Dark spiral and new album

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jeanette_c
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Dark spiral and new album

Post by jeanette_c »

Hey hey, I'd first like to present my latest song: Dark spiral
https://youtu.be/Y7pL-gVw38o
A chimera between modern EDM, metal, prog and synth. It saw heavily processed drum samples, for hopefully a really punchy metal-like sound. In addition to piano and electric guitar, we find a polyphonic melody section played on analogue synths, jazzy/bluesy piano solos and a a bass section featuring Yoshimi and more analogue outboard equipment. In the end: there is the spiral! Modulation ecstasy! :)
This is also the last song of my latest album: Spiral Dreams:
http://juliencoder.de/nama/spiral_dreams/index.html
You can download both OGG and MP3 versions of the album, including playlists, in addition to correct tagging.
The album is a journey between Berlin School synth music, progressive and deeper downtempo electro.
Best wishes, Jeanette
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distro: ArchLinux, DAW: Nama, MIDI sequencer: Midish
All my latest music on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMS4rf ... 7jhC1Jnv7g
Albums, patches and Csound on http://juliencoder.de
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oscillator
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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by oscillator »

Damn, that song contains A LOT! Production is, as always, top notch. Extremely clear.

I think the synth guitars sound good, but I am unsure if it is the best path -- to imitate, instead of finding a truly electronic original sound? I don't know, having done this myself several times.

Loads of nice melodies too!

And thanks for sharing your album! :)

MusE DAW running on Debian 11 Testing/XFCE4.
https://oscillator.se/musik

jeanette_c
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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by jeanette_c »

Thanks @oscillator . Yes, I did wonder about the guitar problem. The clean guitar works for me, the electric part is better than in other productions of mine, at least that's my feeling. I didn't know what would happen when I began, so torn between purely electronic and an almost band-like sound. So the distroted parts are guitar and FM synthesis. Perhaps next time, I should try Yoshimi with its built-in distortion and see where that goes. I'd also feel more inclined on the way in to adjust and readjust the sound and effect until both match the idea as closely as possible. :)
I shamefully forgot to thank @spamatica for giving me a few good samples of his drumkit to recreate rougly similar sounds with my own samples. These "raw" and solo'ed sounds helped a lot in realising the new drum sound.
Best wishes, Jeanette
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distro: ArchLinux, DAW: Nama, MIDI sequencer: Midish
All my latest music on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMS4rf ... 7jhC1Jnv7g
Albums, patches and Csound on http://juliencoder.de
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Tenaba
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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by Tenaba »

This was very enjoyable. I lie the fills on the drums, and the piano solos are nice as well.

I make music as Tenaba! Bandcamp

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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by Rainmak3r »

Wow this is a fantastic song, I really enjoyed it! I loved the different chord progressions, especially the one that starts at about 0:58, with that major to minor chord transition. On guitars, I agree with you that they do sound better than your previous efforts: I'm very curious to see what it could sound like with actual guitars, though, so as soon as I'll manage to move to my new home and regain access to my equipment (hopefully soon!), I'd love to contribute some for an alternate version of this track, if you want!
jeanette_c
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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by jeanette_c »

Hi @Rainmak3r , many thanks for your kind words. I'm very happy that you enjoyed the track so much. I'm not sure whether I'd like to touch that track again myself, but there's always more.
Fun fact: I borrowed that chord progression beginning around 0:58 from a public radio station. I let myself "be inspired" by their jingle/blender/filler from "radio news night", a country wide eight hour news programme. :)
The main chord progression was presently inspired by some incidental music on an audio drama, even though it only appeared once through the whole series. Well, the chords are very common. The only thing perhaps not as common as all that is the modulation through minor thirds. Though even that you can find in a glorious manner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz50W0hM0XE
It's quite the change from the verse and chorus, especially with that odd 7/8 thrown in and they're far surer of the ecstatic climax. Another lesson: lose timidity! :)
Best wishes, Jeanette
--
distro: ArchLinux, DAW: Nama, MIDI sequencer: Midish
All my latest music on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMS4rf ... 7jhC1Jnv7g
Albums, patches and Csound on http://juliencoder.de
Basslint
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Re: Dark spiral and new album

Post by Basslint »

Wow! Really nice track, the intro is something Rick Wakeman would be proud of!

I think how you replaced electric guitars is very clever and consistent with what some prog keyboardists did in the 70s. Still, I would really like to hear this with @Rainmak3r on guitar, because he has the prog metal guitar chops to make it work even better!
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