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TraxWeekly Issue 015
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ps: woa, a rendered askee!
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| TraxWeekly Issue: #15 | Release date: 06-23-95 | Current subscribers: 2?? |
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/----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------[ Introduction ]------------------------------/
_ _________________
/_\ \__ / (stoney askee)
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_/ \ _/ \ \ww_/ \ _/ ________/_/ _ \
__/ \/ \ \/ \/ \ / | \__ ___ ___ _______
_/ \\ \ \\ \\ | \\/ | \_ ___ __ __ ____
/___________\__\_______\________\____|______\____________\ \__\
Hi! I have some great news to tell you about, Neurosis, the founder
of TraxWeekly, has returned. From now on Neurosis will be the TraxWeekly
Co-ordinator, and handle voting and our distribution sites.
Also, we now have a section where our readers can express their comments
about the mag or anything in general, check it out. The ASCII was made
by an ASCII generator, so don't expect too much until I get get WW to
make one for me :)
I know everyone hates rules, but with the growing size of TraxWeekly,
I'm going to have to make a few :/
1. All submissions must be formatted to fit within 78 columns
2. All submissions must have one blank space before the text
These shouldn't be too hard to follow, and will make my job a lot easier.
In this issue, we have gone over the 100k mark, mainly due to Basehead's
editorial :) thank you basehead! Necros brings us more tracking tips,
GraveDigger? Thoughts??! Ok, next submission =) Spyder writes us music
tips, Neurosis let's us in on what is planned for the charts in TraxWeekly,
and psibelius writes about Palagiarism (ack!) :)
Be sure to check out our interview and columns as well, I think this may
be the first issue we had more interviews than columns... werd...
-Popcorn -Popcorn
-campbell@fox.nstn.ca
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------[ Contents ]---------------------------------/
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/ ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/__
< \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \___
\ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \__
_\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\
Letters / Comments
General Articles
Editorial...................................Basehead
Random Thoughts.............................GraveDigger
Advanced Tracking Tips II...................Necros
Stupid Music Tricks.........................Spyder
TraxWeekly Voting...........................Neurosis
Plagiarism in the Music Scene...............Psibelius
Interviews
Claim.......................................Gator
SV..........................................GraveDigger
Group Columns
Epinicion...................................Psibelius
Advertisements
Turrahan Relm...............................Psibelius
Impulse.....................................GraveDigger
Closing
Distribution Sites..........................Popcorn -> Neurosis
TraxWeekly Subscribing/FTP/WWW Info.........TraxWeekly Staff
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| |__/ -_) _| _/ -_) '_(_-< / / | (__/ _ \ ' \| ' \/ -_) ' \ _(_-<
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From: nstn1979@fox.nstn.ca
To: campbell@fox.nstn.ca
My Insight on Tracker Music:
The Scene is great. I mean it's all a close knit community and no one
steals each other's work also the possiblities are endless. But there
is one little hitch with tracker music:
ALL THE "MUSIC" SUCKS!. I mean it's all pretty humdrum, stuff or it's just
a stupid top 40 song remixed. I'm not sure if it's even worth being free
(my major + to tracker music)
> Editor's reply: Well, personally I really enjoy my tracker music collection.
> While it is true that a lot of the stuff you find on the FTP sites is
> really so-so, some of it is really good too, look around and I'm sure you
> will find some you will enjoy.
From josh@bdt.comTue Jun 6 15:12:19 1995
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 95 18:12 PDT
From: Josh Kirkpatrick <josh@bdt.com>
To: gwie@coyote.csusm.edu
Subject: traxWeekly
Welp, ya said ya wanted to hear from your readers. Well, here is one
observers opinion of your take on the american pc music scene (Oh, wait, I
meant |=< |\/|00Z|/< scene :-)
I have been listening to and collecting tracked music for a few years now,
although recently I became much more excited about it. I have a few demos
lying around, and I'm just starting to collect music disks. I just bought a
new stereo and new speakers, not for my CD player, but for CP and Mod4Win so
I can enjoy my favorite tunes in wonderful, wall shaking sound.
but enough about me. first, I dont care about the asciis, they are just
there, some of em are cool, no big deal. (Seems to be a common topic)
Second, I wanted to say that all of you involved in TraxWeekly are working
very well together in presenting a very, VERY mature, informative
perspective on the pc music scene. I really enjoy, for example, the
interviews you have been conducting- a novel and entertaining feature, imho.
However, and I'm sure you hear this all the time, I would really, really
like to see informative peices about how to track. I have been dabbling on
and off in it for some time, and, well, shit, I still cant figure it out.
Maybe this makes me look a bit odd, but dont get me wrong- hell, I write db
code for a living currently. I know that part of the scene seems to be that
everyone cuts their teeth on FT2 or ST3 as a kind of rite of passage. But I
would really like to become involved in this whole phenomenon as more than
an observer, I just cant quite yet figure out how. You guys are obviously
very creative, talented individuals- hell, you even spel korectly en yer
newzletr =) and I would love to see you impart that kind of wit and verve to
a semi-instructional section every week.
anyway, thats what I have to say right now. Keep up the good work, and I
look forward to a response =).
> Editor's note: Check out the tracking tips by Basehead, Necros, as well
> as Spyder.
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------[ General Articles ]----------------------------/
================================[ Basehead ]================================
Werd!@#!@#!@!@!
Welcome to basehead's first ever editorial for TraxWeekly..
Intro
-_-_-
Ok peepz, first of all.. i just want to say that it's high goddamn
time that i wrote an article for this here maggy.. i have a feeling this
is going to go on for quite a while, so sit tight kidz, put away your warez,
turn off Dope, turn off da fucking NIN CD and lets get down to businezz!@#
I have been on IRC for about as long as you've been alive. Yes, every single
one of you! you! and you! and the guy in the chartreuse pants wearing
nipple clamps! (*Grin* lpeg) .. ever since you've graced the earth with
your presence, i have been here.. lurking, moving from channel to channel,
and writing some neet tunes. Well, i'd like to think that, wouldn't i?
hoho! Was i serious? NO! NOT REALLY! (tostitos (tm)) .. honestly, tho i
have been hanging around on this abyss of lameness for about 3 years. Back
in the lovely days of my hotsun.nersc.gov account, and the days of haxoring
an account to use the Tymnet gateway.. sigh! now i have the luxury of having
a full shell account with all the goodies for free. zilch. zer0. cowabunga!
who woulda thunk? back on my truly elite c-64 that i would become the bastion
of all that is kewl in the u.s. music scene? certainly not me! well, all
this is a crock of course. i am nothing other than a decent (IMO) musician
who hangs around on irc and does tunes pretty sporadically.. read on,
if you dare!@#! cuz i got quite a bit to say!@#
The world of the commie!
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Well, anybody who knows anything about anyhoozis knows that i did not start
my now-flourishing career as a "CybeRTrAckeR" on the PeeCee. Contrare! I
began in the scene which dominated on a truly global scale! the C-64! Yes!
that's right! there was a lovely scene much like ours (in some ways) that
consisted of enthusiasts with the bulky grey box that you prolly haven't
touched in 10 years.. the commodore 64 (and 1541 external floppy!). Well
i got news for ya kiddiez! there was a great scene.. i was part of alot of
old cracking groups and various other congregations of cool ppl, and i loved
it goddamnit. the c-64 scene is still very much alive, especially in europe
and in fact i am on a certain bbs in 619 that is still kiqin mad flav0r!
and it's devoted entirely 2 the commie... no cd-rom's, no 12-note ringdown,
no "0-dAy gIfZ oF tHat chIQ fRom bAyWaTCH!" (btw, david hasselhoff rulez!@)
and certainly no kids resembling muzikman or nitewynd, those with the
combined iq of my shoe size,etc. but it is a good bbs! cyborg does a good job,
and i smooch him for it every time i get the chance. (*shows some leg*)..
Ah, the SID chip.. a wonder in itself! working in conjunction with the
brilliance that is the 6502 (the SID is the 6581). wonderful
analog music in 3-channels. i'm sure some of the old schoolers in da crowd
know some of the originals.. Rob Hubbard, Jeroen Tel, The Maniacs of Noise,
Fred Gray, etc etc etc ad infinitum.. these were the pioneers of the scene
#trax and much of our group of scenefrendz call home. To them, i owe
my life! Thoust group of immortals, who are gods at worst, so that mine
own self might live, to see the day when heaven's glorious light shall
shine upon us! mine own! come to me fair wonder, the light caressing your
heavenly body.. to which i owe my existance, on an earth so troubled..
DOH! what the fuck am i talking about!@? pH0Q dAT literature cRAP!@
DiS ain't n0 fuQN Masterpiece ThEatre!@#
Ok, so anywayz.. i was talking about the commie scene! AlrighT!@# So, there
were a very large number of groups.. all with their own impressive
productions, and all with at least one really talented member.. whether
it was a musician, coder, or gfxian.. it differed little from the scene
today in that respect. There were groups that were on top, ofcoz! 1001 crew,
fbr, f4cg, fairlight, TRC, SCS, etc.. etc.. etc.. The commie scene's
past is rich with intriguing history and standouts, just as the amiga and pc
scenes are. i will not try to go into this, becuz i don't have an incredible
amount of time like some of yew freakz! besidez, my memory failz me!@
BUT.. blah, the SID chip, as i said was THE basis for the entire music scene.
composers like Sequencer, JCH, Laxity, Drax, etc.. rocked da shIzNop with
some funkeh 3 channel tracks for years. Fred Gray composed for Ocean software,
and the maniacs of noise did an assortment of games.. most of which you've
probably played at one time or another. You can grab some of these great
tracks on aminet.. The NemeSIDs collection (17 disks of great SID tunes,
packaged by Nemesis1) is a good source to check out the history of tracked
music.
The commie scene will live on, thru whatever means it can.. it deserves
appreciation from everyone in any scene -- because it built the solid base
on which the current global democulture is planted on. Fear the C-64!
Because a machine with heart never dies.
The Ups and downs and ins and outs and orgasms of the PC scene
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Well well well, wouldn't ya know it? years and years after the commie and
amiga had created the first semblence of a "scene"; the bulky, patchworked,
poorly-built, microsoft-jackoff-app-laden, goofy-ass, silicon-burning,
power-draining, processor-power-wasting, pc-squawker-blaring, shitty-sierra-
game-harboring, compuserve-account-minion, commercial-ass, newbie-magnet..
the IBM PC wanted to do the same. And it would take years before it would
put out something respectable.. at least in the whole scheme of things.
