So this is an instrumental piece, as such there are no lyrics which should really mean I’ve little to write.. I figure, however that I may as well have a go at explaining to some extent the mindset and process behind different pieces of music which I make, and where better to start than with a first.
Behappy as a project has a fairly simple remit “Create the most disturbing audible art I can” whilst trying to retain musicality. Generally though my focus has always been on creating the sort of music that I as a weird edgy teenager would have come across in the early hours, probably stoned.. after looking through endless lists of “most disturbing this and that this and that’s”, and been gratefully taken back by. Ultimately the aim has always been to try and record, whilst working through and with.. a mental breakdown.
This is a surprisingly tricky thing to achieve, and obviously.. there are only so many opportunities to really capture that moment with it’s sincerest potency.
This piece… is none of the above.
Here is “The Riff” which comprises the entirety of the track.
This year has been rather unproductive when it comes to creating music truly to my taste, or at least.. of the type I would like to, a very domestic housebound year with quaint neighbors. Looking very much forward to 2024 when living circumstances will be far less stultifying. Because of this emotional impotence I have managed to practice… A LOT. So swings and roundabouts, plus it has led me to making a fair few tracks ~(especially the quick cuts compilation) more out of feeling a need to make a finished piece of music and to experiment with a few odd ideas which I might not have made time to otherwise, although it must be said this is very in-keeping with how I like to make noise music.. generally without lyrics or vocals, a sprawling sonic experiment would be the go to, though in those cases I tend to think more along the lines of a movie than music, and would always prefer a more spontaneous and improvisational power electronics rant.
So after my long winded ramble around the bush we’re back at this track
Initially I’d just wanted to stretch out a single “riff”, see how much variety could be squeezed from the one nice guitar line. I’ve been mostly practicing along to lots of death metal, heavy distortion and gain-full leads, so it was nice to drop back to a clean setting for a start. I wanted to create quite a lengthy atmospheric piece with multiple distinct sections, whilst not changing the note and chord choices, and simultaneously not wanting to break my routine too much or spend too long on composition. So, it became a “one riff song” exercise.
The riff, like almost all I’ll likely ever play came out of a improv/jam session.. essentially once I landed on something I liked, I stopped and transcribed it in my own ludicrously inefficient manner with notepad+ and audacity, I will not update.. though am aware my tabs really only work for.. me..
Then I came up with a scheme.. which was quite simple, the riff came out at 19 beats. I would play for the “first section” from beat 1 through to 10, then.. from 1 through to 11, then 1 through to 12 etc etc until I’d played 1 through to 19. upon which.. I would play the same again, with a view to “removing all but the reverb tones” and glitching out the second run.
Once these two runs were completed I would play the reverse, the full 19 beats then 18, 17, 16, 15 and eventually finishing this run when I’d played a 10 beat version.
Finally, for the outro section, I wanted a continuous build and surge towards the climax, constantly dropping back a little ahead from where we’d come from and pushing forwards just slightly further than where we’d previously gone. hence a schemed of in beats : 1 - 10, 2 - 11, 3 -12, 4 - 13, 5 - 14, 6 - 15, 7 - 16, 8 - 17, 9 - 18, 10 - 19
Once I’d learned this front to back, I recorded three version, a lead and rhythm distorted guitar one with “chugs” the other tremolo, a very clean strummed version, and another clean version playing only the upper three string equivalent. these plus a bass track. The bass track essentially cycles through the guitar riffs notes.. essentially. It does have it’s own methodology treating the individual strings notes as roots cycling through them first using the e strings, then a and d, with the final lot being replaced by their lower e equivalent.
Or something like that..
To create the “backing drones” I played the initial guitar tracks again but back to front, then reversed those recordings in audacity so that they would line up properly again, only with the addition of the lovely swooshing noises of reversal, also helping keep the rhythm apparent. I would have done quite alot in audacity as usual for this, although not as much as I often tend to. Still the lower 80 hz would have been isolated from all tracks barre a reverb and distortion heavy version of the bass line. Everything would have also had multiple track duplicates made, these would then be EQ’d to certain parameters of mine depending on track. Maybe I’ll go into a few of my processes a little more in future posts.
Anyhow, ultimately I wanted to create a clean and “nice” sounding somewhat motivational/uplifting yet dreamlike instrumental, focusing on odd timings, having the same riff played in multiple ways and layered with it’s reversed equivalent, properly.. played rather than programmed so to speak. And I am fairly pleased with how it’s turned out, quite beautiful.. even if only to me.
Roger Bocaney performed drums for this piece as is often the case, honestly.. that boy blows my mind at times.. stunning drummer.
All the best to you, and I hope that wasn’t too aimless of a read.
It was interesting to take an inner view of your process even for musically mutilated person like me :D