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50-minute-long electronic epic!
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| ecksemmess |
Just finished a 50-minute-long (!) epic piece of electronic music. Excellent listening experience :) Genres range from trance to breaks to orchestral and lots more.
The track as well as the Reason 2.0-compatible WIP file can be downloaded from my website at http://www.xeron.net
Give it a listen, it's well worth the rather large download... I promise :)
And for those who enjoy, feel free to pass that URL around ;) |
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| mark_the_gooner |
I'm not sure if you wanted feedback (though I assume so).
The track is good, obviously I didn't listen to all of it (listened to the first 13 mins, and then just jumped my way through the rest). I find your track can be a bit too repetetive at times, the melodies and chords are good but they start to bore after a while, they need a bit of variation.
Also, the track doesn't really have any unique sounds to it, its fairly simplistic, in that it has a drumloop, bass line, melody, chords, etc. It doesn't really have any weird effects in it (though around 28 mins it does have a rather odd pad, that i like alot).
Also production wise it isn't fantastic (maybe thats partially due to the 160-170 kbps).
That's all the negative feedback I can give really, other than that it is very good, I really like the pads, and the melodies, although sometimes it gets a bit too repetitive.
Also one other thing:
When you just skim through the track, it sounds like a soundtrack to a platform game (like sonic or something), in which all the different melodies etc. are different levels in the game. |
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| KilldaDJ |
i happen to think this is pretty cool
weird sounding noises and (like the fella above suggested, sounds like the soundtrack to a early 90s game)
pretty cool sounding though, makes me wana nail a tab of acid and just mong out to it
+1 |
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| No_Boundaries |
It might need a couple of changes to avoid the monotony on the track but I did got the feeling of the song. I really think that maybe you didn't include too much changes because the track is quite chill and melodic and too much changes might just take the track feeling to somewhere else the producer was not thinking of. If that's so then is ok.
I love the pads too, it does makes you feel like coming home after a long hard trip or something :D
Nice job, keep it up. |
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| ecksemmess |
Many thanks for all the thoughtful feedback so far guys, much appreciated. My responses:
The number one complaint people seem to have about Trial is that it's too repetitive, but as No_Boundaries pointed out, that was certainly the point. I've listened to the track as "background" while doing stuff -- it's flat-out annoying that way! It has to be carefully scrutinized to be appreciated. I wouldn't have it any other way :)
I suppose fans of underground, old-school trance would understand. Back when the music literally drew you into a trance. That's what I was going for here! And if you'll pay close attention you'll see that, beneath the surface, everything is in constant flux throughout most of the track. Very little "lazy looping" going on!
As KilldaDJ said, you're meant to "wana nail a tab of acid and just mong out to it" ;)
As mark_the_goner pointed out, the production on the track is rather rough. On the website near the download link, note the statement, "rough production and muddy bass are embraced" -- just think of all the mind-warping, ultra-underground oldschool trance that never would have had such a profound effect if it were produced cleanly!
Finally, if it sounds reminiscent of 1990s video games melodically, that's certainly no surprise, as I grew up spending all my time with my NES/SNES :)
Love to hear more comments! |
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| DJFreaq |
Interesting. I downloaded your reason project file. And I'm jamming with it right now!
I doubt I'll be able to listen to all 50 minutes of it. But the beginning is pretty tight man.
Good work! I'll skip around some more.
You really should expand on this project. If you can rewire it into a different squencer. Like cubase or protools you can do some tempo automation. Which this sorely needs. 50 minutes at 132 is not enough tempo variation for a track which uses a lot of Subtractors which have the same tonal characteristics.
Tempo automation is your friend! |
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| The Drow |
I'm listening to it right now. No skipping at all.
I'm on 22:30.
Great stuff so far.
Maybe you should make a clean version of this so it'll be much more solid.
Will you make another one?
~24:00 is entrancing. amazing.
10/10
Omer |
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| Alternatewords |
Hey Justin,
I've been listening to the first 20 minutes about 3 times and am listening right now to the rest.
First off I am happy you recovered this piece and are able to work on it again. A few years ago I had a nasty hard drive crash and lost a good amount of graphics I did back then. Taught me to always expect the unexpected and religiously make backups (I am paranoid nowadays :) ). It's always depressing to loose ones work. Good thing this wasn't the case with you.
Here we go. I really like what I am hearing. To my ears I am detecting various influences. There is a definite Jean Michel Jarre influence beaming through at around 25:00 minutes. A strong video game influence ala Chris Huelsbeck is weaving through, I can see images of Turrican and Apidya flashing before my eyes. Then there are certain elements that remind me of the Parasite Eve soundtrack (darker, more industrial). But as a whole you make the sounds your own and give them a distinct character. Even though it is a very long piece you stick to a soundtrackish theme, keeping it clear and crisp throughout (with the intentional glitches). I also like how you keep the beat steady while using just enough variation to lift it up here and there.
