Otto Matta

AHAHAHAHA!!! GREAT ones! Love the dog ones. (Funny you say the cosmos one, as I'm a believer that - and I know this might sound ridiculous - that we're creating universes through our music, and that we ourselves exist in the music of other higher beings. Think of how all things function in waves. These are the melodies of the gods! )

I don't know, there's more to it than that. Yeah, the mix is really an individual taste sort of thing, but there are some basics. These can be found in lots of places, so do a google search, perhaps for your particular software, or for pro mixing forums in general. Here are a few things that have helped me a great deal: 1. Bass drum and bassline, as well as drums in general, should be more mono, whereas higher parts like melodies should be more in stereo. 2. Bass drums and basslines conflict with each other in a mix, so attach an equalizer to each and make sure they're operating on different frequencies. 3. Bass elements are traditionally in the center of the stereo field, but in order to not overwhelm the middle, split your bass elements into two channels then pan them right and left respectively. This will give the illusion of middle. 4. Compression helps a lot, with everything. But not too much or you lose sound quality. 5. Stereo imaging is also helpful. Remember: Bass and drums = mono, treble = stereo. It's all really about knowing a few of the basic rules and then practicing like hell. You'll eventually find a sound you like. See above this topic for one or two good links to procuction sites. Good luck.

Starcade - Radio Interstellar Time: 7:51 File: 7.20mb, 128mbps MP3 (via YouSendIt) Major Inspiration: Tomita Murcof Isan Your time and feedback is as always much appreciated.

Maybe what you could do is record both control surfaces at the same time to the same track (same midi channel, I assume), and when you're done recording you could cut and paste one melody to a new track. I suppose it would help if you set them to different octaves.

Could've been a lot worse. It could have been a track by Pawul won Dayeke or Roobeert Mahyeels.

Anyone familiar with Ableton Live and Operator connected to Reason? If so, could you describe the advantages and/or disadvantages over Reason alone (or ReWired to Cubase)? Any specific opinions on the Operator synth?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Damn, Towelie never fails to get a laugh out of me. How can reality be drunk and sober at the same time?

And I single-handedly make this a fun place to be, so you can send me your donations, too. A straight bank transfer in larger increments would be just fine. By the way, seriously, just for site trivia's sake, the major co-founder of the place early on, a guy with the nick, Children, disappeared some time ago and nobody knows where the hell he went, not even mars, apparently.

I probably won't buy it but I like the cover.

I'm with this guy. This CD was so damn awful. I tried it a couple of times then chucked it.

Yes, but if silence and peace are still repeating themselves in your head, wouldn't it have the same effect?

Okay, I had another one last night, while I was in the immersed depths of finishing a track. I took a break to watch The Virgin Suicides, and at one point in the movie someone was humming something. It only lasted for about two seconds...But I could swear it was one of the main melodies in my track. I was like, there we go again with the music-making madness! Another one: You know you've been working too long and hard on a track when you haven't eaten or left the house/apartment in two days, and you don't care. But you've smoked like four packs of cigarettes! This is actually an interesting phenomenon to me. It doesn't only happen with music, it happens with anything - perhaps pattern-oriented - that we do for an extended period of time. Video games are a good example. Ever played Tetris for a few hours straight? When you're done the pieces just keep coming down in your brain...AND YOU STILL ROTATE THEM AND PUT THEM IN PLACE!!! I think I've finally realized what meditation is and how to do it, and it relates to this phenomenon. If you focus on peace and nothingness for hours on end, doesn't that achieve the same effect? Like, you've programmed your mind to be empty and peaceful for a while. So instead of hearing your melody play over and over again, hearing it in everything from the sound of shower water to car traffic, or playing Tetris in your mind without actually having it on, you have quiet peacefulness repeating itself in everything. Makes sense to me, at least moreso than the typical yet misguided advice to simply "clear your mind." Thoughts?

Had me there for a second. Nice one.

