Djuna

In that specific melody of Sherkan there aren't chords, it's one note for each 16th step. I think it's with a 303, which is monophonic so chords are impossible to do with that instrument.

1. I was just pointing out the 'chain of misinformation' (hmm, I feel a track title coming up..!) that can happen. 2. Another problem: every artist thinks that his or her music should be mastered in order to be 'complete', while its actually mostly ruining the original balance because of that lack of knowledge of how to do it. Actually I think almost everyone (artists and listeners) is way too obsessed about mastering without actually knowing what it's all about, or what can go or sound wrong. 3. You're scaling it to a 'local disturbance in the force' while actually worldwide fans of music, as well as technicians and artists (well, sometimes they are the last ones having a clue ^^) are tired of it and are expressing their concerns. The most famous example is probably Metallica's heavily butchered Death Magnetic album, where a lot of fans demanded a re-release of the CD with the more dynamic mastering that the tracks had in the game Guitar Hero. Yup, that's a million-dollar band, and they still didn't knew what the hell they were doing. So having a big name as an artist or technician don't really impress me if they can't treat the fundamentals of dynamic music right. But an other thing, what's wrong with showing examples in an argument? If they can be challenged, why not take the opportunity to do so?

No problem! By dealing with sound and music everyday you can surely train your ears more! If you tend to clip easily, try to lower the volume of the base of your track: the kick and bass. And change the rest accordingly. Creating a mix that doesn't clip is one of the key elements of mixing in my opinion, plus it's less work for the mastering engineer later on who is trying to fix these faults. It can be that you sometimes can't hear it that well when just one thing is clipping, but if you add up all the rest it's going to sound pretty messy soon. I think the arrangement was pretty good by the way, but I'll listen to your new mix when it's online. Hear ya later!

Then the solution is very simple: remove them! It looks like you're fairly new to mixing, and understanding mastering is a different topic than mixing. If you have plugins on your master bus from the start, your reference about the balance in your track is mismatched from the start as well. This is a thing most beginning producers do wrong - don't be afraid that you're track won't sound as pumping and loud as others, this is a thing you will understand as you progress in making music. Can you upload a mix without the compressor and maximizer? It's 'Djuna' by the way. Grts!

Hi, regarding mixing: I hear a lot of clipping on this track and it sounds highly compressed. You probably used a limiter on your master bus (if so get rid of that), and/or you've got to balance the volume between your tracks a bit better. Having a better balance and enough headroom will improve your mix soundwise, making it also easier also to adjust in EQ'ing, using effects and/or dynamics like compressors, and so on... it makes your track 'breath' more, making the listening experience more nicer.

Happy Dynamic Range Day 2014 everyone! As some of you may know, since the 90's there's a so called 'Loudness War' going on; an urge to make music as loud as possibly can. In commercial music the reason for doing this is, of course, a commercial issue: a track that sounds louder stands out more, resulting in more sales – that's the wrongfully assumed idea behind it. But there is a technical limit in mastering a track louder through compressing (and thus decreasing the natural dynamic range a track has), and this limit has been reached and broken by tons of albums, reducing the sound quality and (as important!) the enjoyment of listening to music as a result. This is the same in the Goa Trance scene. I believe that this is more out of lack of knowledge than a commercial reason; we do make, release and listen to this music out of love (and also because none of the artists or labels can make a living out of it, true ). Not only the mastering engineers are to blame; there are a lot of artists who mix and compress their music nowadays in such a bad way that there is nothing to do about in the mastering stage. But if that mastering engineer is also unaware of respecting a decent dynamic range, and the label owner too, then... You're going to have a bad time. Also, a lot of releases are free today, and thus less 'professional' regarding artwork, mastering, production – but this is not necessary bad, I really think that a DIY approach is a thing that can create a lot of positive projects. But this doesn't mean that there are some aspects that really need to change, in order to make most goa trance listenable again. This has nothing to do with money, but with mentality and knowledge. Those things are for free! The reason of this post? To raise awareness, for the listeners, the label owners, the mastering engineers and the artists. Because in 10 years of newschool goa trance and re-releases of old classic, the vast majority of the releases suffer of high compression and/or even distortion! About time to change this fatiguing stuff! Want to learn more about dynamic range, music and loudness? Visit http://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/about/, https://www.facebook.com/DynamicRangeDay, or visit mastering engineer Ian Shepherd's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/masteringmedia for easy, understandable videoclips of this subject. I know, these are the same guys but I think that's the best way to keep yourself informed. Here is a very good short video that shows why 'brickwall limiting' removes all the impact of a track - and impact is a thing that in a genre like goa trance with all its climaxes is so so necessary! Let the music breathe and live again!

*pat on the shoulder* That's the spirit, don't give up son! Downloading it at the moment, cool that it's a wave-file!

Nice vid! I couldn't see it properly, but is one of those Moogs a delay unit? With what kind of hardware do you go from midi to cv?

Yes I was wondering that too. But I'd buy it anyway, it would be the first time in the newschool era that goa trance would be released on vinyl, so just for the difference in mastering I'd like to hear this. =)

If you want to make actual acid, the x0xb0x will be the best choice I think, this TR-3 doesn't sound half as good as that analogue option. I'm really not convinced by this new Roland stuff.

Not every sort of percussion is homemade. There are tons of sample libraries, also been used in the 90's.

I don't really see the point in using this technique, as said you're not mixing by ear in that case, plus it differs from each track - not every track has the same dynamics. If you leave enough headroom (which can be a lot in a digital environment) you won't really have a problem.

Track from a couple of months ago. I had in mind releasing this for an upcoming EP, but it wouldn't quite fit with the rest of the tracks I'm currently working on. Think Mama Indica, with some influences of acid parties! Dragon Twins - Answer Me (soundcloud link)

I've been to concerts that were closer to the 'trance dance experience' than the average goa party.. But I understand what you mean, a festival like that is really not my cup o' tea. But live and let live.

A simple midi thru box will cost you even just the half of that amount. I just bought a Kento Thru-5, 1 midi in -> 5 midi thru. The advantage of that is that you don't need to change any midi channels/ports you've made before.

Those 16 out sound a bit like overkill, can you tell us what synths you have? Much depends on them.

Sir, yes sir! http://cronomi.bandcamp.com/album/various-artists-if-i-wasnt-human-id-be-a-trance-track

Yeah, Roland, Nord and Korg of course... Maybe because Moog is a bit expensive for hippies?

Very nice! One of the few artists that don't compromise their sound just for the sake of being 'fresh/modern'.

The Elysium remix sounds very nice. Is it an old record, or freshly made?

Nice to read these things, goa trance needs more analogue minds again!

First one is a pitched up version of Moonweed - Telepath.

Melodies sound oldschool, but productionwise it's not that banging oldschool sound anymore. Pity, that would be the icing on the cake.

Thank you! I'll keep it in mind for future projects ^^ Thanks for listening!

Cool, this made me search for Bubble on youtube. Very nice track, ain't it funky now!