Psychedelic eMagazine #2 by Psychedelic Magazine

EDITORIAL

WELCOME!

e are very excited to welcome you at the first issue of what we want to consider as the roots of a culture! Our name is ‘Psychedelic eMag’ to express exactly that! The psychedelic culture as a whole! We’ll be together every month from now on! I We want to ask kindly your indulgence for our first issues if something is missing, or is mistaken, or is misspelt or whatever mistake/absence you think we have. As every living organism in our planet, we’ll grow and learn and get better day by day. Trust us though when we say that we have incredible surprises coming on! This issue is only a tiny portion of what is really coming... We have great ideas for our magazine (and our website) and we just ask your understanding and your support! It’s not possible for us to make everything from the first issue. But with your support, we’ll bring something new & fresh to our scene! Through the magazine you’ll find links for our social channels, please take a moment to follow & like as this is very important for us. We give you a promise of remaining real and focused to our unique scene without never forgetting the roots of our culture! We hope you’ll enjoy this first issue as we did creating it and you’ll become also a member of the Psychedelic eMag family.

At 10 February 2003 Avihen Livne, aka Cosma, passed away. This issue, February 2014, is dedicated to him. ~ He will never be forgotten ~

Psychedelic eMagazine team

INTERVIEW

ARTESCAPE

Photos: Aumega Photography

We found ARTESCAPE between Australian Rainbow Serpent and South African Origin Festival and she took a little time from her busy schedule to talk to Psychedelic eMag.

ARTESCAPE

PM: Hi, i think we should start with the basics for our readers. Who you are, what you do and where you live. Carin: Im Carin Dickson, South African born artist living in Cape Town. PM: How & when did you started with party decoration? Carin: I started when I was 18 years old, going to nightclubs when it was still the ‘Rave days’ techno house clubs in mid 90’s. I started painting the walls of the nightclubs I was partying in with trippy psychedelic wall paintings. I went to my first ‘psytrance’ party in 1997, and fell in love. Then in 2000 I made my first psychedelic UV backdrops, which went to the Zambia Total Eclipse Festival in 2000. I sold everything! And from then proceeded making backdrops as a hobby/ for fun for local psytrance parties in Johannesburg, where I was living at the time. PM: that sounds great. Do you had any artistic background or

started totally as a hobby? Carin: I was born with talent, have always been good at art all my life. I went to an Art school for my last 3 years of school. I left school when I was 17. I have always worked for myself as an artist. PM: So that was your “turning point”? Carin: No, not really. My turning point, the event that started my career was a Vortex party in Cape Town in Dec 2005. I painted 2 giant dragon backdrops for the stage for an Infected Mushroom headliner party. It was my debut, my first chance at doing something big and being paid for it. And I changed the face of Cape Town trance parties… from then on it exploded into what it is now. I basically decorated parties for free for 5 years between 2000 and 2005 until Vortex gave me my first break. It was my hobby/what I did for fun not money….. and honestly I never thought it would ever have turned into a career! Or ever imagined being where I am today. PM: Yea, but this is how it goes with the talented work, never go unnotice :) So what was the first festival you decorated and what was the feedback?

