Holocene final draft

Holocene progress

I'm making slow steps toward a main groove for this song.  So far, I'm assembling this one using existing stems, with some synths and bell sounds added in the Maschine software.  I'm really looking for the one main section to be able to carry the tune on a standalone basis, so it has to be strong.  Although YouTube is full of great remixes from this album, there's really not a lot of Holocene remix attempts that I find really great and original.


Here's the one Justin chose, which really is a creative and well produced take on the song:
Bon Iver Holocene (Kyson Remix) http://awe.sm/aDH4F

Groove composition in Maschine

So as I mentioned, in addition to Pro Tools, there is some other composition software at work here.  The role of Native Instruments' Maschine is a little harder to define than a common digital audio workstation.  It's a loop-based composition and arrangement tool which can be integrated into my workflow in a couple different ways.  Up until recently, I'd been using Maschine on a standalone basis to try out ideas, and put together grooves.  I would then click and drag the resulting audio file over to Pro Tools for deeper editing.  For the Bon Iver Project, I've started using Maschine as a vst, or plugin, in Pro Tools 9.  This means that Maschine's timeline syncs with Pro Tools, and they operate in parallel.  Tempo is also consistent.  Maschine simply becomes one track within the project.  This offers the best of both worlds, in a sense.  I'm able to use Maschine where it really shines (as a loop-based composition tool) while it sits in Pro Tools, where things are more easily edited and fine-tuned.  Ta daa....

Maschine 1.8 in Pro Tools 9.

So, in order to know where each Maschine "scene" (or part) starts and ends, I've added markers in the Pro Tools edit view.  I'm not saying this is the best way to incorporate this into your workflow, but it worked on Perth, and I'm trying it on Minnesota  So far, so good.

Perth final draft