Part of the Equinity 04: Immersion compilation album! Download it for free on Bandcamp: https://equinity.bandcamp.com/album/equinity-04-immersion

I have always wanted to have a go at drumfunk, while also adding a pony flavour to it. It's super enjoyable to chop up old soul and funk drum breaks and rearrange them to form your own composition. In this song I used two very popular breaks: Soul Pride and the Amen. The Soul Pride break, sampled from the song with the same name by James Brown has always captured my attention every time I hear it, regardless of how it has been changed up by various producers. It has this incredible groove, with lovely sounding ghost hits and tiny nuanced snare rolls. I took the sample and pitched it up quite a bit, then added some excitement on the top end to bring out a crispy, shimmery quality (especially in the snare). Then I did some transient processing to tighten up the drums a little, making them sound cleaner. And then there's the Amen Break, sampled off the song "Amen, Brother" on the B-side of a single by The Winstons. I've heard it flipped and rearranged in hundreds of different tracks (especially jungle) and none of them sounds exactly the same. Incredible, given that the drum break lasts for just about 7 seconds. I used SliceX to chop up both of the breaks and then rearranged them using the midi, where each slice is assigned to a note. Learned loads about properly moving groups of consecutive slices together such that the rearranged break sounds continuous. I actually had an attempt on a jungle/drumfunk-ish idea last year, but it ended up being a practice session on chopping and properly processing the drum breaks. Still, there's still loads more to learn.

Huge thanks to the staff at Equinity (Greyfade, Power Note, Budzy, InklingBear and Jalmaan), whose hard work made this wonderful album possible. Also many thanks to Makenshi and the Cider Party staff for putting this song up on the Cider Party channel!! 

The Horse Music Herald staff have also done a long and detailed writeup about Equinity 04, and I highly recommend you give it a read if you are wanting to dive into the album but don't know where to start: https://horsemusicherald.com/2021/03/19/equinity-04-immersion/

Artwork by myself
https://www.deviantart.com/psfmer/art/Immersion-870960340

Equinity 04: Immersion

Coffee Beans

Download free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/house-of-spike

My submission for DustCar 18, topic being Lofi. Always wanted to try out doing some lofi stuff and jumped at this opportunity. Yes, that is Spike saying 'house' fifty times. I contemplated making a full length club mix for this, but I think the intro and outro are loopable enough for a dj the extend it however they like.

For this, I wanted to go for a dancey feel, but also have lots of low end weight and movement. Made a sine wave in serum and then used maxxbass to get a bunch of harmonics going, and got a kind of fat tone out of the bass. I realised that it's important to choose a suitable kick sample, one that doesn't clash horribly with a deep bassline. Ended up choosing a kick that hits a little bit higher on the frequency spectrum which doesn't interfere much with the bassline, and used sidechain compression to duck the sub out of the way.

Also learned the huge huge importance of the 'rule of pairs', which recommends that pairs of elements must exit and enter between phrases. This is so that each phrase feels different enough and the listener gets the sense that a new musical idea/phrase has arrived. Important for preventing things from becoming too stale. I have been applying this guideline in my tracks some time ago, but it seemed doubly important for genres like house, where it can get boring if nothing changes much.

And then there's the crazy trick with the 909 ride. Just adding that 909 ride shimmer in the background really adds a whole bunch of excitement to the track. I've heard this done in a whole bunch of house/techno tunes, and I've been itching to try it out. It works well and I can see why producers keep going back to it.

If you have been thinking of making music, you can hop on to the DustCar Discord server! Every 2 weeks there will be a prompt and producers of all skill levels can submit and have their track played back in a sync listen for everyone to hear. Really good place start practicing, and there's nothing you can really lose. People in the server are really nice and it's a good vibe.