INTERVIEW

Carin: Vortex …Dec with Infected Mushsame design many times, which takes paroom 2005… not really a festival more a tience. That does becomes a mediation party. Response was jaw dropping/ fallin itself. Then to rigging it… which can be ing over, wtf? Was awesome, I even had to heart braking when the wind wants to blow sit down when the ‘8m tall’ dragons were and shred it to pieces.. Decorating outdoor raised onto the scaffolding towers. Was truly dance floors is one of the most challenging breathtaking! things I’ve done in my artistic life. PM: In international scene? What was PM: Yea that how it looks to the visithe first festival you made deco? tors also, as a hard job. But the reCarin: Ok interational was Vuuv, when it sult i believe is rewarding both visiwas still Voov 2006. The same dragon back- tors and artists. What you believe was drops were displayed on main dance floor. your most challenging and hard projMy first time being flown overseas to decoect to make? rate a festival :) There I met the guys Carin: Well, theres been a few. Ozora from Thailand from Black Moon was always the biggest amount and The Experience festival. of work to do in the smallest And they commissioned amount of time. Glade fesme to make some backtival was the most chaldrops for them… since lenging because my then for 7 years now I decor that I shipped have been supplying from South Africa to decor to Koh PhanEngland never argan island. rived on time. So PM: What is your I had to make a insparation when back up plan in 3 you create a new days. Then, when deco? the festival had alCarin: Thats a diffiready started my decult one, I like to find cor arrived, and myinspiration in the orself and crew changed ganisation itself, like the all the decor around for theme or style of the par2 dance floors in 10 hours ty/festival. I always work during the music break. We with geometry… alignment and basically decorated 2 dance symmetry. I like creating mandalas. Photo: Aumega Photography floors with 2 different decor set ups PM: We, as i believe a lot of our in 2 days. was madness. Painting the readers, we don’t know what it takes to Boom dragons was intense, I painted both decorate a festival from the start to the in 10 days. A lot of my greatest achievevery end of the project. Can you give us ments have been my most challenging. some insights? PM: yea that sounds really intense! Carin: Its really hard work. From the beWe’re speaking for the last ozora? ginning stages of design, to then calculating Carin: Speaking mainly of Ozora 2011. what materials are needed and how much. Which was the best one for me. I painted To then cutting fabric (to cut up a few huneverything on that dance floor in 2 weeks dred metres of fabric in a 5m long room on my own. can take a few days, and involves some ex- PM: But also Boom 2012 was an intreme yoga moves!) Then sewing kilomecredible stage. Tell us a little bit your tres of stitching… and then painting. Making involve there. stencils for everything, cut by hand. AirCarin: All I did was paint the dragons.. I brushing every bit of colour… and with mak- did Ozora at the same time. Was quite craing a mandala design, means repeating the zy doing artwork for both. I had to leave

INTERVIEW

crew in Austria painting the Ozora shade while I went to Boom, then left Boom after the second day to go back to Ozora to rig the decor there. PM: yea sounds crazy! But the dragons was the absolute spot of Boom 2012! Carin: I will be there for 2 months. This coming Boom I am one of the main decorators :) And now we have to beat the Dragons!!! A big job hehe! PM:That sounds great! Do we have any insights of the idea that you can share with us? Carin: Yeah Well, its in theme of the divine feminine, so we will be creating a garden, full of ‘otherworldly’ plant life .. within a cathedral/temple structure. Interactive, psychedelic and out of this world :) PM: That sounds mindblowing! Can’t wait to see it. :) What is generally your festivals for year of 2014? Carin: Ilo Festival Mexico at May, Halfmoon Festival all year in Thailand. Theres a few that are still to be confirmed, so don’t want to put them here yet. potentially Tribe in Brazil, Boom Dance temple 2014 -Boom is the one Im focusing on- my first time putting so much of myself into one space, Really excited! PM: What is your plans for the future?

Photos: Aumega Photography

Carin: Future… no plan really, just going with the flow of life and flying where it takes me! Im gonna carry on with festivals and large dance floor installations for as long as I’m excited about them… after that I may go back to fine art, get back into using a 000 paintbrush and a canvas ;) PM: That sounds perfect. We also want to wish you the best for your career and we can’t wait to see more of your works! Thank you Carin for opening your heart to Psychdelic eMag. You want to send any message to our readers? Carin: Believing is seeing! ‘one of my favourite sayings… and hope everyone out there enjoys what I give as much as I enjoy giving it!

FOLLOW ARTESCAPE AT FACEBOOK

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BEYOND INDICA & SATIVA By Jeremy Daw Jeremy Daw is an author and editor based in Berkeley, California. He writes about all aspects of the intersection between human beings and Cannabis Sativa.

