Produced some tunes + mix page

Make some music, have some musical tips or questions ? Well, why not bung them in here !
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Concept
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Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Concept »

Hey all : ). I ended up picking up a Circuit after consultation from the board due to its sonic plasticity and live-jamming potential. I'm still at the beginning of making music and plan to add more gear in with what I'm using (hello FSOL synth...), so forgive the choice of sounds if in some places they don't gel as well as they otherwise might with better production experience. Everything's in my mixcloud page, which has mixes from all kinds of genres, electronica-based and otherwise.

Anyways, any feedback is much appreciated.

Edit:

Album links:

Stumble Funk



From the Inside Out



Forgotten Places



Jen in the Jem



Revisiting Experiments from the Beginning



Tripteleptakine



The Sun Beam Sugar Taunt



Hyplocryptique



At the Tail End



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Individual tracks link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzPMu0 ... DH3USTUm4Q
Last edited by Concept on Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:16 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Concept »

Updated with a few bits and bobs.
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by xerkon »

Nice! I think you're off to a good start! I am also working on some music, in fact my first song ever, so it's cool to listen to something from someone else who has recently "been there."

How long did your first song take, once you started working on it? I can get really lost in the details and so I keep having to remind myself to focus. However, since I'm just starting, everything I do is a learning experience and therefore not really wasted time.

I'm kind of a perfectionist, which I don't think is too healthy because it makes me scared to even put anything out there that later I'll (probably) wish was better. That's a pretty inhibiting attitude and not very helpful. Besides, is a "the prefect song" even possible? (I know from FSOL that "The Perfect Sound" is possible, ha ha.) It is so weird how music is just a sensation in my brain. We all know that, but I really stopped and contemplated it for a while. Right now, your music is causing an electric signal "that only amount to 5/1000s of an ampere, in a specific region of the brain." (Okay, that's not really right but I couldn't resist). And the fact that you can influence me from god-(and you)-only-knows-where is even more mindblowing. A few hundred years ago we would have had to be in the same room for any of that to happen. Bizarre. Don't even get me started on speakers!

I really love Autechre for making the music they want to make (so far your songs have reminded me of them a little bit. would they happen to be an influence?) with 0% regard for anything else. They could have built on Incunabulum and Amber and probably been more popular, but they went a way that not too many have gone. It's clearly not about the money.

Anyway, I'm rambling on. Did you ever feel discouraged during your process? I struggle with depression which makes things tough sometimes. I really love music, it's my favorite thing in life--and there are times when the thought of it makes me shudder. (not too many of those, thank god. Most of the time music acts as an anti-depressant for me, but then there are those days...) So sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed. But I'm doing better now than I have in a long time, which is great.

Thanks for sharing your stuff with the world!
Zerc
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Concept »

