Psytrance
Friday 1st February 2013
Club 414, 414 Coldharbour Lane London
Psychedelic.org.uk pres CARBON! With Kristian, Plastic Vibe, Dejavoo, & More! 1/2/13Psychedelic.org.uk presents
CARBONFriday 1st February 2013Club 414, Coldharbour Lane, London, UK, SW9 8LF
Kristian (Dejavoo)
Plastic Vibe (Dejavoo)
Libra9 (Halcyon)
Zeus (Roots Productions)
Andy Force (Mutagen)
Andi Leppard (Halcyon)
Cosmic Frog (Debut)
On the first day of the second month in 2013, Club 414 holds the launch of Carbon, a new psychedelic audio-compound built within a dynamic sound space precisely engineered for an intricate and diverse psy-experience guaranteed to provide you the soundtrack of your very own, unique journey.
Internationally acclaimed Dejavoo continue their revolution and rise in dual format with Kristian & Plastic Vibe alongside the technically flamboyant and hard hitting Libra 9 showcasing the residents from London's premier psy-trance event, Halcyon. Two 414 Legends expand upon the tone in Andy Force & Andi Leppard with the sound wave receiving a fine tune with the hypnotic frequencies of Zeus & Cosmic Frog.
Main FloorKristian (Dejavoo)
http://uk.myspace.com/djkristiantransientrecords https://www.facebook.com/dejavoo.kristian https://soundcloud.com/dejavoo-1
Plastic Vibe (Dejavoo)
http://uk.myspace.com/plasticvibe https://soundcloud.com/plastic-vibe https://www.facebook.com/plasticvibe
Libra9 (Halcyon)
http://libra9.com https://www.facebook.com/libra9 https://www.facebook.com/libra9live https://soundcloud.com/phillankester
Zeus (Roots Productions)
http://rootsproductions.com/
http://www.myspace.com/rootsproductionsuk https://www.facebook.com/ZEUSDJ
Andy Force (Mutagen)
https://soundcloud.com/andy-force https://www.facebook.com/AndyForse https://www.facebook.com/andy.force.14 https://www.facebook.com/AndyForce.Mutagen
Andi Leppard (Halcyon)
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.leppard.3 http://uk.myspace.com/andileppardmusic https://soundcloud.com/andi-leppard
Cosmic Frog (Debut)
http://refre5h.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cosmic-Frog/170920113038469
Bar, Intelligent Lighting, Lasers, Dcor.
1st FloorCafeteria, Comfy seating, Fish Tank, Smoking Area
"At the very beginning within Grid Space 9√ of 3rd Dimensional Earth, The Creator designed and built the portal of all portals under strict instructions its only to be revealed to mankind once full conscious expansion has occurred. Within this portal lay a pocket reality in which the known laws of time and physics take a somewhat intriguing, and most defiantly bizarre turn in which one has the unique opportunity to experience Reversed Evolution.
The practice, undertaken and performed by the collective mind from 7 of the most creative beings in all the known multi-verse! Generate a Total Prospective Vortex in which all those who happen to have nothing better to do that weekend experience a complete molecular breakdown of physical existence too the key component of life in pure energetic form. Only when the vortex is illuminated by the colours of love, achieved upon the clarity of true enlightenment of ones self, will full unity of all participants have reached its plateau. The process of Harmonized DNA Reconfiguration is then activated via perfectly delivered psychedelic sound vibrations thus, transcending all previous Carbon based life into a superior Crystalline form."
The following caution is advised to all those who attend : 'Keep Calm and drink power tea'
- The buzzJakkerz Guide to Reality -
Limited advanced £5 tickets available now on libra9.com / Standard Tickets £8 £10 on the door.
Psychedelic.org.ukLibra9.com
Facebook Event Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/events/474889739223949/
HarderFaster.net Forum Listinghttp://www.harderfaster.net/?sid=5b1d2cd752c3a12f50993f3cf9a00453§ion=forums&action=showthread&forumid=8&threadid=296318
PsyNews.org Forumhttp://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?/topic/65227-1213-psychedelicorguk-pres-carbon-with-kristian-plastic-vibe-dejavoo-more/
DontStayIn.com Event Listinghttp://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/club-414/2013/feb/01/event-273637
IsraTrance Event Listinghttp://www.isratrance.com/party-promotions/psychedelic-org-uk-presents-carbon/7-188554/
IsraTrance Chathttp://forum.isratrance.com/psychedelic-org-uk-presents-carbon/7-188554/
GoaBase Eventhttp://www.goabase.net/70792
Event on TheDJListhttp://thedjlist.com/events/london-gb/club_414_psychedelicorguk_carbon/
Travel Information
TRANSPORT:
Tube = Brixton (Victoria Line)
Rail = Brixton mainline stationBuses = 2,3,35,37,45,59,109,118,133,159,196,250,322,333,345,355,415,432,P4,P5Night buses = N2,N3,N35,37,N133,N159,250,689,690
This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.
