For my project, I explored how electronics can shape my compositional process and transform the final result, enhancing my musical voice. I aim to develop my practical control of synthesis and signal chain building in the HX Stomp to reshape my tone. These aims allow me to work to my strengths by combining my bass skills with technology and my interest in sound design. My submission features me performing on every instrument shown onscreen, which I have arranged and produced to demonstrate my ability to use additional effects and plugins within Logic. Initially, I wasn’t sure how to build a composition around electronic elements, as I typically play gospel music, which relies on a largely clean tone out of my bass and very little technological influence. While this project was a big step away from what I’m comfortable with, it forced me to approach writing music from a new angle. The end result still distinctly represents me and my musical voice through the strong focus on funk bass-driven grooves, combined with gospel and fusion inspired harmony and rhythm. However, it has been reinterpreted through the use of electronics, adding a new layer of textural depth and timbral complexity to my work.
Before I recorded the song, I spent time developing contrasting sounds and letting them lead the composition. I created a rough demo so that I understood how I wanted the arrangement to flow and how the range of instruments would sit together in the mix. This project features the Sequential Prophet X, Arturia Polybrute, Moog Subsequent 37, Logic’s Alchemy, the Korg Prologue and my basses. By combining my own Moog with synths from the university facilities, I was better able to understand the unique differences and advantages of each, which allowed me to exploit these elements in my composition to make the best use of the equipment available to me.
I researched the synths and pedals through YouTube videos, manuals, and blogs, which helped me see how real musicians were already using the gear. This aided me greatly, as my understanding of synthesis was very limited prior to this assignment, as I am a bass player and have only recently developed an interest in synthesis. Following my research, I went to university consistently to put these ideas into practice and learn how to use each synth for myself. This deepened my understanding of sound design through both polyphonic and monophonic synthesis. When I first stepped into the room, my experiments were relatively unsuccessful as the many controls on each synth were initially daunting. A peer collaboration with a film music student helped me by guiding me in person through the synths and answering all my questions. This interaction changed the way I approach developing sounds with the synth, as he showed me how to replicate sounds as closely as possible through methodically working through components, starting with the waveform and filter. This helps you to lay the foundation of any sound before you move on to refining the characteristics of the sound. I now implement this method every time I use a synth, and it produces a faster workflow and more intentional sound design.
Throughout my composition, I experimented with interchanging bass lines, swapping between synth bass and electric bass while also layering them simultaneously. This concept was introduced to me through the Michael Jackson song ‘Billie Jean’ (1982). I adapted this technique to achieve powerful low ends and play with the contrasting textures of synth bass against an electric bass. I crafted the synth bass tones with the Moog Subsequent 37, which has gained popularity in the industry as a monophonic synth and is already used by many bass players to create rich bass tones. While it is capable of being duophonic, it works especially well for bass and lead sounds, which do not generally depend on simultaneous notes.
The early funk synth bass sounds of the 70s from the likes of Herbie Hancock were the initial inspiration behind this composition. It was through the process of recreating this sound that I ended up writing the main bassline, which ties this composition together. I achieved a similar effect by mixing a pulse wave with a saw wave and tuning the envelope attack to catch the filter, giving a ‘squelch sound’ at the front of each note. However, this sound didn’t have the deep bass frequencies I was looking for, as I wanted the bass to pack more of a punch with a modern element, so I decided to layer the bass with a sub bass sound. I added some drive through the oscillators for this sound to help the bass come through on phone speakers and other smaller devices, which was demonstrated by Charlie Puth (2020) in the video ‘How Charlie Puth creates his ICONIC basslines’.
The intro of the song makes use of the duophonic mode, with LFOs controlling the filter cutoff sweep. I was fascinated by how the two oscillators interacted when separated, and the result was a very warm retro sound. I also used the arpeggiator later in the song to build anticipation before the synth solo cuts through the mix.
I then utilised a splitter pedal commonly used by guitarists to split their signal to multiple amps. This allowed me to record the Moog in stereo, giving me creative freedom over the panning once in Logic. This emulated two voices of unison, and I used a pitch shift plugin and a spreader in Logic to widen the sound, creating a thick stereo image in combination with hard pans on each channel.
