Spindrift

I do like a straight driving open hh myself. The grittyness of the 909 though can sometimes be a bit to heavy for my liking, and also in the olden days i tried to tone it down by EQ'ing a bit myself. Although I can't say I used 909 hi hats myself for years, I think the quest of making everything sound new and fresh can turn in to very bland results most of the time. No doubt the 909 ohh works, that is of course the reason that no other drummachine comes close in how much it's been used in all types of dance genres, except the 808 of course. So...what am i getting at...don't know really I'm sure glad that every track don't have the same percussion still, and I understand that a sound with with higher resolution can go better with todays crisper productions, but still advocate the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it". In general about the constant need for new sounds, melodies and rythms it sometimes puzzels me why that is. I have been spending quite much time in Bengal with a "baul". They are musicians and poets singing about religious stuff. A bit similar to the more well known qwawali music (for example Nusrat Fahte Ali Khan or Sabri brothers), although hindus instead of muslims. These forms of music is based on thousands of years old litlle melody snippets "ragas" and rythms "tals". The improvise quite a bit, but constantly using the same old favourite tried and tested "sequences" and rythms. How come that the same melodies and rythms sounds great even if they hear them every day, and have done so for generations? For me the reason i can be amazed how good the same rythm sounds time after time is the amount of passion and inspiration they play them with. Not sure how well it translates to non-live music like trance all the time. But still, in my ears it's much more important that i can hear that the person who made the track was not struggling to find something new, but rather was enjoying and getting inspired by the stuff he puts down. Then it really doesn't matter if some elements is used before for ages, an inspired track is an inspired track and will inspire the listener normally as well

You sure don't need a nordlead to get "crispy production and more fx". You don't need anything more than cubase and a decent computer to make professional sounding music nowadays. That discussion is getting really passe. And if you have money to spend and want to get some extra DSP for quality fx and synthesis i would reccommend to get a DSP solution like Pulsar, Powercore or UAD-1.

Well, more ppl still like britney than hallucinogen, even if it is a whole team working on "her". The very purpose of this thread was music that you dislike but most people love. For me anyway the amount of promotion, hype and populartiy doesn't decide what I personally rate highly. Artists I do rate highly and though contributed a lot to the kind of sound i like is guys like Eat-static, tip and koxbox. I just never liked halluciongens stuff, it sounds boring, pretentious and never made me really dance. That i said after first time I heard him in London 1995, and he never made anything after that that convinced me otherwise. I have slightly more respect for Astral Projection because they sure made me dance with a couple of their tracks, but they are not really making the kind of music i mostly prefer and there is many atists that done a lot more good tracks than them. Total Eclipse for example is mentioned a lot less....but i think personally the contributed more for the kind of hyper-melodic style. Doof you don't see at all as much talk about today, and i would also rate him far above both astral projection and hallucinogen.

I think what most people seem to forget is that it's the same in all genres nowadays. In the end of the 80's until the mid 90's there was loads of new genres developing, and loads of truely inspired artists. Times have changed, the inspirational wibe has gone down. Nowadays it's just a lot harder to create something that sounds new and fresh. The technology have very little to with why the music sound generally less inspired today. All this talk about analog sounding so much better, or that it being very expensive to make music should be the reason behind I personally don't belive a second. Sure, it's ironic that by the time technolgy allowed you to do anything you imagined with much greater ease and less expense, it felt like it was all done anyway. Before people had to struggle more to get the sound they wanted. Nowadays the struggle is to know what sound you wan't. Not because of the technology, but because of the stage we are in music evolution in general. It really doesn't matter what equipment you use as for how inspired it sounds. For me trance is at least as alive today as Dn'B, acid, house, hip-hop, trip-hop, techno, EBM, industrial and all the other genres that got established during the end of the 80's beginning of 90's. If everyone was making music that sounded like the hits from 95-97 still I really think i would be really bored with the scene many years ago. I don't totally agree with neither the minimal wave that was, or the full-on or now the dark-psy. But i'm sure happy that everthing haven't sounded the same for almost 10yrs. The inspirational vibe will come back...for me we are back in a situation similar to the 70's when not so much really new came about except punk (not the most inspired music maybe, mostly attitude based, like much dark-psy today) and glam rock (that would be the cheezy full on guys today i guess). We will progress and have a new wave of inspiration eventually. Personally I get accused sometimes of making very old-school music, which doesen't really bother me. I think one of the worst things is when you hear that the producer really tries hard to make something that doesn't sound like anything else. It gives a kind of claustrophobic feel to the music. But it's almost equally disturbing when someone tries to reproduce the sound of days gone past. I hope more ppl go with the flow and do what they feel like, and don't bother so much about new-school or old-school. If it kicks butt on the dancefloor it's really good enough for me. And there is music like that coming back nowadays in my opinion, new and oldish sounding. Less intellect and pretensions is what we need, and more ppl enjoying themself in the studio.

