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July Composition Challenge - GET WRITING


Skol303
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[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1469360353' post='3097646']...
Good stuff, Dad.
[/quote]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:167485]

One of the penalties incurred when recording/mixing when deaf; sorry. I can hardly hear it at all, even when 'soloed'..! :blush: I've taken it (a 'rainmaker', actually...) down 6db; any better..?

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I didn't think I'd make it this month. A few things happening that were somewhat more important but I managed to get this one down this afternoon. I've not been able to listen to it with fresh ears yet so I'm not expecting the mix to be spot on.

https://soundcloud.com/mornats/urubamba

A normal amount of instruments and effects this time:

Instruments:
NI Battery
Shortnoise 2
Sound Dust Plastic Ghost Piano
Sampletekk Rain Piano MkII
NI Razor
NI Rise and Hit
Evolve Mutations

Effects:
ReaEQ
NI Passive EQ
NI Supercharger GT
NI Replika
TAL Reverb II
NI Transient Master
T-racks

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1469382973' post='3097875']I didn't think I'd make it this month... but I managed to get this one down this afternoon[/quote]

Ditto!

In by the skin of my teeth this month. Managed to get something recorded late this afternoon/evening. It's a sort of 'lazy interlude', featuring yours truly on acoustic fretless.

http://soundcloud.com/skollob/machu-picchu-interlude

I'll post up the voting something tomorrow morning.

Cheers all :drinks:

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Ahh, nothing quite like getting something done with plenty of time to spare and really taking your time to get it right -

[url="https://soundcloud.com/bobbass4k/of-azure-skies-and-hazy-eyes"]https://soundcloud.c...s-and-hazy-eyes[/url]

As the notes say, recorded in an afternoon, mostly live, so presented very much "as is".

Edited by bobbass4k
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[color=#800000][b]VOTING HAS STARTED[/b][/color]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/288906-july-composition-challenge-voting/"][b][size=6]Pokemon GO![/size][/b][/url]

[i](Machu Pikachu)[/i]

[i][/i]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1469432493' post='3098123']
@Skol303 Like that - thought it was going to be the theme from Bergerac at the start. Really nice fretless tone there.
[/quote]

Cheers! I totally get the Bergerac reference.... not intentional, but now you mention it I can definitely hear it :D

And welcome aboard! You are now in the legendary [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/228445-basschat-composition-challenge-the-archive/"]hall of fame[/url].

Edited by Skol303
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[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1469436022' post='3098176']
i've finally got my studio rig up and running since the move, going to get my guitars etc from their current home and move them back to my house tonight, going to have a good crack at august to try and test my room out
[/quote]

Excellent! That’s good to hear Rob :)

[b]PS: if anyone can be arsed…[/b] I’d be keen to hear any brief feedback on [url="https://soundcloud.com/skollob/machu-picchu-interlude"]my challenge track this month[/url] - specifically the mix itself.

Why? Because it was produced using a Digital Correction Plugin: a piece of software that sits on the master bus and ‘magically’ EQs the signal to help compensate for irregularities in the acoustics of the room you’re mixing in (using a bunch of measurements taken with a microphone). The idea being that it helps mixes translate from one playback system to another.

I have it on a trial period and am wondering whether it’s worth a future investment. So any feedback on the mix itself would be hugely appreciated!

[i](NB: the mix was hastily produced... so if it does sound ok then that's a promising sign that the plugin is doing its job).[/i]

Edited by Skol303
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Thanks for the enrolment in the Hall of Fame. It's a good job it isn't only for people who actually polled any votes!
I hadn't realised this thing had been going on since 2012 - I'd always intended to have a try at it. It just goes to demonstrate my ninja procrastination skyllz!

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Re the digital correction plugin, I listened on phones last night, sounded good. On my tiny desktop speakers here at work - still sounds really good. They have hardly any low end, but everything is still there, inasmuch as it is on any recording through these. Might just be the great mixing though, not just the plugin :)

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[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1469446629' post='3098301']
Re the digital correction plugin, I listened on phones last night, sounded good. On my tiny desktop speakers here at work - still sounds really good. They have hardly any low end, but everything is still there, inasmuch as it is on any recording through these. Might just be the great mixing though, not just the plugin :)
[/quote]

Thanks for the feedback, very kind! It could also be that I just got lucky... :D

I normally mix using speakers and then test how the finished track sounds on earphones, earbuds, laptop, mobile phone, car, etc [i](if I have the time) - [/i]making further adjustments as necessary.

