BAMUSIC

Made in a few days, starting 2025/10/28. Started as background music while hacking.

More State Azure / Data Rebel influence, aiming for "ambient house", but I couldn't resist including some bolder melodies, sound design and arrangement. Augmented 5th bass lick as I've been practicing augmented scales. Sounds speghetti-western.

Good use of the sound design and mixing techniques I've been working on: performable macros, "intensity" macros, big effect throws, shaperbox throws, bold bus processing.

I played a guitar lick, augmented scale I think.

I did revisions with a high-quality background noise element, a winter forest wind, but ultimately decided I liked the sound without any added noise better.

Taking a pass to remove elements and effects that weren't contributing cleared up the mix usefully.

I had to bounce the low bass track and edit it because there was one single measure where it was rendering with a glitch...

I rendered at 96k instead of 192k. Seemingly Analog Lab was not functioning at the high rate.

The mastering limiter had a noticable impact on the peak-section sound, and I auditioned several Ozone and Pro-L 2 algorithms. I used L2 "modern". I also did a slightly different process: limit at 96khz to -1db true peak, downsample, then normalize to -0.01db true peak. Limiting at high rates doesn't matter though because the true peak limiter will oversample internally, so I'll probably make more changes in the future.

After doing the final mix I went back for several more revisions, up to v11, but ultimately they just made it worse, so I released v8.

• 110 BPM.
• Lots of Pigments and Massive X and Raum.
• Massive X and maybe Raum crashed several times.
• Lofi Massive X -> ShaperBox background.
• Bass/lead sequence has many of performance macros, automation, throws.
• Impact sample from Samples from Mars.
• Main group: Compressor+, smooth; Intro Throw: Width, HP
• Master bus: Kazrog Retro Sta-Level
• Bitwig.
• Rendered and mastered at 96khz -> 48khz. Analog Lab did not function at 192.
• Lots of spectral content up to and above 60khz.
• Mastered with Acoustica, Pro-L 2.
• TP: -0.01; LUFS: -13.82; STLUFS: -8.07; LRA: 10.99

I slowly built this one over many months, didn't make any notes during the process. Only created todos toward the end of the mix stage.

Overindulged in sound design and mix automation. Automated volume, width, hpf/lpf filters, saturation, per-section chains. Automated width is next level. Creating effects chains for particular parts and automating their mix level is next level. Used Spectre a lot to bring temporary focus to parts. Used high-shelf / lpf EQ to push elements back in mix, instead of or in addition to reverb.

Started mix with Satin on everything but removed it all for greater clarity.

• 138 BPM.
• Bitwig.
• Hand-played guitar and piano.
• Guitar: dual hard-panned, Guitar Rig.
• Channel concept: Silver Bullet, Satin, HG-Q, Michaelangelo, Spectre, Pro-Q. Mostly removed Satin, HG-Q, Michaelangelo.
• Main drums: Berlin 512 Kit.
• Other drums: Acoustic Drums Kit 4 Clean (ride, toms), Legend 707 Kit (kick enhance), Acoustic Drums Kit Egdy Clean (china),
• Synths: Hive (lots), Repro-1, Phase-4, Serum 2
• Piano: NI Gentleman
• Stock FX: Filter+, Filter, Delay-1, Saturation, Over, EQ-5, Compressor
• FX: Kelvin, Volcano (lots), Valhalla VintageVerb inserts (lots), TAL DAC, TAL G-Verb, Colour Copy, Supermassive, Basslane, Comp FET-76, DIST Coldfire
• Master bus: Volcano, kiss of Kotelnikov.
• Auditioned with fancy Audeze headphones.
• Rendered and mastered at 192khz.
• Lots of spectral content above 20khz.
• Mastered with Acoustica, Ozone.
• True Peak: -0.49; LUFS: -9.81;

I was intending to finish this one quickly, after the previous took ~4 months, but I ended up letting it sit mostly finished for several months again.

Lots of bitcrushing and distortion. Attempts at heavy sidechaining after reading the opinions of Low's producer about creating rhythm through sidechaining, drums dating music. Influence from My Bloody Valentine and Nine Inch Nails (The Fragile).

