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WeeklyBeats.com / Music / orangedrink's music / We Fell In Love At The Western Skyline

We Fell In Love At The Western Skyline

By orangedrink on September 13, 2020 9:14 pm

I don't know why I keep doing this but I also don't know how I can stop.


My goal was to finish the song by Friday so I could enjoy my weekend.  The pandemic has added so much daily stress, on top of my usual stress of "how the hell will I ever figure out how to have a profitable art career?" + "why do I hate myself all the time?" - so it feels like I'm either working, or worrying about work 24/7.  I am happy to report that I finished this on Friday!  I had to stay up pretty late to finish, but I did it.  Sometimes I shortcut my creative scope just because I want to be done.  I finished the song because I had a planned movie date with my husband (We watched "Gerry" directed by Gus Van Sant) but after the movie, I realized that the drums really needed some fills at the end.  It was a little crazy, but I recorded some drum fills and attempted to cut and paste them in, on time.  This song is in a 10/4 beat, and I recorded it as I wrote it.  Drum fills are tough for me, and doing them in 10/4 is somewhat out of the question with no practice, so editing was the best option.  I used a free version of iZotope RX to reduce some weird clicks on the drum recording and it came out GREAT!  The drums, like last time, were recording with a single Zoom H1 stereo microphone recorder.  I am just realizing that I could have connected it to the computer to record straight into the DAW, instead of recording them on the device, then importing into the computer.  Nice.


I want to thank midimachine because his track last week had a 10 beat pattern and I think that subconsciously sunk into my brain.  I sat in the studio for about 2 hours, writing crappy chord progressions and riffs and I was about to give up and suddenly the 10 beat guitar riff appeared.  It's a 5 note pattern, but the last note changes.  So one time we come "up" into the first note, and the second time we come "down" into the first note.  It's supposed to give this balanced spiral feel.  The notes also feel like they have uniform spacing between them, I'll have to check my CHROMAWHEEL to find out.  The 10 beat also helps you lose the "start point" of the riff.  None of this was planned, it just happened and I'm trying to be a musical detective and figure out what I did after the fact.  I just kind of black out and play/record music and then try to learn afterwards.  The guitar tone (as always) gives me a western feel, and once the bass line started ascending, it gave me a strong romantic/nostalgic feel.  I decided not to call it "Western Skyline" and go for the "full sentence song title" because the piece really felt like a narrative story.  I have a music video idea of me endlessly running, but it feels like a ton of work.  Maybe I'll do it?


I'm really proud of my little "free jazz drum solo" - it's nothing complicated or special, but I feel like it hits the spot and creates a big mood shift from the chunky-driving aesthetic.  In fact, it's the exact opposite!  The hi-hat 2x sizzle pattern is taken from the song "Your Not Here" from the Silent Hill 3 soundtrack. 


Well, that's my story and I'm going to try to relax and enjoy the rest of my Sunday!  I took an hour to type this up and make the picture, lol


Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike (BY-NC-SA)

The way you alternate the steps / slides between notes in the bass line is pretty groovy. Same with the time signature in general, and the timing of the chord changes. Neat work!

Beautiful post-rock tune! Remember that old cassette mixtape that my sister made that I used to bump all the time that had that We Acediasts track? Yeah this would fit in PERFECTLY.

Really really love this track man. I think it's my favorite from you all year.

I love the feel - sound of raw acoustic drums. Fun stuff, nice compo.

This is a very cool track. The buildup is great, starting from the simple surf guitar like sound, to the raw drums and the bass adding layer. I like the break you do with another guitar layer around 3:00 before getting all the instruments back in.

You mentioned a video of endless running and I think it is indeed the best visual representation of this track. Or maybe a timelapse of car driving. This may indeed be the 10/4, the lack of feeling where it starts and ends, that gives this idea of cyclopean maze.

Good job!

This is really great.  Love the guitar tone, love the driving feel, and love the buildup.

post punk perfection!

HEY EVERYONE LOOK I AM RESPONDING, THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION


Reilly Farrell wrote:

The way you alternate the steps / slides between notes in the bass line is pretty groovy. Same with the time signature in general, and the timing of the chord changes. Neat work!

Thank you so much!

zirafa wrote:

Beautiful post-rock tune! Remember that old cassette mixtape that my sister made that I used to bump all the time that had that We Acediasts track? Yeah this would fit in PERFECTLY.

Really really love this track man. I think it's my favorite from you all year.

YOOOOO that We Acediasts tape changed my life; it was a huge inspiration to finish The Audio Reader.  You told me how they kept some "mistakes" in on the tracks and it really made me feel like I should go for it and not be perfect.....and here we are on Weekly Beats!  Very flattered that you like it so much, we'll have to play this next time we are able to jam.  I'd love to hear your take on 10/4 drumming! heart

djippy wrote:

I love the feel - sound of raw acoustic drums. Fun stuff, nice compo.

Thank you so much LIVE DRUMS ROCK

Kedbreak136 wrote:

This is a very cool track. The buildup is great, starting from the simple surf guitar like sound, to the raw drums and the bass adding layer. I like the break you do with another guitar layer around 3:00 before getting all the instruments back in.

