Title Fight - Leaf

This track hits hard right on the first note. There's an 8 bar intro, that's made as full as possible which allows space to be made for the verse that follows. I can hear, drums, bass, rhythm guitar and lead guitar. The lead guitar is the element that's removed for the verse. It resides though, with a feedback signal and then acts as a call/response at the end of each line. Floral Green (the album) came out this year, so we expect a loud record and that expectation is met.

Vocals:
The vocals are your standard front and centre position. However, I haven't noticed much use of backing vocals except at 1:38 where a second voice seems to come in behind, and the same thing at 2:13. Thinking about the song as a whole, as one man's battle - perhaps the idea of backing vocals would detract from that.

Guitar: 
The use of the lead guitar as a 'noise machine' sounds good in many sections of this song except at 1:23 where it pierces through a bit too much. A little bit of volume automation there would have done the trick. The chugging of the guitar through the verses sounds quite good though. The higher pitch noise of the second guitar doesn't mask the rhythm guitar.

Rhythm: 
This track is your standard rock time signature in 4/4 and hits the tempo of 160 beats per minute. There's a lot of interchange with double time sections and half time sections that are generally very popular in this kind of music. The snare drum cuts through well enough, the main issue though is the ride cymbal that gets switched to quite often. There's some stick definition but overall doesn't hold enough weight in the mix to make the transitions between hi hat and ride smooth.

Reso - War Machine

I haven't done anything in the extreme realm of electronic music for a while. Once again, drum programming is a huge attraction in this track. Along with that is some of the most perfectly aggressive bass I've ever heard. The modulation is so organic, it doesn't sound too perfectly locked to the beat; for example, the triplets speed up through the bar. There's got to be some use of arpegiator to make some of the effects in here.

The bass: 
There's probably a few different bass instruments that come in different parts. The type of filtering that occurs most is low pass filtering. The trick with a lot of it seems to be bringing out the harshness of square-ish waveforms when the filter alternates between being dry and wet. The other factor I touched on was the variation of the LFO. There's no shortage of sub-divisions chosen create constant interchange of speeds and sounds. The use of the 16th note triplets on both ascending pitch and descending pitch makes quite a nice hook for this track.

Hectic drums: 
These are hands down, the most hectic drums I've ever heard in an electronic track. This kind of thing normally characterises drum & bass and dubstep tracks which makes it the perfect way for this track to set itself apart. The drum patters matches the bass in the triplet feel. The ghosting from the snare is fairly constant throughout - as if it were a second hi hat. The kick is used sparing in the first half of each 8 bars to make the second half (where it's more active) more impacting. The rhythmic paring between the snare and the other elements is well managed here. Each snare accent is pitted against what sounds like an additional stab of pink noise.

Citizen Cope - Let The Drummer Kick

This one is from 2002 and reminds me of something very Moby sounding that I would have been listening to at the time. Unsurprisingly, as a drummer the most appealing part of this production that groove. Also the piano and backing strings are quite nice (giving that Moby vibe).

Drums: 
The most important thing about this drum production to me is the imperfection. Without these little quirks the programmed drums sound dead to me. Number one, is the slightly late hat on beat one, or if you like a slightly early kick. Other than it working as a 'humanising' element that difference in timing stops the hi hat from masking the kick on beat one (where it's most important). In fact, I believe that keeping your hats off time as much as sounds acceptably fitting in your production is a good idea. That's my 2 cents on drums anyway.

Scratch samples: 
The track opens with a lot of 'squeaks' that actually loosely follow the melody of the piano when it comes in. The samples sound like short chopped samples from someone's scratch set. They certainly suit the style of this music and the time it came out. I miss scratch in modern music, it's always the thing that sets a lot of DJs apart but I think it sounds interesting as an instrument in music too.

Vocals: 
This production plays a lot with vocal looping and layering of looped vocal lines. The "let the drummer kick" loop that introduced the track remains fairly constant. While this continues, a number of variations of enter the mix alongside it. They're phrasing is different, which is my favourite thing about it. Some thought would have gone into finding two rhythmic variations of that line that go well together. These loops are effected with some lo-fi filter as to keep them separate from the lead vocal that takes over in each verse. There's a call and response between voices in the second verse. It follows the convention of a close voice interacting with a distant voice.

Last thoughts: 
That piano lick sounds so great in this track. It's a perfect sample in the context of the other sounds. It's short and sharp to stand out from the pad synths behind it and in parts feels like it's in tune with the scratch. This is an extremely cool track that I hadn't listened to until today and I regret that.

San Cisco - Wild Things

I'm just going through whatever music is new at the moment and there's quite a few things I don't like here. Most of my entries are praising but for a change we need some more criticism.

• Vocals are overly breathy in verses, not much energy behind them (sounding lazy). 
• 1:08: A real mess here, some very cloudy voices (maybe just conversation) in the background creating a sonic mess. The whistle in the second half sounds right off tune, the 'arpy' synth on top steals a lot focus by being much more clean cut sounding than everything in the background (maybe too much). 
• After that section: What's going on with the drums? One tom sounds like it's filled with water or something. 
• Chorus: Laser sound is pretty cheesy, double tracked vocals sound a bit too out of time from each other. If they're not backing vocals they should sound like one voice. This whole section has some other underwater wash going on that for whatever aesthetic it adds is just mud in terms of sound. 
• 1:51, some pretty nasty drum sampling, very disjointed drum fill. This is even worse at 2:11 when the whole thing is just right off time. 
• This final chorus is just more frustrating than the last with plenty of loose sounding off-tune mud. 

There's a lot here that just clashed with my ears and interpretations of good production. I think we needed one of those in this diary. I found this track browsing the "what's new" on Spotify. 

Ellie Goulding - My Blood

The first thing I found interesting about this track is nice mix of organic and synthetic sounds. The backing for the vocals is quite dynamic. Beginning with acoustic instruments such as guitar and piano and layering pads and other synths in larger sections like choruses is really effective. This is a really good way to work on modern music I think. The return to the acoustic guitar at the end of the chorus reminds me of how thick of a sound is achieved with all those layers working together.

The impact of the piano taking its active role in this track is structured around other sounds dropping out momentarily to make its presence more obvious. There are a number of transitions that operate this way in this track. The removal of drums for these sections works quite well to help me appreciate the intricacy of the piano.

For the outro, the solo vocals are quite nice. It highlights the many layers that were used to make the vocal track special. Listening to the final chorus, backing vocals and chanting are a nice companion to the falsetto highs of the lead vocal.

METZ - Sad Pricks

More new-release music! This track opens with miscellaneous electrical noise (as is the theme of the album thus far). It's very fitting with the massive, aggressive and loud sound of this track. I'm finding this track to be like something punk-revisited but adapted with some modern production. It's quite a modern sound in some ways and then very vintage in others. It's loud like a modern record, but the seemingly distant mic'ing of drums and off balance of the vocals seems older.