Download audio file (Drainpipe.mp3)
Description of the track:
Home recording of my kids’ band. Trying to make it sound as good as I can. Always need feedback.
Lyrics:
I listen to the radio And it tells me who to be From masters of the craft Like Lennon and McCartney Some say Life’s a Highway Some say Don’t Stop Believin’
How do I know what to do When the radio stops receiving?
How am I supposed to gather my thoughts When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox Every little word that’s said Puts another song inside my head
Living by another’s words Puts me in hysterics Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics Every single word I sing You know I believe it Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics
So here I am inside a crowd Singing with the men up on the stage How’d they get a thousand voices To agree with everything they say?
Some are Waiting on the World to Change Some are more outspoken Some are losing hope, they say Everything’s made to be broken
How am I supposed to gather my thoughts When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox Every little word that’s said Puts another song inside my head
Living by another’s words Puts me in hysterics Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics Every single word I sing You know I believe it Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics
Sometimes I get lost Confusion comes a-calling Am I free as a bird or am I just free falling?
How am I supposed to gather my thoughts When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox Every little word that’s said Puts another song inside my head
Living by another’s words Puts me in hysterics Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics Every single word I sing You know I believe it Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics Life is so much better when You’re writing your own lyrics
Terms of Use: Users can stream the track for the purposes of giving feedback but cannot download or redistribute it.
Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section. Feel free to offer any type of advice – arrangement, mix, lyrics, performance. And remember to play nice – be constructive!
Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.
Have you ever wondered what defines a pop song? Well I have, and decided to find out. I gathered data from 52 Number 1 hits, the most successful from each year spanning 1960 through to 2011 as determined on the Australian pop music charts and came up with some interesting recommendations as to what technical aspects this group of songs has in common.
Pop Music
52 songs were chosen for this study, as determined by the Kent music report, archived by the National Film and Sound archive and also the ARIA music charts. The songs chosen can be viewed in Part 1 of this series.
I would like to state at this point that the information I will present over this four-part series of quick tips is to be taken with an amount of jest. Treat it as seriously or as comically as you wish.
Song Form
In Part 3 we will focus on song form. Song form refers to it’s structural make up, for example, verses, choruses, etc. There were four elements of song form chosen, these were:
- Verse
- Chorus
- Mid-8
- Outro
A fade-out was also noted, but was decided to not be a significant element of a song as it usually consisted of one of the other elements just repeated until silence.
There are many different schools of thought about what a mid-8 is and what a bridge is, sometimes a bridge is referred to as the mid-8 other times it is reffered to as the pre-chorus. Therefore the term mid-8 was chosen to represent that ‘middle’ part of a song which usually differs significantly from either verse or chorus.
An outro was noted as being an ending to a song that was significantly different from teh three other elements.
Over seven transitions of form as presented in the chart above, a clearly defined form can be described. Your Number 1 pop hit should follow this form:
- Verse
- Chorus
- Verse
- Chorus
- Mid-8 (only just)
- Chorus
- Chorus
You could argue that the fifth element or transition could in fact be either a verse, chorus or mid-8 as they all register close to similar occurrences.
Also of interest is the question, how long before the chorus should come in?
The majority of songs (51%) feature the first chorus between the 30 and 60 second mark, with a majority of those being between 40 and 50 seconds.
But what about those fade-outs I hear you say.
Over 50% of the songs featured a fade-out of sorts, and just for fun I sorted them by decade. It would seem that in the 80′s there was a a heavy lean towards fading out those songs, with 9 of the 10 number one hits, featuring one!
Song Form Conclusion
So what can we deduce from this, your song should stick to the often accepted verse, chorus structure, featuring the chorus before you hit 1 minute, and if you want to create an 80′s disco hit, make sure you have a fade-out. In part 4 we will look at chord structure. Stay tuned, and remember that no matter what you create, let statistics only be a guide.
This video tutorial by Jonah Guelzo will teach you everything you need to know about timecode for film and television featuring the Timecode Buddy system and Movie Slate software.
In this week’s Audio Premium content, Robert Anthony teaches you the ins and outs of trance bass, including building blocks, layering and sidechaining.
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Welcome to a new year! You may have noticed that we started doing sessions a little differently in 2012. What topics would you like us to cover in 2013?
