So I'm studying from a textbook chapter on the topic of parallel motion and it basically says that any composer of tonal music from the 15th century – 19th century would've avoided harmonizing with parallel 5ths or parallel 8ves. But it doesn't seem to satisfyingly explain why other than – such was the rule. It merely suggests that because P5 and P8 are the most stable intervals, they don't add interest or independent voicing. I *sort of* understand that but I don't really understand why it was considered "bad" to use them and with that, I'm curious what changed in the 20th century all of a sudden that they became acceptable?

And where do modern composers today stand on the use of them?

If anyone knows of any good videos that explain these well I'd appreciate that. Thanks!

I find that most of the stuff i look at is basically just moving chord shapes around, which is cool, but im curious about the deeper theory around it.

Edit: Pop Songs* 😞

For anyone who hasn’t studied music or doesn’t understand what this means: Essentially, parallel harmony is the parallel movement of two or more (melodic) lines that preserve a consistent interval. If you have two or more notes playing at the same time and the notes change up or down in the same interval (distance apart) then you are working with parallel harmonies.

I’m a huge fan of Oblique and Contrary Motion because I feel like there’s more ~feeling~ behind it. Heck, Similar Motion is still better than Parallel...

That’s all.

Is there a website which you can enter a key e.g a# minor and it will tell me all the relative keys, parallel keys, next in circle of fifths etc etc. Like a harmony tool

I recently found out Musescore had plugins you can add that check for parallel 5ths and other common harmony and counterpoint rules. I'm self studying Rismsky-Korsakov's Traite d'Harmonie rn and they are proving super helpful for checking my assignments. Thought others might find it helpful as well. Here's the link: https://musescore.org/en/plugins?category=266&compatibility=4321

As a rule of thumb, perfect fifths go against classical counterpoint. So when writing counterpoint, what intervals are best?

Hi guys, so I've just realised that 5H's song Lonely Night deals with very similar concept as LM's You Gotta Not (listing all the things a guy is doing which he shouldn't be doing and which essentially make the girls leave).

I feel like 5H dealt with it with much more class since You gotta not is just... Atrocious.

Anyway, that got me thinking.. Which other songs from these two groups have similar theme or sound and WHICH ONE DID IT BETTER AND WHY.?

(btw. Try to keep it objective please. I, for instance, am a bigger LM fan than 5H but can appreciate a good banger when I hear one ;))

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get some additional insight on this. When asking a professor about the theory behind parallel perfects he said that it compromised the integrity of the melodic independence of the lines because they implied a triad.

I had a hard time grasping why the perfect fifth or the octave did this especially. Why wouldn't the interval of a third, or a diminished fifth fall under the same criticism in regards to implying harmony?

Edit: Thank you for the thoughtful and diverse responses! I can now articulate with certainty the reasoning behind parallel perfects being avoided in this style.

I have seen parallel fourths occasionally in some pieces. I googled it and it's allowed? This is very strange since it still sounds similar to parallel 5ths. Why do the rules allow using this in the upper three voices?

I stumbled on this post in /r/edmproduction about a technique that "classical composers like Claude Debussy used to deliberately break the rules"

Turns out in the 80's electronic musicians stumbled on "chord planing" when they started to sample chords and pitch shift them around the keyboard.

I'm not a huge fan of EDM.. I feel like techniques like this are overused to the point where they are boring... but I like learning new stuff and I'm wondering are there any really interesting examples of chord planing in classical music?

Contrary motion that ends up as parallel 5ths is screwing with my head. If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated

Hi,

First, terminology:

Parallel harmony - I mean playing/sampling just 1 chord and playing it at various pitches. There is no key. Used heavily in house. More info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/musictheory/comments/5szrk5/chord_planing_parallel_harmony_in_edm/

Traditional harmony - the song is in a certain key, there is mixture of chords with different qualities (major/minor etc.), just your regular I–V–vi–IV.