First, thanks for the reply. It's really sweet : ).
xerkon wrote:Nice! I think you're off to a good start! I am also working on some music, in fact my first song ever, so it's cool to listen to something from someone else who has recently "been there."
Post it to the boards. I'd like to take a listen once you feel it's ready. : )
How long did your first song take, once you started working on it? I can get really lost in the details and so I keep having to remind myself to focus. However, since I'm just starting, everything I do is a learning experience and therefore not really wasted time.
I completed the first song the day I got the circuit. It's surprisingly easy to wrap your head around. I'm not too happy with how it sounds solo with that shimmering synth, but the structure is there. I'm similar to you, I often get my head stuck in how little loops sound and have since found that I've been composing small ditties instead of the track like I did on the first night. I've got to take inspiration from FSOL's ISDN series... patching bits and pieces together can work in the right moment, and I think future mixes will include things I simply mess around with. That's the joy of music - Play. When it turns into 'not play' then I think some of the energy is lost and you can tell. It's like you said, a learning experience first and foremost. I have cerebral palsy down one side of my body so can't really play many instruments, so discovering something like the circuit is a godsend. Back when I was very young I experimented with a RMX-1 and SH-101 but never really clicked with the former as a hardware sequencer. The circuit is much more hands-on when it comes to plasticity which I'm thankful for (hoping for the same with FSOL's synth).
I'm kind of a perfectionist, which I don't think is too healthy because it makes me scared to even put anything out there that later I'll (probably) wish was better. That's a pretty inhibiting attitude and not very helpful. Besides, is a "the prefect song" even possible? (I know from FSOL that "The Perfect Sound" is possible, ha ha.) It is so weird how music is just a sensation in my brain.
I think the perfect song is in the eye of the beholder. It might be possible for a sound engineer who has been in the trade for a while to know what the right master should sound like, or what sounds fit better together, but that comes with experience. For me it's about feeling (and I say I mastered the Circuit, but I only just started messing about with it's FX section the other day).
We all know that, but I really stopped and contemplated it for a while. Right now, your music is causing an electric signal "that only amount to 5/1000s of an ampere, in a specific region of the brain." (Okay, that's not really right but I couldn't resist). And the fact that you can influence me from god-(and you)-only-knows-where is even more mindblowing. A few hundred years ago we would have had to be in the same room for any of that to happen. Bizarre. Don't even get me started on speakers!
I know : ). It's kind of insane the way we have tools at our disposal which previous generations would have considered god-like. It makes me think of a time when we can link our heads together and create music which sounds like out of the speakers together by sharing our imaginations. I've had my auditory hearing enhanced with the right psychedelics to get close to hearing sounds as though they were 'real'. It might seem fanciful now what I'm describing, but who knows where we'll be in a hundred years from now. Thanks for the comments btw. : )
I really love Autechre for making the music they want to make (so far your songs have reminded me of them a little bit. would they happen to be an influence?) with 0% regard for anything else. They could have built on Incunabulum and Amber and probably been more popular, but they went a way that not too many have gone. It's clearly not about the money.
Autechre are an influence, yeah. FSOL, Psilodump, Plaid and a lot of netlabel stuff as well. I listen to a lot of different genres, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like songs that do funky things with structure. You mention Autechre. There is a beautiful track of their's called Sublimit which is just hauntingly beautiful in the latter half. They're from my neck of the woods too.
Anyway, I'm rambling on. Did you ever feel discouraged during your process? I struggle with depression which makes things tough sometimes. I really love music, it's my favorite thing in life--and there are times when the thought of it makes me shudder. (not too many of those, thank god. Most of the time music acts as an anti-depressant for me, but then there are those days...) So sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed. But I'm doing better now than I have in a long time, which is great.
Nah, you're not rambling. Your response is inspiration to keep at it. I also suffer from depression and psychosis. Music for me is that shot-to-the-body. When you're down and you feel hopeless and you hear a tune that you haven't heard before, or even revisit one that you love, it gets you moving, thinking of possibilities (for example, the last tune on my mix is by a good friend, who blew me away when they played it for me). I don't think there's any other medium which quite has that resonance. I'm glad that you seem to be doing better lately. I know times can be tough (particularly in your neck of the woods with that disaster of a president), but just remind yourself of the sage words you tell me. Music is a door which can open you up to so many things.
Thanks for sharing your stuff with the world!
Zerc
Thank ye. Also, remember to share your stuff when you're ready. : )
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Hello, Concept! Since it is on the top of my head,
(particularly in your neck of the woods with that disaster of a president),
I thankfully don't think of him as "my" president because I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada and consider myself more of a Canadian than an American (we moved to the states when I was an early teenager.) I do have dual citizenship which is kinda cool. If things get too bad here I can always move 4 hours North!! But yeah, good god, what a president! I don't follow any of it. I dislike politics. If I'm thinking about Trump, that's time spent thinking about something I don't want to think about, not to mention not helpful in any way! But I will say that (since I'm already thinking of it ha ha) I can't imagine a less-presidential president has ever existed. (That's probably not true, but it's likely not far from it, either!)

So, what is a Circuit? I tried to look it up but circuit is such a common word. I guess it's a synth of some sort? And when you say FSOL synth, what do you mean? (i'm very ignorant when it comes to equipment.) I liked what you said about putting music together in small sections. It confirmed what I had realized on my own, which is that doing everything in small bits is far more efficient then trying to make a full-length song right from the get go, although if someone is playing 4 chords on a guitar in one take then it's more reasonable to do it all at once, I'd think.

Cerebral Palsy, that sucks. My mom had an Aunt who had CP. I just looked it up. Is it something you've dealt with from birth or from a trauma? (if you don't mind me asking) As someone who, unfortunately, has spent 100s of hours contemplating suicide, I find I can relate to others who have inhibiting mental conditions, or even physical conditions that end up causing mental trauma. How much of your depression was/is a result of having CP, or are they unrelated? And let me say sorry to you on behalf of those people who have treated you, because of your condition, as less than just as fully human as they are due to ignorance or even willful spite. I'm a sensitive and empathetic misfit! I've even, of late, become thankful for the crap I've gone through because now I CAN relate to others with similar problems and I AM way more sensitive to others. I'd like to think it's made me a better person!

