(Ambient) Travelers

[strangers]

Have you ever wondered what it's like to travel through time and space? Now is the time to take a journey through the unknown. I've created an EP to document those journeys. Ready for the ride?

Buckle up on Bandcamp or SoundCloud.

https://officialstrangers.bandcamp.com/releases



As always, I'm open to any comments, criticism, likes, dislikes, etc.

Enjoy.

[Uman's]

Hi there,

Personally, I loved the whole tracks. Especially "discovery" very pretty.

"contact lost" reminds me of a trak I made more than ten years ago. It was in the same spirit.
I thought I could hear myself !

I really like what you've done and I'm happy that such a style continues.

THX !

[strangers]

Hi there,

Personally, I loved the whole tracks. Especially "discovery" very pretty.

"contact lost" reminds me of a trak I made more than ten years ago. It was in the same spirit.
I thought I could hear myself !

I really like what you've done and I'm happy that such a style continues.

THX !

Thanks and glad you liked it. There were varying feelings and stories I was looking to tell with each song. I never dabbled much with pads so this was new ground for me. Lots of layering, too.

[Auryn]

Hey man, cool new tunes

What I really like is how every track tells a story in it's arrangement, it's not just one long droning mush (in the way some ambient can be) but each track has different 'movements' with some percussive interpunction too.

What synths did you use? And how did you create the radio/comms voices? They're really well done too.

[Uman's]

Well, you succeeded ! I don't know what else you would have done, but don't forget this style that suits you well !

[TheGodOfRainbows]

Well done. Very cinematic. I think these tracks would be great for some kind of space documentary, or in a movie. I like how lo-passed everything sounds (perhaps that is a hallmark of ambient - i dont know). You said you dont do pads very often, but you used them very well here I think. The layers on each track are nice - not too busy, not too minimal.

As always I'm interested in what sounds/synths/effects you used for this. But if you wish to keep that secret thats ok.

Good stuff!

[strangers]

Hey man, cool new tunes

What I really like is how every track tells a story in it's arrangement, it's not just one long droning mush (in the way some ambient can be) but each track has different 'movements' with some percussive interpunction too.

What synths did you use? And how did you create the radio/comms voices? They're really well done too.

Glad you liked it and I know what you mean about the mush. The mush can be cool in small doses. Most mush piles tend to be heavily drawn out. There's only so much one can handle before having to jump ship. I'll cover some of the synths and sounds in a future response to TheGodOfRainbows since he also asked. I'll have to pull up the song files since I forgot what I used. I do remember it was a mix of Thor, Antidote, Zero, Grain and Proton Particle Accelerator.

As for the radio voices, each song has a mix of things going on.

1. Orbit - This contains random conversation that I ran through light distortion, bit crusher, filtered and then some delay and reverb.

2. Discovery - I got a little creative with this one. I had my fiance read various lines out of a book that I chopped up, ran through distortion, bit crusher, filtered and then of course some delay and reverb. She was hoping I kept her vocals more obvious to hear what she was saying. I made a special guest appearance, as well. If you listen close enough and listen beyond the faint static that's layered in there, you'll hear whispering for an added layer of spookiness. I recorded three whisper tracks. One is panned toward the left, one toward the right and one dead center. All three are different. I may or may not be whispering Norm MacDonald jokes.

3. Approaching the Sun - This contains audio from the Apollo 11 mission that, you guessed it, I ran through distortion, bit crusher, filtering, delay and reverb. There's some layered vocals for texture through the song. I heavily mangled a random vocal track of someone saying "I don't want to know" and turned it into melodic elements.

Well, you succeeded ! I don't know what else you would have done, but don't forget this style that suits you well !

I appreciate the kind words. This is a style I'll definitely dig further into. The next round of songs will be much darker and heavier.

[Chizmata]

i like the overall calm and experimental feel of the EP. the sound design is subtle yet deep and rich. i think the beats in track 1+2 appear a bit random, but its still ok because the sequences are short and in the end integrated into the whole track in a meaningful way, so that randomness doesnt take over. the beat in track 3 fits better for me. also the ending with the last short, more active track as opposed to the 3 spheric ones before is cool. btw you might wanna check track 4 on bandcamp for a typo.

