Creative Work Process

What are some key creative processes to use in a project?

I recently finished produced a Remix for Joy Divisions "Love Will Tear Us Apart". I wanted to put a completely new perspective on this classic punk track all whilst keeping familiarity when listening to it.

Whats the best way to do this, you say?...

"KEEP THE VOCALS AND START FROM THE BEGINNING"

Whilst the easiest starting point for a remix may be to plan your entire production around the vocals, you also have to take into consideration other aspects to keep familiarity (even if you're trying to create something entirely different). For example a professional singer may execute a song in a specific key, so composing your version in the same key is definitely something to consider. Another thing that may be of importance could be the dynamics of the original track stems, is there any reverb already added into the vocals? How much reverb is there? Should I take this into consideration to match the atmosphere already created from the original?

All of these questions came into my mind when I started planning my project. This planning led me to this outcome...

What if my creative process didn't work out how I wanted it to?

The original for Love Will Tear Us Apart was written in an E Minor Key scale and had a BPM (Beats Per Minute) of 147. I produced my remix in the same scale to maintain that point of familiarity within my piece of work, although somewhere during my production I came across a tuning issue with my lead synth. It seemed as though it was a semitone or two above the rest of the instrumentation. For example If I were to play a C note on my keyboard, the output would sound something similar to a D and due to a phase issue between oscillators it was not a clean sound.

Are there any solutions to my processes?

I figured out why I was having a tuning issue on my remix, I believe it was because at the time when I made that specific synth patch, I had planned for it to be written in an F minor scale, so that the frequencies were sonically stable when using the notes in said scale. I then realised that if I wanted to use the patch I had engineered I had two options:

1. Re-tune the frequencies using the coarse and fine tuning parameters in my synthesiser

Or...

2. Change the key of my entire song to F Minor

Because I love my patchwork and don't want to change a thing about it, I decided to re-scale my entire session to F Minor, the instrumental now works great together. But in doing this, the vocals (which I have chosen to build a whole song around) are now out of key to the rest of the instrumentation. The solution was a "lightbulb" moment for me, I simply added a vocoder to the channel with lyrics on it (orange) and used an external carrier which was routed to a muted midi sequence (pink) in the session which was also in an F Minor scale. This not only made my vocals in key it also added a nice outer space/robotic effect to it, thus changing my creative process once again. The song is now a very atmospheric track rather than an upbeat genre.

Areas to improve?

As a sound engineer and producer I believe that I am and always will be learning new things to help me master my craft. One thing I'll take from this project is to use my plan for creative direction and not as a strict guide for production. If an idea comes to mind, just go with it, I say! don't be bound by the limitations you set to yourself for your production because at the end of the day, you're the person who set these boundaries. Another thing I have taken note of when I am layering drum samples (or any samples), if the product doesn't sound clean or have much grunt to it (depending how I want it to sound) I shouldn't just choose to make one sample louder than the other. I should balance the amplitude of them and use subtractive EQ'ing and panning to better enhance the overall output sound.

References:

basicmusictheory.com: F natural minor scale. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.basicmusictheory.com/f-minor-scale

basicmusictheory.com: E natural minor scale. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.basicmusictheory.com/e-minor-scale

How To Use Subtractive EQ To Make Your Mixes Sound Better. (2019). Retrieved from https://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how-to-use-subtractive-eq-to-make-your-mixes-sound-better/

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart, 1995 Remastered Version (Official Video). (2019). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=674KGKRQBPE