Distant, angry voices:
I'm actually a big fan of the vocal production on this track. The goal for this track is definitely to create the loudest vibe possible. Hearing the vocal 'strain' to cut through the massive power of the instruments certainly contributes to this. Here's a theory, because most of our ears naturally hone themselves toward the vocal we manage to 'pull them through' the other noise. I would suggest that this idea of fighting to hear the vocal makes the sense of loudness greater.

This is another example of an 'in the room' sounding record. Things don't remain to consistent, the constant fight between sounds for loudness leads to the back beat on the snare being lost in some places and dominant in others. Listening at 1:50 to the buildup, there's something that sounds to me like a performance mistake that has been left in (drum hit and miss). We're not used to hearing stuff like this on modern records so this is pretty interesting to me. I think I like it, it's good to take a break from our overly perfect sounding music and have a bit more fun with the messy side of creativity.

XXYYXX - Fields

Drums: 
My initial observations for this track are the very distinctly traps style drums. It's the 808 sound arranged into lots of impossibly fast sub-divisions. My favourite examples of this are when they smash snare strokes together at a fast enough frequency to make their own melodic notes. The application of this drum style on this track has more potential than is used, in my opinion. I would have loved to hear big 1 bar fills 'sliding' through 32nd note and 16th note triplet sub-divisions. The off-beat wood-block samples are quiet interesting though and make a good addition. I'm wearing headphones right now so this might be slightly miss-informed but I think there's an alternating pan in the hi hats, right to left.

Lead synth: 

• Long, elastic sounding pitch slides. 
• Fairly sharp waveform (somewhere between triangle and square) - Would that be saw-tooth? 
• Massive frequency range - plays very far apart notes on keyboard. It ranges from the most piercing high pitch notes to lower range blending with bass. 

Vocal samples: 

• Really incoherent and repetitive - suits the style well though. It's more about the sound of the voice than the words. I hear, "why did he do" and the occasional "What". 
• There's a lot of pitch shifting evident. The "why did he do" sounds to be shifted up, the "what" is shifted down. The pitch shifting goes to support the idea that the sound of the vocal is more of a melodic tool than a story telling device. With that, the repetition is fine as it is simply a rhythm like any lead synth. 

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

This is probably my favourite Iron Maiden track at the moment. This is nice and early one (their first album, 1980) when they had a bit more punk influence in their sound. I think this is one of Iron Maiden's fastest tracks, and features some of their best energetic playing. I've only got the 1998 remaster, but I'm happy to talk about the production regardless.

Bruce or Paul? 
There's an ongoing discussion between Iron Maiden fans about vocalists in this band. This singer is Paul Di'anno. The man who replaced him (Bruce Dickinson) has a strong operatic voice that certainly suits all Iron Maiden after Killers. But to anyone who would argue, Bruce has nothing on Di'anno for this era of the band.

Intro: 
That single guitar and even when the second joins in just sounds a bit flimsy. That moment of guitar pick noise at the very start would be something I can imagine being removed in a 1998 remaster of the track. Otherwise though, it sounds great to me once the drums and bass fill in that massive gap.

The bass solo 2:07: 
Just a quick note here, the lead out of the solo sounds like it's had an over dub or a massive volume boost. It just sounded a bit too forceful to be natural. You don't get to hear bass solos like this too often. I think Steve Harris (bass), although not credited as producer on this track has a lot of influence for things like this. In an interview I watched with the band they speak of everything they do in the studio being "Steve-ised".

Guitar squeals in chorus: 
I found it fairly interesting listening to the last chorus how the guitar squeals act as much like sound effects as anything else. They're inserted periodically, each slightly different but acting as a 'imagery' more than melody. I would characterise the long bends as some kind of object 'flying' across the music.

Urthboy - Stories

A low-pass filter opens up the drum track over the first 8 bars; the bass drops in on bar 9. This is a favourite way to open up track. We're talking about programmed drums here, so making a definitive point for the to drop in sometimes proves to feel unnatural. The filter, offers a smooth way to work in an 8 bar buildup and avoid the rigidity of a sampled drums hitting beat one 'too perfectly'.

Drums / drum samples: 
Having mentioned that rigidity as an unappealing aspect of some productions, I'll have to eat my words talking about the drum fills that work as transitions in this track. My first impression is that they would have made a re-sample for this. I say this because the drum fill is inserted on top of groove rather than have the groove 'change' to the fill. It's the same each time and has a clear beginning and end. The sound is also slightly different (maybe just some filtering). The drums are quite an earthy and trashy set; plenty of noise in the snare. This is good because each stroke sounds different, rather than each being a repeat of the last. The tambourine  is a great addition to this. A really dark and trashy hi hat could have been good too but the tambourine gets the trashy aesthetic whilst keeping in the higher register of cutting sounds.

Other instruments: 
We're listening to a brass stab primarily in this beat. I do like the sonic 'trade' that occurs in that filtered intro I mentioned earlier. Listen to the grainy top get taken off the top of the horn as the drums work in the opposite direction. I feel like might work out positively with our ears feeling like we're not 'loosing' sound (make a gap, fill the gap). For the second half of this track, a lead synth takes the lead role in place of samples. This works in combination with the new kick drum sound to create a long build that fits more with today's popular synthesized sound for those types of builds. Listening to it, I would suggest that the synthesized sounds are more workable in stretching them out like that and build intensity.

This track came out this year and it fits most of my conceptions of the Aussie hip hop sound. It's also a bit  more up tempo in the range of 107bpm.

Lana Del Rey - Ride

For most entries, I've been putting up the album art up there for visuals. In this case, the music video is quite impressive so I think it needs sharing. If you do want to get right to the music, skip to 3:25 (unless you've got the CD, FLAC or mp3 already).

Vocals: 

• Quite spacey and effected with some reverb.
• Different voices panned to separate sides in choral introduction. 
• The vocal style used for the verses is quite different to the choruses. 
• The chorus vocal is more distant, smoother, double tracked and occupies a higher frequency band. 
• Whisper call and response at the end of each phrase in the pre-chorus. 

Strings: 

• Active role in the chorus following a 16th note sub-division. 
• Fills a lot of space between vocal phrases in the verses. 
• Major force in building through the arrangement. Through volume, playing intensity and speed. Long, distant presence during verses, shorter, sharper playing during chorus. 
• Climbs an octave higher in the final chorus. 

Drums: 

• Active in chorus as a drum kit.
• Background role during verses as a synthetic, bouncing, low tom. 
• There is a progression from low frequency centred drums to the inclusion of hi hat in chorus. 

I feel like watching the video for this song has affected my perception on some elements. There's a vibe when I listen to it without the video that the music is a component of a soundtrack to a film. Having considered this, the central role given to strings and the style in which they contributed to the music was quite reminiscent of film soundtracks I've listened to. The most brilliant thing to me about music in this style is the kind of imagery it can create in your mind as you listen. 

