Boardwalk (Track / Production Commentary) - Scoobert Doobert

0:00 Music Appreciation. It's time for another production track breakdown.Yeah.This song is Boardwalk, one of my latest releases.So the concept of this song is really simple.It's a song about having fun on a Boardwalk.Doesn't get simpler than that.So what I was trying to do is bring a little bit moreof a beach rock indie rock element to my music,something that I want to explore even more,

0:47 moving forward since that's music that actually inspired meto even learn guitar.The first things that I learned on the guitarwere by the ventures.That's because my grandpa showed me themand he was like, these are cool things.They don't seem like they're too, too hard to play.And they're, yeah, there's some of my favorite things still,because they're deceptively difficult.

1:10 They're very simple, but you gotta gotta nail it.Anyway, beach rock.This whole kind of beachy vibe,I started all off using a synth patchthat is kind of like filtered and weird,has weird attack to it.And it opens up this songand I think it sets kind of a cool vibe.One of the things that I've been thinking about a lotwith this record in particularthat's gonna come out this year called KŌAN

1:39 is about the birth and death of songs.So like thinking of more than just an intro and an outro.Like what is the first thing,the first impression that you get of a song,how does the song become a thingand then live and then dieand then loop back on itselfas though you're gonna just keep playingthat song over and over again.And so like that's made me thinkthat having these impactful moments

2:01 of really interesting sonics right off the topisn't just to engage the listener,but it's also to kind of invite you into this little world.And so here's just the synth stem.And then we'll stop there.Do you hear also like how there's like seagullsand some like little glitchy things?I'll play that again just so you can hear it.Seagulls, there.And it's kind of like glitchy stuff.

2:35 That is using one of my really fun new toolsthat I'm using a lot on this record,which is a granular synthesizer.I believe it's called Dustand it uses binaural effectsso like spatial audio stuff to bounce all around your headsand it's super fun because it has a choppy glitchy qualitythat's also immersive at the same time.So again, let's try and think about how those songsare birthed into the world

3:07 and using elements like a seagull,but I'm running into this granular synthesizerthat's chopping it up and doing some weird things to it.So it's both very familiar and very newkind of that, at least trying to achieve that sweet spot.And most of the synth sounds on this song,which is a little bit more of a synth driven song,I guess, that's one of the blogs said.It's using a Juno synthesizer

3:32 for pretty much every synth soundexcept for that granular synth right off the top.So let's listen to a little bit of that synthsince we're on that subjectand I have that stem pulled upand we can just kind of check out howI am making melodies with this synthesizer.Let's run into like a cassette player.Here it goes but between the super low five and more high five.And that's picking up that same melody

4:04 but in slightly different tone,something that's easy to sing over,but still like reminds you of that intro melody.Little evolution of the melody,hear all that distortion, that tape,and now we're in the chorus.Notice how gnarly these synths are likein terms of distortion and fuzziness.I'll pause that there.One other thing that I want to kind of mention isthat these synthesizers don't have a ton of low end

4:44 because I'm trying to let other things speakin those registers.So this is one of the reasons why I like hearingother producers, their stems and their solo stuffbecause it gives me a little bit of insight into boththeir arranging but also their mixing.What I'm trying to do here is thatthing that I've repeated in a bunch of different podsand I believe it more and more.Literally every time I mix,

5:08 the number one thing is control your lows,control your highs,and all of these synths have very specific ideasof where do the low end frequencies cut offand where do the high end frequencies cut off.So with that in mind, here's it again.So there's not a lot of low, low, low.And with those melodies, they're obviouslyhave a lot more brightness than this main buzzing thing.

5:46 So with this, I want to talk a little bit about attack.So another, I think, super important conceptjust about arranging and music in generalis how does a attack of something hit?So like if you think of it attack,like the clearest example would be a clap.That's super fast.That's all pure attack.But then you have something like these synthslike that, that's low attack.So like the sound is taking a second

6:17 to get out of the virtual throat, like that, you know?Like a burp.So that's, I don't wanna cheapen that conceptbecause it's so important to me how quickly things impact youas the listener, like it points your earin certain directions.It dictates whether or not an element is rhythmicbehind in the pocket, leading the pocket.And it also changes the way that compressors are reactingto everything that's going on.

6:56 So I talked about this in some of the mixing podsand I'll talk about this more later.But one of the keys to mixing is very strategicand masterful use of compression.Compression is taking loud signals,making them a little bit quieter.But the way that you do that,the way that you're cascading things,you're smoothing out this mixand then you're also melding instruments together.

7:23 So when you have like a really fast transientreally fast attack, like a snare drumor that clap that I just did,that is like screaming out to the compressor,like hey, tame me.And so it's going to duck down that compressor.When you have a slower attack,that reacts with the compressor a little bit lessbecause it's not as like, hey, look at me.And because of that, sometimes they can poke out,

7:44 sometimes they can do really interesting things.And if they have enough of an impact with a slower attack,they can even influence the compressorsto be compressing for a longer amount of time.Not pumping as much if you have really attack-basedtransients that are kind of pushing inand dictating your entire mix.Anyway, from there, let's talk about the bass and drumskind of all at once because we don't normally do that.

8:12 And I think this will be kind of fun for this song.So here we go, some bass and drums.Pretty classic.The only thing that's a little differentis some of the harmony.And then like I'm using an 808 cymbal.You know, that bridge, 808 ride cymbal.I like this drum part because it sounds like a little bit.And in the mix at least, it sounds like a human played it,but this is entirely programmed.