Well, maybe if the full-on artists was interested in making progressive they would do it? Your statement only reminds me of the attitude of some labels in the trance scene in the end of the 90's when trance was rapidly going out of fashion, and sales started dropping. Then they tell their artists that now trance is dead, and we like to release something different from now on. Thing is that they didn't think about that they had to replace their stable of artists, and though they could instruct them to make the sound they were after. Complete bullskit if you ask me, the artists should do what the feel like doing. Sure, it's great if they do something completly fresh corssing over genres. That doesn't happen because you or a label tell them to. It's probably more likely to happen with someone who don't care att all about other opinions about their music I belive.

hehehe...welcome to the psychedelic trance scene For me it's also boring with minimal music in a party, and i also don't think it belong on a psychedelic dance floor. I can't be part of the "PLUR" then and is faschistic as well? Well sorry, then I rather share some good old Peace Love and UNDERSTANDING...instead of that KIND of Peace Love and UNITY. Pll have opinions, some think minimal is boring on the danceflor, I'm sure there is a few styles you don't normally enjoy either. To start calling ppl fashitic because they don't appreciate same type of music is nothing short of...faschistic. No-one can have an opinion for the sake of unity or what.....what a crazy world we live in sometimes.

I can only image what it would be like to be in your positoin. I was dancing to those tunes 100's of times in parties back then, and managed of course to get well fed up with them already then. To hear them at a party now can at best feel like a curiousity or little flashback if it's at the right moment. Most of the time I gues I would go: WTF is this! Sure the bands you mentioned was surely from the peak of goa trance and sounds very inspired but of course they can't be played over and over again year after year. But it was also mostly morning music released at the time, and i think it would been very hard to play a good night set with only released music at the time. The night music always been more underground, until maybe recently.

Well, you got a decent size room there, and what i can quickly approximate you would have the modal resonance somewhere around 30hz (my approximation, I'd say find some info and double check). So, like most of the time there is a chance of resonance problems with a full range monitor, but since your room is fairly large you might have quite ok results. Bass problems is a bit tricky to deal with though if they seem to be present, and you do get more need for acoustic treatment in the whole range by using fullrange monitors. With nearfield monitors you listen mostly to direct sound and can often do without acoustic treatment, while with a fullrange monitor you have them placed further away and get more of the room acoustics. In pro studios you always have a set of both nearfield and fullrange, and I personally woudn't like to work with only fullrange monitors. You have to push them hard and loud for them to work well, and it' not all the time I want to work that loud really. I have listened to loads of monitors, and worked with many, and like I said, the dynaudio have the tightest bass I heard. Not the most natural if you play some jazz or classic music on them, but for electronic dance music they give you a very good idea of whats going on down there.

I agree very much in both opinion and taste with eleria. And Redeemer, I did like a few of the act's you just mentioned back in the days. Most of it a bit dated by now, but nice morning music at the time. But I can understand you don't enjoy going to parties much, because if you try to play those artists in the night nowadays you would usually quickly empty the dancefloor. I also think that some of the moring music is ok to listen to at home sometimes, but it's only a small part of a party for me. If the vibe is built up well during the night you can get away with a lot in the morning. Morning music can't make a party for me anyway. And I think i maybe mentioned the word problem. And yes, it is for me a problem if everyone is making music to be released and the labels want to release CD's that is suitable for home listening as well. You do make compromises if you create music that you think should be suitable for home listening. The original intention with trance was to make music that people could dance like crazy to, and that has dissapeared in many cases. For me that is a "problem" because i have to suffer manytimes in parties with overproduced music that totally lack party spirit in my ears. Back to the topic though, I'm not against concept albums as such, but like I said, producing an album after a concept seems very limiting for creativity for me at least. If someone manage to make a good one, i'd say well done, but it's not something I'm missing for sure. I wish people just concentrated on making music that people can really blast to on the dancefloor, and didn't bother with trying to seem cool, clever or super talanted. It's far to little of that today IMO.

