I created this piece with the theme of the happiness that can come out of sadness. When I made this piece, I wanted it to start off slow, almost mysterious, and then turn into something fun and something you can dance to. I thought by doing that, it would portray the feeling of being sad but also bring out happiness in your sadness, basically looking at the good in every situation. 

It’s a standard 4/4 meter, I wanted the drums to be simple and let the other instruments portray the complex emotions. Like I said earlier, the first half of the song is slower and then goes into a bridge, this is where it picks up and feels very emotional. I used a drum pad for the distinct electro drum sound, I thought this would go very well with the synth sounds I made. The bass is subtle, I purposely did that to allow the bass to shine in the background and allow the listener to hear it but not realize they hear it, which helps create the feeling of mysteriousness, or the feeling of subtle emotions popping up out of nowhere.

My composition is in E minor and the chord progression I made for the first half of the song is:

Em     G     Am     F# Dimiv             ii*

   i       III       iv            ii*

  Then in the last half of the song it is: 

    Em     G     Am     F# Dim     Bm          ii*

       i       III       iv            ii*             V

In the last four measures it changes to: 

Em     G     Am     F# Dim     Am       ii*

   i       III       iv            ii*            iv

I chose this key and the chords as I thought they really made the feeling of this song and really fit into what vibe I was going for. I also changed the chord progressions to add variety.  The chords and the melody really brought out the emotions. Speaking of the melody, it started off kind of simple with it just being a rising melody, it then turned much more complex halfway through, I did this to portray changing emotions and make it seem motivational! It also gives the song the boost it needed towards the end. 

I added an audio track as well. It was me snapping along to the beat, it’s very simple but I thought it gave the song more life. I also made 2 custom synth sounds on 2 different tracks. On the first one, I used the ES P synth, it’s probably my favorite synth to work with! I made an electronic disco sound which I thought would fit perfectly in the second half of the song. The second one I made much more pretty, it makes me feel almost reminiscent or nostalgic, so I decided to put that in the second half of the song as well to give it more life and feeling. I also sampled a clap, which you can hear towards the end of the song. I gave it more of a punch to allow it to burst through and give the song more percussive elements. I also have a synth rhythm guitar and synth horns towards the end of the track, as well as an ambience in the bridge of the song. 

When it comes to the mixing and mastering, I like making sure each track has its own spotlight, so I made sure each track is clearly heard even if some of them are quieter you always hear them in the background. Many of the tracks have an EQ on them so I could get the specific sound I wanted from them. I added a compressor to a couple tracks, specifically the synth rhythm guitar as the compressor made the guitar sound more like a funk guitar. Many tracks have reverb, but I added reverb to the synth horns as well to make it feel like the horns were real and you were in a room with them. The melody has reverb as well as some delay in there to make it feel like it’s almost floating around the song which gives it the mysterious vibe but then comes around and makes you feel happy and makes you want to let loose! I love portraying two opposite emotions with one track.