Composing Smooth Jazz: Evolution of a New Song – Transcendance, Part 3

(Part 2 can be found here.)

A big part of what I do with any song I’m composing is edit sound files. This is where I take recorded parts, cut them up into smaller pieces, then move them around so they are exactly the way I want them. (I can spend hours doing this kind of stuff and I never get bored.)

In this case, I’ve gone through all the bass parts that Chris recorded, and also some of my sax parts, and edited the sound bites to my liking. Here’s what it looks like on my screen:

You can see that I’ve sliced up the Tenor 2 part and moved some of the notes around so the more exactly match the Tenor 1 part.

I’ve also sliced and diced and mixed and matched and copied and pasted Chris’ bass part. Believe it or not, this is all very normal and an accepted part of creating music.

So now that I’ve got the whole first section of the song done – the sax and bass parts are solid, and the other parts are edited and arranged just the way I want them – I’ll turn my attention again to the second section after the transition.

I’ve created a really nice little background chord sequence for this section that uses a looped section of Chris’ bass part and some cool ambient chords and sounds. Here’s what it sounds like without any bass, drums, or guitar.

Ambient Background

Also, I’ve decided to throw out the more aggressive second drum groove I created earlier and simply extend the original drum groove. Here, then, is that same ambient chordal section with the original drum groove, plus bass and guitar:

Ambient Background With Instruments

So. Now what I have is a fully formed first section, and a nice start on a second section, and the whole thing sounds like this:

Basic Song With Ambient Section

Here’s what that transition section looks like:

You can also see in this image all the parts I’ve created for this song, including parts that use synthesizer sounds called Belly Flop, Earfarker, and Must.Hit.Snooze.

Continue to Part 4 —>