anybody want to start a topic about music production feels or philosophy rather than tech

[Cryptowen]

^I definitely like listening intently to whatever's current in pop, to pick apart what production techniques seem to be resonating most readily with the public at large (and of course they have the same intended effect on me...it's psychologically interesting to not how quickly these things get stuck in my head, and how just as quickly 95% of them start to feel completely hollow).

 

I also like listening to music that's in other genres than what I'm generally pursuing, because like you said there can be some cross pollination there. I was at a hardcore punk show last week & was really trying to hone in on what it actually was about the sound that made it feel so aggressive (and also I managed to field record some stuff during the soundcheck that will make for nice drum breaks). And on the weekend I went out dancing & was struck, as I often am, by how hyper-repetitive house beats + the ambiance of the room + probably also drugs make for a far more compelling dance experience than most of the more complex electronic music I grew up listening to

[thawkins]

^I definitely like listening intently to whatever's current in pop, to pick apart what production techniques seem to be resonating most readily with the public at large (and of course they have the same intended effect on me...it's psychologically interesting to not how quickly these things get stuck in my head, and how just as quickly 95% of them start to feel completely hollow).

 

I also like listening to music that's in other genres than what I'm generally pursuing, because like you said there can be some cross pollination there. I was at a hardcore punk show last week & was really trying to hone in on what it actually was about the sound that made it feel so aggressive (and also I managed to field record some stuff during the soundcheck that will make for nice drum breaks). And on the weekend I went out dancing & was struck, as I often am, by how hyper-repetitive house beats + the ambiance of the room + probably also drugs make for a far more compelling dance experience than most of the more complex electronic music I grew up listening to

 

Not to get all Terence Mckenna on you, but I am pretty sure the repetitiveness of the drum beats hypnotize people in much the same way that some shamanic drum is supposed to take you on a mind-journey to dreamland - personally I have made that association in my head. I have noticed this even without drugs really - at some point I stop listening to the individual songs, but it all becomes this whole stream of experience curated by the DJ, and if the DJ is good you don't really need the drugs so much anymore.

 

Another thing that I have noticed is that to me, mixing house/techno tracks into a set is way way more interesting that listening to some other DJ. I think it's the case where I am super focused on the music when mixing, but when listening it is more difficult to get into the headspace as everything seems to be so boring and repetitive.

[Cryptowen]

Not to get all Terence Mckenna on you, but I am pretty sure the repetitiveness of the drum beats hypnotize people in much the same way that some shamanic drum is supposed to take you on a mind-journey to dreamland

for sure...i'm actually super into repetitive//minimal music. it's been a dream of mine for several years now to put an album out that's just 1000 loops, all five seconds or less in length. and even with other stuff i do i often feel like the refinement of tracks is largely a process of taking pieces out, making changes subtler, etc.

 

this has been a general life theme that keeps coming up & subsequently being forgotten - that the transcendental experience is contained within the mundane, and to reveal it you just need to shave off all the extraneous details. Of course, there's the idea of throwing the baby out with the bath water - like say if you cropped a photo down until it was just a vague patch of texture, or if you kept taking elements out of a track until it was just a hi-hat. So maybe the other crucial aspect of this process is to have some intuitive sense of what that underlying transcendental form may be, so that you'll know when you're getting down to the essentials.

[thawkins]

 

for sure...i'm actually super into repetitive//minimal music. it's been a dream of mine for several years now to put an album out that's just 1000 loops, all five seconds or less in length. and even with other stuff i do i often feel like the refinement of tracks is largely a process of taking pieces out, making changes subtler, etc.

this has been a general life theme that keeps coming up & subsequently being forgotten - that the transcendental experience is contained within the mundane, and to reveal it you just need to shave off all the extraneous details. Of course, there's the idea of throwing the baby out with the bath water - like say if you cropped a photo down until it was just a vague patch of texture, or if you kept taking elements out of a track until it was just a hi-hat. So maybe the other crucial aspect of this process is to have some intuitive sense of what that underlying transcendental form may be, so that you'll know when you're getting down to the essentials.

 

 

Speaking of loops I find that I can loop almost anything and in a matter of moments the loop is already "working" in my head. Yesterday I just bashed random sequences in the Volca and they all somehow fit the other stuff that was playing almost instantly. I think it's my head just adjusting to the loop and finding it's balance there somehow.

 

Tying this to the underlying transcendental form, it kind of seems that a lot depends on how the listener approaches the music. If the listener already is mentally prepared and sort of comes halfway to meet the music, then it does not take a lot for the magic to happen. On the other hand, if the listener has mental blocks (or the music is "too hard" or something) and keeps fighting the influence, it's a stressful experience.

