Splendid Beats » Music Production

Leave Trace :: Monday Mimosas (Twenty Ten Mix)

Crispy — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:43:50 +0000

I have a new(ish) track to share with you all. It’s actually an update to an older track that was an unfortunate casualty from a computer system upgrade I did many moons ago. This last weekend I finally spent some time rebuilding and embellishing it in the ways that I had been meaning to since first working on it, and it is now in a shape that I am pretty happy with. It’s a bit outside of my normal realm of production, as it is a pretty much straight-house tune, but it still has the groove and atmosphere the I strive for and features some acoustic guitar work by James Whetzel.

I highly recommend that you download the track to listen to it in full quality. (Click on the down-arrow on the right side of the player to start the download.) The streaming-quality compression introduced artifacts in the bass line that are I am not happy with and don’t know how to fix.

Enjoy the tune and please comment if you dig it!

Leave Trace – Monday Mimosas (Twenty Ten Mix) by Leave Trace

Leave Trace & John Ames :: Live at Kinetic 4

Crispy — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:31:38 +0000

Download :: Leave Trace & John Ames - Live at Kinetic 4 / Chillography 204

This set was recorded live in the in Chillography Downtempo Dinosaur room at Kinetic 4 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA on April 3, 2010. John and I performed under the short-lived name of “A Delicate Moment”, which was quickly killed for being at bit too precious of a name. Band names are hard! Beats and textures by me, Leave Trace, and cello by John Ames.

And here’s some video of the performance:

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Gear lust #569

Crispy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:45:05 +0000

So cool. Check out the Ekdahl Moisturizer. It’s a spring reverb with exposed springs, which means that while it can be used as a traditional spring reverb by passing audio signals through the springs, you can also stroke, pluck, and fiddle with the exposed springs to create liquidy, bouncy audio goodness. If you are looking for a unique analog sound, for only $300 this unique effect/instrument would be a fine addition to your sonic arsenal. More info about the unit can be found here.

The motherload of production tips and techniques

Crispy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:06:39 +0000

Holy Baby Zombie Jesus! You know all those production tips you’ve heard over the years and thought “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll have to remember that.” and then promptly forgotten? Well, some kind soul has put together a mega list of those tips and shared it with the world. Every producer or wanna-be producer needs to read and bookmark this list. There is something valuable here for everyone involved in the making of music with a computer (which I assume is almost everyone these days).

Get your learn on here.

Work in progress :: Monday Mimosas

Crispy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:33:03 +0000

Here’s a loungey house track for your afternoons of sipping bubbly beverages from the deck of your yacht, featuring the acoustic guitar stylings of James Whetzel. This is not the final version of the tune, but I’ve never been able to open the working files properly after upgrading to a new computer a year or so ago. So, until I can resurrect it in some workable form, I thought I’d share this early render with you all.

New track :: Brontoburger

Crispy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:22:09 +0000

I’ve spent the last couple of days polishing up a new track to drop in my upcoming sets. I feel like I’m really honing in on my personal sound and this track is just the start of a whole new breed of face-melting, dance floor burners from me.

Leave Trace – Brontoburger (Au Jus Mix) by Leave Trace

Be sure to come on out to HOTwired this Friday to hear this track on a big beautiful sound system.

my current musical obsessions

Crispy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:47:41 +0000

Three instruments have been stoking the fires of my gear-lust a lot lately. I’m just putting this out there in case Santa is listening and has not been effected too much by the economic crisis.

Tenori-on
There is lots to love about this thing. The portability, the method of sequencing, the pretty lights, the interface, and perhaps most importantly, the freedom of not needing a computer. There are tons of videos out there about the Tenori-on, but this on is the most musical that I’ve seen.

Fender Rhodes
Oh, that smooth Rhodes sound…. It just slips into your ears and hugs you from the inside. I would not have a place in my studio to put one of these things, but I would certainly make some serious layout compromises to squeeze one in. That classic, soulful sound just calls to me.

Hang
This is a incredibly hard instrument to purchase. Only a few are made each year, and the desirability should be obvious. That combination of smooth melodious notes from a percussive instrument really attracts me. Due to the scarcity of the Hang, this is realistically the instrument of these three lusts that I’m least likely to ever own. A boy can dream though.

GleetchLab 3.0

Crispy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:46:57 +0000

One of my favorite pieces of music production software, GleetchLab, just got an update to v3. Gleetchlab is best suited for making glitchy, ambient, experimental sound scapes because at its core, it is about taking existing audio loops and running them through a sonic meat grinder. Previous versions of GleetchLab were used heavily in the making of my Regression Session release.

Each full version update has done a lot to make this one fine audio mangling instrument, and the move to v3 is no exception. Significant progress has been made in making the interface more user friendly and intuitive, plus much needed midi implementation, a new batch of signal processors, quadraphonic mixing and recording, and a parameters recall utility, make for a nice step forward. Sadly, some of my favorite pieces from v2, namely the Lightman controller and Strange Attractor Oscillator are missing from this release. I’m crossing my fingers that they reappear in a future update. Check out this page for some video demos of the new features.

Working with GleetchLab is very different from most (all?) other music software. Most noticeably, you can’t save your session or load a previous one. This does interesting things to your workflow and how you approach the software. Each time you use it, you are creating something unique and different from previous sessions. This encourages experimentation and happy accidents, which is a very refreshing and inspiring way to work. This can also be very frustrating when you first start working with the program, thinking it should act like everything else out there.

