Hello and welcome to our second studio session blog! Jade Melody Composing here, and tonight I'm going to focus on a more high-tech sounding piece that I've been envisioning. I want to bring it to life to see if it fits the standard and works well as background stock music. I can imagine this project being used in various categories such as videos, vlogs, streams, and even in ads for different types of businesses.
I'll start as I usually do, with some pads. Building the foundation is crucial because without a solid starting point to build on, the quality of the song might be affected. Let's get started! I begin with two pads that I'll use together with both playing the same chord progression. One is a basic orchestral pad with a powerful sound, and the other is a spacey ambient choral pad.
I decide to go with the key of G for this song and start by creating a mid-range chord progression for the choral pad, and a low and mid-range copy of the same progression for the orchestral pad. This creates a nice full pad foundation, although I didn't intend to have low-range chords. Later in the creation process, when I add some other instruments that I have planned, it may make the sound too muddy. So, I may have to remove some of the lower range notes, but I'll wait until I have more of the song put together.
After the pad sounds, I move on to the bass portion that I'm considering. It's a simple driving bass, nothing too fancy, just a solid and steady bass that complements the theme I'm going for. At this point, I'm debating whether to add any percussion. During the time I've been thinking about this song, I hadn't even imagined adding any form of percussion to it.
For now, I decide to continue without percussion, but I'll see how the song sounds as I near the finish line and determine if it will be better with percussion. Next, I start working on a simple piano piece to add a little more structure to the project. I may change this to a synth sound later on that goes with the tech theme of the song depending on the vibe I'm getting but for now, it will be a clean piano sound with reverb to create an airy atmosphere. In all likely hood, I think ill stick with the piano sound.
At this point, before I make any further additions or changes to the song, I adjust the volume levels. The bass and pads are a bit too loud, so I lower them to blend everything together better. I like to make these corrections during the creation process to make mixing and mastering a bit easier. It also helps me get a closer idea of what the song will sound like after mixing and mastering, resulting in a higher quality creation because I can hear how all the parts will sound together in their finished state.
Now that I have a fuller sounding version of the song, I decide to create multiple percussion tracks because I'm starting to think that the song will be enhanced by it. I keep these simple, a good solid basic beat that fits nicely into the project. After finishing the percussion, I decide to keep it. It strengthens the song and complements the intro that I have set up, where it starts with the piano and choral pad, then the stronger orchestral pad fades in during the first run through of the chord progression, and finally, it is in full along with the driving bass and percussion at the beginning of the second run through.
Now that I'm hearing it all together, I realize that the orchestral pad is a bit too overpowering for the sleek high-tech sound that I'm aiming for in this project. I change it to a more Sci-Fi themed pad after trying out a few options, and I keep a single note version of the orchestral pad to ensure a nice full sound. It works out nicely, and I decide to pause and let the song sit for a while. I believe that for the song's purpose, it has everything it needs, but I'm still contemplating whether to add a light synthesizer lead to it. Sometimes, when this happens, I like to let it sit for a bit and listen to it with fresh ears before making a decision.
This is going to be a shorter background stock music track and while I have a tendency to add many different parts and elements to these projects, this one is going to be relatively simple. With what I've been working out in my head, I think simple will better for this song but I may end up adding the lead. I'll give it some time. Thank you for reading our second studio session blog!