I guess, i must admit that it began with PSI's moving over to the PC.. he
was among the first to do anything worth talking about on this platform.
Future Crew, in 1989 or so were churning out silly plasma code and pc-honker
t00nz.. in some vain attempt at getting a scene started. but ahh!! what's
this? it actually worked! Slowly but surely, those k00ky euros developed a
strong fan base, and a scene to be..well.. not reckoned with, but at least
a scene that deserved to be heard. Thus, the addition of the PC to the
competition playbill of the big conventions. a scene previously dominated
by the amiga, c-64, and atari st had a new competitor. the amiga/commie
veterans laughed (me being one of them!).. but let the PC have their moment
in the sun. With the mindblowing popularity of early PC demos like
Cronologia (Cascada), Facts of Life (Witan), and Unreal (FC).. and groups
like TCB, The Space Pigs, and FC.. the scene was taking off, and definately
in full effect. No, of course, the demos were not on the amiga level.. but
they were far above what anyone expected from the old shitbox.. And, at
the end of '92.. the U.S. even got into the mainstream, via Renaissance's
"Amnesia" megademo. This was for real now.
Hundreds of PD boards carried/still carry cdroms. Jam-packed with the most
elite in 0-10 year DOS app warez, some carried a small sound section..
composed of some of the horrible 4-channel soundtracker mods gathered from
various bbs's around the world. in the days of soundtracker, there were
very few standouts, musician wise.. Bit Arts and Bjorn Lynne (Dr.Awesome)
were two very early standouts.. as well as people like Godbrain, Titan, and
Mahoney&Kaktus of northstar (who rewrote the old mod format, and created
the more advanced format of MOD.. thus the M.K. marker in MOD files). The
Cryptoburners came out with a great tracker.. ProTracker, which would be
the standard for years to come. (hmm i'm almost positive it was CRB that did
it, but it MAY have been another group.. it was so long ago.. sigh).
But, despite all the great protracker music that would come out of the
amiga scene.. PC users mostly got a load of the horrible soundtracker files,
and very little else. There were still no trackers for the PC! Until!!
A futile few braved the depths of tracker-coding on the PeeCee.. thru thick
and thin, they would create the first generation of trackers on this
platform. Sourcer/TCB coded WhackerTracker (fuck was his name sourcer?
i think so!).. Tran later coded Composer669 (composd).. Mr.H/Triton
created the quite popular 4/6/8-channel composer FastTracker, and PSI coded
ScreamTracker. The PC scene now had trackers to work with. The IBM m0Dy00l
MiLiTiA haD beGuN!@# But as sound developed.. and people threw away their
Adlib Gold cards, and Thunderboards, in exchange for Soundblasters, and
Soundblaster Pros.. music became even more popular. Sound quality had
increased 10-fold, and the mod files being churned out were truly works of
art. PM and Skaven of FC.. wrote some of the first >8 channel songs..
for demos such as Unreal, Panic, etc etc.. and for awhile the mystic rune
symbol that was the "S3M" extension was truly feared. In April 1993, with
the public release of ScreamTracker3 (incidentally, i was the first
recipient of the public release in the world.. as he DCC'd it to me the
second he released it on IRC.. PSI that is.. hehe, i uploaded it to the
Sound Barrier -daredevil/ren's board- and then it spread like wildfirez!
i believe my file_id.diz is still the one you will find most places =)) ..
the scene got a taste of the true capabilities of computer sound! 16-channels!
44khz 8 bit sound! Rock-On!.. At this time, the GUS was a minority.. not the
PC sound powerhouse it has become. =)
More and more trackers have been created since then.. FastTracker 2 being the
latest addition to the scene. (o0pZ! eye f0rg0t AmTraqEr! *grin* lb)..
but ScreamTracker3 has without a doubt, remained the PC music standard..
I'm sure other, better trackers will be created.. as the greed-level of us
trackers rizez, and the quest for eliteness continues! .. i myself, long
for the perfect tracker.. but ST3 will do for now =)
Music <-- what it'z all about! myths, tips, and elite shit in general
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Music. Myoozik. my00zik. /\/\y[][]Z1|<... anyway you spell it, it's pretty
much the same thing.
People have some weird ideas:
1) anything original is good
2) anything good is original
3) basehead's mom is hot
4) ripping samples is lame
5) four channel mods suck
6) basehead's dad is hot
7) nitewynd writes kewl tunez
8) ST3 sucks
9) techno sucks
10) x-files rules
11) basehead is hot (!!!)
12) amigas are lame
13) music doesn't take talent
14) basehead's dog is hot
etc..
etc...
etc....
Now, a few of these interest me. Let's start with number 1 shall we?
"Anything original is good" -- now, there are a few people on #trax, who,
altho being generally cool in other respects, completely baffle me with this
module scene theorem! Originality != Excellence. Anyone can write
something original, and i truly stand by that. But, just because something
hasn't been done before.. stylistically, conceptually, or otherwise.. does
not make it something to be respected any more than any other song. Most
especially if it is terrible musically! Now, granted.. something *GOOD* and
original, as opposed to good and a rehash.. the song with originality
deserves a cookie more-so. But let us take a look at something which i
really don't like to see.. this is not an actual song of course, but it
very well could be:
song: GiAnt hamStErZ vAcUUmIng The RuG!
type: S3M
S1: Hey!! This is Butterloaf/Cream-of-Wheat
S2: back with a new song! HELL YEAH!
S3: i sampled my hamsters in their little
S4: cage, and runnin around in their little
S5: wheel and shit! i put it thru a bunch
S6: of reverb and came up wif deez kewl sounds!
S7: oh yEAH! i used a fisher price condenser
S8: mic from 1982 so the soundz are really bad
S9: quality.. but that was my point!
S10:
S11:oh yeah, i also added some sounds of my
S12:dirt devil hand-vac!! it playz the melody
S13:to Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" while all
S14:the hamster noises are playin! NEET HUH?
S15:HEY, i gotta run! enjoy the tewn!!
S16:
S17:(c)1995/Cream-of-Wheat Productionz!
Okay.. here is an example. I've seen songs that, while not being quite
as bad as this intentionally exaggerated example.. are still quite silly.
Like i said, originality != excellence. Live by it! Write good music..
write original music.. but don't write something pointless, and sacrifice
quality for originality.
On to more things! "ripping samples is lame" .. my personal feelings on this
are pretty much publicly known. now, when you rip say.. 5 or 6 samples from
a song.. whether or not the person you got them from are the original
creators/samplers of the sounds, i think it is just common courtesy to cite
the source of the samples. sure - perhaps the same 5 or 6 were ripped and
not even credited by the source, but that is no excuse not to credit YOUR
sources. Don't be part of the trend. If you only rip say, 1 or 2 samples..
then .. hmm, it's not quite as necessary IMO. Face it guys, there are no
musicians on PC who do not rip any of their samples. On amiga, there are a
few.. but even then, very few. There is no purpose, for example, to
sampling your own snare drum hit, when you have the perfect one that you can
rip from a random mod you found. like i said before, CREDIT YOUR SOURCE.
C.Y.S. C.Y.S. C.Y.S. .. stamp it into your brain so you don't forget!
As for using extended samples, my feelings are pretty much positive in this
respect. PeriSoft was the only person who gave me alot of shit for my
extended floot riff in my NAID tune (cantfake.s3m).. and we were in a long,
heated argument about this, but i came to realize that the argument is
a pointless one. I credited the sample CD i took them from.. they were not
part of a song, just a riff thrown into a collection of samples on a CD i
had. but anyways! that topic was beaten like a dead horse in the last few
months, so i'll drop it. Now, to address the people that sit there in ST3,
type CTRL-N, Y,Y,N.. and create a new song entirely with someone else's
sample set.. This is kinda silly, IMO. Some people, including me!, work
very hard to get together a good sample set.. and to have it torn from you
and used in another song, is really aggravating.. because often the other
person's module sounds good only as a result of the samples that YOU spent
the time collecting (beaner, if you're reading this.. don't worry about
your pHluid tewn.. just credit me next time =))..
Continuing.. 4-channel songs: the original digital music format. MOD. sigh.
I don't quite understand why people seem to think that four channel music
sucks. There are more than a handful of 4-channel-only musicians who kick
the asses of any PC musician you can care to name.. Just because perhaps
the Amiga has not yet expanded their horizons in terms of sound, does not
by any means imply that the PC music scene is better.. or that multichannel
music is better. In fact, on the average.. i like songs i hear from amiga
compos much more than i enjoy the PC multichannel compo tunes. In addition,
my top 10 songs of all time are all 4-channelers. As you can see, just
as Originality != Excellence, Multichannel != Excellence. Often, when
thrown into a situation where you have 16+ channels at your disposal, you
tend to overdo things.. waste space.. tracks.. etc. Trying to do a good
4-channel song is humbling at first. It is not easy. It teaches you to
be frugal, to make your tracks more efficient.. and be less prone to
composing something which is an overkill. Before you say "<blah> can't be
done in 4-channel music" or "<blah> HASN'T been done in 4-channel music"..
watch your mouth.. because it probably has.
Next.... "ST3 is lame". I dont think this needs to be further addressed =)
IMO, ST3 has the easiest interface to get used to.. and the fastest to use
once you've gotten the hang of it.. it is the most widely supported multichan.
format, and ST3's internal player (especially now with the addition of
16-step GUS hardware panning) is one of the most accurate around.
"Techno sucks" <-- this is a bandwagoneer's statement if i've ever heard one.
Much like "Future Crew sucks" or "the Ansi scene sucks" .. or any other
of these extremely opinionated statements with no hard facts to back them
up. Techno is a style that should be respected just as any other should.
I am EXTREMELY baffled by the statement that people are "sick of hearing
techno in demos!". I, for one, have seen VERY VERY FEW PC demos within the
last 2 years that have had something other than some rock/jazz/synth-based
soundtrack. Techno is not as common as it once was. But, the fact (well it
is a fact in my opinion) that techno is the ultimate form of music to support
the majority of demo effects, remains.. (there are exceptions of course, but
this is my view).
These are a few i wanted to touch on.. now as for:
basehead's mom being hot!, basehead's dad being hot!, basehead's dog
being hot!, and even !basehead! himself being hot!.. STOP! you're ALL right! =)
---- cut here --- <-- just kidding
onto a sorta separate section you could say.. still about music. this is
the non-myth section.. =)
music is a form of art.
sound cheesy?
sound overused?
sound iffy?
what's the matter?
can't you open your mind that wide?
is it too much for you to handle?
do those of you who code just think of music as an annoying extra?
do you need to be briefed on your mission as a true demo "artiste" ?
perhaps.
depending on who is reading this..
