Type: EP
|
2019
The Black EP was an EP I started working on while I was still in high school. It was an EP exploring lo-fi hip-hop, which was a style of music that really interested me back in the day. I also posted the tracks on my YouTube channel at the time and experimented with creating videoclips for both of them. The goal was to keep the songs as simple as possible while having them feel complete and full.
The EP was supposed to be 5-6 tracks, I only ever got around to make and finish the first two:
Alone is the first track on the EP, released on Oct. 26th 2019. I started by using a guitar sample made by Simon Servida which was a 16 bars sample, 8 bars just the guitar and 8 bars with a voice melody. I really liked the sample because it was a very calm sound, but it still left room for more aggressive drums if one wanted to. In my case I decided to stay with some softer, more Lo-Fi drums.
The drums are pretty simple, there one or two percussion sound, a simple kick and a simple snap. I opted for a snap insted of a snare to keep things soft. For the rest of the melody, I also added a a glockenspiel that plays the chords the guitar plays.
Since it was a Lo-Fi track, I thought it would be fun and fitting to have a VHS filter on the video and give it a vintage feel. To do so, after creating the filter and applying it to the whole video, I then made the video into a square resolution, to be close to the vintage 4:9 screen resolution. For the video itself, I went and got a bunch of small videoclips from a free and copyright free gallery. I then synched the changes between clips with the beat of the song, I also tried to have each of the clips make sense with the previous one, almost telling a story. I am pretty proud of the results, it is a simple video, but I feel like it fits well the vibe of the track.
Lost, released on Oct. 6th 2019, is the second and only other song I made for the Black EP. It is a bit more melancholic than Alone in my opinion. For this song, no samples were used. I started by using a guitar to which I applied an EQ to cut the top and bottom frequencies. I then also added a rhodes to play the chords while the guitar played the simple melody. Finally, I added a second melody for the chorus. This melody was made with a synth using an electronic voice. I also used the same synth to make a counter melody for the bridge.
For the drums, I made them simple, having only a kick, a snare, a clap and a high hat, but I made sure to follow a more classic Hip-hop beat in order to be a bit more aggressive with the track. The final touch of my drums is the 808, which I distorted to make it punch harder and tried some sliding technics for the first time.
Out of my few Lo-Fi songs, I think Lost might be one of my favourite, it’s very melancholic while still being able to be a bit aggressive, which is a combo in Lo-fi I think is not explored as much as it should be.
Having made this videoclip first, I did not yet have the vhs filter I think add so much to Alone’s video. Also, rewatching it now, I would add more clip and follow the beat more closely. That being said, this videoclip being the first one I ever created, I am extremely proud of what I did and am happy it is still available online.
Even though I never got around to finishing this project, I am extremely proud of what I did and I still think this is some of the best tracks I have ever produced. Even years later, I still find myself showing these songs off to my friends or listening to them on my own. I would love to one day revisit lo-fi music production. I feel like this project was the first time I really got to express myself through something creative and it definitly gave me more confidence about posting my work online for others to see and hopefully appreciate.
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