KVR Audio

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:30 am

http://www.users.on.net/~oblique/Acidma ... 201.75.mp3 (OLD)

***New release candidate

http://www.users.on.net/~oblique/[Impulse]RC04.mp3

Its been a long time since I have shared a track with this community.

While I have been spending the past several years on academic study, I have dearly missed working on my music.

So I rebuilt and upgraded my studio after the past few months and intend to generate several professional quality trance tracks, hopefully to generate some income on the side (which is every composers dream!)- acknowledging of course that while I have no formal training in this area, I am a discerning listener, and always keen to experiment.

Writing trance doesn't come naturally to me, and I have found that much of it's power comes from "shaping the sound" - focusing the energy of the mix and being careful not to allow to many complex music ideas overshadow the main theme. This requires a lot of skill,and while I suppose I understand some of the most basic concepts I know I have a long way to go.

That being said there is often a lot of monotony in this genre - which, while true to its core value of beautiful minimalism can often cultivate unispired repetition.

So if anything, I want my music to have a strong melody- something that is so often lacking. Also I dont have a vocalist- and so I have focussed on instrumental music. The most difficult part in writing this was deleting so many ideas I tried to cram into it, until it became crowded with distracting content- it lacked unity.

almost all of the synths were generated/edited by hand. main tools were cubase, reason (malstrom, subtractor), refx synths (heavily modified), izotope mastering plugins (alloy and ozone).

I truly hope you enjoy this music and I would welcome any suggestions, comments, criticism or improvements. The above mix is an "open beta" I guess. I love this community very much.

Blessings to all,

Dr Tim

EDIT: spelling

xybre · Post by **xybre** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:47 am

Well, I liked it. Very psychedelic compared to a lot of stuff out there, and not boring at all.

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:58 am

Thankyou!

ThomasKoot · Post by **ThomasKoot** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:00 am

Well, I liked it. Very psychedelic compared to a lot of stuff out there, and not boring at all. Smile

+1, I like it al lot too, has a lot of energy and just keeps moving so it doesn't get boring to listen to. I also really like the melody.

This might really be something related to style, but I would like some more emphasis on the kick, especially when the main synth riff is playing. The main riff is quite loud and overtrows the kick a little. I'd make it pump a little more by compressing the main riff with the kick, and lowering the volume of the synth a little.

The syncopated hi hat that sometimes plays disturbs me a little. The timing of your beat is quite strict, but this particular hi hat is quite loosely quantized and has a very percussive character. For my taste it doesn't really complement to the groove, perhaps it might fit better if you lower the attack of the hat, and/or remove some of the hard frequency content (around 500 Hz) to make it shizzle a bit more.

Good luck!

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:18 am

excellent perceptive comments thanks.

This track has been an excise in seeing how loud I can get that synth, I have no doubt that I overdid it

it sounds like you are suggesting something like, a bit of side chain ducking compression on the lead synth triggered by the kick yeh?I'll have a play with it.

Regarding the hihat that is actually a drum and bass breakbeat loop with a high pass filter to cut out the kick/snare, whereas the other hats were done by hand. My intention is mainly to provide more high frequency energy in the choruses.

Might try experimented with different percussion- especially to have some panned a bit more as most drums are centralised.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:09 pm

Some very nice sounds and ideas in this track.

I'd agree that the kick and bassline could use some work but that's generally the hardest thing to pull of in a decent trance track.

I think some of the sounds could lose a bit of top end as well but it's not THAT bad!

Good tune

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:57 am

thanks. I've had a play with using apumping effect on the main synth line but it really gimps the percussive energy.

I noticed while I was playing around that the kick drum has been eq'ed incorrectly for all this without me noticing. Mut have done that ages ago and forgot about it >.<

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 6:45 am

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Have updated the track and the link at the top.

Blessings

Tim

brucek · Post by **brucek** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:37 am

I actually love this! Parts of it reminded me of some old school infected mushroom. I LOVE your bass lines. And the randomization you used. <3 <3 <3

Bruce

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:42 pm

thankyou!