Here’s what the programmer, has to say about this:

I intentionally avoided including save and load functions of gleetchlab settings. (That is since the first version of gleetchlab) Why? It is an important part of my musical approach. In my analog synthesizer days there were no save functions at all but pencil and paper. If you approach each time a reset machine, you are forced to do something new and with little time and patience, you can master the software much better.

This idea is very underestimated in modern technology. Nowadays every machine and software has editable examples and huge memory storing functions. Many kids just press a couple of preset buttons and “hey presto”… the sound they look for is at hand. In my opinion, starting from scratch every time is much more fun and educative. If you have the explorer attitude, you will quickly learn how powerful such an
approach is. GLEETCHLAB is indeed a lab. Every time, after you use a laboratory, you clean up everything

Unlike previous versions, v3 is no longer free. At the current euro-to-dollar exchange rate, it’s only $13 and some change for the license, though. That’s nothing for such a powerful and enjoyable instrument to play with. Also, sorry PC, GleetchLab is Mac only.

Regression Session :: a Leave Trace mega mix

Crispy — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:17:58 +0000

Regression Session is a mega-mix tapestry, woven from my older ambient works. It has been sitting nearly completed on my hard drive for many many months, and I’ve finally finished it up, and am now putting it out on the ‘net for the world to download and hopefully enjoy.

The music in this produced set was created between 2000 and 2008, which was a very explorative time in my music making pursuits. I’m at a point now where I’m feeling more certain of my own creative voice, and feel that combining my older works into a larger piece is a proper way of closing the book on that chapter and allowing me to have a fresh start with my newer techniques, equipment, and processes. Essentially, Regression Session is a time capsule of sorts, documenting the ambient side of my musical voyage since 2000. The production files of most of these tracks have been lost to digital gremlins and computer platform changes, so they are presented here in their final state—goofed notes, audio glitches, mastering mistakes and all. They are what they are and will never be anything different. Despite these imperfections, I am proud to say this is/was me and am happy to have a nice package of the material to present to the world.

Your thoughts and feedback would be very welcome, but are not expected. If you enjoy what you hear, or parts of it, let me know! This music has been intensely private for so long, that I’m now very curious about how it sounds to other sets of ears.

[See post to listen to audio]
Download » Leave Trace - Regression Session

Tracklist::
Ocean Deep
Uncertainty Principle
Time Lapse
Quantum Soup
Freedom of Movement feat. Gel-Sol (live)
Interlude
Deeper States
Lighter Than
Had
Moment of Clarity (Ethereal Bliss Mix)

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Pink Floyd – On the Run cover

Crispy — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:57:41 +0000

This is a great electronic cover of the classic Pink Floyd track, On the Run, by Muzik 4 Machines. It is performed with only hardware synths and effects units, and no computer, which is a deliciously novel thing in today’s music making. Check out the video description on the YouTube page for a complete gear list.

new toy

Crispy — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:23:35 +0000

The wife got me a Korg Kaossilator for x-mas. Awesome! Let the fun begin.

Leave Trace at work

Crispy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:18:08 +0000

Here’s a vid of me working in one of my favorite production tools, GleetchLab.

According to the program’s author, “Gleetchlab is a stand-alone software for glitch music authoring and sound design. Gleetchlab is a modular software designed for realtime sound manipulation. Features include convolution, granular, neural and attractors synthesis, spectral filtering, loop points manipulation, CD skip and wow & flutter simulation, vst plugins hosting, webcam controllers.”

It is perfect for making those textural ambient soundscapes that I so love. Plus, it’s free!

Tom Cosm :: Digital Busker

Crispy — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:55:19 +0000

Meet Tom Cosm, electronic musician/digital busker.

This man is an active participant, a pioneer even, in one of the more exciting new fronts in electronic music. Specifically, the free sharing of music, knowledge, techniques and actual working files. His style covers a lot of ground, but there’s a definite Tom Cosm sound, typified by super funky, almost spazzy, bass lines with a heavy layer of glitch-like effects. As he mentions in the introduction video, he releases all of this creativity and knowledge into the world for free, partly as a promotional effort to drum up bookings and partly just to share with the universe. This is where the “Digital Busker” title comes into play. There are several ways to donate a few dollars when you can to help him continue down this path. Often he lists specific goals for his donation requests. Currently, he’s asking for help drumming up the cash to upgrade to Ableton Live 7.

Check out his latest track, Heaps Good Strong Board:
[See post to listen to audio]

Pretty cool, huh? Now here’s the brilliant part, go here to download the full Ableton Live set that allows you to perform or remix this track. There’s even a tutorial video to walk you through the entire file and how he’d use it in a live performance situation.

If you are an electronic musician (aspiring or otherwise) or just a fan of interesting music and want to know more about the processes behind making it, I highly encourage you to go to his site, TomCosm.com. Download his music, Ableton Live performance packs and tutorial videos, subscribe to his blog, and donate a few dollars if his selfless sharing of ideas and music inspires you in any way. This concept of a Digital Busker is perhaps the future of music on the Internet, and hopefully Tom not only inspires musicians with his software techniques, but also with his philosophy.

In a related bit of sharing, the super awesome duo Pitch Black has offered up their track Harmonia for remxing and personal use. You can download the complete Ableton Live file here: pitchblack.co.nz/harmonia.

Whatever is in the water in New Zealand (the home of both Tom Cosm and Pitch Black), I hope it spreads throughout the world and this idea of freely sharing your working files catches on. Musicians are becoming content creators, DJs are becoming remix artists and producers, and all of this blurring between rolls in the grand electronic music circle can only lead to better music and performances for us all. The DJ as it has been known is on their way out, and soon (if it isn’t already true), it will take original content, remixes and mash-ups to make any sort of statement worth listening to.