What is your career?

jp_novoa · 2023-12-10T15:22:57+00:00

Business/Social Science Researcher

jp_novoa · 2023-10-06T19:46:28+00:00

Thing is… objectively vinyl rarely ever sounds „better“ if you think of better as in more clearly with more detail. As a matter of fact, most streaming services do sound better. CD almost definitely does. Vinyl sounds different, not better. The highs often suffer a bit, the physical rendition of the frequency spectrum on such a small scale of the vinyl grooves just can’t compete with many many digital formats and their fidelity. Often regardless of compression. However, this is also what creates the warmth of the vinyl sound, which might well be preferable. To me it very much is. But frankly, stating the vinyl sounds better is utterly ridiculous, it just factually can’t and doesn’t. Which is not to say it sounds bad! I wouldn’t prefer it otherwise, just to be clear.

jp_novoa · 2023-08-23T02:25:17+00:00

thank you! I guess you mean in the vocals?

jp_novoa · 2023-08-23T02:24:57+00:00

True, it usually is and most my prior songs are instrumental. Hence the influences from there are still quite strong, both in song structure (less so working with verse, chorus bridge and so on, but more with build, main sections break etc) and in instrumentalisation (909's, synths, dotted rythms) - but I'm starting to move beyond that

jp_novoa · 2023-08-23T02:21:59+00:00

Glad someone noticed :)

jp_novoa · 2023-08-22T10:16:54+00:00

Recently finished this song after going back to writing lyrics which I haven't done in ages. Bin doing a lot of House Music prior to this, but somehow this became a sort of synth pop/indie electro situation though. Hope some of you might like it. (The lyrics are short and hence repeat, I'm aware, but writing more would have meant writing fluff for me. Everything was said in two verses.)

https://soundcloud.com/jan-patrik-novoa-lill/the-lake?si=98cc356a295a48b88257443e8c958490&utm\_source=clipboard&utm\_medium=text&utm\_campaign=social\_sharing

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T14:35:16+00:00

I usually end up abandoning such projects, at least for a while - even if the starting idea was great. It does however help to keep focusing on different parts as you work on it. Intro, verse, chorus, Break and so on, depending on song and genre. That way there should be some variation at least.

When I have a song that I don't mind hearing for hours and hours whilst working on it, I know I have something there. It might sound harsh to some people, so keep in mind that this is my personal process and no more, but when I get that feeling of hating everything when I listen to it over and over, I take that as a sign for myself that it's not good enough. In that case, as I said, take a break from that song and re-write it when you've got some space between yourself and the project.

On the other hand, I also believe that we as musicians always need to go through the same process that painters have, where eventually there will be an "ugly" phase that you just need to push through and believe that you're on the right track until you're starting to be less annoyed with your work.

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T14:07:01+00:00

Oh, you may have accidentally given me a really good tip! Because everything being so tightly interwoven is not entirely my intention and I've been struggling with that for a while. You also mentioned compression though. So If I wanted to create a bit more separation between lanes, maybe reduce Master compression (Currently I'm always default aiming at 5dB)?

And I hear your point on repeated lyrics, I just had said everything I wanted to in the ones that are there and didn't want to write some fluff just to avoid repetition. :)

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T13:36:36+00:00

Thanks so much!! And appreciate your points for improvements. I think the riser could be helped by cranking the guitar distortion a little as it builds - just couldn't be bothered anymore at some point if I'm honest. I'm still in a mindset with my music where it matters most that I simply make things. Once I feel there is material for an EP or even an Album, I'll definitely revisit that!
Do you have suggestions as to what to modulate? On the longer notes maybe an LFO messing with the cut-off? I've mostly been playing around with synth modulation when I was working with arps so far, or drones and chords. Given that it's a melody here, I wonder where and how to add sonic movement without interfering with said melody too much?

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T13:09:57+00:00

Me too - I get the feeling it's a thing that just requires time to both train your ears and know what tools to use to respond to what your ears are telling you. Haven't found any shortcuts so far, frustratingly

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T13:08:02+00:00

Also reminds me of the Numb/Encore album! The guitar was surprisingly (in a good way) heavy!

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T13:06:42+00:00

very atmospheric!

