Malignant Intelligence (Seismic Recollection)

[sbj]

I like the sound of this production and it also has enough different elements througout to make it interesting all the way.

Also great to hear a track made with EXT64 alpha

Cheers

[Genetic_Junk]

Great sense of foreboding in the intro. Reminds me of an 80s horror soundtrack. Is that a reverse echo on the tom drum? Tassman is such a cool instrument. What sounds in this track came from it?

[margaret0547]

Very intriguing, quiet intro. I enjoyed the beat that evolved from that. The melody and synth sounds that followed drew me into the song. The pauses here and there were a good touch. Nice electric guitar sound. There was nice variation throughout and an enigmatic ending. The overall sound was excellent. It's nice to see that EnergyXT is resurrected. It was my first DAW on Windows.

[seismic1]

Got some very cool sounds on this Tim. Lots of great tension on display at the start with a great mix of the pulsing bass with the transient sounds. The drums are very cool. The single guitar notes are nice. Interesting patterns at the end.
Well done!

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

When I was putting this together, I wondered whether that "wandering" synth would be off-putting over the course of the entire track, and was toying with the idea of automating the volume, but it seemed to work out ok. The initial (quieter) percussion is from Microtonic, the heavier rhythm is a Dune 2 preset. The guitar sound is also Dune 2.

[seismic1]

I liked it a lot till that synth came in around 2:30, a little before. I thought that synth broke everything up and didn't sound right at all being there. I'm talking about the gated one to be clear. If It was me I remove that gated synth all together and replace it with something else more fitting. I thought the sound quality/mixing was fantastic. Of course all my opinion and you know what opinions are like.

The gated synth was something I used a lot until early 2011, and I thought it would be nice to revisit some of my earlier sounds. As far as breaking things up goes, I used two instances of it here to try to disrupt the rhythmic "angularity" of the track. I may have been successful

The mixing was quite straightforward really. There weren't too many instrument tracks here and my workflow and EnergyXT2/EXT64 seem to get along quite well after almost 14 years together.

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and comment, Alex. Glad you enjoyed the first couple of minutes

[justin3am]

Already commented else where but I really enjoyed this one. Having another listen.

[seismic1]

A successful return to beat driven music.

Unless you include Riven, which was over a year ago, I think this is the first since 2016. I don't know why things happened that way. I certainly enjoyed putting this one together.

Quite atmospheric with a nice choice of sounds.

The sounds were the key to this piece (and probably most of my other recent stuff too). Lately, the sounds tend to drive my composition process, with the actual notes turning up at an undefined point later in the procedure.

The mix is excellent.

The mix was actually relatively straightforward. Having the new EXT64 alpha helped too. It's a "comfortable" environment for me to mix in.

Perhaps it could use an additional melodic part to add to its uniqueness/memorability. But overall, great job!

Uh-oh. I can see another remix project on the horizon Maybe some kind of solo would work. I could dig up Pro-53

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

[Frantz]

I could dig up Pro-53

[seismic1]

The synth sounds are all great. And the whole mix. I have heard commercial mixes (of electro artists) that sound a lot worse...


(Btw. can you give a little insight into your mixing process. are you doing anything special?)

Thanks very much for the great comments, tomtom1. Glad you liked it

I'm not sure whether I'm doing anything special, because I'm not really aware of other people's mixing processes. I think it would be better described as simple, but I'll try to explain a little.

I'm working entirely on a PC in my lounge, using a Line6 Toneport UX2 through a pair of KRK Rokit5 monitors, with no sound treatment. I think I bought them in 2010, so they aren't the latest and greatest. A lot of people say that the monitors are muddy in the bass frequencies, but I quite like the sound of them. I also use a pair of Beyer DT-990 Pro headphones to check my mixes. My DAW of choice was EnergyXT2 (32-bit), but last year I started using MuLAB (64-bit). Two or three months ago, I realised that a 64-bit version of EnergyXT2 (EXT64) was in alpha-testing, so I thought I would try it. The current version of EXT64 does not feature any internal FX which was slightly awkward, but I have plenty of external options to choose from if I need them. This track only used 2 external FX. The mixer in EXT64 has the usual level/pan/EQ facilities. I used the reverbs built into the synths on this track apart from the microtonic percussion which went through Ultrareverb.

For this track I selected a set of sounds which worked together and didn't worry too much about mixing until the music was completed. Stage 1 of my mix usually involves setting up approximate relative volume levels. This is usually tweaked while I put the music together and refined later during the mix. For stage 2 I check the panning and adjust so that "conflicting" sounds are panned away from each other. Finally I apply a simple high-pass and low-pass EQ to each instrument. When I'm setting up the EQ parameters, I use the T-Racks metering for visually checking their effect on the individual instruments. If I need to perform any surgical EQ to cut a problem frequency or resonance from a particular instrument in the mix, I'll use EQuivocate, although I didn't need it on here. I also have an instance of Satin on the master bus to apply some saturation.

I use T-Racks 5 for mastering, and there are 4 modules in the chain (Linear Phase EQ, Opto Comp, EQP-1A, and the Brickwall Limiter). My EQ and compressor settings are quite gentle. I'm not trying to produce loud masters, and like to preserve dynamic range, so the limiter is not really pushed. It's mainly used to control the maximum output level of the mastered track. If I'm making an ambient piece, I typically use the 2 EQ modules only.

I hope this info is helpful.

[PatchAdamz]

One idea:

Can you dance?

I think I can speak for all posters in saying you should post a dance video to this.

You know, doing some Seismic moves and such......

Just kidding but Im dancing to it right now.....

[seismic1]

It's dark and atmospheric. I like how it is arranged, feels like a good flowing story / ambiance. Lots of small sonic details everywhere work very well. Enjoyed it! Thanks and cheers!

Thanks very much for taking the time to listen, and for the great comments, jackoo. Glad you enjoyed it

P.S. You should fix the Soundcloud link in your signature. It should be https.

[frank1985]

Really excellent! All of the stuff i've heard from you up till now has been minimal/ambient but I like this beat driven approach just as much.

[ATS]

Yeah just listened again. I wish I could mix as well as you do. What makes it worse is you say it isn't hard

[seismic1]

I like the sound of this production and it also has enough different elements througout to make it interesting all the way.

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

Also great to hear a track made with EXT64 alpha

Cheers

I think I had given up any hope of ever seeing a 64-bit EXT. Now, I'm patiently waiting for the next alpha, although the current version is quite usable.

By the way, I have to thank you for being an unwitting inspiration for this piece. It was the presence of Obscurium on your track (Aero) that reminded me that I really ought to get around to using it myself

[seismic1]

Great sense of foreboding in the intro. Reminds me of an 80s horror soundtrack. Is that a reverse echo on the tom drum? Tassman is such a cool instrument. What sounds in this track came from it?

Foreboding? '80s horror soundtrack? I can't think what you mean I love those Carpenter bass-synth vibes.

That drum is a Dune 2 preset, and the reverse echo is actually coming from the LF in the reverb FX. There are 2 Tassman instances on here - the "wandering" synth that persists through much of the piece, and the "echo bass" that enters at 1:03.

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, G_J