'A Lonely Machine'

Hi guys,

My last release this year will be a future bass track of mine called 'A Lonely Machine'. 

What inspired me to make this track?

As I think some of you can hear, I got inspired by Porter Robinson's amazing song 'Sad Machine'. But actually, this only came to mind after I discovered a VST plugin called 'Little Alterboy 5' by Soundtoys.

The choice of making it a future bass track came to me after listening to Lemaitre through Madeon's following page on Soundcloud. They can make some really dreamy and heavy future bass tracks - check them out yourself! 

And as every track I've ever made, this one is inspired by Avicii as well. His songs and melodies will forever be in my heart.

Who's singing?

It's actually me singing on the track (believe it or not). I really can't sing, but the LA5 plugin has the ability to make your voice sound robotic. So after writing the lyrics, I hit record and sang them in a monophonic voice (which is really hard for some reason). Afterwards, I was able to pitch them as I liked as well as making my voice sound a little higher (to imitate the sound of a robot).

This way, I had complete control of the vocal melody, and I was able to make it sound as emotional as I could.

Little Alterboy by Soundtoys.

(These are not the settings I used, it's just a picture from Google to show you 

what the plugin looks like.)

Is there a story behind the lyrics?

Yes, there is.

After discovering that I could make myself sound like a robot, I sat down to try and make up a beautiful story about how we, sometimes in life, keep going on our own adventures without having anybody to share them with - and I find the sharing part of it to be the best part.

The lyrics are:

Verse 1:

Have you ever felt alone?

Just you and the sky,

This is my life...

All the colors staring at you,

With no one by your side,

You're colorblind.

Staring at the edge of Earth,

I don't see the heart of life,

There's something missing...

Verse 2:

10 years ago I sailed out here,

I'd had enough of city life.

But being in a hurry,

I left my heart there,

And I can still hear it beating.

I left to find happiness,

Little did I know,

The greatest moments are made when you're not alone.

The story is about a scientist who has built a machine. The mission of the machine is to go out into the world to find what happiness is to mankind. The machine goes on an adventure of its own and ends up on an island with the most beautiful view - millions of stars, northern lights, the universe being mirrored in the sea at night, the point where the Earth breaks in the distance.

But after 10 years on the island, the machine comes to the conclusion that something had been missing the whole time; company. Because happiness isn't about the beautiful views, the adventures we go on, or the peace and quiet. The moments of happiness are made when we're together; when we're sharing those moments with someone else, we're truly happy.

Where can I find 'A Lonely Machine'?

You can find it on Soundcloud, YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and on The Artist Union!

Thank you for listening and reading!

- Bengston.

First record deal!

Hi guys!

I'm very excited to tell you that I've got a record deal with the Dutch record label, Strange Fruits. 

I've made the track 'Dance With Me' together with the two great producers, HAZE (Danish producer), and Breeze (Finnish producer). 

My job was to create the melodic elements which you hopefully can hear has my sound if you've heard some of my other tracks.

Ever since I started producing, I never thought this was actually going to happen - not many people can say they have a record deal.

I can only thank you guys for being part of who I am as a musician!

This is my chance to work harder than ever which I've been doing since the beginning of 2018 - before than I was just playing around in FL Studio for a few hours each week.

I guess hard work pays off. This year I've been producing for at least 3-8 hours each day, and I've got 3 tracks released on Summer Sounds, and this 1 track released on Strange Fruits.

I know this isn't too big of a deal - you haven't made it as a footballer when you've been sold to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but keep spending time on the bench. You've made it when you're out playing each game.

Soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/strangefruitsmusic/nf051

I want to thank you, guys! You're the best fans for me :)

I would be happy if you'd check 'Dance With Me' out. I'll keep you updated about future tracks of mine!

Thank you for reading, listening, and most importantly, being there since day one,

- Bengston.

New track - "Waves"

Hi guys!

I'm very glad to have had my track 'Waves' released at Summer Sounds. 

Check it out here:

When I made this track, I started out with the vocal chop-melody which is a bit unusual for me as I - most of the time - make the chord progression first and then the melody afterwards. 

But I guess the best melodies are made when you don't really need a chord progression to begin with. :)

Thank you for listening!

- Bengston.

Brønshule Festival 2018

Hi guys,

I've got some big news. I'll be playing at Brønshule Festival 2018 on the 20th of July. I'm very excited and happy to have gotten the chance to do so.

  I'll be playing some of my original tracks and some of my edits/bootlegs/official remixes. 

I've made a bunch of new tracks in the meantime - for the special occasion - which you can check out here:

Kygo - Carry Me ft. Julia Michaels (Bootleg):

Band Of Horses - On My Way Back Home (Bootleg):

Fërry - Connectivity (Remix):

Bengston - Isometric:

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing (Bootleg):

Bengston - Come On:

   
I've got a special release for another track and therefore I haven't released that one (I'll post the news when it's released!)


The reason behind making so many bootlegs/edits is that I want the audience to hear my music, but also have a good time with songs they can sing along to.

This way, they'll hear my sound but also sing along to famous songs while - still - hearing my sound in the bootlegs and edits.

I'm planning on recording my set and upload it on Soundcloud with a setlist - if I don't forget it though... :D - so you can enjoy it too if you missed it or if you wondered what I was playing.

I hope to see you there!

Thank you for reading and listening along :)

Oh, I forgot... By the way, I changed my artist name back from MusicDAB to Bengston.

- Bengston.