Over every two-month period, we’ll choose a topic, and devote about half of our content to exploring it. Posts will include tutorials, quick tips, interviews, articles and quizzes. In 2012 we covered reverb and audio editing. This year we’ll cover another five topics.
So what about it? Which topics would you like us to cover in detail this year?
This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.
Download audio file (Tryggvasson-When-The-Night-Hangs-In-The-Balance.mp3)
Description of the track:
A first demo mix for my (maybe?) 80s pop-rock project. It’s not necessarily the best off the project, but it’s the first I finished mixing and I think it can hold its own.
It’s about insomniac midnight reveries, in the heat of summer, above the quiet city, when melancholia blends with vague hopes for what the future may hold. No special reason, just written it because it came to me.
It was recorded and mixed in Reason Essentials 1.5 and Audition 3 for a little compression and eq on the master wave file. Hohner LG90 guitar, an old former bass guitar, a Shure C606 microphone, freeware and demo .sf2′s available on the net, and an Audigy 2 Platinum soundcard.
I really hope you will like it. And would very much appreciate your comments on both the “mix” and the song.
Thank you very much! I’m sure you know how much it would mean. I’ll come up with more songs as I finish mixing them. All the best!
Artist’s website: myspace.com/tryggvasson
This isn’t the first version of the song they submitted. After making some improvements to the original track, they resubmitted the version you heard above. If you’re interested, here is the original version, along with the changes/improvements made. How do you feel about the changes?
Download audio file (TryggvassonWhenTheNightHangsInTheBalance.mp3)
What was changed:
- turned the xylophone louder – to match it with the hi-hat;
- turned the hi-hats a bit lower – too many highs;
- made the organ more audible;
- cut some highs on the guitars;
- brought the strings on the intermezzo and coda a bit forward;
- piano a bit louder;
- tweaked some EQ on the master wave: gave the bass a little more depth, made the kick heavier (unfortunately this also made the organs a bit muddier, but still prefer this to the previous version, because I think it has more warmth and roundness).
Lyrics:
When the night hangs in the balance And the heat grows like a weed around your skin,
When the Moon sinks the city into silence,
The smallest breath of wind stirs all the wakes within.
When the night hangs like a shadow And the Moon punctures the veil, a silver stain,
Woken yearnings paint the white in golden yellow And rise up like butterflies, into the flame.
Hiding everyday, falling every night in the shadow,
Learning to survive, the story of your life outspoken You were never afraid, but nothing can stay in the shadow,
You can remember the time when nothing in your life was broken.
When the night lies in the balance And the Moon breaks hearts guarded gates,
In the long breath between the evenings and the mornings,
That is when you hear the calls of nameless fates.
When the night hangs low When the night hangs low
Terms of Use: Users can stream the track for the purposes of giving feedback but cannot download or redistribute it.
Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section. Feel free to offer any type of advice – arrangement, mix, lyrics, performance. And remember to play nice – be constructive!
Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.
Have you ever wondered what defines a pop song? Well I have, and decided to find out. I gathered data from 52 Number 1 hits, the most successful from each year spanning 1960 through to 2011 as determined on the Australian pop music charts and came up with some interesting recommendations as to what technical aspects this group of songs has in common.
Pop Music
52 songs were chosen for this study, as determined by the Kent music report, archived by the National Film and Sound archive and also the ARIA music charts. The songs chosen can be viewed in Part 1 of this series.
I would like to state at this point that the information I will present over this four-part series of quick tips is to be taken with an amount of jest. Treat it as seriously or as comically as you wish.
Chord Structure
In Part 4, the final chapter, we will focus on chord structure. I sat down with all songs and a keyboard and went through each one to determine it’s key (key rather than key signature), it’s tonailty (major/minor) and the chords used within that key expressed as Roman numerals. Don’t worry if you don’t understand Roman numeral notation, I will explain it to you shortly.
Three keys came to the fore as the main ones used in pop music composition. E, C and F.
Interestingly there were no songs written in G flat, perhaps because it has 6 flats in it! G, A, B, C, D and E. That’s a lot of flats, too many for a simple keyboard player like me. The keys of E, C and F on the other hand are relatively simple to play on instruments like piano and guitar, as I’m sure many guitarists will attest to.
Unsurprisingly, 82% of the songs were in a major key (or tonality), with only 2%, or one song being represented by ‘other’, in this case a blues scale.
Chord struture as stated before was collated as Roman numeral data, for no other reason except that it is a hangover from my music theory lessons as a child. As an example, if a song was in the key of C Major, then the first chord of the scale is a C and is represented by the Roman numeral ‘I’, the second a D and represented by the Roman numeral ‘II’, the third an E and represented by the Roman numeral ‘III’ and so on.
