3am - Better Late Than Dead (dark ambient, spooky synth video)

[justin3am]

I was really hoping to post this on Halloween, hence the title.


We use a black light and some strobe lights as part of our Halloween decorations, so I figured why not use them for the video. It came out better than expected since some parts of my synths appear to be UV reactive!

It's really noisy and abrasive, so fair warning!

[seismic1]

This was a very dramatic piece, and with a very effective lightshow. In terms of atmosphere , I thought it had some similarities to the intro of Tangerine Dream's "Rubycon Part1", although the soundset here was very different. I enjoyed it.

Good work

[whyterabbyt]

excellent stuff!

[wagtunes]

Hey Justin. Hope you're doing well. Had to give this a listen. Reminds me of Vurt's stuff. Are you a follower? LOL.

Anyway, really cool. Hardware? If so what? If not, what software?

[justin3am]

Hi there,

Thanks for watching! Yes, I'm a big fan of vurt's! We go a back a long time. Back during the days of the frying pan gang and that time we formed the experimental crow. Some of my first explorations in experimental music involved a VST plug-in called vurtbox, I think from Krakli?

Yes, I use a good deal of hardware but also a good deal of software. In this video, I'm using a modular format invented by a guy named Serge Tcherepnin in the 70's. Most of my synth is from the '90s and later but it's a different approach to synthesis when compared to Moog, for example. While inspired to some extent by Don Buchla, Serge synths are also pretty different from Buchla. Serge came from a DIY ethos, where the idea was to build your own synth, from inexpensive kits. Time has changed that approach a bit but it's still a unique synthesizer format, ideal for sonic explorations based on the concepts of analog computation.

I use Bitwig as my main DAW, which most/all the things most other DAWs do. It can control my hardware instruments and I tend to use it like an extension of my modular synths. on the right side of the video, there is a large encoder with an LED ring. That is an interface which allows me to send and receive control voltage signals in addition to normal audio signals. I also use virtual instruments and effects, as much as I use hardware. u-he, unfiltered audio, GoodHertz, DMG audio, Soundtoys, Madrona Labs, Newfangled Audio, Fab Filter. Y'know, the good stuff!

Thanks again for stopping by. Warm regards!

[justin3am]

This was a very dramatic piece, and with a very effective lightshow. In terms of atmosphere , I thought it had some similarities to the intro of Tangerine Dream's "Rubycon Part1", although the soundset here was very different. I enjoyed it.

Good work

The strobe lights became a bit disorienting after a while but it came out looking sufficiently spooky, I think.
Thanks for watching and for the kind remarks!

[justin3am]

excellent stuff!

Thanks dude!

[enroe]

So, for people with a strobe light allergy, this wouldn't be suitable.

You conjure up a lovely performance here from the many boxes with
the little cables, ranging from ubiquitous thunderstorms to apocalyptic
flooding. It feels like no disaster scenario is left out.

Overall, very well done. It could also be used as background music for a
film; the track would be a good fit for many disaster movies. What's
especially brilliant is that you're demonstrating all of this here almost
live via video.

[eassae]

Spooktackular! ʕ•̫͡•ʕ̫͡ʕ•͓͡•ʔ-̫͡-ʕ•̫͡•ʔ̫͡ʔ-̫͡-ʔ

[justin3am]

So, for people with a strobe light allergy, this wouldn't be suitable.

You conjure up a lovely performance here from the many boxes with
the little cables, ranging from ubiquitous thunderstorms to apocalyptic
flooding. It feels like no disaster scenario is left out.

Overall, very well done. It could also be used as background music for a
film; the track would be a good fit for many disaster movies. What's
especially brilliant is that you're demonstrating all of this here almost
live via video.

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I like the invocation of natural disaster. The last time we had a big storm I was doing some field recording and was just noticing all the different layers of sound. The sound of rain tapping on different surfaces, wind wooshing through trees, cars driving over wet asphalt, animals scurrying through under brush to find a dry spot. There is a lot of diversity of sounds but I'm not listening closely it just sounds like... well background noise.
In a noisy set like this is also easy to just hear it as a wall of sound but I like hiding a lot of detail in there. I want the listener to be able to find stuff that isn't at the front of the mix.

I put a warning in the description of video about strobing but perhaps I should have put a warning in the video itself. I have a cousin with epilepsy who is very sensitive to flashing lights, so I do want to make it clear.

[justin3am]

Spooktackular! ʕ•̫͡•ʕ̫͡ʕ•͓͡•ʔ-̫͡-ʕ•̫͡•ʔ̫͡ʔ-̫͡-ʔ

Thanks for watching!