ABASI ROSBOROUGH - ARC JACKET

All it takes is a single spark to create a fire. That was our approach when we began development on ARC LABS MEDIA as a company and creative force. It was not long before we were approached with a project bearing a similar flair to their design. The Arc Jacket by Abdul Abasi, and Greg Rosborough was a revolutionary take on traditional men’s fashion. Not only had the pair developed sleek, stylish, and futuristic menswear but they were on the cusp of revolutionizing all of the fashion industry standards to follow. They were creating professional, comfortable, and stylish garments, and finally, they were ready to present to the world: The Arc Jacket.

THE APPROACH

First thing’s first; we wanted to understand what made Abasi-Rosborough so unique in the fashion industry. We wanted to discover the passion and desire behind the creation of the Arc Jacket in order to compose music and sound to match. With this release, Abasi-Rosborough pushed the envelope of fashion into the future. People were drawn to the unique taste and design of clothing they created. To capture these emotions accurately, we created a concept for the sonics to follow the video. We established that the concept of the video would follow a crescendo in intensity for the video’s duration to match the evolution of fashion and creativity that Abasi-Rosborough were cultivating.

ARRANGEMENT VIEW FOR THE ARC JACKET RELEASE

We worked out of Ableton 9 for pre and post production as well as arrangement and composition. This is one of our preferred DAWs due to the vast creative capabilities and functionalities. We also worked out of Power Station Studios in Pompano Beach, FL to record war drums, choir synths, and violins as well as mix down the arrangement through their AMEK Media 51 mixing console. This mix of digital and outboard processing can bring together a lot of width and saturation of analog gear while maintaining a pristine, digital tonality to the synths and creative plug in’s inside Ableton and other modern software synths.

THE EXECUTION

The video begins with a desk in the middle of a peaceful studio with a draft of the jacket being drawn on some sheets of paper. When you first see a captivating image or video, you also begin to associate that scene with the atmosphere and mood of everything presumed to be out of frame. You begin to enter the mind and emotions of the artists who created the work. We decided that this first scene would represent “today”. A simple room with a simple idea.

INTRODUCING AN IDEA

We wanted to show the evolution of an idea so we established a benchmark that this room would represent the present. To create serenity and simplicity, we created a room ambience with sounds of nature leaking in from the window of that scene as well as very mellow room tones and city ambience. We used nature to represent the catalyst for growth. This showed this “seedling” of an idea for a jacket being planted. The city sounds and room tones continued to set the scene and bring the listener’s attention to the familiar sounds of today.

The video takes a turn and begins to warp and move into different environments. The video begins to establish more lush and futuristic visuals as it progresses. We matched this change by introducing layers of synths, arpeggiators, and deep pads on top of the pianos and choir sounds we laid down for the full arrangement. This was to represent the fusion of the tried-and-true ideals and the fresh, new perspectives of the future. We also introduced some brass horn sections to build a sense of swelling pride. With the pianos holding the emotional weight, the brass building up the feeling of pride, and the synths pushing the song forward, we were able to crescendo the song into one final scene of the video where the “seedling” of an idea finally comes to fruition as “The Arc Jacket” by Abasi-Rosborough.

THE ARC JACKET

This final scene was the culmination of the crescendo of the entire arrangement. We decided to use a single resolved piano note to punctuate the video and music. We felt the piano was a classy touch to show The Arc Jacket in its full maturity.

SOUND EFFECTS

We took the same approach from the music and applied it to the sound effects. The video starts with sounds of nature and city ambience, but after the video shifts to a more dream-like sequence, we begin introducing futuristic swells and synth washes. These digital sounds can provide the intensity of live foley and SFX with much more flexibility. When creating these sounds, we like to utilize the envelopes, which are usually used to affect filters, amplitude, and pitch, to affect other FX parameters such as reverb times, distortion, and compression. Altering plug-ins and effects in ways that might not have been intended can yield some very interesting results. Sometimes, you can create intricate, digital-sounding patches and effects, while other times you’re forced to start a new patch as preliminary ideas start to become new inspirations. Plug-ins like Xfer’s Serum and Native Instrument’s Massive utilize envelopes and macro controls in a streamlined process making these plug-ins our go-to to begin designing sounds and effects.

SOUND EFFECTS AND FINALIZATION

The subtle use of automation can bring out the expressiveness in even the coldest synths. We also included slight tempo automation throughout the entire session, not only to allow the music to sync to the video, but also to create a sense of movement to the arrangement as a whole. This helped bring a human element to the heavily processed synths and SFXs.