My question: is it possible to mix those 2 "types" of harmonies in the same song?

Parallel harmony gets quite boring after a couple of cycles. Additionally, I'd like to write a "proper" pop song with a verse/chorus (and maybe bridge/pre-chorus). How do I get out of that parallel harmony loop and give a sense of "lifting up"? I guess, I can't modulate, since there is no key in parallel harmony. So the only option I see is to stay in parallel, but in the chorus to start playing other pitches than in the verse.

Any examples of parallel being mixed with "in-the-key" harmony?

I'm largely self-taught music theory, and have never understand why people hate parallel 5ths and octaves so much. If someone were to write a vocal harmony part in their song that sung the root, 3rd, 5th and octave of each chord, wouldn't that sound good?

https://musescore.com/user/23078/scores/6804988

A little piece where I tried to make somehow working ABA form. Nothing too fancy or complicated as I aim for simplicity in my studying pieces.

Any advice, spotted mistakes, suggestions are appreciated. Thank you

I'm analyzing the chord progression in F# major from this song (Vietnamese) and in the end of the second half of the first chorus (starts from 1:24), there is an E major that perks up my ear. I will call this the #VI or bVII in relation to the tonic but correct me if I was wrong. Seems like the progression goes something like I-V-IV-ii-#VI-V-I and it worked surprisingly well. I believe it is non-diatonic to the key of F# major, how would I justify the #VI chord here?
(Pardon me if I get the terms all messed up)

Also, the chord progression of the intro is quite interesting to me, would be great if you can help me identify the progression there too!

(Message to readers: Due to high demand I present you character art for Chak and Simone! I'm not the best artist in the world but I hope you find it satisfactory! Chucknuq will be making his debut next time lol. Apologies if they don't fall in line with your interpretation, if you're attached to what's already in your head by all means keep it there if you prefer! I kept the descriptions vague with purpose (readers connecting better by generating their own interpretations or whatever lol), but upon seeing the response I've decided to show the "canon" designs for those who prefer it. Alright with all that out of the way, I'm going to bed! Hope y'all enjoy the story!)

(Part 2) (Part 4 In Comments!)

Part Three: Clash of Deathworlders

Chak’s heavy gaze remains locked onto the Terran’s face as they traverse the busy station. That bombastic display by the market still has her insides heaving mixed signals. Persistent ancestral instincts kick and squirm against a torrent of raw positive emotions. What are those emotions exactly? Well, Chak can only answer that with ‘yes’ at the moment.

This Terran had not known her for more than a standard rotation. Yet already treats her like close kin, as if they had known each other for years.

“Is this the notorious Terran pack bonding I’ve read so much about?” she wonders excitedly.

Her thoughts drift to their earlier conversations. Simone’s clear discomfort when getting too much attention from most other species contradicts greatly with how she presented herself so… blustering.

Such a powerful creature, one with the ability to effortlessly crush her in this very moment if she so chooses. Yet despite having such a capability, holds Chak with deliberate delicateness. Terran muscle control must be ever so fine. How can anything dare be labeled Deathworlder if it’s so proficient in such tenderness?

“Hey, um.. Sorry if I gave you a scare back there. Do you want to be put back down?” Simone asks avoiding eye contact with the more than likely frozen in fear Cali.

“Oh, yeah you did a little. I think my legs are a little locked up at the moment though, so this is fine.” Chak says mostly truthfully.

“Sorry.” Simone’s mouth mutters involuntarily.

Chak reaches up, poking

I was making a song in C minor, but I played some chords with an Am and F and it sounded so good. Like it made the song so much better. I’m aware those chords aren’t in the C minor scale, so is it normal for things like this to happen? Or am I tripping and it doesn’t sound as good as I think.

>That's a Brandon, the tall one with the dreamy face, he was Brandon the Shipwright, because he loved the sea. His tomb is empty. He tried to sail west across the Sunset Sea and was never seen again.