All of you in #trax -- i'm sure you understand what music is.
All of you.
You're all artists.
You're all trying to make someone feel something when you sit down at
trusty old ST3, or whichever tracker you use.. when you lucky few sit down
at your synth and find the perfect pads and leads, etc for the mood you're
trying to create.. your goal is to make the person on the receving end of
your song FEEL something. Something specific.. or even something that is left
to interpretation .. "impressionistic" perhaps.
Believe me, there is nothing better for you as a tracker, than to go into
someone else's music and learn from their tracking technique. BUT, try your
best not to let someone else's style affect you in a way that makes you
create music that would be mistaken for this person's. I prefer music that
i can listen to, and say "hey, this doesn't sound like anybody else's
music that i've ever heard! and it's a great tune as well!"... anyone can
make a mediocore purple motion or skaven-style tune with little or no
trouble. Try, over time, to develop a style you can call your own. I
like to think *i* have accomplished this.. at least with some of the styles
that i do. anyways.. don't rip samplesets, don't copy someone's musical ideas
just because you think they sound cool. that's no way to build a name for
yourself!
Ok, enough lecturing bullshit..
tIpZ str8 from da s0urce! me!
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
I know you might be a-sayin': "uh-yo-ah! ah-base-ah! tell me! how do you
get-ah, the ehmm, how you say.. FUNK in your-ah myooosic!" .. in other words,
you might be askin me to hook you up with some k-rad tips. Well, i will do
my best =)
Okay.. let's take a look at st3 shall we?
| C#5 16 48 H83 |
/^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^\
Note & Octave | | ST3 Effect & Amount of effect
| |
sample # |
|
volume
There's your basic setup. Now, i am quite sick of some of the "tracking tips"
articles that give you tips that are IMO, quite silly. Such as, echoing
a lead line by making a +3 row 2/3 volume copy of the same lead in the next
track. Obviously this is good for newbie trackers, but this is TraxWeekly,
not the #trax FAQ kidz. So, i will attempt to let people in on a few things
i myself do, to make my stuff more interesting.
Tip #1 - Most important!
Do not track while listening to music or tv!
for one thing, this is quite distracting.. and for another, your music
may end up resembling what you're listening to alot more than you'd
care for it to. =)
Tip #2 - a tracker's mental state
never ever ever, track when you're really tired or drunk off your ass.
necros has proved many times that tracking drunk (altho creating some
interesting results =) is not the greatest condition to be in when you've
gotta come up with that competition tune! When you're tired, your ears
cannot intercept, and your brain cannot recognize some of the blatant errors
in your tracking. track when fully awake, and sober. Also, it's in your
best interest to be in the right mood. Say, for instance.. you want to write
something hard -- screaming guitars, crashing+overdriven drums, etc. Something
to thrash to. Well, try running into a few walls.. headbanging very violently
to any good metal group, turned up really loud. If you want to do something
ambient or laidback.. try meditating for awhile by yourself. isolate yourself
on your back porch and just stare at the sky for awhile. You get the idea.
Get yourself into the appropriate mood, and THEN go track.. if you've
prepared correctly, you may be full of ideas; if not, at least you'll feel
like tracking that particular style.
Tip #3 - a tracker's diet
okay, this has not been a deeply-explored topic, but i guess from my own
experience, it's a good idea to not be hungry. one thing that is a
necessity when you are tracking, is not to be distracted by other things..
and this would include hunger. A good time to track is after dinner or
lunch when you're letting everything digest. Don't eat spicy foods b4 you
track, because you'll be irritated by heartburn, etc =) I myself, like to
eat alot of Sour Patch Kids (!!!) or drink some Tang before i track.. i
definately do my best work when i have some GREAT ideas down in the tracker,
and then have a lot of sugar-induced energy to keep on tracking for hours
at a time (werd necr0ze!).
Tip #4 - chords
Awlright.. one of the major things that baffles #trax goers is often the
using of the term "chord progression" or "chord change" in a musical
discussion. For all that are ignorant when it comes to these.. a chord
progression is a series of chords, usually representing a Chorus, Verse,
or Bridge of a song.. (Intro, Outro etc as well)
Knowledge of chord theory is not, by any means, a necessity of good tracking.
However, it is HELLA useful. The difference between people that use their
knowledge of theory, and those that don't is quite evident in their
tracking. Let's consider the following tracking by someone who is just
fooling around and doesn't quite know what's up with these chord thingies:
Pattern 00
(the sample involved here is a piano)
Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 Track 4
| E-5 01 64 .00 | | G-5 01 64 .00 | | B-5 01 64 .00 | | E-6 01 64 .00 |
Welcome to E-Minor.. may i take your order?
Okay, this is a common chord that people run across
that they think sounds "cool" at first listenings .....
then however, they go to the NONO second prog chord.
| D-5 01 64 .00 | | F#5 01 64 .00 | | A-5 01 64 .00 | | D-6 01 64 .00 |
This is a D-Major. DO NOT EVER GO Emin/Dmaj! =)
And most of all, don't repeat this..over and over =)
While in #trax, you may often hear necros say "that song sucks, it's C-F-G"
For those people who don't know what he's talking about.. it's sort of a
general statement for songs with no interesting/original chord sequences
in them. He's referring to the ever-cheezy Cmaj/Fmaj/Gmaj progression. Altho
the song may not actually BE C-F-G, it could be F-G-C, G-C-F, etc.. or in any
other key as well.. it could be D-G-A, etc.. etc..
Now, for some basic basic theory.. (make sure you remember that when
a chord/interval/etc is listed i.e. C-E-G, that means that the notes of
the chord/interval/etc. are C, E, and G, in ASCENDING order.. as in
the C is on the bottom, the E in the middle, the G up on top.)
People on #trax tend to think i'm pretty good with chord analyzing..
Well, the major thing you need to know when analyzing a chord is the
"intervals" that are the parts of the chord.
these are all the intervals starting with the C note
(keep in mind any notes listed as a 'b' or 'flat' can be a sharp
as well.. as in Eb = D#)
C - Db = Minor 2nd/Half Step
C - D = Major 2nd/Whole Step
C - Eb = Minor 3rd
C - E = Major 3rd
C - F = Perfect 4th
C - Gb = Tritone/Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th
C - G = Perfect 5th
C - Ab = Minor 6th/Augmented 5th
C - A = Major 6th
C - Bb = Minor 7th/Augmented 6th
C - B = Major 7th
C - C = Octave
Inverting intervals
When you "invert" an interval, you take the bottom note and put it on top.
or vice versa. Inversions of intervals and chords are handy when you want
to "voice" a chord a certain way. For instance, although E-G#-B is an E-Major
chord, it can be voiced B-E-G# for a totally different sound, while still
keeping the same actual chord.
Here are some rules about inverted intervals:
o major becomes minor
o minor becomes major
o perfect remains perfect
o tritone remains tritone
o the old and new intervals add up to "nine"
for a few examples:
C - E = Major 3rd
but when inverted to:
E - C = Minor 6th,
major becomes minor, and 3 + 6 = 9
C - Db = Minor 2nd
but when inverted to:
Db - C = Major 7th,
minor becomes major, and 2 + 7 = 9
C - F = Perfect 4th
but when inverted to:
F - C = Perfect 5th,
perfect remains perfect and 4 + 5 = 9
C - Gb = Tritone
and when inverted to:
Gb - C = Tritone,
tritone remains tritone and 4 1/2 + 4 1/2 = 9
Sound confusing? well it's not really.. just look at it again =)
Triads
Triads are formed by stacking one third on top of another.
There are four possible combinations:
o major third and minor third
o minor third and major third
o two minor thirds
o two major thirds
- A major third with a minor third on top forms a *major* triad
- A minor third with a major third on top forms a *minor* triad
- Two minor thirds make up a *diminished* triad
- Two major thirds form an *augmented* triad
For instance:
C - E + E - G = major third + minor third = C - E - G = C Major Triad
C - Eb + Eb - G = minor third + major third = C - Eb - G = C Minor Triad
C - Eb + Eb - Gb = minor third + minor third = C - Eb - Gb = C Dim. Triad
C - E + E - Ab = major third + major third = C - E - Ab = C Aug. Triad
Modes
I know Levi has done some text on modes but just to refresh you:
These are the 9 modes in a major scale Harmony
Ionian (I):
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
(C major)
(The F is the "avoid note")
Dorian (II):
D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D
(D Minor 7)
Phrygian (III):
E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E
(E Sustained b9 - F major/Bassnote E, or E Minor 7 on a "III"-VI-II-V)
Lydian (IV)
F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F
(F Major + 4)
(The B is the "avoid note")
Mixolydian (V)
G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G
(G 7th)
(C is the "avoid note")
Aeolian (VI)
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
(A minor b6 - A Minor 7th on a III-"VI"-II-V)
Locrian (VII)
B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B
(B 0)
(C is the b9)
Mixloydian #2 (V)
G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G
(G Sustained)
(No "avoid note")
From these modes come the "Seventh Chords (7th)"
These are constructed by playing every other note of each mode.
i.e. the Ionian mode of the C major scale shone here:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
C = root
E = 3rd
G = 5th
B = 7th
C major 7th = C - E - G - B
The interval relationship between the root and the other notes in a
Major 7th chord are:
C - E = Major 3rd
C - G = Perfect 5th
C - B = Major 7th
So a Major 7th chord contains all three of these.
The II, Second, or Dorian mode of the C major scale, runs from D to D
D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D
D = root
F = 3rd
A = 5th
C = 7th
D minor 7th = D - F - A - C
The interval relationship bewteen the root and the other notes in a
Minor 7th chord are:
D - F = Minor 3rd
D - A = Perfect 5th
D - C = Minor 7th
So a Minor 7th chord contains these three
Now, let's Skip to the 5th or Mixolydian mode.. which runs from G to G
G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G
G = root
B = 3rd
D = 5th
F = 7th
G dominant 7th = G - B - D - F
The interval relationship between the root and the other notes in a
Dominant 7th chord are:
G - B = Major 3rd
G - D = Perfect 5th
G - F = Minor 7th
So a Dominant 7th chord contains these 3 intervals
(incidentally, a dominant 7th chord is often just named the 7th chord
.. for instance, a G dominant 7th is labeled G7, while a G minor/major
7th are labeled Gmin7/Gmaj7 respectively)
To determine whether a chord is major, minor, or dominant.. look at
these 3 rules:
o a major seventh chord has a major third and a major seventh
o a minor seventh chord has a minor third and a major seventh
o a dominant seventh chord has a major third and a minor seventh
Another thing you may have seen mentioned, is the use of "9th" "11th"
or "13th" chords.. To figure out the 9th chord, you just add the "9th"
note of the mode to the chord.