Wish You Were Here | Giving new life to a track of mine from 2014.

Hi,

The story of the track and where I got the inspiration from:
This track is a track the dates all the way back to the year 2014. I just heard Avicii's 'All You Need Is Love' and was truly fascinated by the guitar in the end.

I chased that sound, found it, and changed it. I wanted to make a melody like it, so I tried my best. I also heard 'X You' as well as 'Speed' at the time so I wanted to go along using the same kind of chord progression.

After making the intro melody I couldn't come up with any drop melody so I made two arps and forgot about the track for 4 years.

I finally took the courage to continue the track a couple of days ago, and got inspired by Avicii's melody from the making of 'Dancing In My Head' with FutureMusicMagazine (the melody from 0:00:00 - 0:00:30:

I wanted the same kind of melody so I tried changing it and ended up with the bell melody in the drop.


What is the track about?
The track is about witnessing something truly beautiful like a sunset, nothern lights etc. by yourself, and then suddenly you think of someone else and you wish that the person were there by your side to witness it as well.



Can I hear the demo from 2014?
You can listen to the demo here: https://soundcloud.com/musicdab/musicdab-wish-you-were-here-2014-demo/s-0VK6n

Thank you for listening - I hope you enjoyed it :)

- MusicDAB

'Chasing Love' | First time with my own lyrics and singing.

This new song is really special.

For the first time I've written my own lyrics as well as sung them myself.

If you missed my post on Facebook you can read what the song is about in this picture below (taken from my Facebook page):

As I'm not really comfortable with my voice, I sung on the instrumental version I made but tuned it 2 semitones up. 

Afterwards, I took the recorded vocal and placed it in the original key of the song and pitched it 2 semitones down. This way it has that nice deep house type vocal to it.

 

Free download on Soundcloud.

In the 2nd break I removed the guitar as I wanted the guitar to fade into the 2nd drop, but I found the song quite empty at that point. I decided to use a vocoder which filled the space up quite nicely.

TIP: When using a vocoder, make the carrier play deeper notes than you would usually do. Those (too) deep bass notes sounds great on a vocoded vocal. Also, make sure to give the carrier a lot of noise to it as this gives the vocoded vocal a nice spark to it.

The idea of the guitar melody came to me after I heard Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car' + wanted to make a song with those nice "sunsetting" summer vibes to it (therefore the cover art picture). 

Thank you for reading this! And thank you for listening. Please tell me what you think about it :)

- MusicDAB. 

 

Care | The power of love.

Hi again,

I'm back with a new track called 'Care'. 

I wrote it back when my ex-girlfriend was ill (we were still together back then) and I took care of her. The tables turned, I got sick, and she took care of me.

'Care' is about that feeling of love you get when someone are taking care of you, when you're ill.

The pitched sound in the break is a symbol of illness taking over your body, and you feel tired and in no mood for anything. 

After the break the euphoric arp with the heavy drums symbolises the love you feel as well as the hope/road to getting better.

I hope you like it :)

Free download on Soundcloud. 

As always, thank you for reading and listening.

- MusicDAB

 

Sea of Mirrors - new track with vocal chops.

Hi guys,

I've made a new track where I've used vocal chops for the 2nd time I think - the first time was 'Disco Freak' back in 2014.

I've listened a lot to Hellberg's single 'Slumber Party' and his remix of 'Age of Innocence' by Elephante (ft. Trouze and Damon Sharpe).

I really like the vocal chops in the two tracks so I decided to try it out myself:

I've used Fruity Slicer to make the vocal chops and made some pitch changes of some of the chops.

I also tried "STACKING THE LAAAYERSSS" as well as using extreme EQ'ing to match the amount of layers. The mix sounds quite busy, but I don't think it looses energy which was my goal for this track (= lots of energy).

The mixing process took a lot of time as I must have rendered a "final version" 20 times this week...

And for the first time I've used autotune on a synthesizer - it gives the pluck sound I made in Poizone a little roll at 1:26 and 1:34 among other times in the track.

I hope you like it - if you do, feel free to download it on my Soundcloud.

- MusicDAB.
  

OMFG style :D

Hi again,

I've made a new track called 'Crazy Drink' because I couldn't think of any name so I came up with that *facepalm*.

It's inspired by OMFG and his music, but as always I've mixed my inspiration from his music with my own style.

It's quite short (2:16) which is a little experiment - I've tried to produce a track that isn't boring at any moment. This made it a little shorter than normally, but I like the idea behind it.

You can listen to the track here on YouTube:

I have an announcement as well. Since I turned 18 in January I'm now linked up on Bandcamp, so you can now support me (if you want) by buying my tracks for 0.80 USD here: https://musicdab.bandcamp.com/releases

I'm only doing it to see how many will buy my tracks ( just one will make it all worth it!) so if you want to download it, just send my an email to this address: musicdab@hotmail.com.

Thank you for reading and listening,

- MusicDAB 

UPDATE: Social media platforms (what to expect?).

Hi again guys,

This is an update I've made to make my social media platforms more interesting and to give each of them a purpose.

I've written about the update on my Facebook:

You can find the links to my social media platforms here:

- Soundcloud, YouTube, Facebook.

A question-and-answer will be on all my descriptions on YouTube and Soundcloud posts so you'll easily find what you are looking for:

Example:

Q: What can I find on your Soundcloud?

A: My feedback versions of my tracks + my collaborations and official remixes.

Thank you,

- MusicDAB