Audio X Animation Project Update 4 - Drones and Horns

Hey! I know, I know... "Levels where the fuck have you been? Where were those blogs you said you were going to deliver?". All the answers and more in this blog! But first and foremost, let's see how the project is going so far!

The session

From the screenshot below you'll notice some obvious changes such as the horns and sin wave drone that was added (green instrument rack).

Session View: Screenshot taken 24/4/18

As you can see, there is a rather significant amount of horns in this track however, it is very likely that not all of these will be used. At this current stage, the MIDI data from the first track has been copied and pasted onto the other tracks to get a feel as to what each horn sounds like and also to determine as to which horns work with what. You'll also notice if you read my last blog on this project that the percussive elements from the original arrangement of the project have been omitted. As these were only experimental, they were not detrimental to the project and were eventually classified as useless so it was better to get them out of the way.

The drone

The drone in this track was actually rather difficult to create at first as Jackson and I knew the concept, but did not know how to execute it as we are still, well, noobs at this. Luckily enough, our lecturer was available and was willing to lend us a hand and taught us exactly how it works! For those of you who are unaware as to what an audio drone is, it's basically one continuous note of MIDI data that constantly changes. In the screenshot of operator below you'll find multiple layers grouped together. These layers all consist of the same sine wave however, they are all progressively tuned one octave above each other from top to bottom respectively. On top of all this, there is very slight and slow LFO and legato applied to the MIDI data so that these waves release at seperate times. Last but not least, we gotta have a reverb on there so it doesn't sound dry and well, shit. The reverb also creates a spacey type atmosphere which is exactly what we were looking for. All that was left to do after this was to tune it in key with the session so the chords would always come back to one central note, this note being G.

Spicing up the chords (Synth)

While our lecturer was in the studio with us, he also gave us the great suggestion as to invert some of our chords. By doing this, certain notes will harmonise with each other and create a playful kind of effect between different sections and would just make the overall mix sound smoother. Below you'll find a screenshot of the our current chords!

MIDI Arrangement View: Screenshot taken 24/4/18

At first glance this may not seem like much. However, the top notes on the first two chords as well as others throughout this progression have been pitched down by an octave in order to harmonise to the strings. Even though we have only just begun experimenting with this method, it is sounding really nice. We just need to watch ourselves and make sure we don't go too all out with this as harmonies are made significant when they are applied in certain sections of a song, not the entire song.

To finish

As we near the end of the project, I'm glad to say that is still coming along rather smoothly. Our next session is this weekend and we plan to have it finished by then for you guys to listen to! In terms of the side projects, an update on those will also be coming very soon! It seems I may have overestimated myself in terms of workload with these ones! However, don't worry, they aren't going anywhere ladies and gents! As always, stay tuned and I'll catch ya next time!

Levels