its the feeling I have... alive drums coming right at you... to bring you to the Yog-Sothoth dimension, where not everything is fine but everybody is cool. I luv your prod! you're the drum master!

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Thanks, Data, I appreciate that! The drums do too.

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The opening reminds me of "Don't Stand So Close to Me," but on the pill that makes you smaller.

You know what I think this could really use? Some drums. It's a bold experiment to go out without them, but I dunno, I think something more traditional might be cool, too. If you think I don't hear that scary voice in there, too, you're crazy! Enough with the scary voices.

*scary voice free zone declared*

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I did consider adding drums, but thought that might be too pedestrian for a drumoff challenge.

Scary voices? Yog-Sothoth is taken aback! He was just saying a timid 'hello'. You need to break out "The Sneetches" again and read about those pale-green pants in "What Was I Scared Of?"

OK, I "promise" there won't be any scary voices in my next song. The only voices are Indians singing. I put "promise" in quotes because I'm not completely sure what kind of pants you are scared of.

Anyway, I do thank you for confronting your phobias long enough to check out my tune... thank you Lisa!

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You are the drum master. I can completely see this song played at a rave or some underground party with lots of bodies gyrating. Now where did I put my mind altering substance ... oh yeah it's coming out of my speakers. Well done sir!

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Yes... this should get some play in Zion, before the final assault of the machines. Now that's a party that could appreciate a tune like this! Thanks for listening and the kind words, piscean.

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drummer on hi doses of caffiene and valium......u get some kool rhythms like we have here.......very kool and of course it took me to yog-sothoth......!

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Too much coffee does this to me, heh. Glad you like these caffeinspired rhythms, Mcboy, thanks!

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...that this piece features drums! It's so atmospheric & 3 dimensional.
Fantstic production David. I don't care who keeps or takes the crown, you're up there as far as drum 'royalty' is concerned!
Cheers!

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I'm glad you noticed the drums, man. Thanks for your kind words about my production on this, it really was a challenge and I'm fairly happy with the end result. I preciate you coming by.

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Hey! Where the drums at?



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Cleverly hidden!

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Loads of fun in this piece. I can see what a blast it must have been putting in together. Love the squirks and ambient sounds spread all over it.

Well done!

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You are correct, it really was a blast making this. Thank you for checking this out, Thor, I'm glad you like it!

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there's so much cool percussive stuff hap'n. With the cans on my head its mind tingling, very visual for me. i think the clips and cameo's by alien instruments helped with the "projector in my head" thing. spectacular drumfesta.

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I always hope to make evocative music, so I'm glad to hear this is visual for you. And I'm glad you dug this, thanks for listening, KTB!

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...we can all sing along to...

The thing standing out for me on this, David, is the three dimensional quality of the mix... really seems like more than stereo is involved here... and the use of varied percussive sounds and elements that somehow all end up sounding unified... And tonal, not just percussive...

You do have to clear up for certain people 'round here that Yog-Sothoth is NOT a PLACE...

And I think, or at least I hope, that we can agree about not having to involve Sneetches, whether with stars or without, nor ambulatory green pants... I WANT to think that...

I WOULD like to mention that, while Dunwich is essentially the area around Springfield, Monson, Wilbraham and Hampden, DR. SEUSS (Ted Geisel) grew up in Springfield, on Mulberry Street... Coincidence?

We think not.

AND, my high school had a whole donated set of reference works from the library of Timothy Leary... Coincidence?

You decide.

Yeah, this is pretty amazing...

Ed

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Thanks for your kind words, Ed. I'm glad that you heard a 3 dimensional mix here, I do try to work that way. And I appreciate that about the percussion sounding unified; that was a big challenge, because I wanted the percussion to provide most of the detail in this song, and drew from very, very diverse sources (there's over 150 different sound files mixed in here).

Dr. Seuss grew up on Mulberry St? That explains one book title at least. Hmmm... Timothy Leary, Dr. Seuss and Lovecraft... trinity of the bizarre? You've got a nexus of strangeness going on there.

Thank you, Ed!
--Star-bellied David

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There's no way I would have posted my entry if I had listened to this first! This is one very cool trip. The production is through the roof- excellent panning and sounds. Outstanding!

