So last fall I found myself with two projects with lots of the same sounds and composition. I couldn't make up my mind as to which version to finish, so I thought: why not both?

This feels like a remix of the Ascent mix to me, even though I made both in parallel, but I definitely put a lot more work into this version! If it sounds unconventional to you, well, I'm still somewhat out of the loop on recent electronic music, so I mostly just tried to build up a sound that felt good to me. I'm especially proud of how everything comes together in the last third or so — I think I did all right at building up a nice wall-of-sound effect. Don't be fooled by the first minute — this piece ended up becoming a bit of a journey, and it's definitely got an unexpected turn or two.

Anyway, do you think I overdid it on the reverb?

Dreamsong (Descent Mix)

I wrote "Only a Dusting" as part of a winter-themed ambient compilation on a Discord server for synthesizer enthusiasts I like to hang out at... and only just now got around to releasing it separately. Check out the full compilation on Bandcamp, lot of great work by a diverse bunch of people. https://synthesizersyo.bandcamp.com/album/winter-vibes


Production notes:


Roland JP-8000 and Behringer Deepmind 6 were used for pads. My DIY modular synthesizer served for a soft bell like arpeggio throughout. I also taped some cheap contact microphones to a kalimba and tuned it to the key I picked for this.


All of that went into FL studio where I made a pretty simple repeated arrangement, and added a bunch of effects (primarily reverb, because it's ambient after all). Once I was happy with the sound of it, I hit play and record and stood by the synthesizers and tweaked parameters live. The kalimba was recorded and sequenced in later.

Also on:
- Bandcamp: https://cimylium.bandcamp.com/track/only-a-dusting
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cv1V8UgbF4
- Newgrounds: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1420163

Cimylium - Only a Dusting

Educator, musician. I work in melodic electronic genres and sometimes make ambient/soundtrack music too. 🏳️‍⚧️

Dreamsong (Descent Mix)

SHE:RE

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