Collaborative Music Contest 2021

Mutual symbiosis (biology): ecological interaction between two species that benefit both of them (e.g., ocellaris clownfish and Ritteri anemone).

The only samples used are birdsongs previously synthetized in the studio: synthesized sounds

Photograph credits: Nadia Chiesi

Our complementarity emerged from the beginning. Paul has a strong background in music production, while Eric has more experience in experimental sounds like synthesising realistic birdsongs and immersive nature soundscapes. Eric took advantage of his knowledge and his fresh eye to experiment with sound design, rhythms, and notes, creating a raw baseline for the track. In addition to the synths he designed, Paul used his experience to work in the details, to smoothen, to refine, and to make all the ideas work together.

Each sound has been synthesised from scratch by either of us (including drums, effects and birdsongs). The sound design split is as follows.

• Eric: arpeggios, lead, secondary pad, set of crushed drums, set of smooth drums, bass, organic effects with white noise, birdsongs.

• Paul: sub (recorded with midi keyboard), primary pad, set of drums, psychedelic effects, risers, structure, arrangement, mixing, ‘mastering’.

We named our collaboration “mutual symbiosis” as reference to the ecological interaction between two or more species, where each species has a net benefit. This title fully embodies the spirit of our collaboration. In a certain way, we are two different species with singular skills completing each other, receiving knowledge and the achievement of this track as net benefit. The fun fact is that our roles started to blend from the beginning, as Paul tried to design birdsongs while Eric tried to design psybient sounds, driven by learning from each other. Also, several genres ended up influencing this collaboration (downtempo, electronica, psy, ambient, birdcore).

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