somehow i cant help thinking that bringing in the really low bass first for several bars (0:38-0:57) before the hihats and snare comes in isnt working here - maybe the gap in the straight 4/4 kick before it comes in is odd and maybe you need to just bring in the bass without the gap? maybe it plain doesnt work just bringing the bass in first? i dunno it needs meddling with
either way you have a nice opening and when everything comes together it grooves real nice
I agree that the transition is a touch curious and may need toggling, but I also agree that the ultimate groove is really, really nice.
For some reason, I feel like some tapes of voices should come in at some point in the main groove, little snippets of a conversation maybe, plus some kind of needling, wheedling, rubbery theremin-esque synth lead/solo as the track builds up. Perhaps the voices could soon skip and stutter, then turn into another component of the groove...
I wish GarageBand weren't down for me right now (updating issues are a bitch), because I would gladly offer to demo you something in that vein if you were game for it.
I want to record music now and I cannot. You can probably imagine how much it frustrates me, but I'm not sure that you can fully grasp the angry desperation here. If I weren't so bored, I would be flipping out right now.
Orb-ishness and LFOs are wonderful things. Pursue that.
On a different note, I wrote a song a few days ago with the assistance of a friend that, in our current conception, sounds like some combination of The Mountain Goats and George Crumb. I am really satisfied with the chorus hook that I came up with for it, too. That said, unless I get my computer woes resolved, it may be a while until I can record it.
^^ Sounds like something that I would actually hear on one of WPRB's late-night electronic blocks; it genuinely feels like a vintage techno/IDM track. I find that in and of itself impressive, although I would be concerned if you stuck solely to very skilful homage...
^ ...which you don't at all on this one. This track is an ugly piece of work, in a good way. I especially like that rattling beat in the latter half of the track and how it plays off of the eerie flanged sounds. It also ends right where I think it could have become too repetitive.
I love when you do weird ugly stuff. It pleases my soul.
I am fairly certain that no one listened to my EP and this saddens me.
Oh well.
I made an electronic thingie but I'm not as good as that kind of stuff as some of you are. It's also another rough take so it just kinda cuts out. I'll upload it momentarily.
this i feel - 0:41 to 0:49, that transition, could probably be reworked, and also after that bit at the end where everything but that synth drops out and then it just ends - i was expecting the beat to come back for awhile there so i reckon it would work well not ending there, but bringing the beat back for a while and maybe end it really abruptly? im feeling a really abrupt ending out of that beat
but yeah that beat when everything comes in is fucking huge and i love it
I normally don't work outside hip-hop so I really had no idea what I was doing here. I like it well enough I guess. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it though.
I also did this on another note entirely a couple days ago. I've been trying to get back into breakbeats so I just swiped one from a KRS-One song.
this i feel - 0:41 to 0:49, that transition, could probably be reworked, and also after that bit at the end where everything but that synth drops out and then it just ends - i was expecting the beat to come back for awhile there so i reckon it would work well not ending there, but bringing the beat back for a while and maybe end it really abruptly? im feeling a really abrupt ending out of that beat
yeah, that's not like the length of the finished product, that's just what I had so far, also i've already dinked around with that transition some
immna leave the track alone for a few days and come back to it, see if i can hear it with fresh ears
I normally don't work outside hip-hop so I really had no idea what I was doing here. I like it well enough I guess. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it though.
I like this. I would not mind hearing more of this.
Also, for reasons that I cannot fully explain, I get the feeling that "Two Retro Minutes" would sound better run backwards.
Ooh, I like this. It's very simply put together (some of the sounds could use a little more oomph; the hook feels a bit too obvious), and the main groove is sustained awkwardly long at the end (too long for pop, too short to be hypnotic). But at the same time, the sounds themselves are quite appealing, the hook (while obvious) is extremely catchy, and it is functional as a dance track—which, really, is the key thing here.