I think that will likely be Bran's fate. His tomb will be empty, and he journeys north beyond the Wall to never be seen again. There is a bit of Frodo where after his long journey from home, he goes to the Undying Lands. However, I think Bran's parallel will be Leto II Atreides from God Emperor of Dune.

Leto II, rightful Emperor of the Imperium, consumed spice produced by the sandworms and became a symbiote with sandtrout (baby sandworms), essentially becoming a sandworm himself. He gained the power of prescience, being able to see into the past and future. It gives him immortality, and he becomes the God-Emperor who rules as a tyrant for 3509 years, and ruling from a patch of desert on Arrakis. He sets mankind on a Golden Path, keeping humanity from destroying itself.

Bran is likewise the rightful King in the North who ate the paste of weirwood seeds to be married to the trees, and become a symbiote with the weirwoods, which will extend his lifespan. He is already having visions of the past, and will be able to see visions throughout time.

His fate could be as a God-King operating from the Children of the Forest’s cave in the Far North. Especially when taking into account his namesake, Bran the Blessed, whose head was buried in a hill watching the English Channel so that England would never be invaded by sea. Bran would be the same, as long as he watched the North, the Others would never invade again to threaten humanity.

I think Bran may be the Epilogue POV chapter in ADOS, 100+ years-old, and informs the reader of everything that happened since the end of the War of Five Kings and the War for Dawn. Of course, it is bittersweet given he outlived all the other characters and he likely isn't at the Stark family reunion except by weirwood. As Daenerys thought "Do all gods feel so lonely? Some must, surely. Missandei had told her of the Lord of Harmony."

A Dreaming City plunged into Nightmare. The seduction of the Nine. Sjur Eido’s death. The origins of the Ahamkara. A universe afflicted with tedious repetition. A needle threading through it all, full of poison and lies.

Can you spare a few minutes, O reader mine?

Preamble: A Dream of Two Queens

The Dreaming City: an encystment of reality forged by pacts with dragons. Sacrifices of blood and soul went into its creation, incorporating ingredients from stars and shattered worlds.

Surrounded by a coven of Techeuns, Mara Sov and her familiar Riven slaved over a cauldron of Wish-magic with a single-minded purpose borne of duty and dreams of apotheosis. And, at the edge of that circle, there was one more witch, unwelcome and unseen, who played a part in the city’s creation.

The Dreaming City represents a confluence point, intertwining the fates of those who would play at being god. But it is only part of a grander design.

Dust On The Wind: The Ancients

Shortly after she completed engineering the Dreaming City, Mara Sov was confronted by voices echoing in unison through its halls:

>++WHO ARE YOU WHO BUILDS A HIDDEN CITY HERE IN OUR THOUGHTS?++
>
>And Mara, alone in the Queenswalk of the Dreaming City, heard their voices ring out as if each Witch stood beside her, and she said to the empty air, "I am Mara Sov. Who are you?"
>
>The answer came at once, ++WRONG! IT IS THE EKPYROSIC. WE ARE THE NOTHING-SPACE FABRIC.++
>
>Hearing this, Mara recognized a riddle. She turned at once and left the Queenswalk so that Riven would not be inspired. As she walked, she thought. At length she said, "Wrong. You are the Ancients. You are the idea that gives fate its shape."

The voices, identified as the Ancients by Mara, spoke the language of nature and fate: they call themselves the "Nothing-Space Fabric", and refer to Mara as the "Ekyprosic," likely because of her role in sabotaging the Distributary, making it unpallatable to the Awoken so they might follow her back into the real world.

