Over time, 6362MetaForce has received many questions related to electronic music production and performance. We developed this section of the website in response to those questions - figuring that there must be many more people out there wondering about the back-end of electronica! Our hope is to open a few of those back doors to you, and also to help you understand some of the music and sets we feature in our on-line boutique.

We include here our own bias and spin on some terms, but we represent all technical terms faithfully.

Although 6362MetaForce primarily promotes electronic psychedelia, we recognize the whole spectrum of psychedelic music as an evolutionary thread - beginning with Donovan & the Grateful Dead, up to and beyond Terminator and Derango. There is a whole world of sound out there, and we hope to help you better enjoy our little piece of it!

Please scroll down or click on the terms below for more information.

In this section, 6362MetaForce™ introduces you to the terminology related to music production – both ‘cultural’ and technical. We include here our own bias and spin on some terms, but we represent all technical terms faithfully.

Please scroll down or click on the terms below for more information.

Psystomp
“Psystomp” is full-power psychedelic party music, whether morning or night sounds. 6362MetaForce™ coined the term “Psystomp” in Fall/Winter 2006 to encompass subgenres known as “darkpsy,” “twisted psy,” “night music” and other names. Unlike other types of commercial “trance” or even what is now referred to as “psytrance” music, psystomp tracks include loops only underneath the main “action” of the track. That “action” is the journey that is created using multiple electronic layers of sound above the kick and bass. Loops provide the “trance-dance” element that rocks us into a state of meditation; but the psychedelic journey lies in the rest of the track – where the heart of psystomp can be found. Night psystomp includes deep heavy sound intended to help us confront our fears and the darkness of our own minds during the nighttime hours, either through deep atmospheric grooves or pounding dance floor monsters. Morning psystomp is filled with brighter landscapes and lighter aural colors, but never tilts too far toward melodies or repetitive loops. Psystomp is constantly evolving music, and the term “psystomp” refers to the action on the dance floor that a banging psystomp track should create.

Examples of psystomp artists:
**Night psystomp: Kiriyama, Derango**
**Morning psystomp: Lab, Darkshire, Terminator**

Psychill
Also known as chill-out and ambient music, psychill is a subgenre of electronica that 6362MetaForce™ uses to include any gentle electronic music that is based upon deep aural soundscapes and atmospheres. Slow-tempo and often bass-heavy, psychill integrates organic elements with electronic production in varying levels to create relaxing panoramas for the mind to explore. Unlike electro or downtempo music, a psychedelic element travels throughout psychill tracks that does not depend upon funky kicks or regular beats to maintain the sweetness and comfort of the chill-out journey.

Examples of psychill artists:
**Zoe Weeling’z, Sattyananda, Carbon Based Lifeforms**

WAV
Acronym for “Waveform Audio Format,” WAV is the main storage format for audio files on Windows systems and is compatible with both PC and Mac. WAV files hold uncompressed audio data and offer the best quality storage system for complex electronic music because of the WAV format’s ability to store the vast spectrum of frequencies used in electronic music. These frequencies can be lost when WAV audio files are compressed into smaller MP3 files. The only downside to WAV is its size; WAV files are massive and do require significant space on hard drives and servers. 6362MetaForce™ offers WAV files – not MP3s – on our website’s downloadable music section, using FLAC compression technology to make the files easier to store and download. See FLAC.

FLAC
Acronym for “Free Lossless Audio Codec,” FLAC allows the lossless compression, storage and transfer of large WAV audio files. That is, when music is compressed using FLAC technology from a WAV file, there is no loss of sound or frequencies - making FLAC an ideal compression format for complex electronic music. FLAC compresses WAV files by up to 30%, and allows decoding and encoding back and forth into WAV format. Think of FLAC as you would a Zip file: when you “unzip” the FLAC, you will have the perfect WAV file waiting for you inside. 6362MetaForce™ uses FLAC to compress original WAV audio files to provide you with the highest quality music experience. See WAV.

MP3
Acronym for “MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3,” MP3 is a “lossy compression algorithm that is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners.” (From Wikipedia) 6362MetaForce™ does not sell MP3 files and discourages their use by our DJ’s due to the format’s inability to reproduce the entire spectrum of frequencies present in complex electronic music. See WAV.

CD Replication vs. Duplication
Replicating a CD reproduces the exact quality of the mastered audio files by creating a physical glass master of the audio CD. Using injection molding processes, the replication machine creates stamps of the audio files and transfers them onto the glass master. This process is conducted in a sterile environment and is completely automated. By contrast, duplicating a CD is a faster, cheaper, and simpler technique that uses laser beams/technology to transfer data directly from the master CD onto CD/Rs without creating a glass master. Duplication often reduces the quality of originally mastered files, whereas replication ensures that exact audio files are produced on the CDs, true to the original masters. In addition, every replicated CD undergoes strict quality control, unlike duplication. 6362MetaForce™ provides replication services to our clients; we do not support duplication nor do we provide that option in the manufacturing of CDs for labels and artists. Psystomp and psychill are complex electronic music genres that requires faithful replication processes in order to ensure the reproduction of clear and well-mastered sound.

Kick
Percussion line in any trance track. Bass and kick are the most important structural elements in any electronic music track, including all forms of trance. Quality psystomp producers usually create their own signature kick to accompany their tracks, but generic kicks can also be added to tracks using trance production packages like Logic and Cubase.

Bass
Bass and kick are the most important structural elements in any electronic music track, including all forms of trance. However, unlike in other forms of music, the bassline in a psystomp track provides a bed upon which increasingly psychedelic and complex layers of sound are added. Psystomp is not the “boom-boom-boom” dance genre that Club Trance or Hard House is known to be, which is often a source of confusion among people new to psystomp. In most psystomp production, the music and story lies above the bed of bass and kick. Bass never overwhelms the rest of the lines.

Live Set
In psystomp, “Live” means that the producer creates music in front of the audience, in the same way that a rock band might play a song for a crowd. For a live set, a producer will pre-program the kick, bass and several other lines of each track (depending on his or her production style) into his or her equipment, and then create the additional lines of the track from scratch in front of the crowd. A great live set usually involves a producer who is confident in reproducing his music in front of the crowd with improvisation. He or she may use software, CDJs, and MIDI controller as needed, and can still interact with the crowd over the decks. A “live appearance” by a producer who plays a DJ set of his own music is not considered a “live set” or a “live” in psystomp. 6362MetaForce™ does not consider a “live appearance” by a producer who plays a DJ set of his own music to be a “live set” or a “Live.”

DJ Set
In DJ sets, producers or DJs play and mix pre-recorded tracks on CDs for the crowd. Good DJs are those who construct complete “stories,” leading the crowd along journeys of sound. Track selection is of primal importance, but in addition, technically good DJs are those who are able to “beat-match,” i.e., mix one track into another seamlessly, melding and matching the tracks’ BPM (beats per minute) so that the tracks play simultaneously and in perfect sequence with each other. Other techniques that DJs use include looping and use of effects such as pitch, reverb, and flanger. Some DJs play MP3 or WAV files from their computers using technology such as Traktor or other packages, but 6362MetaForce™ does not support this type of performance. We consider DJ’ing an art, involving a musical ear, a fine-tuned sense of rhythm, and masterful use of mixing equipment.