Project Description: The Ableton Jukebox Project asked students to compose a piece modeled after the sound of a particular genre, style, or artist of the student's choice. First, students listened closely to their genre, style, or artist of choice and identified significant features of its sound that set it apart from other genres as unique and easily recognizable. Then, in Ableton Live 11, students channeled some or all of those features in their own track, combining Samples, Virtual Instruments, and FM or Wavetable Synthesis to achieve their own unique, creative take on the genre, style, or artist that inspired them.
Five student pieces are posted below, each with the composer's name, piece title, and excerpted introductory remarks by the composer from the reports submitted along with the pieces' audio. Pieces posted with student permission.
Aliah Torres, "Where Do We Go Now?"
From the Composer: "I chose to channel the House style of electronic music. I like chill music and House music tends to be pretty chill even though there is a steady beat that will make you want to dance a little. I chose to sample "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses... this song means a lot to me because my dad dedicated it to me when I was little so it always reminds me of him. My dad was my best friend and role model. I lost my dad suddenly in 2021 and my life has not been the same sense and never will be. I can't listen to that song without crying, and this project was very hard to create for me. It starts with "where do we go?" and you hear this line a lot throughout the song. This line is very important for me because I did not know what to do after my dad passed. I did not know how to keep going. My whole world crumbled beneath my feat and I did not know where to go. But that line also means a lot because my dad loved to travel and he showed me a lot of the world, so it also reminds me of how he would always ask me where we should go next. My dad is my driving force and everything I do is with him in mind. We bonded a lot over music. He was not a huge House fan though, so I am not sure he would like this song too much... regardless, it's for him."
David Truong, "ADDICTED2U"
From the Composer: "[For] this project, my influences are Flume, Imanu, RL Grime, Leotrix, SkyBreak, Moore Kismet, Munro, Seven LIons, Nurko, and G Jones. The genre I was imitating was color bass (a sub-genre of dubstep), melodic dubstep, and melodic riddim (another sub-genre of dubstep similar to color bass), with a small portion of experimental and unorthodox sounds within the fills. Looking back at this project, I was always used to sound design and imitating G Jones' style of drops since his music was constantly pushing the barriers of sound... However, I wanted to take some elements of that and create something that was not too weird but was still enjoyable to the average dubstep fan. The proudest accomplishment of this track is the song's structure and arrangement, creating fake-outs and not boring the listener."
Memphis McDaniel, "TVPreacher"
From the Composer: "For my synth song, TV Preacher, I [emulated] late 90s-2000's MTV and Adult Swim bumps. Thematically they tended to be more political and took inspiration from alternative rock. Style-wise I tried to go for a more abstract take on EDM. Specifically, I drew from Savant who tend to pieces almost soundscapes in a way. Their piece Slasher, which draws from horror movies and even includes the sound of someone trying and failing to start up a car, was a big inspiration for this piece. I'm learning that I prefer atmospheric soundscape type mixing as opposed to more musical applications. I think that I have a better sense for soundscapes than musical composition and I enjoy the process of picking out sounds to try to put together a realistic experience."
Christina Jacome, "16 de Abril"
From the Composer: "For this project, I chose to draw inspiration from artists PinkPantheress, KAYTRANADA, The Holydrug Couple, and Crumb. I can't categorize them in the same genre as they differ from each other but they share similarities. PinkPantheress is best categorized as hyperpop or alt-pop. KAYTRANADA's music is described as hip hop beats with house grooves or house influenced R&B. Their album "99.9%" inspired me. Additionally, the song "Retreat!" by the group Crumb inspired me. The bridge separating the two verses stands out to me. I tried to do something similar by playing with the vibrato of one of the parts. The Holydrug Couple is the most different form the rest as they are a psychedelic rock duo. Their song "Atlantic 19 de Agosto" in particular inspired me. I named my song in homage to this song by using the date in Spanish. My goal was to make a song that is easy to daydream to like theirs."
Joaquin Guzman, "The Mountain We Climb"
From the Composer: "For this project, I originally wanted to compile two genres together such as classical and Hip-Hop in some fashion... I wanted to create this illusion that you as the listener would go on this journey up a mountain as you make your way to the top, jet fly over with debris flying around. Once you make it past the jets the final part of the piece comes in and you are able to see the world from the very top and have the feeling of accomplishment that you have made it. I did my best to give the illusion of climbing a mountain and create this imagery for those that listen to be immersed in that feeling and feeling like it is possible to climb that mountain.