I only used stock devices, as an exercise. It was mostly fine. I would have liked access to other distortion plugins at least, probably a wider selection of synth presets than Bitwig provides.

I did use plugins in the (separate) mastering step.

I streamed some of the production, found myself snapping along while auditioning, so recorded the snaps.

Recorded the shoegaze guitar. Very poor quality playing, but fixed the timing, LFO-ed the gain to make it groove.

• 74 BPM.
• Bitwig.
• All stock devices.
• Drums and bass bused together. Bass radically sidechained to drums.
• "Boat Drinks" kit.
• Piano as bass again.
• Bass note bends and saturation automation.
• Drum/bass runs high-band through amp sim!
• Much bitcrushing.
• Phase-4 pads, bells, arps.
• Delay automation on arps.
• Not much volume automation.
• Reverse cymbals.
• Recorded snaps.
• Recorded guitar.
• No master bus processing.
• Auditioned with fancy Audeze headphones.
• Rendered and mastered at 192khz.
• Lots of spectral content above 20khz.
• Mastered with TDR Infrasonic, TDR Ultrasonic, Gullfoss, Ozone.
• True Peak: -0.54; LUFS: -12.4;

This is built around a 16th note bass arpeggio that switches between straight time and swing time, a relatively uncommon thing to do.

This track represents a step up in my mixing: I overindulged in tiny revisions, selecting sounds and tweaking mix automation. The "song" was basically done at revision 3, and the remaining 21 were mixing tweaks.

My old ears tend to mix overly dark and muddy, but this mix came out very bright and dense, possibly more than I am really comfortable with.

Night City sound. Built around a Polymer arp Bass. By the time the mix approached completion the arp was the worst element - clashing harmonics, repetitive.

More than 4 months to complete, nearly abandoned because I dreaded fixing the mix and instrumentation problems.

Some rhythmic elements have microtiming inspired by reading Dilla Time. Some tracks have +/- ms track delays to adjust the feel.

Used layering in multiple tracks, e.g. synth kick layered with sampled attack, bass is 4 layers, counterlead pings are multiple layers.

Lots of automation - volume, filter, feedback, delay mix.

Reverb is on inserts, not sends.

I was struggling with a flabby midrange, and a last-minute application and gulfoss, while auditioning through soundid made a big improvement.

Overworked mix but happy with details.

It's a bright mix with significant high-mid content ~7k~10k.

This premaster had significant ultasonic content, lost during SRC, and the final mix has very rich content above 15k.

• 100-106 BPM.
• Bitwig.
• Synths are Polymer, Analog Lab, Massive X, Repro-5, Hive.
• Tons of Tool for automation.
• Filter+, Volcano, Arturia SEM.
• Lots of time shifting.
• Mixed with claro.
• Lots of Pro-Q, some stock EQ+
• Reverbs are inserts, lots of Valhalla VintageVerb, lots of Raum, some stock convolution, stock Reverb.
• Saturn 2, Kelvin, stock Amp, stock Distortion.
• Stock Chorus+, Timeless 3, khs Delay, khs Gate, stock Delay-1
• Comp Fet-76, Stock compressor w/ sidechain, Pro-C 2, Pro-L 2.
• Lots of layering and groups.
• Bass is 4 layers of Analog Lab and Polymer.
• Drums: Acoustic Drums Ludwig 1, stock.
  • Extra overlays for kicks, crashes, special snares
  • Kick ducker is its own track.
• Soothe2 for getting drones, guitars, etc out of way of bass arps.
• Lots of mix automation - volume, pan, reverb, delay, saturation.
• Master bus: Gulfoss, Pro-C 2.
• Used SoundId Reference some.
• Rendered and mastered at 192khz.
• Mastered with TDR Infrasonic, TDR Ultrasonic, TDR Arbiter, Ozone.
• True Peak: -0.76; LUFS: -10.5.

Experiments with programming grid instruments, though the most important instruments ended up being presets. No channel strip concept.

• 148 BPM.
• Bitwig.
• Legend 707 kit.
• Stock 1982 E Piano grid patch.
• NI Noire felt piano.
• Grid pads, bells etc, hand programmed.
• Phase plant lead.
• Seventh Heaven send.
• Mostly stock FX.
• Soothe2 to ease harshness in pads.
• Lots of Saturn 2 and Kelvin.
• True Peak: -0.7db; LUFS: -9.9

Experiment with Bitwig FM-4 and Phase-4. Completed in 3 days. No channel strip concept.