The Sequential Prophet X excels in combining a standard paraphonic synth with a sample engine capable of producing two simultaneous sample-based instruments, which allows vast creative freedom within the sound design through layering. This informed how I used the Prophet within my composition to create harmonically rich organ sounds inspired by gospel church players such as Vaughn Brathwaite. I’m limited in the fact that I am not a keyboard player, so I had to work within my ability; however, I was able to take the essence of the sound and translate it into my composition. I ended up mixing an organ sample instrument with a bright string sample instrument. I also mixed in two oscillators to fill out the sound and add some nice high end content to the sound. I wanted to keep space within the arrangement because of the significant movement within the bassline, but I still wanted to add interesting harmony. These stabs nicely contrast the synth bass tone and cut through the mix to add some colour. I also developed some soft pads with the Prophet, inspired by worship keyboard players as seen in the Sunday Sounds video ‘Beginners guide to playing worship pads’. I incorporated this concept to create a solid bed of harmony in the background of the mix and to contrast the piercing organ sound. I also added portamento so that the chords would have a slight gliding property as the notes warp into the chord. This achieved an uplifting quality to the transitions and added brief tension before landing on the chord.
One of the Arturia Polybrute’s standout features is the sound morphing capabilities, along with the touch and pressure sensitive 3D controller. I made use of this while layering the chords during the B section. This created a complex integration of two contrasting sounds, which added a unique texture to my performance. I later used the Arturia to develop a punchy lead tone that pierces through the mix while still retaining a lot of body to the sound. I was inspired by Andrew Huang’s use of synths in his solo on Cloud Collapse. In the future, I intend to learn how to push the boundaries of this synth and better control its extensive feature list, as my understanding of it still remains quite limited compared to its potential. I’d like to use more active morphing between sounds while playing in the future by using a sustain pedal to free up one of my hands to edit parameters.
I used the Korg Prologue to improvise over the existing elements of the track. This allowed me to explore how I could manipulate the synth to interact with the other instruments in real time and adapt as the music evolves instead of using static pre-designed patches. I did this to demonstrate my understanding and control of the synth to create a dynamic and flowing sonic texture which contrasts all the elements seen previously. I utilised many parameters such as portamento, individual oscillator pitch controls, wave form, cutoff, resonance, multi engine, wave shape, envelope generator intensity, drive, envelope and the built in effects.
Before this module, I was limited to alchemy presets in Logic and only changed basic settings such as the cutoff. But now, through engaging with hardware gear, I’ve gained an understanding of how to interact with the filters and shape the sound to match my vision.
I used the HX Stomp XL extensively to craft effects that were used in conjunction with my bass and synth to produce unique sonic identities that dramatically deviate from the original timbres of the instruments. Before this project, I only used the stomp for standard effects like drive, octave and modulation. However, this assignment gave me the opportunity to explore unconventional uses of my pedal as well as figure out how to replicate effects I always enjoyed but never thought to attempt with my pedal. I chose to use the HX stomp because I am very familiar with it, having owned one for a few years, and I enjoy the possibilities of digital processing. With this one pedal, I was able to stretch my understanding of effects and create contrasting tones which help to create intrigue and accent certain moments. I used techniques such as parallel processing to help preserve the low end by running a dry signal and a distorted signal before mixing them together to create huge bass sounds. I also made use of logic plugins and other post production digital effects to enhance and add colour to the layers of audio. This allowed me to explore using the bass as a lead instrument, which opens up layering possibilities without the mix getting too muddy, as the different sounds help to separate the basslines. I also used subtle processing, such as amp simulations within the stomp to add an element of character to the DI signal.
While developing this project, I ended up experimenting with various pitch effects within the HX Stomp and trying to utilise these in unique and creative ways to dramatically recharacterise the sound of my bass. Thundercat often solos while pitch shifting up an octave. I implemented this into my project to make my bass melody line sound like a guitar and stand out in the mix. I also used major 6th intervals in a harmony effect, inspired by Tim Henson’s use of a multivoicer with his guitar in the video ‘multivoicer/vocoded guitar tutorial’. This didn’t work as well as I hoped, so I will work more on replicating this sound as the version in this project lacks many elements that bring this tone to life.
