Back For um, 2014 / Mixdown moans / Finishing material.

It’s been a while. Too long, in fact.
Although I started this blog many years ago with good intention, as with all things, OTHER STUFF just gets in the way.
However, having spent many months devising a plan to fit in music production/social media updates alongside the ‘other stuff’ in my life, I am now confident that I can probably keep this updated. Weekly. And on a Wednesday. Woohoo.

So, new year, new start and all good things that come with it. As this is my preferred time of year for completion hibernation, I have been locking myself in the studio of late, trying my best to finish 'new' material.
During my youthful days (where nothing matter and I seemingly had an infinite amount of time to be creative), I’d be writing tunes like a machine; churning them out one by one and handing them out like sweets (literally turning up at events in London armed with CDRs to hand out every week).
Ah, those were days. Much has changed since then (and not just the fact that I don’t need to physically go out and hand CDRs out anymore). Life progresses, time never stops and older we grow.
And with that comes greater responsibilites.

How does one manage time to fit in music amongst everything else? With bloody great difficulty I can assure you. While I can still write music as fast as ever (probably faster than I could when I was younger as I actually have a set up worthy of being called a ‘studio’ now), actually FINISHING something is a nightmare!
Why? The mixdowns! The RMS levels! The width! The power! The frequencies! (and so on)
If you’re in the mood to mixdown it can be a joy (I dream about spectrum analysis occasionally; don’t judge me). If on the other hand, you’d rather be producing material and flowing with creativity instead, it can drive you mad.

As with my lack of enthusiasm for DJing (due to the fact that everytime I attempt to have a practice mix, I get inspired to make a new beat instead!), sound/mastering engineering definitely requires dedication.

Over the past 3 years I attempted to learn Logic on a Mac OSX (as opposed to the OpenMPT/Cubase combination on a PC which I previously used). Getting used to sequencing ‘like a normal person’ (OpenMPT sequences vertically instead of horizontally; Amiga tracker style!) took me some time. In fact it probably wasn’t until 2011 that I got to grips with it.

I upgraded my sound library (Superior Drummer 2, Komplete 8, Omnisphere, Trilian) and the rest of my set up (Adam A7X) during this time and began writing ‘music’ (which made a change of just knocking out beats)

As much as I tried (I literally must’ve written over 100 tracks), I just wasn’t programming the beats as well as I had hoped for. This was stopping me mixing down tracks and ultimately, stopped me actually finishing anything.

I took a break from it for a while (as you do) and thought long and hard about a solution to my problem…

One afternoon in late 2012, I went back to my PC to dig out some material from the archives. Having not even touched OpenMPT for over a year, it felt somewhat strange returning to my old love.
Strange for 30 seconds that is, until I remembered why I loved it so much in the first place!
The beat programming vibes returned instantly, and within minutes I was creating the type of drums I’d been aiming for (for years)

So to conclude THAT story, I decided that I should now create my beats in OpenMPT (PC) and export them to Logic (Mac) whereby I can write the music and basslines to them afterwards. Ridiculous idea? Probably. But it was the only logical idea that made sense in my (often) illogical mind.

And it worked. Within days I began writing material at the pace I was used to, with the drum styles I loved, but with a new enhanced understanding of actually playing music (opposed to just chopping samples) in the process.

This was it, I was happy. I had tunes 90% finished. Oh wait, I still need to mix them down (damnit!)
Using OpenMPT to mixdown was a no-no (I used it in the past for my earlier material, but it’s not entirely appropriate for that purpose) and Logic was just too distracting with all of it’s bells and whistles.
I needed a totally separate environment, so I opted for Harrison Mixbus 2 (apparently the digital summing provides results as close to analogue warmth/width as you can get without dedicated hardware; I don’t know how true this is, but I like the sound it creates)

At first I tried mixing down on this program using a Mac and was fraught with many a problem.
As soon as a Windows version was released, I thought I’d try it on my PC instead.
Low and behold, it performed at twice the speed of the Mac version (which is weird as both machines are similarly specced i7 machines with 16gb RAM). PC it is then.
Still reading? Wow, erm ok. So here I sit with a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 headphones and a Subpac, trying my best to mix these beats down and actually GET SOMETHING FINISHED (which I do believe was the point I was trying to make all along)

So anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’m going to spend the next few days ensuring I have my next batch of beats ready to be heard by the general public on January 6th...I’ll also be uploading my back catalogue (in 2 minute clip form) to YouTube soon (with a new HD YouTube self-indulgent-brand-overload template that has taken me way longer than it should have done)

PS. Look out for my weekly #samplesunday series forthcoming on SoundCloud (as of Sunday 5th January 2014). Every week I’ll be giving away a sample containing 16 bars of either Beats or Bass ripped straight out of material from my back catalogue.

PPS. Follow me on my other social network thingies too:
http://www.facebook.com/danmiraclemusic
http://www.twitter.com/danmiracle
http://www.soundcloud.com/danmiracle
http://www.google.com/+danmiracle
http://www.youtube.com/danmiracle
http://www.myspace.com/danmiracle

PPPS. I may post teaser clips of material on Vine and Instagram over the coming days (although I may not if I struggle to finish them!)

Hyperbolic Time Chamber - Dan Miracle - - MP3/WAV Download

Hyperbolic Time Chamber - Dan Miracle - - MP3/WAV Download

31 Free Dan Miracle MP3 Downloads!

Download 31 of my tracks for FREE from the link below!

Free Dan Miracle MP3 Downloads by Dan Miracle

Dan Miracle - Ice Cold Kopparberg

Dan Miracle - Ice Cold Kopparberg

Facebook Timeline Cover

The inevitable has happened and my Facebook Music page has switched to a "Timeline"...which has led me to create this timeline cover:

Dan Miracle Music Facebook Page

Free Dan Miracle MP3 Downloads

Free Dan Miracle MP3 Downloads

Dan Miracle Music Mobile App - iOS and Android

Dan Miracle Music App available to download for iOS and Android devices.

iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dan-miracle-music/id504363248?mt=8

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.conduit.app_7fa5c104313e4f0.....

Mobile web app also available by visiting http://www.danmiracle.com on your mobile advice.

It's Street Fighting time!

The annual Capcom gaming addiction continues...

Dan Miracle - When Nature Calls [Dubstep Mix] (free download)

Available to download freely is the 2010 Dubstep remix of the 'flute-driven' When Nature Calls (a track originally released on Valve CD/Beatz vinyl in 2004)

Dan Miracle - Spring Clean (free download)

Made in 2008, this warm, Drum & Bass dancefloor roller featured DJ support from Grooverider, Fabio, Crissy Criss and more...

Download for free, now!

Dan Miracle - Cactus (free download)

Dan Miracle - Cactus


2004 mix of Cactus (as featured in a mix CD by Heist for ATM magazine mix)

Unfortunately I cannot find the original master file anywhere to do a new mix of it, therefore I have decided to give this 320 out as a free download

Enjoy!

iPhone post test

Testing posting from iPhone

"Dan Miracle - Venom", out now on UK Breakbeat

http://soundcloud.com/danmiracle/dan-miracle-venom-uk-breakbeat

Dark, tear out Drum & Bass tune heavily supported by DJ Krust.

Out on the 'INTEL presents UPGRADE' LP, UK Breakbeat

Available in all good download stores

Released by: UK Breakbeat 
Release/catalogue number: UKBLP002
Release date: Jun 24, 2011
ISRC: FR-6V8-06-89787

My favourite drummer playing "Fade 2 Black"

Incredible skills!

THE RULES - SIGN UP (DAN MIRACLE REMIX) - NOV 2010

Blimey, another 2 months have flown by (due to the not-so-joyous joys of being stupidly busy I might add)

Within that time I was approached by the don they call DJ Krust to remix the first single (Sign Up) for his new band project "The Rules", featuring vocalist Nick Toots (who I finally had the pleasure to meet)

My deadline was short but I somehow found time to complete this remix.

Look out for the release in November (date to be confirmed) as part of a massive remix package, also featuring mixes from DJ Zen and the mighty RSD!