Good stuff. Put a little more space and volume in your production and toggle your structuring a little and you could really have something great.
The groove on the first track is strange and awkward, but I kind of like what you're going for. The hi-hat sound could use some tweaking, and some elements could enter and exit at different times than they do to give a more sculpted feel, but it's not bad.
The second track offers more dissonance, and I'm OK with that in theory, but it feels more haphazard here than on the first track. Despite being more rhythmically coherent, it feels less sonically coherent. Also, while that one "thunk" string sound that comes in in the last quarter is nice in and of itself, it feels a bit off rhythmically, like it's just a little smidgen of a beat off, and that really bothered me despite the coolness of the sonic idea. Do not like this one, despite the great vocal hook. Ironically, I feel like this song would work much better as a longer piece, with more breathing room between the introduction of each element and less overlap, albeit with the sonic clutter reduced through broader mixing and wetter, dubbier production.
Third track... I have no idea what to make of this one. Too many clashing elements, again. Annoying.
The fourth track is, in contrast, a little too stripped down and simplistic despite being quite coherent sonically. Again, the production is unnecessarily dry and simplistic in contrast to what I heard off of Lion's Paw. What gives?
The fifth is actually pretty nice arrangement-wise, but the drum timbres are just way too cheesy and tinny. The rhythmic ideas are good, but the execution is way, way off. This also goes for the synths, although to a lesser extent.
Overall, this is a really weak outing for you, which really disappoints me given how much I'd been digging your recent work.
I kind of struggled with most of the tracks on that one (the first in particular I really could just not find a good snare for, idk if you noticed that at all but it bothered me at least) and eventually just got to a point where I really wanted to get it out instead of just sitting on it for weeks like I've been doing with SFTLP, I feel kind of bad about the general lack of material I've been releasing lately.
I suppose I really don't have anyone to please, but I still am annoyed when I let things slip. Anyway, I hope you like whatever I do next better.
SFTLP will be out on the tenth by the way, with or without its bonus track. I'm getting genuinely annoyed with Sam, especially since he seems to be ducking me (and a lot of other people he said he'd give stuff to). I understand that he's busy but it's just annoying, especially since when he showed me the track, it seemed fairly close to being finished.
I would prefer that you take too much time on your material rather than too little, honestly; you do really good work when you let your stuff sit for a while.
The beat on that horn thing is great, and I really like the guitar weirdness, but the unaffected synth horns themselves feel, again, bare and somewhat ugly despite the interesting melody, at least in context. Not sure what kind of effect I would use to modify the timbre, but something to lengthen the decay and either sharpen or soften the attack would be nice—wah and reverb, perhaps?
I don't have a wah-wah plugin if you can believe it, I've never been able to find one despite looking a few times. I do have reverb but not good reverb. I considered putting some echo on it but I feel like I overuse echo. Honestly I just need more plugins in general, I only use about five right now and I think I've stretched the potential on those to their limits.
Also they're not synth horns if you can believe it, it's a single horn hit from "Car 24" by Yoko Kanno. The first one on the track, iirc. They sound like synths because it's just the one horn resampled at several different notes. If you mean the buzzy synth-like sound in the back though, that is actually a synth horn.
and yeah I'm very proud of the drums, they sound like a breakbeat without actually being one (and my recent experiments with breakbeats have all been failures). I'm curious as to whether or not you noticed the pattern switchups? There were several.
honestly the drum section actually sounds somewhat like Mac Miller's production work he's been doing for other people which is....scary I guess? I dunno lol.
see, I'll be honest, I get confused when confronted with things like this because I don't actually know how to change cutoff/resonance.
I know what they are, and that they exist, but I don't know how to modify them, or if in fact, I am modifying them without realizing it, which I may well be, because I've done stuff like that before.
I believe this is the Yung Chop school of production.
The drum timbre is a bit of a weak link. Something treblier and sharper would serve you better, methinks. Interesting sampling, though, and that jagged rhythm is pretty cool. I look forward to the final product.