I've always found this to be quite laborious... The plugin is meant to avoid such faffing around with different systems and help to ensure the mix is right from the get-go.

For anyone interested it's called [url="http://sonarworks.com"]Sonarworks[/url]. Gets exceedingly good reviews everywhere I've looked and is highly recommended for small home studios (like all of us here!). It's not cheap - just over £200 for the measurement mic and software - so it's not something I'm going to delve into straight away. I've bought the trial kit which includes the mic for around £45. The mic can be used for general recording and room referencing purposes, so I'll be quite happy even if I decide not to go the whole hog.

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Sounds pretty spot-on to me when listening on my Tannoy E11s. The room sound is perfect in my opinion. I downloaded a trial of Sonarworks for my headphones and it sounded pretty good. It pretty much removes the sound signature of what you're listening on and gives you a flat response back (not a perfect flat response but I gather that's pretty impossible to get).

I'm quite tempted by it to be honest. One problem I have all of the time with my mixes is the room sound. Mostly because I mix primarily using headphones then only move to speakers to check how bad I got the room sounding :) A lot of the time everything sounds like it's sat back behind the speakers so I need to try and work out what's going on there and fix it.

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1469465903' post='3098547']Sounds pretty spot-on to me when listening on my Tannoy E11s. The room sound is perfect in my opinion. I downloaded a trial of Sonarworks for my headphones and it sounded pretty good… I’m quite tempted by it to be honest.[/quote]

Cheers Paul, that’s good to know.

Yeah, I’m leaning towards Sonarworks. The room I work in is treated as far as possible (for a family space). The only way it could be improved is by installing an impractical amount of bass trapping or somehow magically making the room larger - a feat that would involve mastery of quantum physics. So I think Sonarworks could be a good way of getting the most of out what’s available to me.

It does sound alarmingly ‘stark’ when I switch on the plugin - the flat response is going to take some getting used to, as I’m accustomed to hearing a lot more bass/warmth a touch less high end (both consequences of my room dimensions). I’ve also noticed that it does nothing to tame speaker boundary interference response (SBIR) and other reflection issues that I’ve noticed in my room. So it’s not a silver bullet, but I think it is an improvement.

Hmmm. I have some time left on the demo to consider whether it’s worth the investment, so I have further testing to do! ;) But so far I’m quite impressed with it.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1469474707' post='3098641']
I've fixed the mix, or at least made it better. Typical that I do this after the deadline bah!
[/quote]

I can update the link in the voting thread to your new mix if you like? Just post the link here.

There is a slight risk that this will delete the poll and all of the votes so far - that does happen sometimes, but usually only when I mess with it using my mobile. I’ll take the blame if that happens, so just post the link if you want it updated :D

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1469478639' post='3098708']
Ah sweet, I can actually overwrite the version that's on Soundcloud. I just wanted to make sure it was ok to do so after the deadline :)
[/quote]

Yep, perfectly fine!

...but if you sneak in some of those virtual bagpipes, you'll be barred. Just so we're clear ;)

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Gah, I listened back to mine last night and I didn't realize that key change between the first and second parts was so painful, I don't know what I was thinking there, would fixing that be kosher, as it may require some minor compositional adjustments?

..and i I might also address the terrible lack of bagpipes while I'm at it.

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[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1469524141' post='3098932']
Gah, I listened back to mine last night and I didn't realize that key change between the first and second parts was so painful, I don't know what I was thinking there, would fixing that be kosher, as it may require some minor compositional adjustments?

..and i I might also address the terrible lack of bagpipes while I'm at it.
[/quote]

Yeah go for it if you want to.

I don't want us to get into the habit of meddling with our mixes once the voting has started as a matter of course... but if something is really bugging you then it's fine to fix it. I don't think it'll have any impact on the voting - not that it matters - so do whatever you need to sleep easy at night :)

Apart from bagpipes. That sort of abuse just won't be tolerated.

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