Honestly I didn't think the 85 dB sound level or whatever it was, was too bad. It just sounded like a itty bitty baby psytrance party hahaha. Although it was messing with my head for quite sometime until I finally asked someone and they told me they turned the sound down and I was like ahhhhhhhhahaha so THAT'S whats going on! Although I agree Ajja's set would have been 100 times as epic if we could have kept the volume louder.
So I had some pretty crazy revelations Saturday night, and one of them brought to my attention something that's been bothering me for a while. Here was my problem with the party… now I know I've said this almost every time, but as Phil said, it's getting really old–I'm referring to the fact that the mainstage was inside. REALLY old. And I completely understand the reasons for this, but there has GOT to be some way to get it outside… I mean we've done it before right? What's so different now? I also understand that it's much easier to have the sound inside and less risky as there's always a chance of equipment getting wet. But for psychedelic trance, I think it is ABSOLUTELY imperitive that the sound is uninhibited by reverberating/rattling structures. Honestly I believe we are inhibiting the impact and healing powers of psytrance by keeping it in an enclosed space. After a while of being at the mainstage, all I could hear was the rattling (obviously I could hear other stuffs, but the 10+ echos of the same sound happening after the sound really muddy it up), not to mention the 'semi-truck engine' sound I hear when away from the mainstage, instead of actually being able to hear the music. What about the feeling of walking away and towards a stage and how the sound changes?? This can produce some of the most amazing effects at parties, however it's completely negated when inside a building. Also it sucked uber hardcore that in order to listen to the mainstage, I HAD to be inside, I couldn't even be outside at the fire and listening to it because it was just a giant Bass trap. Also, usually it seems the best flow of music is influenced by the progression of the sun in the sky and the vibes according to the time of day. The chill stage did an awesome job of this, until later in the morning on sunday when it was less morning-ish feeling… However, the mainstage on the otherhand NEVER saw the light of day. After a while of being inside the smokey building it started to just feel like a rave when the sun was coming up and we were on pavement in the dark, I wanted to be outside so I had to choose between that and the music… Well I chose to be outside (Thank you chill stage). Not to say that the music on the mainstage was bad in the morning because it wasn't… the building was just throwing off all the vibes and I didn't want to be there. I felt this all despite the AMAZING deco inside… Psytrance does not belong inside people and I don't think we are doing ourselves any favors by being inside other than being 'less-risky'… Just my honest opinion. Very curious to hear other's opinions on this topic as well.
Other than that, I had an AMAZING weekend! Thank you everyone for being there and bringing your energy to this gathering, I think it is going to reverberate throughout the world and the impact shall be SWIFT! Chill stage this weekend was pretty epic, I especially enjoyed Toki's set Sunday morning along with the most epic sunrise. Toki— if you're on here, I have a question… Do you intentionally start your mixes slightly off (not perfectly beatmatched) and then move them into sync shortly after hitting play in order to create a sort of.. 'winding-up' pitching effect?? If so that's flippin awesome. If not and you just hit play at not exactly the right time you sure do a great job of making it seem intentional and not crappy sounding at all… really like the humanistic characteristics of your mixing in this matter, it twas quite the trip. Ajja, Yab Yum, Random, Ooze (AMAZING – I throw in towel and quit producing 😉 ), Bird of Prey, Androcell/Distant System were all awesome… I'm having a hard time recalling everyone I listened to because I was kinda all over the place, but these guys stuck out for me… I missed Suit and Tie Guy again… 🙁
Lastly I'd like to say that I wish I was more social this weekend, I got to talk with a few of you pretty briefly, but for the most part I had a pretty introverted weekend. I kept going out to dark places to sit with myself… really needed to regain my center this weekend and that helped a lot. Next time I look forward to spending some more time with all of you!
~Jeremy
Yeah, I had an introverted weekend too. I felt kinda bad about it afterwards. I think it's from knowing too many people and not having enough time to talk to them all.
About the stage…as Scott said, there's nothing we can do about it, but I do agree that the doors should have been open at least.
