Electro Arabic

An Electro Arabic fusion using VSTi's

Composition Background

My aim was to experiment with creating Arabic sounds with VSTI's. The track is constructed purely of electronic midi tracks

Together with clips of samples. This composition started off as a series of experiments using different

VSTi's to see if I could create an Arabic feel to the song, and then it developed into a fully fledged composition.

Composition Structure

The structure of this song does not follow a conventional pattern, as there are multiple bridge sections and a breakdown section.

The structure is as follows :-

Composition Development

To start off this track I found an interesting drum sound in the EZ Drummer expansion pack "Electronic Edge"

I applied a midi drum pattern to this drum kit and found that it produced an interesting, driving and drone like sound

which I thought would work perfectly with the composition.

The next step was to add a midi bass track, which was an Analog Lab V 80's synth bass which was doubled with

an Air Xpand2 clicky analog bass.

I added 4 chord tracks, which were introduced and removed throughout the song to provide ambience and depth.

Each chord track had different characteristics to allow for a wider diversity of sounds.

For this I used the following instruments :-

Each of these tracks was manipulated with compression, reverb, and EQ to fill the sound spectrum.

In the breakdown section I used another Arabic instrument pluck sample to follow the bassline of the song.

After this I added an Arabic drum sample that was used from the breakdown until the end of the song.

Finally, I added some samples that were pitch-shifted and time-stretched from the MusicRadar

Arabian Nights soundpack as follows :-

Reflection

This was an exercise in auditioning and pairing various Arabic VSTi's. The Arabic World Strings are one of

my favourite VSTi's and add great atmosphere and depth.

The rhythm is driving and relentless for most of the track, but the dynamic is changed in the chorus section by using a number of

chord stabs and creating some space in the soundscape.

I was pleased with the atmosphere that was generated and the use of fusion elements, using modern

electronic instruments paired with more traditional Arabic sounds.

An Arabian Adventure