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Hi everyone, I am a new(ish) arrival to the psybient scene, and this is the first time I have posted on the forum. It is not usually my thing, but I don't have social media. My experience so far of this community is that the website is such an amazing source of information, especially concerning new releases, and the end of year polls. I really value this. The music I have found via all these sources has quite literally kept me sane during COVID. I also think some of the forums are really helpful for those wanting to explore this very broad genre (such as the 'best releases of all time' or the 'what releases are available on vinyl'), and as has been noted above, this provides an unparalleled historical record. I also listen to the mixes on the webpage sometimes. I suspect in non-COVID times that there will be more information on events/festivals etc which would be great for those of us not on Facebook. How to take this forward? Perhaps narrow down the forums (it looks quite overwhelming to someone new!) so that it is easier to find discussions and add to them. @gagarin and @timeisart, thanks, and please (despite the lack of activity currently on the forums) know that I am sure lots of people find the website and resources invaluable. I'll try and post more frequently, and happy to also discuss other things we might do together.. Take care, Kevin

It's been said before, social media is where the discussion is. I don't have any so I too wish there were more activity here. Any attempt at dialogue from my part has been met with minimal response, always from the usual suspects. I do check out Gordon's lists regularly, but I don't want to keep starting threads where responses can be counted on one hand of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, or keep posting on the listening now thread on my own.

There have been a few recent releases on vinyl (in case people are still interested in this): Androcell imbue Cosmic Trigger shpongle remixes Suduaya starseed Solar fields vinyl version of blue moon station Nebulosa records has been set up specifically to release vinyl with 3 releases so far (including Animism by Entheogenic), worth checking out and supporting to encourage more if you (like me) enjoy vinyl! https://nebulosarecords.com/ These are not at Shongle remastered prices!! There are probably lots more I have missed so please do add to this...

I definitely plan on continuing to be active in this community, though I could contribute more than I do at the moment. I'm kind of "old school" and I prefer this type of discussion forum over social media. One way to get more traffic here would be to divert more of the discussion back to the forum. Polls and contests could be announced on Facebook, but participants would need to navigate back to psybient.org to participate. If you're posting article or reviews, you could post a brief synopsis and include the tagline "read more..." or something which hyperlinks back to the forum. It takes some work and time, but it's a way to "normalize" using the forum again. I think it's also important to look not only at posts, but views as well. In my experience, a lot of people are "lurkers" who read but rarely, if ever post. This goes all the way back to the beginning of web forums.

yeah unfortunately forums like these are endangered nowadays since social media killed (and in my opinion ruined) everything. pretty sad to see honestly. granted I haven't really been doing my part to keep up discussions here, just been posting the releases updates (which I still don't mind doing since its mostly automated now, but even that feels like just going through the motions sometimes if there weren't any standout releases during the month). but as far as music goes there's usually not a lot to talk about that hasn't already been said. maybe if it were opened up to more off topic talk that might encourage discussion? like for example (and I don't want to ruffle any feathers here) but personally I think covid was intentionally released as an excuse to consolidate more government control and limit people's freedoms even more. but that kinda talk has been done to death on social media so idk wtf to talk about lol I'm just glad to see this place is still alive and that some people are still finding my releases updates useful (even if it's only like two or three people lol), there's usually a decent number of views on each topic but I have a suspicion that a lot of those are bots, but if not there sure are a lot of lurkers here (including myself most of the time)

September 2021 Releases

just wanted to draw extra attention to his Yoga Mantra alias, only one album as far as I know but it's fantastic loooong form ambient (~30 minute tracks): https://avatarmusic.bandcamp.com/album/yoga-mantra

March 2021 Releases

I just discovered Klaada about a week ago and this blew me away :-) Very shpongleish. https://mindspringmusic.bandcamp.com/album/antipodes-of-the-self-conscious-mind

A brief history of psytrance culture & production. Podcast available on youtube +video footage: https://www.youtube.com/DJopensource Find my latest release on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2gponzmhHF1GO3L7J4Ox9B My site: https://www.DJopensource.com