DustCar Discord server: discord.gg/BZgNwDS  

Artwork by myself. 
Spike model by BeardedDoomGuy (https://www.deviantart.com/beardeddoomguy/art/DL-Spike-The-Dragon-754190167)

House of Spike

Download for free at Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/hice

Felt like making some fast techno thing with like really tight kicks and percussion to give it a really fast pace. Also tried a polyrhythm thing which I often hear in techno. I tried figuring out what sort of polyrhythm it was but I'm not versed enough in the theory to determine such haha. Also I find it rather hard to make a groove with tempos like this, so I settled with a really simple one using a delay trick with the hihats. Overall had a very fun time making this.

The whispering you hear in the background is actually the entire conversation the M6 had on a train, about whether fluttershy is a tree or not.

Hice

Get this song and many others for free on the Ponies at Dawn: Oceansong album
https://poniesatdawn.bandcamp.com/album/oceansong

Finally got sufficiently inspired to make a poster for this vid. This song actually has a story that goes along with it (which I'll detail below). It's about how Fluttershy finds her voice in that episode where she secretly sings for the Ponytones as Flutterguy. The pitched vocal shots in this song actually samples Flutterguy, since it's about the most soulful sounding vocal part I could find. I'm actually very satisfied with how the drums turned out. Felt like they grooved enough after adding a ton of breaks together. Overall I feel pretty proud of this one.

Thanks to the Drumscape Library crew for their kind words and to Single Purpose for providing some really important feedback (I had the vocal shots out of key in one of my wips and didn't realise until he pointed it out). Also thanks to the Ponies at Dawn staff for keeping the pony music scene rolling, and for all their hard work to make this wonderful album possible. 

Artwork by myself:
https://www.deviantart.com/psfmer/art/Shrouded-Soul-883645696

Now for some backstory if you care for it:

This song kind of follows the story in the episode where Fluttershy secretly sings for the Ponytones out of sight to cover for Big Mac losing his voice. Used some nature sounds in the beginning to set the theme. At the beginning of the episode, she sings while taking care of her animals alone. I tried to replicate that vibe with warm swirly pad sounds and her gentleness with some soft dark pianos. Also had a a synth sound with continually pulses throughout the chorus to signify her drive. Later, she discovers that she likes singing for a crowd, but not necessarily in front of it. She enjoys her passion but doesn't want to be in the spotlight. Then she eventually gets discovered to be singing backstage, firmly locking all the attention on her. She dashes off back home and vows never to sing again. That's when the song enters a break in the middle, in a kind of sudden manner. The pads back off in their warmth and volume, the piano is in the background playing its melody meekly. The pulsing synth nearly disappears. When the drop comes again, the soundscape is slightly different and quieter, to show how Fluttershy has 'lost' her voice too. But as we all know, she recovers with the help of her friends in the end. She slowly builds up enough confidence to perform for her friends in the new Ponytones quintet. The song gradually builds up too, and everything comes together in the final phrases, with additional vocal pads from Fluttershy's actual voice. It's a pretty cool episode, really. Shows that Fluttershy has some real serious talent and soul in singing, and she has it hidden in a veil. A shroud that encases her soul, getting thinner all the time with encouragement from her friends, but still present nonetheless.

Oceansong

Shrouded Soul

Download free on Bandcamp (less spicy version available): https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/album/dubplot

I wanted to do try something more percussive and dub inspired, with a strong moving bassline. Had huge fun doing this. This was originally submitted for a Dustcar race, but it got yeeted because I honestly lacked the foresight and it's entirely my own fault lol. Anyways I polished up the track and provided a less spicy (read: still not clean) version for those who prefer it that way, or want to play it out loud (you have my best wishes if you decide to do so). The RD sample was lifted off iblank2apples' track Horse D'oeuvres (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cUBZU5q7uA)

Dubplot

Dubplot (Dirty)

Part of the VibePoniez: New Leaf compilation album! Grab this and many chill music for free: https://vibeponiez.bandcamp.com/album/new-leaf

My dnb take on TCB's wonderful creation using the stems provided. It was fun taking those existing sounds and re-purposing them as pads and rhythmic elements, while still retaining some of the vibe of the original. I love the original because I'm a huge rd fan and her love for Tank is so cute. The Tanks for the Memories episode really hit me hard, and it was a really clever way to talk about grief and acceptance. I feel TCB's song captured this emotion really well, the longing for someone who is loved but long gone. I could only wish to capture some part of it and I hope I did the original some justice. 