Very nice tracks...havent listened to all yet...it takes really ages to buffer on that site. I like your style very much, nice psychedelic atmosphere and quite balanced production. Keep up the good work. A couple of notes when it comes to production though: The kick and bass is not really cutting thru as well as they should unfortunally. Most of all I think you should try to find a kick sound that is more effective. On a minor note, the hi frequencis is a bit low...nothing beyond mastering, since the balance is uniform within the differént sounds in the mix. Your monitors is probably of the type that gives a bit harsh treble, I had the same problem many times. Compare with some material in the same style, and you will get an idea of how hard you need to push your treble in your monitors. Really like to hear more from you in the future. Got to the Acacia Dust by now....i think best one so far...keep at it dude

Pretentious for me does mean that you are pretending to be something more than you are. It's not about pretending to be a house musician although you really are a trance musician. It's about relating to your work as if it all is made to be timeless classics, with harmonies in the caliber of Mozart, production in class with Trevor Horn and synth programming in class with Jean Michelle Jarre, Obviously not much music turns out like that, and to trying to achive that normally in my ears turns in to uninspired "pretentious" music. I can really only enjoy music where it sounds like it was created having fun, and not when you can hear the person struggeling to achive something epic. Maybe occupational hazard...what do i know I can't see parties as a side product of trance music, so yeah, we have different perspectives for sure. I would be curious to know what tracks that you had your best dance experiences too?

Ok...for me thoughtful music sounds pretentious. I like music where it doesnt sound like the person had to think to create the track, but just went with the flow and had fun. For me intellect and music only really comes together with lyrics. Instrumental music should come purely from feelings and inspiration. I honestly never understood ppl that say they have this great idea for a track. To try to make a track after an idea in the head seems so extremly limiting for any flow or channeling of energy. And ok...I'm also getting old...when I was younger I listened more to trance at home all the time. Mostly to get that great feeling you have on a party recreated. But the concept of making music that should be good at home and at parties always annoyed me . It's two completly differnt settings, and in my ears a lot of music suffers from the compromises that is done because of that.

I know that there is many ppl that have that view of trance, and I'm not saying thats wrong. Personally I can think of many genres of music that is much more fun to listen to at home than trance, and think it's much music in the parties getting played that is boring and crap because it sounds like it's made to be trance but still nice to listen to at home as well to sell more records. To find music that fits all circumstances is a very common game in the music industry in general...finding the lowest common denominator. For my taste that produces mediocre home listening music and mediocre party music.

For me trance music has to much to do with channeling some sort of flow to be transmitted to the dance floor. In the end trance is really music for partying, and therfore not supposed to be to pretentious. I think concept albums is a good idea for ambient or of course pretentios rock bands. For me the more the home listening aspect gets involved, and the more pretentious the scene comes it looses it's original party spirit. And come on...having drug-related track names or some various drug samples on top is not really making a concept album. Just a silly idea for a compilation really.

For downloading music.....my site!!!! Err.....sorry don't know if I got the question right.

I thought it might come across as funny to some...but I think it's actually the case. And many companies been accepting that. Some belive they get something stolen from them and some realize that the are getting free promotion. Apart from the open-source community, which taken things to the extreme, I think for example Adobe is not bothering with proper copyprotection for a reason. They actually understand that students can't pay some $800 for software to just have a little play with. Ok...they could try to make sure they stick to paintshop instead, but for them there is no gain in that. They gain from their software being the most widespread, and if the students grow up to be graphics designers they will keep on using the same software but they will have to pay for it if using it within a pro environment. I heard many people being convinced that thats the main reason cubase is dominant on the sequencer market. I was using a legal version of notator at the time, and thought it was much nicer than cubase. But there wasn't a good crack and most ppl doing small time underground music at the time was using the cracked cubase. Ok...old arguements to many I know..but it surprises me to still se some of the statements here, like for example Journey Man: "It's pretty simple, if you can;t afford something then you don;t get it. Hell, there are lentof cd's I'd love to buy, but I accept the fact that I'll be waiting maybe another 6 months before I can afford most of them... if you want a new pair of shoes do you steal them from the shop?" It's for me an extremly narrow minded point, and I know so many ppl who would never go in to a shop and steal a pair of shoes but use cracked software. I don't know any that gladly would steal shoes but never use illegal warez. It is two completly different scenarios. It might be that ppl in general have a very confused moral. Persoanlly i think it's more the companies and ppl like Journey Man who is a bit confused. Buy as much as you can of the stuff you really like. Then if you can't afford everything, you choose if you use cracks or limit yourself to only free stuff. But don't go around thinking that the majority of people is theives because they don't see things in the same way. And selling warez is a whole different issue...that is pretty much on the same level as stealing a pair of shoes, then you are actually stealing monjey that belongs to the authors behind the software.

