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#050 Theta Waves
The soundtrack in this week's episode is called Theta Waves. It’s a dark but energetic and glitchy electronic music track with an unusual arrangement and a pretty far out palette of sounds. I was inspired to write electronic music that didn’t sound boring and typical, ideally something that wasn’t easy to classify generically. The track is best suited to the cyberpunk genre. Let’s break it down!
IN THIS EPISODE
01:47 What does it sound like if a computer takes a solo? If it tries to improvise? During the breakdown section of this track, I tried to answer this question with a plugin called LiveCut. LiveCut is a random glitch pattern generator. We used it during the breakdown to create a ‘glitch solo’ in which we mangled the rhythm with a careful balance of controlled randomness. Much of the track’s glitchy sound was made using LiveCut. There’s a subtle counter-rhythm made by a different instrument which also employs some arpeggiated randomness.
03:54 From the start, it was the 12/8 time signature that kept me feeling that I was creating a nice deviation from typical techno. Very little electronic music is in 12/8, and somehow it’s important to me to keep pioneering these unusual outcomes.
05:10 The Novation X-Station synth was the basis for this composition. We selected patches and recorded takes of our performance straight to audio in Ableton. This made each recording a finished performance which couldn’t easily be edited. It was a hands-on session, with way more playing than planning. Bouncing the recordings early in the track forced us to really commit to whatever sound we were making rather than leaving too many options open.
07:39 We played with the resonance parameter to bring out the embedded colours of a certain X-Station patch called ‘Wired’ to include the spiritual-sounding harmonic series. The harmonic series is a range of ‘peaks’ for each frequency (musical note) in the audio spectrum which sound more prominent and musical when amplified. Mostly fun!
08:56 There are two piano types in this track: a normal melody and chord stabs. The stab sounds were also the product of LiveCut and nicely demonstrate the idea of controlled randomness. I wanted a certain chord to play at the end of each 12/8 bar, so I disabled the randomness just for that section. The result is a pattern that never fully repeats again, yet remains ‘anchored’ to a certain, satisfying musical moment. For me, it’s the most optimal blend of control and chaos!
10:05 All in all, the track was sounding a little too rhythmically unpredictable, so I added a pacey marching snare sound to just nail it all down with some certainty. There’s a short sample of a crowd of people talking amongst themselves. The bass has a super-wide range of sounds, and sounds really modern.
DOWNLOAD THIS TRACK
SHOW NOTES
* Producer Djangoza: YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOOzeCOyL4TrpksGGV9nzgg
SOUNDS & DEVICES USED
* LiveCut https://www.kvraudio.com/product/livecutbysmart_electronix
* Novation X-Station synthesizer
* Reaktor Blocks Wired patch ‘Lose Smooth’ (bass)
SUBSCRIBE
MY BANDS!
CONTACT
ABOUT THIS SHOW
You’re listening to How I Make Music, a soothing narrative experience for the musically curious to go behind the scenes of composition. Every Wednesday, we break apart one of my own compositions and investigate the stories and insights into how it was made and its effect on listening ears. My name is John Bartmann. I’m a music composer from South Africa and this is How I Make Music.
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By John Bartmann
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The soundtrack in this week's episode is called Theta Waves. It’s a dark but energetic and glitchy electronic music track with an unusual arrangement and a pretty far out palette of sounds. I was inspired to write electronic music that didn’t sound boring and typical, ideally something that wasn’t easy to classify generically. The track is best suited to the cyberpunk genre. Let’s break it down!
IN THIS EPISODE
01:47 What does it sound like if a computer takes a solo? If it tries to improvise? During the breakdown section of this track, I tried to answer this question with a plugin called LiveCut. LiveCut is a random glitch pattern generator. We used it during the breakdown to create a ‘glitch solo’ in which we mangled the rhythm with a careful balance of controlled randomness. Much of the track’s glitchy sound was made using LiveCut. There’s a subtle counter-rhythm made by a different instrument which also employs some arpeggiated randomness.
03:54 From the start, it was the 12/8 time signature that kept me feeling that I was creating a nice deviation from typical techno. Very little electronic music is in 12/8, and somehow it’s important to me to keep pioneering these unusual outcomes.
05:10 The Novation X-Station synth was the basis for this composition. We selected patches and recorded takes of our performance straight to audio in Ableton. This made each recording a finished performance which couldn’t easily be edited. It was a hands-on session, with way more playing than planning. Bouncing the recordings early in the track forced us to really commit to whatever sound we were making rather than leaving too many options open.
07:39 We played with the resonance parameter to bring out the embedded colours of a certain X-Station patch called ‘Wired’ to include the spiritual-sounding harmonic series. The harmonic series is a range of ‘peaks’ for each frequency (musical note) in the audio spectrum which sound more prominent and musical when amplified. Mostly fun!
08:56 There are two piano types in this track: a normal melody and chord stabs. The stab sounds were also the product of LiveCut and nicely demonstrate the idea of controlled randomness. I wanted a certain chord to play at the end of each 12/8 bar, so I disabled the randomness just for that section. The result is a pattern that never fully repeats again, yet remains ‘anchored’ to a certain, satisfying musical moment. For me, it’s the most optimal blend of control and chaos!
10:05 All in all, the track was sounding a little too rhythmically unpredictable, so I added a pacey marching snare sound to just nail it all down with some certainty. There’s a short sample of a crowd of people talking amongst themselves. The bass has a super-wide range of sounds, and sounds really modern.
DOWNLOAD THIS TRACK
SHOW NOTES
* Producer Djangoza: YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOOzeCOyL4TrpksGGV9nzgg
SOUNDS & DEVICES USED
* LiveCut https://www.kvraudio.com/product/livecutbysmart_electronix
* Novation X-Station synthesizer
* Reaktor Blocks Wired patch ‘Lose Smooth’ (bass)
SUBSCRIBE
MY BANDS!
CONTACT
ABOUT THIS SHOW
You’re listening to How I Make Music, a soothing narrative experience for the musically curious to go behind the scenes of composition. Every Wednesday, we break apart one of my own compositions and investigate the stories and insights into how it was made and its effect on listening ears. My name is John Bartmann. I’m a music composer from South Africa and this is How I Make Music.