Music CreationProminent Ideas on Arrangement, Dynamics, and Overall Composition (Some time in March)

Prominent Ideas on Arrangement, Dynamics, and Overall Composition (Some time in March)

Detailing the key component(s) to many parts of (most) songs:

  • Driving (almost) any given track should be melodic or "semi-melodic" instruments of recognizable and defined timbre, which often outline:

    • Chord structure
    • Rhythm
    • Melodic (and often polyphonic) lines
    • Hooks
    • Overarching motifs
    • Overarching song structure

  • The ideas that these "well defined timbre" instruments will be communicating should walk a fine (but clear) line between traditional and recognizable, and esoteric and innovative

  • These instruments should also not have too many heavily sound altering effects and should be very clear (but also nuanced) within the overall "unit" and mix of a track

  • Music to listen to to inspire and develop some of the elements of a track listed above:

    • The Beach Boys, especially Pet Sounds
    • Radiohead, especially The Bends, OK Computer, and (my personal favorite) Kid A
    • Acoustic guitar and folk music
    • Lyrical Hip-Hop with focused (and often pattern infused) flows and well formed beats/instrumentals
    • Vintage rock music, as well as certain songs from 60s counterculture

Detailing the bass and general low-end elements and how it collaborates with the ideas explained/communicated above

(Detail the common practice of a Bass Tower, which sits below the most defined instruments (the topic of the section above)) (Sub, then often a walking and more organic rock style bass, sometimes with some synth-bass ornaments on top)

Often times, I like to utilize a mechanism which I call a "bass tower" as a schematic for the low end and bass frequencies of a song. The bass tower is typically structured as follows:

  • Deep, often monophonic sub-bass, with heavy boosts to the low end frequencies of the sound
  • Funky, almost walking basslines layered on top, drowned in compression
  • Bass stabs and ornaments with focus on extreme frequencies; quite subtle in the mix/bass tower

These three things and their interplay should make for a full sounding and detailed bass section

  • Music to listen to to inspire and develop some of the elements of a track listed above:
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