The Making of SENAIDA’s “Moonlight”
Fine, I know what you’re probably thinking, this is is some kind of self-promo trick and perhaps it partially is. But I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the inspirations and process behind my new single, “Moonlight” so I decided to share them here.

Last year, I was working on Beethoven’s “Sonata in C# Minor, №14” also known as the “Moonlight Sonata.” The ironic part is that the piece was only titled “Moonlight Sonata” after Beethoven had died by German music critic and poet, Ludwig Rellstab. The piece was written during Beethoven’s middle period, in 1801, when he had just begun losing his hearing. It was dedicated to his lover and pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The first two movements are slow and tranquil yet there is an unnerving quality to the music that persists throughout.
What I found really interesting was how the chords spanned for full measures, creating the stillness of the piece and the chord progression of the introduction was beautiful. Take a look at the diagram below which shows the chord progression. The most interesting part of the progression is the Neopolitan chord (N6) in the third measure. The N6 is often used as a dominant preparation chord, like in “Moonlight Sonata”, but also gives more colour than a normal ii or IV chords because it is built on the notes of a Phrygian scale.

I took this chord progression and wanted to create something more electronic and upbeat. At the beginning of “Moonlight”, the chord progression played by the Plucked Nylon Guitar, one of the stock sounds in Logic Pro X. The beat I heard at the beginning is also from Apple Loops and it’s called “Around Midnight 01.” I layered the snare hit with an extra snare sound to give it more ring and depth.
At the chorus, I added a new drum pattern with a heavy sub-bass underneath the triplet figure in the Plucked Nylon Guitar. I also added a few layers of vocal harmonies to give the vocals more space. I also use a lot of echoes and delay throws in the vocals to give the song a “mysterious” feeling.
Leading into the second chorus, I added the grace note figure played by the vibraphone because I really liked how the high notes cut through the mix. The cello solo at the bridge was played by my friend, Samantha Yang. I’d originally played the solo on the ROLI Seaboard Block but it didn’t sound like real cello so I asked Samantha if she would be willing to help me record it. I absolutely love the sound of a live cello because it’s so rich and deep, and it’s quite hard to recreate it using MIDI instruments.

The song ends with whispers in each ear saying “moonlight” and then a question, “can you see the moonlight?” I wanted to leave the last chord unresolved and ambiguous because it gives the listener an unsettling feeling. Throughout the song, I tried to incorporate creative uses of panning, experimenting with different sounds and vocal harmonies.
“Moonlight” is AVAILABLE NOW on all streaming platforms: https://artist.landr.com/music/628810805457
