Now that's a good track. Lots of nice sounds in there, but it is a bit muddy. More separation of the sounds would really lift this song and personally I would like to hear that vocoder more clearly. If you like I can have a look at it and see what I can do.
i really like this track, great mood and choice of sounds. i agree with pan, it does get a little muddy, perhaps a little eq on some of the sounds...im not sure..id have to play around with it...but regardless its a very lovely track...it has a familar sound to it,..i think its that sort of haunting wailing pitch bending sound in the background that reminds me of an old 70s folk song by Gordon Lightfoot "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Wow. Thanks. I was fully prepared for the deathly silence (again)...
Yes, I've got a lot to learn (this is my 3rd ever song). If either of you guys can help fix it up that would be really awesome. Big fan of both of your music (been lurking around for quite a while here collecting tips and sounds)...so by all means...
Maybe you'll be a bit disappointed when you have a look at the file...I'm a big user of PCM synth and my ability to create sounds from scratch is pretty limited (although I did build up the modular synth arp sound from scratch). I used the vocoder to help record sounds and keep me on pitch...but then I exported it into PCM synth for more tweaking...(and removed the vocoder)...
I find vocals the hardest to fit into tracks....hard to make them not too loud but still stand out.....I guess that's what you mean by muddy/needing to be separated...I just got a good quality soundcard for my PC and headphones today, so I'm hoping that'll help a little with my mixing. Crappy tablet/PC soundcard/earbuds haven't made it easy (but can't be blamed for most issues)...
Happy to post the caustic file here...although perhaps there's an issue with exposing purchased presets.....maybe I can PM a dropbox link?
Well it's not how you do it or what tools you use that counts, it's the result that matters. Of course, with experience you may find easier and faster ways to do the same thing. But without a good idea to work with you will end up with nothing to show. I really don't have anything against PCM's and don't think the use of it is less impressive than other machines, but for me it's much faster to create my own presets than trying to find a sample that does the same thing. Well I must admit that I'm having a good time creating them too ;).
A PM would work fine to me, looking forward to dig in to this excellent track.
Really, really good. Has a nice underworld feel to it. And everyone's said nice things so I may as well do my critical thing! But this is with a critical hat on.
Bit to much stereo delay, found it a bit overpowering at times with sounds bouncing from one ear to the other.
Muddy vocal as already mentioned.
Although very pretty and sounding nice it kinda plodded on a bit with so significant variation...
...And then... My biggest issue... it never kicked in! It moved and swelled but never had the drums and bass kick in and give it a bit of umph. That's just me though!
Very impressive. Might be some of the best I have heard in a while on here for my tastes. I really like how you introduce the instrumentation and how the track flows overall. Well done.
ahh back in the land of the living (job application finished...then back to work from holidays on monday....bllergh)...
Whoa thanks Matt!..was never expecting a comment like that..and congrats on the album release...love the guitar...superb!...great work on the vids too.....i just got a gopro for xmas...really looking forward to putting that into action...
Yeah Rob....there was meant to be an angry guitar solo in there....but work got in the way....and the moment faded.....maybe the memory blister will fill again.....yeah i probably overdid it with the delay on the piano.....but that ping pong stereo delay is kind of addictive....think it was a good choice by rej to have that as the default setting...
Hey Pan65 I PM'd you the dropbox link to the caustic file...feel a bit silly about not just sharing the file here....i dunno....Seems to me BigBeard put a lot of work into recording the bass samples for the PCMsynth presets I used...so i'd feel bad putting it out there.....i tried making the fingerbass sound on a synth with some effects but failed miserably....nothing like the rich mellow sound that i was trying to emulate...must be coming from a nice big marshall stack and all its tube valve glory.....you might be able to pull it off though...
On a side note...the pic for the song is a painting i did loong loong ago at high school....i never really finished it.....got a 'low achievement' for art that semester (guess you have to finish stuff eh?)....I gave it the name memory blister about a year ago....i felt like it fit the song....so there you go...
Thanks James. Sadly, I can remember when Underworld had their first hit 'Underneath the Radar' (1988).....that song was huge here in Australia...and made a big impression on me...it's cool to think it may have filtered through into the song somehow...
I didn't hear Underworld until Darren Emmerson joined and they became Underworld Mk2 in the early 90's but I have seen Underworld live close to a dozen times, the first time was probably 1993 or 1994 so I'm showing my age too
The vocoder work reminds me of 'Dubnobasswithmyheadman' and '2nd Toughest...', I haven't gone back to listen to their first 2 albums.