TankEyes · Post by **TankEyes** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:13 pm

yeah a nice trance tune Tim. Lots of detail and movement to keep the interest levels up. Very well done.

In terms of what I like, it's a bit cheezy for my tastes. It needs a bit more attitude. That could mean some more psychedelic moments, more distortion (saturation, amp sim, etc), a bit less supersaw. A kick with more punch and less "roundness", and a bass with multiple layers, a less softwarey tone and more edits.

That's just my style preference tho. A really nicely made trance tune.

mystran · Post by **mystran** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:15 pm

I was afraid this was going to be one of those awfully boring things that generally get called "progressive trance" in the sense of "we've out of ideas, so let's call the genre progressive" but this was actually a nice track. A bit too happy for my general taste, but sort of cool crossover between psytrance elements and more mainstream feel.

The gated saw is nice sounding and reminds me of old computer game soundtracks, but the "piano" type melody could use either a bit more movement, or more space. Drums could use a lot more power too, not just kick, but drums in general, as it's mostly just the saws that keep up the rhythm. It also sort of feels as if there was no bassline. There's one, but a faster running sub-bass would be nice (though I'm currently listening on crappy earplugs, so maybe there's something and I just can't hear it).

Not necessarily the most inspiring track to dance, a bit too peaceful for that (this is the sort of stuff that would make me go grab a drink in hope of more aggressive stuff from the next DJ), more of listening music (for me at least), but very nice for that.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:28 pm

mystran wrote:I was afraid this was going to be one of those awfully boring things that generally get called "progressive trance" in the sense of "we've out of ideas, so let's call the genre progressive" but this was actually a nice track. A bit too happy for my general taste, but sort of cool crossover between psytrance elements and more mainstream feel.

The gated saw is nice sounding and reminds me of old computer game soundtracks, but the "piano" type melody could use either a bit more movement, or more space. Drums could use a lot more power too, not just kick, but drums in general, as it's mostly just the saws that keep up the rhythm. It also sort of feels as if there was no bassline. There's one, but a faster running sub-bass would be nice (though I'm currently listening on crappy earplugs, so maybe there's something and I just can't hear it).

Not necessarily the most inspiring track to dance, a bit too peaceful for that (this is the sort of stuff that would make me go grab a drink in hope of more aggressive stuff from the next DJ), more of listening music (for me at least), but very nice for that.

You've saved my typing. This is almost exactly what I was going to say!

Especially the faster layered bassline.

Inquisitor5775 · Post by **Inquisitor5775** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:57 pm

Thanks this feedback is really good.

I'll revisit this track a bit later on- many of the ideas yu suggestin particular the disortion elemtents to add character are thoughts I have had myself.- probably featureing more of the unique synths I placed at the start

Ironically this piece started out as a 14 minute "dinner" of ideas with a lot of variety of musical content (so much so that it was clearly many piaces crammed together all featuring the same gernal idea)

Since then I have dramatically pruned it down rmoving about 95% of the original content to "get" what I was really trying to say. Perhaps in doing that, while it approximated the sound I wanted, it has lost some of its uniqueness in a deliberate attempt to emulate a style.

This is a "happy" trance piece. There are a few of them out there. I instinctively write music that is made to be listened to, and to write for a style that flows seamlessly from one section to the next is something I find very difficult.

The lead synth with its dominant rhythmic pulses is the central feature of this piece and I want everything around it to support that Idea rather than compete with it. I considered dropping the piano completely to let this "be the melody".

its actually not gated - those chords are played by hand!

***I don't understand what you mean by a "faster running sub bass" do you mean like an "Arp-bass" that runs in parallel to the current one?

thankyou all for listening

Tim

TankEyes · Post by **TankEyes** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:59 pm

Yeah you've done well to focus the tune. I forgot to mention that in my review.

"Impulse" [Progressive Trance]