SHR4C004M-003 Song Prod. & Write Up Template
Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)
Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)
When creating this song, I was heavily inspired by a lot of Crystal Castles’ later work and especially their fourth album “Amnesty”. Their first album with vocalist Edith Frances where they introduced a darker more atmospheric sound with tracks like “their kindness is charade” and “char” all while keeping their harsh lo-fi electronic sound. I think my track borrows from this quite well and in its own inventive way at that. With a ghost-like chord floating you from the beginning to the end of the track, synths that screech as if being bowed off of the strings of a violin, and ghost-like chimes dancing up and down reciting the main vocal line back as if the words were lost in translation.
I began the track writing out the chords using retrologue, a Steinberg synthesiser that’s built to emulate the sound of classic analogue synthesizers. In most projects I have used this as my main synthesizer purley due to my familiarity with it, but I do feel as if its holding me back slightly just because it’s slightly limited in what sounds u can achieve when using it. But, when using this synthesiser I created the haunting chords experimenting with the envelope filter having it get softer as the chord drags on as well as this I increased the amount of voices for each sawtooth wave and de-tuned them to each other to cause a more dissonant and weird sound.
When creating the bass synth, I again used retrologue for this which works extremely well for big sounding bass lines. I followed a very similar set of steps as with the chords that I made using retrologue too. When synthesizing the bass I started by increasing the number of voices, then slightly detuning them to add width and depth, this made the track sound so much bigger I think. I also applied a subtle low-pass filter to tame some of the shrill high-end frequencies, helping the bass sit more comfortably in the mix.
For the bell melody, which echoes the main vocal melody, I used FM8—a software synthesizer made by Native Instruments. I synthesized the sound with the help of built-in presets, which provided a strong foundation. I used this preset because after doing some research into the synthesizers used by Crystal Castles I found out that the telepath preset on FM-8 had been used on many of their songs. FM8 is highly versatile but is especially well-known for its glassy, digital textures and its deep focus on FM synthesis. It’s designed as a modern take on the classic Yamaha DX7-style synthesis, offering more flexibility and clarity.
For the vocals on this track, I set up a single AKG C414 microphone in the control room of Studio 422. This setup allowed me to record myself extensively, giving me the time and space to experiment and capture the perfect performance.
When it comes to the vocals of the track I didn’t like how the tone of my voice sounded alongside the track so I shifted the formant of my voice down by 50 percent, doing this created an almost pitched down effect which I think really worked with the contrasting floatiness and dancing drums of the track. Along with this I re-sampled the chorus line on top of each other as if to have a sort of call and response of two voices and towards the end of the vocal line I would chop and repeat the vocals as it glitches into the drop.
In the drop of this track, I used the built in sampler from cubase to chop the vocals and assign a different section of my voice from the chorus line to each note of the piano role. From here I wrote a melody after experimenting with which notes I thought sounded the best and fit the vibe of what I wanted most to build tension then fizzle back out into the next section.
I think in terms of commercial potential this track could do well within similar crowds to Crystal Castles, Snow Strippers and SALEM as it utilizes that trendy electronic ghostly sound that is so beloved about these artists. I think especially on Tik tok as an audio for short fashion clips of people fit checking but obviously with promoting like that it’s really about who u can get to post your song to help it blow up as just promoting it yourself often doesn’t work but doing it through influencers spreads it to there followers and people who keep up with trends from them.
Overall I’m very happy with the outcome of the track, I think it’s catchy and has a great drop that just makes you wanna move. Looking back on the track, if I had to change anything I think I would rewrite and change the melody of the vocals in the second verse. I’m still unsure what it is about them but going into the second verse it just cringes me slightly, the melodies just a little janky at first.
