CARLTON WILSON - PROJECT AND PORTFOLIO I: AUDIO ARTS - ONLINE

Final Track

This beat is inspired by Timbaland. Timbaland is my favorite producer of all time. This beat is in the style of modern hip hop and R&B. This beat could be used by an artist as a single or as instrumentation in TV and film.

This beat is in common time. The BPM is 90. It utilizes 808 drums which are very popular in modern hip hop. The bass comes from the 808 drum machine as well. The hihat keeps a 16thnote rhythm that drives the energy of the track. 

This beat is in the key of A Minor. It uses 7thand 9thchords. The chord progression is as follows: Am7, Am9, GMaj7, GMaj9, FMaj7, FMaj9, Emin7, Emin9. The sounds of the chords and melody are all spacy and ethereal synths. They complement one another to add a deep emotional atmosphere.

I recorded 2 vocal samples for this track. The first is a percussive “shhh” sound. It adds to the vibe of the track with the reverb and delay I added to it. It’s on track 18. The second vocal sample I recorded was a “oooo” sound. It’s on track 20. It’s mixed to be more felt than heard. On track 24, I used the second vocal sample in EX24 sampler and played it as melody in the B section.  I created two synth tracks from scratch using ESP. The first is on track 16. I toyed with the parameters to create a spacey synth that fits the mood of the track. It is used as a melody in the B section. The 2ndESP track is track #17. It is a bassy accent sound that adds to the mood. 

I used dynamic compression on the drums. Without the compressor, they and thin and lack punch. I also used an expander on the EX24 expander to bring the sound to the front of the mix. I used reverb and echo on tracks 18 and 21. They quarter note delay adds to the rhythm of the piece. The reverb adds to the spacey atomosphere.