Some of the craziest, yet still interesting, IDM I've heard is from Richard Devine (Schematic). His album Asect Dsect is out there, and pummeling. I'll also mention Amon Tobin (Ninja Tune), but you've probably already heard his stuff. If you haven't, you must. Any album. Ilkae (Merck) is pretty cool stuff, too, although more mellow. Then there's more standard stuff again like Chris Clark and Brothomstates (Warp et al), but they don't really having staying power for me (but neither do Squarepusher, Aphex Twin or Venetian Snares). Warp has become so innocuous in the last five, six years. Shame.

Thanks, Charlie. Yeah, I like the 8-bit sound, too, when done well. For instance, I really like the music by Mark Mothersbaugh, who if I'm not mistaken was a member of Devo or a similar synth pop band, on Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. By the way, I thought I might share the concept of this latest one, which may or may not mean anything to you. It's about a colonist crew onboard a ship on it's way to another star system. They're half-way there, and several generations of the crew have come and gone. The current generation's identity is somewhere between two worlds, two stars. All they know - their reality - is the blackness of space outside their windows, the simulated environment inside their ship, and what they've read in the history books. Pretty geeky, eh?

Thanks, man. I thought the bass was large enough already, but I'll keep that in mind. Also, I'm finding it really difficult to get a strong bass and a punchy bass drum at the same time. I've tried to incorporate some standard EQ tricks, but that only goes so far. Any tips? And I'm not entirely optimistic, but music is a way for me to not only be optimistic and joyful but to let the more hidden parts of my psyche out, which I guess is the point of creativity, isn't it? I've always tried very hard to keep my music as simplified and stylized as possible. This is rather difficult because there's a fine line between simple and boring. I try to put "god into the details" like Mies van der Rohe, but I'm not quite there yet, and that's something I hope I'll get better at when I get more accustomed to Reason. Thanks, man. Yeah, I worked a lot more on the production aspects with this one. Amazing how a track can open up if you know some of the tricks. Sorry about that one sound you don't like. That's from the synth-poppers like Solvent, which I enjoy. All roads, for better or worse, seem to lead back to Boards of Canada. Anyway, thanks again, guys, for your encouraging comments. I'm enjoying myself a lot, and will continue to musicate!

Starcade - Generationz Out (128kbps MP3, 5.86mb, via YouSendIt) New track. Once again, it's laid back, not trance. Give it a listen if you have the time, and if you have even more time, please leave a comment, good or bad. Primary influences: Isan Plaid Solvent Low Abba (yeah, I said it) Enjoy.

Hehe. I was thinking I'd send you my new thing when I was done with it. I've heard what you've done for Mike. Class A.

One of my favorite all-time tracks. Ice, ice, ice to the Red Sea. I'm listening to n.ln - i never heard. I can't recommend this guy's music enough.

I saw that one, too, and played around with it the other night. Sorry, I'm coming across as a know-it-all when I'm asking for help. It's just that these are some widely available yet somewhat limited speech synthesizers, and I'm looking for a good one - I'd even be willing to pay for it - that is made more for music and other fun applications (rather than office-type applications). I will probably be using SayIt here and there, but something like it with more complexity would be fantastic.

Yes! Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... And yes!!! I'm now keeping a store of aspirin next to my computer, and am keeping my windows open as much as possible. Funny.

I personally haven't found anything that's anywhere near the excellence on Irritant and Send In... Send Back. The closest is Spirallianz's Blast Food. The other tech stuff is an approximation at best, in my opinion.

Hehehe. Good ones. I have two from today, actually: You know you've been working too long and hard on a track when you wake up after eight hours of sleep with your song still in your head from the night before. This happened to me today. It was freaky, as if all night long as I was sleeping my song played over and over in my head. You know you've been working too long and hard on a track when you step into the shower and swear you can hear your melodies in the the rhythms of the spraying water.

Actually, I found that site last night and already incorporated some of its speech into my latest track. However, I read at the site that it's illegal to do so, so I'd like to find an alternative. Thanks for the link, however.