30-04-2021, 04:46 PM
Hi everyone! This is Andres from Argentina.
Wanted to drop by and share a little bit of background about this session in case it's helpful. This project means a lot to me and holds a very special place in my heart because of what it is about and what the purpose of creating it. This track, "Attention", is the first song of my album, "Atypical", which is a charity release for ADHD Awareness.
The album, conceptually conceived as "A Day Inside an ADHD Brain", features six tracks, each one portraying a symptom of the disorder. The first four are named after the acronym of ADHD: Attention, Deficit, Hyperactivity and Disorder. The following two are named Hyperfocus and Neurodiverse.
The symptoms we tried to portray while making 'Attention' were short attention span, distractibility, frequently switching from one activity to another. You are more than welcome to listen the entire album to get a grasp of its original concept, but in terms of mixing, feel free to massacre it!
Enough with the presentation! The song is a tad crazy and there are millions of directions you could take it!
Tempos and Time Signatures: This is a tricky one. The whole song is based about sudden and abrupt changes (trying to mimic our own de-regulation of our ability to focus), so the time signature and tempo is constantly changing after a few bars.
The song starts in 3/4 106 bpm for 16 bars. It then changes into 6/8, 106 bpm, and then, chaos ensues: while the tempo stays at 106 bpm, the time signature goes from 11/8 to 7/8 to 7/4, then back to 7/8 and 11/8. It stays there for a while, and finally soothes down to 6/8 and off we go.
While it sounds "complicated" on paper, don't be alarmed! We didn't get too technical with the playing, so it's really not as overwhelming as it looks. The multitrack includes a tempo track, so it gets easier.
Sound FX: You'll find there are a lot of little sound effects all over the song. Most of them of being household items. Go crazy with them! The whole concept of the track is BEING DISTRACTING!!!, so make them as loud as the kick drum or as quiet as the hi-hats. Or remove them completely. No rules here!
SynthBells: There's a track called SynthBells with some out-of-tune chiming bells. Those bells appear in the entire album, and they announce the appearance of an ADHD symptom. While they won't make much sense in the context on a single track, they do appear on every song. Feel free to remove them for a more musical mix, or CRANK THEM UP FOR UTTER MAYHEM!
Other than that, the song is very straight forward 70s prog-rock, although with a modern sound. There are bits of Yes, Genesis and Queen there. Feel free to go whatever direction you like - as we said, this track has NO rules. I broke all rules while writing it, and you can break all rules while mixing it!
You're more than welcome to use 'Attention' for your portfolio, or even post your mixes on YouTube. I don't want to restrict your chance to showcase your to potential clients, or add my song to your mixing portfolio. In fact, I wouldn't mind it at all. The album is a charity release after all, and it's meant to do some good. If YouTube strikes you with a copyright warning, let me know and I'll get you written permission as the publisher and copyright owner to appeal it. In fact, I might upload a signed PDF file to this thread later so all grounds are covered.
Looking forward to hearing your work!
Cheers from Argentina,
Andres G.
Wanted to drop by and share a little bit of background about this session in case it's helpful. This project means a lot to me and holds a very special place in my heart because of what it is about and what the purpose of creating it. This track, "Attention", is the first song of my album, "Atypical", which is a charity release for ADHD Awareness.
The album, conceptually conceived as "A Day Inside an ADHD Brain", features six tracks, each one portraying a symptom of the disorder. The first four are named after the acronym of ADHD: Attention, Deficit, Hyperactivity and Disorder. The following two are named Hyperfocus and Neurodiverse.
The symptoms we tried to portray while making 'Attention' were short attention span, distractibility, frequently switching from one activity to another. You are more than welcome to listen the entire album to get a grasp of its original concept, but in terms of mixing, feel free to massacre it!
Enough with the presentation! The song is a tad crazy and there are millions of directions you could take it!
Tempos and Time Signatures: This is a tricky one. The whole song is based about sudden and abrupt changes (trying to mimic our own de-regulation of our ability to focus), so the time signature and tempo is constantly changing after a few bars.
The song starts in 3/4 106 bpm for 16 bars. It then changes into 6/8, 106 bpm, and then, chaos ensues: while the tempo stays at 106 bpm, the time signature goes from 11/8 to 7/8 to 7/4, then back to 7/8 and 11/8. It stays there for a while, and finally soothes down to 6/8 and off we go.
While it sounds "complicated" on paper, don't be alarmed! We didn't get too technical with the playing, so it's really not as overwhelming as it looks. The multitrack includes a tempo track, so it gets easier.
Sound FX: You'll find there are a lot of little sound effects all over the song. Most of them of being household items. Go crazy with them! The whole concept of the track is BEING DISTRACTING!!!, so make them as loud as the kick drum or as quiet as the hi-hats. Or remove them completely. No rules here!
SynthBells: There's a track called SynthBells with some out-of-tune chiming bells. Those bells appear in the entire album, and they announce the appearance of an ADHD symptom. While they won't make much sense in the context on a single track, they do appear on every song. Feel free to remove them for a more musical mix, or CRANK THEM UP FOR UTTER MAYHEM!
Other than that, the song is very straight forward 70s prog-rock, although with a modern sound. There are bits of Yes, Genesis and Queen there. Feel free to go whatever direction you like - as we said, this track has NO rules. I broke all rules while writing it, and you can break all rules while mixing it!
You're more than welcome to use 'Attention' for your portfolio, or even post your mixes on YouTube. I don't want to restrict your chance to showcase your to potential clients, or add my song to your mixing portfolio. In fact, I wouldn't mind it at all. The album is a charity release after all, and it's meant to do some good. If YouTube strikes you with a copyright warning, let me know and I'll get you written permission as the publisher and copyright owner to appeal it. In fact, I might upload a signed PDF file to this thread later so all grounds are covered.
Looking forward to hearing your work!
Cheers from Argentina,
Andres G.
Musician, educator, producer, audio engineer, neurodiverse and coffee lover. There's a symbiotic mate gourd attached to me. Her name is Sheila.