For instance in the D Dorian mode:
D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D
The D is the root
The E is the 2 but also the *9th*
The G is the 4 but also the *11th*
The B is the 6 but also the *13th*
So, for instance a Dmin7+9 (D minor 7th add 9) would be
D - F - A - C - E
or D - E - F - A - C - E
or any other voicing of the 7th chord, with the "9th" thrown in..
And so on for the 11th and 13th.
One final thing.. when you see a chord listed as Dmin7/A, that means
that the Dmin7 is being played, and an A is added as a bass note..
So it would be A bass, D - F - A - C on top.
All this stuff i've just mentioned, although it may look a bit difficult
to understand, will help you understand your own music much better, and
will also help you decrypt some of the greek-sounding stuff people like
necros and i talk about in #trax, etc..
Tip #5 - samples
Ok, sampling is not my strong point.. but i think i'm pretty good at
assembling sample sets. When sampling, make sure you crop the sample so that
there's no blank space at the beginning or end.. the beginning space makes
it impossible to have your sample come in on time without sample offsetting
in ST3, and the end space is just a complete waste of valuable sample memory.
It's in your best interest as well, to normalize your sample once you've
sampled it.. so that it doesn't come out sounding too faint. Normalizing
it will maximize the volume of the waveform until it gets to the point where
any further raising of the volume would cause a loss in the quality of the
sample.. in ST3, Alt-M will maximize the waveform volume as well.
When sampling a drumloop, it is a good idea to break the loop down into
several parts.. often you'll find that to perfectly suit the rest of your
song, the drum track may need to be altered a bit. So bring up your
sampled drumloop into a window in your sample editor, and look for the
downbeats.. these are 99% of the time, the "widest" or "tallest" (depending
on how you look at it) parts of the loop. For instance, if you sample
a drumloop with 4 full beats, you should be able to locate 4 downbeats..
the kickdrums will usually be the downbeats. Now, starting from the
beginning of the downbeat, follow it until the beginning of the NEXT
downbeat, and cut out a piece of the sample right before the next downbeat
hits. Do this until you have 4 samples.. one for each fullbeat of the loop.
Now your loop is alot easier to work with. If you want to break it down
even more.. play the sample at a slower speed, follow the waveform closely,
and you can even pick out snare hits, open highhats, and other various
drumhits. Follow the same process as you did for cutting out a 1 beat loop,
and this time, cut out an actual separate drumhit from the 1 beat loop
instead. Now, let's say you have 8-10 samples altogether.. you can REALLY
get your tracks of percussion cooking.. Not only have you made the beat
easier to work with, but you have opened up the possiblities of many
variations on the same beat, and more importantly, you now have the ability
to make the EXACT beat that you're after. It's good to cut out a few
snare hits or other drums from a loop (or load up some from your collection)
so that you can make "breaks" or little rhythmic "solos" in your drumtracks.
As for sampling rates, etc.. this is really up to you. In my opinion, drums
can be sampled at lower rates.. such as 18 or 22k. if you want a really
near-perfect instrumental sample, like a trumpet, or some-such.. 44k is sadly
the only way to go. One thing you must come to realize as a tracker, is that
a sample is not even close to the same thing as having an instrument at
your disposal. For instance, a sax sample.. let's say you sample a sax
holding a note: Once you try to track a solo or sax-leadline with the sample,
you're going to find out very quickly that you won't be able to get the
sound you desire from this one sample. You should probably sample the sax
at intervals of 5-notes, so you can maintain the realism of a genuinely-
played sax note. Also, little riffs might be a good idea.. like a
3 or 4-note glissando, a 1/2 step porta'd up or down note, maybe a little
"squeal" or extra-breathy sample.. even a stacattoed or muted sound is a
good idea, and so on and so forth for trumpets, etc. The more effect/timbre
-specific your various instrumental samples are, the more genuine-sounding
your lead-line will be.
Tip #6 - drumtracks..
ok, well.. i have always thought i was a pretty good percussion guy. some
people on #trax will tell you i do the best drumtracks in module music, but
well.. they can think what they want. i wouldn't go that far =) The following
is an example (still in ST3 pattern format), of a boring drum track.. i will
then try to spice it up a bit, and show you how you too can make sure your
drums stay interesting.
Sample 01 = Kick
Sample 02 = Snare
Sample 03 = Snare 2/Rimshot
Sample 04 = Closed HiHat
Sample 05 = Open HiHat
Sample 06 = Hi Tom
Sample 07 = Low Tom
Sample 08 = Tambourine
Sample 09 = Crash Cymbal
Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 Track 4
1 | E-5 01 64 .00 | | ... .. .. A08 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
2 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
3 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
4 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
5 | E-5 01 64 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
6 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
7 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
8 | E-5 01 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
What you've witnessed is a sad attempt at a good drum track.
Kicks on 1 and 3.. snare on 2 and 4, and your standard HI->lo HI->lo volume
closed hihat riff, with an open thrown in to end the measure.
Altho this works for Top 40 cheeze rock, it just doesn't cut it for
good tracked music.. let us witness a 2-bar sequence, spiced up using
some of the same drum samples:
Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 Track 4
1 | E-5 01 64 .00 | | ... .. .. A08 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
2 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | E-5 08 32 .00 |
3 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | ... .. 05 .00 |
4 | E-5 01 48 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | E-5 08 32 .00 |
5 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. 05 .00 |
6 | E-5 01 64 .00 | | E-5 02 16 Q04 | | E-5 04 16 QC4 | | E-5 07 48 .00 |
7 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | E-5 09 50 .00 |
8 | E-5 01 32 .00 | | E-5 03 32 .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
9 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .08 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
10 | E-5 01 48 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | E-5 08 32 .00 |
11 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | ... .. 05 .00 |
12 | E-5 01 25 SD4 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 16 .00 | | E-5 08 32 .00 |
13 | E-5 01 64 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | ... .. 05 .00 |
14 | E-5 01 48 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 05 40 .00 | | ... .. .. .00 |
15 | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 02 64 .00 | | E-5 04 32 .00 | | E-5 06 48 .00 |
16 | ... .. .. .00 | | ... .. .. .00 | | E-5 05 16 QC4 | | E-5 07 32 .00 |
In this version... you have a more funked-up kickdrum line.. a snare roll
frill at ROW 6 leading into the snarehit on beat 4.. a fusion-esque
highhat line with the open hat on the 2nd half of beats 1 and 2.. a few
off-beat tamb-hits, a crash on 4 which is a rock drumtrack technique that
is not used often enough, and a Hi->Low mini tom run on Beat 4 of the
2nd bar (Row 15-16).. Now let's look at a way to make it swing a bit:
While rock is 1 2 3 4, with the eighth-notes all completely even.. a nice
fusion or funkier beat has a bit of swing to it.. where the eighth notes
are treated like the 1st and 3rd note of a triplet (where there are 3
notes to a beat rather than 4). To make your drum track swing, you can:
change the Axy or Txy (speed/tempo) rapidly, or put a sufficient amount
of SDx (note delay) on all of the notes coming in on an upbeat. The
easiest way is a continuous speed/tempo switch, demonstrated here:
Track 4
First ya pick a track where no effects are
1 | ... .. .. A08 | used, such as Track 4 of the drum sequence
2 | E-5 08 32 A06 | that i did above.. Now, you insert the Axy
3 | ... .. 05 A08 | or Txy effect in the effect column of all
4 | E-5 08 32 A06 | the rows in the sequence (2 bars are shown
5 | ... .. 05 A08 | here) .. Axy is the more commonly used
6 | E-5 07 48 A06 | effect, but Txy gives you the ability to
7 | E-5 09 50 A08 | create a perfect swing, one identical to
8 | ... .. .. A06 | the rhythm you're hearing your head..
9 | ... .. .. A08 | For a fusion-esque rhythm, let's say we
10 | E-5 08 32 A06 | alternate 8&6, because 9&6 swing is a bit
11 | ... .. 05 A08 | hard for a driving beat.. The farther apart
12 | E-5 08 32 A06 | your speed/tempos are, the "harder" the
13 | ... .. 05 A08 | sequence will swing, that is, the closer the
14 | ... .. .. A06 | upbeats will be to the next downbeat. You
15 | E-5 06 48 A08 | always put down the higher Axy/lower Txy *first*
16 | E-5 07 32 A06 | so the downbeat will be long & upbeats shorter.
( this is commonly referred to as "floating-tempo" )
So, now, if you were to insert this track back into the drum sequence that
i typed in before, you would have a swinging fusion rhythm.. far more suited
to a driving rock-styled song, than a generic sequence (which i demonstrated
at the beginning of this section).
As a general rule for myself, i tend to pan the tracks that are part of
my drumtrack into the center.. somewhere between S87->S89 or so. Having
drums hard panned or in the middle of nowhere in a mix is really a no-no.
a few miscellaneous notes about drums:
o try putting crashes on 2 and 4 following a snare roll at 1 or the
upbeat of 1, instead of the same old crash on the 1 beat.. it's
especially good after a long suspension/bridge that leads back into
your main theme.. because it is unexpected, and yet sounds so good.
Throw crashes in on random snare hits for an interesting touch.
o try retriggering your highhats occasionally, for a more realistic-drummer
touch. often a drummer will play a few hits of the hihat in doubletime
to spice things up a bit.. the most natural sounding retrig, is to use
a retrig speed of 1/2 your playing speed.. so a normal retrig command
for a sequence played at Speed 6 would be Qxy=Qx3.. generally, hihats
would be hit in doubletime while raising the volume. So say you wanted
the volumes of the hihat hits to rise by 8 for each hit during the
retrig.. then Qxy=QC3 at Speed 6.
o Don't overuse ride cymbals, but when you use them.. make sure you
retrig some of the hits for a more realistic feel.
o keep in mind that at speeds such as 3 and 4, retriggering is
unnecessary, and the retrig "feel" can be incorporated manually:
at Speed 6:
| E-5 01 16 QC3 |
| E-5 01 64 .00 |
is the same thing as the following at Speed 3
| E-5 01 16 .00 |
| E-5 01 24 .00 |
| E-5 01 32 .00 |
| E-5 01 64 .00 |
and so on...
o try to do something other than Kick on beats 1/3, Snare on 2/4 .. or if
you MUST use this type of rhythm, be sure to throw in alot of various
things to make the drumtrack less tedious.
o make sure you're not using over-reverbed drums when doing an uptempo
song, because it will sound like shit.. and by the same token, try to
lean more toward reverbed drums when doing slow or ballad-style tracks.
o experiment with all sorts of floating tempos.. sometimes the strangest
combinations of speed and tempos will create some exciting new rhythmic
feels.
