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dyrodium
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Electronic music

Ok, i know i posted this somewhere else but i believe it deserves its own thread. I know brett used to be an electronic dj so i was wondering what you and other people thought of my songs, i've got two hosted on mp3.com.au which you can stream or download. Smile
http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=24328
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Post Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:34 pm 
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Spockie-Tech
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Actually I was going to comment before but I was reading that message at some stupid hour of the morning so I was too tired at the time..

Keep in mind I'm a techie-type, which means I tend to focus on what "needs to be fixed" first, so the highest praise from me is to not be able to find much wrong with something to "fix", so dont take any negatives from me too hard.. Smile

For someone of your age, that is some good work..

Especially given that you used Cubase which is quite a tricky program to master, but worth it since it what all the pc-based pro muso's use nowadays (since Logic got bought by Apple).

Structurally, I found the CRC track had some good elements in it, but was a little "teasing", as in it always seemed to be building towards something, but never quite got there.. lots of big snare rolls, and good melody builds, but not much "meat" in the middle.. Once you do the big build, you have to follow it up with something related to the overall pattern to add another layer without cluttering it up too much..

Try using some automation on the EQ's and track panning to "move" some of the build sounds "out of the way" (some off to each one side, some to the other), or take down some of the midrange to keep them audible, but leave space to introduce a new sound without clashing or dropping the existing ones out.

On that note, "placing" your sounds in an imagined 3d space is important to give it "atmosphere". Putting all the sounds in the center sounds mushy.. again, Pan and Parametric EQ's on a track-by-track basis are what you want.. thats why pro-mixing studios have those huge desks with thousands of knobs on them. they allow the mix-engineer to precisly place each seperate sound in a different spot in the sonic space. Work on keeping your sounds away from each other frequency and panning-wise and they will come to life

Alos, the fuller your music is, the less room you have for interesting effect environments. Experiment with thinning out the mix, then filling it with ping-pong echo and delays, *Subtle* combinations of reverb and chorus and a slight dash of something weird and spacy. A muso friend of mine said effects are like food spices.. you dont make a dish with a pound of oregano.. Good use of effects should be such that you cant pick any one of them out on their own, but the tiniest touch of them all combine to add an indefineable but interesting "flavour".. So dont add enough reverb so its noticeable, *then* go and work on a different effect. Put a near-inaudible touch of one in and synergise it with something else.

Keep the effects to a "theme" to keep the environment constant.. dont paint half on canvas and half on paper any more than you would write half a book in one font then change to another half way through.

You have some nice sounds and some very good rhythms, your percussion patterns are pretty inventive and interesting but could probably do with a touch more variation over the course of the track. Imagine yourself to be a live drummer and put some "flourishes" in every 2 or 4 bars.. Some extra hi-hat's in the 16th or 32nd positiions and some off-beat kicks.

At the risk of sounding silly trying to sound in text.. Wink doof-doof-doof-da-doof-doof-doof-doof-da-da-doof and slide the hi-hats around a bit as well to give it that "live drummer" feel rather than programmed patterns. Counterpoint and Segue give it life.

Keep the bass *tight*. Its a hard thing to define.. but imagine the sub-woofer as a skipping rope and your bassline as the wiggles in the rope. If the wiggles get out of control, the rope flops around like a spastic snake and the bass sounds muddy. Keeping a tight reign on that big speaker cone and making it hum and resonate rather than flap will give your bassline a deep groove. Again Careful EQ'ing and good bassline structure with appropriate spaces to keep the ball bouncing.. kind of like a basketball player running while dribbling the ball.. one push (note) in the wrong place and its off out of control..

The bit that needs the biggest improvement is your levels ! I could hear distortion creeping in in quite a few places here and there.. watch your level meters ! Especially when you have a few layers blending at once.. the bad part about digital/software gear is that distortion is *harsh*. Analog gear has a softer sound when overdriven. Digital *crunches*, so keep well away from the red.

If you want to write "Trance" as opposed to the simpler but energetic "techno" then find a copy of Native Instruments "Reaktor" or some other similair flexible midi-controlled modular software synth and play with the modules and preset examples in unusual ways. Cut-off Frequency and Resonance sweeps are so '90's-rave dahling Laughing

Tinker with the granular synthesis and midi-controlled comb filters and stuff like that. Formantor Vocal blocks and melody-pattern-controlled time-stretching and compression. Write a melody, but instead of using it to synth a note, use the pattern to tweak a melody line like you would tweak a knob with a sweep, but with structure instead of curves. Establish a rhythym then warp it about in audio-space according to another rhythym. Imagine the notes as carboard boxes of sounds, then write up and down the sides of the boxes.. Smile Percussion-Pattern-controlled Audio Gates are good too for that stuttering "ah-ah-ahh-ah" effect.

