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Imba

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Posts posted by Imba

    Classic Goa Trance basses/leads/FX recreated in modern software

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    18 hours ago, AstralSphinx said:

     

    Once again big thanks! This is great stuff to learn from, straight From the Source, together with the BPM and Key available on Beatport.com :) 

    Btw speaking of BPM for Goa Trance these days, what do you guys reckon, is 150 BPM as some of the Dimension 5 tracks are in, a good tempo for todays listener/dance floors etc? I have no clue what BPM ranges people are in these days. 150 seems to be very energetic indeed and I quite like it. Gives a good rush, but I remember that atleast the Neo Goa in the 2000's was a bit slower in comparison, 138/146 bpm ish. And also of course some of the Old School was a bit slower as well sometimes, Sheyba etc.


    I produce 142-150 but rarely play bellow 145, I just don't feel it :D

    • Like 2
    • Sad 1

    Christian Thinning aka Elysium / Sheyba / Vaporized leaves the psy trance scene

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    On 5/30/2021 at 10:01 AM, psychedelic chipmunk said:

    Ok? How does composing / producing relate to politics? If you're out of steam or feel burned out, just say so, it's fine. I don't buy this "oh y'all are just sticking your head in the sand, so how about I stop making music to show how upset I am with you.." Thanks, Mom, I guess.

     

    'Hey guys, Imba is war criminal because he is from Serbia so I can't make music anymore because you are still listening to his music and book him for your parties, so you are war criminal too and this scene is supporting that'

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

    Classic Goa Trance basses/leads/FX recreated in modern software

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    On 5/29/2021 at 6:13 PM, AstralSphinx said:

    mad cool, did you recreate by ear or from official midis? kinda sick that they put the notes on the same time the kick hits? And without sidechain I would assume. :D 

    Hmm makes sense! Since they often programmed the bass patterns directly in the synthesizers onboard sequencer, SH-101/MC-202/TB-303 etc.

    Hmm pt2 now I realized they programmed the velocity values as well so must be inside daw they did it then? :) 

     

    I did not, some were recreated by our own Padmapani and rest I got from original projects from artists to remix :)

    • Thanks 1

    Tell me?...

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    On 2/26/2021 at 5:54 AM, Tsotsi said:

    Actually this is a great idea, imagine if we meme'd NHJO into Youtube's algorithms

     

     

    He is so abviously too happy about this idea he licks you over the monitor!

    nhjo2.jpg

    nhjo1.jpg

    Tell me?...

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    I always liked to compare building a house with building/making of a track.

     

    First you need to find suitable ground/idea, you have to make good and strong foundations with good structural integrity. When you start overloading it with other building materials it needs to stand still or it will fall apart. I imagine bassline as concrete foundations and kicks as concrete pillars, very 2 elements which have to hold everything in place in one huge piece. And then you add layer by layer, just like bricks until you get walls of sound! And if you didn't pick/make right bricks from the beggining, and you didn't place them well, your wall will look ugly and will probably have holes in it (read: sound synthesis). Then you have percussions in top which should remain strong, just like roof so it doesn't collapse.

    Last thing is facade/mix. If you done previous things right that should be easy without too much effort and you get your house beautiful and very much functional. Just like your track, does it looks/sounds good? Yes!

    If you miss some of steps in building you will have weak and unstable thing, full of holes and crooked walls. Would you like to live in such house or you will try to fix it and polish it?

     

    3 hours ago, recursion loop said:

    Production quality can't be a bad thing per se. When the mix is good, everything is loud and clear, the kick and the bass are in perfect alignment, each sound is perfectly polished, the listening experience will be much better - the track will sound equally great in a club, in a hi fi sysetm at home, or even in earbuds plugged into a smartphone.

     

    Thing is that the current production quality standards requre that the sound-engineer mindset must dominate over the musician/arranger mindset. I think that's why there's so many perfectly produced but boring psytrance tracks these days - they are made by people who know how to make perfect mixes but either don't care much about the musical content or make some compromises in this aspect to make the tracks mixable better. E.g. when you have a melody that requires a lot of key changes in the bassline, or a lead with a lots of automation/realtime knob tweaking with harmonic content radically changing along the way and wild resonances randomly popping out, that will be very challenging to mix, especially if you want your track mastered loud (and you want this if you want your music to be accepted by a known label) - so you will likely leave this out and use sounds that are less tricky to process and mix and simpler harmonies that don't make a nightmare out of the bass processing. Also less layers overall, because less sounds = less frequency conflicts, less volume buildups and other "undesirable" things like that.

