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Molecule

By Ipaghost on November 16, 2014 11:55 pm

Really hating making songs on this laptop. I'm a little sad that I've been away from my studio for more than a quarter of these WeeklyBeats. But whateves!

Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Share Alike (BY-SA)

Well, you did a good job: good song, good mix!

I love this, modern vibe and old sounds. Works really well together. I know how annoying it is to not have your setup the way you like it just know that you can do it when everything isn't perfect.

Jim Wood wrote:

Well, you did a good job: good song, good mix!


I'll have to take your word on that until I get back!

tatecarson wrote:

I love this, modern vibe and old sounds. Works really well together. I know how annoying it is to not have your setup the way you like it just know that you can do it when everything isn't perfect.


Yeah it's the worst!

Great work anyway, I think you over this year have more than proved that you're able to create great music away from your studio as well!

Plantrain wrote:

Great work anyway, I think you over this year have more than proved that you're able to create great music away from your studio as well!


It would be better if I had a cattop

Lovely! Really enjoying this! 

brian botkiller wrote:

Lovely! Really enjoying this!


Loving the echoey cascading line, bassline and beat.  Working well within the limitations!

onezero wrote:

Loving the echoey cascading line, bassline and beat.  Working well within the limitations!


sometimes you cook fresh food in your kitchen and sometimes you eat from a can. IT'S ALLRIGHT

and it sounds good, too wink

This one's got certain tape-like mix flavour... crispy mids, almost subtly saturated. Gives it a really lovely 80's patina. Is that intentional?

Great groove!!!

dreikelvin wrote:

sometimes you cook fresh food in your kitchen and sometimes you eat from a can. IT'S ALLRIGHT

and it sounds good, too wink



This track could be decent with a little more tlc! Gotta fix that glitch stuff!

laguna wrote:

This one's got certain tape-like mix flavour... crispy mids, almost subtly saturated. Gives it a really lovely 80's patina. Is that intentional?

Great groove!!!


Totally intentional! I'm a kid of the 80s, so I'm a sucker for that sound. Luckily there are ways to emulate it with software. I think there I have this going through FerricTDS and Wow & Flutter which are pretty standard in all my mixes to a certain extent, and knocking out the extreme high ends with a parametric filter with a slight boost right before the fall off. Also using headphones to master, which isn't my favorite since you hear the inverse of the headphone's profile on clean monitors. Might need to fix it a bit now that I'm back.

Ipaghost wrote:


Totally intentional! I'm a kid of the 80s, so I'm a sucker for that sound. Luckily there are ways to emulate it with software. I think there I have this going through FerricTDS and Wow & Flutter which are pretty standard in all my mixes to a certain extent, and knocking out the extreme high ends with a parametric filter with a slight boost right before the fall off. Also using headphones to master, which isn't my favorite since you hear the inverse of the headphone's profile on clean monitors. Might need to fix it a bit now that I'm back.

Whoa!... I recently purchased a Yamaha 4 track in order to achieve that sound but... Man, actual 4 tracks are a pain in the a**!!! Faulty motors, old contacts that needed desoldering, cleaning... I think I resell the unit and go your way, using emulation.

I tried VHS bounces and to no avail. Just a tiny change but a lot of unwanted hiss and some low (and not so low) electric humming.

It's better to be nostalgic about certain analog "charms" than actually live them smile

laguna wrote:


Whoa!... I recently purchased a Yamaha 4 track in order to achieve that sound but... Man, actual 4 tracks are a pain in the a**!!! Faulty motors, old contacts that needed desoldering, cleaning... I think I resell the unit and go your way, using emulation.

I tried VHS bounces and to no avail. Just a tiny change but a lot of unwanted hiss and some low (and not so low) electric humming.

