Abstractor (Seismic Berlin Revival)

[VCA-089]

As always, great work with creating a soundscape. A classic cyberpunk vibe to spark your imagination about the next game/movie it could be used for.
The only thing that bothers me a little is that "polyrhythmic" sequences isn't perfectly aligned, almost like playing in different tempo instead of triplets, dotted notes. It sounds a bit distracting a times.

[guitarmiester]

The space-y ambience of this is really good. I could leave this on repeat for a while. The part at 3:30 did throw me off a bit. It almost sounds like two different songs playing on top of each other.

[folderol]

This would make a very nice background to an oceanic film.

[seismic1]

Hi seismic1,
Love this recording!!!
Your creativity is hugely displayed in this creation.
Agree with Asuznu, a perfect soundtrack, and really enjoyed the soundscapes you created.
Happy New Year!!!
With love and respect,
Rene

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comments, Rene. Glad you liked it

A very Happy New Year to you too

[WordClock]

Sounds pretty much like a lucid slow joy ride in a British 70's film with Native Instruments Pro-53 like a cheap Prophet synth and some freeware synths. And then when I thought I listened to the whole thing wait a bunch of Berlin sequencing. Pretty good but it seems like it's lacking direction in ways although not lacking impact. For some people the effort always gets you something more. Sounds like a leap forward from you.

I do my music by feel and piecing it together so I can't tend to believe that Berlin is the most logical sequencing method for me because I don't like to read "how-to's". I know how to make cohesive solid mixes with pacing and counterpoint and harmonies and atonality. Overall I think it's just a facade that gleams and shines with all the bells and whistles of an automatic loop. Really tight and yet no direction in it.

[seismic1]

Patches of (old) Arturia Modular already comparable to famous DX7 patches hehe.

Edit: good sound actually.

The older, the better. They may yet achieve legendary status in another 20 years

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

[c_voltage]

The older, the better. They may yet achieve legendary status in another 20 years

Actually i quite like sound of old version of Arturia Modular (especially sequences), as well some other old Arturia versions. Moreover, in one pretty known electronic\industrial album was used old version of Arturia Arp2600. When i heard his tracks first time, i did wrote to author with question about source for such impress bass parts (being sure that was used some HW synths), but reply surprised me. (Despite he used and still use enough HW in other works).

[Allomerus]

Having another listen Tim. This is fabulous!

[seismic1]

Loving the vibe

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

[seismic1]

Really nice. Some parts reminded me of my youth and a computer game. The first "Unreal" from 1998 or so... Don't know exactly why, was a great flashback Maybe it has similar sounds in its soundtrack. So your piece would not only suit for film, but also for games

Glad this was able to conjure some nostalgia for you, tomtom1. I tend to associate soundtracks with films, rather than games. This is certainly due to the era when I grew up. I don't think the multimedia aspects of gaming really took off until the mid '90s, by which time I think I had moved on to other interests.

If you're still interested in, or playing Unreal titles, the servers for Unreal Tournament (2014) are being switched off on January 24, at which time the game will become inaccessible.

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, tomtom1. Glad you enjoyed it

[frank1985]

Finally got round to listening to this...before bed (the best time )

Really impressive with nice movement and subtle modulations throughout to maintain interest - you really captured that old school vibe.

How are you using satin here, just for mix glue or also as a delay effect?

I always wondered with this style (particularly with your busier tracks) how EQ is used with things evolving and different elements fading in and out over time? do you automate the EQ as you go along or keep it static? Probably a dumb question.

Great job dude

[Genetic_Junk]

Serene. The re-occurring string pad with a vocal quality is beautiful. The piece doesn't require full concentration to enjoy, but the constantly changing parallel sequences rewards focused listening.

[Opaque]

Beautiful textures in the first 5-6mins especially, was never a true fan of Tangerine Dream etc. but have listened to the classics of Bowie/Eno collabs, Vangelis, and so on, and it's definitely reminiscent of the era.

[seismic1]

Happy to hear some Berlin school sequencing again. Beautiful use of space in the mix. Excellent sound design. The occasional dissonances are tastefully done.

I used to get the "Berlin itch" every couple of years, although it seems to be increasing in frequency recently.

There are 13 instrument tracks on here, although I think there are only a maximum of 8 playing at any time, so judicious use of panning and reverb helped out with the spacing.

I'd like to add "tastefully dissonant" to my LinkedIn profile. That would flush out any lingering management wannabes from their caves.

The parallel sequences are a little wonky to my ears. It sort of sounds like a DJ mixing two TD tracks together. Personally I could have done without the parallel sequences as it pulls me out of the immersive experience. You seem to be trying to push this style of music to the edge so from that perspective it is successful.

I've listened to all of those sequences in all possible combinations, and although they all fit "logically", I may make a change to the precedence of one of them to improve their flow.

Abstractor is a good title for an experimental ZZ Top album.

It's got legs

Overall great job! Happy New Year.

...and a Happy New Year to you, too.

i did have some difficulty w/ some resonance in some of the mids/mid highs ...
that may be down to me , as i've reason to suspect my ears have not made it
all the way back ...

I am very sensitive to high frequencies and had no issues with this mix. In fact, the mix sounds excellent to me.

I have a feeling that the resonances mentioned here were between 400Hz and 800Hz. If that proves to be the case, I may go back into the mix later to pull them down a little. I also want to tweak the EQs in the mastering chain to address another problem.

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and for the feedback, Frantz. Glad you liked it

[seismic1]

This is really cool. I enjoyed listening very much.

Thanks very much for taking the time to check this out and comment, eassae. Glad you enjoyed it