KVR Audio

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:24 pm

I don't mean to come off as against the grain, but it is my opinion that most drone / ambient explorations are absolutely a bore to me. I think it's mostly dull. I feel that this exploration could go so much further. I'm actually listening to Eno's "music for airport 1" or whatnot, and I'm horribly unimpressed. It's probably a crime to say, especially in this thread, but it's my opinion.

I'm still excited about using valhalla shimmer, and I am hearing it used in these ambient albums by eno. I do feel that this ambient stuff did change a lot about music and think that it was revolutionary of a change from eno's previous stuff. It's obvious he had deep personal awakenings and revelations. I however think that this approach to music could be taken SO MUCH FURTHER and could expand even HIGHER.

As I listen to my previous efforts, I've noticed that I've made many drone-type tracks without even "trying" to. This whole drone thing is so interesting to me, and I still am learning with the effects mentioned.

I hope I didn't come off as someone on a pedestal, because actually right now I'm in a pretty deep struggle to get through a severe writer's block due to illness and lack of energy.

It's just what I'm hearing is soothing but really goes nowhere ultimately. And I say screw that whole ZEN idea, I want passion! I hope I'm understood and I hope that people could maybe see what I'm saying. Thanks to everyone for contributing!

ps. I feel this same way about post-rock and shoegaze music... So amazing but needs to be taken further. Call me a visionary, or a total prick (not trying to be)

Neon Breath · Post by **Neon Breath** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:32 pm

rpc9943 wrote:I don't mean to come off as against the grain, but it is my opinion that most drone / ambient explorations are absolutely a bore to me. I think it's mostly dull. I feel that this exploration could go so much further. I'm actually listening to Eno's "music for airport 1" or whatnot, and I'm horribly unimpressed. It's probably a crime to say, especially in this thread, but it's my opinion.

Well obiously by saying that, this means you need to dig deeper & search more. Trust me, they are AMAZING artists & musicians evolving into the drone ambient genre. They are outhere and no, their names might not be as big as Eno or Roach... Explore the web, make researches, find obscure labels and don't wait for poeple feeding you with hundreds of suggestions. Have fun in your quest, trust me fantastic surprises await you hidden somewhere in some dark corners

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:53 pm

AWESOME. Thanks!

I'm still open here for any tips or effects as well

I need to explore valhalla shimmer more

RonC

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:30 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2OJe5TwdQ

Since you probably didn't give him the time of day judging from your previous post, at least listen to this track from that album. Mostly guitars/bass guitar, drums, and some orchestral bits at the end. This is more shoegaze rock/metal including vocals/singing with that huge wall of sound type thing going on, with elements/techniques of drones through out, and then a huge drone buildup at the end, akin to the Beatles "Day In The Life". As one of the top comments stated "Amazing trip of beauty and darkness"

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:33 pm

jonahs wrote:The effects built into Live are plenty good enough though.

There's a ton of them, but I've never been that taken with them. They all sound just a bit too clean and polished.

Most of the time I'm 50% Live's built in effects and 50% plugins. They're good for some things, but at other times I just don't like how clinical and clean the end result is. What really helps is some real analog effects if you can loop them in to your system. Dirty it up a bit!

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:41 pm

I have good success creating ambient atmosphere type stuff when I use a

reverb/delay>phaser/flanger>delay with any sound.

Anything like a phaser/flanger or modulated filter with some resonance to keep the sound moving and changing constantly, even when no sound is going into it.

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:44 pm

metalifuxx wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2OJe5TwdQ

Since you probably didn't give him the time of day judging from your previous post, at least listen to this track from that album. Mostly guitars/bass guitar, drums, and some orchestral bits at the end. This is more shoegaze rock/metal including vocals/singing with that huge wall of sound type thing going on, with elements/techniques of drones through out, and then a huge drone buildup at the end, akin to the Beatles "Day In The Life". As one of the top comments stated "Amazing trip of beauty and darkness"

Heheh... Reminds me of:
http://theconsolationproject.bandcamp.c ... i-dark-sun

Interesting. Made that one in 2007.

oh also, what kind of flangers / phasers do you use, are there heavily colored ones for vst?

Danolboy · Post by **Danolboy** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:52 pm

Definitely more bubbling under the surface that the likes of Eno etc, Tim Hecker in particular uses guitar to create these beautiful tones. No idea how he does it, granular processing of some sort I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP6UutFgbtI

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm

Sounds like reversed guitar playing, and a lead guitar playing loaded with reverb. Not much of a mystery to my ears.

jonahs · Post by **jonahs** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:30 pm

robojam wrote:
jonahs wrote:The effects built into Live are plenty good enough though.
There's a ton of them, but I've never been that taken with them. They all sound just a bit too clean and polished.

Most of the time I'm 50% Live's built in effects and 50% plugins. They're good for some things, but at other times I just don't like how clinical and clean the end result is. What really helps is some real analog effects if you can loop them in to your system. Dirty it up a bit!

Well, I just sold Live...! And I use about 90% hardware for effects and the 2 ValhallaDSP ones are the only ones I turn to often, but I think it's missing the forest for the trees to spend too much time looking for effects to buy.

Obvs, I can only speak for myself, but I feel that if my drones aren't good enough I'm either lacking in conception (nothing interesting to say) or composition (not execucting the idea to my satisfaction). If I force myself to attend to either of these areas it's no shocker that it ends up sounding forced. The solution I've found is to take a more a holistic approach and "live the song" so that when I get down with making music it just comes out, which is what I was trying to get at with my recommendations not some kinda zen mysticism.

I mean you can read all you want about doing some kind of physical activity, but that doesn't help your own body in actually performing it. On the other hand, you could be really smart like Sean at ValhallaDSP and break something down into it's core components and come up with algorithmic methods of achieving them. Thinking about it now, in a way by living the experience I'm programing an algorithm into myself.

If for example, I want to do something spiritualizedish (or more likely spacemen 3!) I gotta have pedals to stomp on, wires to get tangled up in and knobs to slowly turn. People to play with doesn't hurt either!

Bronto Scorpio · Post by **Bronto Scorpio** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:18 pm

Danolboy wrote:Definitely more bubbling under the surface that the likes of Eno etc, Tim Hecker in particular uses guitar to create these beautiful tones. No idea how he does it, granular processing of some sort I guess.

Tim Hecker is one of my favorite artists. I love his tracks!

One of my favorites (A bit more "droney" than chimeras): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_asq6pmZuRU

Sorry for the OT!

Cheers
Dennis

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:46 pm

This weekend I plan on carefully going through each post in this wonderful thread. Thanks again all, I might even get some psybox for me

RonC

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:07 pm

What I've been working on is combining drones with another kind of "Drone"... This is for my new album. Here's the other elements I am incorporating, if anyone is interested. It's kind of a totally different thing than using FX for drones...

http://www.sadreminders.com/interaction ... 884#p22884

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:41 pm

Hey valhalla, since you're knowledged in the ways of spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, how the hell do you think they did "pure phase" effects in between songs? Any estimation? Maybe you could make us an effect to match this?

I'm seeking a swirly kind of effect... Is this found within phase / flanger? If so, please lead me to it in software format?

RonC

Dunbar · Post by **Dunbar** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:52 pm

These aren't the drones you're looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmT12GyXBbc

Help me figure out the best "Drone" solution for myself...