Please check out the original song, Forever is Nothing by TCB:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrm-rHZ9kCM

Massive thanks for the VibePoniez staff and all the musicians for working hard to bring this compilation to life.

VibePoniez: New Leaf

Nothing is Forever (PSFMer remix)

TCB - Forever is Nothing (PSFMer Remix)

Figured it was time to make some G5 stuff, so I decided to try something new. Sampled a bunch of lines and characters from the movie, and also used some AI generated lines courtesy of 15ai. The percussion and rhythms in this are afrobeats-styled and I find them to be quite groovy. By now, you'd have realised that I love lots of emphasis on sub frequencies and groovy drums, and I think there was plenty of that in here haha. Highly satisfied with one, and I'm especially proud of how that snare is sitting in the mix. I made this song in two days so I could submit it for Race 38 of Dustcar.
credits

Twilight Sparkle voice generated by 15.ai

Unicorn Attack

Grab this remix for free on Bandcamp (press $0 after clicking buy): https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/pull-over-siren-song-psfmer-remix

Everyone is posting their remix of this song lately, so I decided to jump on too. I wanted to try something different from everyone else, so I focused on the rapping parts and did away with the melodic singing parts. Chopped Koa's vocals and retimed them a little to get a different sort of groove on them by starting one beat later. Pretty satisfied with how the percussion turned out, felt quite dancey to me. Also pulled some background elements in the original song into the forefront, namely the siren and the brassy sounds which I ended up chopping into a new rhythmic context. 

Please check out the original song by loopy & Koa, as featured on Ponies at Dawn: Oceansong: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFsSTtl6DqY
https://poniesatdawn.bandcamp.com/album/oceansong\

Artwork by myself.
Sonata Dusk model by Yoksaharat:
www.deviantart.com/yoksaharat/art/SFM-Gmod-Dazzling-From-EQG-UPDATED-Dl-493699015

Pull Over (Siren Song) [PSFMer remix]

loopyy & Koa - Pull Over (Siren Song) [PSFMer remix]

Grab this track for free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/the-answer

The answer was right in front of her all the time. Had she ever really lost sight of it?

I wanted to try out something a little deeper on the house side of things, but I'm not sure if I can really call this deep house haha. Anyway, this was really fun to make. This is the first song that I've made using Ableton Live, which I decided to try out recently. I'm really liking it so far. The automation is so much more neater than FL studio's implementation. And the ability to have fades and gain control on individual audio clips was so wonderful because I work with audio and resampling a lot. Using fades and varying gain on individual drum/hihat hits can really humanise the drums and add lots of groove.

Since I'm trying out something a little deeper, I decided make it Fluttershy themed, utilising snippets of conversation that I generated using the TTS abilities of 15.ai once again. Then i built a vibe around her soft voice, resampling pads and synths to add layers of complexity of top of it. And I focused quite a lot of energy on making a groove for the drums, since this is dance music after all and groove is really important. Also added a small outro section at the end so that DJs can transition out of the song a little easier (if it even gets played haha).

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle voices generated using 15.ai

The Answer

Grab this track for free on my Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/pontextual

There is no pontext

I went back to the drawing board because i still wasn't very satisfied with the techno stuff i have already put out. This time i put lots of effort into making the kick as good as possible. Ableton Live's workflow is really good for techno stuff imo. It's very easy to set up parallel processing with individual volume controls and place effects on the entire chain afterwards. This makes the kick processing that much easier and faster i feel. Previously in FL i had to route the mixer channels manually just to have do parallel processing (i might be doing it an inefficient way, but in Live i could set up the same processing in like a click and 2 buttons). I also tried to regulate my use of reverb because i think i tend to wash out things like FX and pads in too much reverb, which gives makes things lose a bit of focus i feel. 

