Here's my space graph for a long-time favorite song of mine, Northern Downpour by Panic! At the Disco.
Norther Downpour - Panic! At the Disco
Instrument Description
Acoustic Guitar (Ryan Ross) Wet, far right, widespread on right side reverb
Lead Vocals 1 (Brendon Urie) Dry, far left, very close, narrow, no reverb, bright
Piano (Brendon Urie) Wet, middle center, widespread
Bass (John Walker) Wet, distant center, dim
Backup Vocals 1 (Ryan Ross) Wet, mid-distant center, creates harmony with Lead Vocals 1
Electric Guitar (Brendon Urie) Soft, distant center, very faint
Drums (Spencer Smith) Punchy, distant center, widespread, emphasizes transitions
Backup Vocals 2 (Ryan Ross) Wet, distant left, creates harmony with Lead Vocals 1 and 2, layers upon Backup Vocals 1
Lead Vocals 2 (Ryan Ross) Not wet, but dragged out, longer decay time, loud but soft tune, close center, creates round with Lead Vocals 1
This song is performed by my all-time favorite band, Panic! At the Disco. It is by far their most emotional song they have put together, proven by heart-wrenching live performances of the song. Lyrically, the verses at first seem disjointed and almost like nonsense. But that entices the listener to interpret the lyrics to fit their own experience, heightening the emotional response to the song.
I chose this song not only because of my personal ties to it, but because of the unique listening experience it offers. Northern Downpour was the first song for me that made it easy to and invited listeners to appreciate the different components of a song. The acoustic guitar and vocals come in on extreme opposite sides of the ears at the beginning of the song. This immediately caught my âlisteningâ attention to the separate pieces that pull the song together. By also delaying the other components, like the piano, bass, and drums, each portion built onto the growing sound, slowly submerging the listener with the music. The separate sound pieces eventually all come to the middle to fully immerse the listener with its sound. This continues until the closing of the song where the instruments fade until they completely dissipate while the Lead Vocals 1 and 2 and Backup Vocals 1 and 2 all blend together to the middle. For my perceived space graph, I chose the first half of the song where the separate components are still on their distinctive sides.
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