With the explosion of new strains hitting the marijuana market every year, patients and other cannabis consumers often feel a little lost looking at the menu. How, for example, is Platinum Kush different than Golden Goat or Super Silver Haze? Or, for that matter, what is the difference between Sour OG, Lemon OG, Tahoe OG and SFV OG? Unless the budtender behind the bar happens to be exceptionally knowledgeable, patients are left simply to guess. In a regulated market, this would never have happened. Modern supply chains in the licit economy use standards – discrete units of congruency – to fastidiously track every widget and to ensure that every actor, from producer to consumer, always knows what she is getting. Starbucks, for example, sources coffee beans from farmers spread across four continents, tracking every shipment according to its Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) standards, which includes metrics like whether the beans are Fair Trade and Organic (both defined standards in and of themselves), whether the workers who harvested them are treated well (again, according to precisely defined standards), and whether the beans were produced according to environmentally sound practices (ditto). In an astonishing feat of global supply chain logistics, Starbucks can now claim to have the ability to trace 94% of its coffee beans all the way back to the exact farm where they were produced. By comparison, the vague standards of ‘indica’ and ‘sativa’, combined with one-word descriptors of a famously ineffable high, point toward a cannabis industry with a lot of growing up to do. Marijuana labels are not meaningless,

but they are rapidly losing all significance. Breeders, searching the globe for exotic strains, have crossed, criss-crossed and recrossed indicas and sativas (and now ruderalises as well) with one another so many times that the old designations are rapidly getting lost in the shuffle. Strains marketed as ‘indica’, meaning “body high” or “stoney” in the parlance of cannabis industry, regularly deliver highs that provide the opposite effect. ‘Sativas’, meanwhile, can often put patients in “couchlock” - the opposite effect of the supposed “head high” advertised on the label. And this confusion is not to be wondered at, when breeders have spent at least the last forty years selectively breeding for traits and caring not a whit for the plant’s original genetic lineage. The point is brought sharply home by the work of Dr. Jeffrey Raber, who holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Southern California and is the founder of the Werc Shop, a leading medical marijuana testing laboratory in Pasadena, California. Dr. Raber tested over 1,000 strains obtained from dispensaries throughout California, and in an interview with LA Weekly, he completely debunked the notion of any kind of consistency among

ARTICLE strains. “Most people don’t even know,” Dr. Raber said. “We took a popular name, Jack Herer, and found that most [buds sold under that name] didn’t even look like each other. OG whatever, Kush whatever, and the marketing that goes along with it – it’s not really medically designed.” It gets worse. Dr. Raber’s data, which he says will be published soon, “shows that ‘indica’ and ‘sativa’ is just morphology. It’s a misperception that indica will put you to sleep or that sativa is more energetic.” Dr. Raber’s assertions, if borne out by the data, spells big trouble for websites like Leafly, which recently sold for an undisclosed sum to private equity firm Privateer Holdings. According to the logic of the predominant pot nomenclature, Leafly is king; with thousands of strains listed and categorized by user reports, the slicklooking website has been called “the Yelp of weed.” By aggregating the responses of users and ranking strains based on those responses, Leafly aims to cut through cannabis consumers’ confusion and provide objective data on all new strains as they arrive. But how can all of that data be of any use to patients when, as Dr. Raber asserts, an OG Kush bought in one dispensary bears precious little resemblance to OG Kush bought at the dispensary next door? It gets even worse than that. Dr. Norman Zinberg, author of the seminal Drug, Set, and Setting, explodes any idea that the effects of drug use are strictly deterministic – in other words, that two people with different life experiences will experience the same high from cannabis, even if they’re sharing the same joint. According to Dr. Zinberg, nothing could be further from the truth: while

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one person may feel giggly and content, the other may become edgy and paranoid. In fact, Zinberg provocatively asserts that the mind set and the physical setting of the drug user have effects equal to the drug itself when used, providing the basis for his book’s name. This means that even identical twins smoking identical weed may have vastly different drug experiences therefrom, provided that their minds are dwelling on separate subjects at the time or that their immediate setting may be different. One may say that the herb is uplifting and euphoric; the other may report its sedative effects. Same genetics. Same pot. Vastly different reactions. The sum total of the findings of Dr. Raber and Dr. Zinberg means that the patientreported data employed by Leafly and dispensaries nationwide is essentially bunk. To the extent that there is any consistency at all, such results are more likely the result of Zinberg’s observed power of the user’s mind set (i.e., if the user expects to get a creative boost because it says so on the label) than any kind of pharmacological congruency. Because such congruency does not exist (as shown by Dr. Raber) and because self-reported data is so unlikely to translate between subjects (as implied by the work of Dr. Zinberg), Leafly and nearly every marijuana outlet in the country are barking entirely up the wrong tree. There is a better way. Dr. Raber’s lab and others – notably Steep Hill Laboratory in Oakland – have already developed sophisticated techniques for testing cannabis for cannabinoid and terpene content, meaning that every gram of bud sold could potentially carry a label breaking down the entire drug experience with the most accurate data available. Cannabinoid content, and especially the ratio between THC

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and CBD, can be compared to gauge the budâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potency; terpene profiles can be aggregated to predict flavor and smell. With complete information and a little experience, consumers can learn over time what works best for them, empowering themselves to make better decisions when trying new strains in the future. But unfortunately, state regulations are already headed in the wrong direction. Washington state, for example, has passed labeling rules providing woefully incomplete information, making it much more difficult for consumers there to make informed purchases. A better system would set up â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gradesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of cannabis according to potency and flavor, through a system similar to the way computer processors are ranked according to post-manufacture testing. Just as CPUs each come out of the factory a little different but can be ranked for speed accord-

ing to stress tests, so can cannabis, with all its minute variations, be tested by laboratories after curing and ranked by brackets of potency. Terpene levels can also be standardized; machine-learning software can analyze the relative prevalence of each fragrance-producing chemical to rank buds by its fruity, piney and other scents. When the cannabis industry adopts a common language across producers, processors and retailers, the winners will be the consumers. Any person of legal age will be able to walk into a store or dispensary and easily compare the options without having to know the subtleties behind such obscure names as J1 or XJ13. Consumers deserve such consideration; and the first company to deliver it to them stands to make a lot of money.

FIND JEREMY AT FACEBOOK

INTERVIEW

Werner van Jaarsveld, the man behind the highly acclaimed project “Rinkadink” spoke exclusively to Psychedelic eMag. Here’s what we said: Hi there! Do you want to introduce your self if there’s any person that dosn’t know who you are? Rinkadink: I’m Werner from Cape Town, South Africa. PM: We’re finding you in Brazil right now, correct? Rinkadink: Yes, i’m playing in a club here tonight and next week i’m gonna play in SoulVision Festival. PM: Let’s go back in time a little bit, when you started with all this? Rinkadink: mmm gosh, i started djing when i was around thirteen-fourteen years old and i started playing in parties when i was fifteen. PM: You started at Cape Town right? Rinkadink: In Cape Town yea! Cape Town had a really good rave scene from 1990, it was really rocking! and they had really good parties from 1995 already. PM: And how you started with music production? How you got on? Rinkadink: I started with Napster! The old music sharing program. So what i did is, i started making music, with the Rinkadink

project i started making tracks around 1998-99, and then they got good around 2000. So i post as a music trader on Napster, and i said “hi, i’m a music trader, i got unreleased music” because you could trade only unreleased music with other unreleased music. The Rinkadink tracks i had were very bad at the time. But it allowed me to get unreleased music from other people who were much more advanced like Dino Psaras, Logic Bomb, Pleiadians, Etnica, all this sort of music. So i traded my own music as a trader and i got access to other unreleased music and from there i could listen to that music and modulate my music. To get better. PM: So when was your first stage appearance as Rinkadink? Okay, i was playing in the Cape Town parties long time but not as Rinkadink, as a DJ. The first Rinkadink set was at Cape Town end of 2001 or begging of 2002. PM: We heard at your profile pages some new tunes that you’re cooking with more progressive attitude. Is this a turning point?

INTERVIEW Rinkadink: Well no, basically Full-on, the style of Full-On music is not popular any more. So all the artists that they used to make full-on we just slowed our BPM down and we changed our music style but we still working for maximum energy! That’s what the Psy-Prog is. It just another mutation of trance music. So i’m not sure if it’s progressive just because it’s slower, but it just a new style. Like trance changes styles every few years. This is just the newest style. PM: what you consider as highlight of your career? Rinkadink: its hard to remember particular parties (laughs) PM: and what you think its your style? how you would define it? I mean, back in the early of 2000’s we’re saying “Rinkadink” and we knew we’re speaking for a unique style in psytrance. Rinkadink: I don’t know how i’d describe it, i think most producers have their own unique style. I just want to see the dancefllor groove. PM: Okay. Let’s speak about the present. what you’re up to? Rinkadink: Now i’m working hard to make music that people will like and dj’s will play. I’m djing lots around the world. Thats all, i’m focussed on this 100 percent. PM: that’s cool. any new personal album on the way? Releases on VAs? Rinkadink: i don’t plan to release albums any more PM: What forced you in that decision? Rinkadink: the main reason is that it takes a long to make 9 tracks and then you only have one period to promote it and then its over. So it makes more sense to make one track and then release and promote it. Then you can do the process all over again. Like back in the days of vynil 12 inch dance singles. PM: As you said, you started from promoting your work through Napster etc. and you know you are insparation generally for “young