Thrice - Wood and Wire

Thrice are one of the best bands at blending odd-time signatures into their tunes, changing between them smoothly and making the odd sound 'right' regardless of its odd step. This track utilizes measures of 4 and measures of 7. I've written about some tracks that seem to just blend time signatures for the sake of complexity. When the transitions and feeling of the odd-time are as smooth as this you can tell it's been done on a purely artistic basis. Wood and Wire is a beautiful atmospheric track enabled by some really neat production.

I quite like the quirk they included at the beginning of this track. "Hey, it's still like really low in your thing right?" That must be the guys in the studio going about recording this track. It's quiet enough to sound like an 'easter egg' that you can easily skip over with your ears. Regardless, Wood and Wire is quite an intimate sounding track (as we'll get into more with the vocals), and these extra words behind the music resonate with me as a Thrice fan. The overall sound of the track is very much centred on the 'being in the room' experience. This, along with the clicking of sticks to count in certainly compliments that vibe.

The music grows from relatively defined drums, bass, guitar and organ to a washy wall of sound mixed with some glitches and analogue distortions. The dynamics change for the finale, leaving the vocals out and bringing the instrumental elements up to a climax of intensity.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

This is the 5th studio album from the Peppers, released in 1991 and produced by Rick Rubin. For this entry I want to write a little bit about the track, Suck My Kiss. Its a pounding funk rock track powered by a heavy  kick drum paired with a strong bass. The tempo of this track is 102bpm in the time signature of 4/4.

Drums:
There's a lot of open and closed hi hat alternation to widen and narrow the groove. There are a lot of dynamic considerations to think about with the drums. By widen and narrow the groove I mean the shortness and sharpness of some strokes interplaying with longer, looser ones. The rhythm of this track is characterised by short stops and starts and this is translated into drum kit dynamics. The snare keeps anchor to the beat two and four whilst the kick and bass create a complex pattern around that. The tone of the snare is quite deep but tuned tightly enough to respond the many ghost-strokes that bring the drum to life. This is most evident when the drum kit takes solo for half a bar on occasion. The kick is quite staccato and designed to cut through the wash of cymbals and the plucking of the bass. Much of the 'click' of the kick drum is at the forefront of its overall sound.

Bass Guitar: 
I sense some distortion, can that occur naturally from plucking strings at a high velocity? If not there maybe some distorted guitar blended in. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I quite like distorted bass in this context. The distorted edge to it helps define a shorter attack and create an overall more powerful rhythm. This works especially well in coordination with the 'snap' and 'click' of the kick drum being accentuated.

This is one of my favourite tracks ever in terms of groove power. I think it has come down largely to the tightness of the drums and bass on a very well written rhythmic pattern. The production elements have helped  make it reach that end more effectively.

Bob Dylan - Hurricane

8:33 long track. 
This is from Dylan's 1976 album, Desire. I don't remember it being such a massively long track before, I probably heard some radio edits and 'best of' cuts. There's a big story to tell in this song, so Bob Dylan must have been determined to get the several verses included. Thinking about most Bob Dylan work, the storytelling is king and will come before all other considerations. There's actually a long fade for the finish of this track so I wonder how long they actually went for!

Orchestration: 
I quite like the orchestration of this track. There's a nice mix of instruments working together in ways that I don't hear all too often. We've got a rhythm section consisting of drum kit, congas, guitar and bass. On the melodic side is male lead vocals, female backing and the amazing violin. My opinion is that the violin adds a huge portion of interest to this track. It's much more effective at carrying the melody than a second guitar part would be.

Mix: 
It sounds balanced the way I would like this track. Above all, Bob's vocals must be clear and comprehensible. The violin gets a bit too loud at points but holds a good spot in the instrumental sections above everything else. The harmonica solo 8 minutes in clashes with the violin a little bit in parts. It wouldn't be Dylan without a good harmonica solo to end the piece with.

Brand New - Archers

Opening:
This track opens with drum kit - focussed on snare, this sets up the pace and feel for the rest of the track. Layered on this after the short intro is electric lead guitar and bass.

Vocals:
Following this is the vocals, there is a backing vocal for each word sung. This is unlike much of the other music I've covered where the backing is used to accentuate either a specific word or just the second half of the phrase. I also thought it was a bit unusual for the backing to take the lower harmony rather than the higher. In the context of a verse and the consistency of it, perhaps the lower harmony helps it thicken the sound without taking too much attention. Additionally, the upper harmony is taken in the chorus so maybe it's for extra impact in that case.

Groove and drums: 
The tempo of the track is slightly 'pushing' 147bpm in 4/4. A feature that adds a lot of the momentum we experience in the chorus is the tambourine. Along with this is the '4 on the floor' style kick drum. At 2:43 there is a change to this; the drums take a more conventional position with that 'kick, snare' groove. The snare sounds to me like a fairly loose tuned, singly ply drum head. There's not much 'ping' to be heard and the stick definition is fairly minimal. I would suggest that part of this choice might be the need for the snare to blend rather than cut. Because its active role is to 'roll' underneath the rest of the mix, the looser tuning and thinner ply helps the drummer play softer with ease. A tighter drum is too responsive for a lot of the quiet strokes needed here.

Closing feedback: 
The ending of this track was pretty interesting too I thought. The feedback effect has been used a lot but there's some interesting characteristics in this one. I can hear a lot of delay (just at the end) as well as some modulation effects really taking that feedback into a new alien sound.

Scribe - Not Many

Time for another back-in-the-day favourite! It's a slower beat at 70bpm grooving a fairly syncopated drum pattern. The pattern works on three long notes followed by three shorter pairs of notes. The two bar loop takes a while to come back each time so it doesn't get too tedious.

I should focus on the hyper-important vocal element of this track. Here's some broad observations:

• Doubled and tripled vocal in chorus sections. It sounds to me like the main vocal is doubled at one pitch and there's another voice taking an upper harmony. Three vocals at the same pitch would be very thick and possibly very messy sounding. Listen to 1:58 and you can hear one really high voice blended in. 
• Group vocals on the "Canterbury shout-outs" make the audience involvement vibe that I feel makes an exciting impact on most studio recordings. 
• Use of human voice for effects like howling wolves, nitrous gas. These are really cool, there's a bit of beat boxer aesthetic in this I believe. 
• Backing vocal inserted to accentuated particular words. There's use of effects like delay to help them fit behind the main vocal and fade without sounding too much like cutting/butting in. 
• Call and response "Check it out" etc fits convention and style. 

More on the beat:, it sounds sample based with some synth mixed in for solidarity. Interestingly, the only indicator of this for me on first listen was the audio tail at the end of the song. It sounds like a string synth or something similar. There is possibly also some extra software bass blended into the baritone brass instrument that leads most of the beat. I only suspect this because of the consistency of the sound and the extreme sustain that would leave many players out of breath or in the position to waver the notes a bit.  

Scribe is for me my marker for the New Zealand rap sound. This album came out in 2003 on Dirty Records and was produced by P-Money.

