Okay, this is a rework of track that’s only few months old. The difference is not so apparent this time, but certainly it sounds better. Cleaner and smooth. Not much more to say here.
I also learned that good mix is not necessarily achieved by making everything loudest and clearly audible – even though it eventually gets there anyway. The good mix is when nothing sounds wrong and gives listener no “WTF” moments. Just as in professional productions you hear on the radio.
It’s time for another freebie! Get ready for this warm uplifter.
The track was originally prepared for a contest somewhere in April. But it wasn’t that good. I got down to it again last weekend and found out it honestly sucked. But not all is lost! I already figured out how to turn it into proper uplifter. What do you think?
Synths used were Vacuum Pro (first ride) for basses and phasy arp together with LuSH-101 for pads and final supersaw lead. In fact the most important thing in that project was D16’s Devastor 2, which is pretty much on every track and adds tons of warmth and agressiveness to this tune. I aimed at dirty, warm summer vibe and took inspiration from old Sean Tyas tracks in particular.
There are also polyrthytmic maracas rolling through entire length of track. I bet you didn’t notice, but they add some interest to the composition as they drive multiple envelope followers from Live M4L stock.
What really makes or break the tune are the reference tracks, though. This summer I did even more careful A/B comparison and particular started matching EQ, which turned out to make day and night difference. I believe this one is the very best and properly produced trancer I ever shared, so enjoy it!
In the meantime I finished more tracks and need to send them out to labels. In particular the ones that actually check the demos 😛 Life is hard.
Here’s the rework of my most popular track yet (338 till date). It’s free for download, enjoy!
Original was made in just 3 days and it worked pretty well in terms of arrangement. Looks like I need to try quick production again sometimes.
However, I needed to improve technical aspect of production – mixdown and mastering. I take my time to analyze reference tracks and figure out how they are made and how to reproduce their quality. It’s like a puzzle – fix one thing only to find out two others got broken in the process. You can’t learn a thing not doing it, though.
I think it’s better to practice on older (free) productions that start new projects which won’t be good enough anyway. It might still take a while before I move on to new productions, but it pays back unlike rushing new tracks.
Well, that’s what I did:
Pretty good for powerful trance, eh? No compromises were made to achieve so high dynamic range.
That being said, I tweaked and rendered the track about 20 times since I thought it’s “finished” about two months ago. But once I learned it all, I can do the same with any other track in no time.
This one better be signed quickly!
Hey, this is something I made recently
I mostly wanted to present progress on technical side, that is mixdown and mastering. The track is far from complete yet,what you hear is about 30-40%. And no, it will not be an uplifter. Here’s short playlist that I’m after:
Kai Tracid – 4 Just 1 Day (Energy Mix)
Lost Tribe – Gamemaster (Original mix)
John Askew – Bastard (Original Mix)
Peter Plaznik – Operator Bandit (Original Mix)
Jurgen Vries – The Theme (Club Mix)
Running Man – Earth (Proyal Energetic Remix)
As you may have noticed, four of these tracks have memorable lyrics. That’s the thing which is missing, it will be a suprise 😉
Stay tuned for more.
Yes it is!
Just as I wanted. Loud, banging, but also clean and melodic. Not oversaturated or hissing, like most of modern productions. Also, the bass is huge in this one, just as I like. Actually I’m afraid some people may not stand it, but according to meter, it’s not overcompressed. For trance, the rule is the bigger => the better. It’s important to be louder than competition without sacrificing dynamic range. Making the tune from scratch and tweaking every part is the only way to achieve that, and I believe it was a success.
Too bad I didn’t get much feedback for this one, possibly due to recent Soundcloud and KVR issues. Anyway, here it is. Brace yourself, the magic is coming!
Here is the DR meter result.
Could be more, but it’s pretty typical for trance. I’ve seen some commercial releases with as little as 3.5 dB dynamic range, but they were unbearable in a long run.
And yes, I trust DR Meter more than my ears. My ears, are, well, mine and only subjective. DR Meter is objective and hopefully will work for the people who do not certainly enjoy powerful or overcompressed tracks, as I do.
As to the tune itself, it was supposed to be normal and typical. No extraordinary elements or sophisticated details. I just wanted to make something quickly, based on a knowledge I already have. There are some typical elements on bassline, typical percussion with prominent clap, melodies, single break with pads and huge Nu-NRG supersaw in the finale.
And the title? “Magic” means mystery, beauty and fantasy. There are many subtle sounds in the abckground which should work with that. I tried to avoid any modern / industrial sounds typical for tech and electro, leaving only 5 pianos or so. Why “Applied”? Well, that obviously stands for “applied siences”, since I’m an engineer :). The beauty comes from artistic inspiration and tehcnicla skills combined. I hope you enjoy this tune as much as I do.
Will try to hit the labels in a few days once I get more feedback on this track.
My next tune, called Applied Magic, is finished and ready for mastering. In case you didn’t hear it yet, here’s a short clip from Soundcloud.
Edit: updated with final version.
To be honest, that one was poor compared to full and pimped tune. Still, you can get the idea of an atmosphere.
This time I aimed for maximum dynamic range. Dynamic range is important, as it means the track is alive. Too little dynamic range makes the tune flat and tiring. Dynamic range is defined as ratio of max volume (usually 0 dB) and average volume over time. Everybody wants to make the track as loud as possible, but actually one sound can be “loud” only compared to another, which is silent. Overcompressed tracks (as the sample I attached – I know it) may seem powerful at first moment, but feel boring soon after. There is not much fun in listening to rectangular waveforms, as they end up.
Now, that’s being said, only a few know (and even fewer understand) ways to improve dynamic range. This issue is subtle, abstract and subjective. It is also difficult to estimate or measure. One way to help in your production endeavours is Dynamic Range Meter, which works both as a plugin in maxing chain and standalone meter for mp3. BTW, I got this idea recommended by Arctic Moon himself.
It shows that the optimal DR for trance is 5 dB, and tracks vary from 4.6 (heavily compressed, like TrancEye) up to 5.4 – very tight and banging style of Jimmy Chou, for example. The more initial DR you have before mastering, the more you can screw out of the track. My DR is:
12+. This means I can easily have 7 dB of headroom, as a consequence I can increase root mean square volume by over 7 dB, which is over twice as loud without degrading the signal. This is gonna be huge!
Will report the progress later, depending of spare time and tasks over the next week. See you soon!
Here are two long clips of my latest productions with proper mastering applied. They are loud and proud, banging, clean and, what’s new, have correct and wide stereo image.
Both made with Ableton Live 9.
This is something that could definitelly hit a label. Fell free to ask for promos etc 😉
It took me a while, but finally the track is complete and more or less what I wanted it to be. Totally twisted tech/psy banger with uplifting break kicking when you least expect them. Take a listen.
It already sounds professional, loud and proud and every next tune from me will do as well. That’s very motivating.
Still, the version you are listening to is unmastered yet. It should be simple just to maximize volume, but I will try to screw the hell out of it. There is just so much dynamic range left and no problems to fix, thanks to correct mix. This has a chance to be huge.
In case you wonder how I came up with so crazy track, there is a list of tunes from the past that inspired me in particular. They belong to many different styles and the outcome is unusual just as well. Still, I didn’t try to be very original, this is just how it turned out. Can you recognize familiar parts of these tracks?
Get all of these if you don’t own them already.
Additionally, there are two interesting things to mention:
Stay tuned for more news.
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