Sound Design & Style

 

Unlike all of his demo albums, Exero began normalizing sound design. In his last demo album, much of what you hear are edited synth and effects presets along with custom presets. K2L marked the advent of switching the proportion from mostly edited presets being the majority to custom designed synth leads, basses, soundscapes, drums, and more being the norm. To further his quest for self-autonomy, custom presets like "Vespers Back Then" (lead synth in "Odyssey's" chorus/refrain section) Frosty Saw Pad (heard in songs like "Icebound" and "Noise from the Beyond") were made with as much care and intention as all other elements within the song.

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

​​This newfound zeal for self-made sounds rather than pre-created sound presets was spurned by Exero's purchase of Komplete 10 Ultimate. Music production company Native Instruments offered a wide variety of their music software for a low price during the holiday season of 2014. Exero was able to afford this software bundle around this time. In order to increase anticipation and excitement for the software, Exero listened to a plethora of demos on NI's website that showcased synthesizers such as Absynth 5, Massive, and FM8; effects module Molekular and samplers Damage, Drumlab, and Polyplex. 

​

​

​

 

 

Alongside the vast list of demos mentioned above, albums like Royal Astronomy, Korn, and Wind & Wuthering, Exero added yet another host of songs to this roster of inspiration: soundtracks from video games Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime. Classical, industrial, IDM, trip hop, drum n bass, and more emerged as the leading styles that would comprise the chaotic and often crowded style of K2L.

​

In his previous demo album discography, Exero had a habit of writing music loosely based in genres. K2L, on the other hand, was more mindful of how songs exist in pre-existing styles and genres. Neurofunk is a subgenre of Drum n Bass that is often seen as an anxiety-riddled EDM style. Exero used this subgenre in songs like "Locked & Bundled" and "Paroxysm" in order to give this feverish style a delegated meaning. Another example of using genres/subgenres mindfully is the implementation of Darkstep in "Seven Days of Fire: His Own Kingdom", a style of hard drum n bass that takes influence from industrial music and hard techno. This same practice of advantageous genre usage occurs all throughout the album. For example, songs like "Off to Work" and "It's Only a Nightmare" use the electronic style of industrial to aurally represent the mechanical, obligatory, and brutal idea of how humanity perpetually behaves.

​

Continuing with the trend precedented in his last demo album The 15th Parallel, Exero continued keeping in mind many aspects standardized in Western Music Theory. The continuation of using modes and odd time signatures lead to a greater sense of how a song's identity would be shaped. Since The 15th Parallel was closer to regular EDM as opposed to detailed and aurally accurate program music, elements such as time signatures, scales/modes, and song structure were previously done without delegated meaning. Since K2L was Exero's first Christian album and his first concerted effort to create instrumentals with meaning, elements within music theory began to take on more purposeful roles. Odd time signatures returned, various scales/modes were used, and song structure took on more importance than ever. The Fear is an example of all three aspects of music theory. The jagged rhythm of 5/8, the short, 1-2 punch of the song's structure, and the tense balance between C Major and C Minor showcased how a song could be instrumental and yet meaningful. 

​

​