This is the finished electronic track that I made on Ableton for project 2 of the music course, and I think it turned out pretty nicely. The track includes all the classic elements of a good house track such as bouncing drums, a groovy bassline, and a soulful vocal. There are also some nice chords in there that can’t go unnoticed. The track is a big success and had I made it on my usual DAW (FL Studio) it would have sounded incredible and would be something I would gladly release. Ableton is completely new for me and had I had the time to learn to master and mix inside Ableton the track would be next level. This was made in a short space of time but is pretty good if I do say so myself.
The intro is a classic house intro. The sample comes in slowly with an automated low-pass filter. This teases the listener and gets them excited about what they are about to hear. This is a part of the track that I am very proud of. I am happy I was able to learn how to use filters and automation inside Ableton as this boosted the track massively. It mostly helped with this intro and the breakdown section in the middle.
The build-up to the drop turned out exactly how I wanted it. I used a half-time drum pattern to build excitement and tension within the track. If I had more samples available to me I would have chosen some different drum sounds, but I mixed these samples nicely and made them sound nice in the end. I also used a reverb and delay automation in this part of the track for added tension. When this is released during the drop, it makes it hit ten times harder. I also used Fx to make the buildup bigger and prepare listeners for what they are about to hear.
The drop is very similar to some of the most famous classic house tunes. Again, as I said in the paragraph above, I would have used different drum samples if I had better ones available to me. However, I think I made a nice-sounding drum pattern with the kits I was given. The sample changes slightly in this part of the song and that gives the listener something new to hear. These are where the soulful vocals come in. Soulful vocals were key in the house tracks made in the 90s and I am very happy I was able to incorporate them in this track.
The breakdown is very much like the inro with the automated low pass filter leading to the drop. Have I had more time I would have chopped the sample up a little bit more to give a variation inside the track, but the breakdown still sounds good even if it just the sample looped again. I also added multiple crashes before the drop to bring it in smoothly. This sounded really nice as well.
The second drop is very much similar to the first but with just a few added breaks in the drums for variation.
I think this track went very well and sounds like a well-made house song. There are obviously things that I think could be improved but they would take me past the deadline. A piece of music is never really finished, you can always add more or do something different, but I think this is a good track to submit. Here is ‘Sacrifices’, hope you enjoy.