Latent : Forms

@​izlo My yt feed is now acoustic guitar videos lol... I think you might dig this:

@​samuraitracks Heres another track to pull from for ideas: This was one of my favorites from the Platipus label. It's another interesting approach to arranging because essentially the main melodic elements aren't introduced until the breakdown. Its just kick, mid-range bass, arpeggio, and some percussive elements that build and play off each other until 3:12 where the breakdown comes in. Then it gets stripped back with just a percussion loop that follows up with the kick and that acid bass-line before that beautiful pad gets introduced... its almost like two breakdowns in one before the driving elements come back in with that great chant sample. Also notice how that same mid-range bass loop gets reintroduced which is longer than at the beginning of the track. This is what I was talking about.... its a way of repurposing elements in a mix by either extending them or changing them slightly to keep things moving and keep the listener from getting bored.

Hi @​johncave,  I uploaded this mixing tutorial to my drive which does a really good job of explaining gain staging by using LUFS as a levels guide. Its a bit old and mainly geared toward rock music but the general idea is there. A lot of the plugins in the tutorial are free plugins if you feel inclined to download and try things out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CQSBifUhaklS2VMkOWGgWYdVJeh8JIwN/view?usp=drive_link One thing I will say, don't take it as gospel. Its a pretty generic tutorial but it was how I gateway-ed into the way I mix now. There's a much better approach to mixing in LUFS that supersedes the need for all those steps. I'll be putting a video tutorial together to explain how I do it and also an overview of using a mid side mixing for mono compatibility and to get your mix to translate better. More soon!

@​izlo yeah man! Theyre live.. Ive been sharing them with people on the music forum I normally hang out at. Its a good community and they always hand out really great input. Feel free to share!

Hi Val, Just finished listening through the tracks, here are my notes: 127 tlocolan shamans vox The track itself has a good foundation to work from. It could definitely work alongside the other tribal tracks, but I think it might need more to build on, and maybe it feels this way because you mentioned the sounds are placeholders. I do agree the melody is great and I'm interested in talking a little more about how you would approach this track if you plan on developing it further. 134 techno emergency landing My personal favorite. The tension building potential on this one with that acid bassline could be something incredible. It has so much drive... could be kept stripped back as a hard techno track just using the existing sounds but pushing it forward in the arrangement, or even experimenting by adding more elements, but I think as it is now it has a very strong foundation to work from. I would definitely consider this one as a top contender. 138 the call Great energy, I think all of the tribal elements here work really well together as well as the call and response. This one feels pretty fleshed out, enough where it could be as simple as adding a few other elements, maybe some percussion or hard snare, and the missing bass you mentioned, then working out the tension in the arrangement. This one is my third pick for the strongest idea. 142 u make me dance Man you have such a fantastic ear for melody. The melody here is very strong. I think the layered vocal works and the lyrics are fine, yes maybe a little cheesy but that's ok. The vocalist did a nice job following the melody but I feel the vocals need to be mixed better in the mix. It might also be interesting to experiment with other vocalists to see if their vocals are better suited for it. 145 infectious hum primal surge didge LOVE the didgeridoo sample, not something you hear often and I think thats where this track could really stand out. The kick and bass elements doing a lot of the work here, could also be kept stripped back or lean more into the primal aspect by adding additional tribal percussion and elements. Lots of potential here and my second pick for the strongest idea. 161 fmbass house This one is a little different because I feel like it's trying to do a lot as is. The tempo is great and I think even the brass works well here because you have a strong melody. Not entirely sure about the acapella, not because I don't think it works, but because I feel it distracts from the melody. I think they both work, but feel like they're fighting each other for space. Could be interesting to do two versions on their own to see which one is the stronger idea, but as is the case both ideas here are strong even if the direction doesn't feel fully formed yet. Overall, great choice of tracks. Your sound selection is fantastic btw, all of the sound choices felt consistent in each mix, so I feel whichever tracks you choose to work with will make mixing pretty straight forward. Personally, the ones that I feel would work best as either single releases or even as an EP would be the ones with tribal vocals. That underlying theme is an obvious choice, but there's a commonality outside just the vocal samples to make for a very cohesive release. Really enjoyed listening to these and lots of potential here. By the way, keep in mind these notes are just my observations after listening. Normally I do this as a way of helping think through the process for selection. Ultimately it's up to you to decide whichever track or tracks you feel work best or want to finish during the sessions. Let me know your thoughts and looking forward to our next session. If you have any questions feel free to reach out any time. Talk soon! - J On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 11:56 AM Samurai Tracks wrote: Hello Joel, First of all, the feeling is mutual as I've also enjoyed our conversation. I cannot really take credits for the analogy I came up with, since you were the one mentioning the Lego metaphor and I simply thought of the next step. Sure, feel free to use it however you want. About the track by Hybrid, I was not aware of it as it's not a kind of genre I usually listen to (if it does not have a steady kick, I might have missed it :D). I've been listening to it since you shared it with me, and I must say it truly is quite an amazing piece. It's some kind of progressive trance with breaks. I highly enjoy it and it definitely sparked some inspiration! Thanks for sharing! I am uploading six mp3 files. Here are some descriptions. I hope this is the kind of stuff you were looking for. 127 tlocolan shamans vox All sounds are mostly placeholders, except the native vocals. That's what the track is supposed to be about. I like the melody because it has a goa feeling (not really goa, but it uses a minor scale with the semitone below the tonic). 134 techno emergency landing This was supposed to be a techno track with some long intro ambience (the pad/drone you hear at the start). It slowly gets harder and harder. 138 the call I've since lost the bass sound from this one, but that was not the main part. The main "attraction" is the call and response with the same tonality between the girl's call and the horn. 142 u make me dance I've made this melody more than ten years ago now. I hired someone on Fiverr to sing it. It was supposed to be a hands up/eurodance track, kind of cheesy (terrible lyrics, but they are there just to sing something). The melody at the end is just one of the many I tried to fit in the project. Of course the piano and all the sounds are just to hear the melodies. 145 infectious hum primal surge didge I really like the kick and the bass melody in this one. As you can see from the title, the main idea was something with a didgeridoo sample; and I also like the scream/lament of the man. It really sets the tone. 161 fmbass house I remember this one. I was making a house track with the famous singer (sampled in many house records), Loleatta Holloway. I like the bass and that was the first thing I made. For some reasons, I bounced it and I don't even have the original melody or synth anymore. I'm sure it was a preset I modified; in any case, I slowly added the trumpet and the trombone you can hear. I didn't even chop the acapella. I just slapped it below the tracks and it sounded quite good. You can clearly hear there might be something in here that might work, but I don't know what it is. Of course, tempo is very high to become house. I will book the next session now. Thanks, Val

