Skol303

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1363275907' post='2010890']I clearly have no friends AND no gigs.[/quote] Me neither mate. We should form a band: [i]'The Bilbo & Skol Jazz-Dubstep Duo'[/i] ... they'll be flocking in droves; flocking I tell ye!

Sounds like we're all having a busy time this month! "As mad as March hares", etc. Still, there's time yet to rustle something up

How's everyone getting on with this month's compositions? Bilbo obviously got his finished early! I'm about mid-way through mine and trying to find time to work on it around my day job... which is currently also my night job as we're crazily busy at work (end of financial year bottleneck). Anyway, I'll have something done in due course. Been messing around creating lots of 8 and 16-bit noises using an analogue-type virtual synth. All very retro. And surprisingly fun

Well done Rick! So this must've been the band you were auditioning for? I had a quick search on Google and they look like an interesting outfit. Nice change of pace/genre for you as well mate! All good by the sound of it Cambridge is unfortunately too far for me to make a round trip of an evening, but let us know how the gig goes.

That's a nice number of plays! SoundCloud is a great platform for sharing music - and it's very popular among both artists and listeners (rather than just artists). The BC SoundCloud group has around 130 members and they/we're generally a fairly attentive bunch... but that doesn't account for 650 plays in 60 countries! I've had a quick look at your SoundCloud and the track in question (Hideaway) does stick out from the rest in terms of the number of plays. I honestly have no idea why this might be. It's either 1) a crackingly good track; 2) it's been plugged by someone who has a very active social media profile; or 3) shares the same name as another track that's very popular (and people are searching for on SoundCloud). But whatever. Bask in the glory!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sdXJiKsQrI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMO5Ko_77Hk

Well firstly congratulations mate! Mrs Skol and I have been living in a two bed flat since we married a couple of years ago, so I'm familiar with this set up! Can't offer much useful advice - our approach has been to keep the flat tidy apart from the spare bedroom, which is where we keep the 'clutter' (a broad term that also includes my music gear, apparently ). Worked for us but meant re-arranging and re-packing stuff, like a giant game of Tetris, whenever we had people staying over. We're selling up and moving out soon (no room left with Skol jnr now onboard!) but my next step would otherwise have been to fit wall-mounted guitar hooks - mainly to save space but also to keep my basses out of reach from sticky little fingers... Anyway, all the best for the big day!

Looking forward to listening through all of these later on! My suggestion would be pretty much anything from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (I think that's cropped up already). Not riff-based, but I once blew up a pair of speakers playing [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmYUlr599-I"]'LFO' by LFO[/url] at loud volume. That was certainly a heavy moment - be careful if you choose to give it a listen, the bass on it is beastly.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1362742386' post='2004050']... and you've doomed him to be a guitarist too [/quote] He did once manage to get some poop on one of my basses (sorry if that's spoiled anybody's lunch!)... so I think you might be right! Advice for sbrag: keep the baby change area well away from your bass storage area! [quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1362742640' post='2004057'] ........ and the amp should have plenty of "Headroom" too? Before your time? [/quote] ^ Nope, definitely within my time

Hehe, I like your thinking! Tobias is a cool name too. Skol Jnr is called Max... so that's his volume setting sorted out already Wishing you all the best with the new arrival.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1362741105' post='2004018']When I get a chance (over the weekend) I will set up the official March thread... [/quote] Nice one Si. Please include a link to the stems as my dumb ass doesn't seem to be able to find it. PS: can I suggest that we set the deadline for the first week in April - say, Friday 5th? - given the late start this month (and because I'm angling for extra time!! ).

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1362694929' post='2003641']Nice :-D Did you mean 18mm string spacing at the bridge?[/quote] Yeah, that's the one! Millimeters, centimeters...same difference, right? You'd never guess that precision measurements are a key part of my day job

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1362519469' post='2000816']Fixed. ;-)[/quote] That's not an 18cm wide fretboard you understand... although there is some truth to the octopus thing:

Decal or no decal? [i]Yeah, I'll get me coat...[/i]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1362670087' post='2003119']Cant wait for the country [b]and [/b]western month [/quote] Yeee-hawww, pardner! Actually we shouldn't joke... it'll probably happen PS: if we ever want to mess with some electronica, I can probably lay hands on stems from some published artists that'd be happy to have their stuff mixed by us folk. I also have a mate who plays for a brass band in North Wales (who have recorded stuff in the past), which might make for an interesting challenge one month!

