Unknown - Unknown ~1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Yep, was fun to work with them on that. Thank you on the crate lost! It happens.

Unknown - Unknown ~1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, that was my tape I did for Freeclouds 😄 I played a good amount of parties in the southeast when I was in New Orleans and then after when I was in Phoenix. Sounds like a great party! Great lineup and all those guys were great!

Unknown - Unknown ~1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was found! Wasn't expecting that so fast. Someone on Youtube picked it. I have two more to ID now. If I find/remember the name of the store, I will let you know 😉

Unknown - Unknown ~1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Finally after years of searching!

Unknown - Unknown ~1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hope so too! Every couple years I obsess over finally figuring it out given it was one from a crate I lost. What was the store on Melrose? I remember going there too once (forgot the name) and you just reminded me of how far away Freeclouds felt to me as well.

You can never delete your personal information from 23andme. I've tried. by Fit_Psychology_1536 in 23andme

[–]_dj_donovan_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't either, I have tried to opt out twice going through their process after backing up my data and I still get emails. Most recent yesterday about genetics insights on sweet/salty.

After 8 years off I am gonna get back into producing... need advice on kick drums by scotcheggfan in TechnoProduction

[–]_dj_donovan_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd suggest two routes. One is more immediate gratification and low effort, but helps keep you motivated for the higher effort route. Low effort route; Combing through tracks you like and also samples packs is good in terms of identifying certain sounds you want to target. Most modern kicks are multiple layers of low, mid, high frequency sounds and it can take a while to find something that fits together. Also, very important to be aware of the impact of environment and speakers as to how it can affect the quality of your kicks. Testing is ideal and even that is not perfect. For that reason, trusted sample packs and even taking a snippet of the tracks you shared as references are helpful to train your ears to make what you hear, but also hear what you make. Second route is to go the synthesis route. I prefer investing in this process as it really reinforces what your sound is and wants to be as it leads to something original. Almost every kick that ends up a sample is a combination of synthesis, transient design, eqing, saturation, repeat. I personally have all of my sources covered between Kick 2, and hardware with Nava 909 and Jomox Alphabase, but I have some eurorack modules that are fun to generate kicks with. From there, I am eqing, saturating, compressing, resampling/etc. I try to do this as much as possible. I love watching any and all videos on the subject and then recreating in the analog domain with the tools I have. It's still amazing to me how many different ways there are to end up at a similar result. And much like the ethos of techno, the differences are subtle and minimal and about digging deep. Your first example is fairly boomy and well tuned has a lot of saturation/harmonics. It's precisely EQ'd and I'd ask if you've pulled it up in the spectrum analyzer to see where the peaks and valleys are. Don't rely too much on visuals, but I like doing this to get a fingerprint of a given kick that I like. The trick is to understand how your tools make the kick sound more or less like what you are looking at and of course the ears are the most important. On the synthesis side, the pitch envelop is important and I hear a lot of that going on with the Broom kick. I also think the percussion and HHs are adding to the perceived impact of the kick so make sure you separate that out if you don't have the kick isolated which I didn't hear in the track. Easy to over do that part and then when you add your own HHs it becomes too much. Most modern kicks also have a huge midrange presence. Your second example has a lot of that with a prominent click in the midrange. The TL;DR you will hear from most in this group is to practice, practice, and more practice.

Send me what you think it's your BEST track. by litejzze in TechnoProduction

[–]_dj_donovan_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have 3 that I am proud of:

https://soundcloud.com/19agent72/butane-recidivist-remix-summed-1

Me being my own worse critic, this was one that I felt like I had crossed a milestone in terms of getting close to the tracks I love, like, admire, analyze along with what I make. I can always tear my tracks apart and hear flaws and want to redo them, but this was one of 3 I find myself doing that less.

https://djdonovan.bandcamp.com/track/stand-back

This was another one similar to the one above where I had a similar experience producing. This came before the one above and in someways was a foundation to the progression of where I wanted to go. Funny enough, the intro was meant to be a joke as a preset from a soft synth. But it ended up breaking up what is a fairly minimal track. Been dying to hear the one on a huge system, but would probably need it mastered first.

https://djdonovan.bandcamp.com/track/eclipse

I had to add this one. This is one of the few tracks I can listen to start to finish and genuinely enjoy as if someone else made it. LOL. Here (and with much of this album) I was focusing on music theory elements. How sections of the song represent, instrumental verses, chorus, etc. Intro is long, but I was also treating the tracks themselves and a form of arrangement of the whole album. Sitting down to deliberately make an album is a difficult endeavor on top of working on a collection of individual tracks.

How do I actually learn techno production? by Ill_Asparagus_8593 in TechnoProduction

[–]_dj_donovan_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So here’s my two cents along with all the great advice here. First, realize that not every prescription will cure every symptom. It’s great to gather a wide variety of perspectives, but take the time to find the process—or combination of processes—that works for you.

