Song#7 Eternity - Composing and Arranging Stage

Part two up!

1. Idea Stage
2. Composing and Arranging Stage
3. Recording & Mastering Stage
4. Final Product & MV

Much intro, much wow

Arranging

With electronica/ EDM/ nu-jazz, I observe that repetition with/without an over-arching melody line is most prevalent. So, I roughly sketched out the flow:

1. Intro 1
2. Theme 1
3. Variations
4. Transition
5. Intro 2
6. Theme 2
7. Solo variations
8. Outro

Both themes follow a rather simple progression, i.e.:

1. Introduction of harmony instrument
2. Voice-over
3. Introduction of leading bass instrument
4. Drum entry
5. Melody begins
6. Variations
7. Selective removal of either one instruments, and/or silent sections

The usage of voice-over is reminiscent of chill-hop/ nu-jazz music where artists usually samples old-timey speech recording for their mix. I thought up some random speech related to 'love' and 'space', and finally settled upon these two sentences:

In the far reaches of the cosmos, there exists nothing but love - for eternity

For love is the greatest force in the universe, love conquers all and unites all

Haha, I guess it's rather cheesy sounding, something from those new-age books.

I decided upon two themes, just because I had drafted out the Theme 2 bass-line first and was at lost for ideas on how to link it back to the space-eternity theme. While I was discussing the drumbeats with LCC, I searched for inspiration from old master Nujabes and came up with the melody line on keyboard for Theme 1.

>Post song release note<
The explanation you read on the YouTube and Facebook post for the song is actually just something I made up on the song release date, as some deep-thought analysis of the two themes. :P Revelations aside, I felt it's indeed representative of the yin and the yang, the male and female parts of any couple, as Theme 1 is meant to be rather laid back, except for the distortions to the melody - representing the female insecurities and mood swings. Theme 2 is upbeat and heavy bass just like the male counterpart, with the solo representing the alpha male tooting his horn - so to speak.

Composing

For this, I started off by selecting the pad synth on Novation's V-station VST that best suit this song's style. I repeated the same for AAS's Lounge Lizard where I selected Rhodes as the melodic instrument for theme 1 and Glidesynth Lead for theme 2. The main instrument of the lot was the Moog Bass, taken from the Novation's Bass-station VST as well.

Here are the chords for each theme:


Theme 1
CM7 Ebdim CM7 BM7
CM7 Ebdim G7 Abb7-E7
(repeat)

Theme 2
Cm7 Caug7 (intro)

Cm7, C#m7,
Cm7,D#m7-Dm7
(repeat)


I introduced a A# for the BM7 chord section in the melody for Theme 1, as something different than the listener expected, which makes the chord major. On the other hand, the solo for Theme 2 was based on the Blues scale which I admit to impromptu solo playing, using the Launchpad.

For the bass line in Theme 2, I referred to a great guide on YouTube, which they gave 6 hacks:

• Hack 1: Create Strong Melodic Intervals
• Hack 2: Make Motifs
• Hack 3: Add Syncopation
• Hack 4: Add Non-Root Notes 
• Hack 5: Add Octaves
• Hack 6: Add Rests

Given the nature of the bass in this song being prominent and up-front, I needed a catchy tune that serves as the hook throughout the whole song. Just like the guide, I started off by playing the root of the chords, and moving in swing notes. I made sure to utilise the notes of the lower and upper octaves, and used passing notes as well as non-root notes of the chord (like 3rd, 5th or 7th)

I added arppegations (using the V-station presets) keyed to the same chords as the pads were. This made it easier for MIDI entry without the need to manually arppegiate the chord voicings. Finally I used the samples from the included free Loopmasters pack for the 'Hey' sounds (other vocalisations samples were scrapped later on). I planned for the 'Hey' clip to be pitched like an instrument and for rhythmic sounds, but that's for the next post.

Since LCC scripted up the drum beats, I won't discuss it here, other than the fact that he chose 16 beats on the hi-hats for Theme 2.

Stay tuned for Part III of  IV for this song!