Paid special attention to how elements groove together, like the shakers and the hats with the kick. In terms of tonal balance, i studied a bunch of tracks that i like and i found that they generally have the kick much louder than the hats and stuff. Shakers and 16th note hihats tend to sit a little further back, while the off-beat accented closed hihat hits louder and pops up above them. I applied some tiny bit of humanisation by playing with velocities for individual hits, as well adjusting the timings such that they are not bang-on quantised on the grid. Also had some fun with swung delays on the hats. The results were satisfying enough for now, because there is a sense of 'rolling' and groove that pushes the track forward. Still much to learn, i think. Better to just wrap up this track and move on to another one, rather than dwell endlessly on individual elements. 

I tried to keep things interesting by changing at least 2 elements of the track every 8 bars or so, and i think it works somewhat. It's what i love about this sort of techno: the continual repetition of a couple of motifs, kept interesting by subtle changes to the elements in the fore- and background. But it's funny because like 95% of my audience will probably still find it boring and unengaging lol

Twilight Sparkle voice generated by 15.ai

Pontextual

Grab this track for free: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/dreamstate (press $0 after pressing buy)

Pipp has nightmares about her inner self.


Time for some halftime drum and bass. It was interesting to try and get the feel and 'quickness' of standard dnb track on a halftime rhythm. Not sure if it worked out or not, but it was very fun to make. I sampled Pipp's voice from that podcast thing that's supposed to help you fall asleep as you listened to it. I don't know about you, but some parts sounded a little scary to me if taken out of context, with a healthy dose of reverb on it. So I decided to construct a dark vibe song around those vocal lines. 

This track started out as a deep dubstep concept, and I intended to submit it to p@d zenith. But I soon realised it was really hard to make without everything sounding too empty or too busy. Needed more practice in that department. So I ditched it and converted the track into the current halftime dnb idea. Halfway through I hit a creative wall and decided to take a break from it. Ended up not submitting a solo track to zenith at all. But last week I fired up this project again and finished it up. Better late than never right?

Artwork by myself.

Dreamstate

PSFMer - Dreamstate

Download free on Bandcamp (press $0 after clicking buy): https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/wut

Everyone says wut (featuring zipp and a special scat singing section by izzy)


An experiment into different grooves, slower grooves. At 110bpm, there is a lot more space to put different rhythmic elements and percussive sounds so I found it a very rewarding experience. The song starts with a steady four on the floor pulse that most people would be familiar with, along with syncopated rimshots and synth sounds. I wanted to include some dancy grooves based on the 3-2 son clave (from Afro-Cuban music) with a slight modification, so i dropped right into those sections from the 4 on the floor parts, with the intention of presenting the son clave in context with the regular meter. I find the son clave pulse to be very groovy, and i've used it quite prominently in a couple songs (Unicorn Attack and my remix of Pull Over). Also did a polyrhythm/meter thing with a cowbell in the second half just because i like it. Actually i did this whole song cause i like making songs like this: big focus on rhythmic elements and emphasis placed on sub bass. I hope you can enjoy it as much as i did.

A small techno EP with ideas i really love. Constant four on the floor with repetitive motifs that go on throughout the songs, accompanied by rapid sub-basslines with percussive elements driving the tracks forward.

This EP is kind of like a 'progress report' on the stuff i have learned so far on making techno, and it's ordered by when i finished the tracks. Track 1 was finished a couple of weeks back, while the final track was finished about 8 months ago. Going back and listening to the songs, i think there was a definite improvement in terms of subtlety, which was something i struggled with. In my earlier tracks there was usually too many elements which were implemented in a heavy-handed manner, like too much reverb, too much echo etc. As i work on more and more tracks, i learned to strip the sounds back a little to give more breathing room and 'sparseness' which is characteristic of the techno i like listening to. Tracks like these tend to be very stripped down so that they can be layered over other tracks in DJ sets. So much so that you can regularly see 3 deck techno sets with all 3 faders up, but the mix still doesn't sound overcooked.

