TROPICAL PARADISE
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To myself when I think about the term "Tropical Paradise" a few things come up to my mind. One of them being the Eastern African savanna plains and it's vast beauty. From the amazing wilderness and the animals within, to the human culture that is so diverse that it is like a whole another microcosmic region on this beautiful planet. Everything is special about this region, it is a cradle of our civilization and origin of all of us. In this track I decided to sing in Swahili even though I am a mere starter in the language I just felt it and went with it because I had fun and think it is one of the most beautiful languages of our planet.
Listen to my entry directly via soundcloud below
Vocals | Production | Instrumentals | Lyrics | by: @ivan.atman
Read The Lyrics And Translation Below
| SWAHILI | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Kwenda kulala kati ya nyota | Go to bed between the stars |
| Kati ya matiti ya mama yako | Between your mother's breasts |
| Sisi sote ni huru | We are all free |
| Kwenda kulala kati ya nyota | Go to bed between the stars |
| Kati ya matiti ya mama yako | Between your mother's breasts |
| Kuchaguliwa kutoka juu | Selected from above |
| Nuru yako ni | The light is |
| Chombo chako | Your instrument |
Brief About The Arrangement
I started the song with the beat that I made from scratch in Battery 4, I was at this time heading towards Cuban style because it seemed like a cool thing to try for a tropical paradise and I played with a trumpet a bit, but then I added some brass with Spitfire MASSE and it changed my flow heading towards a more ambient approach, soon after that I added the bass with MODO Bass that gave the song a whole structure by laying in bed like a tandem with the beat I made. At this point I was playing around with congas from NI CUBA emulation and added a conga loop that shaped everything to sound entirely different from before. I decided to add vocals and sing in Swahili, which led me to a desire to finalize this project.
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Equipment Used On The Project
Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
This little soundcard might be in the budget range, but it is the best one out there in its price range. It has an amazing mic amps inside, and basic 2 inputs and 2 outputs. Has virtually no latency, and comes with the +48v, PAD and INST buttons. If you want to learn more about this soundcard check here
Waldorf Blofeld
I use this amazing synth as an instrument and a MIDI controller, so everything from the beats to orchestrations is being made via Blofeld/MIDI. In this track I haven't used any internal sounds from the synth. If you want to learn more about this synth check here
Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO
This is my only tool and reference for mixing and mastering for now, they are excellent in the kind of situation I'm in, it is relatively possible to make a good mix with them because they are really balanced and have an incredible mid range frequency response. If you want to learn more about this headphones check here
Shure BETA 58A
This is the best dynamic microphone I've tried so far, it improved so much from its predecessor adding more high-mid frequency response and resulting in an amazingly crispy vocals while keeping that Shure softness at the same time. If you want to learn more about this microphone check here
Ableton Live 9
All of my mixing and mastering are made on this DAW. Ever since I've switched to it my workflow has improved by 500% it is the most intuitive software I've came across so far and its routing possibilities are endless. If you want to learn more about this daw check here
IZotope Ozone 8
This is my major tool for mastering, I mostly use its Vintage Limiter which limits and balances the track overall without breaking the track with the usual things like cpu spikes or a wall of compression. If you want to learn more about this vst check here
MODO Bass
This is by far the most versatile bass vst I ever came across. It comes with more than 10 bass models and gives you an absolute control over the sound, from pick switch to which finger are you playing with. If you want to learn more about this bass check here
Spitfire MASSE
This orchestra vst is among the better ones I tried, truly revolutionary emulations of brass, strings and woodwinds sections. If you want to learn more about this vst check here
Kontakt 5
Kontakt is where I load all of my emulations, such as the Spitfire Masse or Native Instruments West Africa I used on this project. If you want to learn more about this software check here
Battery 4
I almost use Battery exclusively for beat creation and sampling, it is the most practical piece of virtual equipment for making your own sample groups and arrangements. If you want to learn more about this software check here
Native Instruments West Africa
Amazing compilation of African percussion and traditional instruments, for example in this project I used an African flute, but there are other amazing things like Kora, Ngoli, Balafon... If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Lexicon PCM Native Reverb Bundle
This is the most famous rack reverb out there which recently got emulated into vst, it is incredible how much it sound like the real thing in most of the presents, truly remarkable. If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Native Instruments Cuba
This little but amazing pack has all of the Cuban traditional instruments inside. For this project I only used the congas which are recorded immaculately and sound exquisite. If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Check my previous #beatbattle entries below
Written and arranged on the 01.04 April 2018 by @ivan.atman
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