This was probably the least enjoyable composition to make. Before this assignment, I had never heard an 8-bit soundtrack never mind trying to make one. This proved incredibly difficult. To make it even harder, I wasn’t able to use my usual DAW fl studio and instead had to use Logic which I had only had experience with a handful of times. This is the final track and I am going to evaluate my progress.
The intro starts off with some nice chords. These are chords I had written myself and already used in a deep house track that I made a while ago. I thought that the fast-changing chords would sound nice with the exciting and upbeat track I was trying to make. I must have layered the chords 3 or 4 times with different sounds for each one. One of which was a bass, which was extremely hard to program inside the plugin ‘RetroSynth’. The chords are also paired with a high string pad which plays the key of the song, D#. The chords could have sounded better, but I was making them all through sound design which is something I had never looked at closely before. If I was given the opportunity to do the track again I would keep the intro relatively the same.
During the buildup, there are some half-time drums playing that slowly speed up to full-time. I programmed these drums using an 808 kit. The 808 sounds are from the 80s/90s era of house music so it was roughly the same decade that 8-bit music was being featured in video games. These drums sounded too modern and this was meant to be an 8-bit track. This is where BitCrusher came in which was an absolute god send. I used BitCrsuher on just about every element in this track which really gave it the old-school feel.
The drop comes in with a groovy, fast-paced bassline. I had also written this myself. I thought that it paired well with the pads and moving synths underneath it so decided to make it the main focus of the drop. I layered the bass multiple times with different sounds to make it sound full. This was all done by sound design. The drop seemed a little boring to me so I added some movement with automation. The drop sounds decent and is definitely the main focus of the track.
The track comes to an abrupt end which I don’t really like, but I had no idea how to finish it off. I would like to learn more about 8-bit music and have another go at making a better-sounding track. I finished off by mixing the track down and adding a master which surprisingly sounds really nice.
I found this assignment a challenge but I got through it and I think I made a decent-sounding track. Here is my 8-bit composition, I hope you enjoy it.