Critical Mass (ElectroProg - Seismic Despair)

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macmurphy wrote:this sounds great Tim. i think it would be the perfect soundtrack for driving through London at night. all i need to do is learn to drive and move back to London.

neil.
That has to be a least my fourth track that has elicited a "driving theme" response. I was thinking of changing my car anyway. Should I take this as an indication of fate? :o

I don't know about the wisdom of driving through London these days. 20 MPH speed limits, congestion charging, the wrong kind of snow. Give me twisty country lanes anytime.

Thanks very much for listening and commenting. Glad you liked it :)

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Spooky intro indeed...then almost a chilled Psychotic angry...then I just said f@ck it and started bouncing my head, with an uncontrollable tap of my foot...

.....then...it said hold the hell on! ...time to be cool again. 8)


Now both! :hihi:

I thank you for this fantastic ride! :D

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Baard wrote:Really like this one. Heard it before going to bed last night, and gave it another spin now. Soothing sounds and great production. Hard work surely pays off.

Sorry to hear about your father. Its great that one can channel the emotions from such experiences into creative work.

Thumbs up from me!
Thanks for checking this out, Baard. Glad you liked it :)

I was having problems completing this track, and I received the bad news during a very long and generally unproductive editing session. I didn't have any enthusiasm for continuing with this for a couple of weeks, but when I did return to it, everything seemed to fall into place quite quickly.

Thanks also for your kind words.

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GermanFafian wrote:Great track!
I really like the whole idea and how it develops, slows down and builds again. 8)
Thanks very much for checking this out and commenting, German. Glad you liked it :)

I was a little worried about whether the slow middle section would work within the overall context of this track, but I think I got away with it :hihi:
Last edited by seismic1 on Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Wonderful work Tim! One of your moodier tracks for sure, but it came out fab and was a really enjoyable listen. 8)
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V0RT3X wrote:I enjoyed this track, very complex sounding in some parts. The melodic parts are catchy too.
Thanks for checking this out, V0RT3X. Glad you liked it :)

I had to be very careful with harmonies when constructing this. There were quite a few notes involved :hihi:

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First of all, my condolences on your loss. Somehow you managed to create a beautiful piece of music under difficult circumstances. It's another first rate composition with all parts and sections integrating into a complete, satisfying piece. The mood is more somber than your other pieces but it's still very enjoyable.

It's interesting to note that there is some funky bass starting at 0:59 but it takes a backseat in this introspective arrangement. I suspect the piece might have come out a little differently under happier circumstances.

For me, the highlight is 2:38 - 5:27. The slow section has real emotional resonance. Just beautiful. :love: And the reintroduction of elements heard earlier works brilliantly coming out of the slow section. As an added bonus, there is a brief but tasteful solo at 6:09. :)

As usual, the mix and production is flawless. OK, I'll admit I want to put a low pass filter on the lead that starts at 1:40 but that's my issue with high frequencies that digital synths produce. In any event, that patch is clever and memorable.

seismic1 wrote:the Jan/February 2013 Edit/Remix/Master took a staggering 33 hours
Why are you tracking your exact hours? At work, I have deadlines and stress that I can't avoid. Music is just a hobby for me but I noticed it was becoming stressful when I gave myself artificial deadlines on my last track. When I switched my M.O. from "I'm going to finish this weekend" to "It's done when it's done," the pressure was off and it became fun again. Maybe something to think about?

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ariston wrote:I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing! I think it's easily my favourite track of yours, a nice gloomy vibe set to a driving beat and propelled by a way cool syncy-lead.

Hope your personal problems worked out okay, or are at least getting better.

Great job! :clap:
Thanks very much for checking this out and for the great comments, ariston. I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

I'm never sure how these tracks will go down, given that I tend to mix things up a little. Three weeks ago, I was not very happy with the overall feel of this track, but I got there eventually.

Things are slowly getting back to normal at home :) Thank you for your kind thoughts.

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cool! lots of driving imagery conjured up here.

yet another piece from you which is quite intriguing, harmonically.

it's kind of like 'knight rider' but to the umpteenth power.

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I really enjoyed this, particularly the slow middle; the mix/production sounds great.

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folderol wrote:Very 'other world'. Spooky too... then it gets scary :scared:

P.S.
Those audio 'squiggles' are rather tasty.
That would probably be the Surrey connection :hihi: I live for "squiggles".

