PROJECT AND PORTFOLIO I

This original composition has a positive emotional feel to it. I wanted the piece to feel uplifting and the styles of pop and commercial music influenced me as I wrote this. Its musical use could be a commercial or advertisement of some kind, possibly for something medical or motivational. 

 

This composition is in 4/4, has a tempo of 113 bpm, and lasts for a total of 32 measures. The rhythm and bass in this song were straightforward; however, the bass is the main driving force in the rhythm section. While the acoustic drums don’t change much as the piece builds, the electric bass guitar changes as the sections go by to keep the audience’s attention. Together, they solidify the groove that all other instruments add color and emotional feel to. 

 

This piece is in the key of E Major. The first 16 measures contain the following chord progression: I / V / vi / IV (E Major B Major C# minor A Major). The last 16 measures contain the chord progression of I / II / IV / I (E Major F# Major A Major E Major). In the beginning of the piece, the organ provides the rhythm while the grand piano melodies lead the melodic direction until the string instruments (violins and cellos) take over at measure 17. Towards the end of the piece, violins and horns provide more color by adding additional melodies in the gaps of the song’s structure. 

 

I recorded vocals for the end of the piece with an Origin condenser microphone and a pop filter. I then compressed the vocal recordings and adjusted the EQs for each vocal track individually. Initially, I’m singing the root notes of each rhythm chord for whole note durations until the harmonies come in. Originally, I was planning on having only one audio track but I added multiple since I felt that harmonies were needed. I doubled each of these audio tracks and panned them accordingly for a stereo feel of their performances. I used the ES P for both synthesizer tracks, and I created them from scratch (tracks 17 and 18). The sampled track is just an apple loop of a shaker audio file I liked. The sampler track is track 19 in the session. 

 

I wanted a stereo feel as much as possible so aside from the rhythm section, all instruments are panned left and right accordingly to hear the details of the different melodies and instruments with ease. All vocal audio tracks (tracks 21-27) were compressed, and I placed a limiter on the stereo out to lower the output level slightly to prevent clipping. All tracks were routed via a bus to a stereo reverb. The vocal audio tracks were routed via a different bus where stereo chorus and stereo reverb were inputted. Every track has their own respective EQs as well. Most of the string instrument and horn tracks were panned wide to give the composition a wide and energetic feel as it builds.