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Zach Hollows - ‘City of Blue Glass’ and ‘X39′ EPs

Final Project Description

My final year independent project arrives in the form of two EPs which I have solely written, produced and mixed myself. The end goal for this project was to have a solid body of personal work, which would be packaged and ready to pitch to record labels for release. As well as finishing this project as a collection of tracks I am proud of, another target was to further enhance my skills as a producer. I had to take my production, compositional and mixing toolkit to a higher level, as I knew this is what stood between myself and getting a release. Both EPs have purposefully remained unmastered, but are fully mixed and ready for the mastering process.

I began this project by writing several small sketches of tracks, a minute to two minutes in duration. These were raw, unmixed and different stylistically, but were created so I could have a large portfolio of ideas to select the best tracks and finish them off. During the process of selecting works for the final EP, it became clear to me that I had created a large amount of raw material. After a discussion with my tutor he proposed that I create two EPs for my final project, and target and package them for the labels I’d like to release them on. This is what I have finished now, two EPs that I feel encapsulate and pay homage to the multi-faceted Bristol electronic music landscape.

The ‘City of Blue Glass’ EP is the moodier of the two EPs, drawing influence from sound system culture, the underground noise scene and the ‘Bristol techno’ sound. The ‘X39’ EP is warmer, owing much to the melodic side of house and techno music released in Bristol. Specifically music heard in, supported by and released on the Idle Hands record label and store.

After I had chosen the six productions that would develop into the two EPs, I used several reference tracks to study their instrumentation, compositional structure and mix down quality. Having these reference tracks present during the composition and mixing phases enabled me to gauge a higher understanding of the production quality I had to achieve.

Both EPs were created using Logic Pro X, with a mixture of virtual instruments, and outboard equipment. As I began to further analyse and break down the instrumentation of the music that influenced the project, I used certain specialised virtual instruments such as ‘NI Reaktor’ and ‘The Mangle’ to emulate what I was hearing. ‘NI Reaktor’ was used to create and synthesise a more unique drum palette for my tracks, instead of solely using analogue drum machines samples like I have before. ‘The Mangle’, a granular synthesiser VST, was used to create scattered vocal melodies and warped FX. The only piece of outboard gear I used was my Roland TR-8s, it was used for its sequencing capabilities and recording of additional percussion. As the two EPs are now complete, I will send copies to various Bristol based electronic music record labels in the hope that they enjoy the music and feel that it is suitable for their label.

Project Context

As I mentioned previously, the two EPs are inspired by the Bristol electronic music scene. At the beginning of this project I had a clear idea of what I wanted my creative output to sound like. I wanted it to be a homage to the city, to absorb and cherrypick my favourite parts of the broad electronic music genres that are present here and subsequently shape it into my own work.

The ‘City of Blue Glass’ EP is driven with energy, and has the dance floor environment in mind. The track ‘The Mask Slipped’ is very much inspired by the creative works of noisy, industrial techno duo: Giant Swan and their track ’55 Year Old Daughter’. I was inspired by the use of their distortion, specifically on their vocals and melodic content. In ‘The Mask Slipped’, I sampled a TV programme to create vocal chants that were run through an overdriven distortion unit. I also created sharp harmonic textures through distortion processing. ‘Fission’ is not directly inspired by any specific track, it’s more influenced by Bristol as a whole. The dubbed synth stab, and the bass on ‘Fission’ are inspired by Jamaican sound system culture. Whilst the percussion harks to the Bristol post-dubstep landscape of the early 2010s. ‘Problem Child’ is influenced by the Batu track ‘False Reeds’. What I found captivating about ‘False Reeds’ is the hypnotic simplicity to the track, the weaving vocal loop that drives the track forward. I used granular synthesis on ‘Problem Child’ to create a similar hypnotic vocal loop. A metallic melody arrives in the latter half of the track which draws influence again from Giant Swan. Despite each track sounding sonically different and not overtly identifiable to a single genre, I feel the EP works as a cohesive whole. I believe that this EP encapsulates the tougher side of the Bristol sound and achieves my goal of creating a body of work that is inspired by the city, but uniquely mine.

The ‘X39’ EP is inspired by the softer, more melodic edge of Bristols house and techno scene. Bristolian artists like Shanti Celeste and her ‘Tangerine’ album, and K-Lone’s ‘Cape Cira’ were very influential. My melodic synth work on ‘Out of Context’ is influenced by the rich melodies Shanti Celeste creates in her own productions. Her track ‘On My Own’, which is released on Idle Hands, being a notable example of this work. On ‘Cape Cira’, K-Lone develops various marimba, conga and bell tone melodies to create idyllic sonic landscapes. ‘Bells of Valencia’ draws inspiration from this, gradually evolving a simple bell melody across a six minute sonic adventure. ‘Ode to Rutger’ is an ambient excursion, however ambient music is not entirely synonymous to Bristol. It felt apt for me to include a track that showcased a blend of synthesised and classical instrumentation. Viewing the EP as a whole ‘Out of Context’ and ‘Bells of Valencia’ felt busy and lively, so including ‘Ode to Rutger’, a downtempo ambient tune, felt to me like it completed the work, and helped tie the rich melodic content of the EP together.

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