Ice Caves of Titan

Ice Caves of Titan by Star4mation

Trying to learn some recording techniques with this one. recorded 2 synths played together as a backing track, then whilst listening to the track, played and recorded another synth melody (in one take, as you know I like to keep it as live as i can!)
Mixed the 2 tracks together, widened the stereo and here it is!
Sorry it's over 8mins long! I got a bit carried away!

Beautiful ambient piece. Love the gentle melody and the wide stereo field. Nice work on this one!

Thanks Ed I wasn't sure how wide the stereo went! Only managed to listen on headphones so far. Sounded ok but as i guessed the settings(I need to write things like that down LOL) and hoped for the best! I really need to put the track through my HI-FI and play it at a decent volume!
I'm learning as I go along

WONDERFUL SoundScape with a most AWESOME mood and flow. VERY GOOD STEVE! Im sure Peter will let you how great this is!!!WOW! really nice man!

DACE>

Steve.....sorry I'm so late with this...I completely overlooked it.

This is probably the best track that I have heard from you so far.
I am so glad that you have used this technique of recording live and you have done it very well. Your playing on this is spot on.....nice and slow and easy and most of all atmospheric. Good choice of sounds and a great title.

The backing tracks with the wind noises are something that should really be more subdued as they tend to mask the lead parts which should be heard more clearly in the mix.
The wide stereo mix is fine.....more reverb and delay would have made it more spacey if you want make a track more dream like...something to bear in mind for the future.

8 minutes is fine for this kind of track....many of mine are around this length....in fact 7 to 10 mins is just right as you are taking the listener on a journey.

I think that you really should pursue this style......you have made a great start.....and I can see you as becoming an Ambient artist who people will recognise very quickly.

Great Work Steve.....more like this will be a treat

Sweet...Been waiting on Peters RE....

Steve, Peter and I would both love to do some guitar for ya...

When you do one and hear guitars in your head, hit one or both of us up..

YES, on the lenght...This kind of track you want long. I enjoyed even sec. Took me on a ride. Wonderful SoundScaping......FLOW was perfect man!

DACE>

Peter, thanks for your kind words and advice. Yeah I thought the wind was a little too up front as well, but I couldn't cut the volume down without losing some volume on the other synth pads in the background. I should have recorded all the synth parts seperately and not just the solo synth I used for the melody. (Thought it would be easier to play and record 2 synths at a time) Originaly the track was just the 2 synths, but listening to it play, I thought It needs a melody of some sort on top, something soft and tunefull (I did think acoustic guitar at one point but that would have made it a bit too "New Age" and not quite the sound I was after)

On the technique of recording live, I find this to be the best way to keep the music personal and fairly unique. Too much "cut 'n' paste sounds like a computer made it (and for me it takes so much longer!) So much easier to hit record and just play whatever comes out.
I like my creations to be like sonic snapshots of how I'm feeling at the time.

Ambient soundscapes do seem to be the direction I'm heading. I like this style a lot.

Dace, I always hear guitars in my head!! LOL (If I win the Stratgate on Mixposure I'll even learn how to play one!!)
I'll let you know when I do a track that just screams out for some Dace guitar!! (And Peter too!)

This has been a good lesson for you Steve....we all learn something from each track we make and that's how we progress.
Do each part seperately.....an important lesson....because you can then change anything at any time...also you can delete a part later if it is not working and use something else. I have often started a track and pretty much deleted nearly everything along the way as it developed into something else when I found other things that worked better

Record as much live as you can for Ambient work....this not only gives you something more creative and unique but it will create an everchanging flow within the track.
I think you did well to get the feeling and the pace right in this track and that is something that you can use as you progress .

I think this style of music will work better for you and it will bring more creativity into your work very quickly as you have a feel for it.

Look forward to hearing you do more.

It's been awhile... glad to see you are still recording.
I'm way behind on listening, but trying to catch up.

Nice and soothing. It does sound wide. Love the synth wind howling through the caves.
The name goes perfectly with the music.

When the resonance increases it almost sounds like the phaser noise in the original Star Trek series.

It's cool how the modulations slide across each other. That gives it a lot of complexity.

I like how you made it sound like something is moving around in the cave too.

I really like this Star! It deserves to be long, because you are building a soundscape.
It's environmental, but the environment is very SciFi.

Nicely done!
Z

Cheers Z, Glad you liked it Originly I was going to call it "Martian sand storm" but it sounded way too cold for that!!

my feel glide between in pieceful dimension
great Work Steve!

Ralf

Thanks Ralf