As I liked the melody of both the bass and lead synth from the Dohnavur STEMS, I recreated this by using the same notes for each but chose instruments that were different from the original. I have detailed all of these below:
I felt the original bass had a muddy sound that was too thick and drowned out a lot of the melody elements layered on top. I chose a MIDI instrument that had a smoother sound and was more legato. I then mapped the filter frequency dial to the modulation wheel on the Oxygen25 to record automation with me increasing the frequency on each hit before pulling back to normal and then repeating. My reasoning for this was to avoid this bass sounding muddy for different reasons and to add a more interesting and layered sound.
For the lead melody, I chose a pad with a smoother sound as well. My reasoning for doing this was that I wanted to create an otherworldly sounding track using heavy reverbs and effects in the mixing stage so wanted as little distortion in the instruments as possible. Using similar pan automation I mentioned in Session 1 for the chorus overlay, I recorded the automation to reflect the audio going consistently and smoothly left to the right for the entirety that it plays.
Using an instrument called Sines By The Sea, I added a melody that plays near the end of the track. Initially the instrument is programmed to have Oscillator A using a Sine wave and Oscillator B using white noise to mimic waves. I felt the white noise was clashing with the dreamy, ethereal sound of the track so changes Oscillator B to the Bubble pre-set which adds little bubble and water pops that sit nicely in the background. It complemented the strange sound of what was happening throughout the track.
As I really like the weird sound of the WST instrument I decided to use it again in this. Going back to my pitch for this project, I listed Delia Derbyshire (most famous for her work on the ‘Doctor Who Theme’) as a producer I wanted to emulate. I felt that this sound reminded me of a spaceship or something you’d expect to hear in an alien movie. I feel this sound and the bubbles mentioned earlier added the unusual elements I was wanting. I used pan automation to make the sound on each hit go around the listeners ears. For example, the first and last time we hear this sound it starts left, peaks right in the middle and finishes left. The second time we hear it however goes the opposite to give the illusion through the track that it goes all around you.
I felt there was element missing and I wanted to add some chord hits to break up the start of the track. I didn’t want them to be too staccato and punchy as this wouldn’t fit well with what I had already. I chose a lush, shimmery sounding pad that would play periodically to keep things interesting.
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