Tip #7 - Lead lines
o When choosing a lead instrument, make sure you've fooled with it a bit,
and have made sure that it has a "range" big enough to handle the leadline
you want. If it doesn't, make sure you have a few samples, at intervals
of 5ths, or octaves, or whatever is needed to give you the ability to
incorporate the sound(s) into the melody line.
o It's a good idea to lay down the main melody notes (or what is referred
to as the "stems-up" notes for all you sheet music people) first, and
then fool with them to create the exact phrasing.
People often forget about phrasing when they are tracking a melody..
Necros has touched on this, and it is a very good point.. i too, have seen
alot of nice melodies that are just in dire need of some LIFE..some
effect enhancement, maybe a few notes are misplaced rhythmically, or need
to be volume slided/changed, etc..
The following is an example of a few main melody notes that are ok by
themselves, but need some enhancement (lets say we're dealing with a ):
synthy lead):
Track 1
1 | A-4 01 64 A08 |
2 | ... .. .. .00 |
3 | E-5 01 64 .00 |
4 | ... .. .. .00 |
5 | C-5 01 64 .00 |
6 | ... .. .. .00 |
7 | D-5 01 64 .00 | Now, the general musical idea is there
8 | ... .. .. .00 | but it's done so blandly, that is makes the
9 | B-4 01 64 .00 | line quite boring..
10 | ... .. .. .00 |
11 | G-4 01 64 .00 |
12 | ... .. .. .00 |
13 | E-4 10 64 .00 |
14 | ... .. .. .00 |
15 | A-4 01 64 .00 |
16 | ... .. .. .00 |
- The following is an embellished/enhanced version of this melody: -
Track 1
1 | A-4 01 32 A08 | <-- Speed 8, Start the line at vol 32
2 | E-5 .. 40 G50 | <-- Bend up to the E at G50 and raise the volume
3 | C-5 01 25 D0A | <-- Make the C stacatto with the fast vol. slide
4 | C-5 01 32 .00 | <-- Start the C->D bend at vol 32
5 | D-5 .. 40 GF0 | <-- Bend to the D at a fast speed and raise vol.
6 | ... .. .. H82 | <-- throw some light vibrato on the held D note
7 | ... .. .. K03 | <-- combine the H82 with a D03 volume slide down
8 | A-4 01 32 .00 | <-- start the A->B bend on the upbeat of Beat 4
9 | B-4 .. .. G10 | <-- Bend to B at a medium speed
10 | ... .. .. E02 | <-- throw in a light porta down descending to G
11 | G-4 01 40 .00 | <-- Start the G->E->A riff at vol 40
12 | E-4 .. 30 F0A | <-- make the E vol a bit lower and porta up to A
13 | A-4 .. 40 GF0 | <-- fast bend up to the A with a higher volume
14 | ... .. 15 E05 | <-- lower the vol. and bend down for a good effect
15 | A-4 01 25 .00 | <-- echo the note in Row 13 at a lower volume
16 | ... .. 08 E05 | <-- echo the porta down in Row 14 at a lower vol.
- As you can see, this type of phrasing really brings out the full
potential of the melody line that was outlined so plainly before..
now, of course the level of effect that you use depends on the
sample, so what i've shown above is a guideline.. these exact numbers
and note phrasings may not sound as good with certain samples...
it was just meant to give you an idea of how to fully express a
musical thought, using the full capability of the tracker.
Some miscellaneous shit about leads:
o when doing a long run of notes, be sure to find the notes you want
to accentuate most, and make the volume higher on those notes than
on the ones inbetween.
o of course, as usual.. if you want to add a more ambient/realistic
feel to a leadline, you use a tracker's version of echo: copy the
entire leadline to another track, move it ahead a few rows with
the + key, highlight the track with Alt-L, and move the volume down
by 2/3 with Alt-J.. or however low you'd like to make the echoing
track (everyone knows this trick but i'm just reinforcing it)
o certain styles call for a more sparse appraoch melodically, whereas
some require an almost constant, driving melody. fast demo music
is a good example of the latter (read: Hypercontrol), but slower, and
less mind-boggling grooves call for less notes in your melody line.
For instance, don't begin a nice piano/drum groove around speed 8 or 9
and try to incorporate some synth lead or something that goes nutso
for like 20 rows straight. choose a few well placed notes and phrase
them so they fit into the groove that you have going on underneath
it.
o try not to repeat the same leadline twice. if your first instinct
is to go back to a previous pattern in your song and repeat it, try
something else instead: copy that pattern to a new pattern, and change
it around a bit.. possibly make the lead double in octaves or fifths,
maybe throw in a key change, or try the same background with a variation
on that original lead that you wanted to repeat.
o don't let your melody/lead for a certain part go on forever. a listener
only has so much attention span for a structured song. i am a big
believer in a song structure.. such as an A - B - A - B - C - B
structure, or variations on that. I like to have defined parts that
melt into each other nicely, but provide a bit of a different shade
of the same mood. the same "A" part droning on for 25 patterns and
then stopping after 3 and a half minutes really bores me. Multipart
songs are much more interesting.
o don't be afraid to take melody out once in awhile.. sometimes, nothing
suits a track more than a breakdown drum solo, or just your rhythm
section going.. or sometimes maybe just the outline of a progression
using piano or pad chords. melody is not a necessity in every pattern.
fuck the original definition of music. we're not playing this shit
on harpsichords anymore =)
o don't use overused lead samples. i moan and groan every time i hear
the famed purple motion siner come in.. try to find something that
people aren't used to hearing, because nothing is more disheartening
than hearing rehashed styles and samples over and over again.
o make sure you don't make your leads too loud.. phrase them so that they
are loud enough to stand out from the rest, but strangely fade into
the mix in addition to being heard. this can be done by finding the
perfect volumes for all your instruments, and panning effectively.
Tip #8 - the most important of all
Don't let what someone else says discourage you.. they may not have the
same tastes, but that doesn't mean that their opinion is the "right" one.
In fact, whatever's cool with you *is* right.
Track the kind of music you want to track, and don't aim to please everyone,
because you'll find it's impossible. No matter what you do, you'll always
find an accepting fan or group of fans, and there is no greater feeling,
believe me, than to have a group of people anxiously awaiting everything
that comes out of your creative self.. having your talents and hard work
appreciated is well worth what you go through to achieve a final product.
---
Outro
_-_-_
Well, alas.. the end of this article is at hand. I hope it has helped alot
of you out in one way or another.. or if it hasn't, i hope that at least
you've gotten a few laughs. Or, if neither of these have occured during your
reading, than i HOPE you have gotten some insight into myself and/or my
history as a scene-grandpa.. OR, if NONE of these were accomplished, i guess
you've just wasted about 20 minutes of your valuable time! MUHAHAHAH!
Anyway.. if you have any questions about anything at all, or would like to
hear some of my new-fangled creations, you can catch me on IRC usually
using the nicks "base" or "basehead_" because "basehead" is almost always
(24/7) being used by an anal-retentive bisexual nazi scumbag whom i have
to succumb to during these long summer months while he is home from college
realizing he has no semblence of a life, drooling on his keyboard and
frying his brain.
As for email. uhmm.... screw it! =) I have no real email account these
days.. i am being bounced from place to place. i guess you can leave
email at basehead@free.org but right now my shell is fucked and i can't
get into anything =) email me at necros's addy: asega@ic.sunysb.edu if u
absolutely MUST contact me.. or even better, if you want to send
SnailSquad mailings.. feel free:
dan grandpre
116 bridle path rd
southbury, ct 06488
usa
or call me anytime at +1-203-264-7053 ..
*plug plug* everybody come to Impulse '95.. and meet me! =) *plug plug*
big greets 2 andy (nec) cuz he's just so kiqin, like kung pao chicken!
harley (rpeng) cuz he just told me to add this before i finished up =)
also 2 EVERYONE in FM and Kosmic.. screw everything i've said to you
guys in the past, u all kick ass!@
welps.. here was my lovely 53k or so addition to TraxWeekly.. sorry i
made your mag so big =)
see you all on the net
and happy tracking..
--
Basehead
FM / Kosmic / Imphobia / iCE
Phatter than a weight watchers meeting..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Random Thoughts ]-------------------------------------------------------
I had some spare time just after finishing traxweek.014 and figured I'd
try to wing something. I hope I've sent this to the right person... I
guess I'll just have to wait and see. If you have any questions, or
would like to just write me back saying: "Don't write me." :) go for it.
Anyways... here it goes...
- R A N D O M T H O U G H T S -
Greetings folks,
I am merely a 'spectator' of the music scene (hopefully, after reading that,
you didn't go on to the next article). The purpose of my writing this is to
thank those of you who are contributors to the scene, and to write some
of my thoughts...
I'm one of those people that you've never heard of, and probably never
will again. I just sit back lurking, grabbing the latest players and songs
from all you talented people. Oh, sure, I've tried tracking a song or two...
but, after those fruitless attempts, I've realized just how much work is
involved in creating a 2:30 minute song with only 7 samples. How any of you
keep going has me amazed. :) Especially those who stray away from the
'techno' songs and try something like jazz or blues (and do it successfuly!).
So, from all of us no-namers: thanks, and keep up the great work!
It is my belief
that tracked songs are one of the best products of computers.
There aren't (m)any words in them, so there aren't any language barriers;
they are free, so no one has to pay to hear them; and, even if you're not
at your computer, you can tape them and listen in your car (or whatever).
I'm sure my feelings aren't uncommon.
Even though I've only been paying attention to the music scene for a
short while, a lot has changed; and, yes, it will continue to change.
My point is that it needs to remain sincere and not go totally cut-throat.
To put it more blatantly: be respectful of others and don't be a dickhead.
Maybe one of these days I'll get to a demo competition and have the
opportunity to meet some of you. That brings me to a question I'd like
to pose: Are people like me welcome at democompos and/or #trax, or do
you have to be 'elite' to fit in?
Thanks for reading, and have a spiffy day.
