28 Levels Above Top Secret - StaticNomad

Greetings, Toasted A.

Thanks for giving this a go. I get what you mean about saving some genres and chord progressions for everyone else. I was in some crazy, rich vein of form making this and most stuff that I threw at it seemed to find its way in.

" It never stays static"

That's because it's a nomad working it, moving it here, there and everywhere.

"I know you must have put a lot of effort into the changes, 9/10 it seems effortless."

Yes, loads of effort in carefully trimming and automating everything but good to know it all seems to fit together and, I guess, flow smoothly.

"there are some parts that are weaker than others"

That's inevitable as it's hard to make every section a highlight. Many exist just a means of getting from one existing section to another. And then they keep getting extended as the ideas flow. But feel free to point out any particular problem sections and I'll see if I can make improvements.

"Exhausting"

Yes - there's a very welcome break at 3:24. Before that, I felt it was wave after wave of intense madness.

This track has two sister tracks (this is perhaps the best) ie same project so same tempo, many shared sounds etc. I could have made them all as one 40 min track but it's much better for them to be separate. They are:

Right Place Wrong Century

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146210

Three Miles Late

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/150919

Take care and happy listening...

Oh no, feel free to nitpick as much as you like or simply pick out some aspects of the track that you liked. That would probably be more interesting to read than “Cool track Man”.

I’m interested in people’s reactions to different sections as feedback keeps me thinking and helps me improve.

Oh, and I could and do nitpick, which means there are sections I know can be improved so I will go back sometime and do just that.

Hi. I totally agree that someone could make a whole track out of the first 48 seconds. I love those strings. Quite exciting and some good tension that gets released as the hi hat builds things up and then the big drumkit and bassline come in.

Maybe you remember that I said this track was one of a 3-parter, the other two being Three Miles Late and Right Place Wrong Century. All three have that same string instrument in them but they’re used differently in each track. So, the first 48 seconds here are the new set of ideas and presentation of that string instrument. I could have made it much longer but chose not to as I had so much other stuff to progress into.

I do bring the strings back at different points but I appreciate that that is completely different from doing a whole minimal string track like Steve Reich. But I don’t really make that sort of music. Maybe one day but for now I love my drums and fat grooves and guitar and big basslines.

“there's not so much of longer melodic phrasing”

I really don’t understand what that means and I’ve tried hard. But I will say that I think there’s a lot of very melodic stuff in all my tracks. Guitar parts you can sing along to and different, interesting melodies played across lots of instruments. I’m not sure what a long melodic phrase is.

So, I also don’t understand what I’m doing that’s different for you 4:00 - 4:45.

“you've made everything yourself”

Yes, that’s true of almost all my tracks. Very, very few samples in my stuff, apart from programmed acoustic drum kits but I view them just the same as synth presets. They’re building blocks that you then work with as you choose. After all, I also don’t build my own guitars. They’re kind of like a preset!

I really think this is one of my most special tracks and I’m surprised when I listen back to it just how much there is going on. Exciting throughout and I’m really pleased with pretty much all the transitions. They feel quite natural though, in some cases, that took a lot of work.
Thanks again.

Sorry. I don't allow any of my music to be downloaded. Not yet - it's not yet finished and mastered properly. I don't want to let people have lower quality versions.

I'm putting together about 8 albums of my material and will probably let at least the first one be downloaded for free. I will announce this one Looperman. This track is very powerful so will probably be the first track on my first proper album.

How did you find this track on Looperman? Perhaps you just looked through the 'rock' section?

Cool. I try to make every second of it entertaining!

No, it's OK to comment for a second time.

Sorry about no download but I don't allow any of my stuff to be downloaded as I'm assembling a whole bunch of albums right now (about 8 or so) so do not want inferior versions to be out there. I'll never get them back if I let them go! This stuff still needs to be mastered and I also keep finding ways to make improvements to various elements.

Why would I want to give away music that is not finished? I think my music deserves better than that.

The tracks I do are long and complex so real mixing challenges. OK, not like working with over 100 audio tracks including vocals but still very time-consuming. I'm also improving all the time so am able to improve stuff I thought was finished a couple of years ago.

I will let people on Looperman know when I have my first album for them to download. Then you can listen away from your computer to it as much as you like.

Thanks again for the interest.

Thanks. This one has a lot of different atmospheres and moods. In the first few minutes they're quite dark and powerful, then more beautiful in the second half.

Yes, all guitar playing in all of my tracks is me. I play all the instruments in my stuff apart from the drums, which I program.

I like very long tracks - I have a lot of ideas, so I just keep going with them. I often divide tracks in 2 but then each one grows again! I am also trying to do shorter tracks. The music I make is for people (like me) who like to listen to a whole album. Each track does not then seem so long.

But I have about ten tracks on here that are between 5 and 10 minutes. As you like rock music, try out Debt Black Hole and Trial By Ordeal.