I wish there was more techno in the fandom - stripped down and barebones stuff with strong emphasis on rhythm and dance. I get that the melodic stuff is nice and many people prefer that more, but it would be wonderful to hear more left-field music if only to add to the variety.

This EP probably won't be the most popular thing, but i really appreciate everyone who gives it a try. Big thank you to those of you who like the stuff i put out, your support really motivates me to do more. I really enjoyed making this and i'm going to try exploring more left-field stuff this year.

Neys

Neis

Nies

Part of the VibePoniez: Hearth's Warming Vol.2 compilation album! Get this song and much more for free: https://vibeponiez.bandcamp.com/album/hearths-warming-vol-2

 I can't help but feel that a Misty-themed deep dubstep song is quite fitting, because there is something melancholic about how she has been brought up by an abusive 'maternal' figure, and how she eventually has a taste of what real friendship could be like with Sunny and co. She will eventually have to choose between Opaline and the mane pones, and i imagine that this will be a pretty tough decision for her. It's pretty obvious that she will eventually join the mane group, but i think it won't be easy to sever ties with Opaline (given that she has been somewhat brainwashed and fed false tales all her life). I hope this will be explored in the future, because there is SO much potential for Misty's backstory,  development, and eventual redemption. 

On the technical side of things, i had a few attempts at deep dubstep before this one, all of which were trashed because i wasn't vibing with them. It's quite a challenge to keep the arrangement very sparse but subtly progressing, which was what i aimed for in this track. Delay and echo effects were really useful in this regard, because they can be made to ring out for a longer time to fill up empty space in the track. I really wanted to have focus on very warm sounds with contrasting crisp and tight drums, so i had some sampled rhodes on with a constant deep sub. Overall a very interesting experience, and now i'm more comfortable attempting stuff like this. 

Please check out the VibePoniez album, there's lots of pretty cool and chill music to study to. Many thanks to Luna, Steryotype and Totalspark for organising this album.

Hearth's Warming Vol. 2

I've Kind of Grown to Like You

I've Kind Of Grown To Like You

Grab this for free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/boulder

A track where i indulge myself and do whatever i want. Inspired by footwork, a genre and dance originating from chicago, developed from ghetto house and pioneered by RP Boo. I love the loads of syncopation in footwork tracks, and the kind of trademark sub bass pulsing in dotted eighth notes (fake triplets) plus triplets. It's like a rhythmic funhouse, with some tracks made soulful by sampling old records and vocals. That's the vibe i aimed for in this one, mixed up with a stupidly aggressive and jarring 303. This track isnt as footworky as i want it to be, but i think it's an ok attempt. Maud's monotonous voice is perfect for a track like this imo, where vocals are chopped and arranged in very staccato, rapidfire patterns. Also, i think her voice really softens when she delivers her rock poems, which fits nicely with the rhodes parts

Made this over the course of five days, in time for Dustcar race 70

Boulder

Very proud to be a part of Equinity 06: Expedition compilation album! Get this track and lots more here: https://equinity.bandcamp.com/album/equinity-06-expedition

I felt like doing a rainbow dash vocal song, so i decided to go hunting for newer vocals that could fit into a kind of vibey dnb concept i had. I then remembered that massive leak which gave access to a bunch of EQG song stems. I was too lazy to tune vocals, so i just picked a song that was the relative major of F minor (which was what i wanted my track to be in). The only song that fit was "All Good" from the EQG spring breakdown, which was in Ab major and a rainbow dash song to boot. Then it was just a simple task of chucking the vocals in, timing them, and adding fx -- no extra tuning needed

It took quite a while to brainstorm and make a pic to go with the video, but i liked how it turned out. I'm very hooked on lighting my posters a particular way, but this time i exercised some self restraint and didn't add too much colour and contrast

Please go and check out Equinity 06, a big compilation of so many fandom talents, organised by Greyfade, Power Note, fractilx, Budzy and Jalmaan!!

