Published
28-8-2026
Type of Work
Creative Work - Music
Advisors and Contributors
Adrian Carroll (Engineer for drum recording) Caleb Widener (Assistant Engineer) Bailey Watson (Assistant Engineer) Leif Davies (Assistant Engineer)
Abstract
This is an original instrumental music piece titled “Broken Botanic”. It is a production-led composition which draws on the methodology described by Tobias (2013), who identifies production as being an integral part of the composition process in modern music. It is in the rock genre, with elements of progressive and psychedelic rock as well as ambient music. It is arranged for guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, sampled trumpet and Mellotron, all of which have been played or programmed by me. I undertook all recording and engineering work alone with the exception of the drum recording and editing which was completed with the assistance of Adrian Carroll and his AUD215 students at SAE Brisbane campus.
Composition of this piece was an iterative process involving cycles of writing, recording and review. Composition started with a simple bass guitar riff in 12/8 which was expanded upon to create an outline of the different song sections. These sections were recorded as a basic demo which became the basis of the main production and suggested further musical ideas as the recording progressed. The guitar top lines arose out of several improvisational stages that were temporarily recorded as overdubs before arriving in their final form. These guitar parts draw on the work of Hank Marvin and Peter Buck, in songs such as “Apache” by the Shadows (1960), and “Try Not to Breathe” by R.E.M. (1992). The third section is an ambient production in part inspired by the work of Tristram Cary’s tape-based electronic music for the 1963 Doctor Who story The Daleks. The final section returns to the original chord progression, but with the meter changed to 4/4 and the melody played by a sampled trumpet reflecting the approach used by Pink Floyd in repeating simple musical ideas with variations to create longer form pieces (Cohen, 2015).
References
Cary, T. (1963, 2017). Doctor Who: The Daleks (original television soundtrack). Silva Screen Records.
Cohen, G. (2015). Expansive Form in Pink Floyd’s “Dogs.” Music Theory Online, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.21.2.2
Pink Floyd. (1969). Quicksilver [song]. On Soundtrack from the film More. Columbia; EMI.
Pink Floyd. (1971). Echoes [song]. On Meddle. Harvest; EMI.
R.E.M. (1992). Try not to breathe [song]. On Automatic for the people. Warner Brothers.
The Shadows. (1960). Apache [Song]. Columbia; EMI.
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Composing, songwriting, and producing : informing popular music pedagogy. Research Studies in Music Education, 35(2), 213–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X13487466
Notes
Thanks also to SAE students Werner Deppe and Renato Sandoval who assisted in an earlier drum recording for this project in December 2025. I ended up not using this session as I was unhappy with my own performance.
Citation
Crawfoot, D. (20260. Broken Botanic [Staff Scholarship, SAE University College]. Creo.