Still in awe

I made this track in Pigments using only two patches I created that will be in the updated “Access” collection I shared recently. One problem I often encounter is creating patches that become so rich and detailed that incorporating them into a track with other synths is difficult and sometimes impossible. I now realise its because sometimes a patch sounds like a track all on its own. It makes me think back to my teenager days in my bedroom with a Korg MS20, a Watkins tape echo and a 4-track recorder. What would I have done to own a synth like Pigments then?

Here is “The Hill”

[Dropbox - The Hill.mp3 - Simplify your life]

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Hi @Funtmaster

thanks for sharing your music with us!

Interesting stuff! I’m hearing all kinds of things in this from Japan through to Ryuichi Sakamoto to Tangerine Dream to some elements of Talking Heads.

Keep exploring :zap:

Throw in some Brian Eno and you just described my adolescence.

I had a remix and added another instrument (Pigments of course).
https://mysterioussines.bandcamp.com/track/the-hill

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Nice choice / combination of patches! Brian Eno is awesome. Do you know his scoring work on the Netflix "Top Boy " series - it’s really fantastic.

I hope you don;t mind my commenting but I’m a pro composer for TV and I think your music deserves some feedback. I did think, as the track went on,that it might be nice to vary the sequence a bit, as in reduce/thin it out (fewer notes) have a few spaces perhaps, or mix the level up or down a bit… just a thought. Very nice mood!! I also listened to the upfated Bandcamp version - the extra sound fits well. The ending is VERY cool! One thing which could be nice in a rather full track like this might be a bass tone -just very simple, one note every few bars perhaps - to anchor everything and add a little dram perhaps. Also, a shifting bass tone if the easiest way to change harmonic colour when you have a repeating arpeggio as in your piece. Nice work!

Thank you for taking the time to listen to it. I am a big fan of Brian Eno and even had the chance to meet him twice.

The track came about when I was trying out different Pigments patches and as I said - sometimes I think a patch is a track in its own right. I was just recording them live in Logic without a metronome (and I am not a keyboard player). So, what I captured was unrehearsed and unfettered. I did this with both patches independently (not playing along to the other) and it was only when I played both at once I was amazed to find that worked together! Now, that’s the sort of luck I can’t stomp all over. However, I did try stomping all over it, adding another track, more EQ etc. But now I realise its beauty and authenticity lies in its serendipitous origins. So, grateful as I am for the feedback, the track is now as it was originally. A few years ago I realised I need to make music for me that I like to listen to. Making it to suit a million audiences, all with differing viewpoints is useless and disheartening. I am also a painter and if anyone asked me to repaint a portion of one of my works, the response would be the same.

So, here is the original:

https://mysterioussines.bandcamp.com/track/the-hill

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Really enjoyed this,… I instantly heard some Radiohead vibes with that shimmering synth in the later part. Agree with the other influences too.

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Aha, nice to know. Given that you played the sequence freely it’s very nice timing ! Thanks for sharing the story

Good stuff. Yeah I started back in the 80s with a Juno 106 and bouncing from 2 different cassettes graduating to a fostex 1/4" 8 track reel with 1 track smpte striped for a midi box to follow… what a PITA. To think I can do more sitting on the toilet with my phone is crazy.

2 Likes

Hi @grimmwerks and welcome to our Sound Explorers community!

I think many of us, over a certain age, started off in very similar ways, part of me does miss that simplicity and having to get things right at the time, rather than sorting them out in post. Of course that’s through the ‘rose coloured glasses of nostalgia’ though, as you rightly said [quote=“grimmwerks, post:8, topic:1776”]
I can do more sitting on the toilet with my phone
[/quote]

Ps

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