It was quite difficult to get any agreeable results from the actual chord structure data. When originally analysed and the first four chords of the chorus for example were determined, the results suggest that a ‘I’ chord, followed by a ‘I’ chord, followed by a ‘I’ chord, followed by a ‘I’ chord was the optimum chorus. An unfortunate result, and your song ends up sounding like Madonna’s europop hit, ‘music’. Ironically.
However, if we collate the data by total chords used as expressed in the above table, then we come up with a different outlook, though perhaps not a scientifically appropriate one. Expressed in the key of C Major for ease of digestion and presented below, the first four chords of a verse and chorus are:
So to give you a ‘hit’ (excuse the pun) of what this chord structure sounds like, I whipped up a quick 16 bar song in my DAW. Feel free to laugh at my effort, this is a chord structure example, rather than a music production example after all!
Download audio file (Chord_structure.mp3)
Overall Conclusion
It’s been a wild ride of data, and memories as I have relived some of the popular music from my youth, and my fathers youth throughout this exercise, and I hope it has provided some insight for you also. I have collated all of the difinitive recommendations below
If anyone wants a copy of the finished research paper that these tutorials were drawn from, if you’re a little geeky like me, please feel free to contact me at createapopsong@gmail.com. Also remember that no matter what you create, let statistics only be a guide.
This tutorial is the first in a series focused on showing complete beginners how to write a simple song. This series will focus predominantly on the process of writing a song, rather than the specific software and hardware techniques, skills and applications you might need in the recording, mixing, and mastering of that song.
December of 2009
Introduction
Flickr Image by plecojan.
In this series of tutorials I am going to do my best to assume nothing about you, your musical background, your talent, or your level of familiarity with making music. Instead, I ask only that you have a desire and willingness to try out these techniques, work through the process, and be willing to give and receive constructive feedback!
Without further ado – on with the show!
What is Music?
So what, exactly, is music? This is not a trick question! In fact, the answer is much more simple than you might imagine. Acclaimed composer Edgar Varèse claimed, and many agree, that music – at its most fundamental level – is simply organized sound. That’s it. If you have the ability to organize any number of sounds (including zero sounds if you’re a fan of John Cage!) into some kind of structure – any kind – then you have the ability to make music.
That said, it takes something more than organizing random sounds to make something to which you might actually want to listen. Psychology and physiology and philosophy of why we listen to music, etc. is beyond the scope of this tutorial (but if you’re interested in that, check out this book), but suffice it to say that our analysis will center on what makes a typical, popular song work in the context of simple music theory.
Listening: The Heart of Music
“But if a song is sung and there’s no one there to hear, does it even make a sound?” ~ Storyhill
Flickr Image provided by eRiz SLR.
Even the most experienced and accomplished musician will tell you that there is one skill that cannot be practiced enough: the skill of listening. For beginning musicians and songwriters, listening to music with a critical and analytical ear is of the utmost importance. When we begin to listen to music from the perspective of the creator, rather than the consumer, we can begin to identify the elements of a song that work for us as a listener. We identify more clearly why certain songs evoke particular emotions, annoy us, energize us, or put us in a thoughtful mood. On the more mundane level, we can look at the fundamentals of a song and begin to recognize the patterns in its construction, and how it might be similiar or different than other songs.
“But wait,” you might say. “If I listen ‘critically’ to music, I wont be able to enjoy it for what it is! I’ll always be thinking about it!” Trust me when I say that many new musicians have this fear – and if you ask any musician young or old, they will tell you that it simply isn’t true. The more you understand music, the more you can appreciate it on multiple levels. You wont necessarily always be listening critically. But once you develop the skill you will always have the option to listen in a way that allows you to better understand what is going on in any given moment.
Musicians Gem Of Wisdom #1: What I’m about to tell you will no doubt evoke some strong opinions, but I’m going to say it anyway. The more you know and understand about the craft of composing and writing music, the better you will be. I believe that raw talent will take you far. And I believe in breaking the rules to create something new and different. But in music, you can’t truly break the rules without fully understanding them first, and raw talent without dedication and practice will only get you so far. Now, if you don’t want to write music that people want to hear – at least family and friends – then by all means: go make some noise. But if you are truly interested in learning the reasons why people like to listen to certain kinds of music so that you can make music that peple like to listen to, you must understand the rules and structures and language of music.
You understand that listening is an important skill for a new musician. But what are we listening for?
What Makes a Song?
Flickr Image by The b flats/Boni/down with flu.
