Can anyone help shed some light on these tracks for me?

imavs

New member
I'm really curious to the production behind FKA twigs. A few examples

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OydK91JjFOw

(Ignore the video, haha)


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sekBTG99TWs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNyCDoHX-A

The production is so simple yet intricate. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what all is going on in these tracks. Is there a lot of time signature changes going on? Would I need to lock myself in a room and study synthesizers for 6 years to make these kinds of sounds? Haha.


If anyone sees some common themes/ elements that I could research to incorporate these types of sounds I would be forever grateful, thanks
 
No odd time signatures, although they seem to play with tempo a bit. Also, a lot of "edgy" loops so she sounds out of sync. The "porno" is soaked in reverb with some delay. The "car scratcher" sounds like it's using a cheap old drum machine, like a Mattel Synsonics (which are a lot of fun, actually). The "bruised face/sunburn" tune uses (more) multi-tracked vocals, sounds like she's singing in octaves, and maybe has a pitch-shifter on one track. I also think I might hear a ring modulator on one of the (way way) background effects synths. That track has the most obvious tempo modulation. The singer also exposes her British heritage with pronunciations like "chah-nce" for chance.To me though, there's not much "there" there. Must be getting old.
 
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No odd time signatures, although they seem to play with tempo a bit. Also, a lot of "edgy" loops so she sounds out of sync. The "porno" is soaked in reverb with some delay. The "car scratcher" sounds like it's using a cheap old drum machine, like a Mattel Synsonics (which are a lot of fun, actually). The "bruised face/sunburn" tune uses (more) multi-tracked vocals, sounds like she's singing in octaves, and maybe has a pitch-shifter on one track. I also think I might hear a ring modulator on one of the (way way) background effects synths. That track has the most obvious tempo modulation. The singer also exposes her British heritage with pronunciations like "chah-nce" for chance.To me though, there's not much "there" there. Must be getting old.



Haha, thanks for the response. As far as the "playing with tempo" goes, I'm trying to find some information on how to apply that kind of effect. Is it metric modulation that's going on? Do you know of any resources that could help me understand how to use something like that?
 
You could physically slow the tempo down in spots; I'm sure there's a way to do it in whatever DAW you're using. But another technique would be what I'd call "rhythmic displacement," rather than metric modulation (which is related but different, imho). Rhythmic displacement would be moving a bass drum part through syncopation, for example, and making the beat sound like it's slowing down when it's not. For instance, four quarter notes on the beat followed by a measure of upbeats (offbeat 8th notes), followed by a measure of 16ths, eventually getting to two measures of half notes and four measures of whole notes would sound like it was slowing down to the listener (depending on what else is going on around it). Easier to show than to explain, I guess. At the end of this tune I produced (back in the 90s!), there is a "ritard ending" that's actually just rhythmic displacement. But it sounds like it slows down:

* https://m.soundcloud.com/nocturnal-productions/show-you-care

Get it?
 
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