Equinity 06: Expedition

Get In

Taking it slower, relaxed, and more soulful this time. Featuring sounds from Onyx (the poet poni in the Tea Room), a rando guy poni on stage, and Zipp. The Crystal Tea Room in the movie gave me a kind of lounge-y, bar feel where you can go hang out with your friends and listen to bongo-beat poetry over a few drinks. I wanted to extend that idea a little more and make a song with percussion and rhythms from Africa, all while having a sort of friendly, warm, and slightly playful vibe that the Tea Room gives. 

I've been very inspired by Amapiano recently, which is a fusion between deep house, jazz and Kwaito, which by itself is a house genre originating in South Africa featuring African percussion and sounds. I absolutely love playing with syncopated rhythms, and i also wanted to try writing longer melodies, so trying my hand at Amapiano was perfect to include both. It was a pretty hard time writing the piano melody because i didn't have a midi keyboard which made translating my ideas into notes in the DAW quite difficult. But luckily the Blues scale is really quite neat and easy to navigate and write with. I think the melody is a little haphazard but i kind of like it in the end. The piano is a free plugin by Spitfire Audio and it sounds pretty amazing i must say. As for the percussion, every Amapiano song i listen to has kicks that hit like exclusively in the sub region, everything above 100hz or so seems to be low passed entirely. So throughout the song there's the 4/4 sub pulse that i find very appealing and bouncy especially in conjunction with the rest of the percussion. And no Amapiano song is complete without the log drum, which to the best of my knowledge, is a preset in an FM synth in FL studio. It has an extremely distinct punchy sound and long sub tail which makes it super nice for adding loads of low end weight to the song. I absolutely love the log drum

Crystal Tea Room

about time!! Always wanted to do a small drumfunk EP, but had problems completing track 1 because i ran into the classic problem of not knowing where to bring the track in the second half. Track 2 was already done way before track 3 (which released last year in Ponies at Dawn Blossom). Recently had a vacation a vacation from work so i took the chance to finally complete the EP and release it

Emergent

Eternal Stream

Canopy

Get this song free on Bandcamp >> http://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/aversion

My second song!! Wanted to do something dark-ish after finishing my first one. Learnt quite a lot technical things while making this too, like FM synthesis and stuff. It's a really cool sound. Also learned the importance of using reference tracks to get a mix sounding right. There's still lots to improve, of course. 

Anyways ye, hope you enjoy.

Aversion

Get this track here: https://poniesatdawn.bandcamp.com/

My first completed track that I felt I could post. Somehow got into Ponies at Dawn; for that I'm very grateful to them for giving me this chance. Also very thankful for everyone who has helped and gave feedback along the way: Violin Melody, MrMehster, Squeaky Belle, and the Drumscape Library crew. Would be impossible without them.

Some rambling below where I reflect on some stuff: 

When I started this track, I decided to render out the project at various points, so that I could hear for myself how the sound changed as I learned new techniques and built the track up. Also highlights the importance of getting feedback as well, because other people have fresh ears and can immediately tell you what's wrong in a mix. Case in point: when I sent a WIP to Mehster at some point, he immediately told me how the shakers I was using were too centered and interfering with other percussion/vocals. After panning it using a preset on Fruity Stereo Enhancer, it was like BOOM, the mix was much more clearer. There was more space for the percussion to breathe. Comparing it to the old WIP, it was like night and day. You can hear it yourself in the WIP compilation I made below. 

In case anyone is interested, I've made a small compilation of those WIPs at different times over the last few months: https://youtu.be/JntakeChyUs

Was pretty interesting to hear how layering the right drums could add so much to a song. Another thing is how light saturation on everything just gives some warmth in the low mids, and more clarity/crispness to the highs. I swear it's like an eureka moment thing when I first learned about it. 

