I'm not sure why I called this "The Cost of Doing Business" except that it came to mind and relates to a conversation I had recently about modular and other studio gear. Yes, it's expensive, especially modular, but if this is something you love and want to do, then there's a price that must be paid. Fortunately, music production gear retains its value pretty well, especially if you're able to get certain things preowned. So there's that.
As for this composition--it is, again, not performed but rather constructed watchmaker-style and allowed to proceed on its own. It is a challenge to create something that achieves a balance between randomness (noisy mush) and repetition. Sometimes a steady rhythm can hold things together, or constraint to certain parameters, such as certain notes in a musical key or scale. Then, of course to get the right mix of tones, timbres, time, etc. I worked for a long time on this, making slight changes to get to a place that felt comfortable--though I know there are ways I could further refine--the perfect is the enemy of the good, after all. Something I didn't even really notice while working on this was the way each melodic note is anticipated softly, offering a tentative suggestion before asserting itself. Reminds me a bit of the moment between thinking and speaking (which for some people is very short indeed--and others, much longer).
So what's going on? There are several sound sources. The pulse and high pitch that fades in and out from time to time are coming from the 4ms SWN which goes into the Make Noise Mimeophon, whose delay time is being modulated by the Qu-Bit Chance. The pluck melody comes from the Qu-Bit Bloom and Qu-Bit Surface, quantized through the Intellijel Scales--then given space by the Specular Tempus pedal (routed via the Strymon AA.1). There is also a low phasing drone, courtesy of the Erica Synths Black Wavetable--the main out is filtered by the Intellijel Polaris, and the Sub tone is filtered by the Make Noise QPAS, which also provides space. There's a bit of extra modulation here and there from the SSF RND STEP, the Instruo øchd, and Intellijel Quadrax. Clocking is by the ALM Busy Circuits Pamela's NEW Workout (also multed by FrapTools 333). The whole thing was mixed with Intellijel Mixup modules recorded to Logic Pro X and then mastered gently with Izotope Ozone to optimize EQ & dynamics, providing some extra glue.
Not sure this piece is relaxing, but could be a good background for intense focus.
15 сен 2024
