I work with a composer from Canada (Cōdae) who writes eclectic electronic pieces. More recently I mixed/mastered and did finishing production on an album called Divan. This album encapsulates ancient and historic texts accompanied by world/period music infused electronica.
Before delving into recording Cōdae had been a pianist who had always wanted to write. Three years ago she dove in and has been growing as a composer ever since.
As someone who has studied music composition and worked as a music producer for over 20 years you develop compositional strategies and dare I say biases. In more recent years I’ve become aware of this and like to actively challenge my compositional and mixing habits because the results are often very compelling.
Working with Cōdae has been an interesting journey in this regard. For her, those biases and habits haven’t really formed as she’s still learning and growing in composing and music production. The songs I receive are often full of things that need some tweaking but also fun ideas that I want to elaborate on.
One recent little gem was a bassline that was played on Timpani in a song called Havn. It wasn’t really working as it was but it sparked an idea which ended up creating a really nice hybrid bass sound. In the end I ended up with an 808-ish bass to fill out the bottom-end and then on the top was the organic texture of the timpani.
Against the delicate Emiliana Torrini-esque vocals of Eden Rayne, the medieval flute accompaniment and triphop style drums it provides a nice rich undergirding which holds the song together very nicely.
The Takeaway: Try something out of the box from your normal approach today. Watch other composers on YouTube and build a little file of fun ideas to try in your writing.
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