PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase The Road Less Traveled - by Mark Styles

The Road Less Traveled - by Mark Styles

This is a long piece.. It does have a theme motif, but is more of a musical journey than a song. My first intention was to work with key transpositions. Cause I never really cared for them when I was younger, I regarded them as a cheesy device, when you ran out of ideas.. There have been examples where transpositions are very powerful and moving, and others where it’s just too predictable..

I use a pallete of traditional sounds but also made more use of artificial sounds, with 3rd party plug-ins, (Audio Units in Logic Pro) cause I wanted to evoke a certain feeling of nostaligia, but also of uncertainty, and alienation.. I applied the computer equivalent to tape manipulation, spicing, backwards tape, etc for other more unworldly sounds.

I’ve been taking a course at coursera.org.. ‘Biology as Music”.. It studies how are our bodies were designed to process music, how certain aspects of the relationships of partials, and resonance will evoke specific emotions out of humans.. How our first language was actually mimicking animal sounds. How we even use pitch in our speech to add an extra layer of meaning to our communication..

So it got me thinking that the use of untraditional sounds, will cause the brain to react differently, cause the sound can’t be defined as being something particular. so the brain, will ‘keep an eye on it’..

I started with some chord tracks, but replaced all tracks, mostly with one line parts..

The piece is 6/8 - but I attempted not to make that real obvious. I did that by having certain instruments play notes, that might be counted out in 4/4 time.. So I wouldn't always hit, the 1 beat, I'd hit the 2 beat (trying to trick your brain into thinking it's 4/4 time).. I thinned things a lot too - so as to not have a timed feel (at least that was what I was aiming for) Not entirely successful, but it does take away from the strict feel of 6/8 time.

Yes, I was a 'Flower Child of the 60's'.. so this is music for those of us who remain from the 'Flower Power Generation'.. just easy listening now, no FUZZ guitars. I'll use one in another piece later, once I figure out how to use the iPad to change the EQ on my hearing aid (just kidding - no hearing aid yet)..

I usually use BIAB to fine tune the chord progression.. I generate some melodies, and occasionally solos, several of them.. Then some alternate styles.. Drag all this into Logic Pro.. cut/edit/rewrite/replay,slide parts around.. etc. I particularly like love the new Super Midi Patches..


The Road Less Traveled - https://app.box.com/s/koy6ain6j9e98vpyw3xv85iw6qug4v08

The Road Less Traveled Score - https://app.box.com/s/vhmrvhboe6dxnpzrxs7sq2tnm72kkutn

(Mark Styles©2016 Pliant Tunes BMI)

Mark,

This is beautifully done. A vey enjoyable listen.

Much of your discussion is far removed from the my "musical thinking" (over my head). But the music speaks for itself.

I would guess this is mostly MIDI? I'm sure many would like to know what made up the parts. The atmospheric strings are especially nice...

It is obvious a LOT of work went into this. Impressive piece.

I thoroughly enjoyed my listen.

floyd

Hi Mark,

welcome to the forum!
Nice first post. You enrich the forum with your way
of thinking. Thanks for the background story.
Very enjoyable listen.

Guenter

Welcome aboard....your composition went very well
with my morning coffee. As floyd mention it is obvious
that you spent some time with this production and as
he also suggested it would be interesting to what the
tracks consist of. And as Guenter said "thanks for the
background story."

Enjoyed it!

Bud

Hi Mark!

First of all, welcome to the world of the user showcase! You really hit the ground running with this one!

I found your song description very interesting, and I agree with all of what I understood. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much I understood. ;-)

Yeah, you really do have some time invested in this piece! I can't even imagine how you would manage a project like this! I like the patchwork quilt effect you get by adding swatches of sound that aren't identical, but which match the theme... it creates an almost mystical listening experience. Some parts sound downright classical, some parts sound like new age, and some parts remind me of Blood Seat and Tears! All fun and good sounds!

I look forward to hearing more from you!

You've clearly put a lot of serious thought - and work - into constructing this intriguing and mood-shifting piece, well done. I found it an equally intriguing and enjoyable listen: all the more because it is one of the clearest mixes I've heard in a very long while.

John

Hello Mark,

this sure is innovative in several ways.
Like Floyd said, a lot of work must have gone into this.
But it was definitely worth it, by the sound of it.
Very well done!

Rob

Really pretty music and very well put together!! The motion in the music is great. As Floyd said in different words, I am more of a gut level writer and listener. However, I certainly appreciate the thought put into this and the beauty that is so apparent. Wonderful job!! Take care. Greg

Hey Mark,

Great job. I thought this was very cool. Great phrasing and thematic movements.

I also thought the idea of that course was neat.

Was it free?

Hi Mark and welcome to the best music making forum in the world !

Ur track was very impressive ! And I liked it a lot... This is something I would love to be able to my self one day also...