((( Dream Vision Recordings )))

[Sitala]

TO MBLISS,

First of all...

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HONEST CRITICISM!!!

I really, really appreciate it. Dan's comment about the bass on the Tablas was crucial in how I record them from now on. Unfortunately, things did not rattle in my house the way they did in Dan's. I guess I should be glad, but it makes it difficult to know whether or not I have too much bass. I believe I got it right now on the other song.

As for Dimensional Portal

This is not intended to be a song. It is intended to be a medicine for the spirit. I wrestled long and hard about how loud to make the Mountain Stream. I decided I wanted it loud enough to drown out any external sounds of cars or fans or air conditioners, but not so loud that it drowned out the whales completely.

This recording is a gesture for the Spirit of the Universe. It is not really intended to please the restless human race in DESPERATE need of quite time with themselves. Those whose minds are too restless are not at peace with themselves. They NEED time to be quiet and at peace with themselves so as to get a glimpse of the true nature of reality and their personal place in the Universe.

Those who cannot listen to more than five-minutes of this recording without getting restless and wanting to do something else are obviously also those who feel they have little use for meditation in their lives. In fact, proper meditation is ESSENTIAL for humanity if the human race is to survive because world peace must start from within if it is to be realized from without oneself.

Television, and the controlled media in general, attempts to do just the opposite of what this recording does. The media's overall intent is to weaken the mind and make it restless for when the mind is in a weakened state it is more easily influenced by repeated commercials aimed at psychologically programming your mind through attention getting repetition.

So, this recording should be thought of as medicine for the spirit. It should be played in the background while doing things or while sitting or lying down in comfort. It's supposed to take you away from all your cares and worries in life. Every song you hear the major media playing is always trying to sell you something. I'm not trying to sell anyone anything. I am attempting the miraculous and, I have to say, for my first major effort I did pretty well no matter what anyone else may think. I know I could have done better, but when I lost the delay setting by trying to save it as a preset I had had enough!

I just spent hours doing about 140 punch in/out takes with my Deluxe Calcutta Tabla drums. It was quite an experience. I've never done this before in my whole life! I was working on creating just three Tabla loops that were as perfect as I could make them. It's amazing how many takes were tossed away, but the law of averages was on my side and I had faith that the Spirit would intervene and give me some acceptable loops and I WAS INDEED CORRECT! Although, I intend to take it to the next level before I settle for anything.

There is more on the way and your honest criticism is very important to me. Tell me what you really think for this is the only way I can learn how to perfect what I am intending.

Still, you must realize that although The Beatles were very popular in their day, most people in the world did not like their music! Hard to believe, right? And, chances are, all those who liked the music of The Beatles had little to no use for the music of Mozart. So to ask an avid Beatles fan about the music of Mozart would probably bring a lot of negative criticism. As for classical purists...well...chances are they had no use for The Beatles AT ALL so it would be a waste of time to ask them about the quality of Beatles music.

Those who are not accustomed to Indian Music will not realize that a recording this long is more the rule rather than the exception. I expect no airplay on the radio. That was not my Intent with this recording. It has been a painstaking reaching for a dream and, if I say so myself (and I do), it is my greatest masterpiece ever...so far.

[Sitala]

I have an appointment with destiny, but when I return I have questions about Mixcraft and problems I encountered the answers to which may prove useful to those of you who record with Mixcraft. See ya'll later!

[Sitala]

MBLISS WROTE:

"...the "presence" of the stream sound throughout is a little strong. A little too "up front" in my opinion. Kind of sounds a little like I am standing next to a running faucet. For too long. Maybe if I closed my eyes and tried to nap.......

The long droning section needs some more variation in my opinion. But I think I mentioned it kind of drags on for me already. I had to skip forward a bit."