Eric Lau - Nadir

This track beings with little warm up. There's a long, delay heavy sample to set the mood and then the groove drops in. It's quite fast for something in this genre at 98bpm, but the loose shuffle nudges it into comfort with this style. The shuffle is 'wonky' with a slightly early snare and 'rocking chair' eighth note shuffle on the hats. Aside from the main sample mentioned one can hear a trumpet make its way into the mix. In between is a light and sustained synth accenting the start of each bar. That bass melody is quite simple and dual toned (back and forth between two chords). The focus is more the sweeping in and out of other variegated sounds. Use of panning and effects are done in an un-structured manner as there is little arrangement present in this piece. It's somewhat like being given a time limit for the track and a challenge to keep a certain 3-5 musical elements interesting for that time. There's some culture around this music for making the beat live and straight out of the drum machine. That's what this reminds me of quite a bit; It's a song idea that is put on the album as just a snippet of creativity that could be used in a larger arrangement.

Heart In Hand - Tunnels

This track features some of my favourites in the tool-kit of the hardcore and metal producer. We've got distorted over-loud vocal screams, gang vocals and the obligatory 'gut-busting' breakdown. Some other overall observations: Tasteful use of double-kick drums (sometimes very overused), the long buildup makes use of a small break of silence (to drop harder), use of some odd-time signatures.

The large buildup section of this track features some production I thought noteworthy. It's 16 bars in length which means an effort to maintain interest and build intensity.
-Doubled vocals panned alternately left and right (in second 8 bars).
-Changing in subdivision halfway through by the drums.

It's all about breakdown rhythm supremacy! 
Let's begin at the end for once; with that complicated 'breakdown' outro. It's cued up (very important in this music) with a short soloing of the guitar part. Essentially this cue acts as a call to action as well as a point for contrast when second guitar, bass, and drums drop in on top of it.  The rhythm is actually a mirror of the introduction but not identified on the first listen as the washy melody is absent. I count the opening two measures in 7/4 but the short breaks of silence don't comply with that. Traditionally, the breakdown has been a fairly simple section (rhythmically speaking). However, in the inherent culture of one-upmanship this has become an opportunity for bands to outdo others with increasingly complex rhythmic arrangements. We've seen loudness, speed and low-tuning as competitive elements of the genre, historically. And now, writing breakdowns as if they were a challenge for a snare drummer is a current trend, I believe. With that, Heart In Hand have done very well in this case. Leaving this section until the end is a wise choice as it would too severely interrupt the flow of the song placed anywhere else.

The Decemberists - O Valencia!

This instrumental element of this track centres around a guitar melody, supported by bass, drums and acoustic strumming for additional texture. In the pre-choruses there is a piano that adds an uplifting layer of momentum that leads perfectly into the chorus. The combination of wide, open piano and guitar notes layered on building drums pitted in call/response with the groove creates an effective "almost there" anticipation for the release of the chorus.

The chorus sees the addition of a percussive shaker and a shift in piano work to a quarter note drive. Another additional sound is an electric organ. To thicken the vocal on the hook "O Valencia" I can hear some double tracking. The guitar strumming is more active following a similar rhythm to the shaker. This is all wound up into a slowing down effect that brings us down into the next verse. The slowing down effect is most evident in the last chorus where the music must be brought to a close.

The vocal component to this track is quite simple and direct. There aren't too many effects that might confuse the vocal focus. On occasion there is a subtle backing vocal layer to emphasise the second half of a phrase. These occur more often after the first chorus. This would constitute as an effort to maintain some of the energy of the chorus into the next verse while bringing it down low enough to allow for an impact following it.  All in all though, the result is a fairly 'no-nonsense', in the room with band vibe.

Defeater - Waves Crash, Clouds Roll

This track has the aggressive vibe nailed from the beginning. The drum solo introduction rips, tears and shreds open the music. The sound of the tom tom drums throughout this track are quite low, thick and wet. This kind of sound results from loosely tuned drums, larger sizes (14-16"), double-ply drum heads and some EQ. A tom tom based groove comes in after 20 seconds making these thick sounding drums a point of focus.

This verse section driven by tom work is very strong contrast to the intensity in neighbouring sections of the song. The guitar switches to a 'almost clean' upper frequency melody which distances it sonically from the toms. The gap created by this change is the basis of the impact created at the change to the chorus. The vocals during this section are quite distantly spaced. The complex rhythmic intricacies of the drums get to shine during this section. A final note on the drums: Listening at 1:37, the accents pulled out of that snare roll are an extremely effective way of setting up the event that follows.

The guitar tone in this track sounds like many layers of distortion sandwiched together. This most evident to me in the introduction. The multiple guitar parts are quintessential in this style of music. The overlapping of guitar parts creates a thick sound as well as the opportunity for melodies to be easily put in and taken out of the mix.

The sudden ending of this song is quite fitting with its musical theme. Looking at the journey of the arrangement, it is fitting to end a song with as much certainty and definition as it begins with. This fits quite simply in the concept of cyclic, coherent arrangement.

Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams

For an album that came out this year, there's certainly a effort here to revive a vintage sound. I think it's quite refreshing in this way. There are also lot of lo-fi vintage synthesizer sounds featured which compliment to this effect. After a bit of reading, I can quite easily see it labelled as an " Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" that builds on the début of psychedelic stoner pop.

The syncopated piano part that introduces this track with the drums sounds quite distant. It could could be mic'd from a distance in a small hall to my ear. Most interestingly though is the reverse tail of it. The last two seconds of each note are being turned up. This might have been done with a high-gain compressor on a long attack. There are two sides to the piano in the stereo panorama (just like the two hands of the piano player). The higher notes take place in the right; low notes on the left. The higher notes sound to me as if they are recorded in closer proximity as there is significantly more definition and a sharper attack.

I particularly enjoy the lo-fi vibe at the break at 2:04. The synth reminds me strongly of an old 8-bit video game or an early sci-fi film. The notes that fall slightly off-tune and 'waver' are all part of the vibe that compliments the whole sound. It cuts into this section quite suddenly like an insert of a new piece of tape (I don't know too much about analogue technology). However, the lack of decay from the sounds preceding it makes for a slightly rougher 'cut & paste' feel that I think suits this track nicely. Another example of this quick change occurs at 2:58. This one is disguised more with a 'suck in' effect. The imagery this generates for me is a hand stopping a flow of water and releasing it as if with a tap.

Dibia$E - OMG!!!

Interesting but alien! 
I want to do this mainly because of unusual it is. I hadn't heard anything as alien as this before listening. There's a huge emphasis on very low and distorted (8-bit style) bass on wonky swung drums. As radical, bizarre and dissonant much of this track is I find myself really getting into its groove. I think the thing that attracts me to 'glitchy' tracks like this is the unpredictability of the effects that are used. The variation in the track comes from these glitches more than from changes in the notes/progression used. I can listen to this same bassline through the entire track and my interest is kept by the outrageous variation in processing.