Blogger and songwriter Graham English says, “We can say a song is good when it achieves its purpose as defined by the artist.” I think the majority of experienced musicians and songwriters would agree with that statement, but what if you’ve never written a song before? What if you’ve never taken a music lesson or played an instrument before? How can you be clear of purpose before you’ve even learned the most basic of forms? Just as in writing you must learn alphabet, words, subject, object, adjective, sentence and paragraph structure, so, too, with music must we learn some of the most basic language before we can clearly state our purpose for a given song.
So for the purposes of this series, let’s lay out a couple of foundational aspects of what elements make up a good pop song.
- Melody is the part of a song that most of us latch on to when we’re listening. It is the aspect of music usually carried by the vocal line in popular music, though occasionally it may be carried temporarily by another, non-vocal, instrument.
- Harmony is the part of a song that supports the melody over time. Harmony helps to give motion and accentuates the emotion by adding tension and release. Harmony is most often carried by the backing instruments such as guitar, piano, and bass, though occasionally other vocalists will harmonize with the lead vocal to make an even stronger musical statement.
- Rhythm is the part of a song that literally is in motion. Every aspect of a song, from the drums to the lead vocal, has a rhythm that works in conjunction with all the other rhythms to form a complete whole.
- Lyrics are often the aspect of a pop song that imparts the most emotion. These are the words that make up the song, and often tell a story or lead the listener on some kind of journey.
- Form is the structure of a song, which can range from very simple to very complex. Song form often includes an introduction, at least one verse, at least one chorus, possibly a bridge, and an outro.
Now to be fair, there are some other aspects of music that can help in making a great song – arrangement (the layout of instruments and lyrics over the course of a song) or the production (how the song is recorded, performed, engineered, etc.) But the truth is, good arrangement and solid production can’t make good a song that lacks a solid foundation of melody, harmony, lyrics, rhythm and form.
Review
Flickr Image by suchitra prints.
This brings us to the close of Part 1 of our tutorial on songwriting. Let’s briefly review what we’ve learned:
- Music is organized sound.
- In order to understand what makes a ‘good pop song’ in the context of this tutorial, we must understand the language of music.
- To begin to understand the language of music, we must learn to listen critically. And remember, critical listening doesn’t mean taking the fun out of music!
- As we listen to music, we can begin to identify the constituent parts of a song: melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, and form.
To Be Continued…
Hopefully you’re still with me, dear reader. If not, don’t fret, because in Part 2 we’re going to take a closer look at each element and explore ways to listen for and deconstruct each one by analyzing a variety of popular songs. Until then, I’d like to offer up this challenge:
Pick one or two of your favorite songs and listen to them multiple times. Each time, pay attention to what is happening in regards to each of the aforementioned aspects of music and take some notes on anything you notice now that you’re beginning to listen critically rather than casually.
In the first part of this brief series we discussed the various parameters of the Sculpture interface and then went on to create a decently realistic, although basic, bass sound in Logic’s Sculpture synthesizer. In this followup, we are going to expand on the sound we left off on while exploring some of the more sophisticated parameters Sculpture has to offer.
Where We Left Off
This is how Sculpture looked when we left it:
This is how Sculpture sounded when we left it:
Download audio file (sculpture2-Bass.mp3)
Moving On
The first thing I wanted to do was to add some more physically modeled conditions to the string in order to make a more dynamic and realistic string sound. Since a real guitar string will interact with its surrounding environment in some way after it has been initially disturbed (hit the fretboard, a nearby string or finger, etc.), Sculpture provides an ample supply of virtual outside factors (‘Object 2′ and ‘Object 3′) that can act on the string as well.
After some experimentation, I chose the ‘Bound’ option from the ‘Type’ pulldown menu as the second object to act on the bass string. After checking out the Logic Manual to see just what ‘Bound’ actually means as a type of disturbance condition, it makes sense that it would sound about right for what I am going for in my bass.
Bound: A boundary that limits and reflects string movement. This is much like a fingerboard that limits string movement when the string is plucked very firmly.- Logic Manual
The ‘Strength’ control knob (having the most pronounced effect) emulates the distance the bounding object (virtual fretboard) is from the string at rest. The left ‘Timbre’ slider emulates the steepness of the bounding object (0 is parallel to the string with an increasing angle as the value is increased), while the right ‘Variation’ slider controls the amount of string reflection.
I’ve also moved the ‘Object 2′ slider to about the center of the string so it acts at the peak of the string’s vibration cycle as that is where the fret would mostly be interacting with the string in real life.
After playing around a bit, I decided on the values shown above.
Download audio file (sculpture2-object-2.mp3)
The sound as it is now with the added release sounds of the bounding object.
