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

As far as the mix goes, there is no silver bullet. I just sit down in front of the DAW, and (usually) split the kick, snare, any toms, and cymbals/claps out to separate tracks, then I set all instrument tracks to their approximate final levels. This track was set to about -9dB on individual tracks, iirc. Then I pan them. At this point I might tweak the levels again. Finally, I go through each track and eq it. As a rule I tend NOT to worry too much about conflicts between different instruments frequency content at this time. Hopefully the panning in conjunction with the original choice of sounds has already, at least, partially addressed that problem. Then I fine tune the levelling and panning and listen to the final mix in order to address any residual frequency conflicts. All of this is done using my monitors. Next I'll play it through the phones to see how it sounds. Then I put it through a meter just to make sure that my ears are working. Once I'm happy with that, I render to wav and then put that through T-Racks.

12 months ago, I put up my first track (unmixed). The feedback and suggestions made regarding the mix and arrangement convinced me to spend some time on these aspects of the track. I went away and spent quite a few hours working with the track. Until that time I had never really considered the sonic aspects as I found the whole thing rather intimidating, but once you start playing with the parameters regularly it becomes easier, although you discover new techniques along the way, so it never seems to become any quicker as the workflow evolves.

T-Racks is fairly straightforward. I haven't read the manual all the way through. I dip into it every 2-3 months. You just need to play with it. Some of the preset chains are pretty good.

All of the tracks I have posted were made in EnergyXT. It's pretty straightforward to use, has a light footprint on the computer and a straightforward workflow. Some people don't like it and it has a few quirks, but I have been using software for a long time, and I think all software has them. I bought FL Studio about 7 months ago, but I think it has quite a steep learning curve so haven't got around to making any complete tracks with it yet. I just use it as a vehicle for developing ideas at the moment.

All the best, Chuck

Weekend bump and a little story.

This afternoon marked my return to active duty as a live "musician" after over 17 years of silence. A 3-hour jam-session with a guitarist and bassist and myself on the drums (out of my comfort zone, if I ever had one). Wow. I think The bad moments outnumbered the good moments by a factor of 20:1, but there WERE some good moments during the afternoon, and that is the important statisitic here. Never mind the fact that I can't play the drums for $%&*. We played with the windows open, due to warm, humid conditions, so local tartan-clad passers-by were somewhat bemused or unsettled.

All in all, this was a cathartic experience, and I am in a strangely pleasant mood tonight. So is the missus, but she arranged alternative entertainment elsewhere with friends, so I can't claim any credit for that

Good story...enjoyed it...too bad KVR doesn't have a like button?

That's really good and polished. Sounds like it was made using some hardware like the virus but I see it's not. Shows how far the home PC software has come. I have never even tried the EnergyXT but it sounds great, I am assuming it producing the virus type sounds.

Also the drums upbeats are really make this a good one. You are obviously one of the better writers on the forum.

Both of the arps are Synth1. The upper bassline is Synth1 and the deeper bass is EnergyXT. The intro synth is Synth1. The main string pad is EnergyXT, sometimes layered over a slightly retuned Init Patch from one of Teksonik's Synth1 Banks. All of the lead sounds are EnergyXT. The drums are all EnergyXT kits with some IK reverb.

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

Synth1

One day when I was clear headed I finally heard the simple but excellent tonality from a totally striped to the bone note. It was like listening to a vintage strat unplugged with your ear pressed up against the wood. The core sound to build upon was very, very good. I don't have the skills to shape it effectively.

It's like programming with lower level software where it's harder but you can do more.
Last edited by crimsontider on Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:36 am; edited 1 time in total

Lots of energy and excitement in this track Seismic. Nice work on the melody in particular. Its the part that always makes people come back for a 2nd listen , so its always nice to hear someone paying attention to , and focusing on that part. Great work on the bassline too =)

Assembly coding. I used to do that for pleasure on my home computer a loooong time ago. I also wrote some control routines for a minicomputer array processor back in the day. Oh the nostalgia..........

My favourite part of this "music" process is putting the sounds and the melodies together. I usually start with a sound that I like and the melody follows on from there. Occasionally, it works in the opposite direction, but I find that the sounds tend to drive the mood of the track, and so the melody tends to evolve from that.

My next track definitely has some of that. I found a synthetic pluck sound in one of the SQ8L banks that I thought would lend itself to a jazzier style, and decided to take a different direction. Since I recorded it, I lost the Kore Player Sky kit, but have this week acquired the C&V SDX for Superior Drummer 2, so a solution seems to have presented itself.

See you later, Greg

[quote="seismic1"]


sounds tend to drive the mood of the track, and so the melody tends to evolve from that.

/quote]

This very true, I believe some of the best music was/is written shortly after a widely accepted new instrument/technology is introduced. Meletron is a good example of an instrument that both set a mood for music and was so powerful to the musician that it helped inspire great works. The Marshall amplifier and effects pedals inspired Rock/Metal to go in all directions. Some of my favorite music was introduced right after the digital synth explosion in the 80's. The Roland 808 and 909 inspired genre's themselves.

I am in total agreement that whatever sound you are using sets you off in particular directions.

Thanks very much for the great comments, and thanks for listening

What vsti's do you use the most, and what is your favorite non big sample library VA for pads?

From the tracks I have posted so far:-

Drums/Perc - EnergyXT Drum Sampler, CM SR-202, Drumatic, Superior Drummer 2, SynthMaster, CM Dominator

Lead synths - GenesisCM1.02, EnergyXT Synthesizer, CM Dominator, SynthMaster, NI Pro-53, CM AMB Electra Bass Rack

Bass synths - CM AMB Electra Bass Rack, NI Pro-53, EnergyXT Synthesizer

Pads - Genesis CM1.02, EnergyXT Synthesizer, CM Dominator, NI Pro-53

I haven't really used many sample libraries for Pads, although I occasionally used Kore Player for this on my old computer.

I also use RedTron a lot, which is heavily based on sampled Trons.

That's great that you are not one to discount older vsti's. If they are good they stay good imo.

Some Pro-53 on the next track, and SQ8L, and some guitar. Two things I found with Pro-53. It often seems to need careful choice of LCF parameters, and I have seen midi-triggering problems under EnergyXT with Pro-53 and Kore Player. I have always managed to circumvent these problems through sheer persistence, but one of these days, I need to run this workflow through FLS. It might make life easier.

whow! i nearly missed this one. it's very, very good! it has a lot of moments that i tend to like most about your music: moment with little or none beats elements, where the rhythm just comes from the arps and the synths. i find those parts always very fascinating.