The Romantic Anesthesiologist

The psyche is a weird place, I’ll just talk about it musically.

The piece begins with the sounds of Sudara’s autoharp, the weeping woodwind sounds of the clarinetist from Megafauna Lacrymosa , and a low kick-like percussive sound, which is a field recording of fireworks from this year’s U.S. Independence Day celebration. The clarinet is quickly followed by a recording of a 747’s machinery noise (recorded from inside the jet, near the wing), and then followed by a similar sounding elephant sample. Pay attention to the interplay between these three motifs as they dance around the tune.

Okay, so that should summarize the first 14 seconds.
Here’s what follows:

:14 field recording of me slapping my lap outside, you can hear the birds in a background, happily chirping after a morning thunderstorm. Also at this time you will hear the entry of a new percussion part- this is a stereo recording of me drumming in the kitchen sink (rinse panned to left, washing portion panned right).

:29 in comes the central kick and snare rhythm, lap slapping is briefly tweaked with sweeping EQ automation

01:05 the jet sounds comes back, with automated resonators that bring out a natural melody that fits nicely with the entry of a synth pad.

1:11 pots and pans enter the mix to add to the rhythm; the lap slapping sample is sidechained with the main kick and snare beat, so when you do not hear the kick and snare, you hear the lap slapping.

1:40 the song makes room for a melody derived from a hang drum sample, recorded by Sudara. The sample was a single hit on the hang drum- I made it chromatic so that I could play a melody with it.

2:15 elephant solo! accompanied by clarinet and morphed into the sound of the jet engine.

Special thanks to Sudara and Megafauna Lacrymosa for some of the samples, and to MMi for forwarding me some information on sidechaining. Oh, and Montgomeru, for once telling me to throw something to ‘the other side.’