Thanks very much for listening and for commenting, folderol. I hope you have recovered :)

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mr.me wrote:Spooky intro indeed...then almost a chilled Psychotic angry...then I just said f@ck it and started bouncing my head, with an uncontrollable tap of my foot...

.....then...it said hold the hell on! ...time to be cool again. 8)


Now both! :hihi:

I thank you for this fantastic ride! :D
Spooky, chilled, psychotic, angry, uncontrollable, hell, cool.

ticking a few boxes then :hihi:

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, mr.me. Glad you liked it :)

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polyslax wrote:Wonderful work Tim! One of your moodier tracks for sure, but it came out fab and was a really enjoyable listen. 8)
"Moody" is about right.

Thanks very much for the comments and for listening, Matt. Glad you liked it :hug:

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FrantzM wrote:First of all, my condolences on your loss. Somehow you managed to create a beautiful piece of music under difficult circumstances. It's another first rate composition with all parts and sections integrating into a complete, satisfying piece. The mood is more somber than your other pieces but it's still very enjoyable.
Thanks very much for listening, commenting and for your kind thoughts, FrantzM. Glad you enjoyed it :)

I have to say that the music was just about completed (I had already added the slow middle section) at the time when this was interrupted by misfortune, so the somber mood of the piece was already fairly well integrated.
FrantzM wrote: It's interesting to note that there is some funky bass starting at 0:59 but it takes a backseat in this introspective arrangement. I suspect the piece might have come out a little differently under happier circumstances.
I think that bassline taking a backseat may have been related to the fact that Swollen had 3 layered basses which conspired to produce a very in-your-face effect. I was probably just pulling back from that slightly.
FrantzM wrote: For me, the highlight is 2:38 - 5:27. The slow section has real emotional resonance. Just beautiful. :love: And the reintroduction of elements heard earlier works brilliantly coming out of the slow section. As an added bonus, there is a brief but tasteful solo at 6:09. :)
That slow section came together over a 2-hour period a few weeks ago. That is probably the longest piece I have put together in 2 years! I can't wait to start putting some new material together :)
FrantzM wrote: As usual, the mix and production is flawless. OK, I'll admit I want to put a low pass filter on the lead that starts at 1:40 but that's my issue with high frequencies that digital synths produce. In any event, that patch is clever and memorable.
That patch is a Pro-53 factory sync :oops:
FrantzM wrote:
seismic1 wrote:the Jan/February 2013 Edit/Remix/Master took a staggering 33 hours
Why are you tracking your exact hours? At work, I have deadlines and stress that I can't avoid. Music is just a hobby for me but I noticed it was becoming stressful when I gave myself artificial deadlines on my last track. When I switched my M.O. from "I'm going to finish this weekend" to "It's done when it's done," the pressure was off and it became fun again. Maybe something to think about?
I don't set deadlines for myself. I have enough of those at work :)

That 33 hours breaks down into 19 hours of structural and compositional work and 14 hours on the sonics. I don't know how this compares to other people. I remixed two more tracks over the weekend (sonics only) with a total time of 6 hours. It varies from track to track.

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seismic1 wrote: I think that bassline taking a backseat may have been related to the fact that Swollen had 3 layered basses which conspired to produce a very in-your-face effect. I was probably just pulling back from that slightly.
"Itch" also had a lot of bass action. It makes sense to mix things up otherwise you could end up with an album that is too samey.
seismic1 wrote: That patch is a Pro-53 factory sync :oops:
Those early emulations haven't held up that well. I have a Creamware Pro 12 ASB which is considered a fairly close Prophet emulation and it couldn't produce a sound that bright. In any case, I'm sure I'm the only one who noticed or was bothered by it.
seismic1 wrote:I don't set deadlines for myself. I have enough of those at work :)
Smart. I only mentioned it because you know the exact hours which indicates that you are timing yourself.
seismic1 wrote:That 33 hours breaks down into 19 hours of structural and compositional work and 14 hours on the sonics. I don't know how this compares to other people.
I am sure there is extremely wide variation. In 33 hours, Remmie (Emerald Tablet) could write a triple album and complete a world tour :D. Whereas I could easily spend 33 hours fiddling with the sound design for one track.
Last edited by Frantz on Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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