Sometimes, when I listen to one of my old tracks, I wonder where the idea actually came from.
“Alien Experimentation” is one of those tracks.
I composed it back in 2016, at a time when I was still using Magix Music Maker. Cubase was still far too expensive for me, so Magix was a good compromise that allowed me to experiment with music and create my own tracks.
And this song really started as an experiment.
It started with a sound
One day, I found a synthesizer sample on the web. It was the sound you hear right at the beginning of the track.
I liked it, so I put it on a loop.
Then I started building around it.
First came the bass line. I added effects to the bass because I wanted it to have a kind of elastic, thick and slightly strange sound.
Then I started thinking about the voices.
I wanted something that sounded a little spatial, ghostly and mysterious, rather than a normal singing voice. Using the vocal synthesis features of Magix Music Maker, I wrote short phrases such as:
"We came as friends."
"Alert."
I experimented with different effects until I got the kind of strange voice I had in my head.
After that, everything gradually followed: pads, additional effects, drums and all the other elements.
I didn't really have a complete plan.
I was simply experimenting and seeing where the music would take me.
Why "Alien Experimentation" ?
The title also has a very personal connection to me.
I have a scientific background, and I have always been fascinated by space — both the real world of astronomy and the fictional world of extraterrestrials.
When I was younger, I was fascinated by all the stories surrounding Area 51 and the idea of secret experiments involving extraterrestrial beings.
Later, I became a big fan of The X-Files, where you could imagine extraterrestrials conducting experiments on humans.
So while I was creating the track, the word "Experimentation" naturally came to me.
And the alien theme was already part of my imagination, influenced by science-fiction movies and series that I loved: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Mars Attacks!, Forbidden Planet, The War of the Worlds and V.
The story behind the music
In my imagination, aliens arrive on Earth.
At first, they come peacefully.
"We came as friends."
But their intentions aren't quite what they seem.
They eventually want to take control of our planet, and humanity has to resist.
That's the little science-fiction story I had in mind while creating the track.
Looking back now, I can also imagine turning this idea into a visual story one day — perhaps a 3D science-fiction music video.
10 years later...
“Alien Experimentation” is now almost 10 years old.
Sometimes I think that I could remix it with more modern sounds and production techniques.
But when I listen to it, I also feel quite proud of what I managed to create back in 2016, with the tools I had at the time.
So for now, I'm leaving it as it is.
Maybe one day I'll give the aliens a modern makeover...
Maybe.
Listen to “Alien Experimentation”
https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/track/70aWp5jqM3vgAFpDUQ4QFk
I'm curious : when you listen to a piece of electronic or science-fiction-inspired music, what kind of images or story come into your mind ?