[strangers]

Well done. Very cinematic. I think these tracks would be great for some kind of space documentary, or in a movie. I like how lo-passed everything sounds (perhaps that is a hallmark of ambient - i dont know). You said you dont do pads very often, but you used them very well here I think. The layers on each track are nice - not too busy, not too minimal.

As always I'm interested in what sounds/synths/effects you used for this. But if you wish to keep that secret thats ok.

Good stuff!

There's a lot of filtering going on for each of the songs. My goal was to create spaces for everything to fit the creepy and space-y vibe. Layering is pretty easy to get carried away with. I had to catch myself anytime I noticed I was layering too much per hit, pad, sound effect, bass, etc. One or two of the songs have 2-3 layered pads. It was fun mixing those to avoid a wall of mush.

As for synths, I managed to stick with a small group. There's a healthy mix of Thor, Antidote, Zero, Grain and Proton Particle Accelerator on every track. There's also a decent amount of automation among various parameters and effects to create movement. Most of the effects were REs - Scream, Pulverizer, RV7000, Sonic Bits Pump, Rob Papen RP-Verb, Synapse DR-1 reverb and Bassgrid Filter X1. Vocals were a mix of samples and actual voice recordings that were then mangled.

I know that's fairly vague otherwise I'd be writing a novel breaking down each track. Let me know if there's anything in particular you're intered in knowing more about.

i like the overall calm and experimental feel of the EP. the sound design is subtle yet deep and rich. i think the beats in track 1+2 appear a bit random, but its still ok because the sequences are short and in the end integrated into the whole track in a meaningful way, so that randomness doesnt take over. the beat in track 3 fits better for me. also the ending with the last short, more active track as opposed to the 3 spheric ones before is cool. btw you might wanna check track 4 on bandcamp for a typo.

Thanks for the kind words and heads up for the spelling! This project was one of the first times I really dove deeper into my own sound design. Normally I'm a preset surfer with some basic tweaks and automation. I do know what you mean about the beats. For a while, they were totally different than the end result. I'm not exactly sure what to call or classify the route I went with. They made sense in my head

The final track, Contact Lost, was a last minute addition. Tracks 1-3 were completed and a random idea popped in my head while I was finishing up the mastering process for the three songs. The idea was to come up with something that ends things in a slightly disturbing, mysterious and open to interpretation kind of way. The idea in my head came together really quickly. I managed to write and complete the song in only an hour. That's an absolute rarity for me.

[Synthopathe]

Enjoyed the atmosphere and space, very nice (Orbit)

[Last Alternative]

This should be in a movie. Very theatrical ambience. My only complaint is it’s too short!

[strangers]

Enjoyed the atmosphere and space, very nice (Orbit)

Glad you liked it and hope you also check out the other songs at some point!

This should be in a movie. Very theatrical ambience. My only complaint is it’s too short!

Thanks for the kind words! I'll surely be doing more like this in the future. I opted for shorter songs knowing that a lot of similar music tends to be really drawn out. I know I skip through when things repetitive and/or drawn out and wanted to keep things short and to the point in hopes of people listening through fully.

[TritoneAddiction]

Sounds awesome. One can tell that you've paid a lot of attention to all the details, which keeps things interesting throughout. All four tracks sounded great. Judging by the last track, it doesn't sound like the journey ended well for the traveler(s).

[strangers]

Sounds awesome. One can tell that you've paid a lot of attention to all the details, which keeps things interesting throughout. All four tracks sounded great. Judging by the last track, it doesn't sound like the journey ended well for the traveler(s).

I left Contact Lost up to the listener to decide what happened. It could either be a bad ending, the end or a loss of communication for X amount of time. Is the story over or will it resume?

[jjpscott01]

Very well done. Lots of attention to detail. Keep it up and I’ll keep a look out for more music from you on the future