As it is, the release sound is a little strong. We can reduce it by dampening the sound with ‘Object 3′.
Here I have set the disturbance type to damp which will dampen both ‘Object 1′ and ‘Object 2′. The ‘Strength’ knob in this instance controls the strength of the dampening. The ‘Timbre’ slider simply changes the sound characteristics while the ‘Variation’ slider controls the amount of string that is dampened.
Once again, I have placed the ‘Object 3′ slider close to the center of the string to act near the point of most vibration.
Object 3′s parameters and string placement.
The bass after dampening:
Download audio file (sculpture2-object-3.mp3)
Modulation
The next thing I want to look at is the modulation section at the bottom of Sculpture’s interface. I generally always map my modulations to react in someway to the velocity so I will immediately click on the ‘Velocity/Note on RND’ tab in the bottom left to open up four possible modulators.
On the left side there are two velocity based modulators; the numbers turn them on and off, the sliders adjust intensity as do the velocity curves and the ‘Target’ drop down menus select the parameters (almost 30 to choose from) the velocity will act on.
To the right there are two random parameters both of which send out a random value with each note on event. Once again the numbers toggle between on and off, the pull down menus select the destination and the sliders adjust intensity.
After some playing around, I have set both velocity modulators to a slightly negative value. The negative value inverts the velocity modulation so that as the velocity increases, the parameter being modulated will actually go down.
This makes sense in this instance as I have selected ‘Object 1 Timbre’ and ‘String Innerloss’ as the parameters to modulate. I found that as I increase the timbre, the sound thins out. So to thicken the sound as velocities increase, the negative value was necessary.
The ‘Innerloss’ parameter selects the material type of the string. I have set the puck mostly to nylon (found in the center of the Sculpture interface), but want the twang of a steel string to come out at higher velocities. Once again, to achieve this, a negative value was needed to invert the modulation. For the ‘Note on RND’ section, I’ve chosen to modulate the ‘String Stiffness’ and ‘Pitch’.
The ‘Velocity’ and ‘Random’ modulation parameters on the left. The material puck on the right showing ‘Innerloss’ on the Y axis.
Download audio file (sculpture2-vel-rnd.mp3)
The bass after modulation.
In creating a ‘real bass’ subtle amounts of modulation go a long way. I’ve gone ahead and added some slight vibrato and jitter to the sound to add some continual, random pitch and object condition variation.
The ‘Vibrato’ and ‘Jitter’ parameters.
The bass as it sounds now:
Download audio file (sculpture2-jit-vib.mp3)
Body EQ
Although the Morph XY pad and envelope modulators in the center and right side of the modulation section are interesting and fairly unique, they would demand more explanation than is within the scope of this tutorial and are more suited for changing a sound over long periods of time.
As such, the next thing I want to look at is the ‘Body EQ’. This is a unique parameter to Sculpture as well in that it takes a precise EQ profile of various instruments and then imparts that profile onto the sound at hand.
In the ‘Model’ pulldown menu you can switch between several different and intricate EQ curves to shape your sound. The knobs allow you to adjust the curve in several different ways.
- Intensity intensifies the peaks and troughs of the EQ model.
- Stretch and Shift move the peaks and troughs up and down the frequency spectrum in different ways.
- Fine Structure allows you to select between greater and less detail of the model.
Here, I have chosen the Acoustic Guitar 1 model and set the parameters to taste.
Download audio file (sculpture2-body.mp3)
How it sounds.
Outside of Sculpture
The final step I want to take here is to place a match EQ on the bass sound. The match EQ is somewhat similar to the body EQ in Sculpture in that it produces a very intricate EQ model. It does so by storing the average frequency spectrum of any audio file and then applies that spectrum profile to any other audio signal so that the frequencies match the profile of the original signal.
In this instance, I have imported a mixed live bass recording and applied the differences to the Sculpture bass.
The inserted audio track.
>
To do this, I have inserted the match EQ onto the Sculpture track and created a separate audio track where I have inserted a mixed live bass loop. I then soloed the audio track, hit play and clicked on the ‘Template’ button of the match EQ.
A red frequency response will begin to jump around on the match EQ and will more or less stop moving once the audio has been fully analyzed. Once the audio profile has been analyzed, I stopped playback, soloed the sculpture bass, hit the ‘Current’ button and hit play until the frequencies of Sculpture were analyzed.
After this is done, hitting the ‘Material’ button will give you the EQ profile necessary to match that of the original audio. The ‘Smoothing’ slider determines how much detail is in the resulting profile, while the ‘Apply’ slider determines the intensity of the peaks and troughs.