Drums: 
The first unusual element is the kick and its 'wind' attached to each beat. It sounds to me like a fairly standard kick with a vocal grunt or breath tied into it. The snare is interesting also in that it sounds like a 'boxy' clap sound that's had its tail cut off. But then it's been saturated with a reverb which doesn't do much for making the space of clap sound natural. You can hear it cut off abruptly and followed up with the 'fake' space. The hats are pretty dark in their sound. You hear quite a bit of the stick contact and not a whole lot of sparkle. They blend in quite a bit except on beat 2+.

Some of the effects I can pick: 
I'm going to have a little guess at some of the crazy effect processing that comes in at times on this track.

• Delay on vocals where the delayed version is not much softer than the original. 
• A long time-stretch where the 'grains' in the bass are pulled apart from each other and pushed back. 
• Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) on the bass making the bass duck in and out for a short time. 
• Arpeggiator effects for some of the best glitches in here I think, 

The National - Fake Empire

The track opens with some feedback like drones which are soon hidden behind the driving piano track. The track is 3:25 in length, 4/4 and 102bpm. It's arrangement seems more linear than cyclic to me this may be once again due to it being the first track on the album. It begins from silence and grows to an intensity which is carried on with the loud drums of the second track.

Piano is primary element of the music in this track. The piano sound contains little of the hammer sound and contains mostly the resonance from the body. It provides the bass section to the music all the way up to 1:15 where the bass guitar enters and fills the gap in the lower frequencies. The rhythm of the piano is denoted by a lot of swung rhythms and a simple alternation between left-hand lows and right-hand highs. I'm wearing headphones for this but I believe there is some panning to help create the left/right perception from the pianists point of view.

There vocals have a reverb applied to them that extends the higher register sounds into the distance. This is of course most audible at the end of each line but it is quite useful in filling that space. These vocals occupy a strong center position in the mix

One aspect that I really enjoy with the drums o this recording is the 'cross-resonance' or 'bleeding resonance' creating a sizzle of snare being triggered by the kick drum. I think that this kind idiosyncratic element adds a  realistic and 'alive' character to the drums.

The Head and the Heart - Cats and Dogs

A friend of mine suggested this album to me and I'm on the first track ready to write about it! And also, that's some bizarre album art right there. The thing that drew me to this track was it's groove and percussive layering. We begin with some double-tracked stick clicking and a shaker accompanied by the drone of a single guitar chord. Above this is the vocal which sets us up for the next section where the groove comes in.

I'll start with the vocals; I quite like use of harmonies. They enter in on the second half of each phrase which creates an excellent call/response dynamic. It's used to add emphasis to some words as well as just for variation and build. In addition is the 'oooh' of backing vocals that intertwine a leading melody into what is largely a rhythmically driven track I feel. However, I might say that it acts as the melody lead when the piano is absent.

Looking at the length of each track on the album, at 1.56 this is the shortest. It acts as a good introduction track. It contains quite a mix sounds and combinations that are quick changing (almost like a trailer for the album). At one point there's even a time signature change from the 4/4 in to a 6/8 (ballad feel). This seems like a pretty bold move but it's the feel of the backing vocals and piano that make the juxtaposition somehow quite comfortable. Again, it's another way that this track 'comments' on what's to come.

The Avalanches - A Cowboy Overflow of the Heart (feat. David Berman)

I've been keenly awaiting the new Avalanches album for quite a while now and yet for a long time I didn't know there was going to be one. There's some news from last year but now with this YouTube preview uploaded on August 22 this year I thought I'd do some listening. This is a spoken word piece with an underlying musical backing that never quite comes to the forefront. The voice occupies my focus whilst I'm still quite interested in what the music is doing.

The voice we listen to is quite husky, 'close' and centre with an audible 'breathiness'. There are no points where the voice is lost in the backing, its volume is quite consistent. There are only a few words that sink into the background. The length of each group of words is not rigid or set, however not to the point that it sounds merely like conversation.

The musical elements of this piece are centered around the melodies of flutes and the rhythms of acoustic guitar-like sounds. The pulse of the music is quite easy going, I can imagine drums any louder than what just lightly taps in the background would put too much pressure on the other elements. Instead, there are some off-beat tambourines that provide a lighter pulse in parts.

After a few listens I've noticed how much the level of the music fluctuates. I can imagine using a volume automation envelope would be an easy way to do this. It's interesting how I didn't notice this to the same degree on my first listen. Whenever the music is brought up at the end of a vocal phrase it works quite well to hold my attention between lines and anticipate the next sentence... Just as I anticipate the new album!

Radical Face - Let The River In

Let the river in has caught my ear while I listen to this album for the first time. I think the combination of soundscape elements like children's voices and strings which are often associated with the cinema have helped paint a picture in my imagination. The track opens with these voices and their footsteps as they run around the stereo field whilst the piano opens the simplistic element of the track that is built on by bells and guitar (or perhaps lute). With a short pause, the strings make their entrance under a whispering vocal. There continues an interplay between vocals/strings with piano and lute in a call and response relationship that builds until all elements come together with the drums. I particularly like this call and response dynamic as the pairing of similar voices offset each other very nicely. The vocals and the strings support each other with flowing and swelling textures while the bells and guitar/lute are delicate yet staccato in comparison.

Juxtaposing the flow of the other elements in this track is the highly syncopated and complex rhythms of the drums and percussion. I count the groove in 3/4 with snare anchored to beat 3 and the metronome says it's 95bpm. There is an emphasis on the pairing of odd rhythms rather than a 'danceable' back beat. The rhythms of the bells I heard just before the drums enter lines up pretty well with the drums' pattern. As for the tone of the drums, it's quite variegated with many 'voices' utilized. In the second installment of drums the use of 'rim-knocks' are quite prevalent. It's these rim-knocks that make a strong impression for the reverb and delay that puts them in quite a large space. Additionally, there are two simultaneous 'performances' of the rim-knock with one panned to the left and the other to the right. The small differences in timing between them creates a nice natural texture to the sound whilst supporting the width of the stereo image.

There's so much to write about in this track, however I'm going to move on for now and maybe come back to it later.

Newton Faulkner - Clouds

This track is a 4/4 track at 84bpm powered with a 'stomp and clap' type of pulse that supports layers of acoustic guitar, vocals and some synths. The dynamics between sections are my focus for this entry as they quite impressive to me. In addition there are some heavily layered sounds in here that i'd like 'unpack'.

The first thing that impresses me in this track is the great impact that comes with each chorus. Listening at 1:43 (just before the second chorus) we can hear a subtle sweep of sounds that drop much heavier than expected. The reason I believe this works so well is the drop off in volume at the end of the verse which makes the next swell of volume build higher than expected. On my second listen I've noticed that the swell before the first chorus is far less intense. It consists of what sounds like a reverse cymbal where the second one holds the reverse cymbal and bass. The extra detail that goes into making the second chorus more powerful and impacting than the first is indeed very well executed. Jumping to 3 minutes in there's a massive snare drum accent that builds the third chorus to the maximum.