MY RESPONSE:

If you listen carefully to the mountain stream you can hear a somewhat deep rumbling in the background. That is the main part of the Mountain Stream I was recording that day. At first I made the recording with the unit next to the main part of the stream. I took the unit to a quieter area and listened through headphones. It sounded like the white noise you used to get on old analogue televisions when a TV program went off the air. Like the sound in the original Poltergeist movie before the little girl encounters the spirits coming through the television set, "They're here!" You couldn't tell it was a Mountain Stream at all. I was frustrated, but decided to look around and off in a corner I found an area where you could hear trickling sounds and that is where I placed the Tascam DP-008 in order to make the Mountain Stream recording you hear.

Oh, I agree that this is definitely a recording best appreciated when taking a nap. The Mountain Stream is better than my recording of the ocean waves because in-between the waves it can get rather silent and at those times you can hear sounds in your house around you, or cars going by outside, etc, etc, etc.... So the Mountain Stream is as loud as it is to drown out external sounds that may be going on around your environment.

As you spoke of the Tampura recording needing more variation I laughed as I thought to ask you to share the name of your favorite Indian Music recording because if you feel that way about the Tanpura recording you obviously don't have a favorite Indian Music recording. Ha!

___________________________________________________________

[Sitala]

The other photo with my modified Fender Stratocaster guitar, with the synth pickup on it, is a variation of this recent Photoshop creation. In the above photo I shared a combination of photos from my main Power Spots where I give musical offerings to Mother Nature. I recently came back from the area in the above photo directly around my new Les Paul guitar. Theses gratitude offerings are the very best of my musical self with the Intent of showing my deep and abiding appreciation for the wonderful weather we have been having and gratitude, in advance, for the wonderful weather to come in the future.

I still had the original Vision Of Lord Ram on my Mp3 device. This is a version you have never heard with the Viracocha Melody on it and no Mountain Stream or Ocean Waves at the beginning or end. That original mix may have sounded too bassey for Dan's stereo, but it sounds PERFECT for my Alesis TransActive mobile PA system.

http://youtu.be/V-xKRgiTV2g

I was reminded that the main reason I am making recordings is to have original background tracks to play electric guitar to while at Natural Power Spots. My musical offerings for Mother Nature are the core reason for my recording. My creating versions to share with others is a luxury. When I was playing along with my original recording it was important for the Tabla drums to sound upfront and full. It didn't matter AT ALL that they didn't sound as much like my acoustic Tabla Drums because playing my electric guitar was the main focus of my Intent and it was perfect for my needs.

Interesting. It seems that I am going to create bassier mixes for my musical offerings than the ones I will share on Soundcloud.

[Sitala]

Also, since I don't have a soundproof studio and intend to be playing a number of acoustic instruments, these Nature Sounds can be useful in drowning out any external sounds that may be present while I am recording.

[Sitala]

I'll probably rarely or never use anyone else's sounds, (ie: from the Mixcraft library), unless I am playing guitar along with a karaoke version of a song, as with the fantastic instrumental rendition I am currently working on with a karaoke version of Boston's 'More Than A Feeling', or with my new massive collection of songs by groups like Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and others for which I have recently received special books and CDs with the backing tracks to their songs in order for me to refine my electric guitar work. I feel that the best way to really make my electric guitar 'sing' is to play a modified variation of the lead vocals on electric guitar. Frankly, I never did like the vocals on that Boston song, but it sounds great playing the vocal part on electric guitar!

One of the songs in the collection is Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. I've already found an incredible instructional YouTube video for that song and have begun working on it. The difficult thing is that Mark Knopfler doesn't use a pick. He finger picks the song and that is the reason for the unique way it sounds. I am opting for a compromise of finger picking and using a pick, but I'm having a problem with the picked note sounding louder than the rest.

I'm not too thrilled with the instructor, but the lesson is awesome for anyone wanting to learn the song...

Sultans of Swing

http://youtu.be/DdflSAxLso8

[Anorax]

TO MBLISS,

First of all...

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HONEST CRITICISM!!!

