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From A Dark Place

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Increasingly I think the music I am making is less about sound design and more about expressing some of the things inside of me that want out. I guess I may be starting to know what I want.

This one started with a beat (using Stylus RMX to provide kick drum and snare) although I really just wanted that to lay down the rest. I’ve learned that’s easier with a beat.

I went hunting in Omnisphere for a cello patch since I am on a cello jag and came up with ‘Uillean Cello’. So I played it (on the SP3X) along to the beat. After that I layered on some droning ‘Deep Bowed Glass’.

Everything is pretty heavily treated using two separate inserts of Replicant on the drums going into an effects chain containing Little Spacey, Ricochet, Eos, Northpole, and the 914 fixed filterbank. The cello and bowed glass parts are treated with Ricochet, two instances of BigSeq 2, and Little Spacey before going into the mix.

This is the first time i’ve used the Northpole filter. It doesn’t come with presets so I just faffed about until I found something that gave the drums a bit more grit. I’m not sure about the 914 filter. It has a particular sound that I liked when I started but I’m less certain it worked by the end. But it’s there.

The astute listener may be able to detect the influence of Old Joe Clarke’s Boogie (a piece from my beginners piano course) in this track. If you can figure it out you get a cookie!

The master channel uses my, now default, triumvirate of gain, multipressor, and adaptive limiter.

Guest said

One of your greatest tracks! Beautifully dark and powerful.

discoLust MACHINE's avatar
discoLust MACHINE said

grimey!

Chris McGrath's avatar
Chris McGrath said

Like it! Especially the beats, halfway through I was thinking of wailing robots echoing through a very large spaceship

Mr Sandbags's avatar
Mr Sandbags said

And thank you all guys. It's great to get feedback :)

Mr Sandbags's avatar
Mr Sandbags said

MM: Well ... it hadn't occurred to me but I did just buy my first dub album and listen to it today ... maybe it did influence me.

mmi's avatar
mmi said

So far the comments have been about the sounds and their scariness. For me, however, the magic comes from those sounds used with a fairly funky and happy motif. The juxtaposition is very cool. Strange as it sounds, I hear a dub influence (cue you saying WTF?!?)

Guest said

OK, eeeeasy. Move away from the sharp objects. ...Possibly reserve more intelligent listens/comments until the morning, but suffice to say, I think you probably achieved what you set out to achieve. *scared*

glu's avatar
glu said

okay, sandbags, time for a scary clown avatar. this one will make it difficult to turn out the light tonight.

Saved!