Moon (Circle Of 4ths)
Notes On "Moon (Circle Of 4ths)"
TRACK DATA
Composition tool: MuseScore 3, Studio One 6 Professional
Recording tool (DAW): Studio One 6.5 Professional
Number of tracks: 93
Sound source: Presence XT, Impact XT, Sample One, Maitai (All built-in sound sources of Studio One)
Composition and recording period: Jun 6 2023 - Sep 23 2023, Oct 18 - Oct 23
Concept: "Circle Of 4ths"
(TM writes:)
I'm so sure you will definitely be able to have more fun to listen to the track after you understand how it's structured musically, or what the circle of 4ths means.
This work is from our "Planet Series", following Mercury, Earth (Vista At Landing), Jupitar, Uranus, Neptune (Sonna Mono - Far From The Way) and Pluto, and being released together with Venus.
We know the moon is NOT a planet in the solar system, but never mind, it's just a planet of one planet (ie, Earth) in it.
Nonetheless, we didn't intend to make music that symbolised the moon, but the tentative title was "Circle Of 4ths" during the production, which is eventually left as a sort of subtitle.
In fact, funnily enough, we were planning to name this "Neptune", having forgotten the territory of "Sonna Mono." After remembering that, we were hurried into the change.
Anyway, no matter which planet it directs at, the musical concept is the circle of 4ths. (They are far different, though, since Neptune is 2.7 billion miles from the earth while the moon only 384k miles.)
In the musical theories or notions the "Circle Of 4ths" doesn't exit, but the "circle of 5ths" does. "5th" means G against its lower C within the same octave (from C to B), for example, and when it goes up by five degrees, you pass all the 12 notes like C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, F and back to C. This notion has been frequently used for harmonies and progression in a variety of songs so far.
In contrast, the circle of 4th is a notion I created and you could say it's an application or parody from that of 5th. Exactly! It goes through C, F, A#, D#, G#, C#, F#, B, E, A, D, G, and C -- yes, in the other way around. The circle of 5ths is often expressed with a circle like the clock; we go clockwise by five degrees, and if you go anticlockwise that means the circle of 4ths.
It's like how the open strings on the guitar are tuned (except for the distance between the second and third strings), ie, E, A, D, G, B and E.
Assuming that the circle of 5th is widely used because it fits with the tonality and scales, especially the major and diatonic, I believe that the circle of 4ths is more suitable for the atonality since major 3rds hardly appear and it can avoid the dissonance.
I use chords like C, F, and B-flat very frequently for FMT's tracks; F is four degrees up from C and so is B-flat from F. I've loved the sound of four-degrees dyads since my teenage time and now I'm very happy to spotlight it.
Composition: Expositions & developments with 4-degrees harmonies & progressions
(TM continues:)
So, this work is made with lots of lots of 4-degrees notes for the harmonies and progressions. Let me start from the intro.
In the intro, the primary motif on a synthesiser obviously shows that a play with the circle of 4ths begins, ascending by four degrees from F, and another synth plays 4-degrees dyads, which also ascend by four degrees.
In the next section, which I name Section A here, is made only with suspended-4th chords like G sus4 and D sus4, on the ground of irrelevant bass notes like F, C or E-flat, and B-flat. Four degrees suits expression of the space atmosphere, in my view.
Section B, next, is 4-degrees progression; if you focus on the bass it plays F, B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat, B, E, A, D, G, C and F. It takes six bars as two of them are played in one bar and there are 12 in total. Reasonable, isn't it?
Okay, Section C is a development, where the bass progresses in the circle of 4ths again from C. But listen carefully to the first chord, which I love a lot. C, D-flat and A-flat... this chord is put on C on the bass, which is to say, A-flat add4 on C.
Then, the bass moves to F and the chord plays something like E-flat minor, meaning it uses the minor second and fourth notes to the bass. I'm not going to explore it anymore, but I was excited to design this section.
Another thing that excited me in Section C is that it sounds like key changes, but in fact, no key changes (or transpositions) are written here at all.
Let me jump to the interlude. There, I play more purely the circle of 4ths on an alternative groove.
This is how the circle of 4ths goes.
One thing I'd like to add is that the rhythm is structured in the 9-8 time, in other words, triplet waltz or jazzy waltz. But the interlude is treated as an odd beat of the 4-4 time with half a beat added -- so, the 9-8 time doesn't change (although the tempo is frequently changed).
Anyway, I love such an "extensive" groove.
Tone Creation & Mixing
(TI writes:)
The MuseScore tones specified by TM are used as they are in the Wav file, but in some places the parts are broken up into single melodies and string section instruments with common acoustic instruments are applied to each part.
This is intended as a supplementary role to emphasise the harmony of the phrases created by TM, as it is difficult to recognise the tones used in the MuseScore.
The pitch of these tones is then shifted or moved irregularly.
The tone itself is flat, and if played as it is, the fullness of the sound would seem insufficient, so the intention is to disperse the resonance and enrich the way it sounds.
As for the mix, I aimed to create a dynamic sound image, as if it were a full orchestral piece.
As mentioned in Venus's Note, Studio One's free update to Dolby Atmos support was also available, and I immediately mixed to that specification.
This specification allows for sound to be localised 360 degrees and up and down, for example, only the delay component can sound from behind, or the sound image can move up and down.
However, while this is effective when the listener is themselves the player (to simulate being the player), such as in games and video, for music appreciation, the listener is basically not the player, and whether it is a studio recording or a live recording, it is assumed that the audience is sitting in front of the performer, so it cannot be assumed that the sound is localised backwards or moves up, down, left or right, and that the speakers in a normal 2-channel stereo environment would sound different, so the sound is basically localised within 180 degrees.
Nevertheless, compared to a normal 2-channel stereo mix, the sound image is wider in normal 2-channel stereo speaker playback and headphone playback.
In addition, as the arrangement itself tends to clump the sound in the mid-range, the mid-range of the Bass part has been cut, and the mid-range (around 500 Hz) has been cut significantly, while ensuring stability in the low frequency range (below 70 Hz) and a sense of pitch and attack in the high frequency range (around 1 kHz).
This has made the sound much cleaner and the detailed phrases of each part can now be heard clearly.
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