Pylon

I started writing this track on the Deutsche Bahn ICE between Berlin and Mannheim in May. The working title for this track was TrainJam110526. I started with the Kraftwerk style lead, inspired by train travel in Germany, and then built everything else around it.

This track was created using some of the Ableton Live synthesis tools, namely Drift and Operator. One bass and lead voice generated from each synth. I’m using 909 and 606 style drum synthesis for percussion. I really like the 606 toms as you can probably tell.

Coming from the modular world, I care about having subtle movement in my music. In synth voices this keeps things fresh. In this track, I’m subtly modulating filter frequencies and the release on both “lead” voices. On one voice, I’m having one variable repeat after 3 beats and the other after 6, so the synth sound is only exactly the same after 18 beats. The other is 6 and 8, which results in unique sound for 48 beats. This constant subtle shifting helps keep the ear interested.

The vocal sample is from a random sample CD and it’s processed with Ableton’s Auto Shift to bring the formant forward. I use a convolution reverb on the vocal sample based on an impulse response taken from one of the system reverbs from the first PlayStation. The only non Ableton plugin used on this track is Soothe3 on the master.

Equipment:

• Ableton Live 12
• PS1 Impulse Responses
• Soothe3

• Written and produced by Grant Goddard
• Artwork by Grant Goddard
• Special Thanks: Nate Grossman, Patrick George