With Paradise Lost there's also the fact I wrote some heavy lyrics for it and couldn't come up with a melody for them. I mean, I easily came up with different ones for the first stanza of each verse, but then couldn't hack a transition to the third chord in the progression, nor a transition back to home at the end of each verse. Sure I could have probably followed one of the other melodies I have in this song, in which I already cleared those hurdles in different ways, but that didn't feel appropriate. The choir thing is standard oscillators into a vowel filter. Synth. :) I wonder if the more advanced harmonies we have when we have both the descending main theme and the choir together make it more hopeful or more hopeless for you. I also find the barren area where we have only the kick drum, bass, and distorted 303, without any backing chords or other parts to be extremely sad, whereas usually if I use that technique it's a feeling of power. It must be something in this chord progression that just gets to me so strongly, that even when it's only implied by those 303s I feel it so much. Let's Pretend is totally a vehicle for those sax lines, and I definitely went the extra mile with them, re-recording a few times till they were just the perfect vibe. And of course the epic reverb tails that almost everything has, and the vocals that can be interpreted as either hopeful if we're going with the song being an honest plea for change, or alternatively just a glum description of the current state, in which case it's just... depression really. Always happy to inspire you. :D Yes, it's a 303. It's pretty much always a 303. :P Bass? Always. Little repetitive melodies with glides? Always. Over the top leads? Yep. :P (I'm being hyperbolic, sure, but I use them very extensively.) Royksopp are great, and I have heard Monument before, but not the version that's in the video, rather the one from The Inevitable End, which is less understated, and sounds much happier, with happier accompaniments and sync style leads. Didn't even feature the sax that was in the original. Having heard the original now, I like it better. Funny you mention the lead 303 almost sounds like a guitar, since I remember in my childhood before I discovered the 303, I was under the impression that "soprano electric guitars" were my favorite sound, from hearing a large bunch of musical instruments in some interactive encyclopedia type thing. I'm glad you loved it. :) And about the ending, I just can't hold myself back these days. I come up with so many parts and melodies in each song these days that I feel I just can't leave the songs understated. The songs *have* to be this long so each part gets its turn to shine and room to breathe, and I can't help myself from always aiming for a crescendo with all of the parts going crazy all together (which makes mixing these songs a bitch. :p ) Before Paradise Lost so rudely interrupted the order, the plan for the next song was "Joy to the World", as a happy contrast to Let's Pretend, so that'll probably be the first one for March, and it also features some acoustic guitar. :)
With Paradise Lost there's also the fact I wrote some heavy lyrics for it and couldn't come up with a melody for them. I mean, I easily came up with different ones for the first stanza of each verse, but then couldn't hack a transition to the third chord in the progression, nor a transition back to home at the end of each verse. Sure I could have probably followed one of the other melodies I have in this song, in which I already cleared those hurdles in different ways, but that didn't feel appropriate.
The choir thing is standard oscillators into a vowel filter. Synth. :)
I wonder if the more advanced harmonies we have when we have both the descending main theme and the choir together make it more hopeful or more hopeless for you.
I also find the barren area where we have only the kick drum, bass, and distorted 303, without any backing chords or other parts to be extremely sad, whereas usually if I use that technique it's a feeling of power. It must be something in this chord progression that just gets to me so strongly, that even when it's only implied by those 303s I feel it so much.
Let's Pretend is totally a vehicle for those sax lines, and I definitely went the extra mile with them, re-recording a few times till they were just the perfect vibe. And of course the epic reverb tails that almost everything has, and the vocals that can be interpreted as either hopeful if we're going with the song being an honest plea for change, or alternatively just a glum description of the current state, in which case it's just... depression really.
Always happy to inspire you. :D
Yes, it's a 303. It's pretty much always a 303. :P Bass? Always. Little repetitive melodies with glides? Always. Over the top leads? Yep. :P (I'm being hyperbolic, sure, but I use them very extensively.)
Royksopp are great, and I have heard Monument before, but not the version that's in the video, rather the one from The Inevitable End, which is less understated, and sounds much happier, with happier accompaniments and sync style leads. Didn't even feature the sax that was in the original. Having heard the original now, I like it better.
Funny you mention the lead 303 almost sounds like a guitar, since I remember in my childhood before I discovered the 303, I was under the impression that "soprano electric guitars" were my favorite sound, from hearing a large bunch of musical instruments in some interactive encyclopedia type thing.
I'm glad you loved it. :)
And about the ending, I just can't hold myself back these days. I come up with so many parts and melodies in each song these days that I feel I just can't leave the songs understated. The songs *have* to be this long so each part gets its turn to shine and room to breathe, and I can't help myself from always aiming for a crescendo with all of the parts going crazy all together (which makes mixing these songs a bitch. :p )
Before Paradise Lost so rudely interrupted the order, the plan for the next song was "Joy to the World", as a happy contrast to Let's Pretend, so that'll probably be the first one for March, and it also features some acoustic guitar. :)