Backwards
April 25, 2013 10:34 PM
As the unimaginative title suggests, this is my entry for the April MeFi Music challenge. It's an ambient type of thing, largely made from reversed guitar recordings.
Lately I've been into making music in genres that are new to me, and trying out new techniques, etc. So, when I saw this month's challenge, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity and excuse to try to cobble something together from reversed recordings. I also wanted to make a song without writing it first, as that seems rather backwards.
So I decided I wouldn't write a song in the traditional sense, but instead piece something together in my sequencer from short reversed recordings of guitar chords. I set a fast tempo, and recorded myself sort of finger-picking four chords (C, A, G, D), one at a time, so I could separate them into individual files. I played them at a high tempo so I could paulstretch them to be half the speed, before reversing them.
Separately, using the same chords, I picked out two higher notes of each and played a quick back-and-forth pattern using the same guitar sound. I chopped up the results into short loops, stretched and reversed them as well. This provides the repetitive looped sound you hear, while the original backwards guitar recording sounds more like an orchestral synth pad or something, with little bursts in volume at the end of each sustained chord (most obviously heard in the ending of the track).
To add some interest, I added super-basic piano notes along with a dash of electric keys. Finally, I programmed a vibraphone pattern, and reversed that as well. Then I ran it through a crazy guitar amp sim, so it sounds nothing at all like vibraphone... it's the higher sustained notes you hear throughout, almost like a faint flute. I also left in the original vibraphone, un-reversed. It's most audible in the intro.
A couple of reversed cymbals are sprinkled in.
Lately I've been into making music in genres that are new to me, and trying out new techniques, etc. So, when I saw this month's challenge, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity and excuse to try to cobble something together from reversed recordings. I also wanted to make a song without writing it first, as that seems rather backwards.
So I decided I wouldn't write a song in the traditional sense, but instead piece something together in my sequencer from short reversed recordings of guitar chords. I set a fast tempo, and recorded myself sort of finger-picking four chords (C, A, G, D), one at a time, so I could separate them into individual files. I played them at a high tempo so I could paulstretch them to be half the speed, before reversing them.
Separately, using the same chords, I picked out two higher notes of each and played a quick back-and-forth pattern using the same guitar sound. I chopped up the results into short loops, stretched and reversed them as well. This provides the repetitive looped sound you hear, while the original backwards guitar recording sounds more like an orchestral synth pad or something, with little bursts in volume at the end of each sustained chord (most obviously heard in the ending of the track).
To add some interest, I added super-basic piano notes along with a dash of electric keys. Finally, I programmed a vibraphone pattern, and reversed that as well. Then I ran it through a crazy guitar amp sim, so it sounds nothing at all like vibraphone... it's the higher sustained notes you hear throughout, almost like a faint flute. I also left in the original vibraphone, un-reversed. It's most audible in the intro.
A couple of reversed cymbals are sprinkled in.
posted by edlundart (2 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
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posted by Brodyaga at 5:41 AM on April 28, 2013