This quick trick is really great in that it allows you to get fairly good results in the matter of seconds, no matter what material you are working with – even entire mixes.
The final EQ settings which create a fuller and richer sound. Subtle settings, once again, are usually best.
The final bass:
Download audio file (sculpture2-match.mp3)
Of course you can go on to add as many effects as you want, really the sky is the limit. Distortion and filters can do wonders (especially when modulating their parameters), although still my credo is subtlety at every step.
I like to think of it (and most artistic ventures – and this is probably cliche) as cooking a dish where too much of one spice makes things distracting and taste only like that one spice, but when everything works in balance and in subtle ways, you can experience the nuances of everything working together in a tasteful and productive way.
Until next time.
Friday 18th January 2013
Phoenix, Downstairs, 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
ESP presents its first party for 2013 - THE ALIEN DISCO SAFARI featuring 2 of South Africa's top psytrance acts - SHIFT & THE COMMERCIAL HIPPIES both performing live!N.B Only 200 tickets will be available for this party to ensure a great night is had by all! They are onsale now through this Moshtix link:
http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=62706&skin
FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS FROM OUR GUEST ACTS!
SHIFT & THE COMMERCIAL HIPPIES are inviting the Sydney psytrance community to download a tonne of their tracks for FREE in WAV FILE or MP3 format as a taster of what is set to come on Friday the 18th of January @ Alien Disco Safari!
Check it out and get downloading!
THE COMMERCIAL HIPPIES - http://preview.tinyurl.com/tch-free-download
SHIFT - http://tinyurl.com/shift-free-downloadFULL VENUE TRANSFORMATION with full colour lasers, custom decor and visuals
THE COMMERCIAL HIPPIES - NANO RECORDS - SOUTH AFRICA
The Commercial Hippies (Anton Raubenheimer and Gareth Tacon) are the formidable Psy-Trance duo known world wide for their funky bass-lines, memorable melodies and dance-floor shaking beats. With over a decade worth of electronic dance music production, 2 full length albums, and multiple singles and EP's under their belt, they have earned a permanent position in the hearts and minds of many a Psy-Trance lover around the globe. With a string of unforgettable international performances over the past decade this duo are always striving to open new ground and push the boundaries of what the Psy-Trance dance-floor experience is all about.
Website: www.thecommercialhippies.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/thecommercialhippies
SHIFT - NEXUS MEDIA, TIMECODE RECORDS - SOUTH AFRICA
Since his first release in 2001 sHiFt has worked with some of the biggest and the smallest labels in the scene giving him access to more listeners and opportunities to experiment with the direction and structure of his sound and arrangement. To this day he has released nearly 200 tracks in his various forms as sHiFt, Twisted System, Pitch Hikers, and Mantis.
A recognized DJ and Live performer he has toured every continent. His sound ranges from powerful & melodic twilight full-on, to twisted night psy-techno. His 4th solo album "alternator" has thrashed dance floors around the globe, and his last compilation Midnight Storm III shows his excellent remix and team production skills; but now expect some big new blasters from this psychedelic phenomenon as sHiFt rips into the space between your ears!
https://soundcloud.com/psyshift
Local support: Raptor + guests tba
I.D Required
Title: Various Artists / Looney BoomLabel: Looney Moon RecordsRelease: 7 September 2012Mastering: Wired MastersFormat: CDCatalogue Number: LOMOCD006CD
[b]Tracklist : [/b]
1 - KABAYUN - "Lets Gets Nuts"
2 - SOUTHWILD "Shantishanti"
3 - ASSIOMA "Liquid Thoughts"
4 - PANTOMIMAN "Oligarch"
5 - DHARMA "Stop"
6 - R2 "Can Get Messy"
7 - PHASE "Onehoundread & Onetreaths"
8 - HARMONIC REBEL "Pastacente"
9 -WHIPTONGUE "Involuntary Movesâ
10 - MOLE "Stereo Manifesto"
The looneys are back in a "Looney Mood" style, and so proposing a collection of freshly squeezed unreleased tracks from our label producers plus two super inspiring tracks from Southwild (Wildthings records) and Harmonic Rebel (Psynon records).
Along the neverending path of the definition of our label style , and the research of a fat and hyper positive underground sound, we're happy to bring to u this upgrade to a more liquid direction and a super solidly fluent arrangement that will always keep any dancefloor stomping it hard.
In this new one we are happy to bring to your ears 4 new talented artists that have never released with us before: Harmonic Rebel from Cyprus, Dharma from Italy, Kabayun from Usa and R2 from Costa Rica.
