How I Did It
When I Walk With You (ft. Zoe...by Quarkstar
Uses samples from:
Tools I Used
Ableton Live
Bass: Curve2CM
Kick: Ableton Operator, settings from LoopBlog.net
Marimba lead: Ableton Marimba
Woodwind: Ableton ProjectSAM Orchestral Ensemble, Woodwind Sustain
Struck instrument: Ableton Operator by Quarkstar
Marimba chords: Two instruments, Marimba and Operator by Quarkstar
Snares: Ableton Simpler (See samples) by Quarkstar
Tambourines: Ableton Drum Rack (See samples) by Quarkstar
Riser: Ableton Analog, Vocoder and two x Corpus(Pipe)
Reverb: ReverberateCM
Harmonizer: Melda MHarmonizer
Mixer effect: StatsonCM
Samples I Used
Thomas Penton - Essential Drums and Percussion: Tambourines, Snare
KV Bala Indian Sessions: Dolak, Tabla, Urumi, Tablas.
KV Bala Indian Session: Finger Bells loop
Original Samples
Drums and Bass
Marimbas
Pads
Percussion
Riser
Woodwind solo
Process
The finished tune is in 8:4 time with the melody and harmony playing on the off-notes (beats 2,4,6).
The drums and percussion are on the 4:4 beats (1, 3, 5, 7), except for the tuned tablas which play along with ZoeBee.
The melody is in C while the Bass and tuned Kick wander around Am. This meant that a lot of triads (three note chords) don't work so I used Dyads (two note chords) together with a root in the bass or another instrument. This was a challenge to me, which is why it took a while to do.
I read that if the two chords are far enough apart, one in the bass and the other in the treble, you can mix complementary chords. The Bass has mid-range harmonics and brought the Am notes into conflict with the harmony. Instead of using higher frequency notes I used instruments whose harmonic content is high pitched (Woodwind, Marimba). The higher harmonics also left space for the vocals.
Other Notes
I admit, this started when I was attemting a mix of Admiral Bobs Gardening on The Moon and the bass line appeared that didn't fit. I soon found ZoeBees excellent vocals and thought the bass line would make a good chorus. Immediatley I wanted to create some music around the vocals. I loved the words and wanted to interpret them.
I had the Chorus down within an hour then spent a couple of weeks writing the rest. It took so long due to my inexperience and trying things that just weren't going to work.
Towards the end I knew something was missing and found it when I was playing with the Dune presets and found the Infected RH setting. An hour later and I had wrapped up the writing.
This is one of the tunes I am pleased with as I achieved what I wanted, a subtle warm tune to match the vocals and words.
The musical structure is challenging and was, for a while, beyond my ability, but in the end it sounded right to me.
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