KVR Audio

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:20 pm

The Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 5 has just been released. Here is my contribution to the album. This track was put together over 10-12 hours during spare moments in September. and then mixed a week later. The only difference between this and the album version is in the mastering. I've gone with a slightly modified "Twinkle" mastering chain, and again, kept the levels low. The original version of this featured a Paulstretched vocal recorded in a temple in Thailand, but to avoid falling foul of any copyright restrictions I replaced them with a string drone built in Audacity from a Z3ta+2 patch using Paulstretch.

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/depa ... heartlands

The full album may be found here:-

http://ambientonline.bandcamp.com/album ... n-volume-5

At $9.99 this represents excellent value, featuring 108 tracks, provided by the members of AmbientOnline, and clocking in at almost 18 hours!

Devices and Diversions

Recorded and Mixed in EnergyXT2.7
Mastered in T-Racks 3

Tassman4
Z3ta+2
Rapture
RedTron
FMERA2
Zebralette
Stereoizer
Replika
Harmonic Adder
Breeze
Shimmer
Audacity
Paulstretch
Satin
T-Racks Linear Phase EQ
T-Racks Vintage Equalizer

DR - 11

EDIT:20221112

I remixed "Departure From the Heartlands" again in May 2022. I made minor levelling and panning adjustments, updated the Stereoizer settings, and re-worked the EQ, making use of EQuivocate. The track was mastered in T-Racks 5.

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/depa ... ks5-master

Recorded and mixed in EnergyXT 2.7
Mastered in T-Racks 5

Tassman4
Z3ta+2
Rapture
RedTron
FMERA2
Zebralette
Stereoizer
Replika
Harmonic Adder
Breeze
Shimmer
Audacity
Paulstretch
EnergyXT Delay
EQuivocate
Satin
Linear Phase EQ
EQP-1A

DR - 11

Alias9593 · Post by **Alias9593** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:58 pm

Nice one, Tim. I'm always happy to see you coming to Ambient.
I like the melody, nice pads, i can feel a kind of Thaï atmosphere in it, well done.

annode · Post by **annode** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:23 pm

My first listen on external PC speakers;
- Will listen later on hi-fi system, but for now...liked it, very floaty and contemplative.
As with one other of your tracks I remarked on not long ago, i`m also wanting to tear away layers to reveal what`s going on underneath. I apologize for being such a minimalist here, but my mind is very interested in the short timbral instrument sounds under all that thick padding.
As soon as there is a gap in the pads my mind says 'yes let`s go there' but immediately the bully pads step on me.

I need to listen again on better speaks.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:52 pm

Nice, i really enjoyed this track. It was incredible! Makes me think of a underground place full of magical mysteries.

I listened to this on my laptop speakers at first and it came through very nicely, i'll have a listen again on headphones and update this.

4ndy · Post by **4ndy** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 6:09 pm

Nice one Tim.

Apologies for not seeing this earlier... I thought I couldn't see an AO Comp Vol 5 post, but here we are...

Lovely sounds used throughout this piece. I really like it

cheers

andy

sbj · Post by **sbj** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 7:04 pm

As an ambient track this works very well.

Lots of feelings and tension going on. It would IMO be the perfect track
to some footage showing how we mankind mistreat this earth.

Perfect title Tim

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 2:34 am

Alias9593 wrote:Nice one, Tim. I'm always happy to see you coming to Ambient.
I like the melody, nice pads, i can feel a kind of Thaï atmosphere in it, well done.

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comment, Alias9593. Glad you enjoyed it

I quite enjoy hovering on the periphery of ambient, but it took me a long time to eliminate the beats, and they keep trying to sneak back in when I'm not looking. Eliminating the melodies is going to be really tough.

It was touching 40 Celsius when I was in Thailand, and the humidity was way up there too. By the time I had finished processing the arpeggio in Replika/Harmonic Adder and Stereoizer, it was also quite sticky

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:23 am

annode wrote:My first listen on external PC speakers;
- Will listen later on hi-fi system, but for now...liked it, very floaty and contemplative.
As with one other of your tracks I remarked on not long ago, i`m also wanting to tear away layers to reveal what`s going on underneath. I apologize for being such a minimalist here, but my mind is very interested in the short timbral instrument sounds under all that thick padding.
As soon as there is a gap in the pads my mind says 'yes let`s go there' but immediately the bully pads step on me.

