It Was A Great Year (Movies With Robots)

Easy, nostalgic, cinematic electronica. The challenging part was getting the robots to sing - not too mechanically, but not too uncannily either.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by gmm (19 comments total)

I love the groove. Great overall vibe and production, as well as the melody and arrangement. I really dig the realistic drums juxtaposed with the electronic instruments. What did you use for the drums?
posted by The World Famous at 11:23 AM on April 21

So, so good. The singing robots are just right. Welcome to MuFi - please post more of your tunes!

You know the piano melody break? I found myself wishing for a robot chorus of 'doo do do dooo's to come in with it, all Beach Boy's style.
posted by Corduroy at 1:45 PM on April 21

This is really fantastic. I had several tabs with stuff loading and when it started I didn't know where it was coming from. It was a cool surprise to see it was coming from here. Back to subject: great sound, great rhythm, great changes. I really like every sound it has. Congratulations. And welcome. And yeah, definitely please post more of this.
posted by micayetoca at 4:02 PM on April 21

Love it. How do you make music like this?
posted by pwally at 5:50 PM on April 21

Loving the "robot" singer's voice.
posted by arcanecrowbar at 10:29 PM on April 21

Hi guys, thanks for the kind words and welcome, I'm happy you liked my singing robots... It was great fun to make them but I was nervous how others would react to them, glad it seems to work :)

The music (production) is done in Logic, the voices are a combination of speech synthesis and Melodyne editing. With some speech synthesis system you can adjust the speed/pitch/character/age/noise/etc, that helped to make it less "talky" and ready for pitch/formant editing in Melodyne.

The World Famous: The drums are a combination of several breakbeats and drummachines layered on top of eachother, mostly "similiar" sounding breaks that makes it sound like one kit but bigger.
posted by gmm at 12:24 AM on April 22

Great song. It reminded me of the end of the game Portal a little bit. Although, your method of speech synthesis was a lot more robotic.

I've always wanted to do the same exact thing with these types of programs but never got around to it. I can appreciate the work that went into this tune.

Great production all around!
posted by dagosto at 12:52 AM on April 22

This is awesome. It's got a great groove and feel, and somehow reminds me of Sadness (Part I), a little bit.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:35 AM on April 22

Wonderful job! Very inspiring! And great use of the Melodyne... one more cool music tool I need to add to my Wish List... :-)
posted by brianstorms at 10:15 PM on April 22

The vocal result on this is just fantastic. Lovely.
posted by cortex at 1:52 PM on May 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

These are the prettiest-singing robots ever. Sweet.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 2:53 AM on May 7

This is such a freaking wonderful song. Great concept, wonderful vocal effects, fun tune. I feel the compulsion to say it's exactly the kind of track I wish had been on Royksopp's Junior.
posted by Plutor at 5:49 AM on May 7

Really really cool. Glad you joined us here at Mefi Music.
posted by kingbenny at 9:31 AM on May 7

Superb track - I agree with Plutor, a slightly Royksopp-esque sound (and equal, if not superior, production values definitely shine through).

Looking forward to hearing more of your stuff.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 10:14 AM on May 9

Another perfect pop song from MeFi Music. That is the catchiest shit, should be on the radio
posted by By The Grace of God at 3:38 PM on May 12

Brilliant. Love the groove and lyrics and the singing robots!
posted by alteredcarbon at 4:22 PM on May 12

This is awesome. What did you use for the 8-bit arpeggio in the intro, if I may ask?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:49 PM on May 12

Love it, great job with this.
posted by empyrean at 2:26 PM on May 14

Spectacular! Reminds me of demo scene music from the good old days
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:39 PM on May 19