The Making of "Cremate"

Most of these albums are developed over a couple of months. Some songs go through as many as four passes, while others, (like Ghosting for example), I have no problems with on the first go.

This album was the trickiest to make so far. I started and then discarded more then seven tracks, either because I hated how they sounded or because they weren't unique enough.

I tried to make each track in this album do something new, that I hadn't done before. You may have noticed that the usual complimentary electronic/synth based track, like Vector Shift (from Riddle), Electrocation (from Husk), Lull (from Nuke) and Omicron (from Raze), isn't on this album.

I'm going to run down the production process for each song in the album, with some stats, for anyone interested, in the order of first song created to last.

Since the twelve track list is quite long and I don't want this post to hog all the space on the main page, click the post header or "Read more" below to see the full post!

Lemonade

Created: 5/5/14, 1:50 PM

Length: 2:04

Formula: Intro, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus Variation, Melody Fade-Out Ending. (A/B/A-A-A/A+)
Instruments: Piano, Strings, Horns/Pop Horns, Rock Drums

Production: I started with some nice chords, and picked a melody from them, occasionally diverging from the notes in the chords. The melody got me excited about making the rest of the track. In the first pass, the piano sounded more fake because it was at a fairly low pitch, where GarageBand's weak spot is concerning the Grand Piano instrument, so that's why it starts out high. I combined around three drum loops to make the drums, but I always add accents that I created myself.

Criminology

Created: 5/6/14, 6:06 PM

Length: 3:02

Formula: Intro, Verse 1 Intro, Verse 1, Verse 2, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus B Section, Verse 3, Chorus, Fade-Out Dissonant Pizzicato Ending, (B/C/-/A/AB/D/A)
Instruments: Custom Strings, Piano/Amped Piano, Strings, Electronic/Epic Drums

Production: After taking a bit of a break from the album, I came back to it with Criminology, for which I made my own custom instrument using a guitar and a bow from a busted violin I have. It makes this great screechy noise and set this track apart a lot.

Urban Outlaw

Created: 5/18/14, 9:31 PM

Length: 3:44

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Bridge, Chorus, Bridge, Verse 1, Bridge, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Bridge, Verse 3, Chorus Variation, Chorus, Slowing Down Melody Final Note Ending. (B/-/A/-/B/-/A/C/A/-/D/A+/A)
Instruments: Guitars, Kalimba, Horns, Scratches and Rock Drums

Production: I found inspiration is hip hop and DJ scratching noises, and so set out to create a very rock-based song, especially in the opening, where I used a typical rock song technique of introducing a melody and then kicking in the drums later. I also experimented with multiple, intricate bridges.

Slim Pickings

Created: 6/1/14, 11:17 AM

Length: 1:42

Formula: Intro, Chorus, Bridge, Verse 1, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus Variation, Bridge, Fade Out Melody Ending. (A/-/B/C/A/B/A+/-)
Instruments: Acoustic Guitar, Woodwinds, Shuffle-y Drums

Production: Here, I based the chorus off a tune in my head. Most of the instrument choices were based on trying not to sound like my other country-inspired track, Dogcart Ride.

Caravan

Created: 6/2/14, 4:56 PM

Length: 2:16

Formula: Chord Intro, Chorus, Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 4, Bridge, Chorus, One Note Fading with Melody Ending. (A/B/C/D/E/-/A)
Instruments: Strings, Heavy Guitar, Horns, Epic Drums

Production: I don't remember much about making this track, other than that I relied on the chords for mostly everything. "Verse 4" originally sounded much more like a tune from Galaxy (from Husk), so I changed it. The track went through around three passes before I was satisfied enough with it to release it.

Spring For True (bonus track)

Created: 6/8/14, 6:24 PM

Length: 1:37

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Verse 3, Verse 2 Variation, Verse 1, Chorus, Chorus Variation, Chords Fade-Out Ending. (B/A/C/D/C+/B/A/A+)
Instruments: Synth, Glockenspiel, Strings, Horns/Pop Horns, Electronic Drums

Production: Probably the closest thing to my usual complimentary electronic track, Spring For True uses too many orchestral elements for it to count as such. It certainly sounds happy, but I picked out some sad notes for it too. I interrupted work on this to work on Solo, then finished that first and came back to this track later.