INTERVIEW

guns” out there. What you think they should care more? You know its a mayhem today with the internet and overwhelming for some. Rinkadink: its just the way things are today - i think things like Soundcloud have revolutionised the way artists and music lovers relate to each other. I think things are better now than they were before. Like before the only way that an artist would be able to get feedback on their music would be to read what people were writing about it on internet forums. Now they can get instant feedback on their music thru social media and soundcloud. PM: Yea that’s true. As you probably guessing, a lot of people that reading us now, are involved with music production. What is your studio set as of today? Rinkadink: now my studio consists of a mac running Ableton Live. I use only the default internal effects and instuments. Nothing else. PM: That was actually my next question, “favorite daw at the time”. I guess Ableton Live! (laughs) Rinkadink: defiantly defiantly! PM: Any favorite plugins that you work? Rinkadink: i use only the internal ones in Ableton Live. PM: okay cool. What is your advice to all the growning producers out there? Rinkadink: don’t keep working on one project for months and months. Start a new one. You learn from repetition, so the more times you create kick and bass and then process it, the better you will get.

INTERVIEW

PM: sounds great. I wanted also to ask what you think is the most common mistake growning producers do trying to make music, but, i guess i already got an answer, right? (laughs) Rinkadink: i can’t really comment, i think my production was really shit until a few months ago (more laughs!)

PM: hahaha i don’t think a lot of people will agree with you right now but i admire your modesty! I think we’re reaching the end, do you want to send any message to the psytrance lovers out there? Rinkadink: Just keep dancing!

Follow Rinkadink @

FULL ON NEWS

MONTHLY

DARKPSY NEWS

MONTHLY

INTERVIEW

Hi Guys, could you introduce yourself in a few words, for those who might not yet know you? Sure! We are Alex Karanasos (GR) and Simon Revill (UK). We have been producing progressive psytrance music together since 2010 as Sensogram.

We spoke with Sensogram about their project and their future plans:

It’s been almost two years since your first full-length album. What are your plans now? Are you working on any new tracks? After our first album `Parallel Minds’, released on Phoenix Groove Records, we have released an EP `One Million Dollars’

INTERVIEW

What or who are some of your biggest musical influences? and several other tracks on different labels like Ovnimoon, Powerhouse Records and YSE. Since then our style has been evolving and now we are ready to make our second album. Actually, we are currently in the process of creating our updated sound and putting together our ideas. It is an exciting time for us! What evolutions in your style and taste motivated you to make another album? Since our first album our style has evolved. Now, our sound is tougher and influenced by more up-tempo, full on style trance. Our music is a bit faster these days, but we still keep it progressive and hypnotic with the right groove. We went through some hardware and software changes; moving from Logic to Cubase and this has changed the way we work for the better. All of this came together nicely, which gave us the inspiration and motivation to start working on the new album.

Alex: Pink Floyd, KLF, INXS, James Monro, Vibrasphere, Antix, Tristan. Simon: Metallica, Bach, Steve Vai, Vibrasphere, Astrix, Freq. Any further comments you would like to make? Keep supporting the artists who make your favourite music. Hopefully weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see you around soon at a festival or party. If you do see us, please come and say hello! Follow us on Soundcloud and Facebook, to keep updated:

INTERVIEW

The Serbian blockbuster act by Dejan Jovanovic that shaked the psyprog scene! PM: Hi there. Let’s start from the basics for the people that dosn’t know you: Who you are and where are you from? Lyctum: Hello, My name is Dejan Jovanovic, I have a project called Lyctum, created in the end of 2011, I’m from Belgrade Serbia. PM: How you started with psytrance?

