Altitude Liminal
TRACK DATA
Composition tool: MuseScore 4, Studio One 7.1 Pro
Recording tool (DAW): Studio One 7.1 Pro
Number of tracks: 30
Sound sources: Presence XT, Sample One (All built-in sound sources of Studio One), MuseScore built-in sound sources
Composition and recording period: Jan 26 2025 - Jan 30, Feb 24 2025 - Feb 26 2025
Main tonality: None
Main scale: A Two-Octaves scale created
Main time signature: 5-4
Main tempo: 86 - 91 beats per minute
Concept: Further development from Maurice Ravel with Two-Octaves scale
(TM writes:)
This is a track in the "Swambient" series, which is to me like a piece developed from our past work called "L'Avant Et L'Arrière" (from the "Le Cube Dans Mon Rêve" album).
One day before this composition, I was deeply moved again with Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour infante defunté." It's allegedly based on his inspiration from the painting "Portrait of the Infanta Margarita" by Diego Velázquez, which strongly reminds me of his historic work "Las Meninas" with Margarita at its centre. As you might know, Velázquez has been influential all the time to not only Ravel but also so many artists, out of which I would remember first Édouart Manet. It's wonder that the works in Spain inspired the French artists more than 200 years later, and further 120 years later, influence comes here at last, end to end beyond Eurasia Continent. (I'm not saying I'm as great as them, though.) From an image of the Pyrenees between Spain and France, I titled this piece as "Altitude Liminal" after having finished it up.
But again, like in L'Avant Et L'Arrière, I deliberately shaped this piece to sound as different from Ravel’s work as possible. When TI described the impression as rather psychedelic -- something echoing The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s era -- I felt reassured, as it confirmed the piece had distanced itself from Ravel as intended. That interpretation, in turn, influenced not only the overall sound but also helped inspire the title a little bit.
This track has a very clear methodological concept of using a Two-Octaves scale, consisting of C, D, F, G, B (in the lower octave), D, E, G, A, C (in the higher). Even though these components overlook like the Ionian or major scale, a big difference is that the Two-Octave scale sounds major 7ths, major 9ths, major 13th, etc, quite naturally. Yet, I didn't make C sound to play the key role, like I usually don't.
In another track called "Strokes And Divisions" (simultaneously released), there are cello arpeggios divided like overtones of the pianos, but Altitude Liminal is structurally different. (But, importantly, the arpeggios in my compositions are NOT constituents of any particular chords because I don't usually use the chord, as there's too much chordal music in the world.)
You might feel there's vast space in front of you from the sound; it's not only due to the effectors and mixing, but also an effect from the Two-Octaves scale. In addition to that, beautiful guitars well suit the expression of bright light, in my view, like we did in our past work called "Light Through Leaves."
Sound production approach and adjustments
(TI writes:)
In this production, while basically following the original score created by TM, the phrases were broken down in several places and timbres were added and reinforced. In particular, effects (mainly reverb) were added to emphasise the breadth and three-dimensionality of the sound. Overall, we also created depth of sound by emphasising overtones.
When creating the piece, I used the image of a three-dimensional work in which the thin, weak parts of the original material are filled in and raised with abrasive powder, and the raised parts are polished and varnished.
Also, while TM was conscious of Ravel, I felt more like ‘The Beatles of the Sargent Pepper era’, so I tried to create the sound with a Psychedelic feel of that era in mind, as well as the sound of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. I tried to create the sound with the Psychedelic feel of that era in mind.
Composition: Two-Octaves Scale on guitar transposed in every bar
(TM writes:)
Although I had an idea of the Two-Octaves scale, this is my first time to use it. I haven't done that before because I had no idea of how to practically handle it. The resolution is simple; to determine the absolute tone for the key in each part.
But one scale only lasts for a bar, ie, five beats. It transposes very frequently, which shapes a pattern, and the pattern re-appears being transposed. This must seem complicated but it actually sounds as simple as you might hear it. The method is so powerful that writing this text currently is impelling me to compose another with it right now.