It's better to be nostalgic about certain analog "charms" than actually live them smile


That's interesting, it's been a very long time since I've used tape, but I used to work with it a lot back in the day, and I think this is a much more stylized way of creating those analog artifacts. I like having the control of being able to use just the elements I think are right for the mix. I've tried adding noise floors etc, but sometimes it's too much, so I usually leave it out. Surprisingly enough simply knocking out the high end can do a lot. (This is also true for creating underwater sounds btw!)
I sometimes use Kramer Tape Stereo, but it doesn't add much to the other free vsts I mentioned. Also I like using the free vsts because upgrading or moving dlls to a new pc is much easier. I guess the best thing to do is simply think about what would have happened in the studio and how they would master stuff and try to emulate that. For example in my Keen Jean track I put all the musique concrète sound effects through multiple vst tape setups, as well as running the delay through the vst tape setup as well, since the sound would have been extra stepped on from multiple tape generations.
This process is still pretty new to me, and I'm glad I've had the chance to develop it more with WeeklyBeats! Any ideas are more than welcome! One thing I want to recreate at some point is the very unique voice over work in old documentaries from the 70s etc. I have a sample of a recording on The Science of Canada but I would like to recreate this really pleasing sound from scratch. I wonder if this has anything to do with the optical sound on film.
BTW, I'm not sure if I told you this, but I really dig your stuff! Keep up the great work!

Hey, man, thank you !!! It's a real honor to hear that you like my music, since I really really admire your stuff and have spent all year amazed of the constant quality you deliver smile

About the tape, I really just wanted the old "cassette" feeling, but units in proper working conditions are getting harder and harder to find. This Yamaha I told you about, for example, will need some proper loving and caring before it's ready to be "the mastering destination" so, in the meantime, you gave me an idea:

I've got a not so old but quite limited netbook sitting around. Can't load Linux on it yet because some weird incompatibilities, so I think it's time to use it as a versatile Windows multieffects for that kind of things.

I'm OSX based, but I've always missed some of the free stuff you can get in Windows. Still rock some OpenModplug tracker from time to time, though, through Crossover emulation.

I'll do some serious test about tape response (not scientific, but just "by ear") comparing several units I have lying around (some seriously damaged... the rubber traction bands get rigid and the motor loses its proper speed adjustment... No replacements, sadly). Maybe I should blog about those tips so we can share, specially after WB ends.

I'll try to recreate the "tape wear" with an acummulation of VSTs, as you said. What I recently discovered is that, instead of "not leaving the digital domain", it's very fun to record one computer to another computer through a simple analog chain (soundcard - preamp - mixer - comp - noise gate - soundcard) to achieve some level of warmth and "phatness". Not dramatic stuff, I mean, but just overdriving and EQing it's so easy on a medium quality mixer... More intuitive and less "let's open that new Native Instruments CPU hungry vintage console emulation I could really not differenciate from the rest of my other plugins". I think you know what I mean smile

I've made my own experiments with fake voiceovers. Even so, I've got some static and hiss loops with a variable lfo affecting pitch. When I put the real voice on them, I sidechain the clean voice and the hiss samples so they interact in weird ways. Maybe some filter with envelope follower, in subtle ways, could be helpful also...

Well, what a long rant I gave you, man! Thanks for all the tips and the encouraging words. I'll keep you posted about the results.

laguna wrote:

Hey, man, thank you !!! It's a real honor to hear that you like my music, since I really really admire your stuff and have spent all year amazed of the constant quality you deliver smile

About the tape, I really just wanted the old "cassette" feeling, but units in proper working conditions are getting harder and harder to find. This Yamaha I told you about, for example, will need some proper loving and caring before it's ready to be "the mastering destination" so, in the meantime, you gave me an idea:

I've got a not so old but quite limited netbook sitting around. Can't load Linux on it yet because some weird incompatibilities, so I think it's time to use it as a versatile Windows multieffects for that kind of things.

I'm OSX based, but I've always missed some of the free stuff you can get in Windows. Still rock some OpenModplug tracker from time to time, though, through Crossover emulation.

I'll do some serious test about tape response (not scientific, but just "by ear") comparing several units I have lying around (some seriously damaged... the rubber traction bands get rigid and the motor loses its proper speed adjustment... No replacements, sadly). Maybe I should blog about those tips so we can share, specially after WB ends.

