Overview of the whole song.

This song was a random sort

of creation, I had just started with the 2 audio samples for the beat, which with the way I chopped it up, wound up feeling like a 6 (almost, sort of feels off beat a little), and then I wrote the other instruments around that, so the song has a strange sort of choppy/angular feel. I actually like this one, I basically just built it up more and more adding more harmony and a couple melodies, and viola, another song haha. Let's get into the instruments.

Listen to ROKUSHI here.

Tracks 1 and 2 were the

beginning of the instrumental part. Track 1 just plays a low C, but it's sidechained to one of the drum audio tracks, so it bounces with that beat, turned out pretty cool. That continues for basically the whole track as the backdrop. Track 2 is buzzy synth with a heavy delay, it plays 2 Cs, then a C5, and then C/Ab. Just adds a little more harmonic character to the droning C below it. The C/Ab works as the Vi, which even with the same bass note, changes the feel.

Tracks 1 and 2, described above.

Next up is Tracks 3 and 4,

which are both the drums. Track 3 is a sample of a kick/snare boombap sort of beat, but chopped in half, and Track 4 was some kick/hihat little sample. When I combined the two, it gave us that 6/4 feel, with a weird sort of choppy syncopation happening between them. Worked out nicely, keeps the song a little weird.

Listen to ROKUSHI here.

Next up is Track 5,

which just plays a Cmin 2nd inversion chord with a little dancey rhythm. That just adds another layer of harmony to the whole thing as it builds. Track 6 is a saw synth with an arpeggiator on it that just moves back and forth between G and C, playing 16th notes. Then, the top G moves up to Ab (and back to C, same rhythm), then to A natural over C, and back to Ab. That repeats, but the second time, we move from A natural up to Bb so it wants to resolve back to the C even more, rather than back down to Ab.

Track 6 as described above.

The next instrument to come in

is Track 8, which is a whistly, sort of bubbly synth tone that follows the chords that Track 6 was arpeggiating: Cminor, Ab major, Fmaj, Ab major (Bb major the second time around). Just adding another layer of tone to the whole thing. Track 9 is an actual melody played on a chime/bell sort of instrument. It basically plays in C minor, except for the 1st measure, which utilizes the "egyptian" sounding scale, playing C, Enatural, Db, and C. Just changes things up a little bit to break up the monotony of a straight minor progression.

Listen to ROKUSHI here.

Lastly we have Track 10,

which comes in towards the end of the song, and is actually the instrument that closes out the track. It plays a very strange melody, and is definitely using a bunch of out of key notes. There's a screenshot of it below so you can see whats happening there. I like how it worked in the track, finishes out nice and weird.

Track 10, described above.

Hope you enjoy the song and the theory walkthrough! Thanks for the support!

Buy an ALBUM of mine here!

I. The Supple Krew Soundcloud

II. Grapthar 2017 Soundcloud

III. Grapthar 2018 Soundcloud