One Synth Challenge #179: Any One Synth (ZioMau wins!) (Updated Prize)

[folderol]

As a matter of interest, I composed my entry very differently to normal, in that Iaid down the basic drum track first then built everything on top of that. Usually I start with a melody.

[Full Bucket]

I love short, captivating melodic lines (hooks), but I always try to look beyond my horizon and appreciate what other folks do instead, especially if it is not my style or what I prefer.

[At this point I have to state that the quality of this OSC is incredibly high...! ]

With "Tristan's Harp" I went some (for me) new ways: Recording in a single go with that crazy Soma COSMOS looper -- sometimes hard to handle, and it took me a while to come up with something else than garbage. Here, melodic lines will build up to mighty chords, and I'm sure you all appreciate the Tristan chord at the beginning of the piece .

Cheers, Björn

[MalToné]

Well, this a great conversation to have, how we use and interpret melody. And it's not an indicator of how I vote on a track: My top tracks for this OSC use melody in quite different ways. I'm with Full Bucket on appreciating things outside of my preferences and learning, and that's one of the big attractions to the OSC for me.

[silverpants]

On the topic of melodies, I said the other day to my esteemed colleague who has never been in a riot, that one of the reasons I love his songs is that during the business of sound design, mixing and mastering - he doesn't forget to write a good melody.

I find myself that if I get too caught up in sounds - I can forget to give the song real substance. I can see now it happens to OSC entries. It's hard to hold in your head the whole spectrum of creating a track - from the very technical to the poetic side.

My two winning entries were written purely on the piano first (where composition is the only thing that exists) - and then (quite painfully) re-orchestrated on the synthesiser (although ultimately rewarding).

Often I start with sounds and smashing stuff together - which is more exploratory and fun - but perhaps doesn't grab the listener so. But it's good to have multiple approaches. It depends on the synth of the month how I begin (composition or sound design).

been a while since i did this, i think i'll try it and see where it gets me. likely the process of re-orchestrating is beneficial in itself too, being forced to give everything a hard second look.

i wonder to what extent the timbre of the piano affects the composition with this method? would you make the same choices with a different instrument?

i confess i do literally forget about melody sometimes. in part because i feel more confident in my abilities there, so i spend more time on arrangement and sound design where there are more hurdles to overcome. and then also my post-rock roots, it's a genre where melody is often de-emphasized. a "melody first" approach will be an interesting experiment.

The piano makes a big difference to me on what I compose (I think) - because it is percussive and decays. Sometimes it's not the right instrument to compose on, and I will pick a sustained pad or organ.

I totally agree with some of the comments above - melody isn't everything - and it's fascinating to hear great songs in OSC with other ways of making music. I find the OSC playlists more exciting than Spotify these days!

[Uncle E]

(Public Enemy were a force of nature in their day)

That’s how you know I’m old, I saw Public Enemy live. That’s also why I hate melodies. You kids with your damn melodies!

[neverbeeninariot]

(Public Enemy were a force of nature in their day)

That’s how you know I’m old, I saw Public Enemy live. That’s also why I hate melodies. You kids with your damn melodies!

Ok, I'm officially jealous that you saw them live, but man, you're practically a whippersnapper

[MadMcMan]

didnt have time with traveling and illness to enter but after listening to the first few tracks i felt the need to vote, so i have great work everyone!

[neverbeeninariot]

On the topic of melodies, I said the other day to my esteemed colleague who has never been in a riot, that one of the reasons I love his songs is that during the business of sound design, mixing and mastering - he doesn't forget to write a good melody.

Kind words, thank you

I find myself that if I get too caught up in sounds - I can forget to give the song real substance. I can see now it happens to OSC entries. It's hard to hold in your head the whole spectrum of creating a track - from the very technical to the poetic side.

My two winning entries were written purely on the piano first (where composition is the only thing that exists) - and then (quite painfully) re-orchestrated on the synthesiser (although ultimately rewarding).

Often I start with sounds and smashing stuff together - which is more exploratory and fun - but perhaps doesn't grab the listener so. But it's good to have multiple approaches. It depends on the synth of the month how I begin (composition or sound design).