As Mara spars with the Ancients, they exercise their power:

>Mara [...] found Kelda Wadj, the Allteacher, hovering four feet off the ground. Blood poured from her ears and nostrils. Her eyes saw nothing. The other Techeuns were transfixed thusly in a geometric array around the Dreaming City—each one inert, suspended, bleeding.
>
>Mastering her horror, Mara said, "I have lived alongside you." And because she was afraid for

Ive got an Elliott Smith song driving me crazy. I can’t figure out what key the verse of this song is in. I know the chorus is C, but I could be wrong. I’ve tried analyzing the verse key as A, as D, as F... I’m stumped. I didn’t go to school for this stuff.

The verse is: D F Bbmaj7 A A7 F#m F Bbmaj7 A A7

Also curious about what kind of progression that would be as far as numerals, borrowed chords, etc.

Wondering if avoiding parallel 5ths in the style of CPP chord resolutions includes parallel dim5s, tritones, or aug4s as well? Does anyone have any insight into the general vibe/attitudes surrounding this?

Updates:

• no Huawei Watch with Wear, as they can't use google apps and services, Tx wahoux - HW3 will run HarmonyOS
• Android 11 based, not 12 ,. Tx u/Maultaschenman
• added speculations about old watch support
• Fossil has confirmed a premium wear based watch, with new chip and lte
• added link to WearOS Watch Specification Database.
• 09.06.21:
  • confirmed that TWPro3 with 4100 will get new Wear (source)
  • Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 might be released in 08/2021 (source)
• 29.06.21: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will be released in August 2021 (source)

------------------------------------------------

This is how I see the #Google #Wear annoucements from GoogleIO2021 (#wearos).

https://preview.redd.it/hah5pcb4rm171.png?width=892&format=png&auto=webp&s=a53c2e54e5e06e82d3d1f6160529907f14118487

Picture description from bottom to up.

1. Hardware!

• finally new hardware cpu!
• #Qualcomm is no longer single vendor
• Samsung is building a 5nm #Exynos for wear
• Google will use this chip also in #PixelWatchd
• Samsung will probably continue to use rotating bezel
• Fossil will have all kind of inputs (one button, two button, ...),

2. Operating system (WearOS)

• Android11 based
• Additional optimizations (battery, perf.) are be added by Samsung. Uses Exynos NPU for AI
• Unified health API (Fitbit+Google+Samsung experiences): access to sensors
• New sensors added by manufacturer (SPO2, blood pressure...) but are no longer "part of" WearOS.

3. Home app

• theming support, allowing branded watches (#Fitbit brand, google brand, #Fossil brand...).
• New/improved navigation, improved styles.

4. Apps:

• New faces from Samsung, incl. face builder. Will add much more high quality faces to Wear.
• #Fitbit replaces GoogleFit (which can still run in parallel, but no further improvements).
• Google apps: Pay, #Youtube (offline), maps, assistant
• Other: #Spotify , Adidas, Strava

Expected new Wear Watches 2021?

At least 3 "will" be released in #2021 with #WearOS 3:

1. Samsung Watch 4 (Exynos, Samsung b

Hi everyone,

After reading chapter 1017, I was left quite intrigued with the story of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, just like a lot of you probably. Some of us believe that Who's Who's story regarding the fruit could be not that important, some of us think that their is a meaning to that story being told like it was, and at this time of the story. I am of the second group, and I have an idea about why the devil fruits could be so important to the World Government, beyond just the capabilities they give to those who eat them, and why Luffy's fruit is especially important. It is definitely not a complete theory, it leaves a lot of things unanswered, but I think it's a pretty interesting idea to develop.

So here it goes: what if devil fruits had "souls"?

What I mean by that is, what if devil fruits had, on top of the powers they give to their user, had a defining characteristic, close to a personality trait, that could influence the kind of person the devil fruit user becomes? And this defining characteristic, or "essence" (not sure how to call it), kind of matched with the powers the fruit gives?