One more point: most of this track is written in 5/4 time. I might just be the most frequent user of 5/4 in the world. While groove is not the central focus of this series, this is the first time I have truly felt that a unique 5/4 groove has emerged.
5/4 is incredibly deep—not because it is inherently special, but because it functions as a space where a wide range of rhythmic approaches can manifest. This flexibility makes it especially revealing: when composers who have not fully grasped its potential use 5/4, the groove inevitably takes on the feel of an odd time signature, rather than fully embracing the rhythmic possibilities within 5/4 itself. In fact, the way a composer uses 5/4 reveals how they perceive it—as something inherently irregular, or as a natural and flexible rhythmic framework. That approach is fine if intentional, but in this series, 5/4 is not treated as an odd time signature. Rather, it is presented as a format capable of producing exceptionally compelling grooves.
To me, myself, the composition process was very interesting. I built a sequence of transposing the guitar phrase first, and next divided it into two halves, which are put at the beginning and end of the piece. Then, I chose a phrase from my stock to combine into the middle and made those phrases gradually simpler from the ending towards the intro. So, yes, I composed this backwards.
It took probably about a whole day, including making the phrase in my stock. It was extra-ordinarily quick, compared to my normal time for composition.
When I listened to TI's WIP mixdown again after a few days, I noticed how uniquely atmospheric and otherworldly it felt—just like the air and light at high altitudes. Even if you're in a low-lying place like the Netherlands or the Mississippi Delta, this track transports you to the Pyrenees, hopefully.
My house sits at about 100 meters above sea level, but whenever I play this, it feels like I'm 3,000 meters up, surrounded by intense sky-blue heavens, brilliant daylight, and rarefied, piercing air. Are you there yet?
(That said, I've never actually been to the Pyrenees. I'd love to visit someday—to see how different, yet how similar, it really is.)
Looking back, I realise that FMT has always been driven by the idea that the greatest feature of digital music (as opposed to electronic music) is its unphysicality. Our very first album was titled Unphysical for that reason.
In 2024, we created the Cubism series, based on the question: "What if music had gone through a Cubist movement around 1910?" In a way, its unphysical nature granted us freedom over time. And this time, I feel like it's about freedom over space.
Even if you've never been somewhere, you can still go there in your imagination. Of course, this means the music inevitably becomes detached from the local culture—but that's exactly what makes unphysical music fascinating. Throughout history, musicians have been influenced by different cultures, allowing their music to evolve. But this is something different.
Traditionally, music has never been free from "the music of the present." It has also never been free from the place where it was made. Digital music, by its very nature, has the potential to break free from both.
Sound production and mixing
(TI writes:)
In general, the sound of MS tends to have difficulty in producing high frequencies. Especially in this song, the guitar part is the main part and the low frequencies are weak, and there are almost no parts to guarantee low frequencies by themselves, so the high frequencies of the guitar tend to stand out.
Therefore, a GuitarAmp simulator was passed through the Guitar to round out the high frequencies while utilising the low frequencies and extending them to the Bass bandwidth (approx. 40 Hz). This emphasised the low frequencies and adjusted the overall balance. In addition, where Bass was added, the low frequencies of the Guitar (below 160 Hz) were cut and the bandwidth was organised to maintain balance.
Similarly, the guitar lacked high frequencies and the sound was buried, so a saturator was used to generate overtones in the guitar, and the compressor and EQ were used to fine-tune the sound. Delay and reverb were then added, and the Bus Channel was fine-tuned again with a compressor and EQ.
The original MS Guitar tone had a fuzzy reverb impression, so the Guitar reverb was applied to the band above 200Hz, with no reverb applied to the band below that (low frequencies), and the reverb included in the MS was kept to create a clearer sound image. This adjustment gave a calmer overall impression.
Particularly in the middle section, the Strings phrases created by TM were once broken down to create a cross-fire atmosphere with Choir, Synth Pad, Synth Noise and Synth Pad. Furthermore, distortion was passed through the Strings and Sitar was used in unison to emphasise the psychedelic atmosphere.
For the drums, the attack of the Bass Drum was emphasised and the combination with the Bass was highlighted to increase the power of the low frequencies.
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