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Hey thanks Mike!! I'm glad you liked my production here.

Are you kidding?! Your entry is fantastic and has the advantage of being nice and clean and groovin'. Personally, I'm psyched that you posted something for this, thanks for playing :)



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Well what I said was - I almost feel like ya just took your sticks and beat me cross the head with this... This has quite the sinester feel to it. And no matter how much I think I know about how to assemble these puppies, I always walk away after listening to you pieces feeling like I need to go back to class...

This is definitely a masterpiece my friend!!! And yes, it sounded like you were on a mad mission... That'll teach me for talkn' smack.

You're a bad ass!!! - But I'm gonna wear that crown someday!

Cheers Mister, Sir

Thanks for playing along! Macca



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Thank you Macca! Sure it may be a little sinister, but there was no attacks on your head. I just had fun making this, and it was your challenge that inspired it in the first place... so, thank you for the challenge!!

I listened to your entry, and I know also from your previous songs... and I think you deserve your own crown too. Like I've said before, I have a lot of admiration for what you do with percussion (and brass and strings), and you're covering territory that never seems to work for me (open spaces, bigger drums, slicker grooves).

Here's a crown for you, Macca. |VVVV| Wear it proudly on your uppermost branches.



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.... but what I really like about this is the subtlety (yes, subtlety!) behind the mayhem. There are a lot of cool pans, odd sounds (not all of them loud) and slight timing shifts going on. As Ed said, "this is more than stereo", as Macca said, "this is definitely a masterpiece", and as Thor said, "love the Squirks"!?
Too much (scary) fun - I said that!
Neil

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Hahaha!

Thanks, I'm glad the subtleties are noticed. I've had weeks to tweak and refine this thing, and it seems that every time I listened I made little improvements. Actually, if you include the fact that 9 out of 10 changes that I attempt don't work (and I discard them), I think that pretty much describes how I work on these things. I'm glad you enjoyed this, Neil, thanks!

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this is friggin' amazing! You should be scoring movies.

Das all I'm sayin'

Genius subtlety. Genius production. Mad skillz, yo. :-)

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You are so superkind, MissChaos, I'm really flattered. Thank you!!

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You're getting better and bigger by the hour. In a few days you'll have to buy your own planet! I'd love to know how you played/programmed/mixed this (seriously, should you ever find time to explain this track to us ordinary humans...). I love it when I can listen to music just for enjoyment and at the same time sink my ears into a vast landscape of details and musical ideas that I would have never conceived myself. The one thing that strikes me in particular, beyond your obvious extraordinary sense for rhythm and arrangement, is how you can maintain this dynamic, striving energy, without making it sound contrived or restless. Stunned! To be fair I will have to listen all the illustrious names I see above, but after hearing this...how could you top this?!

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Thank you, kind sir. Boy I can't wait to have my own planet! I promise not to ruin it.

Seriously, I appreciate your comment. I don't know if I have anything to teach really, but I can tell you roughly how I went about constructing this. Pull up a chair.

Bear in mind this is almost entirely constructed from stock loops and sound fx; so, as is typical for me, most of the work in this song involves searching through 20GB of sound files and finding the ones that work best.

I started with this basic idea, to have the percussion do all the talking--taking the place of melodic instruments. So I knew this was going to be drums, a bassline (to anchor the low end and keep the groove while the drums go wild), and sound fx/synth pads, and that's about it.

I started with the drums, and spent over a week just assembling mini percussion ensembles. Each of these ensembles has a drum loop or two panned hard left and hard right, with heavy gating; those are ornaments on the main beat. Those tracks are doubled, and the duplicate tracks have HiPass and Phaser filters applied, to give them a ghostly edge.

The chewy filling in these ensembles is the juxtaposed scraps of percussion that make up the main beats. For those, I wanted to construct something like a melody using the tones and timbres of the percussion. This was largely a process of trial and error, and tossing out the vast majority of ideas tried. The "main themes" in the percussion here is what remained.

I wanted the timing to be a little edgy, so most of the song alternates between 8/4 and 7/4, and there's a mix of straight timing, and swing timing.

