Golden Throat Sound

Credits

Production: Mixer Jaëxx
Album: Sound-sized Treats

Mastering: Mixer Jaëxx
Copyright: Mixer Jaëxx, U.S. Copyright Office, 2018

Creation

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Golden Throat Sound is such a special song. It just has this vibe to it I’ve never heard before. I ended up naming the song “Golden Throat Sound” after the RCA Victor. They were self-marketed as having a “golden throat”. Thus, it was common to say RCA Victors had a “golden throat sound”.

A big part of this song is the bass. I’m using a technique I’ve used in quite a few of my songs where I will have one bass and then layer it with a virtual device I created called the “MJ High-bass Emulator (Blown Sub)”. This allows devices that can’t produce woofer or sub bass, such as iPhones, to play the mid-to-high frequencies in place of the bass. 

For the normal bass itself, I ended up taking the same bass used for the Bradenton Ambient song GT Bray. A big difference between the two songs is GT Bray uses advanced delays to bounce and repeat the bass through the stereo field whereas Golden Throat Sound doesn’t. The bass is being generated by a Malström virtual synth. The MJ High-bass Emulator can’t be used in every situation unfortunately and takes a special arrangement for it to be useable.

The piano play is something’ I’m really proud of. The main melody is a Rhodes MkII (“Rhodes1”). I’m using some distortion and reverb to give it an older, crackling sound. 

“Rhodes1” is then supported by two other pianos (“Rhodes2”, “Rhodes3”). “Rhodes2” is a Wurlitzer 100 series. It’s sound is complimented by using the CV out wire from a Malström graintable synthesizer’s low frequency oscillator (LFO) to modulate the wet / dry amount of an Audiomatic effect device. This makes the Wurlitzer 100 sound washed out at various times.

“Rhodes3” is a Rhodes MkII and it can be heard at the intro and the break section (around 1:07 of the song). It sounds nearly identical to the “Rhodes1”, but I had to create a new piano in order to get the keyboard (the MIDI notes) to create that almost-harp like portamento vibe.

The beat is composed of two parts. The first part (“Beat”) is one of those beats that’s hard to pull off yet brilliant in its simplicity. It’s generated with a Kong drum machine. The amazing part is the second part of the beat (“DrumBoy”). It’s a collection of brush hit sounds. The magic lies in the Synchronous device that automates the delay (including feedback) and reverb as well as the level. The timing of the Synchronous is off-beat which means “DrumBoy” will sound a little different each time it’s played. This gives the drums an underlying smoky vibe and flavor, ya know? I love it.

At around 53 seconds is the “Alt” section. The way I created this sound is special. I ended up taking a melody that was going to be used for a song idea that never got off the ground. I copied the MIDI data over and applied it to a standard synth. I wanted to experiment with it so I rendered the sound out to a waveform to see about reversing the audio or other techniques. I came up with something that didn’t sound good but I liked how the melody had changed. So I played the melody on my Roland A49 keyboard pared to a Malström graintable synth and came up with an even better melody. 

And finally, one of the biggest drivers for the vibe of the song is one of the smallest. I wanted to give the song that just… relaxed, spaced-out feel. So I did a field recording; I heated up an empty skillet on high heat on,y stove. I then slowly dripped water onto it, recording the sound of water vaporizing into mist (the channel’s called “Steam”). Man, what a fantastic feeling “Steam” added to the song.

I decided to make a statement with Golden Throat Sound for my approach to creating music; I don’t have any one type of person in mind that I expect will listen to my stuff. I’m happy if it’s listened to people young or old, rich or poor, introverted or extroverted. 

“Designed to appeal to all classes and income brackets.”

This album, Sound-sized Treats, is also a little bit of a response to my journey in creating music and the struggles I’ve been able to overcome in teaching myself how to become the artist I am today.

“I’ve been pressing notes any old way. Now this is what it does.” 

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Recording artist & producer.