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What makes a sound psychedelic???
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sy000321
IsraTrance Junior Member
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1142
Posted : Mar 9, 2005 14:34
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just read it up in an interview to Karlheinz Stockhausen:
"The beginning of every art music development,
in China, or in India or in European monasteries was always to relate the
art of shaping composing sounds with the art [by which] the stars are shaped
and composed. Astronomy, mathematics and music were the highest disciplines
throughout the centuries since the beginning of European art music in the
monasteries, let's say in the tenth until the 14th, 15th century... I have
studied all music of Europe as a student - I had to - and I at a very early
age became aware, also naturally, [that] certain music, like the Art Of The
Fuge by Johann Sebastian Bach or the Musikalishe Opfer, [has] always known
about this relationship between the laws of the universe, astronomical laws,
and the laws of the music of this Earth. "
to some point, all music is psychedelic 
  roll a joint or STFU :) |
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missing-link
IsraTrance Junior Member
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30
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108
Posted : Mar 9, 2005 14:59
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[/quote]
apart from the common 'filter' modulation .
[/quote]
how to you acive this ? |
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fuzzikitten
Annunaki
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603
Posted : Mar 9, 2005 16:16
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it's just opening and closing the filter, usually a lowpass filter, over several measures. |
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br0d
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Mar 10, 2005 13:32
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wrt sound, the definition of psychedelic is not only a personal one, but a social one. it changes according to what society and people as a whole are used to hearing. in other words, a psychedelic sound is marked by its ability to create a distortion in perception. the capacity for such distortions are partly due to the way the brain is wired, but also partly due to the way it has ADAPTED to its environment. so, if something previously caused a perceptual change in your mind, over time this effect may be lessened as you become more accustomed to it (we are adaptive beings) and you will need greater distortions in order to achieve the same level of psychedelia.
in this sense, the psychedelia itself is like a drug.
this is also why the term "psychedelic" as applied to trance or whatever else can never truly become typecast or dated, regardless of the stigmas people place on it. psychedelic is about a change in the capacity for perceptual distortion. as we grow and experience, that which was previously distortion becomes mundane signal, and that which was unintelligible noise becomes distorted signal, and on down the line.
which is why I hate TB303s.
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UnderTow
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Posted : Mar 10, 2005 15:31
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Well I think a 303 can be psychedelic but it needs much more work to achieve that effect. We are so used to it's sound that an artist needs to make it change way beyond the pitch, resonance and cutoff to get our minds stimulated. A 303 line that changes and eveolves over time, maybe going into different spaces (reverbs), being phased shifted, then going through a section with a chorus and then get timestretched for a bit, then back into a phaser, reversed, turned back again etc ...
But then maybe it is just a plain old 303 going through a psychedelic sonic landscape. On the other hand, because the sound is so familiar you can use it for a contrast effect. Have a regular 303 line going which suddenly changes into a totaly different sound (with the same notes).
As br0d and others have mentioned, the change and surprise is what makes things psychedelic. Regular sounds that do something unexpected, sudden changes in the whole mood or rythm of a track.
Good beats are trancey and hypnotic but they are not the psychedelic part of the music. Club trance, house and techno also have hypnotic beats. Its the twists that good psytrance adds that makes it magical.
All IMO of course.
UnderTow |
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thockin
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114
Posted : Mar 10, 2005 20:06
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A great bassline is part of the psychedelic experience for me. I "see" it in my minds eye, bouncing around. It's like a magic carpet that I sit on and it carries me through the rest of the trip.
When it drops out I feel like I am falling, and when it comes back in I feel like I've been saved.
This is part of why I *hate* long breakdowns. They let me fall too far. |
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Cardinals Cartel
Black Machine
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191
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3097
Posted : Mar 11, 2005 16:46
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Hey Mubali .. Whats Up Friend ?
Very Interesting Question !
I Think That Its Coming From Inside . When You Have The Right Ideas And Geting In To Work Must "Visit" First In Your One Psy Mind Erea And Listten To It Ther . Good Vst's Can Make The Diffrent Coming With Other Pads .
