Three short parts for Octet: Pt 1: Just strings; Pt 2: just Woodwinds; Pt 3: All.

INVISIBLE TWILIGHT

An electronic musician and guitarist who especially likes the more nostalgic sounds of the 80s. Composing and producing is my favourite hobby. Thank you to everyone who listens to my music.

I learned my first guitar chords as a teenager in the 90s, that's when I also composed my first songs. Since then, songwriting has been my passion.  In the 90s, my friends and I also founded a band that worked for about 10 years. After the band ended, I wrote songs in a desk drawer and dreamed of a home studio. I also learned to play a little piano. Since 2016, I've been slowly learning to produce music in a DAW environment, first with Garegeband and later with Logic Pro X. In the last couple of years, I've learned more about composing and arranging than in the previous several years, but it feels like the journey is just beginning. Thanks to everyone who has read this far.

I don't use AI to compose or produce my music.

I also publish music on YouTube and Spotify

Musician/Composer/Sound Designer/Producer
Owner/Operator of Sound Source Fundamentals

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
-Albert Einstein

I am a composer and producer of instrumental music in several genres, including ambient soundscapes, electronica, orchestral and chamber music.  

Musical influences include John Coltrane, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Holst, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Tangerine Dream, Robert Prince, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, Heinrich Ignaz, Franz von Biber.

My Method of Composing and Producing
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I'm sharing my method of composing and producing music recordings in case other composer-producers like me might find ideas worth exploring in their own work. I use this method for Classical, Avant-Pop or Neo-Folk Instrumental genres, not for Ambient and Soundscape pieces. Non-composers might find this explanation interesting, but having a bit of music theory background will definitely help. I consider myself a humble learner when it comes to music theory. 

I owe a debt of gratitude to British musician and educator Gareth Green, whose Music Matters online courses and free YouTube lessons have taught me so much over the past few years. Thanks to his instruction, I’ve moved from struggling to compose music by trial and error to something more enjoyable and productive. The knowledge I've gained has taken my work in new and expanding directions. As the saying goes, “Theory is not a cage — it’s a map. It doesn’t make the journey for you, but it keeps you from getting lost.” 

When I start a new piece, I begin by choosing a key, and picking a scale drawn from one of these sources:
 
1) Western Tonal / Functional Harmony - major or minor chords I II III IV V VI VII
2) Modal Harmony - Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, etc.
3) Slonimsky's "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" 
4) Messiaen’s "Seven Modes of Limited Transposition" 

For many pieces, I also decide on a progression, one as a simple as I IV V, or something more elaborate.  

Next I create a "scales and progressions" piano track in my DAW (digital audio workstation software) and enter the chords I to VII in my chosen key. These harmonized scales serve as a basis for writing multipart harmonies and finding pivot chords for key modulations. 

At the start, I know what instruments I want to use, making adjustments along the way. I tend to write chord parts first, then melodies created through a mix of improvisation and direct input in the DAW. Sometimes I start with a melody.

I develop melodies and variations of a phrase by some combination of: a) passing it from one instrument to another, transposing it by an interval that sounds pleasing, b) reversing it, c) inverting it around the tonic (first) note of the scale. These are well-known methods. 

After completing a section, I choose another scale and maybe a new key and repeat the process until I have a draft of the entire piece. Then I export a recording and listen to it “offline”, take notes of errors and new ideas, and incorporate them back into the piece. Often this “compose / listen / compose” cycle is repeated many times. These iterative cycles include adding new ideas, polishing transitions between sections, changing the arrangement, and incorporating expressive details like accents, and articulations (staccato, sustain, portato etc.). I’m often working several different pieces at once. 

Last is mixing and mastering: balancing the loudness between instruments and adjusting elements like reverb, compression, and equalization. I tend to mix as I compose, even though many producers frown on that approach. I find mixing as I go helps me envision the completed piece and make adjustments to the choice of instruments; it self-inspires me when the piece is starting to sound good.  At the end I do a final mix, but as the saying goes, “A mix is never finished — it’s surrendered.”

In the end, this method gives me a basis for exploration and creativity and helps me stay focused. The goal is always to make a piece of music that feels expressive, cohesive, and emotionally resonant.

Hello, SoundCloud crew. I create all my music from the ground up. ZERO A.I. (Except for the tracks Jamaica and Castlevania versions, which, I altered the original notes from pre made template.)  I am an experimentalist with tones of synthwave and ambient thrown in to the mix. I hope you can enjoy some of my tracks.  

I use FL Studio most of the time.
GEAR BEHIND THE SOUNDS.
FL STUDIOS
FLKEY49
NOVATION LAUNCHPAD PRO
ROLAND RD-88
ALESIS V49
SCARLETT SOLO
GRETSCH ELECTROMATIC GIT.
FENDER MUSTANG III

Since 1984 I am composing and recording electronic instrumental music of different styles like ambient, soundtracks, pop, new classics, or noise improvisations. "Studio Lupus Polaris" is the pseudonym of my home studio and of my musical non-profit activities.

Thanks to all for listening!

Composed, produced & performed Srouly Frank
Nothing liberates more than joy!
About: Pianist-composer. SACEM member.

Lifelong keyboard player and composer and synth programmer. Perhaps, I hear things just a little differently...

INVISIBLE TWILIGHT

Bobby Nelson