In this post, I will deconstruct the entire production of what was asked of me through an analysis of samples and techniques used
To recap what was asked of me:
- a “trippy” vaporwave song, but one that isn’t sad or “weird”.
- a haptic sound effect for when the joysticks bump into each other
Music
After the whole process, I’m writing this post and haven’t found any possible name for the song yet. What is true is that I had a lot of fun in the making. I feel like I’m not that bad of a music producer. I don’t have ANY musical skills, but I get by! It’s all down to my editing and sound design skills. I also owe my intense research into the music genre to the score. It is essential to mention that there is much more to explore within the musical genre; there are other exciting subgenres born from vaporwave, such as mallsoft.
On the first production day, I booked the Composition Studio and invited my colleagues Sam Knobbs, Harry Charlton, Hywel, and Jack Centro as I thought it might be fun. I had no idea which samples I was going to use. I was at ground zero in the creative and technical process.
I tried to make a vaporwave song in 10 minutes (failed). This was the result: I put a lot more work into the project than I thought I would. It ended up being a lot more! As you can see, I only had one audio track in that Ableton project.
I’ll start by talking about the samples I used.
In that session with my friends, I concluded that the sample I would use would be from the song “Soup for one” by Chic, released in 1982.
I know this song from a better-known song, “Lady, hear me tonight” by Modjo, a French House group hit from 2000.
I thought the song’s tone was upbeat enough to escape the inherent sadness in the music genre. With this sample, I would achieve one of the most essential aspects of vaporwave – recognising the sample to take the listener to the past. I think it worked.
I used a Kings of Tomorrow song with Julie McKnight, “Finally”, for vocals. However, the voices are not so clear, as they are under a chopped and screwed process and a lot of reverb.
Finally, I used a sample of a Soft hair song entitled “In Love” on the drums. The drums give a drunken feel and make an excellent inclusion to the mix.
Outside the music scene, this upcoming sample is the most important. It adds the drama and fatalism you were looking for, giving it an elegant romantic touch.
I currently find myself re-editing the song and hope to add more samples. One of them is “Careless whisper” by George Michael, to give it a twist.
Here is the final result:
Sound Effect
I could not do much research or analytical interpretation of the sound effect. All I have to say about it is that I compiled about 4 sounds to achieve one sound. My goal was simple – to make a fun but strident sound gave the context in which it is set. When I made the sound, I wanted it to sound like a little star. Here’s the result: