(link, in case the embed doesn't work: houseofforgottentapes.bandcamp.com/track/crusaders-new-lands)

Hi, after years I've finally managed to make a new track. Currently I am back home, I'll be here for a few more days so I decided I better spend some time on at least finishing something, since I won't be able to buy a PC for some more months.

The track is quite simple, I really like it, must have spent around 8 hours total (project says 5 hours). I had to consolidate quite a few tracks to help my stone age computer handle the project. I tried to export each track separately, and then put some effects on each on a separate project. My goal was to replicate not only the structure, but also the feeling of 90s hard trance. I would love it if you could tell me anything in this regard: sound, mixing, arrangement, composition, does it have that "analog feeling", etc.

Anyway, at the end, it's dance music, as long as it makes you stomp your feet and move your head, I'm happy with the result Cheers

PS: Here's a funzie, a screenshot from the arrangement

 

Really good, especially that ethnic touch... nice to see FL studio : )

 

Hi @Backtired ! ,first of all nice to see you back online
I really like the drum programming/drum pattern you did in this track
the chords & pad sound section between 1.42 to 2.08 is excellent
I would choose or sound design a different lead sound @0.50,a more euphoric one imho
Happy Holidays/Happy New Year,be safe,spyfx

 

I like that you left the tb303 acid lines further back in the mix. I'm not big on the synth that comes in at 3:30; it is a little jarring to me. maybe just a fade change or something.

I think it sounds close to how you want it to. there are always more little details. good work

 

Sorry, but no. Your track sounds too good for that era. Too well shaped and too open. 90's Hardtrance was more undefined/rough (soundwise) and squishy (if that expression is correct). You'll immediately hear the difference when you compare your track to these

Nonetheless, I like it.

 

You did in FL Studio so it must sound good.

 

Great work. One of the few posted on here where I didn't feel the need to fast-forward through the track.

Not sure about your graphic though.
Looks more like something to accompany a Gaelic folk song complete with pan pipes.

 

Last edited: Dec 29, 2021

good effort mate, well done

 

Thanks everybody for the nice comments, I appreciate them.
About the picture: yeah, ahahah, I was in a hurry and put two pictures together. Next time I should probably just make a fake vinyl with some text on it

To NoAvenger: thanks for the feedback. How would you suggest to improve it overall? I'm not stuck in the past, I don't want to make something identical to those tracks of course (which I absolutely love...), but I'd like to get close to it, while still retaining some of "my touch". I used RePro for most of the synths, and very little processing (Front Daw and RC-20 on quite a few tracks). Less panning to get a stereo field which is more mono? By squishy you mean more acidly/resonant sounds? I don't know how to make the synths themselves sound more "dirty/unshaped" honestly... could this be the case where "you can't beat analog gear"? I don't know, I'm just a hobbyist

PS: Ohh, I forgot to say that TAL-DAC contains some voodoo magic, but I'm still a newb on how to use it well

Cheers, have a good one and thanks

 

In general by trying to reproduce the way they've been made (so mostly not in high end pro studios):

• One synth, one sound. Not one to rule them all (i.e. Serum] and even not the Arturia armada. Different devs contribute to more character.
• Hardly any outboard gear (if any). Mostly one reverb, maybe two compressors. Use whatever FX comes with the (old) synths.
• Mostly medium budget consoles means:
  • no channel compression
  • low cut with 12dB slope (maybe switchable from 60 to 100Hz)
  • rather shallow low and high shelves so you can't dial in or out a lot without affecting freqs you don't want to affect
  • two mid bells with the lower rarely reaching below 100Hz
  • no slope or Q for any of these bands (analogue Q mostly ~1 +-0.5)
  • no high cut
• Maybe more crosstalk than usual
• And not too much high end

I think it's mainly the limited treatment options not so much saturation or downgrading. And when it comes to saturation, it's mostly the same, the console's, just driven differently.
The stereo field can be wide, in a natural way but some synth were simply mono.

 

Thanks a lot, I knew most of these already but never fully apply them.
I have one last question... I see you mentioned crosstalk, and it's not the first time I read it when talking about this subject. It might be my bad ears, or my stupidity, but I can't for the sake of me make it work. I know what crosstalk is (when a channel bleeds into another, if I remember correctly), but everytime I tried doing some tests, I could *never* figure out how to make it work. Is it supposed to "glue" the mix? I tried SDRR crosstalk with gain matching and the master is not affected at all. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but then I downloaded a free plugin called Crosstalk2 (apparently just to reproduce this phenomenon) and I can't hear a change at all. I'm not using cheap headphones...
For the rest of the points, I find very interesting the EQ part. Thanks for sharing... wish this style of music was still being produced today

 

No, by bleeding into the adjacent channel it worsens that signal.
I've tried the SDRR once and I couldn't make any use of it either. Also Sleepy Time isn't very helpful. The only crosstalk I really like is the one in S1's CTC. Sadly, up to date I haven't found any mono to mono channel crosstalk plugin, only versions for stereo channels.

The easiest way to find out what a plugin is doing is to insert it into an audio channel and phase invert a copy of this channel (without the plugin ofc, but I think I don't need to tell you this ).

Another point when it comes to equing, when you use the internal FX of a synth, the console EQ is applied afterwards to both, the sound and the FX, we nowadays usually EQ first.