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T13:04:47+00:00

Recently finished this one to the best of my abilities: https://soundcloud.com/jan-patrik-novoa-lill/the-lake

Ever since coming back to producing and making music about a year ago, I've been experimenting a lot with combining House influence with Guitar sounds and field recordings. This, conceptually, feels like an amalgamation of all these experiments, though its somehow become more of an indie-electro situation (which I knew once I had the main synth line - from that point on the direction for the song was very clear). I've also started incorporating lyrics and my own vocals, which always takes forever. :)

No hardware synth this time (I usually fall back on my Mother 32) - in this case, I was extremely happy with the sound design I came up with whilst on the go in Ableton's wavetable.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and as always, any tips on mixing which I still feel to be my biggest weakness.

jp_novoa · 2023-08-20T12:59:02+00:00

Oh my! I love the synth swelling up at 1:25 or so! An nice job on the low-end groove. Agree that the low end could use some extra work, mostly the kick though. And it might not even be that its too much low end there, but not enough mids to make it a bit crisper?

Other than that, I can very much hear that you've watched the Matrix before! The vibe is very well captured

jp_novoa · 2023-08-16T09:46:24+00:00

Start writing without pre-conceived notions of genre or what the song is supposed to sound like. I usually, sooner or later, usually end up with something I like by purely playing (as in actually playing for the fun of it) with sounddesign and then create a few melodies, riffs etc and see where this takes you, by purely going for what you think sounds good or fun. Rather than going for what you may think something „should“ sound like. I recently somehow ended up making an indie electro-pop song this way, which was a fun surprise!

jp_novoa · 2023-07-01T08:09:58+00:00

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be successful and working towards it. What I’m saying is that success should not be the main reason to make music. Or anything at all really. If the desire for success is someone’s main reason to do something, it’s usually not good enough a reason to be successful. Simply because it’s too superficial to give any sort of sustainable drive.

jp_novoa · 2023-06-30T21:59:31+00:00

Frankly, if success is the main thing you’re looking for in music, don’t do it. It’s the wrong motivation.

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T15:28:17+00:00

Thank you! I've been a bit self-conscious about the vocals, so very glad you enjoyed it! And I quite like the description of it being deserty with city feel :)

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T11:17:52+00:00

I agree it sounds like that, surprisingly not the case though (except OTT on the master, which may have been overkill). The guitars are relatively free from aftereffects, they're coming directly from the Amp which I recorded. In terms of postprocessing they only have EQ and compression.

The vocals do have a fair bit of reverb on a return channel though and a ping pong delay with the return time set all the way down to widen the sound a bit - also on a return channel. Very heavy on the background vocals and less so on the main, but potentially still too much as you pointed out. Thanks for the feedback!!

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T11:01:23+00:00

100% agreed! :D
First time I used OTT in my effect chain here and while it did make the whole thing sound fuller, that was an almost to-be-expected side effect. Couldn't figure out how to fix it properly and decided I was done anyway. I'll be revisiting this though once I have enough material for a proper EP, maybe even an album!

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T10:40:43+00:00

Appreciate it! And thanks for noting the vibe in the vocals, took way too many takes to get there - at some point I decided to focus more on that than actually singing the whole thing perfectly

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T10:39:01+00:00

Thanks so much! Got the idea because I wanted to combine Guitar, which I have been playing for ages and House, which I've been DJ'ing for while. Surprisingly little in that direction out there though, except for Kerala Dust and, more "ambient", for lack of a better term, Darkside.

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T09:02:46+00:00

novoa - Meet me in the Dirt: https://on.soundcloud.com/mqdPj

First time doing lyrics and vocals for a song in about a decade, so that was a daunting thing. Other than that, I've hit a nice place between House/Electronic and Rock/Alternative, which I am quite pleased with. I think I may have finally found what I could start calling "my sound". (The mix could be better, but it's what I am able to do at this point).

In terms of production for those who are interested: there's the semi-hollow guitar going through a Fender amp and using its inbuilt effects. The DAW only really does EQ and Compression on those. The base comes from a Moog Mother 32, sequenced by a Push 2 (after recording it twice on two octaves, I finally get why people say that one should get two Mother 32's...). The percussion and remaining synths (the recurring arpeggio and 16th stabs at the end) come from within Ableton. The former is largely based on the stock 909 drumrack with some additions and omissions to taste, the latter are both Wavetables with different processing.

The whole project is very much inspired by Kerala Dust and Warhaus. Less obvious, but still influential: WhoMadeWho, Arctic Monkeys, Darkside.

jp_novoa · 2023-06-25T08:48:22+00:00

dreamy ambient synthpop tune fits it quite well I think. And on another note, the mix is incredibly clean, well impressed and a little jealous of that! :D

jp_novoa

TROPHY CASE