Listening to the 'snare' on beats two and four I feel I can hear three clap sounds above a tight snare that occasionally plays around the clap's back beat. This around the beat snare often acts as a drum fill that in other productions would be played around tom toms. The reason I've described this sound as the 'stomp and clap' is probably because of some other famous tracks that have used this sound and the fact that it is usually an audience participation thing so we hear many overlapping layers. As for vocals, they are clearly double-tracked and supported by backing vocals which are layered in the distance.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Taking a step in the direction of less 'extreme' forms of music, I've decided to talk about a track by Bon Iver. This track instantly satisfies my need for a smoother texture in music after listening to more of the 'hard' sounds in previous entries, The 'smoothness' comes from a clean guitar that washes over nothing more than a simple kick drum pulse. This provides the canvas for the vocals with nothing uncomfortable or distracting to compromise them. The overall effect is an extremely 'intimate' feeling piece of music.

There are certainly many layers activating at particular points in the track to frame the vocal lead. Backing vocals make their support throughout and the sound of guitar feedback takes the drone element of the music to the forefront in the conclusion. The drums are a subtle contributor to this piece, however, I feel like the choice to have the light touch of ride cymbal and pat of snare move in and out whilst not attracting too much attention adds an excellent element of additional intricacy. Without a doubt, this song is a 'grower' and makes excellent use of dynamics to build towards its conclusion.

A note should be made on the layering of vocals on this track. I feel like I'm always hearing at least two vocal tracks and at times, as many as three. Listening at 3:08, I particularly like the panning effect that differentiates these 'instances' of the vocal. You can hear the beginning and end of each voice separately, however each one occupies a different space in the stereo field also. They pan across your ears as they come in in harmony with each other. There's always a bit of distancing effect on the vocals (sounds like subtle reverb) but overall, the vocals are designed for multiplicity and intimacy.

And there's my thoughts for this track! Very refreshing sound for me to listen to. Here's some extra details for this entry. This was released on the Blood Bank EP in 2009 it was produced by Justin Vernon on the Jagjaguwar label.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

Moving towards something more recent and not a remix, here's some thoughts on something from the new Flying Lotus. If you have not heard this track or seen the video clip you can click to play it above. In this entry I'd like to talk firstly about the some of the intertwining sounds in this track that create a sound landscape and make for some really beautiful visual/aural experiences.  

The music begins and ends in the ocean, symbolized by samples of deep, bubbling water layered with the 'pressurized' sounds of distant whale calls or perhaps just the sound of water currents flowing around your head. The mixing dynamics of beginning the track with predominantly bottom-end features which then support the higher sounds that filter in is something that I've noticed with a few of my listening diary tracks lately. I think the illusion of under-water sounds are great piece of symbolic sound 'imagery' or 'device' for employing this. We can all relate to the difference in sound we experience underwater and hence it's effective in making an intro grow into a larger spectrum with the progression of the piece. 

The drone of these layers eventually blend with the barking of dogs, the wind and a static 'interference' drone. From this point the sounds build up further with vocals, clicks and a gunshot among other processed percussive and droning sounds.

The next section is transitioned into with the rhythmic 'flutter' of a helicopter passing overhead. Bringing about the juxtaposition in sound is an acoustic guitar melody underpinned by a choir, bass guitar strings and chopped vocal samples. The result is a very smooth sound and release of tension from the drama that precedes it. 

We hear the return of the complex and primary percussive sounds that characterize the Flying Lotus in the next section. The melody set up by the acoustic guitar section is left behind and replaced with the inclusion of a loose and 'wonky' swung groove. The sparkling elements of this section are the focus with bells, cymbals and tambourines occupying a large amount of the mix. The space that this creates is taken advantage of with a couple of bass hits/drops that catch me off-guard (this is good) just before the finale.       

Bob Marley feat. 2pac - No Woman No Cry (remix)

On topic:
So I'm on the topic of remixes at the moment and No Woman No Cry is something I've thought would be quite fun to have a go at. So although I don't have a high audio quality version of this track to listen to this embedded YouTube clip might give me some inspiration for this idea.

What I can hear: 
The instrumental is driven primarily by the organ part with the occasional horn part attached to the end of a phase. The backing vocals can be heard mostly leading transitions between verses whilst the lead vocal part of the original supports Tupac in the chorus section. It's unexpected here but I can hear an occasional cheer and chant from a live audience.

Transitions:
There is some turntablism in this track punching in a 16th note 'roll' rounding out each 8 bar phase of the beat. The organ loop reaches its point of 'upward momentum' at this point also creating an effective anchor for the loop to sound congruent.

Chopping for variation: 
Within this genre, one easy way to create a break section for extra dynamics is to alternate a staccato variation of the loop. This can be heard clearly at 2:34 which fills the small need for variation at the point leading into the last chorus before the "Everything's Going to Be Alright" conclusion.

A final note on drums:
The consistent off-beat hi hat fills the space in the groove smoothing out the dynamics somewhat. It is effective in this case where it matches the up-beat feel of the rest of the sounds. The backbeat on two and four is a snare layered with a clap which is a common system used in the genre. My ear tells me that the clap is nudged slightly late to make it more audible in the mix.

Some thoughts:
After listening to this I've noted a couple of considerations to make for my remix. As I will not have access to vocalist in my project I need to ensure that my treatment of the original vocal is such that it still comes our differentiated from the original. Aside from that, my efforts in the instrumental side of the production must require some extra effort in variations to maintain interest throughout the track. I think I'd like to experiment more with the effects processing at my disposal. With that, this has been good to listen to a second take on an original to help me develop some ideas of my own.

Kimbra - Settle Down (M-Phazes Remix)

Details:
In preparation for some remix work that I need to do, I've decided to do my next few entries on some remixes that I like. Here's one by M-Phazes on a track from Kimbra's album, Vows. The remix can be found as the 13th track from the deluxe edition album Vows (2011) (Warner Bros.) or on M-Phazes - The Remixes.

Groove:
Listening through, the tempo sits at 92bpm on what I would call a partially swung groove with some 'looseness' about it. The bass plays a large part in this with its sway to and from the beat and varied rhythmic patterns. I get the sense of a 'late' bass and early snare/clap making everything quite 'headnodic' for me. The swing of the groove becomes more obvious at 1:10 where hi hat and snare drum are added. I think the dynamic of drums holding a steady pattern whilst the bass takes the dominant position creating countless rhythmic variations is brilliant. The swing of the drums maintains a strong organic feel whilst remaining constant in terms of notation and groove. It provides an excellent platform for the bass which on the whole is quite complex. It's a great reminder that drums don't need to be complex to create a great groove. If I need a rhythmic variation in my music I should look at the bass  before the drums. Keeping one element constant is often needed to allow another to spark into differentiation.