Good/Deep Bass Allways Help And I Blive That Low Beat (Kik & Baseline) With a High Flying Metals Sound Can Do It ! Yoko |
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fuzzikitten
Annunaki
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603
Posted : Mar 11, 2005 17:49
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For me it involves effects that come in and out, 'breathing' with the music. This could be a nice flange effect which 'lifts' the piece out of normal space and into the effect before dropping it back in at the beat, or it could be a nice reverb that washes in and out. Also chains of effects really get me going, I love a breakdown that swaps effects in and out tastefully in a continuing montage of... weirdness.
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
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601
Posted : Feb 27, 2009 21:59
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Quote:
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On 2005-03-10 13:32, br0d wrote:
wrt sound, the definition of psychedelic is not only a personal one, but a social one. it changes according to what society and people as a whole are used to hearing. in other words, a psychedelic sound is marked by its ability to create a distortion in perception. the capacity for such distortions are partly due to the way the brain is wired, but also partly due to the way it has ADAPTED to its environment. so, if something previously caused a perceptual change in your mind, over time this effect may be lessened as you become more accustomed to it (we are adaptive beings) and you will need greater distortions in order to achieve the same level of psychedelia.
in this sense, the psychedelia itself is like a drug.
this is also why the term "psychedelic" as applied to trance or whatever else can never truly become typecast or dated, regardless of the stigmas people place on it. psychedelic is about a change in the capacity for perceptual distortion. as we grow and experience, that which was previously distortion becomes mundane signal, and that which was unintelligible noise becomes distorted signal, and on down the line.
which is why I hate TB303s.
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spot on. it's hard to label and whatever definitions you can come up with, it's always easy to find examples that have those characteristics, yet are not truly psychedelic.
it's also not exclusive to psy trance.
but if i still had to say something a bit more concrete, to me it's the non-stop morphing of sounds. there's always movement (at the very least subtle, but more often not so subtle) and almost nothing is static. elements coming and going and creating this really liquid effect. it's like a colony of worker-ants, all doing something in their corner, yet working towards a common good... some whole (which is the track itself). |
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Freeflow
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Feb 27, 2009 23:10
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Nice thread!
im thinking about things like déjà vu´s and things that makes us stunned and confused... like we really dont know were we are or what its all about.. Dreams and other interesting states of the mind....
maybe we can lure our minds to these states with music.. but very very well planned long journey music...
what do you guys think?
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~d2~
Inactive User
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Posted : Feb 27, 2009 23:59
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oh man br0ds definition means that I don't experience psy as psychedelic.
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Feb 28, 2009 00:02
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Quote:
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On 2009-02-27 23:59, ~d2~ wrote:
oh man br0ds definition means that I don't experience psy as psychedelic.
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why, because of the 303? |
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~d2~
Inactive User
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Posted : Feb 28, 2009 00:11
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Quote:
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On 2009-02-28 00:02, septa wrote:
Quote:
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On 2009-02-27 23:59, ~d2~ wrote:
oh man br0ds definition means that I don't experience psy as psychedelic.
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why, because of the 303?
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No I don't mind a 303.
Psy-trance just doesn't distort my perspective. The trance element has more use to me on a spiritual level. Though some psy can ruin that as well.
But I still like dancing |
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Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi
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Posted : Feb 28, 2009 00:39
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I think what makes sounds (all sounds) truly psychedelic is that they are energy waves that strike my body (especially those little spirals on each side of my head) and depending on the specific wave characteristics cause certain combinations of chemical sacs inside my head to burst, like little overripe grapes, spilling their contents onto tongue-like neural sensor arrays, at which point, perception occurs.
Simultaneously, the waveforms themselves which are passing through and over my body are distorting my brain's own electrical output field, relaying all manner of instinctual information which may or may not make sense to me at the time, however probably a unique variable degree in the spectrum between those two extremes.
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x-rayz
IsraTrance Junior Member
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576
Posted : Feb 28, 2009 00:44
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I suppose u read Music effect book..