ÚÄ GOP / no groups :) Ä¿
³ gop@eskimo.com ³
ÀÄÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÄÄÄÄÄÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÄÙ
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Advanced Tracking Tips II ]---------------------------------------------
-- Advanced Tracking Tips II --
by Necros / FM / Legend Design
ftp: ftp.mpoli.fi /pub/starport/music/necros/*.*
email: asega@ic.sunysb.edu
Ok, in this issue we'll get away from the actual techniques of tracking and
cover a bit more of the songwriting end, as it seems that most people need
some help in this area. One of my best suggestions to you is to pick up the
latest (June 1995) issue of Keyboard magazine, and read Jim Aikin's "Demo
Tape Workshop". While this article is primarily intended for people creating
songs on DAT, I found it to be surprisingly applicable towards tracker music.
In this article, I'll examine some of Jim's hints, and change them around
a bit so that they apply specifically towards tracked music.
Lesson I: The Intro to Nothing
It's tough to analyze your music quantitatively, even I have a hard time
doing it, but it's something that's fun to do every once in a while to examine
the flaws in your technique. One of the most common problems in tracked music
is song structure. Most modern music is composed of many parts:
The Intro - Usually something that alludes to the main melody, it contains
rising dynamism and a gradual rise in the musical level.
The A Part (Verse) - This is usually the verse or melody part of the song,
most often it contains a lead instrument of some sort.
This is where the verse vocals would be in a traditional
song.
The B Part (Chorus) - All songs need some sort of chorus. This is the part
of the music which everything else points to, the
change in musical tone which tells the listener, "Hey!
Check this out!".
The Bridge - This is an intermission-type part, it can be anywhere from really
soft and mellow, to horrendously overpowering. Usually it contains
something in a completely different chordal sense than the A or
B parts, but it doesn't have to.
The Resolution - This is the end of the song, usually it's a modified version
of the B part, which leads into some sort of ending phase.
Most songs that you hear on the radio tend to go:
Intro / A / B / A / B / Bridge / A / B / Resolution
... or something similar. The point here is that, even if you mess with the
structure a bit, there is still some sort of structure. The reason that it's
important to know this is that your listeners have probably been brought
of on Top 40 radio for most of their adult lives, and since 95% of all
radio-style songs follow this structure, it should be something your music
possesses, at least in part. To do otherwise is to create something which
your average listener cannot identify with, and the general feeling is
that a song without at least some sort of traditional structure is 'incoherent'
or 'random'.
You get the idea.
Lesson II: Peaks and Valleys
A song is not just a collection of melodic riffs, it is an emotional statement.
The best of songs give you that special kinda feeling inside (no, not the
feeling like when you touch Mr. Happy, this is something different). When
writing a song, a lot of people never even bother to think about what it
sounds like, as a whole. This is something you really need to do once in a
while, since your listener does it everytime he or she plays your song. It's
hard, believe me I know, to appreciate your song as a coherent entity after
you've spent so many hours sitting in a tracker, agonizing over little
details and precise pattern structures. My advice is this, however: Make sure
that you know where your peaks and valleys are.
Ideally, a song should contain both elements of high melodic tension, and
low melodic tension. No listener wants to sit through a totally high-energy
180 BPM non-stop 6-minute ride through synth mania unless they are already
busy grooving madly on some dance floor in a smoky club somewhere. Also,
unless your listener is on heavy sedation, he or she will not enjoy your
sparse 18-minute ambient tune which consists of the same languid piano
riff repeated over and over again.
The point here, folks, is impact. Start off slow, develop your riffs, and
gradually bring the listener along the musical ride you intend. Don't
try to immediately shock them with sensory overload, it won't work. Start
with a nice catchy A section, maybe. Then build into a more exciting chorus.
Then another A section but with more instrumentation and a higher energy feel.
Then another big chorus. Then go into a HUGE orgasmic bridge. Bring it back
down to another A section, into a less energetic but more melodic chorus.
Then end it with a nice slow finale.
This is just an example, but you see what I mean about emotional impact.
Think about it next time you start a song. It helps. :>
Lesson III: The Melody
There is only one way to compose a melody that your listeners will think is
memorable. Pretend like you are standing in front of a crowd, with a kick-ass
band behind you, and sing that melody like your life depended on it.
If you can't hum it, sing it, whistle it, or play it... and it doesn't come
out catchy-sounding.. it sure as heck isn't going to sound good when you play
it with that disgusting FC-SINER.SMP sound you stole from Second Reality.
Other than that, yer on your own. I've found that playing an instrument of
some sort helps TREMENDOUSLY in learning what harmony and melody is all about.
Lesson IV: Groove? What Groove?
Drum tracks. People are decent at these as far as I've seen, but they could
still use some help. One of the most common failings is repetition. Nobody
wants to hear that same stupid 16-line bass-snare pattern throughout the
WHOLE song. Didn't your mother ever teach you that variety is the spice of
life?
When writing a drum track, pretend that you are the live drummer, reacting
to what your band is doing on stage. Are you leading into a high-energy
chorus? Well then act like it! Put a nice rising fill-in at the end of the
pattern before. Reached a high? Even in the middle of a measure? Put a cymbal
crash! Got a hip-hop thing going? Experiment with soft snares dancing around
the 'and' beats of the pattern. Don't be afraid to try new drum ideas. Listen
to a bit of Rush and try that keen 7/4 groove. Or do the jazz thing and
do a lot of ride cymbal work with brush drums. It all depends on how the
song feels to you, the drummer.
Lesson V: Blech. Not C, Dm, F, G again.
When writing a song with harmony, you have two choices. You can either:
A) Pick a cheesy over-used chord progression but orchestrate it well,
making it seem significantly less cheesy and more innovating.
B) Pick a fantastically intricate and diverse chord progression, and
keep the rest of the stuff simple so that the listener doesn't get overblown
by the radical melodic shifts.
C) Pick a moderately innovative progression, and put a good groove behind it.
These are the only three ways (unless you're doing hard-core industrial or
something that doesn't use progressions) to get a decent song. I can't
tell you how many times I've gotten tunes from IRC, listened to them, and
been terribly saddened by the sheer boredom which I got from listening to them.
Most often the problem is this: People try to do a melodic tune, usually
something with that horrible piano+strings patch, and plunk down a bunch of
bad chords, and even worse, it has NO groove, it's just someone smacking down
piano notes on rows 0,16,32,and 48. BLECH! Be more original.
Here's my list of top five progressions to avoid, along with actual
note-readings at the end if you need them:
#5. Cmin | Bb | Ab | Gmin (yuck, it sounds like a bad romance movie)
#4. C | F | Am | G (be there, done that, heard it before)
#3. C | F | C | G (can it get any worse??)
#2. Cm | Ab | Fm | Bb (i've even used this one, you have to
orchestrate it damn well to get it to sound
decent)
#1. C | F | G (ACK ACK ACK this is like every lame 50's
song put together)
In case you need them here's a chord ref table:
Cmin = C - D#- G Ab = G# - C - D# G = G - B - D
Bb = A#- D - F F = F - A - C Fm = F - G# - C
Remember: Either get a good progression, or get a good groove.
The secret of a good groove it to make it less chord-oriented, and more
riff-oriented. Think of a catchy phrase which will fit within in the chords,
imagine it as sort of a rhythm section. Use the drum track to help.
Lesson VI: Last, but not least
SAMPLES! GET GOOD SAMPLES!
Most of us have been in this biz a long time, and we've probably heard
every shitty sample that exists. What's worse is that people keep ripping
from the same stupid sources over and over. Remember that one of the things
that can make your song stand out from the rest is to find unique sounds
to make your arrangement that much richer. And please don't give me that
'well i don't have a keyboard' crap, I've been living with a 386sx-16,
GUS, cheap Sony rack CD player, and a bad stereo system, and i've done
quite well for myself. Here's how:
DO NOT:
- Never, ever, rip from the Second Reality soundtrack. Those samples
are so over-used it's not even funny, especially that lead synth.
If you are going to demo rip, get some class and at least rip from
Crystal Dreams music or something.
- NEVER EVER use a sample with 'ST:' in front of the name. Those are
the old, old, old, Amiga sample sets, and they sound so bad it's not
even funny.
- IF you rip from other people's work, MAKE SURE it's OBSCURE. Don't rip
trademark instruments, people can tell.
DO:
- Get obscure AMINET mods and rip samples from there, nobody's ever heard
of about 90% of them, and it's a good way to get keen stuff.
- Sample from the CD's you own. Most CD's have at least one clean sample,
somewhere. And don't give me that 'i don't know how to sample' stuff.
NOBODY is that moronic. Just boot up FT2, plug your CD line-out or even
headphone jack into your GUS or SB line-in jack, set the samplerate
to 22khz, turn up the volume if necessary, and sample away. Make sure
to remember to use ALT-A if you use st3 and save in FT2 .IFF format after
you load into st3.
- Credit everyone you rip from, at least if they're still around. Perhaps
they ripped too, but you don't know that.
- Use shielded cables if you can to sample with. They cut down on a lot
of RF noise which comes from your monitor, your CD player, your power
supply, etc.
- Try sample sites. A couple of good 16-bit libraries can be found
at ftp.mfi.com /pub/keyboard, and there are many more. Try reading
newsgroups to find them.
Well i've ranted and raved enuff for this article. Next time maybe i'll cover
Cheez Whiz and it's effect on the brain.
Until then,
Andy
Necros / FM / Legend Design
asega@ic.sunysb.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Stupid Music Tricks ]---------------------------------------------------
Stupid Music Tricks:
Pitch Scripting and Serialism
--By Spyder
=============================
Hey all. Let me start this kooky article with a disclaimer saying that this
information is only meant to be taken half seriously. This article is to
expand your musical knowledge up through the trivial. At the very least
its something to impress your friends with at a party.
Pitch scripting is a very basic technique where you spell out things in
your melody with the notes of the scale. Its a common practice to use
the German pitch names, since the first person that did this was Bach
(and he needed an 'h'). So the pitches are A,B,C,D,E,F,G for white keys,
and Cis (C#), Dis, Fis, Gis, and H (Bb) for the black keys. So you can
see that its pretty easy to put words into your song. Of course no one
will know except you, unless you tell them to listen for it. After you
are dead for about 200 years, music historians will go back and find it
and write a doctoral thesis about it. Or even if you don't they still
will find something you didn't put there and claim to have insight into
your life. Case in point: when Bernstein died, some loony musicologist
noted that in his work "Mass" as well as "Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs" there
was an inordinate amount of F-A-G motives in the inner accompaniment parts.
hmmmm... I can just see it now, the next trax motive in everyones tunes:
Bb-A-D-G. Or maybe GraveDiggers timpani parts: G-D-G-D-etc... haha
The next dumb topic is serialism. You have all probably heard this stuff
before, it that avant gard crap that sounds atonal from the Second Vienese
School. Well if you knew all the computations they put into these works
you would either think they were geniouses, or even dumber than you first
imagined. Basically a serial piece uses what is called a tone row, which
is the twelve pitches of the chromatic scale put into an order. Because
once a row is started you have to finnish it, the piece comes out being
TOTALLY atonal because every pitch is equally represented. Oh sure there
are many other tricks you can use to make your piece more interesting like
using the row transposed, retrograded, inverted, or combinations of these.