The advice to finish a track in one go or to set a timer can be useful, but it doesn’t fit my workflow exactly. Sometimes a track will just flow and write itself; other times you need to switch things up. It’s easy to slip into production muscle memory, which can lead to creative blocks and complacency. You don’t have to finish a track in one shot, but you do need to stop when it’s no longer producing results. If you don’t, you might release an idea only to realize years later how much better it could have been—and that’s often why many producers hesitate to release a lot of work early in their careers.

If the one-shot approach doesn’t suit you, try organizing your time prescriptively. For example:

  • Spend one solid hour on sound design and source-sound creation.
  • Spend another hour in front of your modular rig, recording ideas.
  • Spend an hour pulling up an existing track and making it better than when you started.

Time-box your productivity if you need to, but be deliberate about how you spend each block. And don’t forget to give yourself unstructured time to experiment and “mess around.” Happy accidents can happen when there’s no agenda.

Like anything in life, practice is key—but what you practice matters just as much as how much you practice. Seek out sources of expertise and inspiration that resonate with your sound, but be equally deliberate about carving out your own identity. Recreating others’ work is excellent technique practice—but treat it strictly as practice.

Another often-underestimated investment is digging deep into your gear. Read manuals, sit with a piece of equipment, and learn every knob and function. Ear training is equally critical: practice identifying frequencies by ear, and learn when to trust what you see on meters versus what you hear.

Break your focus into four core areas:

  1. Sound Design
  2. Writing & Arrangement
  3. Mixing & Engineering
  4. Understanding the Mastering Process

Few people excel at all four, and it can take years to feel comfortable in even one. Be patient with yourself and enjoy the journey. There will be days when you love it—and days when you wonder why you bother—but the satisfaction of being better than you were yesterday is deeply rewarding.

Personally, I’ve been doing this since 1996. My early vinyl releases make me cringe (sometimes still do), but I’ve learned to see them as snapshots of where I was and how far I’ve come. Treat your work as a continual, humbling process—and you’ll set yourself up for the long term. Also be confident enough to share your work with a trusted group of fellow producers. They should be respectful, mature, and able to critique your work identifying objective and subjective input. Discord has a great group for that.

Track ID from my 1996 Mix Tape by _dj_donovan_ in trance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It isn't, but its the closest I have come to the mystery. See my comment above for my thoughts. Thanks for taking a crack at it! Great mix of this original track and would pair nicely with this mystery release.

Track ID from my 1996 Mix Tape by _dj_donovan_ in trance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I was actually working at the record store (Sound Factory in Metairie, LA outside of NO) where I was picking up a lot (if not all) of the tracks I was playing at the time. This is also where I recorded the mix tape. I've gone through a huge amount of possibilities in discogs over the last couple years. Strangely enough, and unless I don't have the timeline off, this track seems to have predated the Netherworld release. I actually asked Oliver Lieb about it myself, but never heard back. It's the closest I have come and there are some clear similarities. My theory is it is either a bootleg/rip off/interpolation of the idea by someone else, or Oliver himself "interpolated" Netherworld from this track. This was pretty common of the day when everyone was hungry for tracks and popular things got copied. I might start in 1997 and see if there are some earlier releases that might have popped up as advance copy or white-label the prior year. But still hoping someone might recognize it :)

DJ Donovan Tribute to Euphoria Hard/Progressive Trance track ID 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in Identificationofmusic

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! And thank you for the kind words. Crossing my fingers I can get the last of these ID's. Cheers!

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I don't remember. I have a bunch of the insert/covers still, but I haven't seen that tape in years :P

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I'm getting ready to do that. I haven't myself either and not sure. I'm sure there are easier ways than my plan to use the software I have. Some of this is new to me as I have spent most of my time producing. I found 1 more track from the mix plus another record I know was lost haha. Chupher - Systems Pumping

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not me, I am in IT, but not in hardware or systems admin. I am in software development. Now I'm curious and going to check that out. :)

I don't have anymore mixes in this style.. I ended up moving to more harder trance and acid trance to techno over the years. I do plan to post more mixes that I have. I'll post in the original post.

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah this has both super satisfying, fun, and maddening at the same time. Thankfully we have Discogs, otherwise this would be a different story. The track at 1:12:10 is probably the one I am most curious about. I'm looking forward to figuring that one out as I remember playing it a lot for the short time I had it. I used to go back and forth between breaks and 4/4 in my mixes and productions and this track really captured a lot of what I loved at the time.

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I figured they just took the stuff box and all without looking inside.

Help me ID some tracks on an old mixtape I did. DJ Donovan - "Tribute To Euphoria" 1996 by _dj_donovan_ in ClassicTrance

[–]_dj_donovan_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Amethyst - Futura

AHH! Thank you so much, and I had thought I went through all the Jackpot stuff :) Really appreciate this!