Bass Tones:
Whilst on the topic of bass, this sound uses some distortion. It's operating in some very low sub-frequencies and that distortion is one way to help it catch your ear. As the bass is a primary element in this track, this effort to highlight it among other sounds is quite important and implemented well. The other really enjoyable element of the bass in this track is the prominence of sliding between notes. As it covers a broad range of notes in parts the slide effect definitely adds to its organic qualities.

Vocals: 
Kimbra's vocals are very clearly multi-faceted throughout the track with the combination of backing sections and alternating panning for interesting effect. On one level the separation between these voices can be heard with the central, relatively dry, breathy vocal holding our attention while the more effected and panned vocals fit into the 'distance'. Listening to the break at 2:45, I can hear Kimbra's trademark 'boom, baahhm' bouncing in combination with the use of 'hey!'s for rhythmic accents.

Dynamics in Arrangement: 
With the original album version of this track timing in at 4:08 (94bpm) and M-Phazes' at 5:20 (92bpm) there are some aspects of arrangement that have differentiated this remix from the original. Both make use of dynamic variation with break sections. On first observation though, I'd say the remix builds to it's climax a little slower than the original. Further, the original has stronger contrasts in intensity where the remix keeps quite a casual feel throughout.

Thoughts: 

I love this remix, it's become more familiar to me than the original. The use of a consistent yet organic, swung drum groove whilst creating the majority of rhythmic interest/variation with bass is definitely something I'll be taking away from this one.

Lady Gaga - The Edge of Glory (Bare Noize Remix)

This track opens with a strong emphasis on a straight 32nd note feel over a 70bpm kick and snare pulse. Like most electronic genres, the tempo is intrinsic to the genre of music. This dubstep remix is certainly one of the finer pieces of work to explore in the phenomenon of dubstep remixes. It keeps true to the original vocals and builds the track around them quite well. You might hear a lot of dubstep remixes whilst searching YouTube that sound as if the track was made and then the vocals applied on the top without little thought about rhythmic and melodic compatibility. In fact some sound like it's just the original track 'as is' (maybe some filters) and then a long buildup before a brutal hit of bass.

The first synth that we hear follows this groove whilst being expanded to a greater volume and frequency range. I hear a low-pass filter automated in a curve drying out the signal until it reaches its full sound where the next transition occurs. The type of two part intro you hear in this remix can be quite useful for DJs who need to mix between tracks and don't want the hook to drop in before they've got out of the last track. I also believe that might be why we have such rigid tempo constraints for this music as they often begin with the drum groove for transitional intro time.

There's a lot of things to love about this remix but the combination of guitar like sounds into this genre extremely interesting to me. The guitar in some moments gives me the feel of a metal track but the bass is so distinctly dubstep that there's a nice crossover there. However, from my experience there are a lot of metal-heads who have heard 'their music' compared to dubstep with the latter being the 'electronic incarnation of metal' and hated that. With that in mind, that comparison was likely made based on dubstep tracks that don't have guitar like components to them. I've also seen live performances of dubstep combining acoustic drums, guitars and synths that shine more light on this comparison of sounds.

I can't write about this track without mentioning drums. Bare Noize have held the place in mind as having the best electronic drums in the dubstep game. The kick has enough 'thwack' and 'meatiness' to it to hold its own on the aggression element of the music. The snare is loud and you can hear a huge tail on it even when all other sounds are right up there in volume. This track makes use of a lot of reverse snares leading into the next which also helps with its intensity. Finally, go back to the start of this track and check out the variety of cymbals being used. The create the multitude of bright textures that probably sound great to anyone who plays drums... and maybe other people too. There's a wide pan between the sounds which creates nice intricate definition for each unique sound. Additionally, they continue to stand out in the loudest sections of the song (especially while wearing headphones).

Long Arm - The Branches

I've just started listening quite a lot to Long Arm's The Branches album. Here's an artist I discovered through a long chain of music discoveries on Spotify whilst finding artists somewhat similar to The Avalanches. I greatly enjoy the type of 'journey' these big 'sound canvas' like albums create. The Branches is an avant-garde hip hop / jazz record released in 2011 on Project Mooncircle. The track that has interested me most to write is The Branches.

There's a really interesting combination of influences and sound sets incorporated in this six minute epic. There is a definite dubstep influence providing the beat below the first verse; You can hear it in the tempo, swelling sub bass and distant but humongous sounding snare 'impacts'. The most compelling element to my ear however is the emphasis on beat two following a gap where the beat 'hangs'. It's intended to have that rise and fall/drop every bar. With reference to the time of release, the dubstep combination with rap is extremely good in my opinion. I would have expected to hear more of this kind of sound hit mainstream. The hip hop influence can be heard in the rap vocals and to some degree the use of jazz samples.

The way in which Long Arm moves us between purely jazz sounding sections and thunderous sections is very impressive. I like to think of the bass as being slowly 'folded' in under the chopped up samples that introduce the track. As those samples are stripped away I find the snare drum brush pattern played above sub bass quite intriguing. It is certainly unlike other music that I have listened to in this way. That brush is soon interchanged for a thunderous snare drum. There's a long beat delay that trails each impact; It's a swung pattern that in its own way adds an interesting aspect to the groove.

Obviously, the vocals are positioned very centrally and heard clearly in this mix. Below this however, this piece changes focus many times throughout. In the introduction alone, instrumentally, there is piano, double bass, trumpet, drum kit(s) as well as vocal 'cuts'. As the piece progresses, the focus moves simply to drums, bass and vocals. Between verses and the ends of lines there are small spaces filled by piano licks, horns and vocal cuts.

I have so much that I would love to write about this track! However, I wanted to write a final note on Long Arm's impressive 'spaces' created in this track. There is a constant interplay of close and distant sounds in the 'landscape' created. Use of reverb and delay certainly helps build a sense of distance between sounds and shift the focus of our aural attention. It sounds to me like Long Arm wanted to keep the rap as dry and 'close and personal' sounding as possible while the instrumental 'story' was told as if projected on a wall behind him.      

Above: Long Arm performing (photo from his Facebook page)

Shigeto - So So Loney

Artist: Shigeto 
Album: Full Circle (2010)
Track: So So Lonely (2:43)

Structure: 
The track opens with a collection of organised sounds. There are metallic sounds (like a spoon in a glass of water) as well what could be a wind-up music box. After a few seconds of this soundscape, they are arranged into a rhythmic and melodic loop. It is a two bar loop at the tempo of 100 beats per minute. After a faint yet noticeable upward sweep, enter is the drums and bass.

Rhythm section: 
The bass is very much a sub bass sound. It's pattern is quite simple lining up for the most part with the first kick of each bar. In this way it's almost like an extension of the kick drum. The snare sound is layered with a clap on every second hit. The hi hat is extremely sporadic, playing an extremely odd pattern. The final layer that is added to the percussion on this track is some tuned percussion instrument (possibly a marimba). The pattern this plays is fairly similar to the hi hat, the problem that this poses is that in the sections where the marimba is absent the hi hat sounds quite 'alone' and awkward.

