[MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
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- oscillator
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[MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
stuck in a kind of (music) writers block, I decided to make some simple electronic songs using MusE 3.1. Each took approx 4h from nothing to rendered WAV.
The goal was to have fun, and paying hommage to some great (and simple, in a good way) songs from the 80s.
I used drumkv1 for drums (using a sample set of the TR707 drum machine), and the Surge soft synth, only. Vocals recorded through an old external sound card (ESI U46XL) and a SP B1 mike.
Very little time spent on mixing, no time on mastering, just composing, having fun! Voice by my girlfriend!
MusE behaved well. I experienced some crashes and odd behaviour, that I will try to report when I have investigated further.
The four songs recorded this weekend can be found in this YT playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... Ei5cprYC9v
A big thank you to all you developers of this amazing piece of software!
MusE DAW running on Debian 11 Testing/XFCE4.
https://oscillator.se/musik
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
I believe the genre is often called synthwave these days, really cool. I especially liked the second and third, not the least since the more intricate rhythms.
I need to try Surge more, seems to generate some really cool sounds.
I sort of regret that you released them without "producing" them more though, these would go from great to awesome with some more effects and a bit of mastering... but I can definitely appreciate the work flow aesthetics so I'm torn. Been doing something similar this weekend, not the genre (quite different), but with limiting myself and just getting stuff recorded. Will see if I can post something.
And, yes, the elusive odd crashes.. they are often very hard to track down. Something we could/should improve upon is collecting backtraces when crashes do occur.
Thanks for posting!
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
I'm getting more and more interested in Muse for creating a similar kind of music
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
Yeah, mastering... How do you do it? By inserting fx into the Out1-channel? I tried this before. Or using an external tool such as Jamin (http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/about.html)?
Any tips on FX plugins for mastering?
Thanks again!
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https://oscillator.se/musik
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
Enable all the compression bands in the compressor and crank up the input until the compressor starts doing it's thing and adjust levels to get it as hot as you like.
I guess the sky is the limit in all the bells and whistles you can tweak in this process, but just doing the basics goes a long way to get it more homogeneous.
Edit: There are A LOT(tm) of multiband compressors of different brands and designs out there, and I know some sneeze at the calf version, but I find it very easy to work with and mostly end up happily using it.
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
No stereo enhancer, or exciter?
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
I've done recordings for a long time but I'm still just a naive amateur.. Probably they can be used but I don't know how to use themoscillator wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:34 pm Thanks for the tip, I will try it on my next song!
No stereo enhancer, or exciter?
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
Please donate time (even bug reports) or money to libre software
Jam on openSUSE + GeekosDAW!
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
Although i prefer to write new songs! Maybe I'll find someone who would like to finish them?
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
The vocals are distorting in that track very obviously:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbl0v0_EkoE
I agree that the mixing could be improved.
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
These are all good advice, thanks! My previous songs are nearly all done with Reason, and I have used it for many years, so I have a good workflow.garvalf wrote: ↑Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:55 pm On your other projects on your youtube channel, I found the mix less rough. I'm not an expert either. I think by editing the EQ of all the tracks (for avoiding frequencies overlap, even though in your case you're doing it pretty well), addings some effects (the calf multi chorus is great to enhance the overall sound, generally speaking most of the calf effects are great), using some limiters and compression (but not too much, it's 80's tracks, not 2010 music!), you should get something more polished.
MusE, and especially the plugins ecosystem, is still a new area for me. As not to get to "handcuffed" by the many new things, for these songs I decided to forget about the fine-tuning, and just write songs. It was fun!
In future projects I will strive for a more produced sound.
Like George Martin did on the Beatles albums!
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- bluebell
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
http://marzen.de/Holger/stereo_width/oscillator wrote: ↑Mon Mar 02, 2020 10:34 pm Thanks for the tip, I will try it on my next song!
No stereo enhancer, or exciter?
Linux – MOTU UltraLite AVB – Qtractor – http://suedwestlicht.saar.de/
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Re: [MUSEIC] 80s lofi synthpop
Exactly what i needed! Thanks!
MusE DAW running on Debian 11 Testing/XFCE4.
https://oscillator.se/musik