#84

Dear Ethan (@Ethan_Hein) and Ethan (@eptc), it’s officially National Ethan Day!!

Thank you both so much for your suggestions both here and on SoundCloud.

Ethan Hein wrote on SoundCloud: “One strategy might be to deliberately go for a murkier and more processed piano sound. For example, use Auto Filter, distortion/saturation, weird reverbs/delays, beat repeat, etc to gently distress the sound in ways that suit its somber mood.” This got me thinking about the process of “gentle distress” being performed on the piano (voice of Sibyl) to represent her voice becoming more shrill and frail over time.

Then Ethan Persoff wrote: “Maybe the withering (of her body) itself could be incorporated into the latter half of this piece.” I like this focus on the body // voice duality, and maybe it can be introduced even earlier in the track.

So now I’m thinking: have the first half of the track accompanied by some pulsing but fading synth (the withering of Sibyl’s body) while the second half of the track witnesses acts of gentle distress performed on the piano sound (the cracking of Sibyl’s voice).

Also, thank you to @gis_sweden for thinking thinking about the size of reverb used. Perhaps the track should start with a small amount of reverb (as body and voice are still connected) but then open up as they fall apart.

I’m very excited to try these ideas out over the weekend. Thank you everyone!!

2 Likes
#85

Thanks! Some of the oscillators are cycling function generators, some are oscillators, some are resonant filters and some are ebow on pedal steel guitar. The main percussion loop is pretty much random, so I’d have to edit in Pro Tools to loop. I’ll try that.

I included a couple of pics of the gear that I used… the patch was still up, so thats the main part of what was going on.

IMG_1200
IMG_1200.jpg4032×3024 3.29 MB
IMG_1201
IMG_1201.jpg4032×3024 3.2 MB
IMG_1202
IMG_1202.jpg4032×3024 3.51 MB

3 Likes
#86

Here’s mine – an example of struggling against failed memory and bad record keeping:

The section that opens the track was recorded straight to file some months ago when I first started with playing with Alchemy. Did not note or save the patch :frowning: – it must have been a simple tweak to a preset, but I’m not sure which one. Trying to recreate it from basis of a preset called “Intimate Weavers” – photo is what I have so far, and you can hear it in the “B” section of the clip. Lot of ideas for developing the music but right now feel stuck on recreating that sound!

3 Likes
#87

Your steel is lovely.

1 Like
#88

I’ve reconfigured MI Stages into harmonic oscillator (ouroboros) mode. This track has that going into one channel of the Qpas filter, and the wavefold of the Tòna going the other channel. Some noise and another oscillator are doing low-end thumps. The harmonics are going into Chronoblob and Batumi is modulating everything. Marbles is the main trigger and note-cv sequencer.

I’m trying to figure out two things:
1)Is the flow/pacing working? It is supposed to be somewhat still and relaxing but with some forward motion.

2)I’m trying to figure mastering. I’ve added a touch of reverb, a limiter and some compression. Does it sound like it is “working?”

5 Likes
Mutable Instruments Stages
#89

Very nice. It has a bit of an old +8 quality in the lead synth, like Silver Showers.
Consider bringing in slices or bits of the sample earlier, to set us up for when it arrives, maybe just the echo, no dry.
As far as the repetition of the melody, littl epitch bends, or more aggressive filtering would add some drama.
The ending is quite nice.

1 Like
#90

Here’s a track that I…finished? Oops

Really, I mocked it up to get it closer to down and see what it needs. Want to redo the drums to make them less repetitive and also line up with the bass a little more. Want to play in the bassline. Would like to get somebody to rap over it.

2 Likes
#91

I don’t think that the other bits are filler. The drums seem to be the skeleton and the other sides, especially the lead, are flesh around it. It has a lot of building tension.
Maybe some distortion or filtering, especially on the snares to make them extra mysterios.
I’d also let things get a little crazier, let it go nuts in the last third.
And yes, delay!

2 Likes
#92

A full atmosphere of guitar loops. It all evolved rather organically across multiple takes (and guitar sounds), but all one session. I envision it (maybe) as part of something larger, but for now this is its current state.

3 Likes
#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.

2 Likes
#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.

1 Like
#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.)

3 Likes
#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?”

1 Like
#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

2 Likes
#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.

2 Likes
#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!

1 Like
#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.

2 Likes
#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.

2 Likes
#103

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

2 Likes