Veracohr

That mixer isn't that much. It looks like a Mackie 8-Bus. 32 channel model, about $3000 US. The Apogee audio interfaces he had over to the right are much better in their respective area.

Mine's on the way from Psyshop, along with Ra's "9th". Now I just have to wait the 37 years it takes music to get from Germany out here to the Andromeda galaxy.

Is there somewhere we can hear it?

The first section seemed to go into the breakdown out of nowhere, and almost seemed to fade into it. There should be some planned structure surrounding a breakdown. Otherwise, you sound like you're already aware that it needs to be expanded upon, so there's not really anything else to say. It sounds good.

I would like to introduce you to the Shift key: Check out this this thread: http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=50606 If you're not familiar with them yet, they are pretty cool. Not sure if it's up your alley, but it's not the same 'ol stuff.

File can't be found.

It's not exactly my style - a bit too plucky and upbeat sounding - but it sounds good and is well-done. I thought it could use a bit more bottom...it seemed just a little weak in the low bass area. I tend to like a lot of low bass in music like this. The other two tracks sound good too.

I don't know Cubase, but effects all take processing power, so yes they could contribute to a CPU overload. Some effects take more than others.

Not really. The Mopho started out as a single voice of Prophet '08, then they added some more things on. The Virus is all digital, and thus has more features.

Unless this thread was moved here from some other forum, I think it's in the right one. The idea and atmosphere are good. You've got interesting sounds, although the mix as a whole is kind of dark. It could use some changes though - the whole length is just playing off one idea. It's more like a jam than a completed track. Definitely good for a first attempt, keep working on it.

Speaking of that, I've always been a little mystified by the prevalence of alien and sci-fi themes in psytrance. I can understand the spiritual aspects, but (Terence McKenna aside), what do psychedelics have to do with aliens and science fiction?

I wish there was some sort of psy culture here, so I could have some good parties to go to. From the little I've seen of psy shows in my immediate area, people around here think psy means annoying darkpsy and bad full-on. Then again, I did score some good goa vinyl at the record store; of course, that might just mean that someone got rid of that good music so they could spin or listen to bad music. Maybe down in San Francisco there might be a better psy scene. Or maybe it's just really really hidden around here.

I can't really get into the first song, the second two are good but not all that exciting, and the last one is awesome.

Production is the writing, recording, editing and mixing of a song. Mastering as it's being talked about here is a fine-tuned (usually) process of applying EQ, dynamic processing and volume changes to put the finishing touches on a song or album. If a whole album is being mastered at once, one important goal is to attempt to make the songs sound consistent in quality from track to track. It's the icing on the cake. It's usually, but not always, done by someone other than the artist/producer. It's a good idea to have someone else do it, especially when one person is doing all the writing and production, because another pair of ears can catch problems you might not catch yourself. More precisely, I just described "pre-mastering". Actual mastering is the ordering of tracks in the sequence they will appear on the album and creating a "master", from which the actual manufacturing will be done. That's not always easy to tell. Generally speaking, if you hear something that doesn't sound good: if it seems to be an overall problem, it's probable it is a product of bad mastering; if it seems more specific, like only certain sounds in the song, it's probable it's a product of bad production. Compression reduces the dynamic range - the range between the loudest and quietest parts of the signal. Moderately applied, it tames the peaks so an instrument sounds even; excessively applied, it squashes the sound so there is very little difference between loud and quiet. If you hear a song that is constantly at the same volume level whether it's at the pounding all-out peak or at the more mellow interludes/bridges, that is excessive compression/limiting. If you have some sort of level meter on whatever system you listen to your music on, and it hardly moves at all during the song, that is excessive compression/limiting. Excessive compression/limiting is used to make a sound or song as loud as possible. It has it's uses, but not in mastering. For instance, in the mixing of rock or other music with live drums, it's a known trick to split the drum mix in two, compressing the hell out of one of them and mixing it in at a low level. This retains dynamics in the uncompressed mix, but allows for a fuller sound due to the heavily compressed drum mix. Pop on the radio and listen for a song from Metallica's new "Death Magnetic" album. That album is already notorious for being horribly compressed and distorted. I hear the versions of the song on Rock Band (or Guitar Hero...I don't know or care which) are different masters, and sound much better. A lot of full on and darkpsy tends to be over-compressed in mastering. All music (comercially-released music) is mastered, not just pop music. Being a good mastering engineer takes talent and skill - I think I'm decent at mixing, but I blow at mastering, and I know it. Which is why I take my own music to a professional ME (for album releases anyway). I don't think there's really such a thing as "underground" pop music - pop music is released by major labels, and major labels have the money to pay for expensive mastering. Expensive can equal good, but not always, especially in these days of the Loudness Wars. Engineers make a name for themselves over time, and even if they once did good-sounding work, if an engineer gets in the habit of mastering louder and louder records on the label's insistence, they can get into the habit of doing so, and thus charge a lot of money for their reputation in the industry but still produce shitty-sounding masters. Good production isn't about tricks, it's about how the whole effect comes across. You will often hear people talk about pop music being more produced, usually meaning it has more processing applied to it, but that doesn't necessarily equate to better production. However, since pop music is usually produced by engineers with a lot of experience, it can often in some ways sound better than music produced by people with less experience. Outside of the electronic arena, producers and engineers often work on a fairly wide variety of music, which can give them a perspective on sound production that a person who only works on psytrance may not achieve. So in that respect, pop music can be "better" produced than psy, but then again it's all about opinion, right?

The little Mopho?

Don't blame it all on the mastering. The ME can only work with what they get, and a bad mix can't always be made to sound good in mastering. Bad mastering often has more to do with compression and distortion than bad EQ choices.

Gojira - "Adoration for None" I just got home from the show. They were the second out of four bands, and the only really good one in my opinion. I was only introduced to them a short while ago. I'm about halfway through their new album "The Way of All Flesh", and it's more typically death metal than the previous one that I have ("From Mars to Sirius"). Still good though.

There's your mistake right there. You tried to listen to 20 minutes of hardcore at once. Only insane people can do that. Also, you tried to listen to it at a party. Only insane people think you can party to hardcore.

I like a little gabber now and then, but I never really could dance to it at parties. For me it's more home/travelling music. If I need to clean the house I will sometimes put on some gabber to spur me on.

What classic goa lead sounds? Some are pretty digital sounding, some are analog sounding.

Hey look, replies! :posford: Thanks for listening guys.

I just saw that site for the first time a few days ago when I followed some links to some Juno samples. It's kind of weird how it displays waveforms for the songs.

Dude, "Tainted Love" was written before Marilyn Manson was born.

I LOLed. I really like "Israeli Baba" around 4:20.