I wanted to do more with that classic synth / brass tone from Track 6 in Part 4… but something bigger, grander. Click “play” below to check it out.
You can hear something similar to this beautiful synthetic horn tone in older movie soundtracks, sometimes. Electronic composer and pioneer Wendy Carlos is who I was thinking of; also Vangelis and Blade Runner. It’s a sound that reminds me of “A Clockwork Orange” and “The Shining”, yet it certainly doesn’t have to imply horror or violence.
It’s more like the tone is so … stimulating… that it’s easy to imagine it overloading the sensitive auditory receptors of the human body, and transforming a mild-mannered man into a killer of passion. And it’s so emotive and memorable… perfect for film soundtracks.
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And, it ends up recalling the music of Brian Eno (Music for Airports) and M83 as well - two of my all-time favorites.
It’s just SO rich and beautiful in the studio. I hope that translates when you’re streaming over your speakers… because on my end, I could just listen to these chords for hours, soaking in the thick analog synth sound all around me. The louder I play it, the more I feel immersed beneath the waves of sound. I could easily damage my hearing to this track.
On the other hand I’m not completely happy with how it has turned out so far. There’s a lot going on… my harmonies and voice-leading aren’t absolutely perfect, and it’s a little tough to wrangle the 3-4 independent voices of the analog synth into a sense of order… since each voice must be programmed one-by-one with my monophonic Mother-32 synth, it’s fairly laborious. But enjoyable - very pleasant to sit here building up a wall of sound, brick by brick.
How I Created The Sound
Each of the 4 main voices is a *completely independent* monophonic synth built from my Moog Mother-32 and a selection of analog and digital effects. The different voices are carved out in multiple ways:
- Different octave registers.
- Different synth waveforms and filters.
- Different rhythms and rhythmic pulses.
- Different melodies and voice-leading.
- Different uses of effects (mainly analog and digital overdrive, digital compression, and analog delay).
- Programmed automation in Ableton for volume swells (one track only).
Due to the high level of detail, it’s taken me quite a while to make this track (but I’ve just been enjoying myself the whole time). Since I started this afternoon I think I’ve spent about 5 hours constructing this little piece of peace (the sun was up, now it is down…)
Every aspect of this sound has been hand-crafted. Hours of thought and experimentation have gone into this 1-minute long track. This is a completely unique synth sound. No one else on earth has access to this exact sonic profile.
Simply put, *only I* could hope to recreate this sound exactly… so hopefully my written notes are good enough to do so when the time comes.
How Will This Incorporate To A Bigger Track?
I’m wondering if, and how, I can mix this with everything else I’ve done for “First Night With Mother.”
I think there’s a good way to blend it all together, but it has to ‘connect’ and not just be a mashup.
This seems like a good intro, outro, or middle section. I’d like to really contrast it with something that makes people want to dance or at least nod their heads.
All in due time. For now I’m happy with tonight’s work.
Hear more! The root source of this track comes from this very different idea. And, the tone of the synth horns originally appeared (sounding very different) in the 6th track on this playlist.
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