[Techno]Culmination(mp3)

[Harbinger]

Culmination

New MPT-constructed track in Techno, heavily influenced by Stewart Copeland (soundtrack composer since the 80s, former keyboardist of the Police). Some acoustic work (by Yjana), but most of it cut&pasted.

No substantive vision behind the original idea, as i was experimenting with the Superwave P8, the VSTi driving this piece. However, as the track evolved, it began to tell the story to me of the drive to success -- the corporate climber who gets it together, makes contacts, finds a wife who loves his ambition, then struggles to keep it all together, the money, the marriage, the lifestyle, the man he's become over the years. Imagine this man's adulthood in 5 minutes of music...

Personal use only. Listen to it, edit it for your own listening pleasure, don't share it or claim it, and everything's cool.

Constructive criticism and/or praise welcome.

UPDATE: Hyperlink changed, as this song can  now be found at TraxinSapce.com (for registered users).

[mrvegas]

I liked this one -- you got a cool sound out of Superwave.  (I remember that one.  I never had much luck with it.)  A little on the experimental side.  It sounds very much improvised for having been done with MPT.  It reminds me of the epic keyboard solos from Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Nice work.

[CrazyAznGamer]

P8 is good synth dood. You got some pretty classic sounds out of it (supersaws and everything), the drums are pretty weak in the mix, it's spread kinda weird in the stereo field.

[Harbinger]

P8 is good synth dood. You got some pretty classic sounds out of it (supersaws and everything), the drums are pretty weak in the mix, it's spread kinda weird in the stereo field.

Production quality exactly the way we wanted it. What you hear is what's intended. The last drumset was Yjana's, acoustically sampled, but cut and pasted based on downbeats and riffs. She did that herself. She also added crashes and hihats to her playing because she tends to be sparse with them. She's a demon with a kick and a snare though! :twisted:
This was a song experimenting with the P8, and with this song i myself learned about macros and VSTi's. A vision came out of the construction of the song, but it started as a learning project. I kept the drums more or less out in left field while the P8 was pitching.

Thanks for the review, friends....

[Sam_Zen]

Nice work indeed.
Some of the solo notes are a bit too much neatly on the beat to my taste, but that's all.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Good work here, Harbinger. I must admit that I also find the drums' panning a little unusual when it's to the left - I guess that I'm just so used to hearing electronica with the kick at least panned very centrally all the way through.

I really like the growth in the parts; the way you augment them and alter them subtly adds a lot of depth to the track.

[Harbinger]

Some of the solo notes are a bit too much neatly on the beat to my taste, but that's all.

This is my drummer for ya. We once did 32 takes on one drum track, because Yjana wants her beats to be perfectly synced. She feels less than adequate i guess, when her snare and her kick are audibly off. Since she's been using MPT though to mix her tracks, she seems a little more relaxed about it.  

I must admit that I also find the drums' panning a little unusual when it's to the left - I guess that I'm just so used to hearing electronica with the kick at least panned very centrally all the way through.

I checked my mp3 again, and what you describe is not present in the version i uploaded. The drum track is set in stereo center. Anyone else hear that?  

I really like the growth in the parts; the way you augment them and alter them subtly adds a lot of depth to the track.

Part of it is my training in classical music, as well as influences from Yes to Saga to Rush. But sometimes it has to do with the tools you use. The P8 is not a supersynth but it has enough alterable parameters to give it some variation that i can play with. And the means to play with the parameters is provided by OpenMPT. That's why i stay with this software.