[Trance] Time Warp (mptm/ogg)

Saga Musix · December 31, 2011, 15:46:10

A quickly made trance track for the streamed music compo at the Ultimate Meeting 2011, where it ranked 3rd.

Download

Harbinger · January 17, 2012, 15:00:07

Notes as i'm listening:

Very good opening arpeggio and excellent transition to the "meat" of the song. The chord sequence is nice and typical, and the melodic line really swings between octaves nicely with a smooth lyricism and catchiness that reminds us of the composer's veteran status.

My only criticism is slight and perhaps warrants being ignored, but i'm beginning to feel the drum riff that binds two sections together (simplistic crescendo tremolo of 16 or 32 sixteenths in a row) is being overused. As a matter of fact, the same rhythmic bridge is used plenty in "Escaping the Orbit" and "Secret Wish" and makes the songs sound too closely alike.

Other than that, another fine keeper by Saga Musix!

KrazyKatz · January 19, 2012, 19:59:42

Your music gets better and better. First thing it did was make me smile. Then my foot got into the groove and tapped through the whole piece and my body joined moving with the beat (and still does as I listen to the piece a 2nd time). F**kin A!
I don't often listen to this type of music and I'm on my third listen

When will the world learn that the only way you can get people to connect to the beat is without murderous limiting.

Make an Indie album.

Saga Musix · January 20, 2012, 19:33:06

Thanks for the reviews, guys!

Quote from: Harbinger on January 17, 2012, 15:00:07
My only criticism is slight and perhaps warrants being ignored, but i'm beginning to feel the drum riff that binds two sections together (simplistic crescendo tremolo of 16 or 32 sixteenths in a row) is being overused. As a matter of fact, the same rhythmic bridge is used plenty in "Escaping the Orbit" and "Secret Wish" and makes the songs sound too closely alike.

Well, since this tune was made in about 9 hours, there was not much time for actually caring about variation, especially in the drum part...

QuoteMake an Indie album.

Not gonna happen soon. The amount of tunes I write per year is just enough to release one or two at a demo party, so I could only make an album of already released tunes.

Rakib · February 06, 2012, 12:41:01

Great song, the hihats take a bit to much space but you cant ask for more in 9 hours.

mrvegas · February 07, 2012, 12:01:11

Very cool song. I don't listen to "electronica" much these days because although there are so many cool things that are done soundwise, there is often very little in terms of actually having musical content. Not the case with this song, though. It's a lot of fun to listen to and, frankly, just has a fun melody.

Saga Musix · February 07, 2012, 18:08:16

Thanks for the comments. I didn't notice anything bad about the Hi-Hats (although they could probably need some effect processing), but maybe it's just my speakers.

KrazyKatz · July 07, 2013, 22:44:23

Kerbump... I've recently gotten 2 sets of new monitor speakers and invested in some plugin bundles. Anyhoo, I've always enjoyed this piece immensely and have been itching for a good project to use my new gear on. So I thought why not give this piece a full on mixing job? So I have a couple of Qs Jojo:

-I've downloaded the original with the VSTS. I've noticed that there is clipping on the Master. If I just lower the "Initial Global Volume", will these keep all the current volumes in check and will it cause and not result in any degradation to the signal?

-Is there a point to me using any Resampling interpolation? Quite frankly I'm not entirely sure what all that stuff even is. (Future post). I'll be mixing each instrument down to 44100Hz 24bit (if it's relevant).

Saga Musix · July 07, 2013, 23:18:56

Quote from: KrazyKatz on July 07, 2013, 22:44:23
-I've downloaded the original with the VSTS. I've noticed that there is clipping on the Master. If I just lower the "Initial Global Volume", will these keep all the current volumes in check and will it cause and not result in any degradation to the signal?

If you render the tracks / instruments one by one (which you should really do for a proper mix), I don't think any of them will clip. Otherwise, you can also normalize during WAV export, which gets rid of the very soft clipping.

Quote from: KrazyKatz on July 07, 2013, 22:44:23-Is there a point to me using any Resampling interpolation? Quite frankly I'm not entirely sure what all that stuff even is. (Future post). I'll be mixing each instrument down to 44100Hz 24bit (if it's relevant).

Well, since quite many samples are not playing at 44KHz all the time, some resampling is always happening. Choose XMMS-ModPlug interpolation for the best results.

KrazyKatz · July 07, 2013, 23:44:49

QuoteIf you render the tracks / instruments one by one (which you should really do for a proper mix), I don't think any of them will clip. Otherwise, you can also normalize during WAV export, which gets rid of the very soft clipping.

Quite right regarding each instrument not clipping when separate. Not sure where my brain was when I wrote that.
And certainly will be rendering each instrument separately. Will all be safe if I use the Export Instrument Mode?

KrazyKatz · July 07, 2013, 23:59:02

QuoteWill all be safe if I use the Export Instrument Mode?

Hmmm... I see you've done volume and panning changes in the channel mixer. Will these be saved if using Instrument Mode?

Saga Musix · July 08, 2013, 00:09:09

Quote from: KrazyKatz on July 07, 2013, 23:44:49
Will all be safe if I use the Export Instrument Mode?

Everything apart from the sidechain compression will be there, since obviously when there's no bassdrum, the other instruments cannot be compressed. However, you can check out which instruments and plugins output their sound to FX23 (SK Rcv), those are the ones that should be sidechained.

Quote from: KrazyKatz on July 07, 2013, 23:59:02
Hmmm... I see you've done volume and panning changes in the channel mixer. Will these be saved if using Instrument Mode?

Sure, the module is played as it would always be played, with the difference that all instruments except one are muted.

KrazyKatz · July 08, 2013, 11:22:30

Gotcha. Thanks. It's shameful how long it's been since I've used Modplug :S.

I didn't even realize you were using SideChain compression so good job on mixing it so transparently. I don't listen to POP at all but if it's playing in a store or something I can't understand how people can enjoy listening to the sidechain "suction" every time the bass drum kicks in.

Well here's hoping I don't screw the whole mix up

.

Saga Musix · July 08, 2013, 11:34:47

Quote from: KrazyKatz on July 08, 2013, 11:22:30
I didn't even realize you were using SideChain compression so good job on mixing it so transparently. I don't listen to POP at all but if it's playing in a store or something I can't understand how people can enjoy listening to the sidechain "suction" every time the bass drum kicks in.

Well, sidechain compression is most definitely overdone in modern pop productions - it just hurts my ears when the bass drum pushes everything away. However, adding some subtle sidechain compression can definitely help adding clarity to the mix and making the bass drum stand out more. It also helps to not sidechain everything like it's often done.

Harbinger · July 21, 2013, 16:52:30

I agree. Side-chaining was originally used by post-engineers to highlight certain tracks in a song, usually the drums or vocals, to make sure they didn't get buried in all the guitars and keyboards. But in the 90s (maybe earlier) the delayed compression achieved by side-chaining the bass over everything else became popular in the Euro sound, and i think really was Europe's answer to America's disco -- it has pretty must the same rhythmic effect as the Hihat in the 4-on-the-floor sequence. It was never intended to be used as an effect. The fact that i didn't notice it in this track means our composer used it perfectly in its purpose.