I really, really appreciate it. Dan's comment about the bass on the Tablas was crucial in how I record them from now on. Unfortunately, things did not rattle in my house the way they did in Dan's. I guess I should be glad, but it makes it difficult to know whether or not I have too much bass. I believe I got it right now on the other song.

rattling walls isn't the best way to check for high bass amplification
my advice? on the tabla recording track, open up the Voxengo spectrum analyzer effect (not sure if that's the accurate name). It shows you what the frequency response is, including the bass. You can even set it up to hold the "peak" frequencies, and then play through the whole song. Then, check the analyzer and see what it shows the maximum peaks were at (especially for the bass). Hold on, let me screenshot real quick.

Here I have a sound clip loaded, and I have also opened up the FX for this track. I've selected the voxengo spectrum analyzer. (Checking to see if there are any bad peaks to watch for such as sub-bass)


I've begun to play the track (screenshot taken during playback, annotations added to show general frequencies.) A subbass generally works from 200hz and lower, but that depends on the subwoofer.



To check for any peaks during playback, I turn on the peak hold function



I then play the whole track, leaving the peak hold on "infinite", while setting the Monitor selection to "Average" instead of Realtime. This way I have two levels to look at, both the peak and the average.
(Notice that the "block" value changed, that's basically the resolution function for the spectrometer.)


Now I can see if there are any clips or peaks anywhere in the sound clip's duration, as well as any frequencies that might require EQing or filtering. (However, for this clip thing I used a song that was mixed and mastered beforehand- EQing was taken care of as you can see.)

One of the songs in the collection is Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. I've already found an incredible instructional YouTube video for that song and have begun working on it. The difficult thing is that Mark Knopfler doesn't use a pick. He finger picks the song and that is the reason for the unique way it sounds. I am opting for a compromise of finger picking and using a pick, but I'm having a problem with the picked note sounding louder than the rest.

I'm not too thrilled with the instructor, but the lesson is awesome for anyone wanting to learn the song...

Sultans of Swing

http://youtu.be/DdflSAxLso8

Mark Knopfler has a very unique playing style that I enjoy listening to, although it's kind of hard to mimic.

Aand that song is a very good one too.
we are the sultans of swing

[Sitala]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your technique,
but, gosh, it looks like so much of a hassle

After all, the original version works great with
my Alesis TransActive Mobile PA system
and that's what it's really all about
having original songs to play along with

Besides, I want to learn to train my ears
in order to make direct comparisons between
my recordings and the best mixed recordings
in my personal collection.

My final mixes are done in Soundforge Pro 10
There I can add or take away as much bass as I like
When I cross referenced the Tabla song with three different songs
I realized that I needed to turn down the bass in order to match them

So, matching the best mixed recordings in my collection
is a real training of my ears and better trained ears
is what proper mixing and recording is all about

Thanks again for your effort!

I try to keep things as simple and direct as possible
There's just too many things to remember
for me to get too complicated with recording

Still, I'll study what you have done
Who knows? I may change my mind
and adopt your technique...
once I fully understand it

[Anorax]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your technique,
but, gosh, it looks like so much of a hassle

After all, the original version works great with
my Alesis TransActive Mobile PA system
and that's what it's really all about
having original songs to play along with

Besides, I want to learn to train my ears
in order to make direct comparisons between
my recordings and the best mixed recordings
in my personal collection.

My final mixes are done in Soundforge Pro 10
There I can add or take away as much bass as I like
When I cross referenced the Tabla song with three different songs
I realized that I needed to turn down the bass in order to match them

So, matching the best mixed recordings in my collection
is a real training of my ears and better trained ears
is what proper mixing and recording is all about

Thanks again for your effort!

I try to keep things as simple and direct as possible
There's just too many things to remember
for me to get too complicated with recording

Still, I'll study what you have done
Who knows? I may change my mind
and adopt your technique...
once I fully understand it

Ok, two things. 1) Don't be afraid to use tools to help you with your mixing. Going all by ear isn't always the best solution, especially if you're beginning to have hearing loss in a certain freq range. However, it is very helpful to go by ear, but using tools during the process can help a lot.
2) The Voxengo Spectrum Analyzer can be used with one click: the "Edit" button that shows up in the Track effect window.