Solo

Created: 6/8/14, 7:52 PM

Length: 2:36

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Verse 1 Variation, Bridge, Verse 2, Chorus, Chorus B Section, Verse 2 Variation, Verse 3, Chorus Variation, Chords Going Down and Melody Fade-Out Ending. (B/B+/-/C/A/AB/C+/D/A+)
Instruments: Piano, Strings, Glockenspiel, Orchestral Drums

Production: I had read an article online about where artists get inspiration. One person talked about how they found inspiration in ugliness. I was intrigued, so I Googled "ugly people" and found an image that I liked, and then composed to that. Of course, Solo isn't this person's anthem per say, but I composed to her face, which somebody had thought was ugly. This thought makes the song have a nice, sad tone to it and it's my favorite track in the album because of that and its interesting chords.

Ghosting

Created: 6/13/14, 11:57 AM

Length: 3:16

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Verse 2, Bridge, Verse 2, Chorus, Verse 3, Verse 4, Chorus, Single Note and Melody Echoing Intro Ending. (B/C/-/C/A/D/E/A)
Instruments: Strings, Piano, Horns, Electronic/Epic Drums

Production: I began this track and almost instantly gave up on it because I thought it sounded like all of my other tracks. Then I went back later and thought it sounded cool and finished it. Go figure. The track features a cameo from my custom Horrible Strings instrument, and is also an example of my new trend in simple choruses with glockenspiel ornamentation.

Return of the Clowns

Created: 6/25/14, 2:24 PM

Length: 1:51

Formula: Intro, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1 Variation, Chorus, Verse 2, Verse 3, Chorus Variation, Verse 3, Verse 1 with Twist Ending. (A/B/A/B+/A/C/D/A+/D)
Instruments: Strings, Organ, Horns, Marching Drums

Production: This weird military circus track is a waltz, which is always easy to compose. The track was so unsatisfying to make that I made Imagination later in the same day because Return of the Clowns wasn't challenging enough.

Imagination

Created: 6/25/14, 11:03 PM

Length: 2:57

Formula: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Bridge, Verse 3, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1 Slow Down Ending. (B/A/C/-/D/B/A)
Instruments: Strings, Horns, Synth, Piano, Electronic/Epic/Rock Drums

Production: What do you do when you run out of melodies? You change the key! Here, I constantly switched keys not so much because I didn't know how to vary the melody I made, but because it sounded interesting and new. This track is very ethereal and light sounding, mostly because the notes are high pitched and the underlying synth swooshing noise is very atmospheric. This track gave me the motivation I needed to make the remaining ones in the album.

Odds

Created: 6/26/14, 3:32 PM

Length: 1:34

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1 Variation Plucked Ending. (B/A/B/A)
Instruments: Kalimba, Guitar, Strings and Horns, Stuff on my Art Desk

Production: When making this redux of an unreleased track, I decided that I was only allowed to use percussion made from what was right next to me: objects on my art desk. I got a lot of good samples from shaking a bag filled with nuts and bolts. To see a full list of everything I used as an interment, check the description for the track on my Bandcamp page and play a guess the sound game!

Momentous

Created: 6/29/14, 5:37 PM

Length: 2:50

Formula: Intro, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Bridge, Chorus, Verse 3, Chorus Variation, Verse 2 Variation, Chorus, Verse 2 Variation Speed Up Ending On a Plucked Note. (A/B/A/C/-/A/D/A+/C+/A)
Instruments: Guitar, Horns, Strings, Electronic/Rock Drums

Production: I took some "boring" chords, (which were actually pretty good chords), and made a song out of it. I tried to change up the melodies throughout. This one could be very easily turned into a song. Does anyone want to have a crack at it?

Janus Redux

Original Created: 3/5/13, 8:59 PM
Redux Created: 6/30/14, 1:28 PM

Length: 1:54

Formula: Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 1, Verse 2, Chorus Variation, Drums Pound to a Stop Ending. (B/A/B/A/B/C/A+)
Instruments: Heavy Guitar, Strings, Piano, 

Production: The main problem with this track was trying to flesh out a four note melody that repeated throughout the song. I designated it as a "verse" that served as a build-up to the chorus, and worked from there. I added accents of strings to add interest to the repetitive melodies.