I need to listen again on better speaks.

This track was written whilst the memories of my trip to North-East Thailand were still fresh in my mind. One night we were sitting outside in a friend's back garden overlooking a lake as the sun set, with the frogs, dogs and mosquitoes for company. All the time we sat there drinking beers, the atmosphere became thicker as the approaching storm slowly moved towards us. It was an odd feeling, knowing that we were about to be hit by a deluge, and not really caring.

With this track, one of the things I was trying to convey the slow movement of the approaching storm. Let it rain. And boy, did it rain.

So I was deliberately trying to conceal a lot of the sounds here. The slow arpeggio is slowly mutated from a straight sound via Replika and the harmonic tweaking. The harmonic synth bell sound (a Podolski preset) is there to give the listener some sense of the far-east, but I didn't want to give it a lead role here. The reinforced arp at the end heralds the arrival of the rain.

This is probably the first music I've written about a booze-up

The next day, we said our goodbyes and returned to the city.

In fact this is the second version of this track. The original had vocal samples, recorded in a temple, clean, and variously processed in Paulstretch, but I didn't want to risk any copyright karma, so I built a string sound using a Z3ta+2 patch through Audacity instead.

I have played it on my HiFi and the sound seems to "open up" a little, relative to my monitors.

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

annode · Post by **annode** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:48 am

Hey, having me a listen now on my hi-fi system...still like it, still think those pads get pretty loud. Cool track though. Gonna listen again.
Hey, some mean weather in Thailand huh? Never been there, but have witnessed some 'fast and furious' weather in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The land is flat so you can see far distances and when the atmosphere changes, it changes big. Harsh systems get going and coming down the pike real quick. I was just there for a few weeks. Can`t imagine tornado season!

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 1:03 am

I get the impression of moving through dark clouds. The sounds are generally excellent. The mix is very good although there is a slight fuzziness to it which could be intentional. All frequencies are under control and it sounds good at any volume.

I have to admit I'm not an ambient aficionado. This kind of music works as background music for me rather than something that holds my attention.

In any case, it is enjoyable and goes down smooth with the beverage of your choice.

You're right to be careful with those monks from Thailand. Their team of lawyers will sue you six ways to Sunday for any uncredited samples.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 2:26 am

V0RT3X wrote:Nice, i really enjoyed this track. It was incredible! Makes me think of a underground place full of magical mysteries.

I listened to this on my laptop speakers at first and it came through very nicely, i'll have a listen again on headphones and update this.

Thanks very much for listening and for the wondeful comments, V0RT3X. Glad you enjoyed it

I can see a parallel between your underground/magic descriptors and my gathering storm/carefree scenario.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 4:35 am

nice one tim, i loved the inharmonics and the washes in this. it sounded nice and spacey on the phones.
ready to go nite nite.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 2:44 am

4ndy wrote:Nice one Tim.

Apologies for not seeing this earlier... I thought I couldn't see an AO Comp Vol 5 post, but here we are...

Lovely sounds used throughout this piece. I really like it

cheers

andy

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

Incidentally, it was your original post that reminded me that I had forgotten to do so.

I had a little fun with the Z3ta+2/Paulstretch on here, using shorter stretch factors than I have in the past.

epiphaneia · Post by **epiphaneia** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 8:34 pm

Fine piece, very relaxing, warm and transparent-sounding, plus it kept my attention as there´s just enough development throughout, but not so much as to disturb the mood

Quite obviously, it pays off to stay away from these evil drums sometimes

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:14 am

sbj wrote:As an ambient track this works very well.

Lots of feelings and tension going on. It would IMO be the perfect track
to some footage showing how we mankind mistreat this earth.

Perfect title Tim

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, sbj

There is quite a bit of sadness in this track. The soundtrack scenario that you suggest would probably be quite appropriate.

Departure from the Heartlands (ElectroProg - Seismic Sorrow)