End Game [erm... not so ambient, in case you were wondering...]

bjornpdx
I like it. For sure a bit different from your usual offerings Andy and very well done too.

Looks like you're finding your way around Studio One.

Hiya Bjorn
 
Thank you very much for listening... Yeah, I enjoyed doing this, though it is far from perfect, but I got fed up of applying the Turd Polish and thought, "balls! Let's upload this thing and see what happens."
 
I am indeed enjoying using Studio One. Technically, I shouldn't be posting this here. But, I wouldn't mind betting that I am not the first person to upload a creation made in some DAW other than SONAR.
 
But I shall not do it again, I promise
 
Thanks again for listening,
 
cheers
 
andy

eph221
You have a talent for melodies.  Not sure why you spend so much time on ambient.

Hiya David. Thanks for having a listen to my latest non-ambient piece. And that is a great compliment, saying I have a talent, I am now grinning from ear to ear
 
As for the ambient thing... There are a number of reasons:-
 
a) I'm lazy and I think I find creating my ambient stuff comes easy to me.
 
b) I have never been any good at writing "Songs." I cannot sing for starters, and I am hopeless at lyrics too.
 
c) I am also not great at creating the "Meat and Three Veg" stuff, you know, verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle 8/bridge/ whatever.
 
d) I have developed a taste for more experimental stuff and that includes sound design so I like to spend a lot of time going down that particular alley.
 
 
Even End Game doesn't really have what I would call a traditional structure to it.
 
What I did here was come up with one of my usual drone things and then layered about half a dozen sequences, using automation for make the sequences and drone come and go.
 
Drums came next... I played some of the drums on my keyboard, which I then quantized, followed by humanized, and further tweaking on the piano roll. I use both Drumaxx (for the synthetic drums) and Battery (for the "real" drums).
 
I then spent a few hours practising playing along with my much underused guitar. Eventually I recorded a couple of layers of guitar tracks giving me nearly fifteen minutes of phrases. Much chopping and quantising was required because I'm not that great a guitar player either.
 
Although there isn't a traditional structure, as such, I put down markers every four bars, once the percussion-less intro finishes. I then moved the guitar phrases around within those markers. I knew at this point that I wanted to have a sort of "discussion" going on between the guitar stuff and some synth lead phrases.
 
More improvisation was then done, selecting one synth voice to start with. Eventually I ended up with enough stuff to go in between the guitar stuff.
 
Much mixing and faffing followed.
 
I then decided that I needed to readdress the percussion parts to try to impart a more random and improvised feel. I took quite a bit of time over this part so I am hoping that that comes across some how...
 
More mixing.
 
Then into Studio One's "Project" application for so called "Mastering." I hate mastering... I had a hearing test a few years ago and I can't hear anything above 14kHz. And my left ear is worse than my right, in some way or other. I also don't have any low/mid/high end "mastering speakers," so I commit the cardinal sin by using my (poor) Tannoy Active Reveal nearfield monitors for this purpose, as well as my KRK KNS8400 headphones. I rely on SPAN a lot to ensure that I am (hopefully) not overcooking the bass, in particular. And I use some pretty ruthless high and low pass EQ'ing to get rid of anything below 30Hz and above 20(ish)kHz.
 
I also streamed a test SoundCloud version on my phone, and "cast" it onto my new Android TV so that I could listen to it on my Pioneer sound system. I also listened on ear buds too. I think I have done the best I can in this regard...
 
 
I think I might have gone off on one there David... Sorry...
 
cheers, and thanks again,
 
andy

daryl1968
lovely stuff Andy
Merry Christmas mate

Thank you very much Daryl
 
And a Merry Christmas to you too. This will be your first Christmas in your new home, and in Wales too, which must be a bonus
 
cheers
 
andy

Wookiee
Well what can I say, there is a middle eastern vibe to this that was not so obvious on my DT100's.

Mix
Playing
Overall

Thanks for listening again Wookiee, and I'm so glad it checks out okay on your system.
 
Yeah, not sure where the Middle Eastern vibe came from... It just kind of happened haha!
 
cheers
 
andy

I use Little Reflektor sometimes, but I prefer the big one (I just like cycling through all the presets). There's actually some good reverbs in GR, some of the other ones are pretty "cheap" sounding but in a good way, and it's exactly what you need sometimes. I think their Vintage Verb is great too. 

sharke
but I prefer the big one 

I've considered getting the big one... Might still do yet, I mean... You can never have too many reverbs

this is a very cool tune...like eattin pudding...one spoonful and I had to finish the whole darn thing..lol I read from your posts above you mention a few times song structure (not using a standard v/c/v/)....IMHO only folks seem to care about that is the creators and not those who listen....so unless you (we) are shooting for the pop/radio market (which is more or less a thing of the past)....dont give it a second thought as I dont think anyone else will...go with what you feel.....well...thats what I tend to do anyway...
 
good stuff!