I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the work of William Basinki, but i've been digging his stuff lately. He plays with classical or ambient tape loops, which very subtlely transform and mutate over time.
Anyway, i've wanted to do a piano-based ambient track for a while. This is basically something i've come up with over the past few days, and although its not what I would consider complete, i'm tempted to leave it in this unfinished state.
Eventually, it will probably be used in short experimental films I produce when I go back to uni.
I realise this isn't for everyone, and i'm sure you're all familiar with my weird taste in music by now. I'm also positive i'll get an "its too repetitive" response from a few of you, but please understand that the repetition is intentional.
Anyway enough babbling... you can download it from http://www.thepuzl.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/music/qualm.mp3 (4.29mb/2m55s)
The normal critique is welcome, positive or negative.
An ambient track i've been working on
Thanks.bitWISE wrote:That's fucking sexy! The only thing I would change is shorten the gap between piano sequences or maybe have two alternating sequences.
I was playing with that for quite a while... experimenting with weird time signatures and suchlike. As it stands, I personally think the interval is the right length, but I appreciate your opinion!
yeah, it loops too quickly and it's too repetitive. One thing I've always thought about ambient is that you're not really supposed to know it's there.. I couldn't get past that. There were also some pronounced resonances underlying the whole thing that also got a little monotonous.. maybe tone them down a bit. Lots of ambient music seems to have that component, but in this track it's either too drawn out or too loud to really blend into the background. Otherwise it's a good start. Don't let drum give you any shit about real music 
I liked it, it's very peaceful. To me it was centering. A little bit more verity; kind of wish it was longer.
When fed through an equalizer, I found the song to be a little muddy. Some of the sounds that I expected to find in 1k to 6k range seemed to be 64 to 500 range. Some of what I herd in the 32 range I expected in 64.
When fed through an equalizer, I found the song to be a little muddy. Some of the sounds that I expected to find in 1k to 6k range seemed to be 64 to 500 range. Some of what I herd in the 32 range I expected in 64.
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Grandpa Stu
- Posts: 2362
- Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2000 8:00 am
Thanks for the comments guys.
Dave: its not that kind of ambient music. Stuff like brian eno is more aka to what you're refering to, but my idea for this was to create something more reflective of mood.
Stu: Mastering will be done properly once i'm finally happy with it. I don't think its muddy at all (i'm using sennheiser 650's so I can hear pretty much everything), but the low frequencies are perhaps a little too strong at the momment.
Form: yes, that is the intention. Ideally i'd make a whole album of similar stuff which can be used for films etc.. a different track for a different mood or emotion. Each about 2 minutes long.
neh: sure, once i've got something finished i'll send you the stuff.
Dave: its not that kind of ambient music. Stuff like brian eno is more aka to what you're refering to, but my idea for this was to create something more reflective of mood.
Stu: Mastering will be done properly once i'm finally happy with it. I don't think its muddy at all (i'm using sennheiser 650's so I can hear pretty much everything), but the low frequencies are perhaps a little too strong at the momment.
Form: yes, that is the intention. Ideally i'd make a whole album of similar stuff which can be used for films etc.. a different track for a different mood or emotion. Each about 2 minutes long.
neh: sure, once i've got something finished i'll send you the stuff.
i see where youre going threr.
i like it alot in the film frame of mind context you had established me into beforehand .
i hear technical flaws here in there like empty space and it doesnt bother me.
one thing i ask is
the piano
is it intentional to have it overdrivin and clip?
if yes i dig it because of my current italian western movie soundtrack fetish.
if thats not the way its sposed to be them i'd like a much richer/lusher piano sound
i like it alot in the film frame of mind context you had established me into beforehand .
i hear technical flaws here in there like empty space and it doesnt bother me.
one thing i ask is
the piano
is it intentional to have it overdrivin and clip?
if yes i dig it because of my current italian western movie soundtrack fetish.
if thats not the way its sposed to be them i'd like a much richer/lusher piano sound
it is about time!
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Don Carlos
- Posts: 17514
- Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am
good stuff 
guess it depends on the film that it's for, but the bit after that bit where it sounds like the piano keys are dramatically 'stabbed' - where the piano runs into itself (it sounds like the first keypress of one loop happens just before the last keypress of the previous loop). that bit - might be a bit too abstract, enough to stand out and affect suspension of disbelief. but like i said, it depends on the film that it's for. maybe if the piano voice was more of a 'music box' thing then it would sound a bit more natural, creepy rather than ambient, but more natural. maybe let the 'reedy' melody do more of the work.
guess it depends on the film that it's for, but the bit after that bit where it sounds like the piano keys are dramatically 'stabbed' - where the piano runs into itself (it sounds like the first keypress of one loop happens just before the last keypress of the previous loop). that bit - might be a bit too abstract, enough to stand out and affect suspension of disbelief. but like i said, it depends on the film that it's for. maybe if the piano voice was more of a 'music box' thing then it would sound a bit more natural, creepy rather than ambient, but more natural. maybe let the 'reedy' melody do more of the work.
The main instrument isn't a piano by the way. I'll say no more than that
4days: there is also some slight percussion (with delay) going on, which is perhaps what you're hearing. I like the fact that the sound is somewhat inperfect.. in fact, it was sequenced much tighter before, but it lost some of its charm in the process. Its more of a personal preference I guess.
plained: the sound has been distorted intentionally. I've been digging the new BOC album whereby they intentionally fuck up and destroy the sound. Again, it fits in with the themes of William Basinksi whereby the tape reels literally disintergrate over the course of the album. I even considered burning the track to CDR, then recording it to tape, then re-recording it back into the PC. But we'll see how it goes.
4days: there is also some slight percussion (with delay) going on, which is perhaps what you're hearing. I like the fact that the sound is somewhat inperfect.. in fact, it was sequenced much tighter before, but it lost some of its charm in the process. Its more of a personal preference I guess.
plained: the sound has been distorted intentionally. I've been digging the new BOC album whereby they intentionally fuck up and destroy the sound. Again, it fits in with the themes of William Basinksi whereby the tape reels literally disintergrate over the course of the album. I even considered burning the track to CDR, then recording it to tape, then re-recording it back into the PC. But we'll see how it goes.