Climax and sound layering: 
About halfway through this track a lot more layers start being mixed in. First is a light pad that follows the bass on beat one. It's decay is slightly longer than the bass so we know that it's a new instrument. I don't have a full understanding of the music theory behind it, but it's chord has some dissonance in it. In addition to this is a thicker '8-bit' style bass and a lead synth.

Release details: 
The album was released on the label, Ghostly International.

Northlane - I Shook Hands With Death

Artist: Northlane 
Album: Discoveries (2011)
Track: I Shook Hands With Death (4:56)

A note to begin with:
In the last entry of this diary I said I would find an example of breakdown. Skip to 3:49 of this song if you want to get right to it. There are lot of songs out there that sound like they've just been built around the breakdown. I wanted to show you this one because it's arranged better than that I think.

Breakdown theory: 
So what is a breakdown? It's really just a rhythmically centred section of a song hammered out with brutality. It is nearly always a different guiding rhythm to the rest of the song. The two most common systems for breakdowns is, slow and simple or fast and hugely subdivided. The thing that they all have in common is guitar tunings and played notes right down low (in the basement of guitar tunings). Another characteristic is the absence of all melodic elements, vocals may be included (growls aren't melodic).

Breakdown format: 
I've chosen this song also because I dislike drawn out breakdowns. A breakdown after all is shift into a different musical direction for the song. It's like a witty statement when used in this shorter format, it adds a pleasant surprise to the song.

The build before the break: 
Notice the build up for this breakdown is intense with that washy high register guitar. This is just one of the elements that makes the breakdown drop as hard as it does. The drumming pattern breaks into nothing but hi hats accenting with the kick on a syncopated line. The rhythm of the breakdown is quite a 'straight' rhythm in comparison to the grooves before it. Focus on the dramatic difference between it and the sounds that lead to it. Also notice the huge sub-hit or 'bass drop' that slams home on beat one of the breakdown. These are extremely common in this context.

Parkway Drive - Home Is For The Heartless

Artist: Parkway Drive 
Album: Deep Blue (2010)
Track: Home Is For The Heartless 

Introduction: 
The song begins with distant chants from a group of men. A washy clean guitar fades in above it. In a sudden volume snap up the full band hits its first note. This has a pretty strong effect in shocking the listener as it's hard to pick which beat the drop is (even if you know the song pretty well).

Time and rhythm: 
This song is recorded at 140 beats per minute but makes extensive use of changing time feel. By that I mean, there are frequent switches from 'double time' feels to 'half time'. This kind of feel variation is extremely common in this genre. It's an excellent tool for building tension and releasing it. This song makes use of dropping into the half-time feel for each chorus. In a lot of other metalcore and hardcore genre music, this paradigm is also used to create 'breakdown' sections. I'll find a great example of a breakdown soon.

Backing vocals: 
Backing vocals are extremely important in this song also. Each chorus is complimented with an extremely sing-along friendly "wooah, wooah". Crowd participation for metalcore music is phenomenal, there is a small break before the final chorus containing only this chant. The purpose is clearly to intensify the crowd participation in the final chorus.

Panning perspective for drums: 
A note on the panning of cymbals: Being a drummer, I often like to listen to music from the perspective of the drummer. I've noticed a lot of music has cymbals panned from that perspective to create tonal separation for each type of cymbal. In this case, I can hear hi hats on my left, ride cymbal and crash/ride on the right. In this song there are many instances where the drummer plays cymbals from the right and left side of the drum kit simultaneously or in quick succession. The use of panning in this recording helps greatly with the definition of each stroke.

Producer and labels: 
Deep Blue was produced by Joe Barresi and released on Resist Records, Epitaph and Burning Heart.

Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now

Artist: Fatboy Slim
Album: You've Come A Long Way, Baby (1998)
Track: Right Here, Right Now (6:28)

Extended buildup: 
The track builds from the beginning with with a bass line and then expands slowly. Layers of melody are applied on top of a bass line. This melody is supplied from a string sample - details on this sample are at the bottom of this entry. There is also a guitar strumming away (interesting combination of electric and acoustic sounds). This makes for an interesting texture. Another factor to think about in the opening section is the high pass filter that is slowly removed to open up the sound. The definition and 'sparkle' in the sound becomes louder until a climax which brings about the first vocals. Soon after, the main beat drops.

That kick drum: 
The kick drum sound in this track is unmistakable and unique. There are also some interesting elements to it that I would not expect in much of the music I listen to. I think of it as a kick drum melody (there is tonal variation) - to my knowledge this is pretty unusual. The last kick in the sequence is pitched lower than the others. So among all the simultaneous melody lines in this piece, even the kick drum has its contribution.

Panning out the breakdown: 
The panorama of this piece reveals itself more clearly at some times than others. All through you can hear some auxiliary percussion sounds panned to the left speaker. The most important moment for panning however, is at the breakdown (about halfway through the song). We have drums panned hard to the left with a vocal glitch loop in the centre. A second collection of glitchy bleeps can be heard entering from the right. Finally, the full drum sound comes into the centre also. This panning makes the entrance of each new sonic element more noticeable or dramatic if you like.

The drums are up: 
A few final notes on the mix of this track: The drums are definitely the loudest element in this mix. A lot of the synths that I mentioned in the beginning become somewhat a 'soup'. For this reason it's most important for the dance friendly elements to cut whilst letting the other drones create a trance state of sound.

Time and rhythm: 
It's at 125 beats per minute in a 4/4 time signature. The groove is heavily driven by the kick drum. It plays on 8th note subdivisions and is extremely active. In this way there's very little space in the groove - it's saturated by kick power.

Tonality: 
The melody is driven by strings but overall the track is extremely multi-layered. Beneath the strings is a collection of synthesized sounds. They are pretty coarse and have quite a bit of modulation applied to them through a flanging effect. Upward and download sweeps are used to transition most sections of the track. There's use of some pure white noise splashes around 2:53 on the back beat. This is panned hard left and also helps the next transition.

Dynamics:
The track is full of long buildups (crescendo). However, when dropping in intensity the transitions are comparatively very sudden.

Space: 
The space of the track overall is extremely full and thick. This is due to the heavy layering of samples and a compression that keeps a lot of similar dynamics stuck together in the background. That's okay because the focus is the beat (this is the 'big beat' genre). Because this track is very sample heavy, transitions can feel too sudden. The addition of synthesized sounds has been pretty helpful in this track to ease transitions.

Additional details: 
Right Here, Right Now was written by Fatboy Slim, Dale Peters and Joe Walsh. There are some samples credited also: "Ashes, the Rain and I" by James Gang. Dialogue by Angela Bassett from the film Strange Days. And of course, here's the WhoSampled link for this song. Brilliant! The album was released on Skint in the United Kingdom and Astralwerks in the United States. The producer was of course is Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and Simon Thornton was involved as engineer, mixer and photographer.