolo amount, tremolo speed, and tremolo pan have different settings. “Phase In The Left Field” is the MIDI clip I used for the chorus, and I created my own chord progression using the G major key. The chorus MIDI clip is from Upright Piano by Spitfire Audio and my chord progression for the bridge is I-V-vi-IV-I-iii-vi-V.  The MIDI piano clip in the first chorus bleeds into the second verse to make a smooth transition. Both sections also share mostly the same effects, which include a multiband compressor with soft knee and peak controls, and a 51% wet clean blues amplifier. The only effect they don’t share is the use of panning from left to right in the chorus. 

 

Bassline:

A deep chill bass is used with the boom capture equalizer, 44% wet bass roundup amplifier and 2x12 near on-axis, dynamic cabinet with a 4x10 bass speaker. I took the root notes from the guitar to use for the verse bassline. The chorus bassline comes from the chorus’s piano root notes and the bridge bassline is from the root notes of my chord progression. 

 

Live Recording:

In the bridge, a live recording of me clicking my tongue follows the rhythm of my chord progression. I used my Zoom H5 Handheld Recorder to record myself, then chose the best sounding variation. I used a low ratio, peak controlled, de-esser with 70% wetness, and an 1/8 note slapback reverb with 27% feedback and 71% wetness. 

 

Mastering:

I exported a .wav file after mixing and created a new Ableton session to master the mix. The channel EQ setting included lowered high and low frequencies with raised mid frequencies around 480Hz. I used a soft knee, peak controlled, standard multiband compressor with a span of 195Hz to 4kHz. I added a 38% wet blues drive amplifier and raised the bass a little. Finally, a maximizer minus bar with a lowered drive, raised boom, and a ceiling of -1.3db is used to control peaking.

 

Relation to business idea:

My song “Feelings in Paradise” captures the chill, relaxed feeling I want our clients to experience when doing business with Calvaria Audio. One of the things we all have in common is we all have a skeleton to support us. Calvaria Audio strives be an audio support system to low budget businesses. I used a picture of a skull I painted with flower sticker for the background to go with the skull theme and represent our support system.