@FelixArifin: Thanks man! You are right about the drum patterning, hopefully the work below begins to address that a bit, definitely something I want to experiment with more. I think part of the issue could be my production habits, each of those songs was made in the time period of about a month, working at most on two songs at the same time. I'm currently trying a different production workflow which has me laying out parts of each song at the same time. I'm hoping by doing each part of every song at the same time, that I will become bored more quickly, prompting more experimental productions.
Coming from a music culture rooted in DJing, I've always been more interested in the overall composition of a series of songs, opposed to any singular interest which might be found in them. Towards this end, I have made three conceptual mixes to act as precedent for HomeMake's music endeavors. The three mixes are posted below with explanations as to their relevance for HomeMake's OST and conceptual connection to the game's theory:
Chill, Post-Cyberpunk, Anti-Adventure.
あまりにも将来 [Too Future]ヒマワリチャンプルー [Sunflower Champloo]私はカリフォルニアを欠場 [I Miss California]
あまりにも将来 [Too Future]This is the newest mix on the list, deriving it's name from this
incident. This mix was made as an attempt to understand the rhythmic structure I was after. As FelixArifin pointed out, HomeMake drums themselves tended to be stale; I'm hoping everything I learned from this mix will remedy that situation. The music in this mix was mostly found through
Soulection's weekly radio show, although a number of the songs were found before I started listening to their show, while simply surfing through soundcloud. The first impact this mix had on HomeMake's OST was immediately dropping all the tracks from 90 bpm to 70 bpm. This gives a much slower rhythm, while also allowing a reasonably doubling of speed at 140 bpm if necessary. I've characterized this genre of music as future beats to distance it from EDM and Trap. EDM is characterized by consistent and long builds that end in a drop where all musical pieces come together and Trap tends to be equally predictable with drops and lyrical content. Unlike these two genres, future beats find their genealogy through
Brainfeeder back to DJ Shadow's
trip-hop. These beats are characterized by arrhythmic moments and offbeat, minimal drops, while containing a number of elements from Trap including 808 kicks and hi-hat triplets. This mix is made for vibing as one goes around their city, whether on foot, a board, a car, or a train; these experimental rhythms are aimed at furthering the anti-adventure agenda of HomeMake, creating another layer of differentiated structure.
ヒマワリチャンプルー [Sunflower Champloo]This mix was made last Spring as a tribute to the late Nujabes, while giving props to other artists which come close to matching his emotive character. Easily the strongest influence to HomeMake's OST, Nujabes music's melodic qualities and layering create a consistent introspective response in their listener. While cyberpunk media is often associated with a
jazz soundtrack reminiscent of
noir film, Nujabes' use of jazz samples creates a wider range of sentiment. As HomeMake is attempting to distance itself from traditional cyberpunk dystopia, this mix sets a precedent for the post-cyberpunk aspect of HomeMake's OST.
私はカリフォルニアを欠場 [I Miss California]I'd like to preface this text with a disclaimer to ignore the number of vocal pieces in this mix, which was made before I even thought about entering the world of game development, however a number of the mix's elements still bear weight for HomeMake's OST. Most notably, I am drawn to many of the sonic qualities found in the music. On the more macro scale, the movement of sound sweeping and blooming creates an introspective and relaxing atmosphere. On a micro scale, instruments themselves bloom, are warm, and have long reverb tails, which also add to the atmospheric nature of the mix. This mix acts as a precedent for the Chill aspects of the game, which is fitting as most of the tracks are labeled as
chill-wave in the music media-sphere.
Developer
