Under The Skin

This song was inspired by a wide variety of tracks from a variety of artists. The acoustic guitar part was inspired by Jigsaw Falling Into Place by Radiohead, with the suspended and 7th chords throughout. To record the acoustic guitar, I used an Audio Technica AT-2020 microphone, as well as the signal from a single coil pickup in the neck of the acoustic guitar, sent through a DI box to capture the same performance with 2 different tones. I panned these tracks to opposite sides, which creates a very wide stereo image. The bass and electric guitar were both sent through a DI box, with the electric guitar sent through a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal first. I then used the amp simulator plugin Amplitube by IK Multimedia to shape the tone further.

I decided to choose a spoken word style for the verses, inspired by The Orb’s song “Little Fluffy Clouds”, which used samples from interviews and news programs. I have memories from when I was much younger of turning on the radio before I went to sleep, tuning in half way through whatever was on and falling asleep with it in the background, not paying full attention to the words, and I wanted to put this into the verses to capture that feeling. I decided to record myself talking about a couple of experiences I’ve had that involve being transgender, how it’s affected my relationships with people and what I’ve done in terms of my transition. It’s a subject I find difficult to write about, but I usually have a lot to express about, whether through words or through music.

For the chorus, I was inspired by old children’s songs with innocent sounding melodies, but upon looking at the words they’re quite creepy. The words “Under The Skin” comes from the title of Jonathan Glazer’s 2014 psychological horror film. I added lots of delay and reverb to add to the creepy effect and make it sound as if the listener’s attention is elsewhere.

For the ending of the song, I was inspired by the Radiohead song “Karma Police” from OK Computer, which slowly fades into a self oscillating delay. To achive this effect, I used Logic’s built in reverse delay stompbox plugin, “Tie Dye Delay”, and automated the feedback parameter to ramp upwards over the last 4 bars as everything else fades out, before using automation to turn it back down and fade out to end the track.

For the drums, I recorded myself using my mouth to make some sounds (plosives for the kick sound and fricatives for the snare sound) into the microphone, as well as clicking my fingers for an added percussive layer. I then used Logic’s Drum Machine Designer to sequence the samples and create a beat. I didn’t apply much processing to these samples as I wanted them to sound natural, just using a compressor and EQ to bring them out in the mix, as well as a little bit of reverb to give a sense of space.

Bibliography:

The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds from the album The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991): https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfjpmvbQG0&list=RDAMVMKNfjpmvbQG0

Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place from In Rainbows (2008): https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CvjRlYpXS5U

IK Multimedia – Amplitube: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube5/?pkey=amplitube-5-max-v2