If you really know what you are doing, you can actually have different
permutations of the row going on at the same time to different rhythms and
make it come out sounding TONAL! To that though I say "whats the point".
I guess the point is that some people need to make things difficult for
themselves. Look at that guy who just wrote that novel (sorry can't
remember the name), in which he didn't use any E's. WHY?! coolness I guess.
If you really want to try some of this stuff out I suggest you go out and
find a 20th century music theory book. The techniques aren't hard at all
(if you liked math, lots of matricies), but getting a piece out of it that
people won't laugh at you for probably is.
Well thats all I have for this week, maybe I will continue with more Stupid
Music Tricks next week... or maybe I should just go back to what I know
best. Drums drums drums.
-Spyder
-KDOSTALE@indiana.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
=[ TraxWeekly Voting ]=====================================================
The famed "TraxWeekly Voting" is being re-introduced into the newsletter.
Despite the poor success of the voting in the first issue of TW, we have
completely re-organized our voting methods. To make it fair and simple, we
are having song nominations, and more exact voting methods. Here are the
rules :
1 - Votes will be tallyed every month, and included in TraxWeekly.
2 - After the voting results are published, you are free to send your
nominations for the next TraxWeekly votings. Please only nominate songs
that are dated 3 months, or less. You can send them to :
davidk@randomc.com (please label the subject, "TW Nomination")
3 - The nominations will be posted in TraxWeekly, exactly two weeks after the
votes are published. You will have 14 days to send in your votes in
the order of your preference. You may vote for as many people as you
like. You can send your votes to :
davidk@randomc.com (please label the subject, "TW Vote")
4 - Wait two weeks, when the votes are published, and the process is
started over again.
I hope I haven't made this too confusing for you, but it's pretty much
straight forward. And if it doesn't work out, no harm done. :)
- Neurosis [TW Coordinator]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Plagiarism in the Music Scene ]------------------------------------------
Beginning this week in TraxWeekly, Plagiarism in the Music Scene (PMS) will
be a regular feature. Updates will appear here in the newsletter, while
old stories can be found on the World Wide Web Page. See Below for more
information.
But first, to answer one question: why is PMS active? When some lamer rips
music from a popular musician, more often than not, there are packs of fans
ready to trash the offender. However, when you aren't as well known, it's
harder to earn support for yourself when someone steals your ideas. PMS
is a public service to those people...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
...and PMS continues to give you all the latest coverage on the ripping
lamers we have to tolerate everyday. Sad to say, the latest addition to
the 'sh!tlist' include one of Epinicion's new musicians.
Ellegen (bismal@aol.com) was an aspiring musician. He mailed me some
of his stuff, and I thought it was fairly decent. So he joined. The last
tune he submitted for Epinicion's "Otherness" musicdisk was a long (92 pat.)
S3M entitled "No Final Too Final." (eg-final.s3m). All fine and dandy.
Then the disk was released. Charlatan brought to our attention that Ellegen
had in fact ripped from the mod "klisje paa klisje," (klisje.mod) changing
the instruments and instrument names, but leaving ALL the melody lines
intact. This is blatant ripping of the WORST KIND. (oh, did I mention that
his song eg-epi.mod is a rip of castle.mod??? Sheesh...)
Ellegen, I thought you had some promise. Your first few mods were
okay, and the seemed to get better. Now I'm not too sure if you even wrote
them. You can't pull this kind of shit to become a better musician. All of
us who even have a name did it the hard way: we did it ourselves. I'm sorry
to say that you are the FIRST Epinicion musician to be expelled for ripping.
You are no longer a member of the group. Goodbye.
Everyone wanting to know more about this, and want to obtain a copy of
the original mod and Ellegen's version, use your World Wide Web browser and
go to http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/pms.html. Also online is the
Muzikman/Vortex story, as well as a small caption about our favorite lamer,
NiteWynd! =) And if any of you have contributions to the PMS page, please
email me at the address below.
-psibelius [tw columnist]
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
/----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------[ Interviews ]-------------------------------/
. .
. .. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
___ ___.___________ ________ . _______ / \ _______
:___| ___\__.___ _ /________\_____ | _. _\______/_ \ /______
__\ . / \ / ____/ __ ____/ |__:___. _ _ _____/ \ /_______
. | . / \/ _/ \ | /. |/ __/ (- -) /__ \WW
: | ./ \ \ . \ : / . | \ oO / \
| | \ ._________\ \ : \ . / . | O \ /
|___|____\ /. /__________\ |______\ /___._|_______/_/\__/________\/
\/ . /______| \ / .
. \/ .
=============.=================================.=============================
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .. . .
. .
-[Claim]---------------------------------------------------------------------
Interviewer: Gator
Interviewee: Claim
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Trax Weekly #15 Interview 'Wiff Claim By Gator]
gator - Who are your music influences?
claim - I really like karl-*'s stuff and basehead on occasion.. and I
like the first laite releases even though they get old fast..
dac and uhm.. cosmic from RR are really cool too.. I wanna do
trance like them..
claim - I'm still working on developing my style..
gator - What made you start tracking?
claim - well.. hmm.. I guess I always wanted too.. I tried writing songs on my
appleIIgs back in the day but never really did anything.. then I got a
pc and fooled around with ModEdit and Kingmod.. the oldies.. :) uhm..
then st3 came out and I tried it but it kinda blew because I
have a cheap sbpro clone so I could choose either mono or stereo
with swapping (which drove me crazy).. then FT2 came out and I
started doing stuff right away.. it was fun..
gator - What's your favorite food?
claim - Dr. Pepper.. :) it rules my world..
gator - Diet or Original? You know they say they taste alike......
claim - bull! anyone who can stand the taste of diet stuff has poor taste
buds.. the difference is obvious.. nutrisweet in sodas leaves a really
nasty bitter aftertaste in my mouth.. also it's way unnatural.. I
don't trust mega-synthetic food stuffs like that.
gator - What kind of affiliations do you have? Or planning on having?
claim - uhm.. well.. I'm in defiance as a coder sort of but I haven't done
anything that got out yet because the group like totally changed and
was reorganizing for a while.. but cerulean and peri (sv boy) and I
will be working hard to bring it back to leetnes
claim - also I'm in Lithium which really makes me happy because they are nice
guys and benzel is the main coder and he's pretty good.. uhm.. I did 1
song for them so far and I don't know if it's been released or not
yet..
gator - What language do you code in?
claim - I code in 100% asm except when I write my coding utils then I use C...
but I really like asm.. it's the most fun language.. I'm going to be
doing more cool stuff soon.. intros, games, demos.. probably in that
order..
claim - I could write a TW reader if you want.. :) hehe..
gator - Have you gotten any deals with Game companys?
claim - Uhm.. not really.. I think I may try and do some stuff for a pc
company called progressive media.. they are like a freelancer kinda
place I guess.. but they sound nice and I think they are trying to
make games that are good.. like not another
claim - 3d-buy-a-pentium-with-12megs game.. more like arcade..
claim - also I might be working in the future for a 3d0 company run by Jason
Andersen (he did clayfighters back when he was at Visual Concepts) and
another guy from VC..
gator - How long have you been coding/tracking?
claim - uhm.. coding, uhm.. I started in basic when I was maybe 10.. (9 years
ago..) I just started asm on x86 like in january.. and before that I
did C on the pc.. but I have a lot of 65816 asm experience..
claim - and tracking I've only been doing seriously since like the first week
ft2 came out whenever that was..
gator - How old are you?
claim - I'm 19.. I turn 20 in august.. (the 3rd..)
claim - btw- I really want to thank the guys at triton responsible for FT2.. I
know a lot of people hate it but I realise how hard they worked to try
and put in all the features people always wanted.. and like.. I
dunno.. that's really cool.. they did a good
claim - job..
gator - If dared, would you have sex with small farm animals?
claim - depends.. like I'd do it if someone dared me not too... but if someone
dared me to then I wouldn't.. make sense? :) what does this have to do
with the scene? are most trackers into beastiality? :) hehe..
**************** Behind 'Da Scenes 'Wiff Claim & Gator ************************
<-[claim]-> thought it would add a little humor to it... :)
[claim:claim@pei.edu] haha.. I bet.. people will think I'm a freak now.. :)
<-[claim]-> nahhhh... Probably I'm the freak fer asking the question.....
*******************************************************************************
claim - oh yeah.. I just wanna say that I did some art for the TW web site
gator - What kind of art do you do?
claim - oh well.. I do bad art.. :) but I was asked to do some background
tiles for the web site so I did.. they came out ok though.. I did some
of them by using fractint and then making neat tiles out of parts of
the fract with DeluxePaintIIenh.. and I dunno.
claim - I try.. but I'm no picasso..
claim - It made me happy though to contribute something to the scene..
gator - How do you feel about the PC demo/tracking/coding scene? And where
do you think it's going?
claim - Oh wow.. good question.. :) uhm.. I've been into demos for a long
time..
claim - Before I was into the PC I used to really like FTA on the GS..
(remember them anyone?) and I used to do musicdisks stuff back then..
uhm.. but what really bugs me is this FC fixation..
claim - like there are a lot of really rad groups working their butts off to
do cool demos.. and people are still like, "uh.. duh.. will FC do more
demos?" it like, get the hell outta here man.. show some support for
the rad guys of today..
claim - but yeah.. the demo scene is going to go mainstream soon I think..
claim - and the music scene is just incredible.. there are what.. like
1205473109571 little groups running around.. it's cool though.. I mean
music is so expressive.. I think it's great that we all have trackers
that we can use to express ourselves and that we
claim - just give our songs out to everyone and anyone... can you imagin if
real musicians did that.. NO! it's nice.. I mean you should want to
share.. because that's cool.. that's human.
gator - Would you like to send some shout-outs to anyone?
claim - hehe.. sure..
claim - Hi's to: Kosmic, Defiance, Lithium, Radical Rythms, Mazurka, Pure,
EMF, Complex, Triton, all groups working hard that I forgot right now
because it's my first interview...
claim - and personally to: AMBER!, Karl-*, ae, CoN, Trif, _mozart, mrdata--,
and many others..
gator - How can everyone get in contact 'wiff 'ya?
claim - ok.. to talk to me look for me on #trax..
claim - or mail me as claim@ikaros.pei.edu..
claim - and thanks to eveyone supporting the scene and all the guys working
hard at TW..
gator - Thanks for the Interview!
