Axis Part 1 (ElectroProg - Seismic Phoenix)

[Allomerus]

Very ethereal Tim. Like it very much! The drone , which changes subtly is very nice!! The 'flute' synth is great. Builds beautifully, including the rhythm section.

Flows through my senses!

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

seismic, this was another interesting journey. it's 'self-contained-ness' wasn't a big issue here; but it probably wouldn't hurt at all to double the intro length, and double the more percussive part, and have a 12 or 13-minute overall piece.

there's the additional bonus to this thread of having discovered spek.

but yeah, you could 'easily' extend 'both halves' of this piece; and retain listener interest throughout.

cheers!

[seismic1]

Hi seismic.

Haven't been in the cafe for some time, but when I am and I see you've posted something I won't pass you by. But for this one maybe I should have.
Not trying to be a downer or pick on you or anyone for that matter...but I like to reply as much for efforts I think are below the artists talents as well as something exemplary.

I have a folder filled with 'ideas' in the form of .fxb files that open 'Chainer' projects ideas that I never took to the point of production where it might have been brought to be Cafe 'postable'.
I see this production in that respect.You started with an atmospheric idea and experimented with that for a time. I think you said you were thinking 'intro'?
Perfecting the atmosphere and developing it into a journey would have worked in itself, but I think you got bored and tried to 'package' it into a form that appears to complete it...but I think it only just made a mess of your atmospheric idea you started off with. (and like I said, i've been doing that for many yrs.)

Again, not trying to be a pest. I guess i'm saying...if we have to grab synths and a drum pattern that was basically a 'march' rhythm on top of something we spent hrs on just to give up on it and quickly create a package for it...it's maybe better to put it aside for the night and into that folder I call 'the shelf' and maybe open it another day.

I didn't read the pages of replies, but i'll guess they were mostly favorable...and that's sorta why I felt I wanted to share my thoughts and give some contrast.

Always glad to hear what your doing all the same mate.

Hi, annode. Haven't seen you about much lately.

This was my first new track for over two years, and to mark the event, I decided to do things differently this time. I've been hanging around on Ambient Online recently and decided to give Paultstretch a go. When I heard the result I realised that I would be able to generate some "harmonic events" by modifying and combining drones. I didn't really fancy making a long drone duet, so added some synth elements, and, towards the six minute mark, I had a couple of ideas which will involve restating and re-presenting some of the elements of this track in a different format, hence the intro/Part 1 descriptors. It wasn't planned as an intro, but very little that I do is planned anyway.

You're right about it being quick. After so long "out of the saddle", I was expecting this to take a lot of time to assemble, but that wasn't the case. The original and the three remixes totalled 8 hours. For me that is quick

So, this is probably going to be a taster for Part 2, but my plans are best described as fluid.

PS: just read some of the replies and see many are about the HF.
Listening to the Soundcloud 2 times before I 1st replied I noticed it right off.
I have a sensitive ear that rings when there's a steady high pitch going on. I've created projects that have it throughout the piece...in the .wav file !

My best guess that it's a sorta 'foldover' byproduct of a nyquist sampling problem in the form of aliasing. I've never been able to see it, so it just a guess.
I suspect it had something to do with the PaulStretch in combination with something else. I only hear it in the opening section.

The HF was mainly generated by Valhalla Shimmer's Black Hole preset, but I had to dial back the HCF (and a few other things). I guess it's more exposed at the beginning before the second drone (without the Shimmer) and the percussion enter.

Thanks for giving this a listen, annode. I hope Part 2 will be more to your liking (if I ever get around to making it, so busy at the moment.)

[seismic1]

i enjoyed this very much. i don't think anything was compromised by the introduction of the beat, nor do i hear anything that sounds or gives me the feeling that you got 'bored' and chucked on the beats just to 'complete' it.

neil.

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

[seismic1]

These days 90% of my monitoring is done on the computer with my Pod Studio UX2 and the Rokit 5s.

OK, that's not an issue.

Glad you liked the latest revision

I do and I'm looking forward to seeing how this piece develops. This is only part 1.

I have some ideas for Part 2, but everything is fluid at the moment, it could go in a number of different directions.

Got my wireless DAC today. Awesome. No more running cables over to the HiFi. This will make mixing/mastering much easier.

[Frantz]

I have some ideas for Part 2, but everything is fluid at the moment, it could go in a number of different directions.

This is good place to be. A solid beginning which you could take in dozens of possible directions.

Got my wireless DAC today. Awesome. No more running cables over to the HiFi. This will make mixing/mastering much easier.

I'm a bit old fashioned in preferring wires. I'm not sure about the quality of audio that's been beamed around. But I understand it's not practical to run wires around the house.

