Case Study #1: Red Moon - The Holydrug Couple

Title: “Red Moon”

Artist: The Holydrug Couple

Album: Noctuary

BPM: 108

Song Length: 3:31

Key: Eb Major (a tad sharp)

Time Signature: 4/4

Producer/Composer: Ives Sepulveda

Mixing Engineer: Ives Sepulveda, Nes

Mastering Engineer: Nes

Label: Sacred Bones Records

“Red Moon” is the 5th track on The Holydrug Couple’s 2nd album Noctuary, which was released in 2013. The Holydrug couple is a psychedelic dream pop duo (Ives Sepulveda and Manuel Parra) from Santiago, Chile and were formed in 2008. Since then, The Holydrug Couple has released 6 albums (one album released just recently), 1 EP and 3 singles and have teamed up with labels such as Sacred Bones Records and Blow Your Mind (BYM) Records.

From their Bandcamp site, “Noctuary” was recorded by the duo in their home studio in Santiago Chile within four months (The Holydrug Couple, 2013). Ives is the main producer/composer for all tracks and performed most of the instruments heard in album (guitars, bass, vocals, keys, noises, percussion, drum on track 1 and 10) besides the drums which Manuel plays (The Holydrug Couple, 2013). Because they feared that no one could capture their unique sound, Ives took the reigns to engineer the album (BYM Records, 2018). The mixing and mastering stages were done in BYM Records Studio (A label also based in Santiago) and Ives alongside Nes mixed the album while Nes mastered the album (The Holydrug Couple, 2013). The sound of the album Noctuary is described as “...a slow motion 60’s beach party dream that you never want to wake up from,” (The Holydrug Couple, 2013), which is portrayed well in “Red Moon”, due to its heavy use of effects on the guitars, slow tempo and washed out vocals that makes you feel like you’re up in the clouds.

This case study will be about analysing “Red Moon” to further understand how this track was put together as well as to get a better understanding of the production of this genre. The instruments that can be heard in the track are rhythm guitars, solo guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and noises, which will be discussed individually to analyse each instrument and how they all work together in the track.

Vocals

The psychedelic dream pop genre is well-known for having very reverberated vocals which Ives has managed to deliver very well. For this track, the vocals have been duplicated and have been hard panned left and right. It isn’t as noticeable because of the amount of the reverb that is sent to the vocals, which help the vocals spread across the centre as well to make it stand out amongst the other instruments. The vocals seem to have cut low frequencies below 500Hz to remove any unwanted bass frequency build up and there is also a low pass filter around the 10-15kHz range; where sibilance is still audible but the vocal now sound more lo-fi. For the overall feel of the track, the vocals add to the psychedelic experience. It can be heard in almost every position of the space due to the amount of reverb it has, and by Ives holding long notes, it helps to retain the reverb’s long tail and as well as feedback (which can be heard at the start of the solo). The vocals also suits the entire track as this was recorded on analog (can be heard from tape machine noise and other earth-hum within track), which adds to the warmth and lo-fi quality of the track. The analog sound of the track also adds to the laid-back dream pop feel. This is because analog lofi quality music tends to calm the brain due to the signals having more rougher and interesting textures such as hum, crackle, noise, filtering, which all eases the mind (Man, 2018). The vocals play a crucial part in helping to portray the dreamy laid-back feel of the track.

Rhythm Guitars

The rhythm guitars start the track off and continue until the very end; as though acting as the driving force for the song. The rhythm guitars is effected with delay with a short feedback amount as well as having that feedback on a low level. This is to make sure it doesn’t disrupt the vocals’ reverb and feedback signals where all together, would sound like a wall of noise. The rhythm guitars have been double tracked and have been panned left and right, but similar to the vocals where its reverb has helped the signals spread to across to the centre but not as much as the vocals. With EQ, there is a high pass filter around the 200Hz region to again, remove unwanted bass frequency build up, seems to have a +3dB boost around the 800Hz - 1k with a Q of 3 to bring more of the strums of the guitars, and a high cut around 15kHz, to remove brightness to match the sound quality of the track. Compression is also added to these guitar tracks to keep the levels consistent throughout the whole track without overpowering any other instruments.

Solo Guitars

The solo guitar tracks are introduced ¾ in of the track and, like the guitars, are duplicated and panned left and right, but the left track has more level than the right and majority of the feedback fades to the right side. The solo guitars are affected with tremolo, reverb, and also have different guitar settings to the rhythm guitar to differentiate between the two signals. The solo guitars EQ have a low cut filter around 500Hz as there aren’t any low frequencies being heard, there is a high cut around the 15kHz to reduce brightness and also a +3 (or more)dB boost around 1-2k to bring out the raspiness of the guitars. There is also distortion applied which helps bring out the raspiness as well. Because the guitar solo is playing long sustained notes, it suits the tremolo effect as well as match the other instruments long-note sustained playing style.

Bass

The bass is one of the only instruments that doesn’t have many applied effects, which is common in this genre as well as many others as bass tracks normally help to steer the song and help with retaining the consistency of the rhythm. For EQ, there is a high cut around the 5kHz region to have a more muted sound, and a +3dB boost with a Q of 2 between 500Hz - 1kHz and also around the 300-350Hz region to bring up the mids and boost the lower mid end to raise effective bass. Because bass frequencies tend to sustain (also caused by how the bass notes is being played), there is no need for reverb or delay effects.

Drums

The drum in this tracks seems to be the brightest instrument in this track as the cymbals seem to shine through more, which is understandable as you wouldn’t want all instruments in the mix to have the same tone qualities as nothing would really stand out. This 5-piece vintage sounding drum kit consists of a kick, snare, ride cymbal, rack tom, and a floor tom, which is a standard setup for most psychedelic dream pop tracks. In the intro, the drums are introduced by the snare and 2 full-sounding toms which are then reduced by a couple of dBs after to blend in with the entire mix. The drums are less prominent in this track as the main focus is on the guitar tracks and vocals, because they have a better portrayal of the psychedelic vibe by the use of effects rather than the drums. The drums have a reverb setting similar to a small-medium room, where there is a defined reverb tail but not as long as the vocals or guitars, so that the audience is able to identify the beat without it getting washed out and lost in the mix. The drums are also being compressed to help keep the sound tight and stay consistent in level throughout the track.

Noise

Adding non-musical elements such as atmos or noise to your mixes is an important element in the psychedelic dream pop genre. Noise tends to help with thickening the mix as well as being able to experiment. The most noticeable noise in this track are the guitar slides while other noise consist of tape machine noise, and other analog related noises such as crackle. The guitar slide noises are affected with delay and reverb: delay having a longer and louder feedback than the rhythm guitars (because they are strummed once here and there throughout the track, their long feedback won’t disrupt the vocals) and its reverb set to a large hall setting. The other analog noise that we hear are all dry signals which helps audiences to recognise the warm analog quality of the track.

To conclude, “Red Moon” shows just some of common processes and techniques used to capture and create the psychedelic dream pop sound and how experimental and creative an individual can get with sounds. By analysing the use of their instruments and processing, we were able to see how The Holydrug Couple was able to successfully create a unique sound to portray a laid-back dream pop feeling.