Tang Dynasty - ElectroProg (Seismic Activity)

[seismic1]

Fantastic track Tim. Really like the oriental feel to it. Full of well chosen sounds and another top composition! Well done!

Thanks very much for checking this one out, John. Glad you liked it

I'm going for a more modern feel with the next one.

[Genetic_Junk]

Nice melodic motif and variation thereon. I really like the direction starting at 4:00. Sort of a desperate solid feeling, like the realization of a real intractable ethical problem.

I think polyslax is right about the kick clipping in some places, but I think it sounds good.

I hope you spotted the double entendre in the title

Hmmm. I'm having trouble with this one. Any hints?

Maybe "Tang"

[Genetic_Junk]

double

[Barnadine]

Lovely spacious mix, and I really admire the patient approach to development. Nicely done.

[seismic1]

Congrats Tim, it took a while, but you've made it through the back catalogue!

That opening was a stunner, and of course I could have it go on in that vein for a while. I love the rhthmic interference of the synths you bring in and there are some fabulous bass/pad things happening. The kick that comes in at 2:34 sounds a bit clipped… could be me?

While I think some of the longer, sparse arp passages work in a cinematic sense, I'd love to hear a more condensed arrangement as well.

I think the only part that didn't work for me was the ending. It seems somewhat abrupt, as if you felt you had gone on long enough and had to bring things to a close.

Aside from that, top stuff as always Tim.

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, Matt. Glad you liked it

All of the sounds on here are factory presets, maybe a third of them having undergone some sort of tweaking. I seem to spend less time hunting for or creating sounds these days, so I can make a track sound roughly how I want it to (in outline) in a much shorter time than it took me 3 or 4 years ago.

The kick levels are way down in the mix, but i stripped it out of a house drum loop (same one I used in Stevie Stole my Timepiece). Listening to that again, there is some dirt in there.

I think I've hit a bit of dilemma with these new tracks. In the past I had the "luxury" of sitting on these pieces for 2-3 years, in many cases not listening to them at all for most of this time. I think this detachment allowed me to exercise a small degree of neutrality towards these pieces when I finally revisited them, which helped me to make structural/compositional/mixing decisions. With the "new" tracks I no longer have this safety net. I'm now in the position of trying to complete a track in a very short period (4 weeks - short for me), so these decisions are having to be made very quickly.

I think I agree about the ending, It is quite sudden. I may rework that at some point.

I'm working on something a little more downtempo right now.

[seismic1]

Excellent. Especially like the first few minutes, but I really enjoyed the whole thing. Thanks.

Thanks very much for the comments, and also for listening, DHM. Glad you enjoyed it.

Maybe I should assemble a compilation of intros

[seismic1]

Nice tune Tim !

Indeed very cinematic. It´s like a chinese starship in outer space
chasing E.T
I am with Poly and the more condensed arrangement,
but E.T. is seemingly tough to get a hold of

(( D ))

Thanks very much for listening, Daniel. Glad you liked it

My White Bicycle vs. E.T's fusion drive. No wonder I can't keep up

[drumity]

My White Bicycle ...

A reference to

NAZARETH ??



(( D ))

[seismic1]

GREAT work! A++ from me.

Thanks very much for listening and for the great comments, Brother Charles. Glad you liked it

Isn't it time that we heard a new track from you?

[datroof]

This is a nice piece. It's interesting that the 'oriental vibe' comes pretty much entirely from the orchestration - there's nothing particularly 'oriental' about the melody or changes. Well done Tim!

[annode]

The last 3rd interests me the most.
The bass and mid-bass-keys dance intrigued me.
They must have been keeping you busy trying to keep it all from getting too muddy down there without losing all your dynamics...and I can hear that the whole project does suffer seemingly because of that.

The bass and mid-bass-keys note intervals,(not naturally harmonic intervals) also make it difficult in keeping them from beating into mud.
Listening again I forgot to mention the lead which adds even more tonal difficulty down in the mid-bass (mud) section. Then put a kick on the bottom and it gets even more interesting.

I think it all turned out pretty well considering all that.
Congrates on a difficult but in the end a cool sounding project.

[seismic1]

I hope you spotted the double entendre in the title

Hmmm. I'm having trouble with this one. Any hints?

Probably more of an accident, actually. I was doing some background reading regarding the history of the Guzheng, and Tang dynasty caught my eye. It was only after deciding to make it the title of the piece, that I realised "Tang" might be a little more appropriate than I originally thought, given the sequenced synths on here.

(from SoundCloud)

The sequencing was quite rigidly structured and "composed". I would love to try something "looser", like Ricochet Part 1, but I have think something like that would really work better done with hardware.

I think you can do all the classic TD step sequencing tricks including ratcheting (repeats) with Rax'n'Trax. I use it as a primitive DAW and generate a MIDI file which I then import into my regular DAW. When used in this way, there is no way to capture the MIDI of a sequencing jam session. However, it is now also available as a VST so I guess it should be possible to record the MIDI as you tweak it. I never tried running it in VST mode. I have to warn you that it has a weird, unintuitive GUI.

I've spent some time watching those RnT2 videos. That could be very useful. Thanks very much for the suggestion

Now where did I put that Rocket?

[seismic1]

Nice melodic motif and variation thereon. I really like the direction starting at 4:00. Sort of a desperate solid feeling, like the realization of a real intractable ethical problem.

Thanks very much for listening, G_J. Glad you liked it It is kinda moody.

I think polyslax is right about the kick clipping in some places, but I think it sounds good.

I checked the levels, and they look ok, but there is a little noise in the kick sample I used. I'm planning to use that again, but in a "dirty" context.

I hope you spotted the double entendre in the title

Hmmm. I'm having trouble with this one. Any hints?

Maybe "Tang"

Bingo

[Frantz]

I've spent some time watching those RnT2 videos. That could be very useful.

RnT is unusual but quite powerful. It doesn't follow Windows UI conventions so there is some work to decipher the functionality. Fortunately, the developer Erik is friendly and helpful.

Mac people have the somewhat similar program Numerology.

[seismic1]

Lovely spacious mix, and I really admire the patient approach to development. Nicely done.

Thanks very much for the ears and the great comments. It's very much appreciated