    What he said!

    Take 90s Goa hits, Teleport, Mahadeva... they are not super complex. Their complexity is simplicity. They made huuuuuge sound with just few layers!

    • Like 1

    Tell me?...

    in General Psytrance

    Posted

    You can't compare Goa scene with Psy scene, first because of the size of it. Second because the quality of it. We in Goa don't have that amount of money for marketing but could improve quality, with quality probably more gigs and sales, then more money to invest into marketing but not gonna happen anyway... because Goa Illuminati!

     

    If it's up to me but it's not, quality like new Cosmic Dimension and nothing less is the only way forward. The most finished/complete album in Goa for last decade aaaaand that's just some Imba's opinion... and then there is his opinion, and his and his and hers and we are just opinioning each others instead of doing something :lol: 

     

    Anyway if you didn't, check the album - 2k views in just 2 days:

     

     

    And yeah Astrix is daddy, he always was and always will. Because he know how to make proper music in proper time!

    • Like 2

    I need a new HiFi system ... some input please?

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    On 1/3/2021 at 6:21 PM, RTP said:

    Hi ... so here's an update: I now have both of the ways that you suggested to me :)

    I have decided to upgrade my computer's audio with the active speakers ... so there's now the old amp in the other room with the traditional HiFi system and the active speakers on the PC.

    It's a pair of Behringer Truth B2031A and an M-Audio BX10s woofer.

    Not cheap, but first I bought them used and second I decided to invest a chunk of the money I had reserved for the compilation project - which is currently not happening anyways.

    The active system is brilliant. I never heard a sound this clear on any audio system I owned previously. Only "problem" I have with it is: I am now at 12% volume and the walls shake. You can bet the neighbors gonna come over in no time if I continue like that :D

     

    Quite investment, now you have studio sound quaility!

    VA - Gamma Draconis

    in 2020

    Posted

    Can't judge guys who didn't make specific style in decade or more. Sometimes I don't make music for half year and much thing I forget, much things change in short period.

    Roy, BOTFB and Shakta are my favorites.

     

    Xenomorph composed great one with terrible mixing. Is it because of lack of knowledge or proper gear? Or he just forgot how to, anyway he was never into clean production so...

    Astrals... more trancy than goa, artists choice. Judge it after you hear it and feel it on dancefloor!

    MFG took few decades old track and finelly polished it to fit 2020s

    RA would be perfect with more balanced mix over layers, bass and percs are too loud. Track as idea is great!

    Oforia deliever sound that could fit everyones taste on todays festival, mixture of everything yet Goa.

     

     

    It's strange indeed because of all these styles but it's great to see all these names with their own vision of how Goa should sound today. I know some of guys were hugely impacted by some of festivals in last years and decided to change their style or update it... I remember Battle of Future Buddhas told me 'I don't want to make dark shit anymore' which he proved in this compilation. RA was satisfed with how some new Goa sound on dancefloor in Apsara, and now you can hear he tried that.

     

    And I am happy for that, I don't want to listen 20+ years of same sound over and over, this is unexpected but refreshing :)

    I need a new HiFi system ... some input please?

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    14 hours ago, RTP said:

    Thanks @Imba for the hint with the capacitors ... I am not very experienced with this though (2 EUR per piece is cool, but I can't solder) - and I don't need the lot of power on the amp, neighbors don't like it anyway. If the sound ever started lacking in quality, I'll look there though.

    Smaller capacitors here cost 1cent to 1euro, bigger can be bit more expansive. Soldering is not rocket science but yeah, you need some skills. Without them you can destroy print.

     

    Just open housing of the amp and inspect them. You don't wanna have some blown and all that acid on print :D

    I need a new HiFi system ... some input please?

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    On 9/7/2020 at 6:35 PM, RTP said:

    Did it :D ... bought a Technics "HiFi system" with amp, tape deck, turntable and speakers.
    Speakers: SB-CS7
    Amp: SU-X955
    Turntable was SL-J110R ... but I'll put that one in storage, I have already a turntable

    there also is a receiver but I don't need it...

