e1->M150-> ♪♬ヽ(｀∀´)ゝ Past, Present, Future: 20 Years of eassae

[eassae]

I was looking through old files a few months ago and found my very first track, e1, that I produced with Garageband. According to the metadata It was created 20 years ago today. So, In honor of that I felt I needed to put something together this morning for the milestone.

Past:
https://soundcloud.com/eassae/e1-origin/s-7fKA1vAecA3

Present:
https://soundcloud.com/eassae/150a1/s-RYVaWcIAGVQ

Future(now present also):
https://soundcloud.com/eassae/6e-64

[wagtunes]

There was no way I could pass up listening to this. Congrats on the milestone.

First track has kind of a chiptune feel to it if not right on the money. Simple, but pleasant to listen to. I wish my first tracks sounded this good.

Second track really shows how far you've come. I guess it's kind of Nuage/Ambient? It certainly is interesting and a little eerie. Very well done.

[aaron aardvark]

eassae,
Thank you for the review! Now your "e1": sound quality was better than I anticipated for some reason (good); probably because it was 20 years old. I think it sounds interesting and pleasant. Could be good with a video. "M150": I am guessing your plugins (my assumption) are of better audio quality than what was available 20 years ago? Sounds pretty cool. I can picture this as movie background music (a bit like Nine Inch Nails). I started doing multi-track recording in 1984 with a 4-track cassette recorder, and plugins were a long way from being released.

[enroe]

"e1": So this is your first track? As a guitarist, I'd say you're
playing a synth eighth-note arpeggio. This runs through the
entire song, accompanied by light percussion and bass. It all
sounds somewhat minimal and septic, creating a kind of
surreal, plastic world.

"m150": You've made significant progress with the naming here.
A heavily reverberated piano – like in a large hall – starts
the song. This "hall" is gradually filled with further sounds
and instruments in an urban style. Overall, a complex yet strange
scene is musically "painted" here.

I find both tracks interesting in their own way – both are
characterized by the typical "eassae" style. I see more of a
consistency there, a love for realizing and experimenting
with the "eassae" style in different facets.

How would you describe your own development?

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

I'm with wagtunes on the first track - it definitely has a sort of chiptune vibe to it. Maybe a little long for my liking given how much repetition there is, but cool regardless. Second track was very nice, it has the exact sort of ambience that I'm very fond of.

Also, congrats on the milestone! Two whole decades of making music is certainly nothing to scoff at.

[eassae]

There was no way I could pass up listening to this. Congrats on the milestone.

First track has kind of a chiptune feel to it if not right on the money. Simple, but pleasant to listen to. I wish my first tracks sounded this good.

Second track really shows how far you've come. I guess it's kind of Nuage/Ambient? It certainly is interesting and a little eerie. Very well done.

Thanks for listening wagtunes. I can't say I can take a whole lot of credit for how my first song sounds. It was 4 or 5 tracks, all using presets, and if I remember correctly Garageband had two sliders for each track, one for reverb and one for delay. So really basic. That said it gave me enough positive feedback that I thought I should continue making music, so that's good…in my opinion:)…maybe not in others:(

I'm liking the direction the second track is going, which is a bit similar to the 149 track I posted earlier this month as well. I definitely feel like I'm in an experimental mindset right now…we'll see what comes of it.

Thanks again for listening!

[eassae]

eassae,
Thank you for the review! Now your "e1": sound quality was better than I anticipated for some reason (good); probably because it was 20 years old. I think it sounds interesting and pleasant. Could be good with a video. "M150": I am guessing your plugins (my assumption) are of better audio quality than what was available 20 years ago? Sounds pretty cool. I can picture this as movie background music (a bit like Nine Inch Nails). I started doing multi-track recording in 1984 with a 4-track cassette recorder, and plugins were a long way from being released.

Yeah, I've definitely upgraded my equipment since the first track. I remember mixing it on those clear Harmon Kardon Soundsticks, and Garageband was super basic. Now I have solid monitors, a good piano, and more plug-ins than you can shake a stick at.

I had a little Tascam 4 track even earlier than I started producing music. I was a raver kid in the late 90s and did the DJ thing—mostly d&b and trip-hop. I'm not sure why I bought the 4 track or what I intended to do with it, but I think it just sat next to my turntables for a few years if I remember correctly.

Thanks for listening.

[eassae]

How would you describe your own development?

That's hard to say—it's been so haphazard. After I made this first track, I quickly made 9 others, and I remember my wife commenting on the first four or so, comparing them to a musician friend of hers that had been producing for a while—she said something to the effect that on his tracks there wasn't a part that "felt untouched." That really stuck with me and made a lot of sense. As you mentioned this first track is minimal and "septic"—I really had no idea what I was doing—I did know basic music theory and how to read music from 3 or 4 years of piano lessons when I was in secondary school, so I could form chords and knew a little bit about key—the midi thing and interface were completely new, I didn't know compressors and limiters existed so I mixed to 0…

Anyway, my technical abilities made some progress over the course of the next 5 or 6 years through trial and error, and with better equipment such as Logic, a m-audio 88, some KRK Rokit monitors, but it wasn't until I started seeking out music tutorials online that my technical abilities really started to improve. I did a course on Lynda.com by Bobby Owsinski that helped tremendously.

In terms of progress in writing, I always go back to that thing my wife told me…maybe I take it a bit to far at times—putting a lot of detail into every part of a track. Also, as you may have noticed, I'm not so good at talking about the more enigmatic part of making music. I think it's because for me the process is almost fully intuitive, and I would kind of like to keep it that way. I do watch theory videos now and then when I need a bit of inspiration, but I usually don't make it through them, as soon as something strikes a chord;) I run with it.

To toot my own horn, I do think I've come a long way, and the time I've spent making music over the past 20 years, has been filled with some of the best hours I can remember. So, hopefully to 20 more.

[eassae]

I'm with wagtunes on the first track - it definitely has a sort of chiptune vibe to it. Maybe a little long for my liking given how much repetition there is, but cool regardless. Second track was very nice, it has the exact sort of ambience that I'm very fond of.

Also, congrats on the milestone! Two whole decades of making music is certainly nothing to scoff at.

It's definitely too long and repetitive. Most of my tracks were over 5 minutes when I started making music, I'm not sure why I felt things needed to be looped that much.

Thanks for checking the tracks out AsPeeXXXVIII.

[elxsound]

Hey eassae! I don’t think I’m getting notifications any more about your new SC uploads. Still subscribed and alerts are still on. I’m still getting alerts from other people I’m following.

I’ll check these out soon and write back, but thought you might want to know.

[eassae]

Hey eassae! I don’t think I’m getting notifications any more about your new SC uploads. Still subscribed and alerts are still on. I’m still getting alerts from other people I’m following.

I uploaded these as private so there wouldn't be alerts. Thanks for checking in though:)

[elxsound]

Hey eassae! I don’t think I’m getting notifications any more about your new SC uploads. Still subscribed and alerts are still on. I’m still getting alerts from other people I’m following.

I uploaded these as private so there wouldn't be alerts. Thanks for checking in though:)

Understood!

Thought it was broken, but makes sense. Looking forward to checking it out.

[seismic1]

... Most of my tracks were over 5 minutes when I started making music....

Most of mine are still over 5 minutes

I've just seen your email. I've been over in Thailand with the family for a few weeks of relief from the cold weather, I'll take you up on that offer.

ASCII codes, eh?

[eassae]

ASCII codes, eh?

You win first prize

[seismic1]

'e1' has a pleasant, light vibe and is very relaxing to listen to. The sound/mix is good, too. Very impressive for a debut track.

Good work