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dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchords!)

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 5:39 pm
by dubdub


This is one of those tracks that just happened. I was fucking around with this kontakt string library and I literally hit some random keys and that's the strings you hear on the right :) I wasn't even trying to make a track initially just thought hey, what if I add a pad, a bassline etc. and then it just came together. The idea then became to make sort of an half-ambient track with a long intro/outro, something you'd put in the beginning of an album maybe. The track had some dub chords at some point but I took them out to clear up the mix and to please you guys :lol:

It's probably the most ambitious things I've done so far and the mix is pretty packed with a lot of crap going on. I tried to clean it up as much as I could without losing warmth and power but this is the first full track I've finished on the AKGs, so I'm not quite sure how well the mix fits to be honest.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:36 pm
by Mslwte
very nice indeed.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:25 pm
by Cloaked
one of my favourite tracks i've heard on this forum and one of the few where I'm very jealous. reminds me of an updated orbital, not least due to the drums. not a huge fan of the 909 snare personally but it works.

can i please ask where you got the reese bass patch from? it's very clean.

this will get signed in a heartbeart if you find the right label.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:03 pm
by dubdub
Cloaked wrote:one of my favourite tracks i've heard on this forum and one of the few where I'm very jealous. reminds me of an updated orbital, not least due to the drums. not a huge fan of the 909 snare personally but it works.

can i please ask where you got the reese bass patch from? it's very clean.

this will get signed in a heartbeart if you find the right label.
Thanks! If i'm going to release something it's likely going to be on a friends label but I feel like I'm still improving at a decent rate so I want to work on my music a bit more before putting something out there. Maybe I'll try and write an EP this year but I'm not very decided on it yet.

The reese is a very simple Operator patch with FM turned off and two detuned saw waves. I need to dive into it a bit deeper, haven't really done that yet.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:51 pm
by jordanneke
This is certainly very pleasurable to listen to indeed.

Good work

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 8:34 pm
by RWise
Has a nice 90s vibe to it for sure. Like an old Orbital or R&S record.

I do think the drums are a bit dull and too mushy though. Not a lot of transient snap to them, which makes them sit too far back in the mix.

Listen to how the 909s sound in Orbital - Halcyon. If you can get your drums sounding sharp and snappy like that, then it'll elevate the track to another level.

Nice work.

youtu.be/bV-hSgL1R74

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:04 pm
by bioniceye
very nice track
but i agree the drums need some work and then especially the snare
i think the song is a little bit too long mayb you could cut the second part of the drums
so you have an outro from 05:45
but very good work and speaking of orbital, dubspot did a deconstructing of Orbital 'Chime'
youtu.be/w3-6V2JMDIg

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:06 pm
by dubdub
Interesting you guys mention Orbital, I was never really very into them. I'm mainly riffing on early-mid 2000s progbreaks etc.

You are probably right about the transients. My mixes tend to be fairly dense and I love to mush everything in saturation which doesn't exactly bode well for snappy drums. There's a tiny bit of transients added with a transient designer, maybe I just need to push it a bit further.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:56 pm
by RWise
Try some parallel saturation on the drums.

Otherwise if youre saturating, then transient shaping to try and get some snap back, youre essentially just beating down the audio to a saturated pulp.. :)

Parallel processing is usually always the best way to retain that original transient whilst adding colour from whatever effect is on the wet signal.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:31 pm
by dubdub
There is a bit of parallel saturation here and there but not that much. Maybe you are right, but going too far with parallel can also cause issues.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:29 pm
by dubdub
Made a new mix version, drums are bit more upfront, I think?


Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:26 pm
by Cloaked
The drums work for the nostalgic vibe but they are still not right if you're going for contemporary fidelity and impact.

Honestly I'd be tempted to start over on that snare and open 909 hi hat. All the musical elements are beautifully clean and pure, and these drums just sound massively lofi in comparison. The 909 kick and ride could maybe stay in to maintain that classic feel but other than that, I'd be auditioning some other drum sounds. Either that or layer up on what you have. You might hit on something really new and fresh. Personally I'd like to hear some intricate, sharp, even slightly glitchy drums on this.

Just a note on Orbital... they didn't even know how to use compression or saturation back in those days, they said so themselves.

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:32 pm
by Cloaked
I've also realised it reminds me of this amazing album and esp. this tune

youtu.be/5jAUoLCtV7I

Every track on there has great drums

Re: dubdub - 9m imaginary album intro (look mom, no dubchord

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:55 am
by SHIDZO
Had a spin on version No. 1 as well as No. 2 and I find that the kick still a little bit lacking transient/are too quiet, especially when I compare the kick with the HH's/snare. I'm totally in love with the strings and the bassline. There is one part where the strings nearly sound like some girl humming a melody (is it humming? like mmmmmhhh, mhhhhhh you know... language barrier...) anyway, that part gave me goosebumps :) Good work man, very interesting