ABOUT THE BALANCE-CONTRAST CONCEPT IN MUSIC CREATION

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Nestor
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Post by Nestor »

ABOUT THE BALANCE-CONTRAST CONCEPT IN MUSIC CREATION

We all need inspiration, and to have it at the rich of the hand you need the right tools so the sound actually attracts you to make some music and your music attract people to listen at it.

That is why it is very important to take into consideration the "CONTRAST" concept when building Pulsar projects to experience or as a "foundation" for your inspiration and creativity so your idea comes up easily.

The Dry-Wet, Fast-Slow, Fat-Lean, Loud-Low concepts are based on a sense of BALANCE.

Balance (as constantly alleged by Master Mixer experts like Bob Clearmountain) is the key point when you mix down your work. BUT, to be able to finish up with a good balanced Mix you need first of all choosing the right instruments and FXs. And to choose the right ones is never an isolated matter, but a balanced roundup matter. If you like a sound by itself great, but it is not enough, because it might not work very well with the rest of your designated instruments. So you should try to choose your instruments as a GROUP rather than one by one; unless your project has only one instrument of course.

For instance: if you were to like very much an isolated preset sound (let's say from the Inferno synth for example) and your first idea is based mainly in this preset, in most cases when you add other instruments to enrich your original idea this freshness is gone and you end up with something which is in no way what you want; even if you still like it!

What to do so? Search for a balanced sounding project environment.

If you were to build up a project with five instruments, let's say: 1- a Bass, 2- a Drum kit, 3- a Pad, 4- an Organ, 5- a Lead, you would need to choose the right presents in a way that non is overloading the others so balancing the general sound. There you have to be careful letting every instrument to CRAM "it's" particular aim not taking the whole lot of the atmospheric-place-sound for itself. For example: One being dry and sharp the other being fat and wet, and so on...

I you were to choose for instance:

1) As a Bass sound the Miniscope, preset Buzzy Bottom.

2) As a Drum the EDS 8I, preset Set I.

3) As a Pad the U KNOW 007, preset Pad B12

4) As an Organ a fat B3 played through a Sample Player.

5) As a Lead the FM One, preset Boned Lead.

So you would be likely to finish with a very heavy mass of sounds that are all too fat, and even if your idea was great at the beginning it is quite sure you would rumble it forever. Of course you can do some music with this unsuitable project (and with everything else you might like) but rather as an experiment.

The fact is that we do not create music exclusively for personal use. You would like to be widely accepted being able to give your music to as many people as possible, wouldn't you? So would I. Most people appreciate balance instinctively.

The Balance Concept is extremely important "specifically" for your idea to be properly appreciated and understood. For you to reach peoples understanding, taking into account that music really is a language and a musician a speaker (of emotions), you need to speak in a way that everybody can understand you. This does not limit what you want to say! On the contrary, it implements your language and the possibility of reaching other's emotions "CONNECTING" with them.

So choose a Bass sound that is not contradicting your Lead, Pad, Drum, sounds, etc: if your Lead sound is for some reason a "fat" preset, so choose a rather unhardened sound for your Bass and a soft (empty-middle-fat-frequencies) preset for your Pad. If your Drum sound is essential to you and it is a "big-fat" sound and you can not allow yourself to put it aside, so pass it through an EQ getting rid (a bit) of the lower frequencies that collide with the other similar fat sounds of the project.

The general sound atmosphere should always have some "space" some "breathing place" for the main elements to be heard. If you have the impression that everything is heard at the same time and nothing is supporting anything, so it will be a tiresome atmosphere that people will naturally not like. Again, balance is fundamental! If you were to intelligently provide some space onto the general atmosphere of the project, whatever instrument or few instruments were leading the main musical idea at that moment would be clearly understood and appreciated.

Put the "Balance Concept" into practice and you'll be amazed at the pleasant results you'll get from it, particularly at the moment of doing your final Mix, THEN you realize how important it was to choose the right equilibrium between opposites.
Gregory
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Post by Gregory »

I agree totally. The concept works in any kind of ensemble work. Having all strong leads is good for the main characters (i.e., in opera) but really bad for the choir/chorus.
hairbrain
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Post by hairbrain »

An excellent point Nestor. Contrast is my virtual bible when it comes to composition. As a freeform composer, however, I often pick a lead, or rhythm, or bass. I lay this sound down. Then I pick my next sound with contrast, space, and preservation as my criteria. So many times one can lay down a really fruity bass and then cloud it with the wrong choice of accompanying instrument. The contrast is gone, the listenening environment is blurred and the original fruitiness is lost (not preserved).

So rather than pick my instruments first, I build the group up with contrast in mind as I compose. This is a really exciting way to compose because what might start as some average trancey number might end up as some bizarre steel drum piece with a rubber duck squeeking over the top. No matter how eccentric it gets, however, if contrast is maintained then the composition will still work.