A technique I want to try in future songs would be the application of parallel compression on the entire master bus. I tried it to some degree on Aversion, but it felt overdone and too over the top, so I reverted it. Probably mixed in too much of the compressed signal, but eh.

Ignite

Wonders

Download for free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/headquarters

I like imagining there's an underground techno scene in Ponyville, where anyone can go and lose themselves in pounding bass and hypnotic rhythms.

I haven't heard much of this sort of techno in this fandom, so I decided to give it a try. I've been into techno for quite a while now (think Perc, Nina Kraviz, Jeff Mills, Slam etc.), so I've had quite a few ideas. Specifically wanted to try out using polyrhythms like in Detroit techno. Also paid special attention to making it as DJ friendly as possible (although I'm pretty sure it won't get played in a set lol).

Big thanks to bank pain for his help with some DC offset issues I've encountered. Also massive thanks to alias for technical feedback.

I ramble some technical stuff below:

The mix was quite challenging to get to an acceptable standard, because I kept ending up with too much sizzling high end, or too much rumbling low end. The 909 hat is really really powerful up there and it took some work to tame it and get it to fit somewhat within the track. Learned quite a lot on mixing high end. 

The rolling bassline also took some work to minimise muddiness and increase clarity. There was 3 layered kicks over the rolling bassline, so it took quite a bit of time to experiment with EQs to get the muddiness out. Also discovered that high passing the low end at 20hz takes lots of energy out of the audible rumbling frequencies. This runs contrary to some advice I've heard, which is to cut frequencies below 20hz to get more headroom. Some further research tells me that doing a low cut introduces some sort of phasing issue, and that it would be better to use a low shelf if you need to take some energy out of the sub frequencies.

Headquarters

Grab this track for free on Bandcamp:
https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/caged-pegasus

Scootaloo battles an inner turmoil resulting from a question she has asked herself over so many years.

I was heavily inspired after hearing a really introspective track in a mix some time back, and I wanted to try something a little different. Learned lots about EQing to get different elements to fit together and not fight each other. Also applied knowledge I learned from Youtube on mid-side EQing to separate stuff occupying the same frequency range. I think I might have overdid it at some point, but it's a learning journey I guess haha. 

I recently also got myself an external DAC and a pair of HD25s, which are much flatter compared to my previous bass-heavy earphones. This is the first song I mixed with the HD25s, and I find them to be quite revealing and helpful in detecting resonant frequencies. It could just be a placebo effect though, and I'm just spouting nonsense or something. Anyways, enjoy the song if you can lol.

Caged Pegasus

Get this track for free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/zone

Second installment of my techno learning journey. I have learned a lot since my first techno track, and I hope this one did better.

Big thanks to alias and Certedia for technical and creative feedback!

Some reflection/rambling:

After listening to my first techno track again after a couple months, I realised that I've made some pretty big mistakes. I didn't have a clear vision of what flavour of techno I wanted to go with, so it ended up being a giant mishmash of ideas thrown together without much coherence. Also, there wasn't much sense of groove in the first track. I had an open hihat dominating the higher frequencies and seemingly drowning out other elements. The overall mix sounded somewhat muddy in the low end, and highs sounded kind of pinched and congested.

In this track, I sought to address those problems. I had a good idea of what kind of style I was going for, which was the sort of dark and repetitive techno found on labels like Polegroup. I studied and listened to a bunch of tracks and they seem to have a strong focus on rhythm and abstract synthetic sounds. And despite the tracks having the same repetitive motifs throughout, they never sound like they stagnate because there is always something changing every 4 or 8 bars. It can be something as simple as introducing a continuous loop of 16th note hihats, or automation of filters so that elements seem to phase in and out of the track smoothly. To address the groove problem, I added more rhythmic elements with changing velocities, like shakers and some syncopated percussive elements in the low mids. I feel like this was somewhat successful. As for the overall mix, I made sure to leave/make space for each element in the spectrum. Also made use of some sidechain compression on the hihats and shakers so that they make space for the main offbeat hihat.