...although I have now heard 'Doot Doot' by Freur (pre-Underworld but still Underworld essentially) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5QRT1CbMN0), really awesome 80's clothes and haircuts
ha....well...i was only about 13 in 1988...so maybe we are similar ages....just had a listen to doot doot....that was really good!...will have a listen to 'Dubnobasswithmyheadman' and '2nd Toughest' when i get a chance...
i'm sure you're using the word 'awesome' to convey a sense of terror after seeing their outfits and haircuts....lol....
for me, the defining feature of the 80's was it's sense of drama....everything was so over-dramatised...
Really beautiful piece of music. I'm no sound engineering pro so I can't critique its' faults too much, even with the few fixable issues it does sound great to me. For me it's more about the music itself and it's fantastic. And I can sympathize about having meager equipment to work with...
ha good stuff james...glad to meet another senior citizen... :P
wow thanks andy....i'm really surprised to hear that you don't have decent equipment....all of you stuff sounds so clear and polished....guess it just goes to show....
i suspected my tablet (samsung galaxy 10.1) had crap sound...cause when i transferred stuff to my laptop (acer aspire v3-571g) things sounded totally different....as it turned out it was actually my laptop soundcard that was the weak link...i bought a tiny USB DAC second hand to fix that.....all good now...it requires too much power for my tablet unfortunately (but i think some phones/tablets can manage)....its an HRT microstreamer if anyones interested...
Senior citizen, hmm yes I product of 80's and 90's, proud of it, 1978, good rock music was happening when I was born, not to mention some major programming languages were just starting.
I've been doing some server-side in Perl and it's a nightmare. Well the string handling is excellent and that's nice when you creating html on the fly, but the rest of the language is a bit strange. It seems to borrow syntax from several languages such as Basic and C, if your used to one of them you will have typos all over the place :).
I used Perl for a dynamic event planning web app in school and I don't remember fighting the syntax much. It felt like a breath of fresh air after taking an assembly language class. Programming language guys are a unique breed. The language is like their baby and they get all religious about it. Try reading a Bjarne Stroustrup book. IMO it is twice as hard to learn the language from his books as opposed to other C++ books.
lol...jeez mike how am i supposed to act like some prodigy who just picked up this app and belted out a tune when u start dredging up my aging caustic user id!?!....hah yes...i bought it a bit before 2.1 came out....i remember traversing the original bassline synth.....reminded me of an old stylophone a friend had when i was a kid....work/parenting commitments have kept me from doing much except checking out the forums and listening to other peoples stuff..
Ha...Larry Wall and the ever elusive Perl 6....we all just get on with life and stick with Perl 5 (which I mostly use cause of the string handling capabilities that Pan65 has pointed out)...lol..maybe i should start a Perl vs Python flame war and completely derail this thread?!....
Damn...seems like Andy Bones could come out with a nice sounding track using two tins and a piece of string for his audio setup...
Thanks Xevious...Pan65 has been doing a great job helping me get rid of the mud in my track behind the scenes...work is ramping up again....then have a job interview next week...will get there!...
Ahh, memories of old Caustic. Hasn't even been that long when you consider how amazing it's become... I started working with Caustic in 2010 I think, I know it was Caustic 1. Before the space age of pattern editors & multiple effects per instrument.
What you said reminded me of Beck (who I love), he records with things like baby toy key-tars and those old electronic drumsticks that you play in the air- he gets great stuff out of them.
Hey Andy...yeah I saw Beck perform many moons ago at his height.....great gig....missed his set at another festival but got to see Beastie Boys/Sonic Youth play the same day.....good times...
Thanks alot K. Boog ....i love your tracks....u have a knack for making catchy tunes...
Sorry i completely missed this track! I just listened it.. and its really a good creation...very inspiring and keep creating such good tracks momonga... i didnt knew you were quokka from soundcloud..lol!!!
A while ago Pan65 re-mastered my track. He did a great job and it sure sounds a lot clearer. In the process of removing my noobishness one of the piano notes was lost (previously i was relying on ping pong delay to make the note sound) so I put it back in. It actually took a while for me to work out where to place it ....
I've posted up the caustic file....it was a good experience for me to learn a bit about techniques to sharpen things up...so maybe it can help others too...
I'm really struggling to get time to listen to all of the fine tracks that people are posting here at singlecellsoftware.com .....just too many!....but am really enjoying them when i do....not much time to make new stuff either....but i'm chipping away at something.....will get there.....
I love it but I'm in two minds, I really liked the murky quality of the original and on this track I think the wall of sound effect just pips Pan's cleaner take to the post
not much time to make new stuff either....but i'm chipping away at something.....will get there.....
