Title: Apollo Lee - Synchrotron Date: February 18, 2008 Software: Logic Pro 8 Genre: Ambient Timing: 7:00 @ 40 bpm
What I Like About It
The harmony (F Melodic Minor) is beautiful and that Fm/major 7 chord is particularly haunting.
I’m improvising on the Keystation Pro 88 in my studio and I can just meander around a normal keyboard.
I monitored this composition primarily on Alesis Monitor One speakers, making sure that none of the heavy sections clipped or distorted.
F Melodic Minor is not a key I’m used to improvising in, so I had to remind myself during the whole course of the piece that Ds and Es are both natural, but A is always flat. (F Melodic Minor: F G Ab Bb C D E F)
What I Don’t Like About It
Sometimes, I landed a little harder than I intended on a particular set of chord tones, especially in the loud section that resulted at 3:10.
I am still improvising ambient music with only one instrument, a synth pad.
These compositions are still formless and shapeless.
Many of the transitions are either overly loud or chords that dissipate abruptly.
Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.
Title: Apollo Lee - Thermatropic Date: February 11, 2008 Software: Logic Pro 8 Genre: Ambient Timing: 6:36 @ 40 bpm
What I Like About It
The harmony (G Melodic Minor) is lush and provides gorgeous dissonance, particularly in chords that have the leading tone or that A natural against the Bb.
The instrument plays a harmonic when a note is at max velocity.
I equalized this one better than others recently, pulling the middle frequencies down.
Sometimes, the harmonic tones came unexpectedly and out of nowhere, to great affect.
What I Don’t Like About It
That harmonic at 3:35 is too loud. Some of the other harmonics are also too loud.
Even with the improved mix down, you should probably turn your speakers/headphones down. One of these days, I’ll create music that won’t punch a hole in your brain.
Since I’m playing a two octave keyboard here, I occasionally rambled too much over the same section of notes.
The instrument’s velocity touch is beautiful, but the modulation only provides a little vibrato. I probably could have used that more.
Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.
Title: Apollo Lee - Smectic Date: February 5, 2008 Software: Logic Pro 8 Genre: Ambient Timing: 7:00 @ 40 bpm
What I Like About It
The instrument I’m using is abstract and beautiful.
The harmonic structure lends itself to improvisation without much worry about clashing.
The low notes contrast nicely with the middles and the highs.
Lots of moments of lush dissonances and soaring consonants.
What I Don’t Like About It
I need to be more adventurous with harmony. This set of notes is stacked minor 7th chords. I should use more color tones (9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) in the fundamental harmony.
The mix down sounds muddy. Maybe I used too many compressors.
The improvisation isn’t very adventurous.
Sometimes, the harmonic rhythm is too fast for what I’m trying to do here.
Note: These are rough drafts. Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course.
In the first month of my 52 Tracks in 52 Weeks project, I crafted nine tracks. The first two were in the house music genre and the last seven were all ambient.
Improvising ambient music with Logic Pro, using my Korg PadKontrol, has proved more interesting and fun than I’d anticipated. I’ve always been a fan of ambient music, especially of artists like Harold Budd, Brian Eno, Steve Roach, and others, and trying my hand at writing that kind of music has been educational.