Lyctum: I started around the year 2003, I have an older brother who was into psychedelic trance back in the day, around 11 years ago i started listening to it, cause he was pumping up the volume so hard that i simply loved the vibrations for the basslines, and approx 1 year after i start with a kickoff into a more productive way and i also started going out on parties to

INTERVIEW meet the scene and people. Couple of years after that i started gettin booked in my country and just few more years after i got gigs all around the world. PM: How you got involved with psytrance production? Lyctum: Just a simple interest towards the psytrance genre. It became a part of my life so fast and it influenced me, creativity-wise. PM: Is it true that your album was the second best-selling album of 2012 and how this made you feel? Lyctum: Yes of course it’s true, it made be feel truly blessed, the feeling of being played all around is magnificent. PM: What gig you consider as the hilight of your career till now? Lyctum: Very difficult question by the way, I can’t say only one, cause lately all gigs started looking fantastic, greatlly done with a bunch of effort, but my favorite 5 so far are Universo Paralello, Timegate, Hadra, Mandallah and P.L.U.R. festival, cause i have them printed instantly in my mind, happy and good times, never to forget! PM: Is there any festival that you would like to play and you didn’t till today? Lyctum: Sure of course, Ozora, BOOM, Sun, Maitreya, Rainbow Serpent, Fusion and the list goes on. PM: A lot of people that reading us now are involved with Music Production, speak us a little bit about the production part of your tracks. Lyctum: If concerning the mix, make all your sounds first enjoyable to your ears and then check the meters. If concerning the ideas, Go out in the nature, make new experiences in life with pure souls, get that great positive energy and transmit it to your sound production. It works great for me! PM: Any favorite DAW and/or VST’s this days? Lyctum: FL Studio, Massive, Sylenth and of course, old school VST’s! PM: What is your studio set as of today?

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Lyctum: So far i haven’t put much effort on it cause lately I became a mobile producer and it’s impossible for me to shut some ideas down when i feel it in some hotel or gigs far away from home, but I started building a pro 30 square meters studio for myself and it’s about to get done! Focal monitors, AKG k141 mkii. CME UF50, Traktor Audio DJ 2, Korg nano, Korg key, Korg kaossilator 2. 3 Laptops and a PC. PM: Where you see our scene going at the upcoming years? Lyctum: Speaking about producers/artists.. sadly, It’s not going on a good way that much, there are few individuals who I really respect for their efforts, but nowadays there are more commercial material than ever, some styles that want to sound like psychedelics but they are too empty in atmosphere kind of a way. Not so creative, just basically, dry kick/ basslines with a simple square osscialtion going bloop bloop bloop, uplift before the drop, and it comes again and again, so it’s kind of boring and uncrative in my opinion, so I cannot really appreciate this kind of evolution in psytrance.. Offbeat is also there registred as psytrance wanna be. I think offbeat should be in a different genre.. But hey, who cares, majority says it’s awesome, so it’s awesome. About the psytrance scene/parties, truly amazing! keep it up promoters, we want to see fake spaceships on the parties full of decorations and atmospheric lights. PM: Is there any particular message you wanna send to all the psytrance lovers out there? Lyctum: Yes, turn of your tv and go out have blissfull experiences! Work hard for your goals cause life is amazing! PM: Thank you very much for your time Dejan and we wish you all the best for your career! Lyctum: Thank you! Good luck to your magazine and to your journey.

Follow Lyctum @

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PREVIEW

FESTIVAL

photograph Ikaz Video

Hadra Trance Festival 2013 was a beautiful edition, in terms of organisation, crowd and music ! More than 10000 people gathered for 4 days and 3 nights and...it was magic. But the financial reality was another story... Because of the problems experienced at 2012’s with rain and intense cold, the authorities put us under massive pressure for 2013 to improve every aspect of the planning and security for 2013. This led to an obligation to spend vast amounts of money, far above what would normally be expected at a festival... As a result, the budget had grown to an almost unsustainable level. We hoped for the best, needing 12,000 people to break even but unfortunately 10,000 came. This has resulted in a huge deficit… The final months of 2013 were hard trying to work out a solution to this. What could happen in 2014 was the big unknown. But finally, we can tell you that we’re preparing a really special edition for 2014 ! We’re working on a new start, with new ideas, new implants and a fresh spirit to bring you something unique ! A festival represents an amazing opportunity to gather a large audience for a perfect psychedelic experience in a stunning scenery, everything coming together to create a timeless event ! But it’s also

