rainbow whirlwind PROTO

this thread is for documenting the progress of my unreleased 7th EP, rainbow whirlwind. it's in a very early phase right now, look out for it in february. if you'd rather like something more complete you could go listen to my released 6th EP.

..but if you're not afraid of rough tracks:

there is a bit of a concept behind this album, it's the 7th evolution of my drum programming style towards distortion and DSP. it's made in renoise like all of my recent work.

i have a soundcloud pro account which lets me edit tracks, so these are bound to change silently. just a heads-up.

recent updates:

* rainbow-whirlwind I flow improvements

* remastered chinoise.

flow improvements to latter half of electric-mountain

today i updated rainbow-whirlwind II with some DSP action, and made this with the fifth track in mind: https://instaud.io/3de7

however i think the new track might be too 'techno' for this ep's flow, so i'm not sure how to make it fit.

fifth and final track coming up

with this, the ep broke the 7-minute limit. i'm going for 10-15 mins this time.

slight tweaks to tracks all around, plus butterfly fx got remastered and chinoise now has an ending.

still got some flow problems that will be addressed as the tracks keep evolving. but i'm starting to like the sound of where this release's going, there are some worthwhile moments emerging from experimentation. i'm learning new techniques as i go and it's very exciting.

strongly edited butterfly fx, it's 3 mins long now :o

I like what I've heard so far. it's a nice concept to reveal some of your progress by updating existing tracks constantly but honestly not a one that will make a lot of people listen to your tracks. one would actually be required to spend a lot of one's time to check on your music again and again and that in times where finished and polished tracks and albums galore are around everywhere. Also what I've noticed is that all your tracks are very treble heavy. not sure whether that is a stylistic choice or a result of the sound system you are mixing on or both. I'd like to hear a more concerted tonal balance in your tracks. But I think if you can get a few more things right your music will sound very good. but that's just like my opinion

thanks for your input. it's something for me to consider.

  On 1/29/2019 at 2:35 AM, darreichungsform said:

one would actually be required to spend a lot of one's time to check on your music again and again and that in times where finished and polished tracks and albums galore are around everywhere.

i'm lucky enough to have a handful of fans who do just that. perhaps it doesn't work so much as an introduction to my music. i might have the updates be more diary-like to keep it interesting.

  On 1/29/2019 at 2:35 AM, darreichungsform said:

Also what I've noticed is that all your tracks are very treble heavy. not sure whether that is a stylistic choice or a result of the sound system you are mixing on or both.

on this release it's a stylistic choice. i love white spectrogram moments (like the start of rainbow whirlwind I). and distortion brings out those high frequencies.

  On 1/29/2019 at 2:35 AM, darreichungsform said:

I think if you can get a few more things right your music will sound very good.

that's how i'm feeling too

today i updated chinoise and rainbow whirlwind ii. the length of the release is now over 10 minutes, and only the third track seems to end too soon. i find it difficult to return to that one because the rhythms are so abstract.

this is a great checkpoint to listen to the release if you haven't yet.

new artwork, PETSCII style..

the ep is getting close to release, i'd say it's 85% done

i'll try to specify what's still missing from each track

rainbow whirlwind I:

✱better snare mixing during The Drop, I've used just the trick for that in my february tracks

✱some bass licks here and there to fortify the rhythms

✱don't get me wrong, this one is pretty much complete

rainbow whirlwind II:

✱look into some smoother transitions

✱again bass is lacking

electric-mountain:

✱oh boy, this one's still missing like half the track

✱gonna have a long session with this one

chinoise:

✱rework the melody near the end

✱see if it's worth extending the final whirlwind

listening to 'butterfly fx / final whirlind' right now, really like what I am hearing. Some nice stereo spread stuff on the drums early on, and I enjoy your break-chopping (especially the fx processor, sounds like tons of cool flanging). By the way, were you chopping a jazz drum solo right before the outro? Whatever it was sounded awesome!

  On 2/17/2019 at 10:23 PM, Drum Up said:

listening to 'butterfly fx / final whirlind' right now, really like what I am hearing. Some nice stereo spread stuff on the drums early on, and I enjoy your break-chopping (especially the fx processor, sounds like tons of cool flanging). By the way, were you chopping a jazz drum solo right before the outro? Whatever it was sounded awesome!

thanks a bunch!

the recipe of the milkyheart Noisinator is secret, but alas, there's no flanging involved.

yeah, it's a jazz/funk solo. and that part is improvised (with small clean-ups)

---

i'm actually pretty proud of the track myself, i learned a lot while making it and the end result carries a lot of meaning. to me it's about butterflies as a symbol for reincarnation, i can sorta imagine a glitched nature-themed music video

the track's also featured on my mixtape, with two or three quick edits: https://forum.watmm.com/topic/96560-milkyhearts-curious-compressed-february-mixtape/

release is imminent, i might still make it in february like my plan was. 

* updated chinoise and butterfly fx to mixtape masters on soundcloud. 

* also, electric-mountain is finally coming together! it was the first track i started and looks like it's the last i'll finish. there's a bit of drama to this, my usb drive got corrupted and i lost the renoise project file.. but that made me reconsider this stuck track. i ended up with two halves that are currently bridged together only by a quick droney idea. 

https://soundcloud.com/milkyheart/electric-mountain-demo?in=milkyheart/sets/rainbow-whirlwind

this one is probably the most abstract track on the ep lol, surprised me how it turned out. extra noisy lo-fi adventure.

I like what you are doing with the distortion on the drums.

final update. the release's out, go check it: https://forum.watmm.com/topic/96751-rainbow-whirlwind-ep/

i took my sweet time with the last stretch. these tracks take time because they're built from such small blocks. i worked in short bursts for most of march, so i didn't bother reporting.

but now i can say i'm satisfied with the result.

i took a big bite and eventually managed to chew it all. the ep sounds very much like it was originally shaped in my mind, seems like i've captured many sounds that didn't exist before. i learned a lot of new tricks on the fly that i had to quickly vary, the creative process was full of interesting twists and turns.

i'm using my knob twiddler powers to lock this diary as it has served its purpose. thanks to all soundcloud listeners along the way!