8:44 Here I'm like layering different subdivisionsso I get that high hat goingor coming back into the chorus, push a little bit.So this is an important thing for me.So I think making things sound goodwithout the rest of the instrumentsis a little bit overrated.Like listen how crazy those bass sounds.But obviously this is out of context,out of context of the compression,all that kind of stuff.It sounds nuts.

9:25 It sounds like big.Kind of love it.This is just huge.It's unabashedly giant.And when you have a bass this big,like you better scoop out the low end of your synths.Because you got this house down there.And it's all gone.I love contrast.This part was kind of like my song Mystery Machine.Here those like super quantized high hats very robotic.But then the bass is not.The bass is untouched.It's just human.

10:08 I really like the way that it sounds.And then this is human.These egg shakers, me playing them.Then we're in love egg shaker, stereo egg shakers.This giant house of the bass part.Man, I forgot I did this.When you work fast, it takes you to forget what you're doing.On to the next song.I'm loving this though, this fun.That's a chorus, man.Here the slight rhythmic changes on the bass part.

10:59 I love the, I don't know, the silliness of this track.It's like such a good example of contrast.You know, super chill bass parts in the verse.And then add in some different subdivisions,some different high hats, some different shakers.And then all of a sudden, it's chorus time.And then just kick up the fuzz on the bass.And you're rocking.Here's some guitars.Let's listen to these.

11:24 So this is where the beach rock thing comes from.This isn't really a ventures guitar part,but a little bit of the tonethat kind of like fender reverb springy.Pretty sure for this song,I actually use the load box,which allows me to use a tube amplifierand plug into the computer.I don't normally do that because it takes more work,but I felt like for this song, it was appropriate

11:55 because you need a little bit of that classic tonethat's what I was going for.And you hear that chorus, that width,when we hit the chorus,add a little chorus on the chorus.It's fun playing parts like thisbecause I try to be intentionally kind of sloppyand like I'm pretty sure 90%.I just recorded these and just full takes,do like two or three of them.And it's like, okay, that's the guitar part for the whole song.

12:29 A lot of it's improvised too.Like as you can hear,there's a little like indulgence and stuff like that.That's just in the moment like, okay.One thing that I, for these kind of partsthat I think is super importantto get that right amount of sloppinesswhere it doesn't feel stiffis to use a thin guitar pick,like almost as thin as you possibly can.I like the fender like triangle picks.He gives you the sound.

12:52 I found out about that when I was,I watched an interview, who was it?Oh right, it was Nile Rodgers, Chic and everything.Yeah, he was talking all about obviously not this kind of tonebut this kind of idea, these triads,these smaller guitar shapes.Not like big full chords.And he talked about the value of using a really thin pick.I totally agree.I usually, I either use super heavy or super thin.Pretty much, that's it.

13:32 Super heavy for lead guitar, super thin for rhythm guitar.You're the shift from super stereo choruses to straight upand that pushes you into the next songwhich is not out yet but I'm very excited for it to be.Also, what I'm doing there,I'm doing this in a lot of my songs nowbecause I just love it.It just sounds so pretty and I feel like I'm getting betterat what's these artificial harmonicsthat, what's his name?

14:07 Ted Green, double checking thisbecause I don't want to mess that up.T-E-D-G-R-E-E-N-E, Ted Greene.Yeah, he rocks.I wanted to make sure I wasn't like confusing himwith the basketball player.Yeah, he, I'm not very angry.He, he kind of like,I'm not sure if it was his ideaor if he was just the first person that I heard do itbut he does these really beautiful thingsand that's what I'm emulating the very end

14:38 where you're playing with both hands.It's not like tapping.It's creating those little beautiful,little dotty harmonic things.Let me copy that over so you can hear that one more time.You're the technique that I'm talking about.I do it in a lot of songs nowand it's really fun to watch, I think.I mean, I'm excited to play live for youso you can see it but to see somebody's hand

15:01 because ultimately what you're having to dois you're having to draw the shapethat you're playing with your left handwith your right in pretty rapid succession.I do it by holding my pointer fingerwhere the harmonic is,which is usually in this case it was 12 frets awayfrom what I'm frettingand then playing the stringwith my ring finger on my right hand.So it's kind of a fun, I don't know,I just think it was cool.

15:28 Come see Scoobert Doobert live to experience this techniquethat I totally took from Ted Greene, but I'm getting better at itand hopefully putting my own spin on it, ding it.I'm not swearing right now.I do this every year to practice speech control.It's very hard.Anyway, thank you for joining me on this bizarre little podabout a bizarre little song that I really likeand I hope you like too.

15:57 There's a lot going on in this onein terms of the interaction of thingsbut fundamentally it's quite simple.I think that the key kind of techniques hereare contrast,controlling your highs and lowsand then playing with attackand melding the familiarlike the classic guitar tonewith maybe the slightly unexpectedlike 808 ride cymbalsand seagulls chopped up into granular synthesizers.I keep you on your toes.

16:32 All right, with that,if you have any questions,if you have any suggestions for podsor anything like that,just want to send me some memes.scoobertdoobert.pizza is the place to find meand get all my links there.Just shoot me a DM, Reddit, Instagram,wherever you're comfy.Reach out, let's chat.Thanks for listening.See you guys next week.Bye.