New and old stuff

[PlastikBag]

Here's the new: (Edit: It's done, new link)

Low Gravity

I had a lot of fun writing this. I think this is electro.

Here's the old:

http://blabstation.net/jerry/Summit.mp3

My old WIP thread for this one is dead, so here it is again. It's mostly done, except that it doesn't have an intro. I guess I fail at making intros. Since last time, it's undergone a little bit of mastering, and it has a new section with half time drums around the 2:30 mark. This song actually started out sounding like this:

http://blabstation.net/jerry/Document%202.mp3

Not entirely sure how I ended up scrapping this, but I'll probably go back to it.

[ambinate]

I'm really digging this, especially the first one. It's based mostly around one theme, but it's a really solid melody/chord progression and you keep things interesting by varying it up throughout without getting in the way of the groove. The production's also very good (that goes for both). Great job, dude.

I actually still have an MP3 you posted a long time ago of one of the first tracks you did in Reason, I think (Essence of a Dream, if I remember correctly?). That was also a rad tune; I'm glad to see you're still writing and putting out music. Are you still doing everything using just Reason?

[PlastikBag]

Thanks. Yeah, right now I'm still using just Reason. I make regular trips to the bookstore to read up tutorials on other stuff though. I'm working on trying to expand into stuff like Ableton LIVE, and I'd love to be able to use the Battery 3 drum sequencer. I also now own a keyboard, which helps quite a bit. A lot of the first tune is actually me just recording a bunch of random jams over the bass line and piecing them together to make something coherent. Then I decided to have some fun and chop it up at 2:20. I have to admit I haven't worked much on the part from 1:10-2:00, I'd like to slice that up a bit and add some effects. And of course, intros for both songs.

Anyway, I'm glad you like it!

[ambinate]

That sounds way cool. I haven't tried out Reason yet, but I'm thinking of getting maybe that or Logic at some point this summer. I've been learning the basics of making music with Reaper for now and after I make a little more progress, I figure I'll be able to justify spending a little more money on some more software.

This is a pretty stupid question, but I'm still new to a lot of this so I don't know how some of this stuff works. I was wondering what the beat in the first song is made up of? Obviously I can pick out the bass drum and snare and all that, but it also sounds like there's something sort of like a shaker and another sound that sort of has a dull "click" to it. Is that all white noise or something? I hear similar stuff in breakbeat a lot, I think.

[PlastikBag]

The beat is composed of a shaker sample playing continuous sixteenth notes. The clicky sounds are two short hi-hat samples. The snare/clap is actually 2 snares and a clap layered together (a trick I learned from zircon's tutorials - check them out). The bass drum is layered as well. The beat in Summit is a lot more complex, with a lot of hi-hat samples and I also layered in a drum loop in there. I added some distortion and filtered out some frequencies to make the drum loop fit in.

Also, Reason is awesome. It's wonderful for starters, but you'll probably want to eventually expand into other things. For one, the drum samplers a pretty limited compared to some other stuff out there, and with no VST compatibility, you're stuck using them or regular samplers.

[PlastikBag]

It's done, I think. It's mostly the same as before, but it has an intro and I changed some volume levels. It's been done for a while now, but I lost another hard drive, thankfully this time I was able to recover most of my stuff. I experimented with adding some overlaying melodic lines over the parts from 1:36-2:30, but I decided to cut that out and leave it the way it was. Enjoy!

link: Low Gravity

[PlastikBag]

So, I'm trying to finish some old stuff. I'm currently reworking "Fractured Mechanics", I found an old version of it on a USB stick, and I really liked where I was going with it before, but I had a lot of issues with it. I made a lot of changes here. I completely redid the drums, using much better samples and a simpler groove. I upped the tempo to give it a bit more drive, and I layered the pads to make them sound wider. Also replaced the string sample. I just sounds a hell of a lot better now. It's still in WIP state though.

New link: Fractured Mechanics

If you're interested in hearing the old version: Crappy version

[ambinate]

This stuff is sounding really good, dude. How are you doing all the glitchy stuff and stutter edits on Low Gravity? I don't have Reason, but I'm just wondering if there are some basic techniques that aren't program-specific.

Keep it up!

[PlastikBag]

The basic technique for stutters is to export an audio track as a wav file (or any other audio file you prefer), then play it back as a sample. You can edit that audio file to start/stop whenever you want. There's plenty of stuff out there to make this process easy, like Recycle (which is what I use), ACID Pro, Ableton Live, etc. Using delay effects can also be good for making stutter effects if you turn up the feedback. There's also stuff that automates this, like Glitch. I suggest checking out some magazines at your local bookstore. I often read a magazine called "Computer Music". It'll give you a good idea of what software is out there and what it's capable of.

Anyway, I'm glad you like it. Feel free to drop me an IM if you have any other questions.