Well, after taking a week off, I’m back at working on music.  Sadly the short break didn’t bring any new ideas to the songs I was working.  However…

It did bring an idea for another new song, which is actually about 1/3 finished already.  Well, it’s not a totally new song.  I took a fragment of one I had started a few weeks ago that wasn’t going anywhere, gutted it, and turned it into something else.  This is something I do often…

Anyway, this all started with me playing around with FM synthesis, which I understand the theory behind but still have a hard time putting it into practice.  There’s a really good introduction video here, but to sum it up the idea is that you take two sound waves (usually sines) and have one modulate the other.  This is similar in concept to an LFO, except that the modulator’s frequency actually goes up into the audible sound range.

Each pair is known as an “operator”, at least in Yamaha’s parlance.  Giving each modulator and carrier (the wave being modulated) a volume envelope lets a sound change timbre over time, effectively replacing the need for a filter with its own envelope.  By layering multiple operators together you then get all sorts of dynamic sounds.  Need an example to listen to?  Check out this video, which shows off the legendary Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, and prepare to be immediately transported back into the 80s.

Getting back, the reason I started playing with FM synthesis tonight is because I wanted to create a slappy bass sound, sorta like what I used to hear in video games on my Sega Genesis.  Unfortunately I never got Reaktor’s FM4 module to sound like I was wanting, so I instead came up with a quick bass in Moog Modular V.  But this worked out in the end since it actually went really well with the other parts I have going, which include some FM-sounding bells.  The result is something that sounds sort of like the start of Die Hard Arcade’s snow level with some Escape From New York thrown in.

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure some of this came from all the J-Pop and anime soundtracks I’ve been listening to for the past two weeks…