Daniel Dehaan

Composition Assignment: Ambient Music Loop - Part 2: Iteration

Composition Assignment: Ambient Music Loop - Part 2: Iteration

Provided Materials

  • Example-Video_Ambient-Nature_Loop_1080p.mp4

Situation

You’ve just finished meeting with the client, and they have given you some actionable feedback. They appreciate your work so far, and it’s now clear to them that they want something that pushes more environmental while still having musical elements that provide some emotional framing. They asked if they could hear an option with some “kind of wind chimes or bell sounds.” They also want to make sure that the nature sounds don’t come across as “too windy” or with any “buzzing insects.” They several times referenced the words clean, peaceful, and fresh.

At the end of the conversation, you agree to compose some new variation that addresses all their feedback and presents several possibilities for them to review at your next meeting.

Creative Brief

Compose three new iterations of your musical loop:

  1. With wind chimes
  2. With a more musical “bell” sound
  3. Without any bell or wind chime sounds

In addition to all the key terms that were identified last time:

  • Quiet strength
  • Inner peace
  • Nature
  • Morning sun on dewy grass

…be sure also to include:

  • Clean
  • Peaceful
  • Fresh

Keep the environmental aspects fairly consistent in all three options. However, ensure your environmental layer doesn’t sound:

  • Too windy
  • Any “buzzing insect” sounds

Once you’ve finished composing your three new variations, create two different mixes of each one:

  • Hybrid - mix/composition balances the musical and non-musical elements
  • Environmental - mix/composition focuses on the non-musical elements

File Format & Standards

When you are done composing, make sure that each variation’s volume is similar in level and between -1 and -12 dB. Then, export each variation as a .WAV file with a sample rate of 48000 and a bit depth of 24 using the naming convention described below.

Naming Convention

Each of your files should be named exactly as follows:

Bells:

  • Hybrid: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Hybrid_Bells_V001
  • Environmental: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Environmental_Bells_V001

Wind Chimes:

  • Hybrid: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Hybrid_Wind-Chimes_V001
  • Environmental: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Environmental_Wind-Chimes_V001

No Bells:

  • Hybrid: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Hybrid_No-Bells_V001
  • Environmental: SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_FirstName-LastName_Environmental_No-Bells_V001

Example files from instructor:

  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid_Bells_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Environmental_Bells_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid_Wind-Chimes_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Environmental_Wind-Chimes_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid_No-Bells_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Environmental_No-Bells_V001

Naming Convention Explained: [Semester]-[Department]-[Course Number]_[Week Number]_[Project Number]-[Project Phase]_[Composers First Name]-[Composers Last Name]_[Mix]-[Variation Notes]_[Version Number]

Evaluation Standards

CriteriaPoints
File Format & Standards - Did you follow all file formats and standards described here or previously discussed in class?2
Naming Convention - Did you follow all naming conventions and standards described here or previously discussed in class?2
Creative Brief - Did you realize everything that was asked in the creative brief?5
X Factor - Does it have that “X” quality?1
Total10

Submission

Upload your completed materials to this Dropbox folder: SP24-MUSC-228_Week-02_Project-01_Iterations

Warning: Please take extra care when uploading your files to ensure everything is in the correct file format and named exactly as requested. If, for any reason, you need to upload additional versions, please increment the version number at the end of the file for each new version of a file.

Example version progression:

  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid-Bells_V001
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid-Bells_V002
  • SP24-MUSC-228_W02_P1-02_Daniel-Dehaan_Hybrid-Bells_V003

Peer Critique

Please be prepared to present your DAW project to the class so that we can collectively learn from or improve your work.

Additional Practice

  • Example-Video_Starting-Shortly_Loop_1080p.mp4 (19583.5KB)

Additional Resources

  • Arturia MIDI Control Center (mac)/(windows) - App for assigning MIDI CC values on Arturia Keylab Essential Keyboards