[hello spiral]

rip ragnar

[Salvatorin]

rip ragnar

[Salvatorin]

he ded.

[BCM]

It was only a matter of time. Foolish boy.

[hello spiral]

He found Beak as well btw. Quite possibly the only person to get banned from here and there in the space of 24hrs.

[BCM]

He found Beak as well btw. Quite possibly the only person to get banned from here and there in the space of 24hrs.

Lol has he been banned from Beak? Didn't know that... RIP x 2 I guess.

[Ivan Ooze]

Lel RIP

[Cryptowen]

*pours out a bottle of generative blok modular compositions in non-euclidean time signatures*

[Leon Sumbitches]

Bye Ragnar! I liked your vibes

[thawkins]

Oh, he got banned. I thought there was a real-life meltdown somewhere.

 

RIP Ragnar, you had some good points..

[usagi]

^ there was, and he didn't.

 

 

He found Beak as well btw. Quite possibly the only person to get banned from here and there in the space of 24hrs.

Lol has he been banned from Beak? Didn't know that... RIP x 2 I guess.

 

 

lol

 

fb is the next frontier. another round of spamming friend requests.

[ManjuShri]

;_;7 ❤❤❤

[Cryptowen]

pretty sure out of all the rando internet producer ppl i've known, ragnar's been for the longest span of years, given that we've been on several of the same forums going back at least a decade. hope all is well

[dingformung]

last dadaist

 

permanent or temporary ban?

[BCM]

I believe permanent this time, had temp bans before and didn't change his ways.

[Entorwellian]

Hes definitely off on the far end but I can say that he his production style is one of the most unique I've heard and matched his personality.

 

Miss you, Saint Hubert  

[cwmbrancity]

 

Another thing that I have noticed is that to me, mixing house/techno tracks into a set is way way more interesting that listening to some other DJ. I think it's the case where I am super focused on the music when mixing, but when listening it is more difficult to get into the headspace as everything seems to be so boring and repetitive.

 

 

 

int it, there are obvious exceptions, but live or @ home its always a blast, if you've ever played long sets where you have to focus further w/pacing thats as much fun as you can have with your clothes on

[thawkins]

 

 

Another thing that I have noticed is that to me, mixing house/techno tracks into a set is way way more interesting that listening to some other DJ. I think it's the case where I am super focused on the music when mixing, but when listening it is more difficult to get into the headspace as everything seems to be so boring and repetitive.

 

 

 

int it, there are obvious exceptions, but live or @ home its always a blast, if you've ever played long sets where you have to focus further w/pacing thats as much fun as you can have with your clothes on

 

 

Got to agree - I get a real rush out of house/techno sets where occasionally the drum beat goes to just a trickle of some hi-hat, but there is a wicked vocal sample or a keyboard solo to take your mind to places. I should start messing around with DJ software again at home...

[Cryptowen]

i rly enjoyed digital mixing the few times i've done it, and it felt like a process that could totally revamp my album making process (i.e. i could just spend a few months cranking out hundreds of extremely bare bones track skeletons & then assemble them into proper tunes through several rounds of mixing & layering, like lego. betcha it could end up sounding super organic & intricate if a person did it right). but my current 10 year old netbook running windows 7 chugggggs when i try to run mixxx (and the screen's kinda small for it at 1024x600). any suggestions for minimalist free mixing software?

 

((having actual turntables & a sick-ass vinyl library seems like something that'll manifest eventually))

[thawkins]

i rly enjoyed digital mixing the few times i've done it, and it felt like a process that could totally revamp my album making process (i.e. i could just spend a few months cranking out hundreds of extremely bare bones track skeletons & then assemble them into proper tunes through several rounds of mixing & layering, like lego. betcha it could end up sounding super organic & intricate if a person did it right). but my current 10 year old netbook running windows 7 chugggggs when i try to run mixxx (and the screen's kinda small for it at 1024x600). any suggestions for minimalist free mixing software?

 

((having actual turntables & a sick-ass vinyl library seems like something that'll manifest eventually))

 

In my experience what makes Mixxx slow as hell is the waveform displays. I am a huge loser so I need visual cues to mix my techno tracks, but you can always disable that in the settings and mix by ear. The new Mixxx has 4 decks already so there's a lot of opportunity for mashing I think. I have been thinking about doing this sort of thing for a long time now, should actually do it now sometime.

[Cryptowen]

^ooh good to know

i feel like i could probably turn the waveform displays off then, because so far I've mostly been mixing my own shit or stuff i've listened to a lot & know by heart

also tbh a lot of the time i don't even open it up with the intent of proper mixing, i just use it as a tool to quickly estimate bpm//primary key & quickly sketch out the kind of vibe that'd be generated by combining to seperate things together