Just to give a few examples I thought of:

• the Mera Mera no Mi's (Ace's Fire Fire fruit) essence could be about being uncontrollable, unrestrained, just like fire which cannot be tamed, and kind of spreads wherever it wants. And Ace is the type of person, or at least becomes the type of person that cannot be stopped when he has something he wants to do. Even though he could die by falling in water, he travels the oceans on a simple motored surfboard powered by his fruit's power. He goes wherever he wants, even if that means taking inconsiderate risks, like going after Blackbeard for revenge. One could also argue that Sabo's decision of going to Marijoa to make something happen there is very Ace-like, and he might not have done something so reckless before he had eaten the Mera Mera no Mi (a bit far-fetched though but why not?).
• the Hie Hie no Mi's (Aokiji's Ice Ice fruit) essence could, on the contrary, be about remaining calm, even expressionless or unreadable, just like ice is cold, and menacingly calm. Which is why Aokiji is always so cool, and mysterious. Whether he's sympathetic, or angered, he always has the same face and behavior. You don't really know why he does what he does, why he seems to join Blackbeard.
• the Magu Magu no Mi's (Akainu's Lava Lava fruit) essence seems to be all about rage and anger, like a volcano that destroys anything around it onc

Just throwing this out there. Been super helpful to me recently. curious of opinions on it, or if others have tried too.

I got the idea to do a main mixbuss and a background mixbuss and it’s been a game changer for me. basically, because the mind can only pick up 3, maybe 4 different sounds at once, i separate my mix into the front of the mix, aka foreground, aka the main stuff that actually catches your ear (especially at low volume), then the background (usually reverbs, auxiliary stuff, harmonies, softer pads, ear candy).

my front mix buss gets my analog gear. summing mixer into massive passive is my current ballgame. this stuff extends to the full spectrum on both sides, and it gets the full LCR panning range too. I want it to feel right in your face. kick, snare, bass, lead vocal, and a few main instruments but not much. all the catchy stuff. it gets a tiny bit of buss processing in the box, mostly harmonic touches, maybe gentle dynamic EQ, and just a soft clipper doing about 1% of the work.

then my “background buss” gets generous shelf cuts from UAD’s pultec, it gets mild buss compression (UAD varimu or my ART opto stereo comp from Revive Audio), and most importantly, it gets a multiband side chain from the front buss through Soothe2, but nothing aggressive. It’s stereo width is about 50% of the front buss and it’s contents are mixed to mainly live in between LC and CR. it’s contents are mildly smeared through whatever makes sense, generous filtering, over saturation, low levels, shaved off transients. i mean i want this stuff to seem far away.

the back mix buss serves as a great catch all for anything that’s too loud. it can live in this dense but quiet zone behind the main elements, and it seems automatically the whole mix’s vibe can fall closely into place on my first pass just with basic bussing and gain structure. it also helps my brain think about what’s important, and i can easily toggle between big stuff and small stuff by muting the other buss.

no other subgroups unless there are doubled instruments that i can’t just sum to a stereo track. just me and my two busses going into a limiter buss. works like magic.

i originally got this idea from Andrew Schepp’s parallel EQ trick which i would use as my “foreground maker” to add depth to certain elements by pushing them into a parallel EQ/saturation chain that lifted stuff out of the mix in a nice way. this proved ridiculously complicated compared to what i landed on. it was a total me

Translated for the American Federation of Astrologers Bulletin.

Q. Maitre, what relationship do you see between astrology and psychology?

J. There have been many striking analogies between the astrological constellation and the psychological event or the horoscope and the characterological disposition. For example, there is even a possibility of predicting somewhat the psychic effect of a transit. One can expect with considerable assurance that a given well-defined psychological situation will be accompanied by an analogous astrological configuration. Astrology consists of configurations symbolic of the collective unconscious, which is the subject matter of psychology; the 'planets' are the gods, symbols of the powers of the unconscious (of the first order and beyond).

