Drone/pad EQ-ing.

[Seren]

No formula. No set style.
No one type of drone.

Yes, in terms of creative process "no formula".

But i can hardly imagine that there is any music label who wants to release unprofessionaly (or bad sounding) recorded music. All ambient music i listened has something common in quality of sound (in drone ambient genre too). So, it somehow reminds of "80s pop sound with same peresets used" :)

  I would advocate creating sounds you are happy with, you can try putting out tracks on bandcamp etc and see how people respond to them.
  I used to use soundcloud too - where people could (I assume they still can) add comments to the tracks they are listening to.
  You could also try sending a CDs worth of music to labels you think might be interested and ask for constructive feedback.
  This will help you clarify the balance you wish to hold between what you are wanting to create and what other people want to listen to.

There is a very wide range of music / sounds created by artists in 'ambient' music - including those on this forum (let alone digging into the many other forums out there)....listen to different pieces and see how the range strikes you.

What artists inspire you? do you want to create in a similar vein or use those sounds as a springboard for your own themes and sounds.

Sometimes putting a very complex piece of sound through a variety of effects including the perennial reverb can create a backdrop / drone / atmosphere in which different frequencies and textures waft in and out - perhaps you could muddy things up further and see what arises?

[animapara]

What artists inspire you? do you want to create in a similar vein or use those sounds as a springboard for your own themes and sounds.

Artists that inspired me are Klaus Wiese, Alio Die, Vidna Obmana and Robert Rich.

But these guys are so high ... and my dream is to reach their level of professionality in terms of technical approach of mixing/editing etc.

[Seren]

High inspiration indeed - but each of them had to start somewhere, and then develop their own sound and expression.

For example Vidna Obmana has created a very wide range of sounds, including harsh noise experiments, delicate glass like ambience, tribal (with Steve Roach) and guitar drones - all having different intent, sound palettes and eq....

I suspect we all seek certain sounds in our own initial inspirations before discovering our own voice - enjoy your own journey....play around....explore....create.

[Castleview]

Vidna Obmana/Dirk Serries is an excellent example of somebody who started from hardly anything and developed himself into a star in the ambient world. He started out with harsh noise and moved on to fairly simple loop-based ambient compositions soon after but eventually, his music grew more ambitious as his talent grew.

[Seren]

I suspect we all seek certain sounds in our own initial inspirations before discovering our own voice - enjoy your own journey....play around....explore....create.

I forgot to add - let us know what you are doing.....

My main influences were very early Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream (giving away my age here) followed by Oophoi and Steve Roach in my second phase immersion in ambient music...but I also listened to Z'ev, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire in between.
   I also listened to Morton Subotnik, Dr Who theme etc etc.....

I suspect each of these influences can be heard in the range of music I've created.

I've also listened to a lot of music that I may listen to once or more often - but I am inspired not to make music like that as well, if that makes sense - not a reaction against, but recognising where I don't want to go as well as where I do....

[Julio Di Benedetto]

What artists inspire you? do you want to create in a similar vein or use those sounds as a springboard for your own themes and sounds.

Artists that inspired me are Klaus Wiese, Alio Die, Vidna Obmana and Robert Rich.

But these guys are so high ... and my dream is to reach their level of professionality in terms of technical approach of mixing/editing etc.

Theres nothing wrong with being versed in studio proficiency as we have to wear both hats most of the time but I can't help feeling you are looking to a technical level that is actually not there.  The people you mention as inspiration are not technically professional to use your word.... well actually Robert Rich is and I would like to have some of his studio chops so.....

We strive to make our music sound the best we can but few here are studio engineers...what we are are ambient musicians who work very hard to create beautiful music first and then work twice as hard to make it sound good....I speak for myself.

The technical analysis of a "drone" seems to me ludicrous......it goes against examination, it is anything but technical...it is all emotion and often created by mistakes or better put sonic accidents.

There are certainly drone masters out there and you have mentioned a few but I should hope that their work is a process of discovery that has in its essence nothing to do with technicalities....what would be the point?

Hope this does not come across harsh because its not written as such. :)

[Julio Di Benedetto]

To take this further.... it would be like technically analyzing a Jackson Pollack abstract painting or better yet a Mark Rothko painting as Steve Roach has been compared to within ambient space music.  Not possible....well,  one could try but it would fail.  The technical does not have a vocabulary that can express feelings to be summed up in Kilohertz.

Or can it? 

[petekelly]

Some good advice here. I have something of a feeling of deja vu about this thread, so I havewn't contributed so far.

To me, drones are the 'essence' of ambient music and are somewhat undervalued. It's easy to make any kind of long continuous sounds, but not so easy to make them interesting and subtle.
Of course, there's a technical element involving their frequency distribution, but their musical effect has very little to do with that.

[animapara]

To me, drones are the 'essence' of ambient music and are somewhat undervalued.

This ^^

As i understand, the basic problem when you do drone is nasty resonances in low-mid and hi-mid frequency range. It completely kills the drone turning it in plastic unpleasant trash.

And my problem is that i'm always overdo resonance cutting (i do it with notch) ... doing too much of eq carvings. Thus, my drone usually sounds too "soft" compare to drone that other do. Always do much more that 2-3 dB :(

Maybe is there any "tactics" when cutting resonances and any unpleasant frequencies?

[Tardigrade]

Since a drone from a synth, guitar, cello, etc. can have infinite spectral possibilities, there is no set formula for drone EQ.  Analyse the sound with your ears and a real time frequency analyzer.  Make whatever EQ adjustments you need to get the sound where you want it to be.  Fairly narrow band parametric EQ in problematic muddy frequencies is typically more effective than broader EQ curves or extremely narrow notches.   

[Tardigrade]

As i understand, the basic problem when you do drone is nasty resonances in low-mid and hi-mid frequency range. It completely kills the drone turning it in plastic unpleasant trash.

And my problem is that i'm always overdo resonance cutting (i do it with notch) ... doing too much of eq carvings. Thus, my drone usually sounds too "soft" compare to drone that other do. Always do much more that 2-3 dB :(

Maybe is there any "tactics" when cutting resonances and any unpleasant frequencies?

Yes, there is a tactic that is better than a notch for the issue you have. Frequency selective compression that targets the resonant frequency above a certain threshold using the proper bandwidth and compression ratio.  This is something a simple EQ can't do. 

[APK]

Try a dynamic EQ on resonant frequencies. Like the good and inexpensive one by Toneboosters.
Operates similar to a multiband compressor.
Its a parametric EQ, but with a threshold control (per node) so it only reduces a frequency if the signal exceeds the threshold.
Invaluable tool, I think.

[Tardigrade]

APK and I have said basically the same thing on two occasions in this thread and no one is willing to admit it.