Audio X Animation Project Update 5 - Nearing The End

Hey guys! As it turns out, my terrible habit of not taking photos for blogs has now backfired on me and I don't really have anything visual to show for another side project update... However, as a substitute I figured you may want to know how our main project is coming along! We had a massive studio session today and some serious progress was made! So without further ado, lets jump right in ;)

The session now

Today's studio session actually started off with a bit of writers/producers block. Neither Jackson or myself could figure out what to do. Fortunately, in these kinds of situations Jackson and I know exactly how to get out of them and that is going right back to where it started - the reference track! For the last few sessions, Jackson and I admittedly did not progress much as we got stuck with how to build up into the next section of the track. To get to the bottom of this, we located the section of the reference track that began the initial build-up. Upon reviewing this track over and over again, we realised that the strings and other chords in the track actually glide until they fade out and the bass is then introduced. We decided to take a very similar approach however, we have not yet automated anything as it will be easier to do it at the end of the arrangement for mixing purposes. Below you will see a screenshot of the our current Ableton Live session!

Session View 29/4/18

Just as I have in my other project update blogs, I will be taking you through everything that is new, changed and yet to come! So now the real fun begins!

The one everyone wants to know about... The bass

The bass for this track has been on the waiting list for while now. The reason for this being that we never knew what to do with it. That is, until we reviewed the reference track again. I decided that considering that the bass we previously had was a bit too smooth for this kind of track and we needed to amp it up just a tad. Below you will see a screenshot of the N.I Massive patch for our bass!

Bass Patch: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

Originally, I could never figure out what kind of bass we could use for this project besides basic stuff, that was until today. While listening to the reference track, the EDM producer side of me started screaming because I finally had an idea. By taking a sin-square wave and combining it with a square-saw wave that was pitched down an octave, we had a start. From this, I assigned the first oscillator to filter 1 with a lowpass 4 and the other to filter 2 with the same setting. I then began creating envelopes to control the attack and decay of the filters whilst also adding the smallest bit of white noise. As you can see by the screenshot, I went pretty hard on the attack as I was aiming to create a G-house themed, percussive bass sound. Luckily, it worked it turned out to be exactly what we were looking for. Now, considering that my bass is now super plucky instead of having a natural glide, I decided to slice the bass up into smaller notes, as shown below.

Bass Progression: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

The aim for this progression is to fade it in right as the strings begin to fade out to really take the track to the next level as well as simultaneously adding a groove to the track. From this, the timpani also begins to fade out the main percussive elements of the track are introduced through a reverse cymbal transition.

Thats right, they're finally back - percussive Elements

In one of my previous project update blogs I said that the percussive elements for this track were currently not needed and would be cast away until further notice. Well, I'm glad to say that they're finally back and are in action! From the screenshot of the session view (at the beginning of this blog) you can find them on the lower half of the session below the bass. Once the bass enters the mix it's joined shortly after by the kick, then followed by the toms and reverse cymbal. After the transition occurs, the snare then also joined the mix as the rhythm changes. Below you can see screenshots of all of the current percussive elements for the track however, to save you guys some time most of them were found in the Drum Lab through the Konakt 5 library (as stated in previous blogs). I have also included the kick and snare progressions for the producers that are interested!

Drum Lab sample screen: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

Tom Drums: screenshot taken 29//4/18

Although these Tom drums may be hard to see, if you look closely at the left of the screenshot, you can find their MIDI data. I decided to place each individual tom on a seperate track in Ableton as I will be able to have much more control over them in the stereo field when completing the final mix!

Kick Progression: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

Snare Progression: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

Finally, the melody

Have you ever just been in the shower or some random quite place and just hummed random notes to yourself and thought "hey, that's pretty good". Well, that's exactly how I made our melody in the studio today! Below you can see screenshots of not only the melody progression, but also it's N.I Massive patch and current processing!

N.I Massive Melody Synth Patch: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

Current Melody Progression: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

At first glance, this melody seems rather basic and repetitive, which admittedly, it is. However, I came to find that by applying Simple Delay through Ableton that it sounds a hell of a lot better and more complicated when in reality, the processing is about as easy as it gets. Below you'll find a screenshot of this!

Current Melody Processing: Screenshot taken 29/4/18

As you can see, this is rather basic processing. However, this is the way it should be as if anything else gets turned up by the slightest bit too much, it'll sound too spacey and turn to shit :').

To finish

Guys, I'm afraid in terms of updates that this is second last one I'll be giving you for this project! After Tuesday this week, this project will finally be mixed and you'll be able to hear it! Make sure to keep an eye out for that final blog! The next one to come is my latest update on my side project with Maori Kinjo which should be up on Thursday! Until then, stay tuned and I'll catch ya next time!

Levels :)