The Spectrum Analyzer (in a nutshell) displays a visual graph of how loud the current playing audio is over the sound spectrum range. The left is low bass, and the right is very high frequencies (Treble if you will). You might want to just mess around with the spectrum analyzer just to see what it does.

What it DOESN'T do: It does not mess with your audio. It is not really an "effect". It is more of a visual monitor. Sound comes into the plugin, and it comes out unchanged. Only thing the VST does is 'read' the audio. So it's kind of like a VA meter for seperate parts of the frequency range.


I think it's cool that you have a program that can just boost and reduce bass like that.
When you are mixing your songs in Mixcraft, are you always using the Alesis Mobile PA system?

EDIT: Wait, are you reducing the bass of a WHOLE song in Soundforge, or JUST the single audio recording of the tablas, so you can then put the bass-reduced version back into your song/ambient track?

Problem here is that if you're comparing song-to-song, then reducing the bass for the whole song (ambient track), then you have little bass in the track, regardless.

But this is what mixing is all about. We all learn better ways to look at our work, and try and correct it as we go along.

[Mark Bliss]

[quote]my advice? on the tabla recording track, open up the Voxengo spectrum analyzer effect. It shows you what the frequency response is.......[quote]

Allright, Shatley707 gets my vote for tip of the week! And the screen shots make the tip golden!

I use these methods regulary, often to quickly pinpoint a frequency I hear as too harsh at some specific spot, and pull it out with some eq. I also like to use the VU meter (not shown in the screen shots) for watching my overall levels. Its just me, I like that meter, maybe just because of its size. And a big yes to using it to help with some hearing loss issues. I feel I have a pretty well "trained ear" but sometimes I need visual cues to re-assure me.
*Edit: Oops, I just realized the meter I was thinking of is in the classic eq, not the spectrum analyser-sorry for any confusion. I often use them simultaniously.
With some further experience you can also visually detect when similar frequencies begin to "stack up" a bit and potentially muddy a mix.

Great tip Shatley! Kudos to you! (I really dig how a few people are turning this around into a more instructive and educational resource! Keep it up!)

[Sitala]

"The Spectrum Analyzer (in a nutshell) displays a visual graph of how loud the current playing audio is over the sound spectrum range. The left is low bass, and the right is very high frequencies (Treble if you will). You might want to just mess around with the spectrum analyzer just to see what it does."

MY RESPONSE:

I'm assuming that as you turn the EQ frequencies up and down, while the song is playing, you will see a difference in the spectrum analyzer. Since you went to so much trouble I'll play around with it on the track on which I am going to replace the synth Tablas with my Deluxe Calcutta Tablas.

[Mark Bliss]

I'm assuming that as you turn the EQ frequencies up and down, while the song is playing, you will see a difference in the spectrum analyzer.

Yep, go play with it, its fun and educational!

[Sitala]

Here is an alternative version of Dimensional Portal that puts more emphasis on the whales. I now feel that both versions are very special and depending on the mood I am in will determine which version I will want to listen to.

http://soundcloud.com/sidarthur-1/dimensional-portal-2

I've decided to put both versions into Windows Media Player so that they alternate and loop for as long as I like. That seems to be the solution for me: save them as a playlist

These two versions I see as medicinal to the spirit. When listened to they can be used as vehicles to reconnect one to the Universal Force of Intent in gratitude and appreciation for the wonderful things life has given. It is through gratitude and appreciation that we summon even more reasons to be grateful and appreciative according to Universal Law

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

I like Dimensional Portal 2.

Scrolling way back to the cow and the track icon problem, it turns out if you run Mixcraft in admin mode, you can remove the icons permanently. Just right-click on the Mixcraft icon and select "Run As Administrator."

Greg

[Sitala]

I've decided that since I'm not trying to sell any of my recordings the only thing that matters is that I LIKE what I create; just as it is with my digital art. As far as I am concerned my digital artwork creations are unique mastepieces. If no one else agrees that is none of my business.

I've seen and heard many things in my life, but I have never seen or heard anything quite like my creations. That says something...to me. That's good enough.

As for the cow and the toilet they are long gone; flushed and cow pattied