Phase Tricks and Vintage Noise: A Tomita Experiment

[Felsenstein]

If you don’t know Isao Tomita or don’t like his music, feel free to scroll on—this post is only about that topic, and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

It's all about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtdQFUbWyk

I have a request (or question) for the folks here with big, high-quality systems who can crank it up a bit without the neighbor immediately banging on the drywall.

I’m currently working on a classical adaptation in the style of Tomita, and I’d really like to know if the stereo effects I’ve built in are coming through on your end the way they’re supposed to. Specifically those classic phase tricks the man used so deliberately to push certain signals partly outside the stereo field—something that can create a pretty hard-to-describe feeling of “pressure” depending on frequency range and level.

I also tried to give the recording a subtle vintage touch that feels true to the 1970s. So no super-compressed modern bass here—but I hope there’s still enough “body.” Same with the top end: I want it transparent, but not crystal clear like today’s mainstream digital studio output—which admittedly is tough for me during mixing, given that I’m old enough to be tempted to keep turning up the treble EQ now and then. As a final touch, there’s a bit of vinyl surface noise running quietly in the background to avoid dead silences. Does that work for you in terms of the vintage vibe, or does it still come off too “modern” despite that?

In short, does it sound clean, punchy, yet a bit vintage to you? I know taste in sound and genre is always super subjective, but I’d really love your feedback. Feel free to go into detail and get as technical as you like—thanks in advance!

WAV file for download (other formats on request):
https://workupload.com/file/B3Wjr9MdxN8

A few nerdy details for anyone curious:
The piece above is called Vyšehrad (“The Castle of Vyšehrad”), which is the first movement of the symphonic poem cycle Má Vlast (“My Fatherland”) by Bedřich Smetana. It’s about 16'45" long. The entire symphony has six movements with a total duration of roughly 77 minutes. It might sound pretty obscure at first, but I bet almost everyone knows the second movement—The Moldau.

Those spoken words right at the beginning before the first movement starts? Yep, that’s Tomita himself.

For the sound design, I’m using virtual versions of some of the instruments and gear Tomita used back in the day: Moog Modular, Mellotron, Eventide Phaser & Flanger, plus various other FX plugins with vintage characteristics like spring reverb, tape delay, tube distortion, etc. My DAW is REAPER.

It took me about three months just to finish the first movement, and for the full cycle I’m aiming to be done around spring/early summer 2027. Even though I have the advantage of more advanced technology than they did in the ’70s, that actually comes with plenty of downsides for the creative part. To stay “authentic,” I try to do a lot of things the way Tomita had to with analog tape: tons of individual recordings, overdubs, layers, experiments—many of which completely flop. That eats a ton of time. And nerves...

Finally: there was only ONE Tomita. His style was unique, shaped by the technology of his time and the way he invented, conceived, programmed, filtered, and mixed things. It’s impossible to replicate 1:1. But I still want to capture a bit of the magic Tomita gave me musically when I was younger. I don’t want that kind of music to be forgotten along with its brilliant creator. I hope there will always be a few weird nerds like me keeping yesterday’s ideas alive, no matter what’s trendy right now. As best as we can.