Saša Kovačević

NON-SONIC PHENOMENON: EUPHORIA

For my track, I chose to explore the concept of Euphoria, which generally relates to excitement and happiness, but to me also has implications of serenity and clarity. Euphoric moments seem to be those that somehow just make sense, and for a moment you forget the rest of the world. 

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All throughout high school I played the saxophone, both alto and baritone, and so naturally these were the first sounds that I gravitated towards. I used four different horn loops, and layered them at different intervals with different periods of rest between each interval. It created a specific type of rhythm that had disconnect, but worked well together. Near the end of my soundtrack, I partnered with my brother-in-law who has more experience with digital sounds, and together we made some specific adjustments to the horns to allow for a smoother sound. First, we dropped the base line an octave so it had a lower tone that subdued it and gave balance to the sounds. He also explained the benefits of adjusting the panning of the different horns. While I did know how to do the adjustments, I didn't necessarily understand the effects. Panning the second and third horn, to the left and right respectively, allowed a wider sound stage to be created. We also added some reverb to soften the sounds of the horns, and give them a more realistic feel. 

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At this point, the song had a very latin feel. And I really liked that. A lot of people enjoy dance as a release, and from here I decided that transforming this horn line into a disco track would be a very viable option to explore euphoria. I think that most people have had that moment of euphoria on the dance floor, drink in hand, where everything just feels good and right. And I wanted to have that feeling in my song as well. I added a "Club Dance Beat" throughout to communicate the idea of being on a dance floor, or in any kind of disco space. Here is where there was a connection made about working with sound as a form of media. I had to think about what I wanted people to feel and see in their minds when they listened to my song. It was my job to paint them an audible picture. I think media exists to communicate a message or an idea, and sound can be used in the same platform. 

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I layered in a synth bass line, as well as a synth trance line. The bass line was placed on either end of the trance line, and I think that my favourite part of the song is the transition to the trance line. The relaxed feel of this moment is what really speaks to when thinking about euphoria. This is the moment of clarity in between the excitement and happiness. I adjusted the volume levels both entering and exiting these loops for smoother transitions. 

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At this point I felt like something small was missing, so I explored different percussion options. I layered in a shaker, and adjusted the sound of it using a filter to make the sound crisper. It was interesting to see that some of the filters that exist diminished the sound completely, while others were able to enhance it.  I also allowed it to fade out slowly when it did appear because I did not want it to be a focal point, but rather a compliment to the existing sounds. 

 

Finally, I needed to add a live recording, which was probably my largest inhibitor. My brother-in-law and I took a "creative break" and I let my phone do the recording while we stepped outside. Out of the four minutes of recording, I used the first thing that he had said. "What do you want to talk about?" While there were many good lines that could have been applied, I realized that in a euphoric state, you don't want to talk about anything. You want to enjoy the moment. So, I placed this at the very beginning of the song with an extreme amount of reverb and a fade out. Coincidentally, as we spoke a very large truck drove by, and you can hear the engine sounds in the song. It made me think of the busy street that you would be on before you entering the disco. 

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If I had unlimited time, I would like to perfect the end of my song. I tried many different arrangement of the last few bars, including fades and sounds adjustments, in attempt to have a more logical ending. The ending that exists is a little abrupt for my preference, and I would like to adjust it for a more cohesive sound. It would be nice to spend more time with this program, and develop a stronger understanding of some of the ways you could show more control over finer details. One of my frustrations of working with sound compared to other platforms is that it is very hard to explain or depict what you hear in your own head. With words or illustrations, you can do a direct representation, while this is much harder to do with sound, especially if you have no musical background. Finally, we did a lot of our editing using the speakers from his electronic piano, and the sound translates quite differently depending on the way it is presented. It's hard to determine if this is because I switched back and forth between my personal laptop and school computers, or just because of the quality of speakers encountered. 

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Please find my SoundTrack to Euphoria below. I hope you enjoy, as I did enjoy my time working on this project.