I'll try to recreate the "tape wear" with an acummulation of VSTs, as you said. What I recently discovered is that, instead of "not leaving the digital domain", it's very fun to record one computer to another computer through a simple analog chain (soundcard - preamp - mixer - comp - noise gate - soundcard) to achieve some level of warmth and "phatness". Not dramatic stuff, I mean, but just overdriving and EQing it's so easy on a medium quality mixer... More intuitive and less "let's open that new Native Instruments CPU hungry vintage console emulation I could really not differenciate from the rest of my other plugins". I think you know what I mean smile

I've made my own experiments with fake voiceovers. Even so, I've got some static and hiss loops with a variable lfo affecting pitch. When I put the real voice on them, I sidechain the clean voice and the hiss samples so they interact in weird ways. Maybe some filter with envelope follower, in subtle ways, could be helpful also...

Well, what a long rant I gave you, man! Thanks for all the tips and the encouraging words. I'll keep you posted about the results.

@Laguna: I'm more of a software guy and not familiar with real tape machines, but also started to love the beauty of tape saturation (emulation) lately. Like you've said, there are not many usable plugins for OSX out there and very good chance you already know it, but if not: have a look at
this free one for Reaktor

Btw if you have a recommendation for a other maybe better free OSX tape emulation plugins please let me know!

it's a great great great track, regardless which tools you used.

laguna wrote:

Hey, man, thank you !!! It's a real honor to hear that you like my music, since I really really admire your stuff and have spent all year amazed of the constant quality you deliver smile

About the tape, I really just wanted the old "cassette" feeling, but units in proper working conditions are getting harder and harder to find. This Yamaha I told you about, for example, will need some proper loving and caring before it's ready to be "the mastering destination" so, in the meantime, you gave me an idea:

I've got a not so old but quite limited netbook sitting around. Can't load Linux on it yet because some weird incompatibilities, so I think it's time to use it as a versatile Windows multieffects for that kind of things.

I'm OSX based, but I've always missed some of the free stuff you can get in Windows. Still rock some OpenModplug tracker from time to time, though, through Crossover emulation.

I'll do some serious test about tape response (not scientific, but just "by ear") comparing several units I have lying around (some seriously damaged... the rubber traction bands get rigid and the motor loses its proper speed adjustment... No replacements, sadly). Maybe I should blog about those tips so we can share, specially after WB ends.

I'll try to recreate the "tape wear" with an acummulation of VSTs, as you said. What I recently discovered is that, instead of "not leaving the digital domain", it's very fun to record one computer to another computer through a simple analog chain (soundcard - preamp - mixer - comp - noise gate - soundcard) to achieve some level of warmth and "phatness". Not dramatic stuff, I mean, but just overdriving and EQing it's so easy on a medium quality mixer... More intuitive and less "let's open that new Native Instruments CPU hungry vintage console emulation I could really not differenciate from the rest of my other plugins". I think you know what I mean smile

I've made my own experiments with fake voiceovers. Even so, I've got some static and hiss loops with a variable lfo affecting pitch. When I put the real voice on them, I sidechain the clean voice and the hiss samples so they interact in weird ways. Maybe some filter with envelope follower, in subtle ways, could be helpful also...

Well, what a long rant I gave you, man! Thanks for all the tips and the encouraging words. I'll keep you posted about the results.


Yes! I love this! This is why WB is awesome! I look forward to hearing your experiments. It's a shame that there aren't easy ways to interchange pc and mac plugins, there are definitely some mac ones I have wanted on vst versions of. I have heard of ways to get vsts to work on macs, I would look into that if I had a mac! I also forgot to add that I sometimes use FL's auto-tuner Pitcher at the end of the chain. This doesn't do much unless it catches a clear note, which it then tries to correct, but adds a little weird warble on it. Thanks to T-Pain, there should be plenty of mac knock offs of this type of plugin!
Anywho, keep experimenting!

Perplex On wrote:

@Laguna: I'm more of a software guy and not familiar with real tape machines, but also started to love the beauty of tape saturation (emulation) lately. Like you've said, there are not many usable plugins for OSX out there and very good chance you already know it, but if not: have a look at
this free one for Reaktor

Btw if you have a recommendation for a other maybe better free OSX tape emulation plugins please let me know!


Thanks for the tip! I should check that out as well!

Ahhh mad.  There's a serious backlog of your tracks I'm gonner have to listen to I reakon.

cTrix wrote:

Ahhh mad.  There's a serious backlog of your tracks I'm gonner have to listen to I reakon.


You might want to wait until you are on some wifi, there's a lot of gifs back there.

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