Casual reminder that Songs From The Lion's Paw drops tomorrow, though sadly without its bonus track.
I'd also like to take this time to announce my next project, tentatively known as A Beat Tape Called America. The only real central concept this time is to make a tape that makes extensive use of "American" (whether actually American or just widely considered such) musical styles. Which in practice is likely going to mean many dad rock and classic pop samples. I don't know the details yet, I only have two, maybe three songs done (one is that Starway song which is getting a retitle, and the other is one called "Sandcrabs!" which sounds sorta surf-rocky. Debating whether or not I want to include "Ararat"). The concept is pretty loose and I'm not gonna be sticking to it religiously, if anything it'll end up as a sort of Dreamtime America portrait like the KLF's Chill Out, except not anything like that on a sonic level.
but yeah that's a thing.
Also, any submissions for a cover to that would be very welcome, though I'd advise against putting the text on it yet.
I think I'm going to try experimenting with more synths of my own for the rest of the production. The EP'll probably end up being like a five or six track set, I'd say. I don't think I can officially count Electronic Simpatique as a true track on the EP because it's more of an ROA song than it is mine but since it's one of my favorite songs made by me it might show up as a bonus.
also I remember Mo wanted a feature so I'll probably accomodate to that, it's only really halfway done anyway. still, I feel pretty good about this one. After starting off with stuff like Anorak Avenue and Frames I'd say I've grown as an artist.
I think I may have to revisit Anorak Avenue, actually. There might be something cool I could do with it.
and one more thing: everything on this EP has/will have a name containing a shout out to some other thing I enjoy except "Esoteric Pads" itself, which was given to me by Tachyon, so that still kind of counts. I will be most satisfied if they are all figured out.
Comments
...I get it, hehehe.
I have an EP out tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's something entirely unlike the EP in every possible way.
I'll send you the stems sometime
in other news
this is out
somehow i cant help thinking that bringing in the really low bass first for several bars (0:38-0:57) before the hihats and snare comes in isnt working here - maybe the gap in the straight 4/4 kick before it comes in is odd and maybe you need to just bring in the bass without the gap? maybe it plain doesnt work just bringing the bass in first? i dunno it needs meddling with
either way you have a nice opening and when everything comes together it grooves real nice
I am fairly certain that no one listened to my EP and this saddens me.
Oh well.
I made an electronic thingie but I'm not as good as that kind of stuff as some of you are. It's also another rough take so it just kinda cuts out. I'll upload it momentarily.
this is fucking bang on
i dont know what to say other than its good, you nailed the sound you went for, good job? also really well structured
this i feel - 0:41 to 0:49, that transition, could probably be reworked, and also after that bit at the end where everything but that synth drops out and then it just ends - i was expecting the beat to come back for awhile there so i reckon it would work well not ending there, but bringing the beat back for a while and maybe end it really abruptly? im feeling a really abrupt ending out of that beat
but yeah that beat when everything comes in is fucking huge and i love it
so this exists
I normally don't work outside hip-hop so I really had no idea what I was doing here. I like it well enough I guess. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it though.
I also did this on another note entirely a couple days ago. I've been trying to get back into breakbeats so I just swiped one from a KRS-One song.
Also the other song you put up was Very Trippy (yes, that warranted capitalization). I'll listen to the EP soon.
Pfft. I don't want that sucky pickaxe.
Ooh, I like this. It's very simply put together (some of the sounds could use a little more oomph; the hook feels a bit too obvious), and the main groove is sustained awkwardly long at the end (too long for pop, too short to be hypnotic). But at the same time, the sounds themselves are quite appealing, the hook (while obvious) is extremely catchy, and it is functional as a dance track—which, really, is the key thing here.
oh yeah I liked "Dig Champs"
it's kinda chiptuney
*shrug*
I kind of struggled with most of the tracks on that one (the first in particular I really could just not find a good snare for, idk if you noticed that at all but it bothered me at least) and eventually just got to a point where I really wanted to get it out instead of just sitting on it for weeks like I've been doing with SFTLP, I feel kind of bad about the general lack of material I've been releasing lately.
