BBP 2020 - Bloodrive

Currently, I am working in a group of two people on the Big Break Project. Our Group and project/song is called Bloodrive and it is an avantgarde/experimental metal song, that fuses Industrial metal with Symphonic and Thrash Metal (Industrial Sympho Thrash metal).

Industrial metal is a subgenre of metal that fuses together elements of metal with electronic music, and has a heavy use of samplers and synthesizers - We therefore are using a guitar synthesizer/ sample library library (Heavier 7 Strings), instead of real guitars, as well as are using lots of bitcrushed synths and electronic synth drums https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_metal#:~:text=Industrial%20metal%20is%20the%20fusion,Rammstein%2C%20and%20Nine%20Inch%20Nails .

We merged this with elements of Thrash metal - this is an aggressive form of metal which features fast paced, dissonant riffs and chord progressions as well as shredding and solos, and loads of crazy guitar techniques. In order to recreate that, we have included a guitar solo in our work, as well as have tapping leads and some alternate picking on the guitars, we also have made the riffs “thrashy” - which means having a chord progression with short bursts of palm muted bass notes on the guitar (low A string), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrash_metal . In order to further boost the thrash aspect, we’ve kicked off the song with an acoustic drum set sound, as well as have a focus on high tempos in our song (it is at 210 bpm), we also wrote the song in F# Locrian, to add to the dissonance and darkness of the song, https://www.basicmusictheory.com/f-sharp-locrian-mode .

In order to make the song intense and ominous, we’ve added symphonic elements into the song. Symphonic metal is another metal subgenre that was pioneered by the thrash metal band Believer in the eighties. It essentially fuses together elements of classical and orchestral music (already common in other metal subgenres) and adds in actual symphonic sounds, like choirs, keyboards, or orchestras, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonic_metal#Symphonic_metal_subgenres . We have used an orchestral sample library as well as a choir, to add orchestral sounds to the mix. We have also used cinematic percussion, such as huge bass drums and power toms, frequent in an orchestral setting, to further juice up the mix.

Lots of the techniques and processes that we used when composing the song were improvisation and experimentation. We would try something, for example a riff or beat or synth sound, and see how it works within the context of the mix and try different things, to see how they sound, in the end going for what sounded best for us in that given part of the mix. The person I am working with mostly did the production and sound design aspect so far, while I mostly focused on the arrangement, and composition aspect of the project, and had to learn some theory, such as memorizing the F# locrian scale and its chords. I am also planning on writing lyrics to the song and recording some vocals, probably shouted thrash metal vocals, maybe with some bitcrusher or distortion upon them to include the industrial aspect.

Currently, making the song is going well. Probably the best things that went well so far would be making/sequencing the beats and riffs as well as the sound design made by the person i am working with. On the other hand, things that didn’t go well probably may include me being bad at structuring the song and being off time or off key often.

Here's a video interview about the project...

Update: 13/10/20

This week we drew the song to a physical finish, although we are not done with it yet. We achieved this by adding in the chorus, then a verse, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_structure#:~:text=Each%20verse%20usually%20employs%20the,and%20lyrical%20phrase%20that%20repeats . and finally having the chorus fade out like in many songs, for example like in Enter Sandman by Metallica.

We also took it a step further by adding dark ambient elements into the song’s final moments, by using Logic pro’s Alchemy synth plugin and tweaking the settings as well as importing a picture of Baphomet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet into the synth which converted it into a sound. We then added an arpeggiator, which causes each note to become an aperriggo, which is a chord (a group of two or more notes played together), but instead of being played together, an aperiggo breaks up the chords into single notes and plays them individually, This article - https://blog.landr.com/arpeggiators/#:~:text=An%20arpeggiator%20is%20a%20synthesis,one%20after%20another%20in%20sequence Talks about arpeggiators in depth... We also added bitcrusher, making it sound terrifying, by causing downsampling and resulting in a dissonant and LoFi sound https://www.strymon.net/what-is-a-bitcrusher/ . I later added some delay https://www.renegadeproducer.com/delay-effects.html, some chorus (the effect as described by this article - https://samplecraze.com/tutorials/chorus-effect-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/) and a talker pedal, also known as a talkbox, which allows talking and speech sounds to be added to the instrument, making it sound eerie, as though it is “talking” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_box, thus making it seem even more warped and creepy. I finally used a load of logic pro’s ambient synth pads, as well as an orchestral pad, called Layers, by Orchestral Tools, to add onto the dark atmosphere, really concluding the track with sheer darkness. I achieved that by firstly using automation to fade out every track so that it decreases in volume as it proceeds, and instead had an automation that causes the Baphomet Synth and Orchestra/Ambient pads, to increase dramatically, before fading out into nothingness. Automation is a trigger for a certain effect or occurrence on a given track, which allows the user to set it according to time, thus enabling things like volume increase or decrease through time, or certain effects kicking it at given moments, in this case, I made it so the volume decreases gradually as the song reaches the end, and the volume of the orchestra, Pads and Baphomet synth increases, then plays loudly, taking the lead role, then finally decreases as the track finishes, a bit like a fade to black in a movie/visual recording. Here is more on the topic: https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/what-is-mix-automation.html#:~:text=In%20the%20case%20of%20music,the%20volume%20of%20a%20track.

We also did some mixing of the track, which we went about doing in mono - as mixing in mono ensures that it will sound great in both mono as well as stereo, whereas mixing in stereo will mean that the mix may sound crowded and messy in mono, https://www.musicianonamission.com/mixing-mono. We removed the excess Equalisers from the guitar tracks, which were causing the tone to be muffled; my partner did a different EQ formation that actually worked for the guitar, EQ is an effect that allows the equalisation of frequencies, for example, it allows loud, abrasive frequencies, such as the fizz of distortion, of a distorted guitar, at 4Khz, to be cut out, thus improving the enjoyability of listening to the sound and improves the quality and allows it to be heard through the mix. It also allows frequencies to be boosted, such as the upper mids, at 1 - 3 khz of an orchestra, which are where most string and brass instruments sit, thus allowing their sound to be boosted and to cut through the mix, especially if the aforementioned frequencies are cut out in the other instruments that play alongside it - https://www.howtogeek.com/59467/htg-explains-what-is-an-equalizer-and-how-does-it-work/, this links to the cube theory, that every instrument in a mix sits within a frequency cube, and needs its own space within said cube to be heard and to not overlap https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-the-sound-cube-to-plan-your-recording--audio-518#:~:text=A%20Three%20Dimensional%20Metaphor%20for,axis%20is%20represented%20by%20frequency, we put improved EQ on the guitar by using a method which first boosts parameters/frequencies and then the boost is swept about the EQ, to find the resonant frequencies that are harsh and abrasive to the ear and cause the mix to sound bad - those frequencies are then cut out, improving the overall sound of the guitar.

Currently the things that went well are the finishing of the song and the getting down of idea, and we also plan to start writing lyrics soon. The things that did not go so well though were my sloppy mixing, which lead to the rhythm guitar taking over the track and nothing else being heard. This is because I put so much Equalisers on the track and cut out so much of the tone, that the overall sound of the guitar was very quiet at first, meaning that I had to compensate, by turning up the volume on the cabinets to full. That meant that when the excess EQ was taken off and the remaining EQ was redone, so to sound better and let in more tone, the guitar was very loud and and took over most of the mix and made other things inaudible. This means that I will have to slightly quieten down the guitar and maybe boost the drums and the orchestrations, so that they are all sitting well in the mix.