• 65-70 BPM (130-140)
• Bitwig.
• Mostly programmed.
• No FX sends, per-channel verb.
• Bitwig FM-4, Phase-4 and drum synths.
• Stock effects except one instance of Presswerk.
• Stock breakbeat.
• Gain staged at -18db.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10.
• Mastered to 48khz/24-bit flac.
• True Peak: -1db; LUFS: -11.

Using instrumentation Aimee prefers: cello, piano, upright bass.

Using the "turnaround progression", Dm7 / G7 / Cmaj7 / A7, modified.

I couldn't figure out how to export audio at 192khz in Bitwig, so this is rendered at 48khz.

• 130 BPM.
• Bitwig.
• Performed piano and ride.
• Moderate volume automation.
• Gain staged at -18db.
• Channel concept: pro-r2 -> satin -> michelangelo -> claro.
  • Saved preset: "OFA Channel".
• Bass: Kontakt Cuba upright
• Kick: Reaktor Trk 01
• Snare: E-Cowbell / stock "Snare Black Beauty Rimshot 3" sample
• Ride: "Acoustic Drums Kit 1 Clean" stock kit.
  • Performed.
  • Note Shift, Velocity Curve, Time Shift, Transient Control.
• Crash: "High-hat 16 Crash Open" stock sample.
• "Snare" noise: Shaperbox 3 with noise shaper.
• Cello: Kontakt Tino Guo Acoustic Cello, volume automated, Volcano 3, stock Filter, stock Dynamics, Saturn 2, Arturia Rotary CLS-222. Black Box, Presswerk, Soothe2.
• Pianos: Kontakt Noire. stock Velocity Curve.
• Rhythm Piano: stock Delay+.
• Horns: Kontakt stock VSL horns.
• Horn lead: Comp Tube-STA.
• Horns: Volcano 3, Presswerk.
• Bassoon: Kelvin, stock Delay+.
• Send: Seventh Heaven.
• Rendered at 48khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -1db; LUFS: -10

I intended to finish something simple quickly after the previous track's lengthy mixing time. Instead I spent many weeks reworking and mixing the "big finale" section, which I refused to let go of.

More automation and modulation in the mix than previous tracks.

• 120 BPM.
• Ableton.
• Piano: Sonniccouture Ambient Wurly, Kelvin, Neutron 4 (compressor).
• Stabs: Massive X, Auto Filter, Volcano 3, Glue Compressor, EQ Eight, Auto Filter, Saturator, Auto Filter; Multiple Brass Ableton Presets, Neutron 4 Compressor, Auto Filter, Saturator, Glue Compressor.
• Steel Drum: Massive X, Auto Filter.
• Lead: Massive X, Volcano 3, Neutron 4 (compressor), Satin, Glue Compressor.
• Bass: stock "Fretless Bass" preset, Volcano 3, Neutron 4 (compressor, transient shaper); Massive X, Neutron 4 (sidechain dyn eq).
• Drums: Stock kit "Session Dry", Volcano 3, Saturator, Neutron 4 (compressor); Snare crack sample, Hybrid Reverb, Gate, Raum; 909 Core Kit, Glue Compressor; Snare sample, EQ Eight, Echo; Snare sidestick sample;
• Formant Growl: Diva, Filterscape, Neutron 4 (exciter), EQ Eight, Glue Compressor, Raum;
• Sends: Hybrid Reverb; Delay.
• Mixbus: Presswerk, Master Limiter.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Gulfoss and Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -0.5db; LUFS: -11

• Intended to use only simple sound design, but didn't.
• 146 BPM.
• Ableton.
• Drums: Stock DMX Kit, cymbals, cowbell, snare; Drum Buss, Volcano 3, Timeless 3, Saturn 2, Raum, Seventh Heaven, EQ Eight, Neutron Transient Shaper, Kelvin, stock Compressor.
• Bass: Diva x2, Auto Filter, EQ8, Soothe 2.
• Melody: Phase Plant, Guitar Rig 6, Satin.
• Solo: Diva, Volcano 3, Timeless 3, Saturn 2, Comp Tube-STA, stock Convolution Reverb (UEMT250 2.0), EQ8.
• Piano: Repro-5, Volcano 3, Timeless 3, Pro-Q 3, stock Filter Delay.
• Sends: stock Convolution Reverb (BM7 Studio); melody bus for unmasking eq sidechain.
• Master: Presswerk (vari-mu), Limiter.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Gulfoss and Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -1.0; LUFS: -9.76