I hope thats not getting too techie for you.

Like I said, overall I think you show a lot of promise, but I'm primarily a psy-trance DJ, which means about the most intricate multi-layered form of trance music there is, so I'm a harsh critic musically..

You've already taken a big step in actually finishing a couple of tracks and releasing them, so you're well on the way.. I have some old Dat tape recordings of artists who would send me music years back that sounded less polished than your tunes do and 3 years later they were playing at internatonal festivals in front of thousands and sounding very pro.. It easier to do that now too with the power of computers to make sound.. you dont need a studio full of vintage moog synths anymore.

Hows that for a detailed review.. Wink keep up the good work !
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:27 am 
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Nick
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Better than I could do, that's for sure. Let me when you will be out at Marayong next and I will pass on a bunch of loop libraries and soft synths that will work with Cubase
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:51 am 
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dyrodium
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lol not that techy! Very Happy Yeah i understand what your saying, thanks heaps! (FINALY someone who can tell me what to improve instead of a simple "electronic music sucks" Smile )
And with the distortion issue, its mainly due to my computer being too old (also a reason there isn't a load of effects... the computer freezes) but also due to all my free VST instruments being kinda crap (they are free after all). But i'm getting a new computer so that should fix some of the worries.... as for the VST instruments...? Smile
Actualy Seb's brother is the dj Biz-E.. Confused
Hey Brett, would it be at all possible to send me down some of your tracks? I'd love to hear what you do! Very Happy And once again thanks heaps for the tips! Wink


And Nick, i should be there next build day, i can pick up my scorpion and scooter motors too! Very Happy
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:30 pm 
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Glen
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quote:
"electronic music sucks" )



mmmm im going to have to agree Very Happy hendrix rules
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:34 pm 
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Spockie-Tech
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Its not what you've got, but what you do with it that counts.. Razz

Music is about communicating feelings.. If the person behind the tune puts their heart into it, then the listener will feel that, *provided* they understand the language.

An analogy I use is that if you dont speak Italian, then the weather report and shakespeare would both sound the same. Once you understand the language, *then* the subtleties become apparent.

Saying "electronic music sucks" is about as closed minded as saying "italian literature sucks" when you cant even understand it.. Smile

I dont expect that everyone will *like* it, we all have different tastes, but dont make the mistake of thinking there is no creative energy in there..
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:48 pm 
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Glen
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http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/techno.html

the last two paragraphs sum up my thoughts precisely Razz (twas a joke btw in case some are humour impaired)

nice work regardless...
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Post Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:06 pm 
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hey i like them but as brett said it builds you up and dosnt hit the next stage sorta like driveing a race car getting up to the max in any one gear hitting the cluch but not changeing gear. i do like electronic music and i wish i had half an idea on where to start and i know its tricky but yeah your on the right track as brett said i have heard worse that have become realy good oh and btw (listening to cRelated culture atm) there are a couple of places where in my opinion you let it sit slightly too long and it going from (hard to explane in my realy realy un-learned way) great rift to dull repitition (donno if ya will understand what i meen bout that but it makes perfect sence to me Razz) any way keep it up oh and if you make any more tracks which you like dont hesitate to send em my way i will happly give you my lo-tech review Razz
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Post Wed Aug 31, 2005 12:15 pm 
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dyrodium
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lol ok no problem Very Happy
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Post Wed Aug 31, 2005 5:54 pm 
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dyrodium
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Been a while, but i've come up with another song, using my new music program cubase SX3... i'm just sorta getting the hang of it Laughing
http://www.mp3.com.au/track.asp?id=129420
Again, let me know where it can be improved! This is the extra long version. Smile
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Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:05 am 
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Knightrous
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Ahhh... Nice Anguz, even better then the first pre-release versions you sent me Wink Glad you got rid of the hammer intro, was funky, but seemed out of place in this song. Good work mate.
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Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:41 am 
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Philip
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I could imagine that being played on triplej. You should email it to them. I can't remember the program name, but it is the one Maya(sp?) runs.
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Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:04 pm 
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Yeah, Triple J plays heaps of good stuff. Dan Mangan runs the MixUp session on @ 9pm Saturdays http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/mixup/default.htm

Tom Roper had a few of his songs played on Triple J too Cool
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Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:22 pm 
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dyrodium
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Very Happy Great! I've got a local radio station bondi FM I might send it to. Smile
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Post Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:21 pm 
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Knightrous
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http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/flashback.php

Trippy video to "Divine Moments Of Truth" by Shpongle (Simon Posford AKA Hallucinogen & Raja Ram AKA The Inifinity Project)
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Post Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:05 am 
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