#93

A very lovely soundscape… maybe widen the ambience a bit so that the verb is out to the sides more. Also l don’t know what the clock BPM is here, but I can count a pulse that would probably be about eighth notes at around 115 BPM and some sort of low pulse fading in during the last third of the piece might push things along.

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#94

Thanks!
The part in the track, or the actual guitar?

This Williams has seen a lot of road time since I bought it new in 2004. I have 5 other steels, and am hoping to get down to 3… after a high of 10.

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#95

https://soundcloud.com/ntopia/night-flight-13mx2-for-disquiet0379 — note to self: don’t use link option, just drop URL for SC preview

This is a piece I ended up abandoning last November when a system update messed up about half my plug-ins, including a few vital to this. I’ve taken out the missing plug-ins and done limited damage control. It’s my first serious attempt at composition in Reaper.

The origin is a recording of an arpeggiated iPad synth, the rest is decoration. I find the intermittence of the lead voice very compelling, expressive of frustration or oppression, though the articulation of the dropouts needs sharpening. Given the opportunity, I would buttress it with further voices of dissimilar timbre (an electric clavinet version was one element that was lost.)

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#96

Thanks. A pulse is a good idea. Would certainly give it some forward motion.

As I’m new to this, could you write a bit more about “widening the ambience?”

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#97

@euclidian says of his submission: “If I had to add something, I thought of a sax that screams very free.” I wanted to hear what that would sound like, so I overlaid a piece of “Mars” by John Coltrane. It sounds awesome! More free jazz plus modular, please. https://www.dropbox.com/s/adm1mv0wrghe78f/Temporary%20Transit%20To%20Mars.aif?dl=0

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#98

I don’t know what you are using for recording and mixing, but there are ways to widen the stereo field of elements in your mix, usually through mid side techniques. There are a number of widening plugins for different DAWs. You don’t want to widen everything, but sometimes pushing reverb and delay effects out more, you can gain clarity of the main elements that are more in the middle. Sometimes pushing pads and high frequencies out some helps too.

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#99

:smiley: I started wondering whether I could loop a section of the drums as a development – perhaps the section getting smaller and smaller as the track progresses. Thanks for the comments!

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#100

This reminds me a bit of some tracks from Infected Mushroom. They have a great way of landing in a really solid groove, then pushing their way out of it in unexpected ways… mostly by dropping elements and then adding new things. Check out “Heavyweight” to get an idea of where I’m coming from.

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#101

I’m impressed by the amount of dynamics you’ve been able to pull out of what appears to be a unison sequence (ie, the cello and guitar seem to be a single instrument), but I can’t help hoping for a little contrapuntal voice somewhere occasionally, even if it’s a artifact of processing.

I’d like to hear an ambient version where the few remaining traces of human-instrument action are further minimized by stretching each “note”'s duration by a factor of 4 or more.

(My apologies if my assumptions about the instrumentation are awry.)

3 Likes
#102

Thanks, these are really great suggestions, I went back and incorporated some of them.

I’ve uploaded the re-edit here: remix

I decided to go very aggressive with a filter on the master track, with a square wave LFO so the depth is either 0 or 1. And a filter on one of the melody parts at some stage.

I added a few more slices of the sample in too. Thats something I’m working on though, seamlessly and carefully blending in samples so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Overall I think the result is a more interesting track. A bit busy at times maybe though.

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#103

That changed it a lot. Much more energy, and the vocal at the beginning helped draw me in.

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#104

Thanks, I’ll try this out.

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#105

Hello! As to how well the tune “fits [into] the idea of the haiku”: that, alone, is at the discretion of the composer; it cannot be transferred, the equivalency, between artists. However, I think the piece is fab: ‘floral’ and effervescent. Adore the nuances and arrivals/disappearances of the instruments–especially the french horn. ~ Michael

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#106

So sorry for Your loss[es]. The piece is definitely in need of some supporting additions, and I, too, really dig, as You wrote, “the intermittence of the lead voice.”

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#107

Thanks for the comment. Minor White, a photographer, once said that something should not be photographed for what it is, but for what else it is. That is something I follow with much of my photography, and in music the associations are even more overtly tenuous.

Cheers.

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#108

[to Joe Biomassa]: “Hi! I adore the main lead synth, and its complimentary percussive, reverb-cloaked percussive hit, but it–especially in the entrance–is in need of some supporting additions.”

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#109

I always tend to leave a patch for a week or two, trying to record it and then turns out to sound like mud compared to what I hear sitting infront of the monitors. This is one of those moments.

This is a quick recording in one take with the guitar going into the a preamp from a contact mic, one output into the audio interface and the other into the eurorack setup.
My question is: should I make a proper recording with this patch/song idea, or just kill my darling?

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#110

Late comment here, but lovely studio! Nice row of Sputnik cases, too. Seems like a productive very cool working space.

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#111

Thanks! Last year I moved out of my longtime studio that was 1,800 square feet into this space that is about 400 square feet. It’s been a challenge, and certain things are no longer possible ( drums) but I’m starting to get things done.
I really like the Sputnik stuff… it’s a shame that they folded.

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#112

Thank you, I feel like the last 3-4 minutes is what I tend to like the most. I appreciate the feed back. This last week was wild with my Master’s Defense.

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