Overall, I think I did a slightly better job for this attempt. I checked the final mix on Tonal Balance Control and it seems to be ok in terms of tonal balance while comparing to reference tracks. Learned that I should be making ample use of stereo tools to create interest (autopan etc). Also learned that adding gentle saturation on every bus/certain elements will stack up to create a richer and fuller sound and save some headroom.

Zone

Download for free on Bandcamp (press $0 after clicking buy): https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/flutterr-psfmer-remix

My submission for DustCar race 4, theme being 2010 - 2012 Brony Community. Decided to try out something new with this Jersey Club inspired track, remixing FluttERR by Aoshi, featuring Rina-chan as Fluttershy. Might be a little suggestive depending on how active your imagination is.

3 days before the submission I decided to dig in deep and finished the track within 7 hours. After the sync listen I spent another couple hours adjusting the mix and changing a couple of elements.

I think it was an okay attempt at best. I like listening to Jersey club so I had an idea of what it should be like, but I think I added too much shit to it in the end, when it should be a little sparser in terms of elements in the track. I don't think I'll be able to fully create true Jersey club though, because I'm not from New Jersey and I haven't experienced the culture there. There's that key element that is missing from what I made. It doesn't have the same vibe (prolly because of the vocals lol but still).

Overall a really fun project prompted by the DustCar race. Highly recommend anyone interested in music production to try it out. All quality levels are accepted, which means there's nothing to lose and everything to gain in terms of practice.

Join the DustCar Discord here: discord.gg/BZgNwDS

Original producer: Aoshi
Fluttershy vocals: Rina-chan
Art by yours truly: www.deviantart.com/psfmer/art/FluttERR-855229499

FluttERR (PSFMer remix)

Aoshi ft. Fluttershy - FluttERR (PSFMer Remix)

Download for free on Bandcamp: https://psfmer.bandcamp.com/track/parallel (hit $0 after clicking buy)

Part 3 of my techno learning journey. In the last techno song I did (Zone), I was pretty satisfied with it, but there was still that nagging feeling the song didn't sound right. It wasn't dark and dissonant enough. The harmonic content was too clean. Luckily, I came across a tutorial on Youtube demonstrating just how to absolutely destroy harmonic relationships using frequency shifting.

In regular pitch shifting, the ratio between the harmonics are kept intact, whereas in frequency shifting, it moves all harmonics by the same amount, making a really dissonant effect. I took some random percussion samples and slapped a frequency shifter on it and bam there was that dark sound. Also used Serum to make some odd sounding plucks and frequency shifted that too. And then on top of those, I added a load of fx and automation so that there are constantly changing and evolving timbres coming in and out of the track. Think I'm way more satisfied with this one, all thanks to the frequency shifting technique. It's a big step towards the Polegroup sort of techno I've been wanting to make. Then I finally realised that I've made such a niche thing that very few people will be able to sit through. But it was super fun to make haha.

Thanks to alias for the feedback.

Art by yours truly.

Parallel

Grab this and many quality tracks for free at the Ponies at Dawn Bandcamp >> https://poniesatdawn.bandcamp.com/album/eclipse 

Aaa I managed to get accepted in Ponies at Dawn once again, what an absolute honour!! Thanks so much to the P@D crew for putting the album together!

Really loved how this track turned out. Recently found out some new production techniques from some producers I really like (QZB, Monty et al.) and applied those while making Sublunar. Stuff like making nicely varying shuffles and putting together drum fills to move from one section to another. Really really effective and learned lots more in regards to making this sort of fast clinical dnb. In retrospect, I wish I changed up some of the elements of the track and the mixdown, but ehh

Big shouts to the Drumscape Library crew and Single Purpose in particular for their helpful feedback on the final mixdown!!

Album art by Anticular.

Eclipse

Sublunar

Aspiring horse music producer, amateur SFM pone animator.

Owadio

PSFMer

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