You mentioned a video of endless running and I think it is indeed the best visual representation of this track. Or maybe a timelapse of car driving. This may indeed be the 10/4, the lack of feeling where it starts and ends, that gives this idea of cyclopean maze.

Good job!

Thank you so very much!  I really liked the extra guitar line as a "new section".  I think I might try to figure out a simple way to do the endless running video.  I went for a walk today and listened to the track on repeat and I'm starting to see it in my head smile  Thank you for teaching me the word cyclopean!  Yeah, the 10/4 is really dizzying.

CosmicCairns wrote:

This is really great.  Love the guitar tone, love the driving feel, and love the buildup.

I'm so happy you like it.

midimachine wrote:

post punk perfection!

heart heart heart Wow, thank you!

great track. I really dig it.

hell yeah to the bass slide/step, dunno what that is called but it's real nice!! mix gives the instruments real nice space too, all felt very clean as each layer joined

reminds me of The Moon & Antarctica big_smile

This is awesome. That is all.

Haha, nice that you worked in some silent hill influence to a post rock song. I love stuff like that, influences from distantly related sources, it makes for really nuanced music. I dig the rhythmic pattern you came up with, the last two beats at the end of the 10 bar pattern feel like a little extra something-something to a 8 beat pattern, especially since the arpeggiated chord only shifts to a new chord at the end of the pattern. I like the extra layer of guitar that comes in somewhere around 2:50. Congrats on a productive week and getting some time to chill on the weekend! Even though I've been able to submit songs every week, the real challenge is not procrastinating until the weekend haha.

That's wild, especially at the end when it picks up.

Uh, yeah, this is great.

yeah man go yeah man go definitely pushing sound, classic kinda "scurrying" feeling

Hypnotic and engaging. Nice one! I love it when things just come out and happen, then you have to go back and discover what the heck is going on. Sometimes I just let them be. 10/4 cool idea, it still flows with those steady drums, never feels off-putting or anything. The western skyline is the place.

love the ahhh's  - feels super epic

I like the sense of mildly unsettling emotional buildup than runs through the entirety of this song. I'm also very impressed with how very well placed the drummer seems to be in the mix. I can almost see him!
Well done!

Q-Rosh wrote:

great track. I really dig it.

ty so much

onidavin wrote:

hell yeah to the bass slide/step, dunno what that is called but it's real nice!! mix gives the instruments real nice space too, all felt very clean as each layer joined

reminds me of The Moon & Antarctica big_smile

oh man I used to love that album and my copy went missing!  thank you for reminding me!  glad you liked the mix, thank you

Tweaklab wrote:

This is awesome. That is all.

thank you.

ViridianLoom wrote:

Haha, nice that you worked in some silent hill influence to a post rock song. I love stuff like that, influences from distantly related sources, it makes for really nuanced music. I dig the rhythmic pattern you came up with, the last two beats at the end of the 10 bar pattern feel like a little extra something-something to a 8 beat pattern, especially since the arpeggiated chord only shifts to a new chord at the end of the pattern. I like the extra layer of guitar that comes in somewhere around 2:50. Congrats on a productive week and getting some time to chill on the weekend! Even though I've been able to submit songs every week, the real challenge is not procrastinating until the weekend haha.

the WB struggle is REAL.  Thank you for your kind words and reflections.

Ipaghost wrote:

so CUTE

Devieus wrote:

That's wild, especially at the end when it picks up.

thanks!

license wrote:

Uh, yeah, this is great.

word.

gesceap wrote:

yeah man go yeah man go definitely pushing sound, classic kinda "scurrying" feeling

ha ha ha yeah man go yeah man go

miraclemiles wrote:

Hypnotic and engaging. Nice one! I love it when things just come out and happen, then you have to go back and discover what the heck is going on. Sometimes I just let them be. 10/4 cool idea, it still flows with those steady drums, never feels off-putting or anything. The western skyline is the place.

we're just riding the Weekly Beat and pressing the record button!

emily wrote:

love the ahhh's  - feels super epic

thanks!!!

ScanianWolf wrote:

I like the sense of mildly unsettling emotional buildup than runs through the entirety of this song. I'm also very impressed with how very well placed the drummer seems to be in the mix. I can almost see him!
Well done!

Wow!  Thank you - it was recorded with a single stereo microphone and I was really self-conscious about the leveling and amount of room sound, so I'm glad it made it come alive for you!  I need WB comments to help me relax about my decisions smile




thank you all!

Excellent background story.  At first I had no clue it was 10/4.  I'm normally horrible with time sigs unless its 4/4, 3/4 (sometimes 6/4).  But I started tapping along and realized ohhhh its different.  The guitar line creates a nice division between the drums.  Another excellent vocal outro.   It had a bit of a Radiohead pace to things  with the drums and vocals.

Very cool man!  Love to hear a natural sounding odd timed groove too.

Wow, drumming is dead on and the seemingly simple guitar line really pulls you in. I'm a big fan of long song titles and this one is romantic in the sense of the way we imagine that big western skyline.  I like that I can sense the underlying complexity even while not understanding time signatures smile I can't deal with them or the fractions they resemble.  Hope you get a chance to do the video. This song makes a great canvas for some visual work.  Anyways I have rambled on long enough in your comments.  Be strong, be well! Hug that doggy! 

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