Apollo Lee 52 Tracks in 52 Weeks

Iridesce

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 27, 2008 with 2 comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Iridesce
Date: February 27, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8 + Korg Legacy Collection (Digital Edition)
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 7:48 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. Wine Pad on the Korg M1 (and, in this case, the M1 plugin) is beautiful and floating and very evocative.
  2. I followed a simple chord progression (Ebm/M7 Cm7b5 Fm7b9 Bb7) in Eb Melodic Minor. It’s an unusual key that was surprisingly playable.
  3. I tried to keep my fingers light on the big hammer-action piano controller in my studio.
  4. I used third party plugins for the first time, specifically the M1 and MDE-X effects processor, in conjunction with the usual band of miscreants in Logic.
  5. Using more of the keyboard allowed me some very deep lows to contrast with the higher notes floating around.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. There are some places where I let off the sustain pedal as we were moving to another chord. In those places, all of the sound dropped away precipitously.
  2. It was fairly easy for me to clip the CPU meter, so I probably went a little overboard trying to compress the music so it wouldn’t clip the audio. It still feels too loud, though.
  3. I’m still using one instrument. Sooner or later, one of these ambient pieces will have to grow beyond the one-patch improvisation.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Cerulean

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 25, 2008 with 1 comment

Title: Apollo Lee – Cerulean
Date: February 25, 2008
Software: Reason 4
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:54 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. Reason has some gorgeous instruments, evolving pads, and luscious patches and this is one of them.
  2. I stayed in C Melodic Minor (C D Eb F G A B C). It’s an easy key to play in, if you can remember that A and B are both natural.
  3. I played this entirely on a two-octave Oxygen 8 keyboard, which enabled me occasionally to use the mod wheel.
  4. Reason’s compressors and limiters are nifty.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. This piece feels pretty static. It morphs and wanders between Cm/M7 (or 9) and G7(b13) a lot.
  2. The note diversity is small, due to the 2 octave keyboard.
  3. Unlike many other ambient tracks I’ve created recently, this one feels too quiet.
  4. I need to learn to use Reason’s instruments in Logic, so I can have a bigger diversity of instrument choices.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Quiescence

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 22, 2008 with 1 comment

Title: Apollo Lee – Quiescence
Date: February 22, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 8:00 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. I like the harmonic stack (Am7 Dm7 Cm7 F7). It’s consonant and still has some dissonance at the same time.
  2. There are a few deep pedal tones, especially F.
  3. The chords mesh together easily, no matter which voices I pick in which combinations.
  4. The instrument I’m using is beautiful and doesn’t linger on note transitions.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. Some notes distort slightly, even at low volume.
  2. I didn’t try to incorporate the mod wheel, or even program it in. This would have been fairly interesting.
  3. I could have done much more with the harmony—specifically, building and releasing tension with dissonance.
  4. Many of the transitions are either overly loud or chords that dissipate abruptly.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Synchrotron

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 18, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Synchrotron
Date: February 18, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 7:00 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. The harmony (F Melodic Minor) is beautiful and that Fm/major 7 chord is particularly haunting.
  2. I’m improvising on the Keystation Pro 88 in my studio and I can just meander around a normal keyboard.
  3. I monitored this composition primarily on Alesis Monitor One speakers, making sure that none of the heavy sections clipped or distorted.
  4. F Melodic Minor is not a key I’m used to improvising in, so I had to remind myself during the whole course of the piece that Ds and Es are both natural, but A is always flat. (F Melodic Minor: F G Ab Bb C D E F)

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. Sometimes, I landed a little harder than I intended on a particular set of chord tones, especially in the loud section that resulted at 3:10.
  2. I am still improvising ambient music with only one instrument, a synth pad.
  3. These compositions are still formless and shapeless.
  4. Many of the transitions are either overly loud or chords that dissipate abruptly.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Thermatropic

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 11, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Thermatropic
Date: February 11, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:36 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. The harmony (G Melodic Minor) is lush and provides gorgeous dissonance, particularly in chords that have the leading tone or that A natural against the Bb.
  2. The instrument plays a harmonic when a note is at max velocity.
  3. I equalized this one better than others recently, pulling the middle frequencies down.
  4. Sometimes, the harmonic tones came unexpectedly and out of nowhere, to great affect.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. That harmonic at 3:35 is too loud. Some of the other harmonics are also too loud.
  2. Even with the improved mix down, you should probably turn your speakers/headphones down. One of these days, I’ll create music that won’t punch a hole in your brain.
  3. Since I’m playing a two octave keyboard here, I occasionally rambled too much over the same section of notes.
  4. The instrument’s velocity touch is beautiful, but the modulation only provides a little vibrato. I probably could have used that more.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Chirality

