Shameless Plug.... Syngate Records Release - Berlin School (Some insight)

[swampy]

This is my 2nd album and maybe first proper release on Syngate Records in Germany and a shameless plug by me. It is Berlin school based but also touches on other styles of electronica.

https://syngate.bandcamp.com/album/electron-utopia
(DASK - Electron Utopia)

Since I crossed over to the 'dark side' of 'pro audio' and composing my own music I have been less into Hi-Fi. In fact I don't own any expensive HiFi speakers any more, the last pair being some martin logans. However what I find interesting is that being into HiFi for so long (30 years) and having used some expensive gear in the past and making my own DIY gear it has served me very well in training my ears to make my own sounds having spent countless hours tweaking my Hi-Fi like most of us do.

I will say that mastering can be hard and almost impossible to make an album sound good on all setups, hats off to the pros that do this for a living. Some ear buds like the apple ones are so bad when you master to sound correct on pro studio headphones or speakers so it sounds good on an decent HiFi it can sound poor on stuff used by the masses. I see why some music now sounds ok on budget setups but really bad on hi-end revealing systems that show all the EQ done to suit lower systems so the art is getting a balance between the two. I took some time mastering this myself with various tools since I cannot afford to use a proper mastering studio, most indie musicians can't tbh.

Anyone with electronics background or knowledge should get the title of the tracks and theme of the album BTW.

[Barry]

Excellent post David.

It's a sad fact of life that new music is being mixed/mastered to suit 'mobile' systems.

[struth]

As most music is streamed to iphones etc thats where a lot of the effort goes now. I guess they may well do several mixes , one for mp3 and one for cd. One for vinyl

[swampy]

Yes, there is even a mastering tool to check what your mix sound like on all the cheap earbuds and mobile setups. It turns your 1k cans or speakers into sounding like the system you want to mix best for. Basically it can make your system sound like crap so you can adjust the mix. Does not leave much hope for future audio quality esp now SACD and dvd-a are dead and only a few are interested in 24 bit audio.

[swampy]

A free download track of mine here... I bit of a quirky take on Berlin School since it is not the typical 'spacey' theme usual with that style.

https://dask.bandcamp.com/track/insecta-green-edit

I used a 1:1.70 compression ratio so would be interested on how it works on a good Hi-Fi or cans.

[hifinutt]

fantastic , got some syngate records . been ito berlin school for years . playing stellardrone right now , absolutely adore gert emmens and I think I have about 20 of his albums along with ron boots . hope it goes well

[swampy]

I am a big fan of Ian Boddy, Arc and Redshift, the keller trio (BKS). There are so many good and much better musicians than me keeping this style alive and moving forward. It is a pitty so many of these guys fly under the radar for many electronica fans. I have some of Gert's music also. Must dig it out and re-listen some.

[hifinutt]

definitely , I was listening to ian boddys chiasmata and gert emmens nearest faraway place vol 1 this week
got FD project today and yesterday on now

[hifinutt]

this is a great thread too , you might recognise one on page 11

http://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/123777-downtempo-electronica/

[swampy]

Thanks hifinut. Once I finish recording I usually do 1 pass listen then I don't listen to my own music again. Infact I really start to hate it and this does seem to be very common when you read articles and threads on kvaudio / reddit etc. So many great artists and big name composers really hate their own music even big hits. (KURT COBAIN CALLED “SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT” ‘AN EMBARRASSMENT’) Same with many actors who refuse to watch themselves on screen. There are only a few artists who play and listen to their own music and Kanye West is the main well known one... enough said !!

In the past when I recorded anything I just deleted it all. Some might think for the better ;) Probably deleted better stuff than I bothered to put out now.

I think the truely great music, art and movies are those that never date or date very slowly. Like watching a Ridley Scott movie and then realizing it is nearly 30 years old but still looks amazing on screen or artists like Klaus Schultz who released En-Trance in 1988 before the word even existed and Trance music in the mid 90's. Some artists are just ahead of their time I guess.