Momonga, hearing memory blister once again! Gotta say now there are going to be really high expectation's from people in here(including me) about your next upcoming track for sure!!!!
Now that's a good track. Lots of nice sounds in there, but it is a bit muddy. More separation of the sounds would really lift this song and personally I would like to hear that vocoder more clearly. If you like I can have a look at it and see what I can do.
i really like this track, great mood and choice of sounds. i agree with pan, it does get a little muddy, perhaps a little eq on some of the sounds...im not sure..id have to play around with it...but regardless its a very lovely track...it has a familar sound to it,..i think its that sort of haunting wailing pitch bending sound in the background that reminds me of an old 70s folk song by Gordon Lightfoot "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Wow. Thanks. I was fully prepared for the deathly silence (again)...
Yes, I've got a lot to learn (this is my 3rd ever song). If either of you guys can help fix it up that would be really awesome. Big fan of both of your music (been lurking around for quite a while here collecting tips and sounds)...so by all means...
Maybe you'll be a bit disappointed when you have a look at the file...I'm a big user of PCM synth and my ability to create sounds from scratch is pretty limited (although I did build up the modular synth arp sound from scratch). I used the vocoder to help record sounds and keep me on pitch...but then I exported it into PCM synth for more tweaking...(and removed the vocoder)...
I find vocals the hardest to fit into tracks....hard to make them not too loud but still stand out.....I guess that's what you mean by muddy/needing to be separated...I just got a good quality soundcard for my PC and headphones today, so I'm hoping that'll help a little with my mixing. Crappy tablet/PC soundcard/earbuds haven't made it easy (but can't be blamed for most issues)...
Happy to post the caustic file here...although perhaps there's an issue with exposing purchased presets.....maybe I can PM a dropbox link?
Cheers,
Matt
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Well it's not how you do it or what tools you use that counts, it's the result that matters. Of course, with experience you may find easier and faster ways to do the same thing. But without a good idea to work with you will end up with nothing to show. I really don't have anything against PCM's and don't think the use of it is less impressive than other machines, but for me it's much faster to create my own presets than trying to find a sample that does the same thing. Well I must admit that I'm having a good time creating them too ;).
A PM would work fine to me, looking forward to dig in to this excellent track.
Really, really good. Has a nice underworld feel to it. And everyone's said nice things so I may as well do my critical thing! But this is with a critical hat on.
Bit to much stereo delay, found it a bit overpowering at times with sounds bouncing from one ear to the other.
Muddy vocal as already mentioned.
Although very pretty and sounding nice it kinda plodded on a bit with so significant variation...
...And then... My biggest issue... it never kicked in! It moved and swelled but never had the drums and bass kick in and give it a bit of umph. That's just me though!
But overall really impressed.
My latest track on show and tell
My Soundcloud page
Nifty groove, nice work.
Matt,
Very impressive. Might be some of the best I have heard in a while on here for my tastes. I really like how you introduce the instrumentation and how the track flows overall. Well done.
~Matt
www.mattkwid.com
ahh back in the land of the living (job application finished...then back to work from holidays on monday....bllergh)...
Whoa thanks Matt!..was never expecting a comment like that..and congrats on the album release...love the guitar...superb!...great work on the vids too.....i just got a gopro for xmas...really looking forward to putting that into action...
Yeah Rob....there was meant to be an angry guitar solo in there....but work got in the way....and the moment faded.....maybe the memory blister will fill again.....yeah i probably overdid it with the delay on the piano.....but that ping pong stereo delay is kind of addictive....think it was a good choice by rej to have that as the default setting...
Hey Pan65 I PM'd you the dropbox link to the caustic file...feel a bit silly about not just sharing the file here....i dunno....Seems to me BigBeard put a lot of work into recording the bass samples for the PCMsynth presets I used...so i'd feel bad putting it out there.....i tried making the fingerbass sound on a synth with some effects but failed miserably....nothing like the rich mellow sound that i was trying to emulate...must be coming from a nice big marshall stack and all its tube valve glory.....you might be able to pull it off though...
On a side note...the pic for the song is a painting i did loong loong ago at high school....i never really finished it.....got a 'low achievement' for art that semester (guess you have to finish stuff eh?)....I gave it the name memory blister about a year ago....i felt like it fit the song....so there you go...
Thanks for the comments and critiques everyone!
Matt
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Great tune, trancey vibe. The vocoder is reminiscent of Underworld.
Awesome stuff - very well put together.
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
Thanks James. Sadly, I can remember when Underworld had their first hit 'Underneath the Radar' (1988).....that song was huge here in Australia...and made a big impression on me...it's cool to think it may have filtered through into the song somehow...