If you don't have a room that is not acoustically treated, you might get problems with fullrange monitors. Full range monitors can also need to work quite hard, so if you can't blast too much all the time, then nearfields can be better as well. It's really hard to get an idea about how good a pair of monitors is if you haven't worked with them. I haven't tried neither the mackies or ADAM, but both dynaudio and genelec is making some of the best monitors in my taste. Dynaudio have some of the tightest bass I've heard, and the genelecs is easy on the ears and smooth sounding. The 1029 is small and practical, and have a suprisingly nice bass for their size, but yes...a bit lower than 70hz i think can be nice to have as well. Don't look to much on the spec though. You might get worse bass with a speaker going to low in the end. normally you have a highpass around 40hz on a PA anyway.

That warezed software is more buggy is not true in my experience. Several warez releases has been known to actually eliminate bugs in the original version. I know many ppl who own the software running cracks instead because the problems the copyprotection causes when still active. I even was around one time when steinberg was making a cubase demonstration, and had to resort to using a crack instead because the original was crashing on him. I heard same has been the case with propellerheads when they made demos. Copy protection interfere with your system and reduce performance and stability. Of course there can be bad cracks sometimes, but normally they run just as fine as original versions, and like I said, many times even better. In this scene it's not enough money involved to be able to buy all the software you like to use, thats just how it is. Either we should all settle for lower standards, and have all muisc made on cheap or free plugins, or the manufacturers have to lower their prices substntially to make the software available for people like us. How many tracks to you think one has to get released to be able to afford the waves diamond bundle? Definatly buy your main and favourite bit's of kit when you can, but to sit and try to get nice productions until you get there with free software would just be a bit silly i think. You are not actually stealing if you coudn't pay for it in the first place, since it anyway don't cost the company a penny if you download the software. If you make yourself a load of money on the other hand, you should definatly be ashamed if you don't give some of it back to the programmers that helped you with thier nice tools.

in my signature there is a link....more than 20 tracks from 2004 by me there atm. Enjoy and tell me what you think if you like to

My favorite live act was probably the one where i didn't notice it was a live act, and kept dancing insted of staring at some stage It's extremly rare that any kind of real live is going on anyway, and I can think of one live where i didn't think that i rather hear a good DJ. So...for me the best live act I seen I think is the sabri brothers (pakistan traditional quawali music), or maybe greatful dead...although there I don't know if it had to do with something the deadheads dropped in my hand....the stage show was astonishing

Small update with two new fresh tracks: Hooga Booga - Who Are You Another nice morning tune from nicklas. Spindrift - Dig It A bit harder and different from the other Spindrift tunes. Check it out.

A 320k mp3 will still have the full frequency range though. You are not really reducing sample rate by making mp3's in hi-res format. What redeemer says is a very valid point though. Maybe you like to make a lower bitrate to have on your mp3 player. In that case you would surely be much better of with a FLAC as source. I think with PROVEN cubensis means that very very few people can hear the difference between a wav and well compressed 320k mp3. The people that can says it requirers a bit of training to do so. So for purposes of distribution it is not a major concern if not even 1% can tell the difference if they have top equipment and really try to. Most people belive that they can hear the difference until they made a blind test though. That is more of a concern if you try to distribute digitally.

Storage costs is negetable, since a run the server myself, but yes, harddrives cost money as well. However bandwidth might become an issue if many people choose FLAC rather than 320k mp3. The FLAC files is about three times bigger. They costs of serving increase of course with the filesize.

Thank you very much for your replies. At the moment I am selling FLAC and 320k. At least what I can see from your results it seems I got it right. Off course the only reason someone would coose to download wav over FLAC would be that they are not familiar with the format. But many of you seem to be already, and I will just have to do my best to inform the ones that aren't I guess. Cheers

Shameless use of this site as a market survey tool I run a non-profit site with digital delivery, and is curios to know. Whatever format you would choose $0.65 goes to the artist. I don't like to have to keep all three formats, two of them should be enough I hope. But which?