This is another little experiment
with Microtonal stuff, using a quarter tone tuning like the others... I only shared 1-4, the ones in between 4 and 9 were all just really weak, and never really became full songs, it was just me trying to get the hang of it quarter tones still. This one actually became kind of a real song haha, I'm not sure how harmonically pleasing it is, it's really dissonant and doesn't really feel like it ever resolves, which is cool. Each section is 5 measures of 4/4, which makes it stranger when we resolve on the 6th measure instead of the 5th, adding to the general unresolved feeling. I've attached a little chart below that I made of all the quarter tones and the regular 12 tones. Everything in RED is a regular note, while all the notes in GREEEN are our 1/4 tones. Let's get into the instruments!
Listen to 'Microtonal Experiment #9' here.
Tracks 1 and 3 are our
quarter tone tracks. They both are playing the same notes, but for some reason, I think because of the timbre and effects on each track, they actually play different notes, and have different overtones that make them sound distinct. Track 1 is sort of a synth string tone, with a heavy tremolo, while Track 3 is a theramin. They were going to just mirror each other, but when played together, the harmonies that happened accidentally sounded great.
Tracks 1 and 3, described above.
Tracks 1 and 3, described above.Tracks 5 and 9 are
our percussion tracks. #5 is the main drum track, using electric drum kit sounds, and Track 9 comes in later, adding some weird digital percussion sounds to the mix. Track 6 is the next instrument, which plays without using quarter tones, so we definitely get some dissonance between this and Tracks 1 and 3. Track 6 plays a little jumping chromatic pattern of D, D#, C#, C and C#.
Listen to 'Microtonal Experiment #9' here.
The last two tracks to discuss
are 7 and 8, which are both the same electric piano sound. I used the same trick here that I did on yesterday's post, doubling the track, and moving the double's notes over by less than a 1/16th of a beat, so you get a strange effect. It makes the piano seem a little warbly and odd, but doesn't sound like 2 different piano tracks. If you check the screenshot below, you can see that Track 8's notes are all slightly to the right of the downbeats, giving us the effect.
Track 8, described above.
Track 8, described above.