"61" - ANOTHER NEW ORIGINAL SONG! - IDM/ELECTRONIC/EXPERIMENTAL + THEORY WALKTHROUGH

Overview of the Ableton session.

This is the opening track

for the 6th EP I've done, which I'll share later this week. I am really stoked on this one, turned out really good. Was sort of a random creation, I began with the 1st two tracks and built up around that, wasn't sure where it was going, but once I added all the digital bleeps and bloops, it started really coming together. Each 4 bars has a cool little break in the 3rd measure every time, where some instruments/drums drop out, which also was just based around what Track 1 was doing, but turned out to work nicely. Let's get into it!

Listen to "61" here.

So Track 1 is what

we begin the song with, and it plays a simple progression, and repeats basically for most of the song. We are in C minor, and this just plays a G, then G, C, and Ab. However, this instrument has a hihat/percussive sort of element the longer you hold the notes, so it feels like the 3rd measure, when the G comes in late, the drums "cut out". This was reflected later in the song by the digi-drum-beepies cutting out too, and other instruments filling in. Track 2 is the cello sort of tone that comes in after the first 4 measures. It adds a little harmony to the whole thing, with the low C, and Eb/Bb/F and Eb/Ab/G over the G/C/Ab of Track 1, Check out the screnshot below.

Track 2, described above.

After the first 8 bars,

Track 3 comes in, which is the digital percussion. I love how this beat turned out, and during the 3rd measure of each set of 4 it cuts out and makes room for some filler stuff. Track 4 comes in, in the background and panned left, during that 3rd measure break. It's a "lapharp" synth, but sounds like a broken old piano. It plays a little descending progression in C dorian, so we use A natural instead of Ab, adding an interesting mysterious harmony to the otherwise dark minor scale.

Listen to "61" here.

Track 5 is the bass line,

which is the next to come into the track, building up even more. It has a bendy tone, which bends upwards to the note you're playing. I like the rhythm a lot, sort of came about by me just playing randomly trying to figure out something to add. It just plays a C, then C/Eb/D essentially, 2x per every 4 measure section. It also plays the C's in the 3rd measure break, which helps make the beat feel like it sort of falls back into the track, after disappearing randomly. Check out the screenshot below and you can follow along with the track.

Track 5, as described above.

Listen to "61" here.

Last up is Track 6,

which is the last instrument to join the track. It is the spacey, edgy sort of synth melody that comes in. It also plays in C dorian, although this track is sort of blended with the other synths so the Dorian part just adds to the harmonic ambience I suppose rather than being super obvious. I liked how this one came out, I was sort of just midi-mapping kind of randomly, trying to find something interesting, and stumbled into this. This track also cuts out during the 3rd measure breaks, which I like, and then comes back in with the slidey/descending riff. Check out the screenshot below to see the progression in full.