What is Dreamscenes?
DreamScenes is a ‘subset’ of Ambientblog.net (http://www.ambientblog.net
), but is was also the name of one of my first mixes.
Ambientblog features short
‘reviews’, but the true heart of it are the ambientblog mixes
that you can find there (and which are also featured on the USB).
DreamScenes
originally
was a 4 hour mix that was created for Dutch National Radio in 2001 (can
you believe they actually broadcasted a 4 hr mix uninterrupted on a
Sunday Evening?)
Over the years between 2000 and 2009, I created this kind of mixes for
Dutch public radio NPS/VPRO on a regular basis. When the radio shows
were cancelled in 2009, I continued to publish mixes on Ambientblog.net,
there are over 60 now.
(Of course Ambientblog also presents short reviews that I prefer to call
recommendations, since I do not pretend to be a music journalist and do
not write extensive analyses)
The Ambientblog
mixes
characteristically are rather complex: they are not ‘mixtapes’ featuring
full tracks, but a collage of mostly short fragments that are layered
in such a way that the music may get a different connotation.
To me, they often feel like a movie soundtrack.
(Link to these mixes: http://www.ambientmix.net
)
Since these mixes take quite a lot of work to create, there are not many of them – about 4 a year on average.
But there is such a lot of great music released that I started to miss
the radio shows that I was involved in. These shows simply presented the
music, not in complex mixes but in ‘head-tail’ sequences, presenting
full tracks in one continuous flow without spoken
introduction inbetween. These are more like ‘mixtapes’ in the classic
sense. They are much easier to create than the Ambientblog collages,
though I still pay much attention to the sequencing of the tracks, which
should feel natural from beginning to end while
at the same time including different varieties of
ambient/electronic/experimental music.
This became a monthly Mixcloud series called DreamScenes (http://www.mixcloud.com/dreamscenes).
So… in
fact it depends what exactly you are referring to with DreamScenes. Are
you
talking about the Ambientblog mixes (that are on the USB too), or about
the Mixcloud series? They are quite different in nature, though they
both cover the same kind of music.
(Short fact: Ambientblog was originally called DreamScenes,
named after the original mix. But at the time it was also the name of
some kind of animated video wallpapers and that was rather confusing in
the Google search results.. So when I decided to intensify
the blog in 2009, it was renamed to Ambientblog)
What
working method do you use to create the sets? Dave Michuda who we both
know at Low Light Mixes for example picks some tunes by their
titles. Whereas me I'll usually go with a overarching working title?
For this, I assume you’re talking about the ambientblog mixes.
I don’t usually begin with a fixed idea. I start out with sorting a
collection of tracks by their nature: dark, light, acoustic, electronic,
effects, fieldrecs, and ‘anchors’ (I mean more melodic pieces which may
bring you back to reality a bit, to avoid drifting
too far off)
Then I search for an opening track that feels like a good start. From there, it is really like creating
a ‘collage’, searching for fragments that match, or that bring some
kind of tension, to build further on the preceding fragments. From there
it seems the
music selects itself even though that sounds a bit cheesy. I try to keep
a certain kind of storytelling flow, balancing ‘light’ with ‘dark’.. I
always feel there should be a kind of tension to keep it exciting
enough, the mixes usually aren’t the kind of sounds
you would use in a Reiki or Yoga of whatever kind of New Agelike
session. I like it when some parts become almost frightening. But even
though I don’t usually choose it on purpose, the mixes usually end with a
hopeful – although often melancholic – note.
The title usually comes up when the mix is finished. Often it is inspired by one of the tracks included.
The human psyche tends to look for correlations, so when the title fits the music, the music will also fit the title….
There are exceptions, however: the ‘Hum in the Room’ trilogy was created
around that theme, using the Philip Glass track ‘Changing Opinion’ as a
starting point. So in that case there was a concept from the start.
What software have you used to create Dreamscenes sets in the past? For example, I've used Acoustica (Hydrogen Cafe) Mix craft (Michuda)
and Ableton (several).
I
work with Adobe Audition. That’s it. The basic multitrack
setting. Though I cut longer tracks to pieces and sometimes use only
outrageous short fragments, I always use the original (stereo) mix and
no extra effects are applied.
Apart from volume levelling to match the other tracks of course. (And
L/R-C-Ls/Rs placement in the case of the surround versions). And a lot
of long fades.
-
Special thanks to PvC (Peter Van Cooten) for this introductory interview to what creates his dream scenes in sound and music. He has limited copies of the www.ambientblog.net USB stick, featuring over 30 tracks from commissioned producers from the ambient scene, and his collection of not-for-profit mixes on www.bandcamp.com. :)
