That's my first attempt at lofi hip hop. A combination of piano melodies, jazz-rock guitar improvisation, glitched out drum beat and some sound design. Hope you like it!

YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iq7w0v330

The cover art by my friend Radditz https://instagram.com/radittzart

Moon and Mist

This was supposed to be the intro/main menu theme for an indie racing game "Liftoff League 2" which I've ended up never releasing. I was aiming to replicate the energy of PSX era Japanese video game openings, like the legendary opening of Soul Edge and I think you can hear that influence quite clearly (that violin  ;)

A curiosity - the violin is of course a sample library, but that particular library is based on a Stroh Violin - a weird type of violin with a horn instead of the resonance chamber. I think in this piece the harsher tone of this instrument lends itself surprisingly well to cutting through the dense sound of distorted guitars and squelching synthesizers.

Finally, since the song was intended to play under the main menu, I  have deliberately arranged it to drag out every section, transition etc. It does make the song feel a bit drawn out, but I still think the piece is pretty cool and I wanted to share it with you.

Liftoff Theme

Imagining the joys of journeying to and exploring Uranus.

Song has been recorded as a part experiment and part learning exercise, to record a track with all the melodic lines created using only Rhythmic Robot Synthulator.

Software used:

Instruments:
- Rhythmic Robot Synthulator - all synths;
- Rhythmic Robot Drumulator Plus - drums;
- both of the above are Kontakt instruments, so NI Kontakt 5 (obviously);

DAW:
- Bitwig Studio;

Mixing effects used:
- ValhallaDSP Vintageverb;
- Waves J37 Tape;
- Waves H-EQ;
- Waves H-Comp;
- Softube Focusing Equalizer;
- Native Instruments Solid Bus Compressor;
- Wavesfactory Trackspacer;

Mastering effects used:
- Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher;
- Waves OneKnob Louder;
- Waves L1 Ultramaximizer;

Audio editor (for mastering):
- Wavelab LE 7;

Miscellaneous:
- Focurite VRM Box used extensively for monitoring during mixing and mastering;

Journey To Uranus

Track made for RedditJams competition. Artists:
Tiki_Lamp (drums)
key2(bass)
m64(piano)

Week long climax

In my music I am trying to blend elements of jazz, like improvisation, loose, swinging rhythms and complex harmonies with elements of electronic music, such as tonal expression, sound design, advanced production techniques and love of vintage electronic instruments. That's where the name Silicon on Sapphire comes from, silicon being the symbol of electronics and modernity and sapphire being the symbol of something beautiful and kind of blue ;) Also, it is a name of a lesser know process of electronics manufacturing, so it's a bit of an obscure pun.

My chosen genre of choice for delivering that mix of ideas is Lofi Hip Hop, through I tend to push the genre's boundaries a bit - for one, rather than beats, I create beat based instrumental songs in which I like to include jazz-style improvisations.

Silicon on Sapphire

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