Psytrance Work in Progress

[Vihta]

MP3 file:

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-04-25T16-29-33.mp3

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-04-25T16-29-33.mp3

The file is 8 minutes 32 seconds.
More than 1-minute intro.

I'm attempting to make a 60-minute long track.
Tempo would increase periodically.

This is a work in progress.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.

No detail is too small for my attention.

This is a learning process.

My goal is to sound 'professional' but at the same time bring something fun, surprising and out of the ordinary to the table.
I have no idea if I'll succeed but that's the goal.
It could turn out badly, who knows.

If some ideas in the track turn out well, I might extract them and make new tracks from those ideas.

I'd like to post the progress of this endeavor on this thread.

After many years of not making music, I'm finally returning to this hobby.
On my hard drive, there's lots of music no one has heard from earlier years.

Cheers!

[Ragnar]

there's a thing I usually hear in psytrance, like a sawtooth wave buzz synth that feels like the equivalent of a dubstep wubwub and I always felt it was a cheap way of 'driving' the song. Maybe it's more of a darkpsy thing and FOREST probably. Yeah I don't like psytrance much but I know there's a difference at least. Forest producers are probably like me having fun getting crazy with filters and stuff but it's nice to hear something halfway melodic and NOT SAMPLES you don't rely on a clever/witty sample floating on the mix sort of thing. It's not what I usually think of with Goa either, it's nice. Sometimes I get annoyed when psytrance gets formulaic like this is classfied as 'psychedelic' and it feels so TROPEY sometimes? do tropes make people trip. Tropetrip. This is nice but the tropeiness vibes get palpable with some stuff I've heard

 

my latest album had a random track called 'red and green together' that was probably my one attempt at a proper psytrance track and it's like only 2 and a half minutes long haha, just an experiment to see if I could even give the benefit of the doubt of writing one. Just an easter egg on the album/DJ Saint-Hubert one-off track lore

[eryngi]

this is cool. i'm not a connoisseur of the genre or anything tho i have loved some psy(?)trance in my life..

the flute in the first bit sounds too loud and overdriven, on my headphones at least. it's overpowering when i'd like it more to be all floaty feeling.

but then in the next section about halfway through it's great

the harsh frog synth in the mysterious-cities-of-gold-chords section in second half, is a bit too loud too imo, but yeah it might be totally different on speakers..

love the time change bit at the end.

i keep wanting this track to bring in some big melody part in a breakdown, like the "nahhhh nahhh nuh nuh naaaaahh naaaah" bit in Dracul by Infected Mushroom or something :)

it does come together in that good psytrance feeling of lots of parts of a machine clicking and churning together, especially in that little section in the middle, that's my fave bit

[sweepstakes]

This is pretty cool, nice solid low end. Agree on the flute being a bit loud (on speakers here). The treble is a bit harsh overall but I don't listen to psytrance regularly so this might be what you were going for. Not feeling that "THIS IS PSYTRANCE" minor pad swell though. I also like the middle part with the key change the best.

[Ragnar]

sometimes I think psytrance artists think a required vibe can be acheived and the skill is just IMPLICIT upon drug use? This track is good but I think some people automatically they've been initiated into the school of vibez just by doing a substance once. There's a skill at achieving specific feels in music

[Vihta]

Thanks for your feedback — it seems I got at least something right!

It's very useful to hear about your experience, for example too harsh treble and overpowering flute.
I'm using an exciter, I'll turn it down a bit.

The low end is one of the most difficult things to get right.

I try to trust metering more than my ears with bass frequencies.

Infected Mushroom is my all time favorite.
Their albums are rich in so many aspects, including melodies.
They said in a recent interview that they want to be able to "make a sober granny dance".
The dance floor is the final test of any track.

I don't expect any music making to be easy.
Like most things, it's an iterative process where failing precedes learning.
Especially when goofing around with synths and effects is a component.
Like I said it's been years since I last made music but I started back in the day with the godforsaken Amiga and ProTracker (which probably makes me an old fart here).
I loathe loops.

There are good examples of musicians who don't give a damn about staying in a specific genre.
Savant for example.
It's an enjoyable way fighting boredom to jump from genre to genre.
This track is the genre it happens to be because it allows me to have fun experimenting and the kick to kick in the face.

Maybe I'll make a melancholic breakdown section somewhere.
Yes.
With piano!

Thanks again, I appreciate your time.

[Ragnar]

 

The dance floor is the final test of any track.

 

but what about warp records, electronic listening music. Stoned 3d guy album art

 

also is juno reactor psytrance technically. They might be ECLETIC too I could assume but I'm pretty sure that Matrix 2 highway chase track was like textbook psytrance track just with orchestra going on. Being objective about the movies I think the idea of layering an orchestra over it was actually REALLY COOL and not gimmicky

 

that movie the Bourne Supremacy, Jason Bourne is hiding out anonymously in Goa the actual place, did he go to some Goa party at any point

[Vihta]

You are right — sometimes we just dance between our ears.

 

Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Legendary orchestral psytrance possibly.

Some angry synths.

[Rotwang]

Cool track, very reminiscent of Converting Vegetarians-era IM. I agree with sweepstakes about the treble being harsh.

[Vihta]

New version with 2 minutes more duration:

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-04-29T10-55-28.mp3

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-04-29T10-55-28.mp3

 

Now the beginning is totally different with a mad melody.

Effects added to rest of the track to make it less boring.

 

Some questions:

 - does the speech sample work,

 - is the treble sufficiently softer,

 - is the flute no longer overpowered?

[Ragnar]

no but like as far as psytrance some FOREST stuff was kind of cool because it feels like a guy like me going way too far with filter stuff just making different music with it, haha. So even if I dislike the stuff it's still like enough SYNTH NOODLING interest they seem fairly cool. And the premise of the music is unpretentious just going in the woods somewhere and being a forest weirdo hahahaha but like I thought mona lisa overdrive and forest stuff what kind of scene in a movie would this even FIT? haha that's a gripe I have with psytrance where I don't think the movie would even exist

[Vihta]

On Matrix Reloaded album there's also Fluke's Zion from the cave rave scene. That tune might work better on a dance floor.

[Ragnar]

On Matrix Reloaded album there's also Fluke's Zion from the cave rave scene. That tune might work better on a dance floor.

 

is fluke even really psytrance. wasn't it kind of pop by comparison I mean not really but you know

 

 

um I thought I'd at least post a psytrance thing I remember semi-fondly of forest weirdo synthnoodle genre

 

http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/gods-food

 

 

a lot of other stuff though I was just like no skipthis alsoskipthis

[Vihta]

Fluke is not psytrance. But it's a heck of a tune.

 

God’s Food sounds like real forest.

[Ragnar]

God’s Food sounds like real forest.

 

yeah I got pissed at ektoplazm but more the real issue is NOT CURATED GOOD I feel like

 

not psytrance but this was pretty wild too

 

http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/virus-installer-the-scientific-method

[Chabraendeky]

The tempo shift seems a bit abrupt to me, but I don't hear any trance music, so might be I'm just not used to it.

[Vihta]

Thanks for your input, there are no wrong opinions in music.

 

This is a way the track might continue from 8 minutes 54 seconds onward:

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-05-04T11-34-04.mp3

https://valtala.com/forumsample2018-05-04T11-34-04.mp3

 

There's a piano melody.

It might or might not suck but I think it's kinda nice.

 

 

Scientific Method sounds like a soundtrack from a movie about artificial intelligence.