I suppose I really don't have anyone to please, but I still am annoyed when I let things slip. Anyway, I hope you like whatever I do next better.
SFTLP will be out on the tenth by the way, with or without its bonus track. I'm getting genuinely annoyed with Sam, especially since he seems to be ducking me (and a lot of other people he said he'd give stuff to). I understand that he's busy but it's just annoying, especially since when he showed me the track, it seemed fairly close to being finished.
lastly, in completely irrelevant news, that horn thing from earlier is now longer.
I don't know whether the synth part will be considered an improvement or not.
I don't have a wah-wah plugin if you can believe it, I've never been able to find one despite looking a few times. I do have reverb but not good reverb. I considered putting some echo on it but I feel like I overuse echo. Honestly I just need more plugins in general, I only use about five right now and I think I've stretched the potential on those to their limits.
Also they're not synth horns if you can believe it, it's a single horn hit from "Car 24" by Yoko Kanno. The first one on the track, iirc. They sound like synths because it's just the one horn resampled at several different notes. If you mean the buzzy synth-like sound in the back though, that is actually a synth horn.
and yeah I'm very proud of the drums, they sound like a breakbeat without actually being one (and my recent experiments with breakbeats have all been failures). I'm curious as to whether or not you noticed the pattern switchups? There were several.
honestly the drum section actually sounds somewhat like Mac Miller's production work he's been doing for other people which is....scary I guess? I dunno lol.
orz
edit: why does our quote thing always puke when I try to quote you or Imi.
hm.
see, I'll be honest, I get confused when confronted with things like this because I don't actually know how to change cutoff/resonance.
I know what they are, and that they exist, but I don't know how to modify them, or if in fact, I am modifying them without realizing it, which I may well be, because I've done stuff like that before.
I believe this is the Yung Chop school of production.
the knobs on....what? ._.
this is probably stupidly obvious but I'm seriously lost here and I'm also pretty tired right now
can you just like take a screencap of what you mean in your copy of FL? It'll be easier for me to understand.
I'm sorry, Naney. orz
.....
THAT'S WHAT THAT FUCKING THING DOES OH MY GOD I'M SO DUMB
pls excuse me I'm gonna go cut myself rn
There's auto-wah, which was what I was thinking of, but I have no knowledge of who produces such a thing standalone-wise.
That wasn't serious but in retrospect I probably should've used literally any other verb.
Sorry :(
in other news, I found a pack of 420 (lol 420 lite up fagit) Sytrus presets today. I may or may not use them.
I've been working on this for a few days, I'm still not totally happy with it, but it's coming along.
I've also been tweaking the horns on "Mt. Ararat" extensively. That will be up eventually, I need to get the song to sound less threadbare.
Casual reminder that Songs From The Lion's Paw drops tomorrow, though sadly without its bonus track.
I'd also like to take this time to announce my next project, tentatively known as A Beat Tape Called America. The only real central concept this time is to make a tape that makes extensive use of "American" (whether actually American or just widely considered such) musical styles. Which in practice is likely going to mean many dad rock and classic pop samples. I don't know the details yet, I only have two, maybe three songs done (one is that Starway song which is getting a retitle, and the other is one called "Sandcrabs!" which sounds sorta surf-rocky. Debating whether or not I want to include "Ararat"). The concept is pretty loose and I'm not gonna be sticking to it religiously, if anything it'll end up as a sort of Dreamtime America portrait like the KLF's Chill Out, except not anything like that on a sonic level.
but yeah that's a thing.
Also, any submissions for a cover to that would be very welcome, though I'd advise against putting the text on it yet.