As previously promised this track will be something completely different. First off, we're going for a disco feel... well, at least some of the time. I played around with some sounds (Thor and Subtractor, specifically) and created a kind of wicked combi. Here's a link to that. For anyone who hasn't played around with creating their own combinators yet - you should. It's really fun, you learn a lot, and once you get to programming your knobs it really opens up the breadth and depth of the concept.
Back to what makes this completely different. We're going for an odd time signature - 5/4 (that's 5 quarter-notes per measure for anyone who doesn't read music). For a little history, read up on Dave Brubeck's non-standard time signature masterpiece "Take Five" (from the cleverly titled album "Time Out"). In addition to 5/4 and a slight disco feel we might add vocals this time - we'll see about that. One thing at a time.
The bass sound is another one from Propellerhead's Electric Bass ReFill. This one is called "Chili Magic", which I can only assume is a reference to my all-time favorite bassist, Flea. As a bassist who's listened to a lot of Chili Peppers over the years I can say that they have captured his tone fairly decently. I'd like it to have a little more crispiness, but I'll take what I can get.
One other thing that makes this track different is the key. We're going for Eb Major. Not a standard rock'n'roll key. It is a half-step higher than the saddest of all keys, but major, not minor.
We're going to try fewer guitars this time and, if we can help it, avoid distortion on them (gasp!). I know it will be tough, but just say NO! to that distortion pedal. I'm starting the guitars on the chorus with a default Record patch called "Bottled Message". As the name implies, it is very The Police.
Time is limited these days so I'll stop here for now. Here's your link to the first pass demo.
Next time: totally sweet synth strings... Disco will never die!
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