Apollo Lee 52 Tracks in 52 Weeks

Verdant

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 28, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Verdant
Date: January 28, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:36 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

1. While it’s not so evident on headphones, the aftertouch on the instrument is gorgeous. I love it. It occasionally feels like a countermelody.
2. There are plenty of nicely haunting moments with a interestingly unexpected bass note under a suspended chord.
3. Some of the resolutions give me chills.
4. There’s a mysterious quality about this piece that makes me want to listen to it a lot.
5. The instrument morphs through long chords enough that the music maintains its interest.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. The fade at 3:56 is distracting.
2. The mix down is probably just a tiny bit too hot.

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

Cumberland

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 25, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Cumberland
Date: January 25, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:18 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

1. There are lots of lush suspensions and color tones.
2. I tried to keep everything in the middle, but also with some good bass tones.
3. I am successfully writing many of these recent tracks in diverse keys.
4. The ambient floating feel is maintained and fades easily into the background, even at significant volume.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. The more I listen to it, the more I dislike the sweep and phase in the instrument. I should try it with another patch, something a little less harsh.
2. I forgot to delete the modulation wheel even at 1:07. It just sounds wrong.
3. The chord transitions are impatient, hurried. I imagine that if I slowed the track down, it would be better.

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

Borah

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 23, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Borah
Date: January 23, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:42 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

1. There’s a significant spread between the lows and the highs.
2. The chords are nicely dissonant and still consonant at the same time.
3. I was more patient with the motion of the tunes, aiming to avoid moving more than two tones at a time.
4. The chords are different enough that there’s beautiful dissonant tension, but similar enough that it’s not overwhelming.
5. It has a very floating feel to it, like floating over a mountain, so I named it for the highest peak in Idaho.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. Some of the transitions are distractingly abrupt with large gaps of fading silence for no good reason.
2. Too many of the transitions involve an entire chord or too many of its elements moving at the same time.
3. A few of the transitions go from a dissonant chord with color tones to simple triads. Those resolutions should be revised so the transitions happen in ways that don’t throw the ear.
4. The mix is probably a little bit hot.

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

Sequoia

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 23, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Sequoia
Date: January 23, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 6:24 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

1. The low notes provide a beautiful depth to the piece.
2. The shifting dissonances and slow time arch lends a mysterious awe.
3. I was more patient with the motion of the tunes, aiming to avoid moving more than two tones at a time.
4. The chords are different enough that there’s beautiful dissonant tension, but similar enough that it’s not overwhelming.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. The first mix was unbelievably hot and, while it didn’t clip the mixer, it still needed compressed. It’s still a little loud in some places.
2. The fade out at 5:00 sounds like a mistake. The gap between that and the next chord is a tiny bit too long.

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

Adrift

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 21, 2008 with 1 comment

Title: Apollo Lee – Adrift
Date: January 21, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 7:00 @ 40 bpm

What I Like About It

1. I’m experimenting with different chord structures.
2. The ethereal quality of the chords is gorgeous and evocative.
3. When I played this, it didn’t feel like it took up seven minutes. It also felt like it took all night. It was very relaxing.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. Almost all of the notes are confined to a note spread of less than two octaves.
2. The mix is really hot. It feels a little bit loud to me.

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

Flurry

In 52 Tracks, Ambient, Music on January 14, 2008 with no comments

Title: Apollo Lee – Flurry
Date: January 17, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: Ambient
Timing: 3:50 @ 60 bpm (approx.)

What I Like About It

1. I used my Korg padKontrol to improvise ambient music for the first time.
2. The modulation wobble on the X/Y pad is spooky. In a beautiful way.
3. This breaks me out of my four-on-the-floor house music.
4. The chords are interesting (Abm7, Db7, Gm7, Cm7) and that makes for some interesting dissonances.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. Transitions felt hurried sometimes.
2. I can’t figure out what to do with some of the buttons on my instrument.

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

I Can Do That

In 52 Tracks, House, Music on January 10, 2008 with 1 comment

Title: Apollo Lee – I Can Do That (Version 1)
Date: January 10, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8 + Ableton Live 5.2.2
Genre: House
Timing: 4:23 @ 128 bpm

What I Like About It

1. I arranged a full-length track for the first time ever in Ableton Live.
2. The guitar/flute riff happened by accident, but I dig it.
3. The rhythm chord sounds like it’s saying “I Can Do That.”
4. I can imagine putting a singer on top of this.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. Transitions are abrupt and pickup notes haven’t been trimmed.
2. The mixdown is pretty amateur.
3. The guitar and the flute echo sound out of tune with each other.
4. We’re still in 8 bar layering mode. There’s no form or direction.
5. The pad doesn’t continue and, in quiet parts, it ends abruptly and jarringly.

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

A New Opportunity

In 52 Tracks, House, Music on January 6, 2008 with no comments

First Version

Title: Apollo Lee – A New Opportunity (First Version)
Date: January 6, 2008
Software: Reason 4.0
Genre: House
Timing: 3:19 @ 125 bpm

What I Like About It

1. I used something other than G minor (I’m using Ebm7 Ab7 here).
2. I have something resembling a melody (the vibraphone line).
3. I didn’t fall back to using any randomizations.
4. The cowbell is pretty funky.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. The drums are are splattered out of a 1 bar loop with some drums muted in various parts of the arrangement.
2. It doesn’t have any sections. It’s a straight eight bar loop with something changing every eight bars. No concept of verse, bridge, or chorus.
3. There’s no breakdown or tension building.
4. The mixdown sounds like garbage. I never attempted to mix this draft down on anything but headphones.

Second Version

Title: Apollo Lee – A New Opportunity (Second Version)
Date: January 16, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: House
Timing: 3:19 @ 125 bpm

What I Like About It

1. For the first time, I imported a Reason-generated MIDI file into Logic.
2. The parts are tighter and cleaner and the drums don’t feel too muddy.
3. The electric piano chords give it a different, more jazzy feel than the bouncy “Sound on Sound” Reason Malström synth.
4. The new melody line instrument is much better here.
5. The mixdown is much better.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. I didn’t know how to fade in and out, so the ending is very abrupt.
2. It still suffers from the same issues as the first version.
3. There are no secondary melodies to sustain interest.

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

52 Tracks in 52 Weeks

In 52 Tracks, Music on January 4, 2008 with no comments

As my new year’s resolution for 2008, I decided to, among other things, attempt to write 52 Tracks in 52 Weeks. It’s not nearly as ambitious as the projects of other people, but I’ve been playing with music for a long, long time. I have yet to put any of it out there for the world to listen to.

Until now.

The rules of this project are simple: Produce at least one track every week for the whole year. There’s no rule against starting more than one and any previous works can be revisited, revised, remixed, or rearranged later. But, each week, I want to create at least one song-length track.

On this blog, I’ll talk about music—mine specifically. I’m also working up a series of articles on music composition and production, which will be over at “Osteocephalic”:http://www.osteocephalic.com/. I have an “introduction”:http://www.osteocephalic.com/2008/01/08/introducing-osteocephalic/ over there, too.

I usually live at “the Oracle of Apollo”:http://www.mt-olympus.com/apollo/, but it’s very noisy over there lately. This is new and fresh. I hope you like it.