• Another high-tempo track with sound-designed bass focus.
• 140 BPM.
• Ableton.
• Drums: TRK-01 kick, stock sample snare x2, stock sample cowbell, stock Towel Kit -> Drum Buss -> Presswerk -> Tai Chi Lite, stock Towel Kit -> Drum Buss -> Kilvin, EQ8, stock Towel Kit -> Drum Buss -> Presswerk -> Raum, stock Towel Kit -> Drum Buss -> Presswerk -> Raum, stock cymbal sample -> kHz Transient Shaper -> Raum, stock Kit-ClassicMuffle -> Auto Filter x2 -> TDK Molotok.
• Bass: Phase Plant, Kelvin x2, Basslane Pro, Ozone 10 Vintage EQ, Neutron 4, soothe2, Neutron 4 Equalizer, Claro.
• Sub bass: Ableton Wavetable, Ableton Compressor.
• Chords: Phase Plant, Neutron 4, Auto Filter, Kelvin, Claro.
• Pad: Phase Plant, Neutron 4.
• Lead: Phase Plant, Drift, Auto Filter, Presswerk, Cabinet, Raum, EQ8, Claro.
• Piano: stock Grand Piano Stretch Bright Solo, kHs Delay, Amp, Cabinet, EQ8.
• Sends: Convolution Reverb -> EQ8, Convolution Reverb -> EQ8 -> Align Delay.
• Master: Presswerk, Limiter.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Gulfoss and Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -0.55; LUFS: -10.5.

• Following same formula as previous track.
• 140 BPM.
• Ableton.
• Drums: Stock 808 Core Kit, Rock Kit, White Kit, crash, Drum Buss, EQ8, Brush Kit (Drum Warmer rack, Warm and Tough rack, EQ8), Jazz Brush Kit.
• Sub bass: Serum.
• Bass: Pigments.
• Lead group: Massive X x2, Diva, Glue.
• Lead pad: Diva, Kelvin, stock Cabinet, Hybrid Reverb, Neutron Transient Shaper, Auto Pan, Auto Filter.
• Bells: Hive, Kelvin, Tai Chi.
• End pads: Phase Plant, Auto Filter.
• Pad: Serum, Hybrid Reverb, soothe2, Neutron Eq (dynamic side chain),
• Guitar group: Analog (Coral Guitar rack), Kelvin, Tension (Nylon Guitar rack), Neutron Exciter.
• Sends: Tai Chi ER, Seventh Heaven.
• Master bus: Limiter.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica w/ Gulfoss and Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -1.0; LUFS: -10.8 LUFS.

Attempt at making EDM-style pumping sub-bass.

• Ableton.
• 136 BPM.
• Channels: Kelvin, no Satin, no Neutron.
• Serum sub-bass, Kelvin w/ LFO, Basslane Pro, Kelvin again!, soothe2.
• Diva Moog bass, Kelvin, Utility, (stock delay, Kelvin, Raum).
• Stock 808 kick, Kelvin. tuned kicks
• Stock snare (Acoustic Room), Kelvin.
• Stock shaker (A-Shaker 1), Kelvin!
• Stock crash, Raum, EQ8.
• Stock crash (Rock Kit), Raum, Hybrid Reverb, Kelvin, EQ8, Auto Filter,
  • Spectral Resonator, EQ8.
• Stock toms (General Purpose Kit 2), Drum Buss, Gate, Glue Compressor, EQ8.
• Stock ride (British Vintage), Align Delay, EQ8.
• Diva melody, Kelvin, Auto Pan.
• Tina Guo Celo, Kelvin, Raum, EQ8.
• Hive guitar chords, Kelvin, Raum, Soothe2 x2.
• Sends: Seventh Heaven.
• Master bus: stock limiter.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica w/ Gulfoss and Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -0.5; LUFS: -12 LUFS.

