Title: Children
Artist: Robert Miles
Album: Dreamland
Year: 1995
Length: 4:04
Key: F Minor
BPM: 137
Children is the lead single from Robert Miles’ 1995 album, Dreamland. It is recognised as one of the pioneering tracks in the dream house genre, characterized by a four to the floor kick, and dream like piano melodies.
The main elements present in the track include a rhythm section, consisting of mostly the kick and the hi-hats; a piano; a synth bass; a strings section; a Korg M1 organ, and another synth, which is more reminiscent of a TB-303, acid house sound. Aside from this there are a few other elements which make an appearance such as a guitar and a trance style synth.
Structure
The song has a 24 bar introduction which consists solely of a piano riff, a percussive organ sound and a bassy hum for the first eight bars. After this a guitar plays for eight bars, and this is the only time we hear it in the track. The final eight bars of the intro start much more quietly, with a different piano riff and pick up in intensity until the main section. There is also a snare drum present in these last fours bars and the organ drops out, adding to the tension at the end of the section.
The first main section begins bar 24, and now most elements of the track are present. The organ returns and the kick drum, bass, strings and a hi-hat are introduced, and all of these play for sixteen bars. Then this section repeats with the addition an acid house sounding synth arpeggio.
The next section is the bridge, which goes for twenty bars. It begins by removing everything except for the kick and the bass for four bars, before bringing back the strings and the hi-hat. The piano and organ return for the final eight bars.
After this we return to a another main section which is essentially the same as the second section repeated twice, with the only difference being the lack of the acid style synth being absent for the first four bars.
Finally the outro begins in bar 109. It starts out like the bridge, with just the kick and hats, but four bars in a trance style synth enters the mix. After another eight bars the hi-hats return and the track builds in intensity until everything is cut off at the start of bar 37 leaving just the reverb and delays.
Instrumentation:
Kick: The kick is quite punchy, with a short decay. It’s fundamental frequency appears to be around 60 Hz and it reaches up to just over 1 kHz, where it drops off almost entirely, likely due to a low pass filter. It is a synthesized kick, with some saturation applied. The pattern is mostly consistent, playing on every beat, with the the occasional eighth note thrown in.
Bass: The bass seems to consist of low passed saw waves. The lowest fundamental sits between 80 Hz and 90 Hz, corresponding with F1, and the other frequencies drop off rapidly below this point. There is also some mild distortion present. The kick and bass do not have to struggle for frequencies very much as the bass plays on the eighth notes between the kick hits.
Bass Hum: Most of the sub in the track comes from a low humming bass which is present throughout the song. It sounds like detuned saw waves, low passed somewhere around 200-300 Hz and distorted. The sub frequencies drop below 20 Hz, with the lowest fundamental sitting around 42-45 Hz, which is F0. There is a light amount of sidechain compression applied to the hum, which allows the kick to come through clearly.
Piano: The piano is a real, recorded piano, not a synthesizer. It has very few or no frequencies below 200 Hz. It also has quite a large amount reverb and delay. The piano is certainly the hook of the song, with the riff being highly recognisable and very catchy. It also epitomizes the sound of dream house.
M1 Organ: Throughout the song there is a percussive organ which sits between 200 Hz and 1 kHz. The sound used is a preset from the Korg M1 keyboard that was used often in 90s dance music, easily recognisable in songs such as ‘Show Me Love’ by Robin S. It plays a single note at the start of each bar, throughout most of the song.
Space
The track has quite peculiar spacial characteristics. More so than panning, the reverb is used to create an interesting dreamlike space, somewhere between a cathedral and a nightclub. There are different types of reverb used on different elements which could typically be confusing to the listener, but in this case they are used in a masterful way which is both intriguing and exciting. The use of delay on certain elements also has a way of making the listener feel as if they are moving through some kind of medium filled with strange sound objects.
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