"each track of yours blows all of mine away. Superior sound quality, much more creative and experimental, a ridiculous array of instruments and some very well thought out programming."

Well, I'm hardly going to disregard that, am I?

Thanks very much. I've given quite a bit of thought to what my music would sound like if I only had a bass guitar and OKish drums to program. I can't imagine I'd do as good a job as you, not least because I can't play the bass as you do. But I guess I'd be a lot better at it if that's pretty much all I had.

Just as well I don't have those limitations on my party barge.

Regarding the "ridiculous array of instruments", you know I only play guitar, bass, banjo and keyboard? The other instruments are all synth-based. Would like to get and play more actual instruments but never seem to get round to it.

I'd never thought about how many times people have favourited my tracks before you mentioned it though I do have a lot of tracks on here and some have about 6 or 7 favourites so maybe it's a 100. Not sure and it really doesn't matter.

I call shenanigans on you!

"way you can blend so much together on your tracks and have it come out sounding as though fate made it so"

I assure you that takes me a long, long time. Some bits are just straight playing that sounds right first time. But then there are other, more awkward bits that I really struggle with. And there's often the question of whether I'm overdoing things with all the layers and changes.

That's why it's good to hear a variety of opinions on what's good and what's not so good (or rubbish).

The intro is fun and just a leftover extension of the string work from two sister tracks to this - Right Place Wrong Century and Three Miles Late.

Maybe my main skill is editing audio as I do a lot of cheating and definitely make my guitar playing sound much more impressive than it is. I have trouble stringing a lot of different riffs and runs and solos smoothly together but, through editing, can make it sound as though I do it easily.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hey, your Hunglish is OK - better than my Hungarian.

The 10,000 word essay thing is a joke. It's a reference to how much stuff there is in the track. And how many words it might take to describe all the bits of the full 13 min 55 secs track.

I think I come up with so many different parts because I often work very hard on just a short section and try out quite a few different sounds on it. And I try playing in different ways with the groove. And then I move those parts around and force them on top of other sections until I get the fitting together in a strange way.

Some of what I do is a lot like a musical collage - moving little pieces (of audio and MIDI and FX settings) around a very large canvas.

When all these parts get combined, after lots of very careful editing, the result is unusual and probably unique.

Thanks again for your appreciation.

Yo, dude.

I don't play reggae guitar much but I enjoyed doing it here. Maybe I should do it more often.

I only have 27 favourites on this site and one of them is yours! But you never replied to my comment on the track, which makes me feel less like commenting on your other work. There are about 6 comments on that track (The Throw Down) that you did not reply to.

Sort it out!

I guess this track sounds quite clean, though I also wanted it to have quite an aggressive sound. Not dirty, but powerful.

Good to get your great reviews after a month of being away. I have still been uploading so here are tracks you may not have heard:

A Month Of Mondays, Fly Yes, Land No and Three Miles Late.

Read reply to Crucethus as it covers some of your points.

Is reggae the mother of all psychedelic rock? Enjoyed doing it here, maybe I should do more.

3:12 guitar release we get some electric slide. All other slide is on resonator.

At 3:41 I love the extreme guitar (you can hear it also 1:59 and 4:52). I'm maybe more into weird sounds than you but melody and groove are my favourite + most important things.

4:05 clean guitar. By "pushed", you mean you would have raised its level?

5:05 double time drums features one of my best basslines. It's guitar through octave pedal. Most of bass in this is, except for some fat synth bass.

No banjo here, just resonator guitar (see Crucethus reply).

At 7 mins, I'm removing layers, boosting bass, making bass + drum groove breathe more. Less intensity, more space, more beauty, brush drumkit returns for good chillout funk stuff.

When you give things space, you can still bring in short blasts of sound so I use bits of strings, slide guitar, sitar guitar etc. But I don't think I used any slow attack guitar there.

8:42 wah funk guitar playing is pretty much the same as fast stuff on 5:42. I always say good riffs can sound great with different types of drums - that's one reason I do the double time drum thing. It's easy and and inspires even more cool playing.

"At 9:45 we have "almost" a melody played". Don't know what you mean. I love good melodies though I'm not really a lead or solo player - I'm just a rhythm, riff, grooving kind of guy. But I have lots of melodies in my tracks I think people could sing, like a proper tune.

10:45 slide I really like. There is maybe something slightly off about the sound but it works OK. I've added quite a bit of chorus to it there.

12:24 electro kit: This track, just like Right Place Wrong Century and Three Miles Late, has a hip hop single hit kit in it. I muted it mostly in this track but then brought it in for the big chill ending. It has lots of fun effects on it.

Nice, gentle bass chords played in last section. That's because they are guitar chords. Remember - most of the bass in this is guitar. I'm really not sure how many people do that but I do it a lot, for different reasons.

No synth liquid bass in this (well, maybe a bit) but maybe you mean the liquid guitar/bass sound. In another track you thought it was fretless bass (The Wrong Side Of Zero).

