#62

howthenightcame Thanks so much for the feedback. This is a piece that had traveled my Unfinished pile for quite some time. I like the “falling” coincidence. When I think of the word it reminds me of “Falling You”, a project I used for the music for one of my videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNF72V3H1o).

2 Likes
#63

The playlist paints such an interesting sonic picture that you don’t get from just the one track. Glad you posted the playlist. Very intriguing stuff!

3 Likes
#64

I took my little girl with me and my wife to see Lambchop at Grimeys. The kiddo seemed really fascinated by the style of bassist Matt Swanson, so when we were talking about tangrams later in the day, Swan and Tangram intertwined in my mind. I jotted down a cycle of notes, played them on a student glockenspiel, pitched them down an octave and then rambled through a bit of banjo.

3 Likes
#65

For some reason, I want to hear voices in this… not words though.

2 Likes
#66

You might be able to eq that some, and clean it up. You will have to sweep through and find problem spots and surgically remove them. Something multi band and parametric. I don’t really use Ableton very much, so I don’t know what’s available. Really nice piece though.

2 Likes
#67

Hi all,

Glad to be back; here you go:

(More details about the process at link above; I’d like to add that I ventured further into a method I have been pursuing more recently, which is more improv/live playing/live looping as opposed to the heavy editing approach I used to favour in the past.)

3 Likes
#68

Yes that’s absolutely cool feedback to suggest :smile: I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to describe a way to make it more interesting.

I listened back to it and I agree absolutely with what you say. One of my biggest shortcomings at the moment in almost all of my compositions is repetitiveness, I quite often feel that I can introduce elements quite well, but once they’re all there, I’m kind of at a loss with what to do with them all and how they should all play with each other.

I’m going to try and do something along the lines of what you suggested and will edit this post with a link to it if I’m happy with the outcome :slight_smile:

Edit: I’ve tried it out and here is a link to the re-edit.
I did mostly as you suggested. I then PaulStrectched a section of the vocal sample to add a bit of texture. I also used some of the other audio from the track and put it through a glitchy VST. At the last moment before rendering I stretched out that ending a bit, but it doesn’t really gel very smoothly.
I think your suggestions were interesting, but honestly I didn’t really feel what I was doing, I think I was missing the dance element to the track :sweat_smile: So I didn’t spend too much time on it, but it was nice to try out a different approach, it allowed me to hear some of the elements in a different light.

1 Like
#69

Thanks a lot for your interesting comment :blush: I will give it a go! And also for the bands… I don’t know them except ISIS. Will let you know when it will be edited!

2 Likes
#70

eh’s and ah’s…? As a 3rd part? Thanks for the feedback.

1 Like
#71

GLSmyth: Lovely. This time with more realistic sounding instruments. Epic in its true meaning. Maybe the xylophone, after the clarinet part, gives a feeling of too much. Your compositions always make me glad (I recently bought a Roland M-GS64. Why? Your compositions inspired me. I wanted some real sounds again… True. Your fault!) I pair it with my QY-10). Around 12:30 some new strings enter the scene. They sound more synthetic? Another sound module? Does the music fit the haiku… Well… It could. I see one lonely man sitting on a mountain…. thinking of the past month. When the chaos in his min has been resolved, all that is left is this haiku. (probably bad English…)

joe_biomassa: We all want to sound like Buchla or Serge :slight_smile: Great constrained exploration of one idea/sound.

DeVis: So much to explore. This music is exploring my mind. Taking control…

Tunnelwater: Sweet. Keep it simple. Not too much reverb. Maybe add some sort of field recording that matches the mellow mood. I can’t help thinking boards of canada. I could easily listen to this to for a long time.

Mikash69: Part 1 - Nice. Interesting from the start. Loungy drums. Part 2 - Yes, some vocals and I think they come though nicely. About the sound/mix. In my ears it sounds like a little too much compression?

RichieWitch: The track has a distinct theme and a steady beat. You introduce the various elements in order and I get to know and feel them. Good. Maybe It’s a little thin in the mid frequenzy range? Maybe open up some filters the let some mid frequency in? Head nodder!

DetritusTabuIII: I think I understand what you want to say. Why are we doing this? Why am I doing “this”? For fun. I have no ambitions. Right now, I am trying to get something out of a modular synth - mostly. I don’t like crosswords. Back to your track. I think your track is (for) fun. It’s playful and nonchalant. “Joyful listening on a mixtape”.

