Introducing... SeeMore LOve!!!!
I am so very beyond pleased to announce the first release of our musical collaboration series 'Seng Songs!!!! The first plant recording that we offered was the Paw Paw recordings gathered this spring at the United Plant Savers Sanctuary in Rutland OH. Check out below the new track as well as piece written by SeeMore Love about his process in approaching this track. Also check out https://www.cimarron-maz.com/seng-song-artists to hear more original tracks by SeeMore Love and our other collaborators!
Reflections By SeeMore Love
Process
Downloaded files, clicked on one, liquid is the first one that popped up. So I gave it a listen and just started working! Working environement is my car to start. Chainsaws are buzzing outside my car as I plug in headphones to block out the extra sounds. Today is Thursday and the project is due on Monday….no pressure! Here we go!
Firstly, I just started experimenting with the filters to get a feel for the movement of the plant and less on the sound. Which led me to discover how much I loved the Electroclash Lead Synth.
Then from the movement of the plant’s song and combination of the filter, inspiration started to flood in.
I Then started selecting and seperating sections that I really liked and wanted to use in part or its entirety, and starting building around that.
Continuing the process, I started changing the filters of the emerging sections. Seperating out fast passages from long tones and then chose the filter that I felt allowed the plants voice at that moment to speak the best.
Further in, changing the filiters I thought, “Why not let the plant speak through various filters…I wonder what the plant song would sound like interpreted as a marimba, or voice, or drum? ”, then another voice said…”Wait, I already said that.”
So I kept replaying passages not yet filtered until all passages were there own individual filtered tracks.
Finally, after gathering what I felt was enough of a variety of different expressions of the plant I then began the process of adding my own musical structure and dimension.
Wanting to keep it simple as my setup is very minimal as far as instruments ( and I’m a producer/instrumentalist who loves live instruments!) I started to build a harmonic and rhythmic foudation using some program synth sounds interwoven with African percusion filtered Paw Paw.
I took a basic stock synth and hi-hat beat to keep the pace, and placed a Mellow Polysynth on the Paw Paw recording.
From there I began to pull out melodies that were speaking to me. I wanted to keep integrity to the actual recordings by not adding any notes to the song of the Paw Paw fruit, instead, I chose only to omit a handful of notes (a pruning of melody you can say) and transposed 2 passages that I found to be really beautiful, the intervalic structure of the plant’s song was not disturbed otherwise.
After some minor arranging of the plant’s song (that too, I wanted to keep as close to the original arrangement), I started to hear some incredible little grooves coming from the Paw Paw!! So I added a touch of some brass hits.
Running the melody through a drum filter felt good and helped me to feel the rythm of the plant easier, and when I ran the melody through some gospel voices, oh my bajeebees was I impressed and tickled at the natural chords and harmony.
I really like the “Oh Yeah”s I managed find, and the awesome African drum beats.
And I thought I was finished with the basic lay of the track, when I was giving the track a listen and, because I didn’t have a lot of natural instruments to place on the track ( which I love to do) I found this awesom synth chord riff and chopped it up and sprinkled in the mix for some epic contrast and to bring the Paw Paw choir out!
Then, I decided to add even more space and allow the piece to breathe more. Then, a miscommunication led to a wonderful idea. A friend after listening commented on their favor of the space in the song, and I mentioned I would be adding more space. She thought I meant the tempo of the song, and from there, I more than halfed the speed, and dialed it in until it felt good. Voila! Speaking of violas, why not add a sprinkle of some live violins? So I did add in a few violin passages played by yours truly!
More space and a slower tempo really gives you a chance to hear the plants speaking in the many different voices, drums, organs, horns, and effects.
Just about all the Paw Paw recording is used in this new track, and you can hear the Paw Paw’s melodies dancing through changing voices.
Thanks for listening!
Special thanks to everyone who helped to make this possible!! You know who you are, and we do too!!