    Unfortunately it has no CD player - that hurts :( ... I hooked up my old DVD player and it's ok for now ... may still buy a CD player though.

    I checked on the web before the purchase and people (audiophiles) were saying it's not a "second coming" of a system, but it's proper and nice old stuff ... and when audio people say that, I knew it was a good decision.
    And in comparison to my former thing it's really great! I always thought "nah, don't need a new system, only will have problems with the neighbors" -- but a point that I was not thinking about is, how good it also sounds on low volume...
    Also the tape sound quality is really good ... unfortunately I have only 1 psy tape :P

     

    Beware that SU-X955 is old thing but if capacitors werent replaced they should. My 80s Phillips HiFi was on half power, when I replaced all capacitors and resoldered everything it was full power again. Maybe previous owner done that but again...

     

    They can also look normal but after 30 years they are dry af :D Open the SU-X955 housing and visual inspect them. If they look like this, they are pretty bad.

    bulging_capacitors.jpg

    • Like 1

    PsyTrance Bass Synthesis VST - Which do you like!?

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    2 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    A bit more response.. Recursive I would say there is no set standard.. it could range from £500.00 studio monitors to £15,000.00 + of studio monitors, I heard Tristan say in a video he also has an actual PA system to test his tracks on... 

     

    From what I heard/know, our serbian musical pride - Talpa has worked so many years on  table in living room on KRK 6 which he sold. And after he complained that he will buy another KRK because he is used and perfected on them. Only last year he managed to finish and move to studio, I think those are KRK 8 now:

     

     

     

    3 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    the room can be of various sizes and as far as I see online rather different levels of acoustic treatment from professional to  a more humble treatment.

     

    Last year I also 'made' my studio. All panels were DIY and thankfuly to Colin OOOD who gave me various tutorials on that, I was able to save loads of money, to make them look good and have good use! Lets say it costed me 60-70% less from finished product prices - I saved enough to buy monitors, lights and rest fancy stuff. Room is 4x3m, superchunk basstraps in all corners plus flat traps on first reflection points (above head too) and rest filled with pyramidal foam to collect more mids and higs. Luckily in this room i have wood paneling ceilings filled with glasswool which extra isolation. Hairy and heavy carpet which is also big plus. All in all, huge game changer for around 500-600 euro. 1/3 of room is completely isolated. It's very acoustic and in same way I can make music non stop full power without disturbing anyone in other rooms or outside house! Some photos before decoration and with:

    72582825_10218280963828467_7901475914549

     

    75081239_10218384450815577_3478393600989

     

     

    3 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    PS I like your track Golden Times, great name as well.

     

    Now compare that sound/mixdown to Imba - Liberation which was made/mixed in this studio after. Or with any new releases in future :)

    • Like 2

    PsyTrance Bass Synthesis VST - Which do you like!?

    in Music Making and Production/Industry

    Posted

    4 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    Serum to me is clean and precise, it is the one synth I never used on bass line, I don't like the overly clinical texture and for whatever reason (maybe the envelopes) I just never got what I wanted from it. Many love it, and unsurprisingly their bass lines don't blow me away either, that is very much a taste thing though (and there are exceptions my last track had the cleanest bass I ever made so far, maybe even too clean ! 

    Have you heard such basslines on big and good soundsystems on parties and festivals? Or is it just home listening?

     

     

    4 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    Precision for me is the timing element, for me this is FAR from soulless, in fact this "auditory faculty confusing" precision is a big part of the psycho acoustic element that messes with your ears/brain.

    In my opinion when you put so much effort in something it can't be soulless, nevermind if it's made for huge audience like Vini Vici or for normal psytrance events. You put so much time, effort and yourself into someting. You literally put soul into it.

     

    4 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    What we have is the best of both worlds, maybe as an artist you have the perfect situation to calibrate that sound for your own unique ends ?