Second to CONTRAST, however, is COLOUR. Colour is almost as important as contrast for me. And yet colour sometimes fights against contrast. Take Phil Spector. His productions have a certain colour, a wall of sound, which seems to wash away contrast. Heavy thrash sometimes has the same colourful effect. The real skill, for me, is to maintain the right balance between contrast and colour.
If my steel drum piece starts out punchy and well balanced that's good, but my quest for colour might start to introduce similar metal klangs, in the end the whole piece might descend into a cacophony of klangs and bangs, a grinding wirl of metal flying off into space. And as it flies off a soft hum from a female voice might redress the balance and pull the listener back into harmony.

In short my belief is that CONTRAST is the craft of delivering an impactful sound to the listener, and COLOUR is the volume slider on the amount of impact delivered. Without colour we have, essentially, a well crafted but dull piece of music (I'm thinking Sting).

peace


hairbrain :smile:
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

oh yeah,art.
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Post by algorhythm »

lol
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Post by paulrmartin »

As a student of composition I found there are NO preset rules as to "contrasts" and "colours". It always comes down to your individual taste.
When listening to anybody i can say "I'd change this and this sound" but perhaps musically it wouldn't work...
What if Keith Emerson had use more upper harmonics draw-bars, would he have sounded more like Jimmy Smith and thus turned out to be a total flop? (not a criticism, an IDEA)
What works for one just doesn't work for the next person and so on.
Just keep on making music is all I can say!
Paul

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2001-08-18 11:38 ]</font>
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Post by Peezahj »

As a graduate of composition, I've found that the best way to break the rules is to learn them & understand why they got put there in the first place. In the end, though, it's really not that big of a deal, everything has a potential to be a hit as long as you're not blowing people's speakers (& even that could be up to personal preference :wink:).
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Post by paulrmartin »

There you go! Exactly right!

Keep on composing, that's all that counts

Paul
hairbrain
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Post by hairbrain »

Most suprised to find this thred still alive!

Paul... (and gary) rereading my post it sounds like I must've just had a shot of expresso and needed some rant. If I can defend my POV, Perhaps less pompously, what I think I was getting all excited about was not an analysis of `composition` but rather a (perhaps personal, perhaps universal) question of what makes a `good` composition. Sure music`s fun and we can all get on with the things we're making. I suppose I was just declaring what I thought to be the key things which set an evocative composition away from just another earhole filler.

I know that music lives in the world of taste but I am continually suprised at how I can like a tune if it has real color, even if it's from a genre of music that I normally hate. Being something of a dance music snob I am often startled (and worried) when I find myself getting into a heavy metal piece or a song by the carpenters. The Beach Boys, Julio Inglesias, Nirvana, Death Metal, A Yorkshire Colliery Brass Band, Buck Rodgers music from the future..... all these have a strange power. They have a unique colour and evoke reactions in me. Somebody asks me..`oh so you like Nirvana well that means you like rock music`... and I'll spill my pint on them. I hate rock music.

The original poster commented on the contrast method, which I thought was valid. But, for me, any discussion about `good` composing is halfbaked without giving appropriate place to colour. This is precisely what you referred to when you talked of Wakemens organ. A great piece of music can be recognised within 2 seconds of playing it. `oh that's the Beatles` or `that sounds like Coltrane`....

the rest is just ear litter
Spirit
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Post by Spirit »

You're right Hairbrain, I too like preserved fruit. Contrast is important to me, for example, strawberries and peaches, and like you colour is almost as important. Good colour and fruitiness go together.

The problem is canned fruit or cold storage fruit where you have fruitiness and colour, but the contrast and flavour has gone.

:wink:
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

still could be good in a pie,(none for me tho-too sweet!)



simplicity is nice even in complicated things.
?
hairbrain
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Post by hairbrain »

Don't get me onto questions of strawberries and peaches or I'll start a food fight!

I always had a fundamental element of respect for the person who transformed an Ozzy Osbourne tune into lift musak.... is that canned fruit?

:wink:
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Post by Funktastico »

Muzak has it's own place and it's in no way inferior to a classical opera or heavy rock song. As long as the balance&colour are just right for the target arena, it works.

Toni L.
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

muzak is for calming passengers or encouraging people to shop.it is slightly manipulative and mercenary.since people are so susceptable to music(vibration wired directly to the brain),they naturally are suspicious of mr. muzaks(tm) intentions........
muzak IS well done tho-
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paulrmartin
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Post by paulrmartin »

Don't forget the subliminal message in muzak that plays in department stores:
" I am honest, I do not steal, I am honest, I do not steal"... :razz:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2001-10-26 09:45 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2001-10-26 09:45 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2001-10-26 09:46 ]</font>
hairbrain
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Post by hairbrain »

"muzak is for calming passengers" this made me smile with images of planes careering out of control filled with calm sedated passengers and the carpenters greatest hits (played by mike boosley and his bontempi organ) soothing them.

"We've only just begun....to live... white lace and promises la la la ........
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garyb
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Post by garyb »

a true.
Spirit
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Post by Spirit »

Well I hate Muzak. It's like a Reader's Digest version of Shakespeare. There's plenty of calming music without having to have it played by Bert and Ernie on Prozac.

On the other hand I wouldn't want Mozart or bach being used in the dogfood aisle of the supermarket either - so maybe Muzak has its place...
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Post by garyb »

didn't mozart like puppies?
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