John! Sorry it took so long to respond back, it's been incredibly busy this pas week and I'm just catching up   Yeah, I'm using webmail to manage email on the site and sometimes emails get flagged as spam. Working on getting that fixed at the moment but in the meantime, if you can add info@​aymat.org to your contacts and mark it it as not spam, that should work until I get things fixed.  No worries on the wait, take your time and good luck on your final project. Looking forward to the session next week. Talk soon! - J

Hi Val, Sorry I missed this post! Not a problem, I'm very flexible so any time in the future you just let me know what time works best and we'll make it work around your schedule.  By the way, wanted to give you a heads up that I use webmail for managing email through the website. I noticed that some email gets sent to spam from the address which I'm working on getting fixed shortly but if you don't mind, please add info@​aymat.org to your contacts and mark it as "not spam". That should hopefully keep it from happening in the meantime until I get this resolved. Thanks again Val! - J

Hey Val, @ Thanks again for your time today! Really enjoyed our conversation and I came away buzzing with ideas ... which is exactly what I love about these sessions. That analogy you came up with about focus being like a lego box ... being able to see what's on the box ... I genuinely loved that. I'd love to use it as the basis for an article if you're okay with that? Anyway, looking forward to hearing your track selection. Take your time with it. I'd say pick 5 or 6 that you feel could work, and then we'll narrow it down from there and find the ones that sit well together. One more thing ... I wanted to share this track with you. It's called Finished Symphony by Hybrid. It's one of my all-time favorites. Every time I listen to it, I think ... what if Mozart had been a dance music producer? . Not sure if you've heard it before, but if you haven't, I hope it sparks some ideas and inspires you. Talk soon! Joel

Tell us a bit about yourself ... where you're from, how long you've been producing, what you're working on. And don't hold back on the struggles either, that's kind of the whole point of this place. You'll find pretty quickly you're not alone in any of it. This is a small community but a supportive one, because we're all in this together. Looking forward to hearing what you finish. –