    In my humble opinion, no one has produced a thicker fatter more saturated sound than Electric Universe, check out Mystical experiences / Millenia.. now that is a sound ! 20+ years of artistic experience worth. His thick powerful kick and bass are quite unique as well, err.. when did you hear a snare smack you like that last (Millenia)? That will punch holes in your walls. I also love Mad Tribe Space Tribe (try Tuned in perfectly that is in my top 10 bass lines, deep thick chugging lumps of psy trance bass) for the punky trashy w-i-d-e sound, it's wild.. it is precise where it needs to be but the mixes have not controlled every tiny last detail that gives it a wilder sound than most. These artists are broadly singing from the same hymn sheet for me, EU just has a slightly thicker presentation in the leads slightly less wide, neither subscribe to the clean kick and bass (or any of the sounds)

     

    EU - Mad Tribe guys are killer, probably one of best Psy music today and stand out. So clean yet so dirty with loads of 90s sounds!

     

    New Burn in Noise album is amazing, he have some retro melodies combined with 2020's sound. To me he is more Goaish than most of Goa today lol:

     

    Imagine this with couple more melodies over the top. It would be super killer track for dancefloor and it is already.

     

    Here is one more of goaish psytrance example, loads of 303:

     

     

    You can have good, clean, precise and fat structure of track with dirty leads over. KBBBK pattern doesn't makes you fullon or psytrance, you can take best parts of every style you like and combine in your track. Triplets and gated shamanic voice doesn't make you progressive, it was done long before progressive. Here is your fullon bassline from 96:

     

     

    There should be good balance. Imagine you listen to 90mins set of only melodies or only triplets, it's painful. Imagine 7 days festival with same Goa scheme over and over. Or any style. I wouldn't go listening to that even if you pay me lol

     

    That's why I enjoyed Apsara, so much Goa for everyone's taste. Goa styles for every time of day, from smooth to euphoric, from agressive to dark over nights. Old and new, mixture of both... everything! You are listening to same genre but with so many variaties.

     

     

    4 hours ago, MikroMakro said:

    Psy trance is in a rather unique position, it champions technology and has pushed it to new areas and yet is a very visceral and physically attractive sound for humans. It resonates.. no one forgets psy trance even if it scared the living days out of you as a person who does not get it. It touches something, something some people don't want to be touched and for others it releases a feeling of exhilaration and excitement no other music can. For all its hard technical edge it draws people in and ignites interesting human responses and interactions.

     

    There is what I call 'science' behind Psy/Goa trance production. There are things you make, and thinks you should make. Successful/big artist managed to learn that. There are some patterns that really works well, certain patterns of rhythm, or breaks, buildups, leads, fx, just name it. Certain patterns of how to do mixdown, what to push what to remove. Certain things must be done because certain drugs being used on festivals, certain things will put down crowd down if not done correctly. That's what is experience for. If you want your music to work always, you must balance between what you like and what works. Music is like marriage, if you want it to last and work, you must make some compromises, you must balance.

     

    I remember when I worked on first album 5 years ago and decided to make 9 minute track with only 1 break at 5th minute. Tension bulding up for minutes and minutes. I played that and after 2-3 mins people were like wtf where is the break, where is the mood change? Same happend on another event, with another crowd, and event after and after so I said ok this is not working lets change it. I kept idea but added very short breaks on every 90-120 secs and changed some melodies so there can be bigger difference in mood in different parts of track and yeah it worked pretty well. It still works on dancefloor.

     

    Later I was lucky to meet some top artists in scene and talk with them regarding production and it's tricks and they told me, 2 mins break, make a tension, build up and then put down, switch from full power to minimal power, or some smoother part then build up again but always keep evolving it. People need break. On festivals in summer dancefloor can have 40 degrees celsius, it's not always for jumping like crazy. People also like to stomp and gallop, people like to shake their asses smootly.

     

     

    There are so muuuuuuch things to consider and learn if you want to be successful and play often for tons of people and it takes years, maybe 5 maybe 15. It's a bit easier today with all these tutorials, presets and sample than it was back in 2008 when I started. Way too easier! Yet it takes lots of time.

    Or you simply just want to make it for yourself and don't care much, share it with friends, post it on Youtube and that is totally fine! 

     

    I am always for to give best of yourself, your present knowledge and equipment. Push to the limits and don't think that just because you like it or it's up to your taste that can't be better - this way you can advance, whatever style you are making :)

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
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