Skol303

October's challenge is on. Get to it!

October's challenge is on... Here's the image for inspiration, chosen by last month's winner the indefatigable Dad3353: Usual rules apply. You know the drill: ✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and written/recorded this month. ❌ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on ❌ Bagpipes. Never. Also on thin ice with panpipes, to be perfectly honest. ❌ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you. Deadline for entries is midnight on Saturday 24th October.

Voting thread is now up!

It's time to vote in this month's Composition Challenge Pick your top three favourites from the delectable bunch below... Stub Mandrel Dad3353 xgsjx Nicko NickD Leonard Smalls lurksalot upside downer skankdelvar Voting ends at midnight on Monday 31st August.

Haha! That photo sounds messy 😁

Well done @bobbass4k! May’s challenge is go...

May’s challenge is on! Here's the image for your inspiration, chosen by last month’s winner bobbass4K... Usual rules apply: ✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and written/recorded this month. ❌ No illegal samples or other funny business. ❌ No bagpipes. Ever. Deadline for entries is Sunday 24th May.

Voting thread is up! Sorry again for the delay... technical issues now resolved: Really good crop of entries this months guy. Well done 👏 I had started one myself (Yeah I know! Been ages...), but then work got in the way and I didn't finish it. Damn my optimism... might finish it anyway and bung in the Share Your Music forum. Hope you're all well and stay safe.

It's time to vote on this month's Composition Challenge entries! Choose your top three favourites from those below... Dad3353 upside downer Leonard Smalls fingers211 lurksalot NickD adamg67 MoonBassAlpha bobbass4k Voting ends at midnight on Friday 1st May.

You're very welcome chap. I think I have it sorted now... 🤞

Sorry for the delay guys, SoundCloud appear to have changed something with their 'embedding widget' and I'm struggling to get hold of the links to your tracks for setting up the voting thread. Working on it now... hopefully won't be long. EDIT: seems to be a problem just with Dad3353's track. You'll notice it doesn't have a 'Share' option in the top-right hand corner of the SoundCloud player, so I can't copy the link to embed it in the voting thread. Clicking on the track titles also no longer links to people's individual SoundCloud pages. It's all a bit FUBAR. Douglas: PM incoming... I'll have to revisit this tomorrow and get it sorted then. I'll add extra days on to the voting. Thanks for your patience all!

April's challenge is now on...

Thanks to lockdown, I might even get something written myself this month! Imagine that. It's been too long.

April's challenge is on! Here's the image for your inspiration, chosen by last month’s winner fingers211... Usual rules apply: ✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and written/recorded this month. ❌ No illegal samples or other funny business. ❌ No... you know what. None of that. Deadline for entries is Thursday 23rd April.

Sorry, only just spotted the PM about this! (operating a reduced service under lockdown 😉). Have added your track to the voting thread.

Nice! It's a cool album and really growing on me... I'm a sucker for modern pop songs with proper basslines.

I run a small consultancy in the UK doing environmental and tourism work; and another split between Estonia and Netherlands working on science/tech projects across EU and further afield (commencing Latin America later this year). Genuinely enjoy my work, despite it eating up a large portion my life - always balancing with family, etc. Lucky to have a really great team - all of them close friends - and a good amount of respect in our field, having been at it for 18 years now. We’re fortunate in being able to work from home during the lockdown, so for me it’s pretty much business as usual. Only I have to make my own coffee ☕ Have also had lots of other varied jobs in the past… farm and building site labourer; factory worker; fruit picker; waiter; call centre operator; private security; martial arts instructor; aid worker; once looked after Robert Plant's pigs at his smallholding in Hereford (true dat); and some I can’t mention without having to kill you all 😋 It’s good to keep busy, I always say.

Well done lads! Voting thread is up: Stay healthy 😷

Voting has now started on March's Composition Challenge. Just one vote this month (yeah, we're rationing - it's very topical). So make it count... Dad3353 Leonard Smalls lurksalot SH73 upside downer fingers211 And a very last minute addition from MoonBassAlpha: Voting ends at midnight on Tuesday 31st March.

Well done lads 👏 March’s challenge is now on in the Rec’ forum...

March’s Challenge is upon us! Here's the image for your inspiration, chosen by last month’s winner SH73... Usual rules apply: ✔️Entries must be < 5 minutes and written/recorded this month. ❌No illegal samples or other funny business. ❌No vigorously annoying pipe instruments Deadline for entries is Tuesday 24th March.

Well done lads. Good turn out 👏 Voting thread is up!

Voting has now started on February's Composition Challenge. Please vote for your top THREE favourites: Dad3353 xgsjx Leonard Smalls lurksalot upside downer fingers211 SH73 Voting ends at midnight on Saturday 29th February.

Very good advice already above 👍 My own tips would be: Use reference material when mixing. I often forget to do this myself… it takes dedication to keep referencing your own work against professional mixes, especially when you’re ‘in the zone’ and don’t feel like pausing. But it’s always useful. Controversial perhaps, but analog gear can make a difference to the finished sound. Especially a good quality mix bus compressor and/or program EQ. I've switched from using literally hundreds of plug-ins to using about a dozen pieces of analogue kit. The absence of choice (which for me leads to 'option paralysis') has helped me to focus much more on the basics of mixing, rather than trying to always solve problems by adding plug-ins. If your set up can't easily accommodate analog, then simply try to reduce the number of plug-ins you're using - choose those that you find most useful and get to know them really well. I've found this 'reductionist' approach to be very refreshing and inspiring (chimes with the comments about some great music being made with minimal kit). Don’t keep using the same preset patches on your plug-ins. Experiment. Try dialing in your own settings. And it doesn’t always have to be subtle. Some of those ‘big studio’ sounds are the results of quite generous knob-twisting! 😮 Also, I reckon most people think their own music is lacking. I know I do. Don’t sweat it, because to other people’s ears it always tends to sound better (especially if you get them drunk first and play it really loud). *This all reminds me that I need to get sharing some music on here again; it’s been way too long!*

Well done Doug 👏 February’s challenge is now go...