My piece was influenced by a mix of Jazz, Classical, and East-African Afro music derived from the Maasai tribe in Kenya. The African influence is evident in the vocal sample, the jazz influence is shown in the bass guitar and drums, while the classical influence is reflected in the strings. I do not believe a specific style description of this particular piece exists considering it is very eclectic so if I had to categorize it, I would call it ‘World’ music. It is primarily suitable for a happy scene in a film, or the end credits of a film with a happy ending. It is also suitable for a romantic scene. However, there are many more possibilities, many of which I may not even be aware of.

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The song is written in simple meter (4/4) and remains that way throughout. The 32 bar structure consists of an intro, verse, chorus, an interlude (starting from section II), and lastly a second verse to end the song. The bass is very basic, as only a Fingerstyle Bass guitar found in Logic was used. I felt it’s simplicity was sufficient for the emotion I was trying to evoke from the piece. However, I made an effort to make the drums stand out on this particular piece. The native Logic drums were not good enough so I had to outsource and use a third party plug in known as addictive drums to create the feel that I truly felt did the instrumental justice.

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The chords used in the piece are divided into each 16 bar section. Within the first 16 bar section, the chords used are Bb major, G minor, D minor 7, Eb major 7 & F7. Within the second 16 bar section the chords used are Bb major, D minor, G minor, Eb major 9, Eb major 7 & F7. For the initial melodies, I kept them very acoustic and true-to-life in order to compliment the music within the section it was in. However, I used the sampler heavily within the second section along with the strings creating a mix of classical music and modern pop. I EQ’d and/or compressed each and every melodic and harmonic instrument so that it would have it’s own space within the mix and not have to compete with other sounds within similar frequencies. 

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For the audio, I used a basic Apple loop within the first section consisting of a Brazilian Sun Shaker and another drummer loop to created with the Logic drummer consisting of light Latin percussion, more specifically the conga, bongo & timbales. For the sampler track(s) I recorded two different recordings of myself singing into the microphone and configured the vocal to sit across the entire keyboard within the sampler plugin. I also included a low pass filter to create a drowning effect within the second 16 bar section of the track. They are within tracks 35 & 36. As for the synthesizer tracks, I used the ESP plug in to create them. One of them is a lead and the other is a fill. Their track numbers are 33 & 34 respectively.

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Apart from the EQ’s and compressors, I used quite a number of native and third party plugins within this particular piece. My apologies to the professor if he isn’t able to open my project effectively. I only wanted to make it sound as great as I possibly could within the given time frame. Two dynamic effects I used, among many others, include an API-2500 compressor, found on the snare (track 5), and the tremolo plug-in found on marching fill (track 17). Two time-based effects I used, also among many others, are delay, found on the deep kick (track 3), and reverb found on the wood (track 9). I have actually used reverb on most of the tracks within the project so as to create a ’spacey’ feel. The compressors allow the instruments to be heard throughout the mix with little to no automation, the EQ creates frequency separation within the mix and the tremolo create stereo separation.

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I am very pleased with this piece and I truly hope it brings joy to whoever has the pleasure of listening to it!