Re: [LAU] Ascension: Music made in Linux

On 01/31/2010 01:03 PM, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
> On 01/30/2010 10:02 AM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>
>> BTW, I'm not looking for approval. That will be a nice addition if it
>> happens. I'm seeking a purely technical discussion of what can be done
>> to clean up the sound for a wider range of audio systems.
>>
> that's a pretty hard task... i haven't had a chance to listen to your
> tune yet, but judging from other people's comments, it's probably going
> to be impossible to give any meaningful mixing hints if i haven't the
> faintest idea what the music is about.
>
> as a somewhat related anecdote, i had the pleasure of mixing a dutch
> doom/death metal band called "Izegrim" a few months ago. what i heard
> was this:
> * a female band leader who would growl all the time in the c2-c3 range
> and play a constant eighths-note pulse on an electric bass tuned down a
> fourth
> * two guitarists doing powercords in the first three frets on guitars
> likewise tuned down a fourth
> * a drummer who had switched on his 16th-note double bass during
> soundcheck and only turned it off after the last encore.
>
> in short: i hadn't the faintest idea what these guys were up to, and to
> my ears the entire sound was totally fucked up. you couldn't
> differentiate anything, because everything was kinda below 800hz, with
> the possible exception of the kick drum :)
>
> i half expected to get beat up real bad by the local metal crowd, but
> for some reason, they liked the sound - some even gave me a thumbs-up,
> and they were too boozed-up for sarcasm.
>

Probably because you didn't screw with the sound but concentrated on
making sure the system survived. That is all that was needed to make
sure everyone had a good time.

> morale: there are genres that i can't possibly comment on.
> similar problem with circuit bending...
>
> if you want to make your mix safer, run it through an analyzer, see in
> which bands most of the energy is pumped out, and check if that's what
> you hear / want to hear. if not, roll it off or try some multiband
> compression. also, check for sounds under 40 hz - what will sound great
> on a club p.a. will just generate heat and general muddiness on a less
> than hi-end home stereo...
>
>

Thanks. Generally useful advice is always welcome.

I have uploaded a new "track". This one is more of a dub sound. It seems
to have lost a lot of impact from the conversion to ogg format for some
reason. The sounds are all still there but are much less punchy and
lower in the mix than what I hear in ardour. I am interested in any
suggestions for what to do with it. I'm tempted to overlay a sparse drum
track with lots of delay and some vocal samples with this one.

http://djcj.org/audio/kotau/ascension/ascension_dubliminal.ogg
91 MB - 106 mins

It's a very slow moving progression with a lot of bass end. Gets pretty
clean in the 2/3 section. I think it may be too bassy though. Maybe that
is adversely affecting the conversion to ogg?

Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd

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Received on Sun Jan 31 08:15:02 2010