recorded 20130903

ambient


elements used:


ambient octave harp chord micro 1_genelements 1 synth (16 iterations)
tuned noise_genmix1 (4 iterations)
3_note_low-ks_genmix7 (4 iterations)
bass_swell_genmix7 (16 iterations)


this is obviously, a second version of “heaven’s verandah”, built on the foundation of the original – so – the 16 iterations of ambient octave harp chord micro 1, and the 4 iterations of tuned_noise, are identical and are copied directly from “heaven’s verandah I”.

what makes “heaven’s verandah II” unique, is the additional elements that I’ve dropped in to this new version, which were intended to do two things – the 3_note_low-ks drone sound was added to give the track an underlying drone; and the 16 iterations of bass swell, were to give it a deep, low end element, hopefully occurring in waves thanks to the “swell” part of the element.

the reason there are so many iterations of the bass part is, that each one represents a different treatment – there are four “rows” of four instances of bass swell: the first and second, are panned somewhat, left and right, and equalised; the third, is panned centre but then auto-panned so it wanders across the stereo field, and finally, the fourth has been compressed to give it a different sound to the others – to try and bring out the inherent “bassiness” of the element. All that work on the bass part, and it then only occurs intermittently, but it does have a wonderful, ominous quality when it does make it’s rare appearances.

so at first, this version doesn’t seem that different from “heaven’s verandah I”, but the occasional ominous bass swell, and the almost inaudible additional drone brought by the 3_note_low-ks drone, give “heaven’t verandah II” a slightly darker, slightly edgier feel. the fact that the bass part only appears very intermittently (and, you never know when – and suddenly, it’s there again).

indeed, this mirrors the way the ambient octave harp chord micro 1’s 16 iterations are used, in both versions, which is very similar: the first and second “rows” are panned hard left and hard right, respectively, and both are run through additional reverb; the third row, is panned centre but then auto-panned so it wanders across the stereo field, and finally, the fourth has been chorused to give it a warped, detuned feel – so this allows me to take the same input (four of the same element, running in sequence 1-2-3-4) and “treat” each one differently, using different track effects to accomplish this.

it does sometimes amaze me, the lengths I go to, trying to influence how things happen in a piece – and not always having it come out quite as I planned. this piece is a case in point, the way I set up the iterations of the bass swell, it was my intent to have it playing pretty much continuously, but because of the way the default settings on the cells I used were set, it turns out that it only appears very, very infrequently – which was not by design, but totally an accident – but, once I heard it, I thought – that’s it, that was meant to be – because it works better that way, it’s always a surprise, you have NO idea when it will occur – and when it does, the sudden low frequency pulls you away from the tinkling, high frequency ambience of the rest of the piece, grounding you for a moment, until it then releases, and lets you fly up into the reverberant heavens once again.