Concept combining ambient sleep music with the flutes common in Spas.

• Ableton.
• Channels: Neutron, Satin.
• Hive toms, Glue, stock cabinet.
• Hive kick, Presswerk, Neutron Exciter, bx_subsynth.
• Massive X Bass, Kelvin saturation, stock cabinet.
• Serum Basspad, no preset, Neutron Unmask.
• Diva bass growl, Kelvin, LFO->Utility pan.
• Pigments flute.
• Grand Marimba.
• Pigments sparkle pad.
• Simpler stock tom samples, Glue, Hybrid Reverb.
• Hive blips, Kelvin, stock cab, stock echo.
• Personal library crackle sample, stock LFO, gate, silo granular, stock cab.
• Personal library vacuum samples, EQ8.
• Sends: Seaventh Heaven, Tai Chi early reflections, stock delay.
• Rendered at 192khz.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10 and Gulfoss.
• True Peak: -0.3; LUFS: -11

Attempting synthwave.

• Ableton.
• Stock LD kit, Kelvin. Stock cymbal sample.
• Hive bass, Kelvin, Redux, Cabinet.
• Hive lead, Cabinet.
• Hive stabs, Guitar Rig Matched Cabinet Pro.
• Channels: Satin.
• Sends: LX480 x 3.
• Master: Glue, Stock Compressor, Stock Limiter.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10.
• True Peak: -0.6; LUFS: -11?

Trying to make a realistic sounding band with soundscape after watching a video of the Kush guy comparing compressors a mellow funk song.

• Ableton.
• Session Drums (studio), Prime Bass loops.
• NI Mark I, played by hand.
• Guitar, played by hand.
• Neutron on every track, exciter, gate, compressor, eq.
• Gulfoss on epiano.
• Sends: Acon Verberate 2.
• Master: glue + limiter.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10 and Gulfoss.
• True Peak: -0.6; LUFS: -12

• Ableton.
• Stock 808 kick. Stock snare sample.
• Marimba layer 1 - Ableton collision, stock saturator, stock autofilter, stock cab.
• Marimba layer 2 - Hive.
• Chance perc - two hives with LFO crossfade, soothe2.
• Solo layer 1 - stock wurli -> presswerk, kelvin, cab.
• Solo layer 2 - two hives with lfo crossfade, stock amb/cab.
• Sends: Seventh Heaven.
• Master: Presswerk just kissing.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 10.

Celebrating my friend's birthday.

• Ableton.
• Twin 3 Test: bass, kick / snare subs, dist pads, intro pads, melody.
• Stock suitcase epiano lead.
• Ableton stock kick (felt low bigpunchy), snare (cold tight room).
• Vocoder with Ableton Analog carrier.
• Glue, presswerk, stock saturator, kelvin, stock amp/cab, soothe2, ableton hybrid reverb, valhalla supermassive, guitar rig cab, eq8.
• Sends: Tai chi reverb. Eq3. Stock delay.
• Master: glue, presswerk, satin.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 8.

Originally ambient music turned into something else.

• Ableton.
• Abelton Analog "guitar", Kelvin, stock amp sim.
• Analog bass pad, kelvin, raum, soothe2.
• FM8 sub bass, glue, kelvin, gate, lfo-panning.
• Kontakt drumlab.
• M4L pink noise with track automation, raum, kelvin, m/s eq.
• Serum + Grand Marimba.
• Serum lead.
• LX480 medium hall.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 8 and Gulfoss.

• Ableton. Stock 808, stock epiano.
• True Iron + Satin channels. Kelvin.
• Hive bass. Hive lead w/ Raum.
• Hive chance arp, lots of midi processing.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 8 and Gulfoss.

• Ableton. Tree tones background, afoxe percussion, stock 808 kick,
• "Parsec Breach" preset noise, ableton string ostinato stock clip with Kelvin,
• Tina Guo Cello.
• Ableton convolution reverb send, kelvin send.
• Mastered in Acoustica with Ozone 8.

• Ableton. Diva / Raum pad, studio drummer stock clip,
• Prime bass, Diva lead.
• Mastered in Ableton with Ozone 8.