OK, here's where to download
SWC085__JanKoekepan__MisguidedMeditations.wav:
https://files.catbox.moe/fq9cj8.wav
Here is a zipfile:
https://files.catbox.moe/adi1r5.zip
Here is my process:
Initial concept:
The whole point is that the screams under discussion are silent, internal - so I decided to explicitly avoid a harsh sound or rendition of screams as opposed to a very measured sound, and yet with lyrical content relevant to mental health, psychoanalysis and so on. This led me to Triphop with overlaid nonmusical elements helping to represent the concept of the challenge, with a direction taken from Guided Meditation.
Started with four strictly sequenced elements:
Precomposition done on sticky note pad with pen, just outlining successive snapshots to be programmed on the Engine. This ended up with 14 sequential patterns to be programmed on the Engine.
- Novation Circuit for drums, internal reverb only.
- KORG Volca Keys for the arp, Zoom G1on multieffects providing a delayand modulation
- KORG Volca FM (with aftermarket firmware) for pad, Zoom G1on providing granular reverb
- KORG Volca FM (with aftermarket firmware) for bass, Zoom G1on providing slight room reverb
Social Entropy Engine doing sequencing for all tracks, split through a MIDI thru box, recorded into four stereo channels on the
Tascam DP-32SD, all printed wet with initial effects as part of the sound design.
Used
JBL EON 206P portable PA for general audibility. Did a quick reference listen on
AKG K612Pro headphones for sanity. A few sound design tweaks, then printed to SD card.
Initial mixing:
AKG K612Pro and
iLoud MicroMonitors for reference.
All done internally to the Portastudio, using on-board 3-band parametric EQ and fader sets to achieve better separation of tracks and taming of annoying frequencies. Mostly dropping mids on the pad and arp so that they didn't interfere too much with other future sounds. Also a bit of scooping on the percs.
Adding of effects tracks:
Zoom G3n on Portastudio's Send 1 and then fed back to inputs C and D for assignment to stereo wet tracks. Used pre-fader data for effects recording to leave plenty of room for later edits.
- Arp: added autopan, exciter, and noise reduction to reduce noise floor.
- Pretty happy with the percussion, so not really tweaking it at this stage. It's doing what I need it to do.
- Pad: added Zoom's Spacehole effect to give it more life, and also noise reduction.
- Bass: it's a bit too boomy and rumbly even for this genre, so to tighten it I compressed it, put it through Zoom's TS Drive, then an EQ that tightened the band before noise reduction. This gave me a more manageable, tamed sound without setting the level finally.
Lyrics:
Boss VE-500 handles dynamic mic and adds radio voice, and room reverb.
The lyrics represent a sort of opposite number to the usual guided meditation stuff, layering in a verbal counter to the meditative nature of the usual new age pap.
Overdubbed a solo:
KORG Kross, Prayer Pad preset. Straight into a stereo channel.
Next mixing stage:
- Panning elements slightly to left and right to create more of a soundstage.
- Percussion and vocal I leave in the centre.
- The other elements I push left and right to some extent to create space.
- Recording a selective tape echo of the vocal to add depth with the Zoom G3n on send effect 1.
Rough mix achieved - and honestly, it sounds reasonably good.
Normalising and exporting for final mastering using the Portastudio's internal mastering - Audacity to trim and normalise to -1dB.
Vocal element is too loud. I had mistakenly left its dry track live. Need to do an adjusted mixdown, dropping its fader a couple of dB and scooping it a little. Remixdown. Renormalise. Export again.
Last mastering - trim the ends, normalise, gentle compression of flyaway peaks. Reduction of noise by profile at the points of silence.
Here are the lyrics, with the time markers inserted for where I recorded them:
0:00 The suppression of the animus by the ego is a necessary step in management of the persona. By harnessing the animus, the ego strikes a light that by implication casts a shadow, and this shadow, untamed, roils with monsters.
1:10 The typology of the elemental personality is intuitively comprehensible in terms of the classical humours. The persona we train to be sanguine or phlegmatic, but in opposition we find the rage of yellow and the despair of black bile, choler and melancholia.
1:44 Choler and Melancholia.
1:58 Choler and Melancholia
2:08 Masked by sanguinity
2:18 The primal scream is a lie, for it is only the shadow that can truly scream, and when it emerges the triumph of the ego is over and the metastatic shadow bursts from within like a fungus that has consumed all the nutrients that its host could offer.
3:05 Light and shadow live in tension, and so do individual and society. Shame is a sickness of society, a weapon that society hands the ego to flog the animus.
3:40 Tell the beautiful lie, the ego says. Hide the shadow inside, the ego says. Do not show your weakness, for the shadows of others may hunger too.
4:05 The shadow rages against its bonds, fed to strength on sorrow and frustration, wrath and angst. If the shadow is the dumping ground for all the things that the persona must hide, then it feasts daily on the diseased flesh of human existence.
A friendly reminder:
