How to Replicate Biosphere’s Shenzhou Track Using Loops and a Few Effects

I like Biosphere’s (Geir Jenssen’s) music very much and one of my favorite albums is Shenzhou. The album is made up of repeated looping of Debussy orchestral track samples. The title song is particularly interesting to me as I like the depth and width of the sound. I was able to figure out how to remake it and I’d like to show you how I did that.

Last updated: 09-Febuary-2021

Song Structure

Song structure consists of repeated sections of verse (melody) and chorus (different melody) interwoven, but what exactly is it?

Last updated: 28-November-2020

On Musical Loops

Making music with loops is not a new process. However, after thinking about it, I was surprised at how many different ways there are to loop samples to make music. I’ll add to this as I discover more, but the list is long right now.

Last updated: 26-December-2020

Boards of Canada Chords and Variations in Xfer Records Cthulhu – Free Chord Presets

Some of what makes Boards of Canada’s songs (or for that matter, any artist’s songs) interesting for me are the chords. If you know the chords, you can get a feel for how to make your own song sound similar or “in the flavor of” so to speak. From the chords, you can often get a melody you like by building off of them or playing along with them. You can even arpeggiate them.

I took the chords from Boards of Canada songs and put them into Xfer Records Cthulhu. From Cthulhu, you can make variations, add low notes, and change to major/minor/suspended. This gives a lot of inspiring chord progressions from some of my favorite Boards of Canada songs. I put them into a zip file of chord presets that you can use in Cthulhu for yourself (see below).

Updated: 1/21/20

Deconstructing Hans Zimmer’s Sound and Music

Cinematic music is fascinating to me. It moves the story of the movie along and the movie itself is nothing without it (at least it is a completely different movie).

I’m interested in deconstructing the sound of cinematic music and Hans Zimmer is one of the composers at the forefront.

Here I have assembled what little I have learned about Hans Zimmer and his music.

Last updated: 4-February-2019

Deconstructing the deadmau5 Sound and Music

I really admire deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) and his excellent music, including his use of chords and arps. He has a knack for it. I’ve watched him create on Masterclass and he just absolutely knows what he is doing. Moreover, he seems to be a guy who is limitless in his thinking while still knowing what he likes and dislikes. He doesn’t put out a ton of crap that is not up to his standards. Admirable.

Well, I wanted to know more about his producing talents, so I deconstructed some of his music, his chord progressions, and arpeggios. I’ll be adding more as I learn more, so stop back and check the “last updated” text below.

Last updated: 1-February-2019

Minimalism in Music and Song Design

 

I’ve come to have a new respect for those musicians who say to “keep it simple” when it comes to compositions, melodies, and instruments in songs. Here’s why.

Getting That Thomas Newman Sound

Thomas Newman has made some of the most lush-sounding and poignant soundtracks in history (in my opinion). His Shawshank Redemption soundtrack is excellent with its soft piano sounds.

I will update this with more as I learn more, so check back often.

Last updated: 27-June-2018