E-Coltranius #3: Project "128"

My musical background, in four parts, with a fifth possibly growing on me:

1. I grew up listening to classic rock (back then, that referred to rock music from the late 60's through the 80's).
2. JAZZ. Call it what you want (I'm looking at you, Nick Payton #BAM), but I will use the term "jazz" - while recognizing it is not a good term - because most people agree basically on what it means. I really got into jazz through discovering Charlie Parker and Joshua Redman. I went from there to consuming a TON of bebop, hard bop, post bop, West Coast jazz, jazz funk, and fusion. I still enjoy the bop-rooted stuff the most, regardless of the other textures of the sound (more on that below)...
3. I studied music in college, and I really enjoyed Baroque, Romantic, French Impressionism, and most 20th century "classical" music.
4. While I tend to really dislike smooth jazz, I like good R&B/soul/funk. They are so intertwined, but I just cannot get into instrumental R&B...but I love Motown, Stax, D'Angelo, Erika Badu, etc., etc. <--I know that is a pretty genre-bending list, too. 
5. The fifth genre growing on me: EDM, or electronic dance music. Disclaimer: I really don't care much for a tremendous amount of what I hear. What I do like is the textures of the sub genres. They get at some sounds that really excite me, even if I dislike the pounding "typical" boring bass/drum parts.

I initially got into synthesis and electronic music via the EWI (electronic wind instrument). I needed to learn to make my own sounds, and I started with iOS softsynths, jumped into hardware with a Virtual Analog Modeling Synth, then a hybrid digital/analog, then a full-analog semi-modular. I love the combination of logic and randomness in the approach, and I love the pallet of sounds now available to me. And I have not even scratched 1% of 1% of the possibilities, even in just my own meager gear.

Now, I really want incorporate these tools and my musical background into my composition. Cue the video above. Not a full piece - probably barely a snippet, mostly just a proof of concept that I can work some of this stuff. I spent a little time improvising with this track, and it was fun, if a little self indulgent.

One of the challenges with synthesized music is that it sort of gravitates to 80's film soundtrack and hair band sounds - great if that's the aesthetic for which you are shooting, but frustrating if you're not. I suppose that may be my own 80's and 90's childhood experience creeping in, too. This snippet definitely fits into that groove, but I am filled with inspiration. Next step: I want to get some more complex chords going with more dynamic contrast. I might tweak this piece, or I might just move it to the shoe box of unfinished ideas and experiments.

Textures
Texture really is the attraction I have with EDM sounds. I think the reason I enjoy music from the late-Romantic period is largely because these composers were such masters of orchestration. They used so many timbres to convey emotion, stories, philosophies, etc., and I find it captivating. I think synthesized music presents a vast set of possibilities, and they can be used in much the same way as orchestral textures - and, in fact, many of the sounds of EDM were derived directly from acoustic orchestral sounds. The question is: can I, Brandon Dorris, with my decidedly non-electric musical background, pull off something influenced by this genre, in such a fashion that my bebop heart will be happy playing it? It remains to be seen!

Whatever I do next, I am having fun with music, and next to making money with music, that's about the best thing in the world, right? Just kidding, of course...obviously having fun while making money with music is the best thing.

-BD