Your response, too, was a great inspiration so thanks! I'm in the middle of ambient sketchworks 2 and enjoying it! I will be sure to post a link when I upload my song. Going to check out Sublimit right now. I'll also have to check out Psilodump. I've listened to a little bit of Plaid but it's been a long time ago. I don't know if you'd like F*** Buttons or not but Slow Focus has been my favorite album for quite a while. It seems like I should be tired of it by now and yet it never fails to thrill me. Okay, well I'd better try to actually get something done so talk to you later!
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Yeah, Trump is an embarrassment. Bread and circuses perhaps in keeping him in play as he makes a vocal idiot of himself on a regular basis. It diverts attention from the real issues at hand (for example, I recently read there's been $180 billion been spent on plastics since 2010 and that's supposedly going to double by 2025. What the fuck are we doing as a species?). Unfortunately, I've known some narcissists in my time and I see parts of that same quality reflected in some of those people I've known who've looked to dominate/intimidate. I'm sorry you've been on the stormy seas within the interior of your mind. Hopefully things improve for you in 2018. Like you said, experience is of the essence when it comes to being able to relate to one another in struggling with this thing called life.

My disability primarily affects the way I walk, but it also means that I can't control the fingers on my left hand (they all move at the same time), which means playing any two-handed instrument well is out of the equation. The FSOL Synth I mention is the SX-1, which is a collaboration between FSOL and Digitana. Should be good for adding flavour to ambient-based work and it's a really cool idea to translate the band/project's ethos into an instrument.

As for the Circuit. It's a groove box from Novation (cheap for what it offers) that's kind of what I was hoping for from them in the 90s. It has two on-board synths and a drum machine with four parts. Think something like the Korg Electribe but without the menu diving. You can also make your own synth sounds with a downloadable synth editor and load your own samples on to it if you get bored of the drums, so there's lots of customisation. Haven't done the latter yet, as I'm just dabbling with the stock sound-set and exhausting how to make weird sounds. I plan to dive deeper into it when I get tired of them but I'm still playing at the moment.

I have Fuck Buttons lined up in my Spotify queue btw. Cheers for the link. : )
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Hehe.

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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Narcissist. I hadn't thought of that word in relation to Trump but it seems spot on. It could be that when Trump looks in the mirror he sees his version of God. Frightening. Speaking of plastics, I just finished Jack Herer's book the Emperor Wears No Clothes and it confirmed all of my worst thoughts about the US government. Hemp could end our reliance on oil AND save the planet at the same time. It's unconscionable to have a solution staring us right in the face and not use it. Hemp seeds and inner pulp are one of the healthiest things a person can consume, and since it grows just about anywhere I'm sure there are places in the world with food shortages that could be at least somewhat relieved. And hemp can be used to make 25,000 different products, replacing even plastics. It's the worlds most useful plant, and is illegal in most of the world. Absolutely insane. The history of how and why it was made illegal all starts in the US and is one of the scariest stories I've ever read. Okay, I gotta get off my soapbox before I can't stop. By the way, I had never heard "Bread and Circuses" before so I looked it up. It was my "learn-something-new-today," today! haha

Thanks for taking the time to explain the Circuit and SX-1. I'm quite a ways from anything really hi-tech, in fact the song I'm working on will be made entirely with a djembe recorded with a Blue Yeti mic. Other than that I have a $99 Casio keyboard, ha ha, and a $99 Tascam US-2x2 USB audio interface. I'd love to be able to come up with something listenable while using equipment that almost anyone could afford. Not to say that I wouldn't love to get my hands on some serious gear. I'm not really a musician, though. I can play drums, but we all know that drummers aren't really musicians! haha

