Etheric Funk Dimensions - from electro to glitch ambience with vintage stuff all over

[himalaya]

Etheric Funk Dimensions

This track mixes some very glossy modern sounds with lots of vintage ones (like Roland VP330 choirs and strings, Solina strings, a slightly out of tune Roland MKS70 doing some chunky 4 oscillator chords) ...

It kinda starts with an electro funk vibe, including dual vocoders, then later on morphs into an ambient glitch ditty with some Berlin School arps. Rough mix. Not finished.

My question to you is (if you survive teh first few minutes) does the distorted kick in the loop that fades in later in the track sound suitable for the overall mood? I'm not convinced myself as it is rather heavy but kind of gives contrast to the ambiance .....your thoughts?

Full Instrument list:

Alchemy
Arp Solina (kind of smeared by multi-fx)
Diva
Cypher (few instances)
ElectraX (few instances)
Kontakt (Wurli)
Roland MKS70
Roland VP330 (sampled)
Saurus (few instances)
Strobe
String Studio VS1
Tremor (few insatnces)

Hope you enjoy it, all 10 min of it. (it's a trip!)

[Lotuzia]

Hmmm I would call this more Chill Out than Funky. ( Though I'm usually very weak at genre identification and naming, but these two I know a little about )

My overall thought was : Did you consider about using some unified "real drums" ( Ok real sampled kits ) at least for the basic kit ( BD SN TOMS HH Brasses ) ?

Seems to me that, eventually, it might give the other percussions, some of wich are great, a more comfortable and contrasted place to sit on in the mix. And the overall track a slithly less synthish vibe. So eventuall again, more organic feel.

But this is just my pov, and additonnaly, maybe its not what you desire and are after, as a global direction.

fwiw,

LtZ

[himalaya]

The 'Etheric' word in the title refers to the 'chill-out' bit. But the part right at the start with vocoders and then dual lead lines is more funk (electro funk) than chill-out for me. Later on, yes, it all becomes ambient and downtempo.

With this type of track I favour electronic drums rather than acoustic. I did want to add some toms, but electronic ones, perhaps even with some edge. But real acoustic drums wouldn't sit well with the overall electronic sound, I think.

The 'organic' feel is still there, in the shape of those VP330, Solina and MKS70, Wurli, PM guitar sounds. But overall the track is meant to be a 'synthfest'.

Thank you for having a listen. Appreciated.

[seismic1]

Lots of synthy goodness on here. Nice choice of sounds and some lovely, dreamy chords and melodies. I know what you mean about using acoustic drums with electronic music. I only seem to use them occasionally. I think you made the right call. I didn't notice any problem with the kick. It worked for me.

Good work

[himalaya]

Thank you for the feedback, seismic1. Liked the 'dreamy' reference which is what I was aiming at, at least in the second/last part. Glad you liked it.

[Frantz]

The kick is fine although I would prefer it without distortion. It's a matter of taste but I probably wouldn't add distortion to a kick or bass. There's something about distorted low end frequencies that I find slightly off-putting. However, distortion sounds great on guitars for some reason.

I think the second part of the track is very good and would like to hear how it progresses.

[himalaya]

Thank you for the feedback. I actually feel the same about that distorted kick, it is slightly unnerving in the context of those ambient washes...


One last thing, does the vocoder work for any one? Is it not too quiet? I'm mixing in a new place which is still untreated and I'm not sure about some mix decisions. BTW, it is meant to be unintelligible (as in, there is no text content).

[Lotuzia]

The 'Etheric' word in the title refers to the 'chill-out' bit. But the part right at the start with vocoders and then dual lead lines is more funk (electro funk) than chill-out for me. Later on, yes, it all becomes ambient and downtempo.

With this type of track I favour electronic drums rather than acoustic. I did want to add some toms, but electronic ones, perhaps even with some edge. But real acoustic drums wouldn't sit well with the overall electronic sound, I think.

The 'organic' feel is still there, in the shape of those VP330, Solina and MKS70, Wurli, PM guitar sounds. But overall the track is meant to be a 'synthfest'.

Thank you for having a listen. Appreciated.

No point. The organic sounds were my favorite part, along with the lyrical lead lines, and some of the percussions too.

I had another listen, and as always it ended up with a different approach.

The piece is rather complex due to the number of things happening simultaneously or in cascades, wich is usually trademark of your style iirc.

fwiw, here's what brought me the second listen : Vocoder parts : Are ok for me. Sometimes a bit harsh, but some EQ can fix that if you think its worth it. Unintelligible is not a problem, we all share at least one common language ; Music.

Overall POV is that simple deeper or bit more drastic EQing would add more clarity. Even if most instruments are well taylored for what they do, the number of events happening imho claims at least a bit for that imo. But like you said your mix is not totally finished so maybe this was planned.

The second part has already its foundation and global balance. One thing I'd suggest is to wider the stereo scene of the percussions, like the pseudo tablaish ones. Sometimes you have the feeling that the pads are larger than life, stereo wise, and isolated on the sides, and that the center scene is overbusy.

Then on the first part, well, this is all personal decisions, but I would contrast more the mix, probably in two movements, and in the second movement favor a bit more mixwise the low mid sequences, wich are a bit buried, and carry a good part imo of the funky vibe, VS the pads, whose part I would in "this second half of the first part" ( Always a problem for me to describe some things in English ) lower both in the mix -level- as in frequency of apparitions. These low mid sequences my brain longs to hear louder. BUT ....... maybe its just the way you want it to work. So that people ears scrutinize into the mix in a subconscious way to find them ... Also the very generous reverbs on pads and leads, and dryer sound of many other elements, including drums, add a big contrast. There are several approaches to this, from deep EQing of the existing reverbs, to using few reverbs, wich is less sophisticated, but usually glues the stereo scene, and is usually my own lazy approach, because I dont have the necessary talent to make a lot of different reverbs coexisting in a mix in a way I think is good.

Well, well just a few thoughts, and possible directions. Music can have so many different approaches . If it can help you only 0,1%, then it will be fine

LtZ

[himalaya]

Thank you for your further thoughts.

The organic sounds were my favorite part, along with the lyrical lead lines, and some of the percussions too.

[vata44]

I really enjoyed this after 1 minute in... Very cool!

[himalaya]

I really enjoyed this after 1 minute in... Very cool!

Thank you.

After 1 minute the solos start, so that could mean that you liked those solos, which is great as we live in solo-free world. A Xmas wish to all for more solo noodling.