Here is MY top 40: -Tikal-La bonne etoile -Elysium-Firytale -Side liner-Screaming tears -Asura-Land and Freedom -Astral projection-Still dreaming -Huva network-Rain geometries -Jaia-Alone -Psyfactor-Molecular design -Lange-Frozen beach -Jaïa - Le Chant Des Sirenes -Abakus-Indu -Three drives-Greece 2000 -Aes dana-natti natti -Ten madison-future city -Side liner-Morning dewdrops -Gmo vs Dense-Passing storm -E-mantra-Emptyness -Gmo vs Dense-Bouncing around -Mystic crock-Tempting Abyss -Man of no ego-Celestial Medicine -Liquid space-Copy dreams lauter -Cj Catalizer vs Zymosis-I'll be there -Lab's Cloud-Raining over the sun -Cj Catalizer -2012 -Ott-Rogue Bagell -Drum druid-last summer dub -Cell-The gate -Siebzehn-Under the radar -Psyfactor-Walk on the milky way -Psyfactor-Galileo space mission -E-mantra-Ghetsemane -Cell-Explicit rotative movement -Asura-Planisphere -Ancient Core-Psychedelic echosystem -Chakra-Opacity -Abakus-That much closer -BPC-Crystal -Khetzal-Glaciales Lacrima -David Battenfield-Sonic chazal -Entheogenic - Pagan Dream Machine -The Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea

Hey OP - can you post an example of anything you are making (or, an example of a song that does this really well that you like) ? Some ideas for pads: - Are you layering stuff? A lot of great pad sounds are 2 or 3 or more pads layered (with one pad providing the low-mid warmth, another providing maybe the mid-range melodic component, and another providing the top-end shimmer). - What synths are you using/ are you only using synths? Stretched-out melodic sounds, especially reversed, drenched in reverb can make amazing, organic pads that no one has ever heard before. Synths like Omnisphere or Alchemy have lots of samples already for doing this, but you can just do it manually using warping in Ableton / Flex Time in Logic / etc. - You said you are EQing out the mid frequencies - which ones? I usually use pads to add extra warmth, movement, and depth into the mid frequencies. - EQ the left and the right channel differently! I like to boost and cut a few frequencies differently on left and right channels to increase width. Even better, slowly automate a different peak on each left/right channels. - Delay, chorus, reverb are all good for this, but can maybe sound bland if they are just used as static effects. Do you automate your reverb sends or chorus amounts? Some ideas: -- My favourite: I like to automate the reverb send up while automating a lo-pass filter down on the original pad. This will make it sound like it is moving farther away, giving a great sense of front-to-back depth. The reverse works well, too. Or with a hi-pass filter. -- Try a chorus with a very low rate but high intensity, automate the mix from 20% to 80% every 1/2/4 beats, then quickly back down. This will make it sound like it is "pumping" from centred to wide with each pulse of the beat. I like to combine this with regular side-chaining to a kick etc. -- Old trick: automate the delay send, and then send that delay to itself. Be careful because this might get loud, but if we do it carefully, we can make a pad (or any sound) turn into a completely different, ultra organic ambient soundscape of throbbing echoes. If you want width, use a stereo delay (or maybe a flanger/phaser on the delay channel). - Panning rather than widening... less is often more in production. If you make everything detuned and wide, your song doesn't sound wide - it sounds like stereo mud. Panning some sounds left and some sounds right - and especially automating the pan - is often way better than just making something wide. - Autopan plugins are great, but I like to automate the rate or width to keep them from sounding static. - Sometimes mono reverbs work really well for localizing a sound in the mix. I like to make sounds panned left, send it to a mono reverb channel, panned right. On its own, this isn't as impressive as a big wide wet delay. But in the mix, it is sometimes so much more spacious. We can do the same with delay - then maybe try automating the pan of that delay from right to left again. - Same philosophy, polyphony: too much polyphony can also make things unfocused, especially when working with bass/pads/atmospheres/multiple melodies. Sometimes I like to think like in jazz, where the bass can play the root note and the pads can play the 3rd/7th/9th etc. Leaves a lot of harmonic space for melodic instruments. - My other favourite: you need a microphone to do this, but even a cheap microphone is fine because we are trying to make weird sounds anyways right? Solo the pad you want, put the microphone somewhere in the room, maybe pointed at a wall away from the speakers, or even in the hallway, whatever... record 8 or 16 bars. Move the microphone around to a totally different spot, do it again. Then, pan one recording left and the other right. We should have a very wide sounding pad, with lots of room echoes and reflections making it organic and interesting. I have a million more ideas if this is helpful at all. Just remember - there is such a thing as too wide. 1 ultra-wide sound and 4 sounds swirling in automated panning will sound bigger and more spacious than 5 ultra-wide sounds.