I can write on the guitar but not so much on keys so I'm pretty much permanently in the 'make sounds and smash things together' camp, sometimes the outcome is favourable but more often it's not.

I did have a concept for one round (two buckets), and doggedly pursued it but it went down like a lead balloon. Lesson learned

[PeterBPL]

I could agree that melody isn't everything. I could agree that melody is very important. I basically could agree with everything, because I don't really know how I vote until I hear song. It may be good theory that melody / themes / riffs are important and for me in general they are. But there is also other factor - something like "wow" factor that can change my mind and I'll vote high for song without any theme or melody, because music is not that predictible like people (me too) wants when talk about it.

The one I'm sure that every participants will be in top-60 this month, me included.

[doctorbob]

I guess for me - being old and age-hearing-challenged - I usually play around with the synth to see how it works, what sounds it can make, how easy/difficult it is to sculpt sounds etc.

I think of a "broad genre" for the track - classical, jazz, blues, pop, edm, ambient, electronica, generative etc - then I try to decide on a structure (even ambient styles tend to have structure).

Next I will doodle on the piano for some chords. Next see if some melodic lines are needed, and will fit (thinking hard about movement around chord changes). Then bass, but that form needs to be decided with the percussion ideas (also genre based to some extent - don't really want D&B on a chill ambient!!!). Do I need simple bass underpinning the chords, or do I want basslines with lots of movement to work with the percussion etc.

Slowly but surely something emerges - or doesn't.

Then I need to get the sound designs done to fit the rudimentary track - and see how they fit in a "mix".

Hope that makes some sort of sense. Whether there are melodies, solos etc is moot.

I try to create music all the time, not everything becomes OSC. I may pull in ideas form way back, and create a new track from those vestigial notions to suit a synth and hopefully appeal to my small number of fans here.

I expect to be the pivot point as usual - this time around 30th

Oops, long post - just thought I would say how I create tracks for OSC - not always though, given I like to experiment with any MIDI tools I can. I do like things like Wotja and its early incarnations. My electronica is influenced by Zinovieff, TD, Vorhaus, Curved Air, personal stuff done with chaos with a Synthi-A, Eno, Soft Machine and a few others I have met or seen in concert.

dB

[liqih]

I think there is always a melody and a rhythm, it may not be explicit but if one likes a piece of music it's because she/he can find those scales and cycles in what's listening.
The aesthetic principles of all the arts are to be found in the beholder, the listener in our case. So I believe.

After that there is the shared culture, also called the "scene". So if the OSC scene would be with that the melody must be explicit (as majority) then every track with no explicit melody will challenge the scene. And so on with beat, harmony, sounds, mix style, etc..

On the topic of melodies, I said the other day to my esteemed colleague who has never been in a riot, that one of the reasons I love his songs is that during the business of sound design, mixing and mastering - he doesn't forget to write a good melody.

[doctorbob]

... The aesthetic principles of all the arts are to be found in the beholder, the listener in our case. So I believe.

100% agree ...
dB

[silverpants]

I think there is always a melody and a rhythm, it may not be explicit but if one likes a piece of music it's because she/he can find those scales and cycles in what's listening.
The aesthetic principles of all the arts are to be found in the beholder, the listener in our case. So I believe.

After that there is the shared culture, also called the "scene". So if the OSC scene would be with that the melody must be explicit (as majority) then every track with no explicit melody will challenge the scene. And so on with beat, harmony, sounds, mix style, etc..

On the topic of melodies, I said the other day to my esteemed colleague who has never been in a riot, that one of the reasons I love his songs is that during the business of sound design, mixing and mastering - he doesn't forget to write a good melody.

Well said

[violator_alba]

This month is probably the first time I tried adding a 'melody'. Pretty much semi random notes in the key of the part added at the last minute. We'll see how that goes this time round...

[briefcasemanx]

I am pretty much always looking almost exclusively for melody. But I think of percussion as much in terms of melody as I do rhythm. For instance, in this Clipse, which I think most would consider to have very little melody, I hear really nice melody. Someone was very thoughtful about the drum samples they picked, the tuning, and the arrangement. I think the drums have both melody (and I'm not even talking about the hollow mallet/woodblockish sound in the chorus that has obvious melody) AND rhythm in this super sparse hip hop track: