Name: that was the night she told me she was going back to america by Băng Giang
Duration: 1 min 41 s
Description: a quick track, recorded and produced in 15 minutes or something

tôi kể chuyện về cô gái tên Mai, ở tông la trưởng

vừa dài vừa ngắn

requires patience

Hồi trước có thằng bạn thân tên là thái duy, nó bảo mình đây là bản nhạc mình viết mà nó thấy là hay nhất, nguyên văn là “lần nào nghe cảm xúc cũng như lần đầu”

Bài này mình soạn từ 2022, lấy cảm hứng từ 1 bà tên Mai người Hải phòng, có thể nói là nàng thơ lớn nhất trong cuộc đời mình tính đến hiện tại, im pretty much obsessed with her in an.. unhealthy way

Mình chưa bao giờ để ý bài này lại hay thế cho tới khi thằng duy nhận xét, vì giai đoạn đó mình soạn rất nhiều nhạc vu vơ 

Tới giờ thì mình mới có đủ kiến thức về giao hưởng và gear đủ để có thể soạn nó hoàn chỉnh là 1 bản độc tấu dương cầm

chuyện kể về cô gái tên Mai

the 9th installment to the track crush, which is an experiment with advanced harmonic palettes paired with a steady 4/4 beat

a beat without chords repetition

crush #9

i compose startup music for a non existent OS

this kind of music was heavily influenced by my idol Anthony Phillips

startup music (for a non-existent OS)

self potrait no 6 

dubstep sound design in a jazz fusion composition

self potrait #6 (anxious in G minor)

song and lyrics written by Ka
lead vocal by Ka
music composed, arranged, conducted, performed and produced by myself

here is an unfinished track with the lead vocal recorded on Ka's iPhone in only 1 verse and 1 chorus for the melody reference, which she asked me for help with the music. i like the song so much and i saw some potentially interesting harmonic choices could be done over it so i took her vocal melody and composed the music and arranged all the harmonies around it, so it's a collaborative effort

she likes a j-pop band named yoasobi, so i got my arrangement based on the sound of that band (somewhat) and my influence of prog rock jazz fusion music.. and of course, i built the track's foundation by my own voice, just like the beach boys' stuff.. much of the instrumentations are vocal harmonies i recorded myself

the composition itself is mostly in A harmonic minor, though the Aminor chord never actually appear in the chord sequence.. it actually features a very week tonal centre, either completely in A harmonic minor or F major

it's a fun one to make, i will try to complete it when we meet in person and record a proper lead vocal

lyrics:
[verse]
Twisted flame in your eyes
Moonlight in your smiles
A cup of jagger can't save me now
Memories haunting me

[chorus/hook]
Whiskey burning on my lips
Drink me in with you
But please don't make me falling too

Girl you got the room diluted,
Make another move
My nightly cycle through and through

bar song (demo #2 - feat. Ka)

a piece i composed in honor of my idol Anthony Phillips, for Anthony Phillips

thank you for being such an inspiration

Tregenna Ant

rain of harmonics in D major

One of my favourite tracks I’ve ever produced.. I genuinely listen to it with real pleasure. (I've composed thousands of pieces, and produced hundreds of them)

The concept is simple: an acoustic guitar piece whose entire melody is played in pure harmonics.

The bell harmonics technique developed by Alan Goggol was immensely inspiring to me. His tracks sounded like crystal and rain, and I wanted to achieve the same sound, but with a more structured sophistication in the composition itself. In doing so, I aimed to craft an intentionally heavier emotional weight for the song, much like what my idol Anthony Phillips always does.

It took me only 5 or 10 minutes to compose the piece, no unnecessary fancy key changes, no overwrought show-offs to trades off with the emotional values.. but more than a week of focused, hard work to record it. I am often extremely specific about sound design, and most importantly, about the precision of the notes themselves in terms of composition.

It is physically impossible to play live in one take. To record all melodic lines as harmonics, I had to experiment with the strangest tunings.. sometimes just to capture a single second of pure harmonics ringing out as a chord. For example, the Gmin6thadd9th chord was played entirely in harmonic strums at the end of the progression as the song climaxed. I had to tune my guitar to an open Gmin6thadd9th just to achieve that harmonic strum at the 12th fret.

Another unusual effect (which resulted in a beautiful sound design) was what I call a “harmonic bend.”

Pure natural harmonics cannot bend on their own, it is technically.. almost impossible. You can bend the guitar neck itself, but that doesn’t allow the note to be bent to a precise pitch, so it cannot serve as a melodic bend.

Instead, I took that concept further. I used the machine head to alter the tuning while letting the harmonic ring out, achieving exact half- or whole-step bends as needed for my written melodic line. And with that, I created the exact sound design I envisioned.

As the song developed, it climaxed with a brief finger-slided solo. It sounded so emotional to me, with the harmonics shimmering throughout, creating a much “grander” effect.

It is catchy, easy listening almost, yet with a pretty wild harmonic pallette, in terms of chord colors.. Its chord progression intentionally evokes nostalgia: its ascending beginning suggests happiness, yet as it moves toward the subdominant, it is drawn into a plagal cadence that casts a melancholic shade over the whole passage.

Everything was organically recorded with 1 real instrument - my beloved "Landing Doves" guitar, strung with customized-gauge Elixir strings.

Music composed, arranged, performed and produced entirely by myself, in my bedroom.. with a little help of my poorly treated acoustic environment.

harmonics rain

rain piece

what you hear when you can tell it is slowly becoming a memory

the sound when it is becoming a memory

in one with nature (sketch 1)

a quick track, recorded and produced in 15 minutes or something

that was the night she told me she was going back to america

My experimental canvas

All music here are composed, produced, arranged, conducted and performed entirely by myself

that was the night she told me she was going back to america

Băng Giang

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