Atonal electronica with droptuned guitars - stepping out of my comfort zone

    A guy at a Swedish guitar forum said I should try to step out of my comfort zone and do something I don't really know how to do. So I started thinking about what I'm not familiar with and came up with three things.
    1. Drop tuned guitars. I want to sound like Franjoe30
    2. Electronica. I'm not familiar with this genre.
    3. Atonality. I'm very much schooled in the western concept of tonality. Too much! Anything out of the major/minor scales is problematic for me.


    So I decided to write an Electronica tune using drop tuned rhythm guitars and with a melody with notes outside the major scale.
    I have no idea how people knowledgable about those genres will think about how "real" the tune is but I had a blast writing and recording it and I tried to get a very clean mix.


    I'd love to hear your comments on the stylistic mixture.

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    Cheers,


    Mats N

    Firstly, you don't want to sound like me 😂 you are way to good for that.


    Secondly, brilliant track, love the heavy guitars over the very poppy electronic stuff. I'm also locked into major and minor but you did a great job on the different melody parts. Great solo too. I really enjoyed this, brilliant.


    The backing track is very Miami Vice 😂

    I agree that we don't need another Franjoe30 :P. Actually, Joe sounds awesome but why make a copy of him when we have the original. ;) Inject your own unique style into the drop tunings and create something special. I have done just that (but maybe not special) and will be posting soon.


    I also agree to get out of the comfort zone. I do that when I get frustrated or bored and then find "uncomfortable" teaches me something new I didn't anticipate before. You are a great artist Mats. Keep it up!


    Be new and be different. I don't remember the artists who sound similar. I remember the ones that changed everything. :)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Like 1

    Great idea to do Mats_Nermark I love this experiment, and really enjoyed the track!


    I spend most of my time out of my comfort zone, basically being Donny :

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    I think you can and should go further! Let go of the safety net of synths entirely. I’d love to hear a track where it’s just your guitar, drums, and just maybe a real electric bass guitar but nothing more. Or for electronica, just synths, no guitar.


    For me what defeats us all is ornamentation. The more raw you get the more straight to the point. Over time like hermit crabs we pick up additional affectations for our carapace, tricks that get a round of applause a couple of times but then lose their luster and eventually actually drag us down with their weight, yet we stick em in there even when we shouldn’t. We exit growth mindset.


    On the subject of “how real it is” I’d also say, don’t worry about getting it right. No-one gets it right until they’ve done it quite a few times. It’s scary to feel like you might embarrass yourself but I don’t think you can with music because it’s always a true expression underneath it all. Instead dive in and specifically angle to get it wrong, you’ll learn more and faster that way. Trying to do it right you’ll only maybe learn you can’t do it, but your wont necessarily know why and you’ll feel bad about it, but doing it wrong on purpose you’ll learn what they were trying to achieve, the mistakes that were made and why it’s wrong. You’ll learn how to make it right.

    Great tune Mats with exciting ear-catchers in it. I very much like the points 1 and 2 on your list, no. 3 not so much. But anyway a good thing how you did it. How "real" it is? That wouldn't be a category for me as I would not exactly compare it to anything already existing. It is for sure clearly a Mats Nermark tune - but with lots of new influences... :thumbup:8)

    Quote from Franjoe30

    Firstly, you don't want to sound like me 😂 you are way to good for that.


    Secondly, brilliant track, love the heavy guitars over the very poppy electronic stuff. I'm also locked into major and minor but you did a great job on the different melody parts. Great solo too. I really enjoyed this, brilliant.


    The backing track is very Miami Vice 😂

    Thanks, Joe!

    The Miami Vice years were very formative for me, so it's no surprise it shows up every now and then. :D


    Cheers,


    Mats N

    Quote from BayouTexan

    I agree that we don't need another Franjoe30 :P. Actually, Joe sounds awesome but why make a copy of him when we have the original. ;) Inject your own unique style into the drop tunings and create something special. I have done just that (but maybe not special) and will be posting soon.


    I also agree to get out of the comfort zone. I do that when I get frustrated or bored and then find "uncomfortable" teaches me something new I didn't anticipate before. You are a great artist Mats. Keep it up!


    Be new and be different. I don't remember the artists who sound similar. I remember the ones that changed everything. :)

    Thanks, BT!


    Cheers,


    Mats N

    Thank for the encouragement!

    Regarding doing stuff with just synth or just guitar, bass and drums, I've done that but for some reason gravitate towards a more dense/diversified instrumentation.


    Cheers,


    Mats N

    Quote from whippinpost91850

    Nicely done, definitely out of the box, especially loved the solo

    Thanks, whippinpost!


    Glad you liked it. I also kind of like the solo as it is more "normal" in a diatonic sense and lets the ears rest a bit.


    Cheers,


    Mats N

    Quote from deadman42

    Great tune Mats with exciting ear-catchers in it. I very much like the points 1 and 2 on your list, no. 3 not so much. But anyway a good thing how you did it. How "real" it is? That wouldn't be a category for me as I would not exactly compare it to anything already existing. It is for sure clearly a Mats Nermark tune - but with lots of new influences... :thumbup:8)

    Thanks, deadman!

    I'm VERY happy that there is such a thing as a "Mats Nermark tune". :D


    Cheers,


    Mats N

    The “some reason” is comfort, ornamentation. The old “it’s just missing something”, it’s holding you back.


    Be bold and stay the course for a bit longer. As you go out of that comfort zone more and grow you’ll find you adjust your arrangement, playing and composition accordingly so there’s nothing missing, but you’ll still have the capability of doing it if you want, so you won’t lose this magic spot (which is the other fear many people have). It’s simply adding new strings to the bow.