With this track, I wanted to create a smooth, mellow, uplifting track. With that in mind, I decided to use a major scale. I will classify this track as a Rhythm and Blues, R&B, track. The sounds that I used in making this piece consists of a Brooklyn drum kit, finger style bass, Steinway grand piano, and an acoustic guitar and other instruments. Sounds I believe that would blend well together.
I used a 4/4 time signature and 105 BPM tempo. For my bass track I utilized the kick-bass technic, also using the hi-hats as well. I kept the rhythm somewhat simple, not too much movement.
The key is Bb. The chord progression is I iii ii IV iii vi V IV ( Bb-Dm-Cm-Eb-Dm-Gm-F-Eb) for the first 16 measures/bars. The next cord progression, measures 17 thru 32, is I-Isus2-III-iiisus2-I-Isus4-iii-iiisus4-ii (Bb-Bbsus2-Dm-Dmsus2-Bb-Bbsus4-Dm-Dmsus4-Cm). I created an eight-bar chord progression and then copied it for another eight measures, given me a total of 16 measures for each chord progression. For the second part of the chord progression, I used suspended chords. I choice to use the I and iii chord, the first and second chord of the original chords and then add the suspended chord to them. My melody, played by the acoustic guitar, is an arch type melodic contour. This is played in the key of Bb. The second part, measures 17-32, I played the Bb blues scale.
For my audio track, track 10, I used a loop entitled Afloat Beat, it plated well with the rest of the instruments. For the synth track, which are tracks 2 and 8, I layered them with the kick and melody, they are sounds I made for another project and I thought they would work nice as an undercoating, if you will. For the sampler track which is track 9, I found another interesting audio loop. I took the beginning of it and punched it in different locations to add with the Afloat Beat.
Now for the mixing part, bringing it all home. With mixing I applied the knowledge I gained to keep it as smooth as I can. I compressed and EQ'ed almost all the tracks. I started with the rhythm section first, I added a reverb, chorus, flanger, to my bass and melody, and stereo delay for my rhythm section specifically. I adjusted the volume to fit with the rhythm section and applied my time-based effects until I felt it was completed.