I gave the illusion of a 12 string bass through the use of pitch adding effects, allowing me to program in the other string pitches, which expanded the sound of my 4 string bass. I wouldn’t typically use this sound within a track, but it showcases the results of my experimentation. I also modelled a synth preset utilising pitch blocks off of Ian Martin Alison’s preset in the video ‘synth bass… but not as you know it’. I wasn’t able to replicate this sound directly as I was limited by the DSP of the stomp, and I don’t own a separate pedal to achieve the wobble effect. So I adapted it and changed the context by playing in the upper register with fast-moving melody lines, which completely changes the character of this sound.
I leaned into utilising my dynamics to play the filter itself. By increasing my attack on the bass, I was able to open up the filter more, allowing me to control the way the filter reacted and harness that to accent certain moments, which creates a dynamic arc to my bass soloing. I then assigned the filter, chorus and phaser to one footswitch, allowing me to quickly bypass them and jump between a clean signal with just the EQ, compression and amp sim to the full sound. This allowed me to interact with the sounds during my solo and talk through the use of effects. Some of the tones didn’t work as I envisioned, so I ended up swapping basses throughout the song, since the pickups greatly impact the results of the tone through all the effects. This adds another layer to the sound design, so I tested each effect through my different basses and picked the bass that brought the most out of the tones.
Momentary effects within the HX Stomp are also very powerful and give me access to unusual sounds. I used this technique in conjunction with a tremolo set to a square wave at a high frequency, so that my bass would rapidly cut in and out when the footswitch is held. I gained inspiration for this concept from Collin Sutton, my bass tutor at Leeds Conservatoire, who showed me similar uses of effects. I also used a momentary effect to slide the pitch up an octave which allows me to completely reimagine the way I perform with the bass by quickly jumping between octaves as I play to accent certain notes or create abnormal sounds.
Delay is a common effect; however, it’s rarely applied to the bass, so I experimented with a dotted 8th note delay, tempo-synced to my project. I also slapped these lines to add more percussive information for the delay to process and feed back. This idea came from hearing the song The Wild Boys by Duran Duran in my childhood, which features a similar delayed bass layer. Rob Scallon’s “Rain” also inspired the use of delay and combining it with chord shapes on the bass. In the future, I’d like to use a higher feedback on the delay. However, the arrangement was too dense in this composition, so I had to lower the feedback to avoid overcrowding.
I realised through peer review that while I had achieved lots of movement and development across the synth and bass parts, the drums lacked significant variation. I decided to utilise Logic’s remix FX plugin to add variation to the sequenced drums and produce another layer of performance depth.
Overall, I am very pleased with how this project turned out and the opportunities it gave me to rethink my approach to composition through a focus on sound design and creative implementations of electronics. This challenged me, as I had been too focused on what I was conveying through the notes themselves rather than their timbre. This limited me significantly, as I have learned that the impact of tones and the way artists present the harmonic information is just as important as the notes themselves, especially in this period, as artists and audiences alike are constantly chasing new sounds to capture your ear. By not limiting myself to just one or two synths, I was able to get a broader perspective on synthesis. By using the synths simultaneously and weaving between different timbral and textural layers, I was able to make them interact with each other and create a clear contrast between the equipment while keeping the musical flow of the piece.
In future works, I will continue using layered synth bass sounds to fill out the low end of my tracks. I also feel more confident developing professional quality sounds on polyphonic synths, which I plan to use in new compositions and live arrangements. This has always interested me however, I previously didn’t feel skilled enough to create new arrangements, as I didn’t have access to the sounds needed to recreate and amend live tracks. I now have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of subtractive synthesis and sound design, which I look forward to applying in professional settings. I want to expand upon many of the concepts I used in this assignment for future projects, as I know I am still very limited in my understanding of all this gear, and there are infinite possibilities with it.
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