ZeroMeaning: Typical Industrial-Body-Glitch (IBG). I’m with you. This track is okay this way. Reminds me of - me. When I was on parental leave. I made this (https://youtu.be/KXRm10z2Gcs) with a qy-10 and some sound modules - low-tech! Seem like I’m constantly moving to more and more useless ways of making music. computer -> hardware sequencer -> samplers -> modular… what next! Well I want to move on. Great!

euclidian: great sound and progression, but… I don’t know what to say! It is what it is. Guess it ready then.

DeDe: Very peaceful. Meditative without being simple. “Soft fusion”. Some track does not need to have a direction. They are like jam sessions that never end. Music for a summer evening.

mdh: I wonder what I should sound like without drums? Very minimal. Keep the voice sample thou.

carvingcode: Relaxing. Good balance between the sound sources. Just enough with delay and reverb. Electronic music that does not pretend to be anything else than just - electronic.

howthenightcame: How interesting is a piano? In real life. All those impressive piano sounds, are they realistic? No. I prefer a piano with a more mellow timbre. In this piece the big reverb is a part of the sound. What would happen if you change the size of the reverb? Create a more intimate track. The idea and piano piece in itself are great. (I have no DAW…)

Paul_Reiners: A collage and a comment to the political chaos on the other side of the north sea. This maybe describes our feelings for this situation…

yobink: “…and lead us not into temptation…” - “…thou shalt not pass…” - “…Get thee hence…” I try to avoid reading about this gadget. But from what I have heard (from sondcloud etc) most tracks sound the same…! You manage to include some interesting timbres in some of your tracks. Good start indeed!

VonnaWolf: It’s a jam. Good or bad. Do you add or subtract something? It is what it is. Select your favorite part use it as sound track in a stop motion film.

Ethan_Hein: Have to be honest. I don’t like the drums…:upside_down_face: Is it okay to drop the drums. Sorry. But it sounds good.

TotalEnergy: Charming! Keep it simple without too much fx ADD LYRICS!!! Please! Happy pop!

Elisa-room237: The piano parts are begging for some song! Then maybe some rap on the middle part/the break.

EPTC: It’s done. Great idea. Now I miss my SP-404 again…

Pineyb: Nice flow. I like the distorted sound and the strange rhythm. I imagine a live performance and in that case you can’t do anything to it. It’s done.

sevenism: I’m waiting for something… Okay, maybe that’s the point. Waiting :grin: Then it’s done.

krakenkraft: I’m so fascinated by minimalist work. Give me long slow moving pieces. I love them. But when I try I find it very hard. I have so hard to tell if they are good or not. They have to rest for a long time before I know. It’s sooo much easier to listen to and appreciate someone else’s minimalist work. Minimalist drones should almost sound like they are “not made” they are a part of the environment where you listen. Some sort of AR for your ears. In this track I think you offer a trip from nothingness to somethingness . Around 9 min the track demands your attention!

ryanscottmattingly: The track has a sorrowful feeling. Nice work with samples. Perfect background music to a film.

Have I missed someone? Sorry…!

6 Likes
#74

@joe_biomassa

Although it’s only a sketch, I liked the almost physical presence and the mixture of flat and spatial sounds. Also nice: It breathed regularly (which I tried many times) and was at the same time a bit nervous …

@Tunnelwater

Maybe this is more of a feedback to your project description: I just sat and listened to it loop over and over for many minutes. However, I quickly found myself failing to be able to develop it into much else … I was totally unsatisfied with anything I was adding.

I felt exactly like this many times and my learning was: If that is so, if adding something feels wrong, then it IS wrong. If adding new layers makes it worse - stop adding layers.

And listening to this diamond of music I like to add: In this case it’s true again.

But wait … one thing I think could be an improvement: Less would be more. The track develops its existence within 1-2 minutes, maybe to fast. I would consider to start slower and to take some loops away. i.e. to add pauses, different pauses. And to end slower, because after n minutes the listener (my personal theory) does not longer hear what he is hearing, he has a loop in his mind, so that wat is real happening can interact with what is echoing in the listeners mind.

But anyway: As it is, I could listen to this for hours … beyond its repetitiveness and the nebulous haziness I like the soft distortion …

@encym

It builds up a strange tension very quickly and holds it with an apparent repetition - and yet is always different. I like it extraordinarily well and I think it profits from being improvised.

3 Likes
#75

Here is my entry for this week’s project It’s been a while and I had this one pseudo track lingering around and will love some feedback.

My idea was to make a Baiao using the amazing Elektron’s Machine Drum. It was recorded direct into Ableton Live and I used Isotope Ozone to master it.