-------------------
This week, we have a very special interview. This person made a one-time
appearance on IRC and I was very honored to get this opportunity. This person
is famous on #trax but has never been on the channel and has never composed
any music. Without further ado, let's get right to it.
GD: GraveDigger [Hornet] gd@ftp.cdrom.com
SV: Scarlet Vinson [no email available]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GD: Hello SV, how are you?
SV: Who the hell are you?
GD: I'm GD.. it expands to GraveDigger when I'm not abbreviating. :)
SV: Are you the one who cut off that woman's finger in the cemetary last
week? Think fast!
GD: Actually, I am, but you have to realize that my shovel is heavy and it
often slips from my shoulder.
SV: Aha...
GD: So, what brings you here today?
SV: Umm,...........I uh....well, um....its 96 degrees out and I got tired of
sewing pockets into pillowcases.
GD: It's a good day to go swimming, huh? I wish I could go swimming.
SV: Went yesterday. Freaked out a family by skinnydipping w/ my friend in Saw
Mill Gully. Why doncha swim?
GD: I have no pool to go to.. ): So what kind of music do you like?
SV: Any Ol' any ol'....no kuntry wistern fer me. The Beastie Boys are
bearable as far as rap goes.
GD: Ah, I see. Are you having fun using the computer?
SV: Well, as much fun as one can have being intimate with 101 keys and
talking to incognito entities across the nation on a fine June 19th day
with all my body moisture pooled on the floor around me. (its not a
pretty sight)
GD: Well, I'm sorry to hear of your discomfort. Did you know that your friend
David is a famous computer musician? :D
SV: Yes, world renowned....(heh,heh,heh....oh! Hello Dave! Sorry?)
GD: Anyways... Have you heard some of his music?
SV: Yes...
GD: Do you like his music?
SV: Yes...
GD: Do you think you might someday try to write music on a computer?
SV: No... Yes... Who knows?
GD: How does it feel to be on the Internet?
SV: OOOOOOOhhhhhhhhh Boooooooyyy, Wally, I feel just nifty! A friend of mine,
God in a Business suit, used to have a fine time with his modem... He
once had to prove he was god to someone else who proclaimed himself so...
GD: I see.. Well, is there anything you would like to say to the readers of
the TraxWeekly newsletter?
SV: Uh.....HI Mom? Are your eyes smarting yet?
GD: Thanks for doing this interview.. its a nice day so get out and enjoy it.
:)
SV: Is that an order?
GD: Not at all; do as you like. Bye!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Epinicion Column]--------------------------------------------------------
___ _______ _____________ ______ ______ _______ ______ _______ ___________
| // \\ \\_____) \\_____) \\_____) \\ \\ |
: / o \ o \ \ \ \ \ \ o \ \:
// _____// / \ : / \ _____/ \ / : \.
\\_______/ _//______\\_|__//______\\_____//______\\_____//____| /:
: \\____\\ ______________________________ oT /___//|
|________________________// e p i n i c i o n \\________________|
New songs this week include: Three Scott Joplin remixes by Simul. They
are "Maple Leaf Rag," "The Entertainer," and "Something Doing." We also
have a house mix by Bert entitled "State of Mind." Finally, AiRoN debuts
with "Wedding Man." NeuroPsychosis also puts out "Decade."
Otherness musicdisk has been released! Look for it on the Kosmic site
listed below. Our apologies to CERULEAN, whose name we accidently
confused with CHARLATAN on the disk interface. Please look for Cerulean's
song entitled 'West End.' Also, it appears that Ellegen's song titled
EG-FINAL.S3M on the disk was in fact RIPPED from 'klisje paa klisje,'
another mod that has been in circulation for quite awhile. Ellegen has
been removed PERMENTANTLY from Epinicion, and his name has been added to
the PMS (Plagiarism in the Music Scene) page. You can access this page
at http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/pms.html.
Concerning the ESI interface: Press F10 at the main menu to bring up the
chiptune selection meny. Pressing up or down on the keypad will switch
the chiptune (werd.s3m by Charlatan is the other one besides Clef's). 'M'
will mute the background entirely. Proper credit must also be given to
MikMak[Hardcode], whose excellent MikMod player is utilized (since we
don't have the knowledge or expertise to code our own player).
Epinicion releases as well as new work from numerous other groups can be
found at ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/incoming/music. Our musicdisk(s) can be
found at kosmic.wit.com /kosmic/epinicion. But as always, it is easiest
to DCC this week's new files from us on IRC. Be sure to check out our
Webpage, which has now been moved to The Superunknown, under the direction
of Flood Myth. http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/fm/su.html.
To those thinking of joining Epinicion, or wanting to know more about our
philosophy: You need not be great to join Epinicion. You need only to
aspire to be great. I quote from "Synners," a novel by P. Cadigan: "We do
what we do and we do it because we can." Damn straight. If you are a
dedicated person striving to become better, then email us. And join us.
We're here for YOU, the musician. So if you think you have what it takes,
don't bother waiting. Join Epinicion NOW.
Psibelius (Gene Wie)
Epinicion Founder
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[ Advertisements ]---------------------------------------------------------
.___________________________|___ __ _
| ____ |
| :____: | ____________
______|_ __________.____ | /\/\_________\_____ _ /
/\ \ / ______/ _ ___/_ _ /. | __/____\ ___/\ / \ /_______
/ \__\ /__/_ ___/ \ / \ / :_|__/__ ___/ \ _/ \ / \// _____/
/ . \_\ /: / __/ . \/ \/ | _____/ _/ \ \ \ / \___ \
/___: \ / | / \ :_____\ \ |__ \ \ / \__\ \__/_______\ \
| \_/ /______\ | /________\_| \___\/| \____\ /______________\
|____\ \ / /_____| /_______________\ | |____\ WW
\/ /___ _ :
| | .
_ __ __|_____________________ __ _ . .
|
__ _ _
| |_ | |_| |.-----.
| _|| _ || -__|
________ |____||_| |_||_____| _
|__. .__|.--.--.----.----./---\.| |_| |./---\.-----.
| | | | | _| _| .A. || _ || .A. | |
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.----. __
| -- |.-----.| |.--------.
| | | -__|| || |
|__|\_\|_____||__||__|__|__|
________________/-\________________
\ where music meets technology /
`---------.--------------.--------'
| 6o4 477 o639 |
`--------------'
o Demos (100+ ONLiNE) o DMPC Support
o Compos (Asm'94, The Party IV) o No Ratios, Free!
o Music Disks o 14,400 baud v32 v42b
o Epinicion Distro o FidoNet, Magnet, TuneNet, iCENet etc
o Ambience Music Crew Distro o Demo and Sound File Oriented
o MiDi, Mods, S3Ms, MtMs o Internet E-Mail
o SoundMod v.1 CD-Rom ONLiNE! o Great Messages
o Over 900 megs ONLiNE w/CD-Rom
-=> The Turrahan Relm *where music meets technology* 6o4 477 o639 <=-
-=> located in Victoria, BC, Canada. Phone Today! <=-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
______
/\_____\
/ / /
/ / _______________________________________________ __________________
\/__ /\ \ \ _ \ \ \ \ /\ ___\ ____\
/ \ \ __ __ \ ___\ \ \ _X__\____ \ ___\
/ \ \ \ \ \ \ / \ \ \ \ \ \
\ \_____\_____\____\_____\____\ \________\________\________\________\
\ / / / / / / / / / / /
\ / / / / / /\ / / / / /
\/_____/_____/____/_____/____/WW\/________/________/________/________/
a big 3-z askee for gd ;)
im-pulse : a sudden spontaneous inclination or incitement to some usually
unpremeditated action
: A demo party, being organized by BAOUM, to be held in lovely
Syracuse, NY, from July 28 to July 30
Be sure to check our advertisement/information web page for more details:
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/demos/dmax/ads/impulse/top.html
(c) 1995 by the Brothers Alliance Of Underground Multimedia
GraveDigger - gd@ftp.cdrom.com
Phoenix - vossa@rpi.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[Distribution Sites]-------------------------------------------------------
-BBS System- -Country- -Number- -Sysop-
____________________________________________________________________________
| Hack / Ploddt | Canada | 902-625-5920 | Popcorn |
| Beats per Minute | Canada | 418-660-8137 | Populus |
| Our World | Canada | 416-740-4346 | b0b |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| Aethelwulf Utopia | USA | 309-862-4918 | Quarex |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| Mindflux | Australia | +61-2-416-2513 | Force Format |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| Velvet Demosite | Belgium | +32-3-3851594 | Sleeping Dog |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| CybeR WeB | Italy | +39-331-310641 | ArachniD |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| TH Rijswijk BBS | Netherlands | +31-70-3401534 | Raymond Dijkxhoorn|
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| The Digital Dream | New Zealand | +64-7-856-1376 | Black Friday |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| MultiMedia GS | Singapore | (65)252-1220 | Lee Teck Chee |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| The Portal | Sweden | +46-26-196363 | Coyote & Cyanid |
|-------------------+--------------+-------------------+-------------------|
| Sound & Vision | U.K. | +44-181-288-8444 | Rob Barth |
\++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/
Neurosis will now be handling Distro sites, I am forwarding all requests
I have recieved in the last few weeks to him. To become a site you must
meet these requirements:
1. Your board must be demoscene related.
2. You must have a special directory for TraxWeekly Issues.
3. All TraxWeekly issues must be a free download.
Please send all requests to ->davidk@randomc.com<-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[Subscribing/FTP/WWW Info]-------------------------------------------------
TraxWeekly is on the World Wide Web! Officially, the sites are:
http://www.partek.fi/traxweek
AND
http://kosmic.wit.com/~kosmic/traxweek
Partek is in Finland and Kosmic is in the US. So, choose the server nearest
to you for the fastest connection. This page is maintained by Dragunov.
TraxWeekly subscriptions are available, and can be requested in this matter:
Send mail to: listserver@oliver.sun.ac.za
And put in the message body: subscribe trax-weekly [your real name]
If you want to unsubscribe to the list, mail the same address and write:
unsubscribe trax-weekly
TraxWeekly is also available on ftp.cdrom.com:
/pub/demos/incoming/news/ for the most recently uploaded version, or
/pub/demos/news/traxw/ for all of the back issues.
/---------------------------------[ End ]------------------------------------
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until next week! (=
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