My Sound
My name is Jake Robitaille. I am a Musician and Producer that thrives in collaborative settings, and I have a mind that yearns to be creative. All my life I have found ways to entertain my friends and family with impressions, voices and songs. It was something I couldn’t escape, nor did I wish to.
I want to create music, art and sound that moves people. Movement in the physical sense as well as the spiritual. Sound has the ability to alter how one may think and feel. I want to give the world feelings of a zestful life and of pure joy, using primarily the tools of the sonic world. I believe that I have the ability to make music that moves people, and I intend to do so.
Original Music
Using my knowledge of production that I acquired from my Bachelor of Arts in Music, I have been able to go from ‘fooling around in Logic X’ to producing my own music from scratch in my own home. Needless to say it takes a significant amount of effort and focus, but it is a process I am thrilled to repeat time after time. During at-home-productions I needed to play all of the musical/production roles, and in doing so, the artist became the engineer. I was hooked. I love the idea that one can take a collection of sounds that are not terribly captivating on their own, but then transform it into something beautiful with the magic of mixing. I look forward to refining these skills and learning how to efficiently communicate my musical ideas through this digital medium of production.
Unreleased Originals
Released Originals
Sound Design Ideas
Feeling Victorious
My favourite part of creating this recording was playing with the the synth pad track in the intro. I moved the intro section to a separate track, leaving the synth sound in mm. 5 unadulterated. I proceeded to adjust various automations on the track including Bandpass High Cut-off, LFO rate, panning, and volume. This created a created a swelling/suspense building effect leading into the “bass drop”, as it were.
Feeling Success
Using a suspenseful chord progression, I established the harmonic foundation with an arpeggiating piano and a string section. Using a few reverse cymbal hit samples to entice the listener until the bass track begins. Other tracks coming in later to fill out the sonic space include: Piano with reverse delay effect, Cello melodic track, big Snare hit and Soft Brass Synth.
Feeling Lively
This idea started with a simple ‘Four on the Floor’ drum track, a funky bass line that just won’t quit, and a melody on lead guitar. To achieve a full sound with the lead guitar melody I recorded a clean guitar and panned left, then recorded the same melody with a distortion effect and panned right. It gave me feelings of positivity conveyed by many radio show intro songs, such as a musical sting one may hear listening to Metro Morning on CBC.
Feeling Desirous
The order of operations for this project was spontaneous and unorthodox from my experience in sound production. I started with a vocal track, then layered a harmony and repeated that process until a chord progression formed. I translated that harmonic structure to guitar, piano and a soft organ, then recorded those as supporting tracks. Another aspect of this recording that I enjoy is the Hi-hat topper that pans from left to right until finally it centres in the rhythmic resolution for the final two 16th note hits on the ‘4’.
Live Performer
Tennessee Whiskey - Chris Stapleton
This Feeling (Original Song)
Voice Work
Gollum
Little Billy (Original Character)
Jesse Pinkman
Fat Bastard
What’s Next
I decided to seek out a means of applying these skills in the real world by doing an undergraduate degree in music at the University of Guelph. During this degree I trained my musical abilities by working with choirs, analog synthesizers, Logic X, Abelton Live, and T-RackS. My degree also extensively covered compositional studies, and some piano training. I am currently enrolled at Sheridan College refining my skills in music, dance, and numerous other performing disciplines.
In 2022 I began my solo venture into the world of music production from my bedroom. I now have music released on Spotify and Apple Music, fulfilling a long-standing dream of mine, but now something is missing. Just as I long for creativity, the same is true for collaboration. Finding other minds to brainstorm with and breaking my way into the world of sound design and music; this is where my heart lies. This is my next journey.