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 8, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Chirality
Date: February 8, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 8:12 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. The harmony lends itself to dissonance and consonance with the move of one finger (Em7 A7 Ebm7 Abm7).
  2. The selected instrument makes it sounds otherworldly and haunting.
  3. I resisted the temptation to build big stacky chords most of the time.
  4. Sustained chords are not static. The pad iterates on itself a little bit.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. Mayday, Mayday, the mix is coming in hot. It’s pretty loud.
  2. I need to give this more EQ attention. Some notes in the middle frequencies distort my headphones in playback just a tiny bit.
  3. The note diversity might be just a little too narrow (i.e.: too much stuff in the same octave).

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Smectic

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 5, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Smectic
Date: February 5, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 7:00 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. The instrument I’m using is abstract and beautiful.
  2. The harmonic structure lends itself to improvisation without much worry about clashing.
  3. The low notes contrast nicely with the middles and the highs.
  4. Lots of moments of lush dissonances and soaring consonants.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. I need to be more adventurous with harmony. This set of notes is stacked minor 7th chords. I should use more color tones (9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) in the fundamental harmony.
  2. The mix down sounds muddy. Maybe I used too many compressors.
  3. The improvisation isn’t very adventurous.
  4. Sometimes, the harmonic rhythm is too fast for what I’m trying to do here.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Nematic

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on February 2, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Nematic
Date: February 2, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:24 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. I’m using my Oxygen 8 and playing in a two octave range, using the scale of A melodic minor (A B C D E F# G# A).
  2. The instrument is ominous and abstract. It has gorgeous overtones, morphs, and a rich aftertouch.
  3. The melodic minor harmony lends to some lush dissonances.
  4. The mood is very detached and haunting.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. The whole piece feels like a much smaller number of morphing chords than it is.
  2. At high volume, some of the higher overtones are a little bit piercing.
  3. I wanted to use the modulation wheel more, but I couldn’t reach it while holding down a four or five part chord.
  4. On good monitors, the mix is probably hot enough to flutter the woofers, even though the channel mix is at -10 dB.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

January Roundup

In 52 Tracks, Music on January 31, 2008 with no comments

In the first month of my “52 Tracks in 52 Weeks”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/04/52-tracks-in-52-weeks/ project, I crafted *nine* tracks. The first two were in the house music genre and the last seven were all ambient.

Improvising ambient music with Logic Pro, using my “Korg PadKontrol”:http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=KPC1&category_id=8, has proved more interesting and fun than I’d anticipated. I’ve always been a fan of ambient music, especially of artists like Harold Budd, Brian Eno, Steve Roach, and others, and trying my hand at writing that kind of music has been educational.

Here are the songs I created in January of 2008:

# 06 Jan 2008 — “A New Opportunity”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/06/a-new-opportunity/ (house)
# 10 Jan 2008 — “I Can Do That”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/10/i-can-do-that/ (house)
# 17 Jan 2008 — “Flurry”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/14/flurry/ (ambient)
# 21 Jan 2008 — “Adrift”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/21/adrift/ (ambient)
# 23 Jan 2008 — “Sequoia”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/23/sequoia/ (ambient)
# 23 Jan 2008 — “Borah”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/23/borah/ (ambient)
# 25 Jan 2008 — “Cumberland”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/25/cumberland/ (ambient)
# 28 Jan 2008 — “Verdant”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/28/verdant/ (ambient)
# 31 Jan 2008 — “Ticket”:http://www.apollolee.com/2008/01/31/ticket/ (ambient)

Ticket

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 31, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Ticket
Date: January 31, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 5:06 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

  1. The aftertouch on this instrument is nice.
  2. There are some beautiful bass note entrances.
  3. Airy suspensions happen frequently here.

What I Don’t Like About It

  1. Too many three-note or whole chord transitions at too high a frequency.
  2. The train conductor interrupted me at 5:00. “Ticket. I need to see your ticket.” (Hence, the title and the abrupt ending.)
  3. The chords don’t linger long enough to make use that beautiful background bell thing in the aftertouch.
  4. The way I used the tones here is a little boring sometimes, a little jarring sometimes.
  5. Some of the note entrances are too heavy.
  6. The mix down is too hot.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

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Apollo Lee blogs at The Oracle of Apollo, Osteocephalic, and here. He lives near San Francisco.

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