My final composition is an electronic track built around atmosphere, rhythm, and sample manipulation. This track was composed and produced in Ableton Live, starting with a dark ambient space before gradually developing into brighter pc music and hyperpop-influenced sound design. As the track gradually develops, the structure doesn’t fall into the typical verse to chorus template, instead developing through repetition, layering and subtle changes of texture. 

The track begins with a filter synth pad playing dotted eighth notes, this was to keep the intro open but still making it exciting by giving it movement. This is accompanied by an arpeggiated sample as the focal point, created by resampling the beginning chords adding an Amp, Hybrid Reverb, and an Echo to add distortion, lengthen the sound and give it more width. This arpeggiated sample repeats throughout the first section, this gives the listener something consistent to follow as the track develops. As a result, this also helps the transitions feel smoother as I can build around this already familiar section. After, sixteen bars vocal chops are introduced to layer with the arpeggiated sample with occasional notes being of a higher pitch to stand out. I used various samples throughout the project, coming from splice. For example, I used ZEN_ZPB_125_drum_loop_no_kick_woo for the intro fading the drums in then adding the kick for eight bars before introducing the rest of the drums using the original sample as a percussion layer instead of using the full pattern. The opening was inspired by the Brian Eno workshop, specifically the idea of keeping the rhythmic ideas simple using minimal syncopation, this limitation means that I needed to use repetition strategically and build the track around space and texture. This influence is shown in the vocal chops adding texture with occasional stand-out notes instead of being used as the main melody. This along with the arpeggiated sample create a centre of the listener helping the surrounding textures to feel more spacious.

The second half of the track starts with a brighter bridge-like section, where the arrangement starts stripped back before building up again briefly mirroring the intro. This contrasts the darker sound selection of the opening, helping transition to the more pc music influenced section. In this section the main layer is created from this sample MO_HA_140_synth_loop_caustics_Cmaj from the Ocean of Dreamson splice. As this sample was listed under the hyperpop tag it helped to introduce the brighter, synthetic sound of PC music. This made the sound design for the pads easier as I had a base sound to blend other layers into. The MO_HA_140_synth_loop_caustics_Cmaj sample is then resampled for the ending section adding Aberrant DSP Digitalis, Beat Repeat, Amp, Redux, Hybrid Reverb and an eq. These effects along with chopping up the sample helped to create the glitchy distorted texture that I used as a base for the melodic section at the end. I then layered KMRBI_GHS_116_synth_glitch_loop_dimensions_Am and MO_TENNY_132_synth_tb303_quire_Amin using the same effects to keep the sounds similar, so they blend together better I also pitched up the MO_TENNY_132_synth_tb303_quire_Amin sample to fit better in the mix as I already had a lot of mid-frequency sounds and needed another layer to sit on top of the mix. For the drums in the ending section, I used ZEN_VAND_130_drum_loop_groove_luv.wav, NINAJIRACHI_drum_loop_spacey_100_tops.wav MO_TENNY_139_drum_loop_top_slime.wav to create my new section. These loops were sliced and rearranged in Ableton to create a new rhythm; this was inspired by the sampling workshop while exploring gold panda. While in class we focused on slicing individual samples to midi. I wanted to blend three samples together, so I decided to manually cut the audio and stitch parts together to create a similar effect. This helped to leave space for the glitchy melodic section while maintaining the movement and energy in the drums.

Overall, I think my piece successfully shows my engagement with the Module. My composition was created using sampling, resampling, synthesis and specific mixing and arrangement choices. The strongest section in my piece is the transition from the dark ambient opening to the brighter PC music influenced section without any disconnect, leading into one complete track instead of feeling like two separate ideas stitched together. One thing I would improve if I developed the track further would be leaning more into the digicore inspired hyperpop artists such as Aries, underscores, ericdoa and glaive. However, for this track I would take inspiration from Brakence specifically his song “deepfake”. He combines distorted dubstep-style basses over more organic instruments such as piano and acoustic guitar. I could use this influence to add organic instrumentation to the final section, this would make it more intense and would give me greater control over emotion within the track.

Sample list from splice

ZEN_ZPB_125_drum_loop_no_kick_woo.wav           

ZEN_VAND_130_drum_loop_groove_luv.wav

VOX_TORI_LETZLER_80_vocal_adlib_crystal_skies_wet_Cmaj.wav

VFP_kit5_break_fill_short_145_a_minor.wav           

TS_HMD_kick_metal.wav      

T_TSCR4_kick_oneshot_drivon.wav  

SM_TRTNL_128_bass_synth_slow_ripper_analog_Amin.wav          

PMRD4_Kick_15.wav

OS_SB_Loafi_Snare.wav         

OS_LFC2_Snare_12.wav         

NINAJIRACHI_drum_loop_spacey_100_tops.wav

MO_TENNY_139_drum_loop_top_slime.wav           

MO_TENNY_135_drum_loop_foley_garage.wav      

MO_TENNY_132_synth_tb303_quire_Amin.wav      

MO_HA_140_synth_loop_caustics_Cmaj.wav          

MDSN_ATGRF_hihat_simple_closed.wav      

KSHMR_sok5_kick_pop_modern.wav            

KMRBI_GHS_116_synth_glitch_loop_dimensions_Am.wav  

FL_SHS_132_Vocal_Female_More_Chop_Cmaj_Dry.wav      Splice

FF_MCH_hat_open_mid_classic.wav