To start off with the first piece I was going for a Lofi type of vibe mixed with a little Neo soul. I think that’s probably as simple as I can explain it. I wanted to make something that sounds groovy and melodic. In a nutshell, I wanted to go for something catchy using the various Apple Loops with improvs to harmonize with the different instruments (like the saxophone which I love) and the drum patterns I added ties together with the sound I am trying to bring alive. Going into the second piece I cut out the drums and everything else just for a measure and only had the bass playing which was the bridge between the two pieces. I used the bass to bring the vibe into a calypso/reggae feel and just an all around tropical impression. Once again with the helpful use of the Apple Loops improvs, the voices bring the feel I was going for, even though if you listen closely they’re just making sounds or ad libs in a way but it flows with the instruments so well that it sounds like a song. 

 

I think this musical use or function on the composition could be something with an uplifting, happy or fun topic, whether it be a hotel or vacation ad to an ad for summer clothing, days at that beach or cookout with the family. This piece as a whole has the vibe just right for an advertisement, commercial and all the above. The song all together (in both pieces) has a general up tempo feeling, with the tempo being 120 bpm and the meter generally following a 4/4 pattern. For the rhythm and overall back beat of the song I focused on a simple but groovy and heavy baseline, for the first half of the piece I had the bass on the root note following the piano A,B,B,A this is where it’s simply and letting the rest of the instruments work, now going into the second piece I had the bass line playing single notes within the F# chord and B major chord. 

 

I chose to do it this way for emphasis on each note and for a groovier feel, not just a triad. With the drums I was playing a reggae one drop / rockers feel with the kick drum on an upbeat bop type of groove using many of the grid snare hits and triplets on the hi-hat with the upbeat kick. These types of drum grooves are in your traditional dancehall, soca, and reggae songs; it's very distinct and always gets the people moving. 

 

For my harmony track I have a piano doing so little but still feeling the vibe of the Caribbean calypso feeling I was wanting to achieve, the piano was the chords F and G quickly and shortly with chords sustained a few times, I added this because when you hear the piano like that you already know it’s this is something tropical or Caribbean, one hundred percent, it’s a fundamental part of the music. Also my electric guitar is playing the chords A minor D minor and G throughout the piece. To put the icing on the cake I added the  steelpan drums for the ultimate calypso effect, with them playing the notes A#, C#, D#. I did it this way to emulate a person hitting the steel pans in this way since you cannot play chords on this instrument. 

 

For the synthesized track I was having a hard time trying to bring a synth feel into my composition, But I used the ESP synth to layer onto the bass and give it a almost plucky robotic sound its not too heavy to where it sounds completely like a synth track but its sits just perfect with the original baseline I had in mind, So I had the synth playing the same notes in the chords as the regular bass, F# and B major. My sampler track and recorded track are essentially one I made a jingle / producer tag and pitched it down to for a simple deep voice effect. That was the most I could do to not interfere with reverb on it and have it reacted oddly. Next, the Apple Loop sample I added for the vocals to being the song to life, I added these sample to the composition because with the melody they add to the song it makes it more than just instruments playing together, I feel like it brings engagement even though there’s not really any lyrics involved, the samples still liven up the song amazingly. The two dynamic effects I used were first a compressor on the drums and a limiter on the master fader to bring down to overall levels a bit more. For my time based effects I routed some reverb via bus send to my steel pan track as well asana echo to my bass track for a lingering effect