All in all a very evocative composition. I like that you actually composed it, not just mashed loops together (though that's fun too). I think writing a track of that length, combining various electronica styles and influences and yet keeping it from becoming just noise or mangled up but instead making it pleasant to the ears of the listener is a talent in itself. I say well done and I am looking forward to more.
Now, two suggestions I have: a) split it up. Here is how: you already employ classical tonal architecture therefore you can break it down into movements, maybe 5 or 6 of equal length. No pause, no fading, simply Movement A, Movement B, etc. That will make it more accessible to the casual listener (we all need them or else our music doesn't reach far enough) and it opens up your creativity to maybe try different combinations of the movements, even incorporating them in a new project. And b) I like the glitches, but there where only a few rather in the beginning (I like the introduction, it sounds like an electronic orchestra tuning their instruments). I'd use the power of glitch (hmmm, I think that's an oxymoron, oh well) to accentuate certain parts more, make them more dominant and intentional. Right now they sound a bit like something went wrong during production.
Now, the final part of your track, the last 5 minutes, are very experimental (noisy) and I think it would actually work great in the beginning of the track, then revisit it in the final 60 seconds of the track to come full circle (Kraftwerk would be proud). Just an idea.
It was a pleasure listening to it.
Cheers,
Thorsten |
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| ecksemmess |
Wow, thanks for all the listens!
DJFreaq: I know what you mean about the tempo automation (what's up with Reason not having that capability built-in anyway? Ridiculous). On the one hand, 50 straight minutes of 132 bpm definitely gets very monotonous. On the other hand, I did break up the monotony by introducing variety in other respects, and what's left of the monotonous feel is sort of what I was going for in the first place as a "hypnotic" feel. If I were to introduce tempo automation into the piece, it would be nothing drastic.
The_Drow: Glad you enjoyed that part :) did you ever get all the way to the end?
Alternatewords: You couldn't be more right about the backups. And I love that it reminds you of Turrican (great game), though I can't say I'm all that familiar with the Parasite Eve music. Square in general has been a huge influence on me though, particularly early Uematsu and Mitsuda. And you are right about the glitching effects. I wanted to use them extremely minimally, but the piece could probably do with a bit more of them. |
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| The Drow |
| quote: | Originally posted by ecksemmess
The_Drow: Glad you enjoyed that part :) did you ever get all the way to the end?
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Sure I did listen to the whole thing.
Well I think that there are too many breakbeats in the track.
If this is suppoused to be a trance piece then I think that you should use more 4x4.
I also expected much more complicated melodies and much more sounds on it.
But it's still ace :)
Omer |
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| thoughtlessjex |
Like the intro so far. Very lush. But what was up with the weird automation in the first few seconds?
I like this bass around 2:30. It sort of sneaks up on you, there, which is something most artists never really do.
The breaks in the intro could be changed up a bit more.
And now they do. Nice.
Ooh, 9:16 was fun.
I like the piano around 16:50. It goes well with the breakbeats there.
Piano panning is tripping me out.
That chord progression at 21:09 is right out of Metroid Prime.
I'll take this moment at around 22:20 to agree with Alternate Words: This track should be broken up into parts, and you just passed a part that would be excellent for that. Whenever the tonal structure breaks down for the next part. Right now, it has a nice effect in regard to being continuous, but it's really only accessible to nerds like us here.
And I'm with The Drow on 24:50. Incredible.
28:50 Oh God. Wonderful effects on those pads.
34:01 has a nice feel to it, although you've gone a long time without a beat. I was beginning to lose interest.
I like the way you develop the drums in this section. You need to do this more often. Build more patterns on the drums so that they create a sense of movement. Leaving them the same is all well and good, but it makes the track feel stagnant if you do it for too long.
39:00 nice percussion riffs.
I like the synth riffs, too.
43:20, I like the way you bring the piano.
Oh, I love the beat at 44:00. You actually need some more glitchy sounds a la Aphex Twin here. Just let it get more twisted and ed up as it progresses.
Something like 46:50, yeah.
One thing that I noticed is that your production needs a lot of work. Specifically in the areas of the sounds you're using. The most monotonous part of this song was the textures. Everything you have sounds either pre-packaged or preset, and it doesn't change. You need to spend some time making all of your sounds unique and do fun stuff with them. Have them change over time.
Go out and find new drum packages, too. The pre-packaged stuff that Reason gives will not serve you for the loftier purposes of this piece. It makes it seem like this piece is just an idea to be fleshed out later.
Also, you need some sound effects. These can contribute a lot to your music as well as make it seem less repetitive. Use rises, FM synths, samples, as well as effects that you synthesize. Get creative and have fun.
Finally, your mixing needs work. Throughout the entire song, you had too much high and mid, and almost no bass. You need to balance the three out if you want any kind of impact. Specifically, all of your kicks were dull thups. They need to be EQ'd and compressed to be brought out a bit more. Sometimes, it's nice to have a more subdued kick, but even those are processed a bit. Other than that, just fix your balance and tighten up your other elements.
Don't get me wrong, though. It's an excellent piece of music. It's just not entirely there on production. |
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