Rising from funky to more serious basslines, and proposing a large variety of cutting edge sounds, looney boom is a pure explosion of positive energy.
The 2 label managers dj Phobos and dj Fog would like to thank the boom festival, an endless source of pure inspiration and innovative ideas for us , that has been displaying properly to the world any side of psychedelic arts, culture and lifestyle.
This cd is dedicated to our dear friends Paolo âShivaratriâ and Vittorio âSkizzoâ, you guys are always with us in spirit.
[b]Listen Samples and buy it here:[/b]
PSYSHOP = http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/lom/lom1cd006.htmlBEATSPACE = http://www.beatspace.com/7224/Looney+Moon+Records/Various/Looney+Boom/detail.aspxSAIKOSOUND = http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=9151
[b]Contact: [/b]
info@looney-moon.comhttp://www.looney-moon.com/
Front Cover:
[img]http://www.psymoon-records.com/img/Psykogram_cover.jpg[/img]
Back Cover:
[img]http://www.psymoon-records.com/img/Psykogram_back.jpg[/img]
Psymoon Records is proud to present:
M.Y Project - Psykogram
About release:
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,
but by making the darkness conscious"
... Carl Gustav Jung ...
More about release:
[url]M.Y Project - Psykogram[/url]
Tracklist:
1) M.Y Project - The Walkirian Call (8:05)
2) M.Y Project - Let Me Enlighten you Priest (8:3
3) M.Y Project - The King (7:37)
4) M.Y Project - What About James Brown (psyko mix) (6:44)
5) M.Y Project - Oh Yes, They Float (10:59)
All tracks written and produced by: Mack Yidhaky, Chile.
More about Artist:
[url]M.Y Project page[/url]
Mastering by M.Y Project:
[url]M.Y Project page[/url]
Atwork by M.Y Project:
[url]M.Y Project page[/url]
Preview and free download in wav and mp3 file:
[url]M.Y Project - Psykogram[/url]
Released by Psymoon-Records
Web: http://www.psymoon-records.comShop: http://www.shop.psymoon-records.comForum: http://www.psymoon-records.com/forumMyspace: http://www.myspace.com/psymoonrecordsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PsymoonRecordsTwitter: http://twitter.com/PsymoonRecords
E-mail: info@psymoon-records.comMSN: eldiavolo@psymoon-records.co.ccArtist Manager: artist-manager@psymoon-records.comOrganize Manager: organizing-manager@psymoon-records.com
[img]http://www.ionomusic.com/files/INM1CD056/INM1CD056_e.jpg[/img]
As modern architects envisioned, the structure of an object should primarilybe based upon its intended function. Therefore, Piet Kaempfer and Ralf Dietze,
aka Protonica, the architects of this creation, decided that each brick, eachcurve and angle should be built with a lot of thought, love and devotion. Everypiece of sound you will hear vibrating through your ear canals has been speciallydesigned from scratch, and was tested under the highest levels of professionals.
Thus, Form Follows Function is not like most albums which gets produced andreleased for the sake of being released, it is exactly the opposite intention "
to deviate from the factory like music that surrounds us and craft a form thatwas thoroughly thought of before, while and after it was conceived.
Form Follows Function is divided into 9 different functions, which were modeledinto 9 different forms that will suit its desired function. However, the function isflexible and dynamic, and enables each person that listens to the album to adjusthis own prefixed functions and slide into a liquid amorphous ever changing entity.
This album is the second masterpiece from Protonica, which comes 5 years aftertheir debut album Search, which was released in 2007. Now it seems that thesearch for their own style is finished, and the time to dive deep and explore thenext stages of their sound has come.
After 5 years of refining and crystalizing their sound, they preserved their old Acidinfluences, while combining new elements of Progressive and Psychedelic Trance.
Dietze and Kaempfer followed the function of their name - Protonica - which meanspositive charge, and always had the dance floor in mind in order to tell hypnotizingstories which will enchant every person. The guys have collaborated with othersuperb artists such as Liquid Soul, aka Nicola Capobianco, on the track Floating Point,
and another exquisite joint venture where they marked their point of view on Ace Ventura,
aka Yoni Oshrat, and Rocky's, aka Roy Tilbor, track Serotonin Overdose.
[b]Tracklisting[/b]
01. Protonica - Login02. Protonica - Greece03. Protonica - Subground04. Rocky & Ace Ventura - Serotonin Overdose (Protonica Remix)
05. Protonica - Motion Control06. Protonica - Floating Point (Liquid Soul Remix)
07. Protonica - Modication08. Protonica - Codes09. Protonica - Emerge
http://tinyurl.com/cn4anzf
http://tinyurl.com/clxgakq
