Thanks for all the detail, Daniel. Vienna MIR 3D Pro is well outside my affordability, but it sounds great. Teldex, that’s the new studio built early in this century at Teldec Hall, the German equivalent of Abbey Road studio 1? That’s some space for ambience! Thanks again.
Stephen, I think Teldex is a bit smaller than Abbey Road Studio 1, but yes, that’s it. Maybe not to drift off into a discussion about other developers too much (sorry, guys!), but Orchestral Tools records there a lot, which means a lot of the bread and butter stuff in my template already has the “Teldex sound,” which makes it convenient to try to mix other instruments in there as well. To be honest though, you probably wouldn’t need MIR or Berlin Studio, you could also use something else. I’m only mentioning it because these 8 instruments were essentially soloists and basically recorded dry, so positioning and reverb are very relevant factors.
And thank you, Eleri!
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I’m not even close to making it all the way through this thread, but I’ve really loved what I’ve listened to so far! I’ve been lurking for a long time, but decided it was time to “be brave.”
Since 2016, I’ve participated in a Song-A-Day group where we all attempt to write, record, and post a track every day for the month of February. It has, quite literally, been a life-changing experience.
Occasionally, I give myself an extra challenge or constraint (e.g., only three pieces of gear, pre-defined track length, different genre every day, etc.). My constraint for some tracks this year was to use only presets with no editing and, for extra credit, the default patch if I could make it work.
In many ways, using Crow Hill libraries was cheating, because everything sounds so lovely. So here are my entries for February 11, Climbing Crow Hill, and February 20, Faint Glyphs. These links are to my personal website, but don’t worry about reading the blog entires unless you’re just interested. I hope you enjoy them!
Addendum p.s.: @christianhenson the first track is D&B. I’ve enjoyed your accounts of the early days and loved the video where you showed how you mapped the Amen break. Gave me a lot of ideas. 
Thanks for all of the wisdom and experience over the last several years!
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Great chilled tracks - early 2000 after party vibes. It’s great how you’ve documented the creation of the tracks too! Hear your frustrations but there is some humour coming through which I enjoyed! Lovely work!
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Wonderful! Style is a bit late for me as I’m 65 and tend to appreciate earlier styles, but I love the space and the subtle movement. As a drummer I appreciate the acoustic drums in Climbing Crow Hill too. Was fun to copy on the drums using one-handed ruffs and drags for the grace notes with occasional quarter-stick rim shots for the alternate accents. Good for keeping the left hand in shape. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the kind words, Eleri and Stephen! I decided on these two because they featured Crow Hill libraries.
Eleri, I started blogging for each track in 2019 and it has been incredibly helpful to be able to go back and read my mental snapshot. I’ve discovered a couple of consistent things:
- I often don’t like my tracks when they’re new. Most of them end up being things I do like, either with repeated listening or with the ability to go back and revisit them when there’s more time to polish. This has helped me be less self-critical and more accepting of “imperfections” when what’s in my head doesn’t exactly match what I recorded.
- I tend to fight the same creative demons every year. At least I now recognize them and can work through them.
- I am entirely unable to predict which tracks will be well-received by other participants. I just released an ambient album made up of tracks from 2023 that I almost didn’t post because I was worried I was going to bore everyone else to tears, but those tracks ended up generating quite a bit of discussion about process and techniques, along with some really nice compliments about how they made people feel calm and relaxed (which was what I was writing for myself).
- I have learned to let my “real” voice come through. I suspect if I’d started doing that back in my early 20s instead of trying to make things that would be popular, I might have had a different career arc.
Stephen, I was really happy when I substituted the “real” drums from Superior Drummer for my temp loop. It made everything so much more organic and supported the strings so well. I’ve recently started seeing a few drummers online who are playing Drum and Bass styles live, which completely boggles my mind given that the originals from artists like Aphex Twin were focused on hyper-edits and seemingly impossible rolls and fills. Humans really are amazing!
By the way, you’re not much older than I am. What styles are your favorites?
Again, thank you both for listening and also for the comments!
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Back when I was a working (semi-pro) musician I was playing post-bop and progressive jazz heavily influenced by the ECM label artists (Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Tomasz Stanko, Terje Rypdal, Keith Jarrett etc), but the band material would also bring in some rock elements and move into the styles of bands like Weather Report, Headhunters and Joni Mitchell’s near jazz excursions and on to Steely Dan. I still love all that stuff, plus the “progressive” rock (Zeppelin, Floyd, Genesis, Yes etc) that I grew up with in the 70’s. I gave up on the music career in the mid 80s when the day job, which I loved, took over. About 20 years ago my baby sister got me into Americana and bands with similar sounds like Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Besnard Lakes, Shearwater, Iron and Wine and others so that sound scape also appeals. Then there’s Sigur Ros… I started writing music using a DAW about 3 and a half years ago when forced into early retirement by an accident that left me with minor disabilities. I’d always wanted to get into writing music and as I have no formal musical training a DAW provided the way. I write music in the styles I enjoy listening to and playing as discussed above. I’m very much the beginner and have little money to invest in my “hobby”, but I do it for fun and enjoy every bloody minute of it! Thanks for asking, sorry for the lack of brevity!
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When CH released the Children’s Choir it immediately made me think of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, and it inspired me to write this piece. It is a little darker than normal, but I blame Mr Henson and Mr Golding for that… 
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Hmm, lulled into a false sense of security by the rather beautiful textures of the intro, the full horror of William Golding’s classic are wonderfully evoked by the Childrens Choir and the additional effects that you deploy. For me that contrast enhances the impact of the choir beyond even the instrument’s original design intent. Bit of a classic, Ali. Thanks for sharing, mate.
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Thank you so much Steve! I’m pleased to hear that you were lulled at the start, as that was part of my cunning plan. Thanks for taking time to listen and comment.
As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University…? 
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As cunning as a snake that disguised itself as a fox in order to gain said appointment!
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Very well done - such an evocative and chilling piece! Hooked right from the beginning. I may have nightmares tonight!
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Thanks v much Eleri! Sorry about any nightmares… 
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