For more info, check the Rebel Instinct website: http://ushelter.me/


Other than that, I've been hard work doing lots of behind the scenes preparation (new websites to roll out, rebranding and relaunch of my Miraculous label project for 2011, and many new beats in the works)


More soon. Or not so soon. But definitely at some point, soon.

Nothing's happening...well not on the surface at least.

Ok, it's been 2 months since my last post and nothing has really happened. Yes, I'm long, there's no doubt about that!

I've just been struggling to find free time recently to finish music and projects unfortunately, but all is well besides that. Still working on the danmiracle.com site which is taking forever to launch (but it actually is near completion at last!)

Also putting the finishing touches together for the UK Breakeat LP "Cold Fusion", featuring 2 of my tracks and a collaboration (VS) with an artist called Intel.

What else? Hmmm, getting some new bits ready to put on Soundcloud soon so look out for that.

Building a MAME arcade machine for the studio (which will be handy for a quick game of Street Fighter inbetween mixdown sessions). Easier said than done though

Learning video editing in Final Cut Pro (to eventually get to that "I CAN MAKE MY OWN MUSIC VIDEOS!!!" stage...one day).

Also learning podcasting and radio show techniques to put together a monthly (or possibly bi-monthly) "Dan Miracle Podcast".

Heck, I might even start doing the straight-in-ya-face YouTube Web Cam blogging thing which seems ever popular!

So basically, a billion projects on the go, hence why none of them are being finished.
Now I just need to focus, prioritise and finish them, one by one...


Can't leave you without any beats though, so check out the latest mix by the mighty DJ Krust (featuring 2 of my tunes forthcoming on Rebel Instinct):
http://www.mixcloud.com/_rebel_instinct_/krust-and-the-introduction-to-rebel-instinct/


Back in a bit...!

New releases coming soon

Well at some in 2010 at least...!

As well as the "Dan Miracle - Demonstrate" LPs (which I am curently working on), I confirm some other release details in the meantime.

2 tracks forthcoming on a various artist album for a label called UK Breakbeat:

Dan Miracle - Venom
Dan Miracle - Hyperbolic Time Chamber

2 confirmed tracks (this may become a 4 track EP) for Krust's new Rebel Instinct imprint:

Dan Miracle - Ultraviolet Rays
Dan Miracle - Weight On Your Shoulders

Lastly (for now), the "4" EP series on Miraculous Digital will continue with tracks "Dominoes" and "Rollin' Pin"

I'm in full on studio mode mixing down at the moment, so more news as and when!

Metsu-Shoryuken! Super Street Fighter IV is here!

Another year, another Street Fighter game.
Which is a good thing in my book as it's clearly the best game ever.

So was it worth wait?
Hell yes!
I (realistically) do not have much free time for gaming these days but one thing is certain: I will always make time for Street Fighter.

On first impressions newcomer Juri is sick, Gouken is still the grand master, Dudley is a damn impressive all-round fighter and Ryu's new "Metsu-Shoryuken" ultra is simply THE best move in any game. EVER.

Having thrown hadokens for the past 18 years, I'm still not bored of it.
And never will be.

Oh and they've got rid of that crappy theme tune cheese-fest from SF4.

In simple terms: SF4 MINUS crappy song PLUS all the new stuff = PERFECTION (straight 10/10)

Lemonde - Dead By Dawn (Dan Miracle Remix) out now on Valve

My "Dan Miracle Dubstep Remix" of Lemonde's anthemic "Dead By Dawn" on Valve is out now and available to buy on both 12" vinyl and digital download.

The 12" is backed with a massive remix from the Dubstep master "N-Type", available here.

An additional (limited edition) 12" Drum & Bass release featuring Lemonde's "Dead By Dawn VIP / TKNO LOGIK" is available here.

Digital Downloads for all tracks are available here.

Back in the studio!

After a long break, the production bug is back, the beats are rollin' and the basslines are full of vibes.

Ah yes, how I've missed making music.


I'm currently putting together the finishing touches to my new sites and Youtube templates, then I'll unleash new music onto the world (and update on a regular basis, which hasn't quite been the case thus far)