Q. In what way, physical, causal, or synchronous, do you think these relations maybe established?

J. It seems to me that it is primarily a question of the parallelism of sympathy which I call SYNCHRONICITY, as a causal connection expressing the relations that cannot be formulated based on causality, such as precognition, premonition, psychokinesis (PK), and what we call telepathy. In as much as causality is a statistical fact, there are exceptions of an acasual nature touching on the category of synchronistic (not "synchronous") events. These deal with the 'qualified time'.

Q. What is your attitude toward the positions taken by astrologers who admit the existence of a psychological field from birth on and of the psychoanalysts who explain the etiology of neuroses from very early experiences?

J. The first experiences in life owe their specific (pathogenic) effect to environmental influences on the one hand, and on the other to a psychic predisposition that is, to heredity, which seems to be expressed in a recognizablods, which is to say, the psychic archetypes.

Q,. In its principles, astrology introduces the concept of qualitative time in the universe; do you recognize its role in the individual psyche (problem of cycles and transit)?

J. I used this concept at one time, but I replaced it with the idea of synchronicity, which is analogous to the sympathy of correspondentia, or the pre-established harmony of Leibnitz. Time consists of nothing. It is only a modus cogitandi that is used to express and formulate the sequence of things and events, just as space is nothing but a manner of characterizing the existence of a body. When nothing occurs in time, and when there is no body in spa

On Draenor, Spirit (i.e., the Fifth Element, i.e., the Spirit of Life, i.e., Life energies) was abundant, which meant the Elements were tranquil and mostly intangible (they did not take on anthropomorphic forms to wage war on each other). This allowed Spirit-augmented evolution to thrive — unfortunately, this unchecked growth led to semi-sentient plant lifeforms becoming the world's early apex predators. Unconstrained by geography or the "slow-paced evolution" we know from the real world, the Sporemounds continuously adapted to expand their feeding grounds. When their roots came into contact with the rich Spirit energies below the planet's surface, the unified consciousness that resulted from this new power source became the world-threatening entity known as the Evergrowth. The Titan Aggramar realized that the Evergrowth would consume all remaining Life on Draenor until nothing remained to sustain its enormous size — and so, it too would die, leaving Draenor devoid of biotic lifeforms. To prevent this, the Titan shaped a stone-born entity (ostensibly animated by a combination of the Arcane and the Elements) from a large mountain, a being that he named Grond. Grond would destroy three out of four Sporemounds before succumbing to the last, but the Colossals that were generated from his shattered form would diligently continue their progenitor's mission, even when Aggramar was forced to depart. The Colossals' ultimate triumph over the Sporemound Botaan is quite similar to Galakrond's defeat by the five proto-dragons who would become the Dragon Aspects; yet, the Arcane explosion that slew the Evergrowth required the Colossals to sacrifice themselves, leaving no Titanic protectors to safeguard Draenor in the millennia that followed.

On Azeroth, Spirit energies were scarce, and so the Elements waged a perpetual war. When the Old Gods collided with the planet, the Elemental Lords were forced to unite against the Black Empire — yet, they were eventually enslaved. To save Azeroth from the encroaching Void, Khaz'goroth the Shaper would create the Titan-Forged from the planet's earthen crust; although the Titan-Forged were resilient beings of stone and metal, they could nonetheless bleed and die. The Lore Keeper of Norgannon later notes that the use of Azerothian stone (i.e., the "resilient foundation of construction") to generate the Titan-Forged is atypical: the Titans usually create servants to aid them using a "biomass construction foundation", i.e., a biotic ma

Albums

We Were Sharks - New Low

Waterparks - Greatest Hits

Fiddlehead - Between the Richness

Good Sleepy - everysinglelittlebit

Downhaul - PROOF

Trade Wind - The Day We Got What We Deserved

PACKS - Take the Cake

August Burns Red - Leveler: 10th Anniversary Edition

Kaonashi - Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year

Art Bergmann - Late Stage Empire Dementia

Mannequin Pussy - Perfect (EP)

The Devil Wears Prada - ZII (EP)

Northlane - 2D (EP)

Just Friends - JF Crew, Vol. 2 (EP)

FACS - Present Tense (EP)

Oliver Malcolm - Are You Living In The Real World? (EP)

Tokky Horror - I Found the Answers and Now I Want More (EP)

Singles

Green Day - Pollyanna

Neck Deep - When You Know (Acoustic)

Angels & Airwaves - Euphoria

[Capstan - shades of us](https://open.spotify.com/album/16B86IjDwhkGdirKc0jMl6?si=EGwB1rVTQgmj_Mm4UET

Joshu was walking with an official in the orchard when they saw a rabbit run past.

