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Jah Mandela  -  Post 2

R&D

So I have this cool but weird track. It sounds alot like a kind of merge between reggae and jazz. My first step was finding a vibe. I went nuts with drum effects and tried out hundreds of snare and kick sounds. I knew that after I had a cool drum sound set, I would have a clearer picture of what I was actually doing... Turns out to be somewhere along the lines of Dub Reggae... but with a a twist that defies a rule of reggae. The vast majority of reggae has its rhythm and heart beat on the 2nd and 4th beat... where as mine is on the 1st and 2nd. It kind of goes against the culturally defining feature of reggae, but I'm not set on following rules and guide lines. This is to be raw creativity with and what happens.. happens.

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All my research for this track has come from listening. I knew that I wanted this to be a home production piece and that I wanted to use my tools to make it (it had started on a MIDI keyboard on my desk and thats where I wanted to keep it). I listened to alot of music that I drew inspiration from, such as; Eek'A'Mouse, Gladiators, Revolutionary Dub Warriors to name a few. I listened to how they made their tracks and how they built layers (minus the rhythmic pattern). For me personally, listening is the primary educator in music. I'm educated in music theory and notation but I can't fully understand anything until I've done or heard it. It's part of my dislike for visual learning... I'm very kinaesthetic and auditory. 

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I listened to : "Creation"

                      "Ganja Sumgler"

                      "Roots Natty Roots"

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I also drew inspiration from a track called "Zion" by Soul II Soul. I also have a clip here.

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As in line with the concept of the project. I have never touched this style of music and it's completely different to my other tracks. I needed to listen to these artists and single out the defining traits, and the common outcome was the use of multiple snares. Like the use of a bone dry snare sound which is almost default for straight reggae and then using high pitch/tighter snare sounds and caking them in effects. The use of feedback delay and fader riding in "Creation" has been a massive influence and it's basically what's getting this track to take shape.

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In my head I have master plan. I want to - like in Creation - build the track layer by layer, but I need the layers to build with. I'm thinking multiple guitar lines that can cut in and out, organs maybe some kind of vocals.

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This R&D timescale is between the 1st of October till the 10th. 

Jah post 2: News

As of October 20th, I have laid down my guitar parts, keyboards, and finished my drum parts. Like I said; I'm using my own production space to create the music, so I used my Presonus FireWire sound card to record in the guitar track, and I then processed them using the amp simulators and other effects in Logic.


I've had feedback from another student on a particular aspect of my track. They reckon the bass track (which I built out of sub sine wave and a deep organ) isn't right. What they mean (and as I understand it) is that they want to hear the fingers against the strings of the bass and feeling a better connection with it.


I... Half agree. I love the breathy sub I have created. But in the spirit of subjectiveness I tried out some other options. I recorded over a real bass and tried to mix it in with the original... but I couldn't get the bass recording pitch perfect and it sounded rubbish. I tried adding harmonic distortion with little success. But, I had to remember that I did like it how it was. They wanted to hear a analogue bass but that wasn't the gist I was going for. I wanted a guitar and drum centre... with a fat sub hitting the low end. That was my aim. I wanted to sit at the back of the SSL room/turn on the sub, and be hit by an array of colours... not necessarily created by real instrument. I'm inspired by the music I was listening to, but that dosen't mean I wanted to copy it.  

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I plan on finding a vocal of some description to help break the track into sections, and then I'll have most of my researched and developed ideas together.        

Jah post 2: About

On October 22nd I found my vocal. I decided I wanted a speech of some sort; like in Muses "Unsustainable". But I wanted a defining tone, character, and I wanted it to sink into the track nicely. I found an amazing audio clip of Nelson Mandela giving a speech about the social effects sport has on humans. I really loved the way he says "Power" and "Inspire"... really added depth and said power to this spacious, chilled out music. I used an RX de-noise plugin, an excited, a little compression and then covered it in effects... sounds fab!

Jah post 2: Welcome
Jah post 2: News
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