And for those of you who never heard Baiao here is some background :slight_smile: :

3 Likes
#76

Hey this is neat! Sounds nicely like an Oberheim, too, which is interesting as you mention other VCOs and the steel drum!

The opening phrase at 0-5 seconds is really cool and then changes just a note or two almost immediately; Not sure but would be interested in hearing that loop once before it changes. It’s nicely inquisitive and a cool entrance into the piece itself.

1 Like
#77

I liked it, It reminded me of Kid Koala’s Drunk trumpet tune:

I would shorten it a bit I think.

1 Like
#78

Hey there - I really like getting to know your music more via this forum. This is really immediately interesting. I’ll concede I do notice myself feeling your disinterest in it about halfway through. To me that’s a cool opportunity to tear apart of the second half up, maybe.

You mention Ableton (or some non-destructive editing tool) - have you tried cutting up sections with a wave editor like Audacity? I suppose the really interesting thing here is just how tight the loop itself sounds, so breaking it into some weird thing halfway through might be a fun endeavor. Even slightly changing the timing on the left or right channel so it goes out of phase with the other over time can make a piece suddenly frightening or weird.

I like your reference to Ovid’s myth - I’d never heard of it! - Looked it up on wikipedia and see this interesting description, " Later, after she refused the god’s love, he allowed her body to wither away" - Maybe the withering itself could be incorporated in the latter half of this piece? I suppose it’s so nicely constructed the idea of it deteriorating or going out of phase or crumbling is a fun idea. As you’re on a tight budget you could just take the exported waveform you uploaded to Soundcloud and go into Audacity chopping away. Create to Destroy, as they say!

It’s very lovely by itself, too. I just wanted to suggest a possible solution for the second half. You should do scores over film scenes. Have you ever thought about downloading scenes off Youtube and substituting in your own music? (Or composing a piece based on a scene and then merging them?) I think you’d find you have a natural talent for it.

2 Likes
#79

I performed an unplanned improvisation with a friend at last Thursday’s EMOM (Electronic Music Open Mic) night, I had taken by Soundmaster SR88 drum machine and Future Sound Systems’ Brunswick synth. I decided that I would mainly play with the tempo, pattern and tone controls on the SR88. It seemed to work well, and might be a pattern for a future track. This is pretty much a rough recreation so that I don’t forget… It could do with a couple more iterations to get the technique down.

(Also featured: OSCar, being a bit more ‘musical’ than the other two instruments).

The mix is rough (decided to do this very last minute); but I did find it difficult to balance — to my mind, the drums are the piece, the other sounds are just fillers. Would it stand alone as just the drums (with delays etc. to add interest)??

(Or is it just a bunch of randomness which should be buried and never spoken of again? :slight_smile: )

4 Likes
#80

\\\\\ Thank you, friend!

2 Likes
#81

Hi there, It is been a while.

This song is called “For Pat” and it is inspired by the classic gr 300/SEM flute patch era of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.
It is made of two themes.

I have had this melody stuck for some time and would like to finish it soon. I use Reason as my DAW, all the instruments are stock from reason apart from the Electric Grand from Addictive key which I absolutely love, and my trusty Minilogue where I programmed the Lyle Mays Flutey Patch, then doubled by Subtractor.

Enjoy!

3 Likes
#82

Man what a fun and surprising grouping of sound! I worry a Norns and Grids is in my future (unharmful penalty of starting to hang out at this forum, ha)

You have some awesome stuff, here! Some tracks have more of an identity to them than others. My personal two favorites:

Great beginning here:

And this one right at around a minute:

I love the opening of the first one and the sounds in both.

Wondering if you could set them up in an editor and weave back and forth on a piece? (or bluntly cut back and forth?) — The first track has a painful bit of audio around the 4minute mark that feels a little coarse; but before that it’s wonderfully sentimental and lovely. Both of those tracks feel immediately nostalgic, in a way. I’d look at the playlist you have and start finding pairs and then starting to delete what isn’t matched with something else.

As much as I love what Norns does, the one thing that I feel some caution of is how visual it really is. In some ways that can create a bias based on what you see when you make a noise, or loop. Maybe recording things and then ignoring them for a week would be useful to editing them into other work.

That said, I love the immediate sound here. Especially those two tracks. I haven’t heard the latter half of the playlist, too, so there might be some other gems.

One idea: jump right into the second track on its one minute mark after a minute or so of the first one.

Very cool work!

2 Likes
#83

Love it — the repetition doesn’t bother me at all, mesmerising as you say… sort of reminiscent of some Labradford that I have heard; gentle distortions and otherworldliness.

1 Like