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.
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