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
I didn't hear Underworld until Darren Emmerson joined and they became Underworld Mk2 in the early 90's but I have seen Underworld live close to a dozen times, the first time was probably 1993 or 1994 so I'm showing my age too
The vocoder work reminds me of 'Dubnobasswithmyheadman' and '2nd Toughest...', I haven't gone back to listen to their first 2 albums.
...although I have now heard 'Doot Doot' by Freur (pre-Underworld but still Underworld essentially) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5QRT1CbMN0), really awesome 80's clothes and haircuts
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
ha....well...i was only about 13 in 1988...so maybe we are similar ages....just had a listen to doot doot....that was really good!...will have a listen to 'Dubnobasswithmyheadman' and '2nd Toughest' when i get a chance...
i'm sure you're using the word 'awesome' to convey a sense of terror after seeing their outfits and haircuts....lol....
for me, the defining feature of the 80's was it's sense of drama....everything was so over-dramatised...
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
I'm a little older (probably by 5 years) and yeah maybe I meant 'awesome' in it's true dictionary definition not in an American teenager kind of way
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
Really beautiful piece of music. I'm no sound engineering pro so I can't critique its' faults too much, even with the few fixable issues it does sound great to me. For me it's more about the music itself and it's fantastic. And I can sympathize about having meager equipment to work with...
Love that guitar & progressive beat
http://soundcloud.com/andybones-1
>AMP DESTROYER>>12"SUB WARRANTY VOIDER>
I love the guitars but please no solo
It doesn't need it (imo).
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
ha good stuff james...glad to meet another senior citizen... :P
wow thanks andy....i'm really surprised to hear that you don't have decent equipment....all of you stuff sounds so clear and polished....guess it just goes to show....
i suspected my tablet (samsung galaxy 10.1) had crap sound...cause when i transferred stuff to my laptop (acer aspire v3-571g) things sounded totally different....as it turned out it was actually my laptop soundcard that was the weak link...i bought a tiny USB DAC second hand to fix that.....all good now...it requires too much power for my tablet unfortunately (but i think some phones/tablets can manage)....its an HRT microstreamer if anyones interested...
Matt
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Senior citizen, hmm yes I product of 80's and 90's, proud of it, 1978, good rock music was happening when I was born, not to mention some major programming languages were just starting.
Keep it up Matt, you have some great stuff.
Mike
Thanks Mike!....and congrats on the site....some excellent new feature additions lately...
i do a bit of programming myself....i think its time i got my act together and introduced myself in the off-topic section..will elaborate there...
Cheers,
Matt
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Still waiting for that developer that has time to burn to help carry the tourch of the Caustic Core, I guess devs hate Java.
I do more than a bit, and 2014 is all Caustic for me, so there are a lot of things that are going to happen.
Mike
ahh man...don't worry....at least ur not developing it in Perl.....which is what i mainly use...much more unpopular...
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Ironically I watched a youtube video the other day with the guy that invented Perl. He said Java sucked in that its made for drooling idiots. ;-)
Perl on the other hand was made for devs that like to get things done. He was also saying the new version of Perl is going to be breath taking.
My comment was more of a joke, and you are old school, you have a pre Caustic 2.1 user id. hehe
Mike
I've been doing some server-side in Perl and it's a nightmare. Well the string handling is excellent and that's nice when you creating html on the fly, but the rest of the language is a bit strange. It seems to borrow syntax from several languages such as Basic and C, if your used to one of them you will have typos all over the place :).
I use PHP for server side and its a lot like C, I have been learning C/C++ this month for future projects and was suprised how much PHP is like C.
I can say I have never once used perl, maybe in 1998 when I copied and pasted my first cgi script. :)
Mike
I used Perl for a dynamic event planning web app in school and I don't remember fighting the syntax much. It felt like a breath of fresh air after taking an assembly language class. Programming language guys are a unique breed. The language is like their baby and they get all religious about it. Try reading a Bjarne Stroustrup book. IMO it is twice as hard to learn the language from his books as opposed to other C++ books.
Wow, this thread is superbly derailed! Maybe start a coding thread, this should be about the piece of music at the top of the thread!
My latest track on show and tell
My Soundcloud page
The delayed piano and background vocoder give it an intense epic feel. Cool track momonga!
