Track 1: Drums and Tones During the making of this track I was listening to a lot of drum and bass music and decided to play drum and bass on my own drum set. I start off playing on the rims and the sides of my drums for the immediate intro. The I put a splash on one of my snares and played a beat with that. I then played an upbeat kick, snare, hi-hat groove with the occasional fill. I switch over to the ride cymbal and then play some rolls on my ride in the middle of the song. Then I play a powerful half-time groove with the snare along with the ride and hi-hat. The drums get upbeat again for the ending. A while after it was finished I decided to add melody to this track. I ended up using a synth instrument from garageband which has an electronic feel to it. Track 2: Do This is my newest track and was inspired by Mute Math's latest album which has a song called Burden that has a drum break in it. There are four different parts to the song and each has a different beat. The intro is a simple beat with some playing on the rims of my drums. The second part goes into a 32nd note tom/snare groove. In the third part I follow the bass drum with hi-hat splashes and put an effect on the drums that I really like. And the outro is variations of the rhythm that I play throughout the song on the piano. This is the first song that I have used my voice on. I repeatedly say 'do' louder and louder to build up the song. I put an echo effect on my voice for it to sound spacier. Track 3: 1708 The time signature in this track is 17/8 (hence the title). It starts off with a beat that sounds like it is in 4/4 but i add an 8th note to the 2nd measure to make it 17/8. I made a point not to play the bass drum in the one or the three of the measure to give the beat a trippy feel. Then I added floor toms that back up the beat. I then played two separate snares: one with snares off and one with them on. They go back and forth for a little. There is also a crash cymbal that follows the bass drum. I added another snare on the backbeat to give the outro more power. I also put a bell that follows the snare at the end. I then added melody to the track with garageband instruments and string instruments and the end of the song. Track 4: No. 3 I got the inspiration for this song from listening to the Slumdog Millionare soundtrack and listening to the world beats in it. Here I play a beat with a bass drum, hi-hat, and switch between two snare drums with the snares off. I play rim shots on the snares. I also play hi-hat splashes on the offbeats. I then overdubbed a track which I play on my toms and they follow the bass drum. Then I added cymbals on which I play 16th notes for four measure then 32nd notes for the next four and go back and forth between cymbals. I added a phaser effect on the cymbals and also added a cowbell that focus on the off beats. I put in a china for the last 8 measure that I hit with a mallet. To give the track more excitement I played 32nd notes around my drum set and put a filter effect on it so it doesn't take over the whole track. Track 5: Percussion Percussion is based off of a steady 8th note rhythm on the drums. Bongos were added next and they are the focus of the track. Then I added a subtle tambourine on the 2 and 4 of each measure. I then hit broken cymbals with a mallet. Then I took the bell of a cymbal and played an ostinato with it. A cowbell was added with a similar ostinato. During the end of the song I play a snare drum with the snares off on the off beats. I added a china cymbal, playing gradual crescendos on it. Track 6: Start Machine This is the first track that I substituted a drum machine for the drums. I made a trippy beat then added echo effects over it throughout the song. I play a simple melody on the piano over it that sounds really nice. I then added strings and electronics to give the song a fuller sound Track 7: Delayed The focus of this track is a groove in 6/8 that I added delay to, giving it a triplet pattern and then put a filter effect on it. I wanted to experiment with this track so I played 8th notes on my kitchen stove with butter knives and put a filter effect on that. Then I stomped on my bathroom floor and put reverb and echo effects on it. Then I played a rhythm on my cymbals and gradually added more delay to them as the track goes on. I topped the track off with a marching rhythm on my snare. Track 8: Atmosphere The reason I made this track was my friend said it would be cool if I made a song that sounded like thunder. So the track starts off with piano that symbolizes the coming of a storm. I also put a rainy effect in the intro. Then the drums come in and they symbolize the storm arriving. I played the cymbals loudly to be the sound of thunder. I also added strings that mask the piano to give the song a fuller sound. I also added a subtle garageband instrument to give the track a little more melody. In the middle of the song it gets quieter to symbolize people getting used to the storm. I move to the hi-hat on the drums and put a cool effect on them. Then the last part of the song is the climax of the storm where it is at its loudest. I play 16th notes on the piano. The drums are loud and follow the piano. The ending has a little bit of chaos and then its over. Track 9: Bellum Bellum has a war-like theme to it. The song started off with a snare drum rhythm without the snares. I play the toms throughout the song. I then added another snare with a simple marching beat. I played a bass drum and added a reverb effect. This bass drum sound is my personal favorite on the album. I also added cymbals and bells and played them with mallets. I play a china cymbal the follows the bass drum. I play on the wooden side of my bass drum as well throughout the track. A while all the percussion was done I added piano to give the track more melody and passion. Track 10: Pax Pax is the aftermath of Bellum. While Bellum's theme is was war, Pax's theme is peace. This song started with piano. I wanted it to sound uplifting. I then played my drums with mallets to give the song an epic orchestral feel. I added cymbals over the drums to give the song a bigger sound. Then I added a couple of airy garageband sounds that follow the piano to give the song a happy feeling and to end the album with a happy feeling.