[gvnz]

liked this, even if usually long tracks tend to put my attention under test. To me the first part builds some kind of anxiety or tension that vanishes in the second part, so the two work well together

[seismic1]

Very ethereal Tim. Like it very much! The drone , which changes subtly is very nice!! The 'flute' synth is great. Builds beautifully, including the rhythm section.

Flows through my senses!

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

That "flute" synth is DominatorCM

[seismic1]

seismic, this was another interesting journey. it's 'self-contained-ness' wasn't a big issue here; but it probably wouldn't hurt at all to double the intro length, and double the more percussive part, and have a 12 or 13-minute overall piece.

there's the additional bonus to this thread of having discovered spek.

but yeah, you could 'easily' extend 'both halves' of this piece; and retain listener interest throughout.

cheers!

Thanks for listening and commenting, mrblitz. Glad you enjoyed it

Towards the end of the recording process, I toyed with the idea of extending this piece but when I heard that final CM101/REFLEX note, I decided that I had a great ending for this section and could work on Part 2 at my leisure. I can revisit those drones with their harmonic implications, I have a melody that I can twist a little. I also fancy some soft arps on here at some stage and some 'tron might not be out of place either. Probably won't happen for a few months yet.

[seismic1]

I have some ideas for Part 2, but everything is fluid at the moment, it could go in a number of different directions.

This is good place to be. A solid beginning which you could take in dozens of possible directions.

I agree. Almost 3 years ago I had a pretty lean period, musically speaking. It was difficult to extract myself from a self-constructed hole. I was a little apprehensive about making a new track after 2 years off, but it all came back to me very quickly. I'm currently in a happy place

Got my wireless DAC today. Awesome. No more running cables over to the HiFi. This will make mixing/mastering much easier.

I'm a bit old fashioned in preferring wires. I'm not sure about the quality of audio that's been beamed around. But I understand it's not practical to run wires around the house.

I'm pretty conservative about this kind of thing too. I shouldn't be. My job involves rolling out new tech in datacentres and then supporting the damn stuff. Constant betatest.

The DAC has already proved to be extremely revealing, In terms of mix/mastering decisions. Two tracks have already benefitted from its use. Connecting my Marantz CD63SE through the DAC using the optical connect is also a winner. I played Discipline by King Crimson, and the sound just opened up. Very revealing indeed. I should try some Opeth next, I think.

It supports 24bit/96Khz Dolby 7.1 without compression. I mix stereo wav files so this is plenty for me. It's been rock steady for me (only 3 days so far but very satisfying). Glad I snapped this up.

[Frantz]

I'm pretty conservative about this kind of thing too. I shouldn't be. My job involves rolling out new tech in datacentres and then supporting the damn stuff. Constant betatest.

Life on the bleeding edge.

The DAC has already proved to be extremely revealing, In terms of mix/mastering decisions. Two tracks have already benefitted from its use. Connecting my Marantz CD63SE through the DAC using the optical connect is also a winner. I played Discipline by King Crimson, and the sound just opened up. Very revealing indeed. I should try some Opeth next, I think.

I see you checked this out thoroughly. As usual, I'm not up-to-date on the new fangled gizmos.

[seismic1]

liked this, even if usually long tracks tend to put my attention under test. To me the first part builds some kind of anxiety or tension that vanishes in the second part, so the two work well together

Thanks very much for checking this out and commenting, gvnz. Glad you liked it

Hopefully there will be some more tension when Part 2 comes along in a few months.

[2NDMOUSE]

I wouldnt be a huge fan of drone to be honest Seismic , so im not the most qualified of people to be giving any feedback on it , but i do like the beats.
It was heading somewhere unusual with a bit more of an alternative backbeat , but adding a straight 4/4 kick brought it back to predictability again. Pretty sure im guilty of this too of course =p , but i think it would sound edgier if you mixed up the kick a bit , like making it less predictable , and more alternative. The preceding microbeats gave an indication they were heading down an alternative route, so i never anticipated an un-alternative kinda resolution / conclusion to the piece.

[seismic1]

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, 2M

I have been thinking of making some changes to the percussion and will probably do so when I revisit this track (probably after 6 months or so, when I start putting Part 2 together). I'm not yet sure how I'm going to change this. Maybe I'll use Permut8 to glitch it up a little, or I was also thinking of using a second rhythm track in an alternative time signature. That's something I did with one of my earlier tracks (though not with the percussion) and I have a similar device on a couple of my upcoming remixes too.

Lots to think about.

[blipp]

Absolutely wonderful mix and production, so kudos for that.

Loved this track and loved the way you built the tension up slowly untill the very enjoyable release.

Great use of textures and beats.

Top notch stuff indeed.