My Sony Records-level studio consists of:
*HTC One
*4-year old Toshiba laptop I bought from a soldier who had it in Afghanistan
*Jaybird stereo bluetooth headset
*$49 Logitech computer speakers with subwoofer
http://soundcloud.com/andybones-1
>AMP DESTROYER>>12"SUB WARRANTY VOIDER>
Hey I was born in 1978. That's seeming like a long ass time ago these days.
http://soundcloud.com/andybones-1
>AMP DESTROYER>>12"SUB WARRANTY VOIDER>
I knew we shared in something common, this explains a lot.
Mike
lol...jeez mike how am i supposed to act like some prodigy who just picked up this app and belted out a tune when u start dredging up my aging caustic user id!?!....hah yes...i bought it a bit before 2.1 came out....i remember traversing the original bassline synth.....reminded me of an old stylophone a friend had when i was a kid....work/parenting commitments have kept me from doing much except checking out the forums and listening to other peoples stuff..
Ha...Larry Wall and the ever elusive Perl 6....we all just get on with life and stick with Perl 5 (which I mostly use cause of the string handling capabilities that Pan65 has pointed out)...lol..maybe i should start a Perl vs Python flame war and completely derail this thread?!....
Damn...seems like Andy Bones could come out with a nice sounding track using two tins and a piece of string for his audio setup...
Thanks Xevious...Pan65 has been doing a great job helping me get rid of the mud in my track behind the scenes...work is ramping up again....then have a job interview next week...will get there!...
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Nice track man!!!! 1973 here!!!!
I'm old!!! Lol!!!
https://soundcloud.com/k-boog2012
Super, really really super! :)
https://soundcloud.com/barking_mad
Ahh, memories of old Caustic. Hasn't even been that long when you consider how amazing it's become... I started working with Caustic in 2010 I think, I know it was Caustic 1. Before the space age of pattern editors & multiple effects per instrument.
What you said reminded me of Beck (who I love), he records with things like baby toy key-tars and those old electronic drumsticks that you play in the air- he gets great stuff out of them.
http://soundcloud.com/andybones-1
>AMP DESTROYER>>12"SUB WARRANTY VOIDER>
Hey Andy...yeah I saw Beck perform many moons ago at his height.....great gig....missed his set at another festival but got to see Beastie Boys/Sonic Youth play the same day.....good times...
Thanks alot K. Boog ....i love your tracks....u have a knack for making catchy tunes...
Thanks Barking Moon too...
Matt
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Can I remix/VIP this? Pls
ＭＹ ＭＵＳＩＣ
Yeah no worries tyrinosuarus.......was hoping to have a go fixing it up too....but ahhh....no time...
ah screw it......will post the caustic file here....in all it's noobish glory...(sorry PCM preset creators....and Rej/Mike....the file is huge...)...
Matt
Caustic Song file (optional):
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
omg 54MB color me surprised, lol thank you.
ＭＹ ＭＵＳＩＣ
Awensome Work momo i love the sounds and the layering you give to the song :)
waiting for other stuff ;)
Sorry i completely missed this track! I just listened it.. and its really a good creation...very inspiring and keep creating such good tracks momonga... i didnt knew you were quokka from soundcloud..lol!!!
EP Album 'Oblivion Messages Out Now'
thx nishit!...yeah i'm pretty good at making things confusing...
quokka=small kangaroo-like animal from australia...
momonga=japanese flying squirrel....
...there's kind of a theme there...
..i thought this song was dead and buried...really surprised me to see it come up again...
...it came out so quickly....i upgraded to caustic 3 and there it was...but i put some heart into it too...
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
Nice guitar sound, nice gates and sounds... Very good !!!
thx fred!
A while ago Pan65 re-mastered my track. He did a great job and it sure sounds a lot clearer. In the process of removing my noobishness one of the piano notes was lost (previously i was relying on ping pong delay to make the note sound) so I put it back in. It actually took a while for me to work out where to place it ....
I've posted up the caustic file....it was a good experience for me to learn a bit about techniques to sharpen things up...so maybe it can help others too...
I'm really struggling to get time to listen to all of the fine tracks that people are posting here at singlecellsoftware.com .....just too many!....but am really enjoying them when i do....not much time to make new stuff either....but i'm chipping away at something.....will get there.....
Matt
Caustic Song file (optional):
My name is quokka on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/quokka
I love it but I'm in two minds, I really liked the murky quality of the original and on this track I think the wall of sound effect just pips Pan's cleaner take to the post
https://soundcloud.com/james-muir
https://www.facebook.com/james.muir.77
not much time to make new stuff either....but i'm chipping away at something.....will get there.....
Momonga, hearing memory blister once again! Gotta say now there are going to be really high expectation's from people in here(including me) about your next upcoming track for sure!!!!
EP Album 'Oblivion Messages Out Now'