The official said, "The Master is a man of virtue. Why should a rabbit that sees you run away?"

Joshu said, "Because I like to kill."

I wonder if this could be the birth of a new format? There is always talk about how closely Zen parallels the Buddhist tradition, and how closely the Zen viewpoint aligns with the Buddhist viewpoint.

So why not marry the two, and take a Zen quote, and a link to a moral and ethical dilemma in the Buddhist head space, and see if the two can be said to exist in harmony.

Today’s Moral Dillema - The Taking of Life.

Sometimes certain events occur that seem important and monumental to us. Do to the nature of these events, we seek to find a sense of meaning and purpose, to reason out our actions, their cause and their necessity.

Likewise, we might desire to know whether our actions were justifiable, so we seek validation from other beings we consider peers, to determine whether they were warranted and tenable.

Follow the link friends, read for yourself the quandary’s our Buddhist fellows face, see their advice and direction, the counsel they offer each other.

Then let us ask ourselves, what would a Zen Master make of the situation? What do we make of the situation? How does our advice, or the Master’s advice, resonate or differ from our Buddhist fellows?

As always, thoughts go in the comment section down below. 🦉

for example if im just trying to reinforce one particular melody

Phil

Just throwing this out there. Been super helpful to me recently. curious of opinions on it, or if others have tried too.

I got the idea to do a main mixbuss and a background mixbuss and it’s been a game changer for me. basically, because the mind can only pick up 3, maybe 4 different sounds at once, i separate my mix into the front of the mix, aka foreground, aka the main stuff that actually catches your ear (especially at low volume), then the background (usually reverbs, auxiliary stuff, harmonies, softer pads, ear candy).

my front mix buss gets my analog gear. summing mixer into massive passive is my current ballgame. this stuff extends to the full spectrum on both sides, and it gets the full LCR panning range too. I want it to feel right in your face. kick, snare, bass, lead vocal, and a few main instruments but not much. all the catchy stuff. it gets a tiny bit of buss processing in the box, mostly harmonic touches, maybe gentle dynamic EQ, and just a soft clipper doing about 1% of the work.

then my “background buss” gets generous shelf cuts from UAD’s pultec, it gets mild buss compression (UAD varimu or my ART opto stereo comp from Revive Audio), and most importantly, it gets a multiband side chain from the front buss through Soothe2, but nothing aggressive. It’s stereo width is about 50% of the front buss and it’s contents are mixed to mainly live in between LC and CR. it’s contents are mildly smeared on their own channels through whatever makes sense, generous filtering, over saturation, low levels, shaved off transients. i mean i want this stuff to seem far away. high density low dynamic range here.

the back mix buss serves as a great catch all for anything that’s too loud. it can live in this dense but quiet zone behind the main elements, and it seems automatically the whole mix’s vibe can fall closely into place on my first pass just with basic bussing and gain structure. it also helps my brain think about what’s important, and i can easily toggle between big stuff and small stuff by muting the other buss.

no other subgroups unless there are doubled instruments that i can’t just sum to a stereo track. just me and my two busses going into a limiter buss. works like magic.

i originally got this idea from Andrew Schepp’s parallel EQ trick which i would use as my “foreground maker” to add depth to certain elements by pushing them into a parallel EQ/saturation chain that lifted stuff out of the mix in a nice way. this proved ridiculously