Track 1:
I started off by making a sound board with different sounds that I felt would go together, I followed the basic instrument arrangements and dedicated each sound board as an instrument for example Lead, Bass, Drums and vocals and started experimenting like I would on a real life instrument. I record 1 bar with each sound board to see if they go together, After some experimenting I created a bar where all the instruments were involved creating the base of the song. Once I had a foundation I followed the basic rule of song writing by creating a verse, chorus and a bridge. Once I had all the parts recorded I chose to hit record and improvise by cueing all the parts that I had recorded on my sound board when It felt right like a dj usually would. I kept the layout of the song in mind and improvised accordingly, It was my first time attempting something like that and it felt a lot easier than it does on logic and I was really satisfied with the outcome.
How to improve the track?
The way I would choose to improve is by giving the song a better structure because the way it’s recorded it sounds random in a way. Another way to improve would be writing some lyrics to the song or at least a catchy hook, Also If I had used more instruments to record more parts it could’ve given the song a certain character which it seems to lack.
How does it fit in genre?
I was going for an old school hiphop vibe with the song and I tried to achieve that by following the basics of hiphop for example having a simple drum line with a heavy bass on it and female vocals like most hiphop songs, I could’ve done more research on time signature of the genre because I can see that my song is based around a 2 bar loop. The mid section of the song is something thats not very usual in basic Hiphop, It was just a way of experimenting and finding something that I’d like to improve on in the future.
How is it compared to other tracks?
This Song was inspired by bound 2 by Kanye West one of his earlier songs, What caught my attention was the use of recorded female vocals and using pieces of a recordings together to make them sound like lyrics, In the start I struggled to figure out how to go about this method but it was all made significantly easier when Lewis introduced us to push controller.
Track 2:
Since I had developed a template in the first song it made the process a lot easier than before there wasn’t much to figure out so i got straight to it, Once again I started off by making a sound board with the sounds relative to the genre I was aiming for, Once I was happy with my sound board I took the same approach as last time when I started recording by hitting record and improvising on the push controller.
How to improve?
I could’ve improved by organising the song in a structure rather than improvising on the spot because listening to it again it sounds rushed in some places. I feel like I could’ve added more to the song rather than just having 4-5 instruments because I feel that It can be experimented with even further and produce a satisfying result.
How does it fit in genre?
With this song I wanted to make an edm soundtrack because I always thought it was easy to do and I wanted to have a go at it. I tried following the basics of most edm songs and just started by making a foundation, building it up and breaking it down like a beat drop in a way.
Final Comparison:
I was more comfortable working on the hiphop song as it was something i’m familiar with on the other hand the edm track is something I tried for the first time and didn’t have high hopes for it. I personally prefer the edm song over the hiphop one just because it been executed a lot better than the hiphop track. Both lacked structure to them but I still believe with more time spent in these songs I could end up with a very satisfying project.