Colin OOOD

Very nice indeed. I love the melodies and the slow build, and the bass/kick stabs are very effective, although they lose their power as the track progresses and they become disconnected from each other. There are also clashing frequencies in the kick, probably around 400-500Hz that I would cut. I agree that the main snare is dying to be synthetic and I'm glad you're changing this in future versions! I realise that it's probably a sound that is present from the beginning of the track in modified form but the main lead sound eg. the smooth melody present at 4:35 could do with a little low-mid cut at times as some notes 'stick out' of the mix a little too much I think. I might be wrong but it sounds to me like you're using the bog-standard Reason delay - I would suggest using the delay algorithms in the RV7000 as these allow for tape-delay style decays, which I feel would add a little depth and interest to sounds as they die away. To me, the track also sounds quite dry in that Reason way; this might be helped with the addition of some early reflection reverb on some of the higher-frequency percussion sounds. Very nice track Per, very nice indeed. Thoroughly releasable with a little work - and eminiently so if mixed outside Reason!

It makes it a stereo track carrying a mono signal, therefore functionally identical to a mono track. If you use a stereo imager to narrow the width to zero then yes, whatever you put through it will come out in mono. In general, what we think of as 'mono' is really pseudo-mono, as the sound is still coming out of both speakers, creating a 'phantom' mono image between them. The stability of this mono image is very much dependant on various factors such as speaker placement and room acoustics. For true mono you need to be listening to only one speaker, which is where eg. Waves S1 and other stereo imagers come in handy as you can narrow the stereo width to zero and rotate it so that it only comes out of one speaker. This is useful as a temporary mixing or mastering aid, to ensure that one's mix or master is mono-compatible and to provide a more accurate indication of the frequency balance within the track. I'm not sure whether Reason offers the same facility - maybe in the new v3 plugins?

See, I've never been able to figure out what people mean by this or why they do it. Mathematically each speaker will receive an identical signal from a mono sound whether it's presented to the mix buss as a single mono track or as two identical mono tracks (each the same as the single mono track) panned hard left and right. The only difference I can see is that playing back two mono tracks takes twice the disk/processor bandwidth as playing back one. No-one's ever told me that my bass/kick combo overwhelms the middle of the track... maybe they were just being polite though?

One of my early dance tracks is available online - it's from 1987. I can't remember the direct link to it though, so you'll have to go to the Voice of Cod website, click on 'Biography' on the left, then download the track from the bit where it talks about my history. Sorry about that! It's off cassette; the track was recorded on a Tascam 8-track tape machine and was sequenced using a Chase Bit master keyboard slaved to tape by FSK sync, with a Chase Bit 99 analog synth doing the acid line, an Akai S612 doing the samples, a Yamaha drum machine and sound module, and an Alesis Microverb for FX, all mixed on a Soundcraft 16-channel mixer.

I've done freebies before but there either has to be some kind of relationship there first (you know my email, I hope, Per. 32 bits@44.1K by preference), or the track has to be so awesome that I simply MUST do it. Making good music sound great (to the best of my ability) is something I really enjoy doing, but it does take time and energy, and to my mind if I do a good job, that's worth something to whoever made the track in the first place.

Ott tells me he's already working on some NHJO remixes...

Hey, thanks OD. Now I've got people coming to me expecting free mastering That's the last time I feed your fish while you're out. Or something.

Interesting. What encoder settings did you use?

Nice avatar. I've always thought our logo looks best on a white background though; the black is a little difficult to read at that size.

Good idea - I'll start. Please send your donations to O_O_O_D@yahoo.com (Cangrejo it's ok, you don't have to).

Bullshit. You're totally putting words in his mouth there. He's not saying "well, if you want a signed copy, then show me what you would pay for it". All he's saying there is "if you want to buy a signed copy of the album from my own collection, you can do so here". I bet if you wrote him a nice letter and sent him your own copy of the album he'd sign it no problem. Or if you asked him politely at a party. You're just looking for a reason to get pissed off with him. Oh, and Twisted already very nearly folded 18 months ago when they had big problems with their distribution, and at least one of their artists lost a lot of money in unpaid royalties. I don't know how they're doing at the moment though.

omg Atlantis omg I think I just came.

I think you're getting Andy Young and Dave Bagg mixed up there! They used to live literally round the corner from me when OOOD was based in Oxford; after The Secret stopped doing quite so much Dave and I and our mate Si had a project called The Class A Team doing hard house for a little bit - never got anything released though. The Secret were always more on a hard dance tip than goa, although they did have quite a big crossover appeal - Gorgeous I think is my favourite track from them. I saw Andy at Glade last year, but I have no idea what he and Dave are doing these days.

That was how they wanted to do it... Sound Escape is based in Canada so getting a two-way audio conversation going of the quality either of us could get in our own studios is very difficult.

You know too much... I must kill you all...

You can hear some clips here: http://www.voiceofcod.com If you like what you hear you can buy the tracks here: http://www.organicrecords.net and click on "VISIT THE DIGITAL SHOP".

Q: When will Moni get her internet connection fixed at home? I miss talking to her.

Got anything I actually want?

I was most chuffed when my brother sent me this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Sure, that's my name. Luckily I find it relatively easy to explain myself in text form, and it has seemed to me that you find the same given the quality of the English you use in your posts - they contain unambiguous statements of belief and behaviour that I (and others) disagree with vehemently. What do you do for a living? Do you make anything? If so, give me one for free, or tell me where I can find one so I can steal it. (j/k about the ) (j/k about the j/k about the )

I reckon the less pressure you put on the guy, and the less you expect something specific like Twisted 2 or Lone Deranger 2 (as if any artist worthy of the title - and of your fandom - could be satisfied just to give his audience 'more of the same') the greater the chances are that you'll appreciate whatever he does finally release for what it is.

Go on then, what's your email address?

Use LAME to encode. It's recognised as the best encoder. http://lame.sourceforge.net/ Or I can send you the front-end and codec if you like, it's only small.

Totally! Actually the first goa trance CD I ever had was the one with my first release on it.