Three Noticeable Musical Elements Used Prominently In The Music Of ГОМК

Hello guys! We've kind of already talked about how we make music, which can be found in our FAQ page. Here is a direct quote, for those that need a refresher:
"So we have a pretty simple and collaborative production process. Since we’re all self-taught and have our own unique ways of approaching music, each of us will naturally bring different skills and influences to the table, making for a diverse sound. We usually start with a jam session to brainstorm some ideas, and from there, we develop our songs together. For recording, we primarily use a home studio setup. We work with multiple digital audio workstation software programs, all of which allow us to experiment with different sounds. We also have a couple of dynamic microphones for vocals and instruments, along with a condenser mic for capturing more nuanced sounds. An audio interface helps us connect our instruments and mics to the computer, ensuring good sound quality. Our instruments include a mix of electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums, and sometimes we incorporate unconventional instruments or recorded sounds to add texture. And we also add various plugins for effects like reverb, delay, and distortion to shape our sound. The point is, our process is about trial and error, learning as we go, and having fun with it! Regarding privacy, we clean up the old metadata of the files and we try to remove hidden stuff like fingerprinting whenever possible."
We're not usually talkative about our music production process due to the nature of our group, however we would like to share a few additional things, without risking deanonymising ourselves in doing so, since our music, while varied, does have a few distinctive qualities that do kind of make us stick out like a sore thumb, admittedly. There's at least three additional things you should know about it.
The one thing that makes up a significant amount of our music, that is a common recurring technique, is sampling. But not just any regular sampling where we just take famous recordings and reinterpret them into something new. Believe it or not, we actually make our own samples. As in creating entirely new, original instrumentation from scratch AND making sure that it has the right groove, the right sonic qualities, etc. How do we do this? It's relatively easy; we just record ourselves playing instruments, or making any sound, or using any natural sound source, we record a few takes using any sound recorder whether it's a digital audio workstation or a portable recorder, we decide which one sounds good to our ears, we use the selected one we want the most and decide is the best, and we edit it to our liking by trimming it or adding effects. It's just that simple. We're not going to go too much into the details of how we determine a sample sounds good enough to be used, as it is far too subjective to be explained here since it depends on how good your ears work and what specific kinds of sounds you like or are going for. It's important to note that you do not have to limit yourself to the same samples over and over. A lot of breaks-oriented songs tend to use the same drum break sample in the same way, or at least variations of the same drum break. While we do understand and appreciate the tradition, there is always room for creativity, and it is not necessarily difficult to create new drum breaks that sound at least more different but likeable, if you're up to it.
Secondly, the combination of traditional and computerised instruments in a way that sounds more modern but different. If you haven't noticed, the vast majority of artists who do this are either going for a more nostalgic vibe or a chill atmosphere. Or it is used very sparsely, especially in the case of certain types of pop music. In most cases, for example, the man playing the piano tends to play along and complement the virtual synthesizer playing on the computer in a sequenced manner. But how are we any different? Well, we use any recording of a traditional instrument, "time-correct" it (meaning that we correct its timing to a certain consistent BPM), adjust its EQ, possibly compress it a bit so its volume does not overpower the volume of other instruments, and arrange it in a way that sounds like it's actually playing with and complementing the computerised instruments in a more accurate way that is modern and digital-like. Sometimes we make it sound like it's stuttering or freezing by obviously repeating certain notes multiple times in the smallest halves of beats as possible. How many of you ever heard a Rhodes piano or an electric guitar that sounds just like that? It's pretty much in the same vein as sampling except that in this case, we are discussing how it's used to emphasise how well acoustic and digital instruments can work well together. Note that this does not necessarily mean our music is actually fully computer generated or generated by artificial intelligence.
Last but not least, we may attempt to accurately emulate the sounds of certain acoustic instruments for a more digital feel we're going for. This is kind of actually related to the second point. Now, we know that acoustic instruments produce a unique and varied sound quality that arises from the deep resonances of, say for example, the wooden bodies of the violins and cellos, the thickness of the strings, and the way air moves through the brass instruments. And we know that plug-ins are unlikely to fully capture the texture and richness of sound produced by the well-tuned variety of instruments in a live performance. Nevertheless, given that we mostly go for an electronic, calculated feel in our compositions, that part doesn't really matter as much, except maybe in cases where spontaneity and improvisation do matter. It's kind of difficult for us to explain as to how we manage to mimick as close as possible the sounds of instruments like violins and flutes, but we'll just put it simply like this: you just got to keep tweaking with certain plug-ins and their properties until you hear something that sounds like the sound you want or need. That's all we have to say about that, so we'll leave the rest to your intuition, if you're capable of it. In the case where improvisation is called for, we usually revert to having to record ourselves playing our instruments, without modifying those recordings too significantly. Obviously the key to improvisation is to let yourself feel the music as you're playing it, you know, let it take you places and stuff. We all know this. One thing we do want to point out: it is actually very rare to hear electronic dance tracks use any improvisation, if at all, due to the fact that they often rely heavily on pre-programmed beats, melodies, and harmonies. And some older drum machines and synthesizers may not be designed for live improvisation. But with newer versions of DAWs and MIDI sequencers and other stuff like that, it is becoming more possible to incorporate improvisation in such tracks.
Regarding privacy and anonymity, we do not use human vocals in any of our music at the time, and we try to process recordings in a way that does not contain noticeable traces of our breathing or movements (although this can be ridiculously hard to do with woodwind instruments, for example) by filtering out background noise and being as careful as possible to not make too much background noise. However, we are working on creating our own unique synthesized singing voices similar to that of Vocaloid (but a bit different) although it is still in the draft stages for now, and we don't really know how to execute it properly at the moment. As for the process of anonymising audio files to successfully eliminate fingerprinting, we feel that it is best to not reveal too much about that here due to its complexity. In other words, that's a story for another time!
In short, there are things that do set us apart, but there are also some things that don't. However, since we noticed a few things in our music that may set us apart a bit too noticeably, we thought it would be our responsibility to finally talk about it in detail, without revealing ourselves too much. If you are interested, you can leave a comment below if you would like to.
(P.S. we know we kind of sound a bit rambling. Our English is a bit rusty and we rarely communicate with a lot of people these days.)