Electron Recalibration

original electronic music

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↓ Click on these links to hear the beat ↓

► Listen on DSound

► Listen from source (IPFS)

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Notes on creating electronic music

To explain the reason I titled this short beat "Electron Recalibration" requires me to share a bit of background about myself. Feel free to skip this to get right to the sounds if you want! I started making electronic music in FL Studio (Fruity Loops) when I was 14 or so. It was one of my favorite musical pastimes as a teen; I definitely enjoyed it more than playing any instrument as it seemed more free of limitations. When I went off to college I got a Macbook Pro, and FL Studio didn't run on a Mac operating system back then, so I fell off doing it. I was more focused on trying to become a decent pianist since that was my major. For years I've wanted to dive back in, but there's a major intimidation factor, because it runs deep. You can pour 10+ hours into a project and end up with something that doesn't even sound that good!
.Anyway, it's worth it, but that's the story. This is the first real fully beatlike thing I've made in a long time. The interesting thing is, my approach to making music with a DAW (digital audio workstation) is so much more organic now. I don't use quantization or, really much looping. I prefer to perform the parts as close to "perfect" as I can get them with little editing. Ever since I focused on learning beatboxing, it's the backbone of everything I create. For me a beatboxing idea can expand in infinite ways and at the same time provide a very grounding aspect. I'm still using Garageband at the moment, but intend to strike out into the wilderness of some other programs soon. I hope to keep a similar attitude as I have while practicing writing poetry on Steemit in the past seven months:

It's less about the end result being "good" and more about expressing, connecting with others, and learning through experience.

I also plan on keeping them short snippets instead of "full-length songs" for the most part. Many people don't even have a long enough attention span to listen to a 4 minute long song! :-D

Notes on process for this song

Get a quick beatbox idea that comes to mind, open Garageband, find the correct tempo. Record the basic idea, with slight variation. Then double it in another track. Improvise a "B" section for the song. In the process of that, find another section that changes things quite a bit. Record all those sections in two tracks.

Next, find the tuning on my Yamaha Montage: seemed to be around A=427 hz (although I later found I was mistaken!) I recorded a bass part on the keyboard doubling my lip bass part. I then recorded with a kick drum and snare patch doubling the hits from the beatbox. Then I thought of a second interlocking bass part and recorded it. After that it was two "rhythm synth" parts. Then I wrote a melody and recorded that using a different synth. I ended up having to adjust the pitch of the beatboxing to the keyboard, because there were some discrepancies. I shifted it downward by 72 cents.

Okay, after that part is where my confidence begins to fade. After all, I was trained in composing/arranging, not audio engineering! But anyway, I attempt to balance the parts out in volume and do some basic automation. Hopefully, I'll be able to glean some of the knowledge of good friends that know a lot more than I do in that area and improve. To be honest, when I listen to my final products, I think they sound... well, just ok. In comparison to tracks mixed and engineered by pros, there's just no competition. If you have any pointers for me in that area, be my guest!

Specs on the beat

Tuning: A = 427 hz
Temperament: Equal
Tempo: 113 bpm
Key: B minor

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↓ Click on these links to hear the beat ↓

► Listen on DSound

► Listen from source (IPFS)

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Music and writing
By Hive account@d-pend
1/23/18
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Art by
SymmetryBox

1 - "Precious"
2 - "Infinity"
3 - "The Flat Rainforest"

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