Track 2 from my album ‘Atmospheres’:

Atmosphere 2 is the most melodic of all the tracks on the album, and was written midway through the creation of Atmosphere 3 (one of the least melodic) during a few days of creative block. The structure is simple – the same melody is repeated three times, first low, then high, and finally as a quieter echo, played on a different instrument.

The main instrument is actually a combination of two instruments, a bass clarinet and dilruba. I was surprised how well they fit together – the bass clarinet provides a rich low end, and a roundness to the sound, whilst the dilruba adds interest to the higher timbres. By using the same reverb (and removing much of the dry signal), I was able to smooth out the differences between the two instruments so that they appear to be one.

The droning marimba ambience which closes the track was created by completely removing the dry signal from a extremely long reverb with no attack, whilst continually retriggering each note in order to keep the drone constant, a technique which I later employed in several other tracks on the album.