a one-off occasion to support our movement and gather worldwide artists together ! Hadra has always paid special attention to its programming, assuming a pioneering role in France to mix less well known local artists and international headliners. It is a goal every organizer should keep in mind, to improve the scene and focus on developing new psytrance artists, not just only main headliners... Moreover, a psychedelic festival is not only about music, it’s a place for revitalizing the spirit, for living together, for dreaming, for change lives and all that is created by everyone - the public, the organisers and hundreds of volunteers, the musicians and the artist crews, the decor teams and the amazing universes they create, the lecturers, the stallholders... It’s also about local development. Hadra, working as a non-profit organisation, wants to extoll the message that psytrance culture - too often denigrated by the main stream - is a thriving and respectful culture. Psytrance culture and its festivals can work well with local retailers and authorities, paying a particular attention to environmentally friendly measures to create what is a sustainable and profitable festival for everyone ! That is what Hadra stands for and hopes become the norm all over the world !

PREVIEW

FESTIVAL

HOW TO

SERVED BY

TUTORIAL

MECHANIMAL MUTAGEN RECORDS

FOLLOW HIM AT:

Mechanimal launched its first live in October 2009 and has been blasting full power trance music around the globe since. Now with over 20 successful releases and ever growing experience Mechanimal is shaping its debut album ready to drop on dancefloors worldwide!

Psychedelic e-Mag catches up with Mechanimal for this month’s music production tutorial.

HOW TO CREATE WIDTH AND PUNCH USING PHASE What is phase? I would refer to this as “Time” or “Sync” for example if something is out of phase it would mean that it is out of time and vice versa. Normally when using this term in music production we are talking about milliseconds. Here is a diagram using two saw waves (1 blue & 1 red) to illustrate this: Fg.1 In phase (In Polarity) 2 Saw waves in phase will sound the same but louder.

Fg.2 Phase reversed (Reverse Polarity) If you have two saw waves and reverse the phase on one it will cancel out: the result is silence. Fg. 3 Out of phase If you shift the timing of one of the saw waves you will start to get a more fuzzy sound. This is one of the steps in how “SuperSaws” are generated, more details to follow.

Real life example: Sometimes when mixing two tracks together the kick drum can almost completely disappear, this is because they are cancelling each other out like in Fg.2 (reverse polarity). An example of tracks in phase would be when you mix tracks and get a harsh popping kick, this is because the tracks are “In phase” Fg.1. To get them to “gel” you have to shift the timing slightly so that tracks are slightly “out of phase” fg.3. This is the same situation when shifting samples in music production. Creating width You can use phase to create really wide sounds. Firstly duplicate your initial sound, pan one left and one right then detune and/or shift one of the samples a few milliseconds left or right. When doing this with Saw waves you will get a wide fat saw, follow these steps many times and you will get a “SuperSaw”. This trick also works great on vocals, guitars and other waveforms such as squares. Another term for this is “Unison” which is often found on synths.

TUTORIAL

HOW TO

Adding punch: Like the “In Polarity” illustration (Fg.1) you can line up samples in phase to get a punchy result. An example is when I layer two clap/snare samples together. I always zoom in to both waveforms and shift one of them to try and match the peak shapes or until it sounds great. You can either listen out for when it sounds punchy or you can shift it until it sounds flat and then flip the polarity, both will result in a punchy sound. As a habit always try reversing the polarity of your sounds to see if it improves the sound, especially on percussive sounds.

Fg. 4 Phase reversed Here you can see my two samples are cancelling each other out resulting in a flat sound. If you now flip the polarity on one of the samples you will get a more punchy result.

Fg. 5 In phase (ish) Here you can see the shape of the two waveforms are now “in phase” or at least close which now results in a punchy sound. To achieve this I simply reversed the phase on the bottom sound. You can also shift the sample left or right until the peaks match closely.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. Many thanks for reading! Nick Sagar-House Mechanimal

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