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1362665537' post='2003006']But what we must remember is that in the 'good old days' of 'real' music most of those popular bands we herald as paragons of musical 'quality' and 'honesty' were given loads of pressure to make commercial music and have an album contain at least one song with the potential to be a pop chart hit.[/quote] ...we also have to remember that we view pop music through the tinted lenses of the generation we belong to. We love the music of our youth for its nostalgic value, whereas we tend to dislike the music that young people listen to today because it often challenges our own tastes and reminds us that "the times they are a changing" PS: not sure if this means anything but thought I'd share it... according to Wikipedia, the artists who have released the [u]most[/u] singles that appear on the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles"]best-selling singles list[/url] are Elvis Presley and Katy Perry with six entries each, and Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Britney Spears, with five each. The cumulative sales for each are 53 million, ~40 million, ~47 million, ~35 million and 33 million, respectively. I guess that just goes to show that single sales haven't been dented too much by the digital age. Maybe.

...and here's a photo showing it from the opposite angle: "I think that hi hat needs a little cut around 12K" "Raaawwwwrrrrrrrrrrr!" "That's no moon, it's a sub-woofer..." Etc

I really like this track! Sounds like a lot of fun to work with - and great that we seem to be exploring different genres each month. I'm still insanely busy at work (will be until end of financial year - i.e. April) and likely to struggle with the mix challenge as well as the composition comp - and I have to admit that composition is my first love. But... I'll do my damndest to have a crack at this, even if it is a rush job like last month PS: a single zip download is my prefenece (more convenient than downloading individual stems one at a time). Happy with 16 or 24-bit... it's a level playing field either way.

I'm struggling to think of a 'worst thing' about music... it's like trying to find the worst thing about custard (answer = it doesn't come out of the tap in my kitchen on demand). I suppose for me it [i]might[/i] be something like its addictive, time-consuming, GAS-inducing qualities. And maybe in my youth some of the tribalism it was responsible for.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1362649143' post='2002578']I started playing my bass this morning before work and actually found myself with quite a depressing tune for this about ending a war [/quote] I'm imagining a melodic death metal cover of this... played in drop Cm tuning, or something http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01-2pNCZiNk

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1362635848' post='2002432']I considered going "video gamey" for this one, but after an hour in Reaper with an 8-bit synth VST it just felt forced, video game music to me has always been more than 8-bit synths, most of my favourite games have brilliant orchestral scores or a really atmospheric score.[/quote] Absolutely! I don't play many games these days (I had to choose between games and music when I became a father - no time for both - and I choose music ). But I used to play plenty. Some of the scores written for modern games are superb... the Hitman series, Halo, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, etc. It's one of the few places where contemporary classical music is actually being digested by young folk. Well, that and cinema. But you're absolutely right, it's anything but bleeps and blips these days. However, I think there is a certain charm to old 8 and 16-bit computer music, particularly for people like me who grew up with it. The [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptune"]chiptune[/url] scene is still alive and well, and a lot of these 8-bit sounds still find their way into modern dance music (esp. genres like grime and dubstep). This was always one of my favourites "back in the day". Ocean software used this track on a whole bunch of games as I remember. It sounds very dated now, but at the time it really wowed me and no doubt contributed to me venturing into electronica... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNxV87bKgM [i](You might want to to skip forwards on the video a little. The experience is very, erm, 'authentic').[/i]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1362602877' post='2002092']See maybe we are talking about different styles cos I really like that and wouldn't class it as pop, at least not in the same sentence as one direction or olly murs[/quote] Good point and me neither! I suppose 'pop' is a very broad genre of music - perhaps the broadest of all. And not all pop is equal

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1362593732' post='2001897']...I was thinking of the original Super Mario Brothers era games (the last one I played) which were really low-tech.[/quote] Yep, that's the same era of games I'm going to be taking inspiration from. 8 and 16-bit stuff. I've only just started sketching something out, and so far the tricky point has been creating sounds that are convincingly crappy! Still, it's proving to be fun I used to make computer game music as a young teenager using old tracker software, so this month is a blast of nostalgia for me. PS: forgot to mention that I liked what you'd put together for last month. Shame it was a late entry! I thought the choir parts could've been louder, but that's a minor grumble. It sounded great and matched the photo well. Nice change at the end with the staccato strings and snare drum. Reminded me a bit of Holst's Mars.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1362590807' post='2001826']...you don't often hear celeste on pop tracks, do you? Or any other track, come to that.[/quote] You've got good ears I hadn't noticed it was a celeste/celesta (whichever) until you mentioned it.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1362563232' post='2001241']PS don't sing it all day. It will drive you mental.[/quote] That's not a million miles away from the actual Angry Birds theme! It definitely has 'ear worm' qualities Are the tuba and xylophone from Miroslav? I actually like the sound of them.