"While I was writing my first track 'Transmission 2 6 01' I had been experimenting with a little acid line on my XP-30. It was simple, but really had a cool dark punch to it. At the same time, I had downloaded the virtual software studio Orion from a small audio software company called Sonic Syndicate. I had used musical notation software to write Transmission 2 6 01, so Orion was a boon insofar as ease of use and producing went. The big development that came with using this studio, though, was the invention of the virtual software synth. As opposed to my XP-30, these synths were available at all times within Orion and I never had to record them before inserting them into a song. Well, my experimentation with the acid line bled into my experimentation with these synths and before you knew it the analog mix of Rave me was born. There was actually a previous version of the track in which I was using all sounds from my XP-30, but I thought it would be cool if I could write a mix using only Orion and virtual analog synths. Mission accomplished on that front!

The song itself was really fun to write. I used a baseline patch from the Triangle VST by rgc audio to represent the main acid line that plays throughout the track. This sound just seemed to capture the dark acid vibe of the riff so nicely plus it maintained that phat analog sound that the track was about. From there, I just programmed synth and percussion patches using Orion built-in synths that gave a crazy rave feel. The intro was used to set up the rhythm for the acid line, but when I got to a point where I was building up to the next section it just sounded better if I gradually increased the tempo by about 20 beats per minute while I did. At this tempo (around 140 bpm off the top of my head) I decided that a 4-2-the-floor kick pattern worked better than the break beat vibe I had going on in the intro. This new pattern gave the track a stomping dance rhythm and I tried to throw in a bunch of variations on the theme to keep things interesting. With the big 808 style kicks that I programmed thumpin' out this kickline, and the hypnotic acid line comin' off the Triangle synth, I thought overall the track had nice drive to it. I programmed the rest of the instrumentation around this core using plenty of sirens and lasers to keep that old skool sound.

As you can tell, the composition of the track was very free. When I look back at it now, I am sort of envious of my old self who had not yet attempted to 'fit'my songs into any particular genres. As a matter of fact, since I started my music production at Toobix, I've started to go back to this kind of compositional overtone with tracks like Inside Out and the Frog vs. Fly: Mallet Mayhem sound track, though I think compositionally that my current progression through a track is much more mature. Tracks like this one always remind me of why I got started in this whole business, though. No matter what genre the tracks eventually fit in or how the song is written compositionally, taking the listeners emotions to that next level is where its at for me."

e-effect, 11-18-07