The fast section in the middle was a different beast, and basically involved searching for hard hitting, aggressive drum loops that propel forward. Again, there's left and right drum tracks, and they're doubled onto tracks with filters applied. And there's centered, driving beats too.

I didn't even start with the bass and synths until I had the skeleton of the rest of the song sketched out. The bass lines are heavily chopped up "Bass on Demand" loops (and most of the drumset beats are heavily chopped up "Drums on Demand" beats). I added distortion and some etc. to the bass to fill it out.

Gosh, the more I think about this, the more I could just go on and on... at a certain point, I just listened to this song over and over, and every time I thought there was something I could improve I would jump on it... adding or removing sounds, changing panning, volume and filters... I knew I couldn't post this until the end of January, so I had a couple of weeks of sitting on it and tweaking it every time I listened. I think that's my secret :-)

There you have it; a glimpse, perhaps, at my working process. As well as my longest comment ever. Thanks for asking, and again, thanks for the kind words, Pari!

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man, this just gives & gives from start to finish-love the sounds, love the beats, love the energy

DL'd, faved, blah, blah, blah ;)

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Right on, I'm glad you dig this, _!!

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All the little details make the great , big picture of sounds. Nice done!

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I'm glad you enjoyed this, thank you Wildcat!

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just read your explanation as to how you did this and I am amazed. You have an exceptional mind for music. Before I read how this piece was created I found myself listening fixated on all the subtle nuances that came at my ears at every turn. Very talented production and creation, Well done!!!!

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Thanks for the kind words, Norman! I had a grand time assembling this, and I'm glad to hear that you (and others) are enjoying the subtleties. I appreciate you listening and commenting!

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Didge me!!.. stick it in and didge my bubbling morass.. vibrate my ripples and float yourself over me.... Mmmmmm .. damn it all... We simply most make time at some point in the future to collab... oh I know you have collabs lined up with 37 other peeps but not a one of them is a didge player :D ... (I think anyways)

As always very good stuff.. and yes really, it is... screaming didge all over the place at me.

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Didge, thank you man! So, do you hear didge in here as is, or as it should be? I do think we should collab sometime, if you don't mind me, er, modifying the sound of your playing at all. Why not send me a track of didge, and I'll see what I can do with it? Thanks for stopping by here, I'm glad you like my tune!

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Wow, this is incredible! Looks like you won this bout.

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Thanks, AERO!

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This is a great mix, love the drum and the mixing of them. Could work well at the right club or why not, a moder ballet setting? Ther are some neat effects and sound bytes all thorugh the song, it does NOT get boring even for a second. A surprising journey! /Mikki

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...and sent me into zone 10. Really nice build. Oh...that's very cool with the voices.

My first listen to your stuff. I'll definitely be back for more.

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LOL You're really havin a GREAT TIME ARNT U ; ) I envy YOU THANKS !!!

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something constructive or analytical to say about this, but your work is so far over my head I wouldn't even venture an attempt.

wild timing is cool. Part of what stands out for me is a feeling that repeated hits on bottles breaks the glass

Brief, high impact piece of work.

. - Harold

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This is very good!

Very, very good!

o0o

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...but then again - you're not human, are you?
:)

Very cosmic, very grand, very cool!

-Einar S.

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anything i could say about what i just heard here. I have to go to bed now and endure some strange dream; directly related to your little foot-tapping escapade.
excellent ear and mind collaboration here.
indeed.

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.. monster .. not when they're small .. but BIG!

Awesome drums. Suffice to say, profanity, profanity
drums!! I like the deep bass and atmostpheric synths -
really good soundscape - I mean the variety, skill and
attention to the drums jumps at ya .. but the synth
stuff is very clever and very well balancing.

I like that little repeated skip too in the bass melody .. sound effects are used expertly too.

With crowns being the currency here, I can easily afford to give you a crown.

/pg

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i can't believe i missed this one before. it's brilliant! loev the stellar beats. :)

cheerz,
-=ez

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once again, great composition and great mixture of sounds! your sound is really unique, and i'm loving it! this is really, REALLY cool...deserves to be included on a soundtrack. very visual tune for me...kinda paints a picture with it's many textures!

age
-sons of hypnos

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