Abstractor (Seismic Berlin Revival)

[seismic1]

Nice sound palette.

It easy to produce these sonic colours when there are so many excellent instruments available, even if some of them are quite long in the tooth. We're spoilt for choice.

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

[Frantz]

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.

Are you referring to the synth that first comes in 0:24? I suppose it has some strong resonances although they are not bothering me. Other than that synth, I am not hearing any other frequencies that might need addressing.

[seismic1]

Very nice combination of old school and newer electronic styles.
Takes one on an interesting dreamlike journey.

I like the combination of the sequenced synths with the sampled orchestral/vocal sounds.

The samples here gave me a chance to "break out" of that '70s Mellotron vibe, even if only temporarily. I think they have a "cleaner" sound, although that's not always what I'm after.

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

[seismic1]

Beautiful track Tim. Like Patch says an interesting dreamlike journey.
I like a bit of Berlin Schoolin' and this certainly hits the spot.
The first lead synth sounds a bit like the mozzies that bedevil us at the time of the year...
Well done!
You have inspired me...

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

Re: The mozzie-synth. It's a Reaktor preset that I had a play with after thinking that it reminded of Jamie Muir's trombone on King Crimson's "The Talking Drum" from Larks' Tongues in Aspic. It must have bit me

[Allomerus]

Is that how the Talking drum did that? Fascinating!

[tomtom1]

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.

I have the original disc, still somewhere - and the original Unreal installed. I was never into the Unreal Tournament series that much tbh. I was more in the "Quake" corner. That was dirtier, faster and a small community is still really active. From time to time i play a match of Quake Live. But i am getting old... reflexes are getting slower...

[StudioDave]

Excellence throughout. Great sounds and mixing, good musical stratification. The rhythmic overlays are tasty, and the formal evolution is satisfying. Add my voice to the praise chorus.

Btw, I wouldn't know a Berlin School from a Berlitz School. But I know what I like. I also know a Picardy third when I hear one.

Very fine work indeed.

Best regards,

dp

[seismic1]

You have inspired me...

I just figured out what you were referring to

[seismic1]

Cool! I liked the ambiance and sounds.

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

[seismic1]

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.

I'll try to take another look at the timing of the sequences over the next couple of days. It may be that I'll "smooth" one of them a little. I'll be having a look at the midrange EQ on here too.

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comment, VCA-089. Glad you liked it

[seismic1]

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.

The single Absynth track exposed at 3:30 began at 0:11. Call it an extended intro.

I'm surprised that nobody spotted the Absynth glitch at 4:09. I tracked down the instance that generated it, and it wasn't playing at 4:09. Strange. I am remixing the track at the moment, and have eliminated the problem. I have a couple of other issues to address and should be able to replace the existing upload in a day or two.

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

[seismic1]

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

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, folderol, and good that you were able to dip your toes in the water

[seismic1]

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.

I hope it was a rainy joy ride with the windscreen wipers fighting the water pouring incessantly down the windscreen

I still have Pro-53, but I don't think I've used it on a new track since since 2014 although back in 2009-2010 I seemed to use it all the time. I just checked and it still works on my Win 10 system. The only freeware instrument on here was one of the Spitfire LABS instruments. I don't have anything against using free instruments, but lately I have decided to make more use of the instruments I paid for, if only to justify their purchase

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 like to make one of these "Berlin-style" tracks every couple of years, partly because I grew up listening to TD in the '70s and early '80s and those albums never lost their hold on me, but also because I enjoy doing it. Now this one is almost out of my system (apart from last week's cosmetic remix, which should replace the existing upload very soon), it will probably be a couple of years before I try it again.

The comment about direction is interesting. I'm not sure that "through-composition" is an accurate assessment of my composition process for these "Berlin-style" pieces, but there seems to be a little more of that present than in my shorter tracks.

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.

Of course, it's horses for courses, and you may be right in feeling that Berlin-sequencing is not the best method for you to employ, but the existence of "how-to's" should not be a factor in your decision. I haven't read any, and wasn't even aware of their existence until now. I think most of the fun in making these pieces is derived from the process of putting them together, without any external guidelines, even if I make some mistakes/errors along the way.

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

[seismic1]

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).

I have a later version of Modular, and I need to spend more time with it. I'm sure that it can produce some impressive sounds if I put some effort into it. I have used Arp2600 V2 for a few lead sounds in the past, but no bass parts yet. Some of the bass presets are quite impressive.

[seismic1]

Having another listen Tim. This is fabulous!

That's great dedication, right there. I'm glad you're still enjoying it, John

Incidentally, I replaced the track on SoundCloud with an updated mix/arrangement last week. I made some small-ish EQ changes, centred the bass synths, and updated the sequenced parts with a slightly simpler arrangement in a couple of places.