MTM Theme Test 1

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This is my first post to DSound so please excuse anything I'm doing wrong/strangely. Just want to contribute to the Steem and DSound community!

Here's my first attempt at creating a theme for my Mind To Make podcast series (yet to be published).

What is Mind To Make you may ask?

Mind To Make is a podcast and resource website focusing on how art and artists have the power to foster greater communication by means of their work. By discussing how art is made and why and what processes/practices artists undertake, I hope to motivate more people to create art so that they might express their views and ideas, and keep the conversation going.

So, how did I make this theme? I'll be making better efforts to record video for and talk-through my process in the future but for this round, I'll write out a description for you. Shout out to @jerrybanfield for inspiring me to write out this description and give more insight into the process. After all, that's really what MTM is about so apologies for no video this time around. Let's dive in!

PROCESS

My typical process starts with Ableton Live (currently version 9 - though 10 is supposed to be the bomb so maybe next time). I usually start with a blank canvas and depending on the sound I'm going for, will use acoustic instruments or something electronic by using synths in Ableton or another software synthesizer. The software synths I tend to gravitate towards are Serum, Sylenth, Native Instruments Reactor, or Maschine (usually for beats).

For this theme, I knew I wanted something kind of crazy and frenetic to mirror the thought process during creation; a kind of heightened madness with all kinds of sound sources and implied action.

GENESIS

I started by adding Xfer Records' Serum to a MIDI track and found a great "16-Bar Rising" patch to create some drama over the course of the theme. This patch is also nice because it starts off really low and bass-y with almost an explosion sound; like the genesis of the idea forming. I did find though that the resultant sound texture was too brash for my ear though so I added an Ableton EQ Eight low-pass filter to take out much of the high-end.

INNER WORKINGS

I knew I wanted some kind of industrial element that sounded metalic or gear-like; something to replicate all the neurons firing and idea generation beginning so I added a beat with some more metallic elements via Native Instruments Maschine

RADIO GAGA

Next, I wanted something a bit like radio noise or something more noise-like. I've had great success with this using SoundToys Filter Freak's preset Radio Tuner, which makes that sound almost exactly. Using Serum to make a strange noise patch and adding the Filter Freak on top gave me that extra element

WHATCHU SAY?

Not sure if this was necessary but I added me saying the title of the show. Would love feedback on whether this is needed or not. I don't love the sound of my speaking voice so I pitched the words down using Ableton's warping feature on Complex (best for voice) by about 7 semi-tones. Added some Ableton Reverb and delay to give it more texture.

SHINE ON...

I often attribute shiny, sparkling sounds with some kind of epiphany or something so I used Serum's Juno Bells patch to add a little sparkly chord towards the end to signal the idea having reached it's genesis. It also works well as a jump off point for the rest of the sounds to dissipate to the fade out point.

IN THE MIX

Finally, I started playing around with the mix of each element. The rising element and radio sound start things off to get the feeling of the idea emanating. I felt like having the beat come in right away wasn't quite right so I faded it in, adding lots of reverb to it off the bat to imply it's arrival from some unknown space in the mind. Once the beat's in fully, the title vocals come in and after the shiny synth, I end all the other elements. Many of the synth patches have a natural release that makes for their own fading out process but I automated a fade out via the Master track as well. Lastly, I added an SSL Compressor and a Waves L2 to limit the dynamic range and bring the overall volume up. I like to use the Waves WLM plug-in to ensure my loudness levels aren't too high. This is a big topic among audiophiles and my research has led me to using about a -24LUFS (Loundness Unit Full Scale) for any podcasts.

So that's that! I hope you found the description useful but as I mentioned, I'll make better efforts to record a video of the entire process to show on Steemit in future.

If you like the theme, the post or the idea of Mind To Make, please follow me via Steemit of Dsound @jeremyglenn and upvote to your heart's content.

xo Jer

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