Inspirations:
With my recordings I try to get a similar sound to artists that inspired me to do my EP in the indie theme. These artists are Mac DeMarco, Still Woozy, Boy Pablo and Rex Orange County. They all have a very mellow tone to their music yet it is all different to each other, they have common factors such as the use of flange effects, guitars and synthesisers which provide a dreamy feel. Still Woozy uses more drum based trap beats in his songs and uses high pitched vocals with multiple layers on them to achieve a different style within the genre.
In one song in particular for Mac DeMarco called On The Level from the album ‘This Old Dog’ he uses two synths to get the sounds he wants, they are a Roland D-50 to make the main chords and the lead synth is a Juno 60 which is very popular among this scene. If you listen to the song you can hear how he overlaps them to make a rhythm and lead just like how Boy Pablo does but with guitars instead. The information on the synths I got from this website, https://reverbmachine.com/blog/mac-demarco-synth-sounds, which goes more in-depth into all the other songs and the other effects used that makes him stand out from most other indie artists.
Sven Gamsky or Still Woozy is the next one I’m going to discuss, his high pitched vocals combined with a melodic guitar is what I really like to hear in a song, it is preferred above most other genres because it makes me feel relaxed which is exactly what I want when I’m doing general events or doing tasks. Still Woozy uses many different sounds from instruments along with different techniques with them to try and make himself known and sound unique, in my opinion he achieves this extremely well. In an interview that he had with Complex.com he said this to describe his style, “There’s a suitable amount of melancholy mixed with self-deprecation, and also a general feeling that it’s going to be okay.” The information I got was from this article https://lionsdigest1.com/6279/a-e/still-woozy-an-artist-that-should-be-in-everyones-playlists/.
Techniques:
All of my inspirations use different guitar techniques to help pronounce their own style of music, the way they play the instruments is a unique style that they developed by themselves, for example Mac DeMarco plays riffs he uses over a synth chord progression that he makes like in Still Beating from the album This Old Dog. Still Woozy does the same but he instead plays arpeggios from the chord progressions that he comes up with and Rex does something similar too where he makes the chords from his piano and makes guitar riffs over that and then proceeds to add extra layers of instruments and effects to enhance their sound, the effects are what truly make them all sound different.
How this information was useful:
I used it to be able to create my own sound from the use of my distortion pedal which then goes through my flange pedal and into the amp, this creates a tone that is relaxed but also up beat and allows me to be able to make the higher notes more pronounced in songs like Freaking Out the Neighborhood by Mac DeMarco for the main riff. This also helps me to see what ways that these artists think about to get into a zone for creating music and also about what extra noises they use, it also includes how they think about their own music so it can help me build up a bit more confidence when it comes to my songs that I make.
I am also including underneath a playlist that I have made which is also in my proposal to show what songs I was talking about in case you do not know them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL3wWykAKfs&list=PLWWDqHd_oEMLlQnMiiO7pWi3QHwY6GcuN&index=1
Gabriel's Music 