Listening to psilodump as I type, good stuff! I'm on his soundcloud page currently Dump 2019-2015. What are your 5 favorite songs?
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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xerkon wrote:Narcissist. I hadn't thought of that word in relation to Trump but it seems spot on. It could be that when Trump looks in the mirror he sees his version of God. Frightening. Speaking of plastics, I just finished Jack Herer's book the Emperor Wears No Clothes and it confirmed all of my worst thoughts about the US government. Hemp could end our reliance on oil AND save the planet at the same time. It's unconscionable to have a solution staring us right in the face and not use it. Hemp seeds and inner pulp are one of the healthiest things a person can consume, and since it grows just about anywhere I'm sure there are places in the world with food shortages that could be at least somewhat relieved. And hemp can be used to make 25,000 different products, replacing even plastics. It's the worlds most useful plant, and is illegal in most of the world. Absolutely insane. The history of how and why it was made illegal all starts in the US and is one of the scariest stories I've ever read. Okay, I gotta get off my soapbox before I can't stop. By the way, I had never heard "Bread and Circuses" before so I looked it up. It was my "learn-something-new-today," today! haha
When you talk about that, it reminds me of that repungent photo of him and Nigel Farage in his tacky golden hotel. I haven't read the book that you mention but I do follow developments which could help us get out of this mess. With regards to renewables, current governments keep kicking the can down the road and claiming the 'market will sort itself out' when costs come down. Thing is, both the US and the UK have cut subsidies for renewables. Even under Obama, it was a let's-outsource-the-pollution-if-we-can dynamic. At times I've despaired when looking at the possible damage that climate change could cause. When the aquifers in the middle east are bone dry, there's no arable farming land and people can't walk out in the open without risking cancer even more than they do now, you could have repeats of Syria in the region. Between Pakistan and India, this would be disastrous. Still, you've got to have hope. I refuse to buy into the Dawkin's bull-crap of the 'selfish gene' or the rhetoric of evolutionary psychology into humanity, as co-opted by the neo-liberals to justify sociopathic behaviour in hoarding wealth for the sake of it. We're a co-operative species when given the chance. We wouldn't be here otherwise. Luckily, there are lots of smart people working on developing alternative energy sources, bio-degradable packaging, lab-grown meat (I'm a veggie myself, but it'll be needed not only because keeping animals in cages is wrong but because of methane), better computer modelling for efficiently using resources etc.. It's just a question of whether the neo-liberals see the writing on the wall for what it is and don't double down on their ideology by miltarising/privatising the police to (hello G4S) protect their interests when automation takes hold and there's unrest.
Thanks for taking the time to explain the Circuit and SX-1. I'm quite a ways from anything really hi-tech, in fact the song I'm working on will be made entirely with a djembe recorded with a Blue Yeti mic. Other than that I have a $99 Casio keyboard, ha ha, and a $99 Tascam US-2x2 USB audio interface. I'd love to be able to come up with something listenable while using equipment that almost anyone could afford. Not to say that I wouldn't love to get my hands on some serious gear. I'm not really a musician, though. I can play drums, but we all know that drummers aren't really musicians! haha
Cool! I love drums myself and funky beat programming. I occasionally do beat boxing, but to anyone else it must sound pretty awful due to not being able to hear the percussion in the same way that I do. It sounds like you're DIYing up on your music - I hope it goes well. And forget that drummer talk ; ). Drumming rules. The Circuit's pretty cheap btw. You can probably pick one up for $200 second hand.
Listening to psilodump as I type, good stuff! I'm on his soundcloud page currently Dump 2019-2015. What are your 5 favorite songs?
Five favourite? Hmm.

476 (Not to be confused with his mixes. It's the 1999 version which has a modified version of it in Never Heal)

Flashback Friday (in the 2000's section. Awesome breakbeat with a collection of simple elements forming the spine of the rhythm to expert effect)

Melia8 (listening to this is like entering a giant, ancient clock and getting caught in the clockwork)

Only See Myself (a really good trance-ish tune with great lyrics)

Omtanke 7 (Such a beautiful track. The melody is killer)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the recommendation for Fuck Buttons again. I'll definitely be using them in a mix when I get around to it. Add me on spotify if you use it because it'd be good to look at some of your playlists. My handle is the same as my email sans the gmail part.

Anyway, creative juices have been flowing of late.

Here are three dream-like ambient tracks I made.

The Rabbit Hole



The Outland



On the Way



And three more traditional techno-y tracks. The middle one is super-cheese : D

Ni



Break the Techno{/b]



In Line

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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Re-sampled the circuit several times over via audacity to get more layering and improve density. An ambient tribal sounding track. : )

Into the Forest

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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Got in the zone with some jamming. Slight re-edits afterwards.

In the Zone

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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

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Glitch breaks FTW.

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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Concept »

Okay. I've produced my first album.



I'd be lying if I didn't say that FSOL's ISDN Transmissions and Environments series weren't hugely influential (hence the album being mixed in). Psilodump for rhythmic composition as well as otherwordlyness.

It's been a busy last couple of weeks.

Any feedback welcome : ). Tracks were produced on a Circuit and Audacity (with the Circuit being re-sampled and played about with).
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Pandemonium »

I gave it a listen (the first half) - it's pretty good - even very good for a first album :)

[I didn't follow this thread up until this point, so I don't know what was the convo before]
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Re: Produced some tunes + mix page

Post by Concept »

Thanks!

I got the Circuit in September and after the first night didn't really knock out anything other than short sketches, but decided to get my head down in the last few weeks. All the tracks are live performed and then edited afterwards. Gotta say... compared to back when I was very young and using trackers on the Amiga (hello Pro Tracker and Octamed) and then moving over to the RMX-1, the lack of menu diving and plasticity really helps the creative experience in trying out lots of ideas quickly and seeing what works and doesn't. The recent videos of FSOL jamming have me really geared up for the SX-1, as I could see the same on-the-fly tinkering and shaping going on. I love audiable sculpturing.

The Circuit is really powerful for such a small instrument. There's a whole synth engine you can use to assign your own sounds to it. Only one track on the album is from the 1.6 update so apologies if the drum sequencing is a bit sparse in places. Ah, the joy of discovering sample flipping and drum panning. : D. Good times ahead.
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