"wolves are not used to kindness"

Well, you write lots of kind things on this site. Or maybe they are just honest, not kind.

Yes, hard to choose a favourite song. Maybe my best track ever is one not many people have heard. It's on Looperman, is only 5:30 and is called Circular Motion.

Danke thinks my best track is Into The Out There.

See you around for the next track. It's another psychedelic epic...

"'this guy is placing genres and adjectives just so it can be found easier'"

Haha - I never thought of that but I know what you mean. No, definitely nothing cynical there. It's pretty hard to really describe my stuff and I spend quite a long time on my track descriptions.

I want to be as honest as possible but accurate and interesting. It annoys me a little when people give no details so you have to ask basic questions. I try to describe the mood and give a brief instrument list.

I have loads of similarly mad trips on this site that run through so many genres, many at the same time.

A few to try are: Shapesmith, Zero Per Cent Proof, Three Miles Late, Evolution Of An Echo, Fly Yes Land No and Right Place Wrong Century.

Thanks for your words and happy listening!

Hi. It's pretty hard to give this a genre name. Maybe just psychedelic rock, though there's so much going on that maybe it's sort of its own unique genre. Needs a new name, maybe.

The heavy stuff here isn't heavy metal but the drums are metal playing and drum sound. Again, guitar not that heavy so the metal is from the drums.

You can call it whatever genre you like. Just as long as you don't call it dubstep.

Thanks again.

If you want heavy, check out the following tracks: Debt Black Hole, Lord Of Misrule and Zero Per Cent Proof.

Thanks very much. Not sure I recognise your user name. I guess you've listened to some of my stuff before but not commented?

"No one can compare your tunes to anything ever heard. I LOVE that about you."

That's definitely some high praise and definitely what I am for. Praise be to your high praise!

I really just weave all these sounds together because I believe that any decent riff or part can sound good in hundreds of thousands of different forms. I just utilise a tiny percentage of what can be done with sounds and instruments. There'd be even more if I got round to buying and learning some other instruments.

Once I've got my main bunch of instruments down for a track, I then look to work each and every one and squeeze all sounds of sorts out of it. So, different effects applied to guitars, modified and automated synth patches and so on.

And multiple drum kits as that helps give a different feel and mood, as well different styles of playing. Stick all this together with some decent riffs and fills and that's I come up with this stuff.

I don't really compose it in my head beforehand (too much like hard work and I'm not that good) - I just jam it out and spend far more time editing and "effecting" than playing or practising all of my instruments combined.

Good to hear from you and thanks for your thoughts.

P.S. This track has two sister tracks (this is probably the best) ie same project so same tempo, many shared sounds etc. They are: http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146210 and http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/150919

Cool. Taking people through time and space is what I aim for. Really, it's just me doing that for myself as I make these mad adventures on my own. Which is quite lonely.

You're just hearing where I like to travel to, though there are so many other places I have to take things. If I live long enough, collect enough sounds, learn enough instruments (only play a few, not enough) and can manage not to be too boring repeating myself. Hope I don't end up making middle age boring stuff or poor versions of my younger, better stuff.

I aim for no dull moments because I don't want to bore myself. I simply believe that I have good taste in music so if I like it, at least a few other people will too. If they get the chance to hear it!

I don't know if there is one king of sounds or who that might be. Maybe I can be awarded some sort of official title and use "King Of Sounds" in all my official correspondence, a bit like being a Sir or Lord or Her Majesty or Archbishop.

P.S. Don't forget to check the full version of this as there are more sounds and some mega chill towards the end.

See here:

http://www.mixposure.com/sounds-of-an-unsound-mind/audio/12019/28-levels-above-top-secret

Hi. Glad you found it fun. The 'weird' description was just one of many adjectives that pop into my mind when thinking about it. Check the very trippy, psychedelic lead, heavily delayed guitar around 2 mins. That's one bit I thought was weird, but fun.

If the mix doesn't sound complex, I guess I must have separated everything out neatly. I assure you it was complex to do, though not necessarily much more than in most of my tracks. Some I find more difficult than others. This wasn't so difficult but still a hell of a lot of work.

See here for the full version:

http://www.mixposure.com/sounds-of-an-unsound-mind/audio/12019/28-levels-above-top-secret

It's well worth checking as there's some mega chill in the last minute or so. Big comedown but still very funky bass in there.

I've been working on about 8 albums for the last couple of years. A few are pretty much ready to go except for mastering and artwork. This track will be on the first release, along with the following tracks that are already on this site: Right Place, Wrong Century, Into The Out There, Three Miles Late and Shapesmith. So, about 65 minutes running time, for 5 tracks.

Don't know when I'll get round to releasing it. Not sure if I should pay someone to master my stuff or my mastering is pretty much good enough (probably not). Want to do it all myself but, if I'm going to release stuff that people can own forever, I need it to be as good as it can be and the best listen possible.

Thanks for your thoughts.