When creating a song for my final track I was briefed that the song would have to suit a boss battle video from the game Undertale. From receiving this information, I have had a look into Toby foxes different Undertale compositions so that I can get an idea of how I would like mine to sound. I have mainly listened to the songs named metal crusher and Megalovania, this is because they are both boss battle songs like the video I was briefed with. In my composition I hope to include a repetitive melody that utilises is focal points, arpeggios and a syncopated counter melody. In the song Megalovania Toby fox uses a repetitive melodic line That descends every third repeat round, this is intriguing to the listener because there is always something new happening as well as it being the similar as before.
Track overview
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Here is an overview of my track which I made in logic. As you can see the first nine bars is the single melody by itself. This will create a dramatic tension/intensity when everything comes in at once after the last three bars, where the focal point is placed in my melody. As you can see, I have made this track from only 8 retro synths that I made from scratch. These consist of the drums, the main melody and the countermelody/baseline. There is only so many tracks because I have transposed the Main melody down and up octaves so this will give me a fuller sound.
Main melody
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Here is a piano drawing of my main melody. As you can see it is 9 bars long which is split into three ending phrases, the first two phrases have a legato descending note, whereas the third ending on the 9th bar is a descending staccato melodic line but in a higher octave so it is higher in pitch, so it sounds to the listener like it is ascending. I have added in this staccato melodic line because it easily takes you back to the original melody and it is also like ear candy for the listener. When recording this melody I played the notes in on a keyboard and touched them up to perfection with the pencil tool in logic. I have also changed the velocity and attack of all the notes so that they are slightly different, so that it doesn’t sound robotic.
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Shown in the image above is the retro synth settings of the main melody. To get the 8-bit sound that I needed I am using square waves for both shape one and shape 2. I also have some slight vibrato, modulation and drive on, this will achieve the characteristics of the video game sound that I am looking for.
Bass/counter melody
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Shown above is the bass melody that I have created I got the idea of this bass line from the main melody but simplified. After every root note there is a fifth note. I have done this to create a Russian/pirate vampy sound that is candy to the ears. This melody is also syncopated and has a focal point fall at the end. I have also measured to make the melody repetitive.
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For the bass melody retro synth settings, I basically have the exact same as my main melody, the only difference is that it is turned up more in the mix and I have added some slight reverb. I have kept the settings the exact same because I really like the sound of the main melody and personally, I think this sound would suit the audio of a boss battle.
Mid counter melody
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When creating this mid countermelody, I transposed the counter melody down one octave. This should give me fuller sound overall, I have also changed shape one to a triangle wave and shape two to a sawtooth wave. I also have quite a bit of vibrator on this sound. I have changed the waveshape because it will sound better in the mix with a more flat noise to it.
Low melody
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When creating the lowest melody, I have combined a triangle wave with a square wave. Combining these two waves should give me a short, robotic dead sound. I would like a sound like this for the low-end melody because it will sit nice in the mix and make it sound even fuller. I got the low sound by a transposing the main melody down two whole octaves.
Stecato melody
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Finally for my melody’s, I wanted to create a short staccato snappy mid-range melody that will give me some differentiation in the mix. I have got this staccato sound by cutting off the amp envelope and filter envelope immediately, also i have quite a bit of modulation and vibrato to get that 8 bit noise. I have also created this staccato sound by combining a square wave and a sawtooth wave together Which should give me a mid ranged bit crushed noise.
Kick
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When creating my kick drum noise, I was aiming for a bassy heartbeat like sound. I achieved this sound by using a sawtooth wave on shape one and square wave on shape 2, I have also used a lot of modulation and some vibrato also, into the mix and I have a lush 24 decibel LP cut off and both of my envelopes are really short and snappy for that Bassey noise and I also have my vibrator on a triangle wave. finally, I have shape one and shape 2 oscillating equally so I get a really low frequency cut off bassy kick drum sound.
Snare
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When creating my snare sound, I aim to create an EDM like snappy sound. There snares are known to have a lot of high-end and snapping to them with a bit of reverb. I replicated this sound by using a sawtooth wave for shape one and a triangular wave for shape two. I also have no decay on my envelopes and BP 6 decibel creamy effect to this retro synth. Finally I have turned the flanger effect completely off to get me a snake like EDM snare sound.
Hi-hat
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When creating a hi hat sound I have used two completely opposite sound waves, these sound waves are a sawtooth wave and a square wave though I have the mix mainly focused on shape one which is the sawtooth wave. From also cutting my envelopes off to get a short snappy sound, this gave me HP 6 DB sharp noise for my high hat.
Overall, I think this project song was a success this was because I got to learn new things about video game music development over the years and even different types of sound waves. When creating this song in logic I think that learning logic retro synth has benefited me the most. I have quite enjoyed making this song!