What I Like About It

1. I successfully slaved Reason 4 to Logic Pro 8 for the first time. Special thanks to SFLogicNinja for his tutorial video that finally led to my succeeding at this.
2. The twerky lead synth (Arp 1971) is really funky and I accidentally plinked out that line. After some quantization and fixing screwy notes, it’s actually cool.
3. The bass line is adapted from a randomized Matrix pattern sequence, but since Logic doesn’t have a “randomize pattern” function, I drew the notes in by hand. The bass itself is Thor’s “Fat Boy”, dirty, evil, and vicious—processed to the breaking point with a series of processors that include a phaser and your mother’s cute cousin.
4. The drum pattern is pretty straight four-on-the-floor without too much variation, but there are a few funky nifties.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. It’s really lazy. Each loop plays five times and drops out for 8 bars, then resumes until the end.
2. The second chord in the splash chords is wrong. I’d better fix that. It’s so obviously wrong, I’m probably going to fix it tomorrow morning.
3. The ending is abrupt and so are the loop drop outs.
4. There are no breakdowns, buildups, or sections. It’s just a repeating eight bar pattern of yawns.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

What I Like About It

1. I arranged a full-length track for the first time ever in Ableton Live.
2. The guitar/flute riff happened by accident, but I dig it.
3. The rhythm chord sounds like it’s saying “I Can Do That.”
4. I can imagine putting a singer on top of this.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. Transitions are abrupt and pickup notes haven’t been trimmed.
2. The mixdown is pretty amateur.
3. The guitar and the flute echo sound out of tune with each other.
4. We’re still in 8 bar layering mode. There’s no form or direction.
5. The pad doesn’t continue and, in quiet parts, it ends abruptly and jarringly.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.

Title: Apollo Lee – A New Opportunity (First Version)
Date: January 6, 2008
Software: Reason 4.0
Genre: House
Timing: 3:19 @ 125 bpm

What I Like About It

1. I used something other than G minor (I’m using Ebm7 Ab7 here).
2. I have something resembling a melody (the vibraphone line).
3. I didn’t fall back to using any randomizations.
4. The cowbell is pretty funky.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. The drums are are splattered out of a 1 bar loop with some drums muted in various parts of the arrangement.
2. It doesn’t have any sections. It’s a straight eight bar loop with something changing every eight bars. No concept of verse, bridge, or chorus.
3. There’s no breakdown or tension building.
4. The mixdown sounds like garbage. I never attempted to mix this draft down on anything but headphones.

Second Version

Title: Apollo Lee – A New Opportunity (Second Version)
Date: January 16, 2008
Software: Logic Pro 8
Genre: House
Timing: 3:19 @ 125 bpm

What I Like About It

1. For the first time, I imported a Reason-generated MIDI file into Logic.
2. The parts are tighter and cleaner and the drums don’t feel too muddy.
3. The electric piano chords give it a different, more jazzy feel than the bouncy “Sound on Sound” Reason Malström synth.
4. The new melody line instrument is much better here.
5. The mixdown is much better.

What I Don’t Like About It

1. I didn’t know how to fade in and out, so the ending is very abrupt.
2. It still suffers from the same issues as the first version.
3. There are no secondary melodies to sustain interest.

Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.