Skol303

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1332333785' post='1586736'] So being from the north I have a bass guitar, pronounced like "crass" guitar but I'm finding that others down here in the south have bass guitars they call base guitars. [/quote] ^ You're winding us up, right?? Bass as in ace... unless it's the Bass Brewery, in which case it's pronounced like crass. PS: this thread made me think of this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iG11s-dok

Never used Pro Tools but I've heard plenty of good things about it. Personally, I'm an 'atheist' producer... I use Reason and Logic!

Audacity is great, but I recommend downloading a copy of Reaper: http://www.reaper.fm/ Great piece of software and the trial period is unlimited with no limitations either – i.e. you get the complete package, free to try for as long as you like. The commercial license is also very cheap and good value for money, should you decide to support the developer and buy a copy. Add to this any number of free VST plug-ins that are available, and you’ll be well on your way! PS: you might like to join the Basschat SoundCloud group and share your music there too... it's a nice community and a good place to get feedback: http://soundcloud.com/groups/basschat

Personally, I'd ask a member of the immediate family to introduce your band and explain why you're playing a rock set before you get started with it - i.e. set the scene and avoid people getting the wrong end of the proverbial stick. I organised a similar thing myself for an old colleague years ago and picking the music was a tricky issue. Bizzarely, we got treated to a live set by Badly Drawn Boy (long story) which was a nice surprise, if that can be said of a wake. Anyway, I'm sure that if people are given an explanation beforehand, they'll appreciate why it's a celebration of someone's life rather than anything inappropriate. Hope that helps and good luck with it.

Good question! But I don't think there's a 'correct' answer to it. To some people, authentic music is that played by musicians using instruments, not electronic sounds made my computers. JLS are an authentic pop band to a 14-year old schoolgirl, but not to a middle-aged Zeppelin fan. And vice-versa. In short: I’d argue that the authenticity of music is in the ear of the listener – it’s purely subjective, rather than objective.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1331556124' post='1574615'] The Mingus reference is probably a red herring in terms of the sound I was going for. It was Skol's remix of Haitian Fight Song (http://soundcloud.com/skollob/haitian-fight-song-youtube) that was going around my head as I did this one. [/quote] Ha ha, good to hear that particular Mingus classic got stuck in somebody else's head as well as mine! I can 't say I did it justice but I tried. For this track I used a cheap 'home made' fretless (a converted Hohner Rockwood) strung with flatwounds and recorded using an iPhone app... so if that's a tone you're wanting then the 'secret' is to use as cheap and shoddy equipment as you can lay hands on. And play as badly as I do ;-) I love the sound of an upright bass myself so keen to follow any tips on emulating this that people can offer. I'm planning on buying one someday, just as soon as I have a little more time, money, space and no 9-month olds crawling around place...

Love it! Nice work Have left a comment on SoundCloud.

Didn't spot this thread until now; useful stuff. Good timing though, as I'm about halfway through reading Mike Senior's book (which I highly recommend) Cheer 51m0n!

^ Cheers guys, I really appreciated the positive feedback! Of all the forums I use for sharing music, it always means the most to hear a good word from the folks here... It's not a very complex track all told, but it was quite a pain to mix and includes many layers of processing, automation, etc. I'm glad it sounds ok to you both - oddly enough I use AKG 'phones too and find them pretty decent for mixing purposes (especially when that's my only option!). Anyway, I don't imagine I'll be anywhere near the winning entry but it was fun working on it. I'm a big fan of Lamb too, so it felt like quite an honour having opportunity to mess with Lou's vocals. Cheers again fellas.

Another half-baked remix competition entry from yours truly. This time it's a rehash of 'Butterfly Effect' by Lamb. I doubt that it'll be everyone's (or indeed anyone's?!) cup of tea, but some of you old skool ravers might like it... http://soundcloud.com/skollob/butterfly-effect-jumblist ... to everyone else, it'll sound like the reason why earplugs were invented [b]>>> CAUTION <<<[/b] It's been mixed on headphones as my monitors are kaput, so the low end may well be an unrelenting, cone-ripping monster. Or not. I have no real way of telling… so in the immortal words of Chris Duckenfield: "watch your bass bins, I'm telling ya!"

Nice track Mike, I really like it! It has a slightly different vibe to your other music that I'm aware of too (I don't mean that in better/worse context, just different). Not sure if that's a by-product of working with Ableton?? I've long been tempted to buy a copy myself - I'm constantly hearing great things about it - but I can't quite justify the time needed to learn the workings of a new DAW at the moment. Anyway, keep us posted on how you get on with using the software. By the sound of things it's a good product! Paul

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1328125728' post='1522329'] ...I can't help feeling that our increasing acceptance to settle on mediocrity is partially fueling its unstoppable rise to the forefront of popular music. The UK music industry as it stands today is in a diabolical state. [/quote] ^ Very true. But then the pop chart has always been in a fairly diabolical state; and the best music always tends to lie just beneath the surface of things, outside of the mainstream. There are plenty of superb 'underground' acts in the UK, and nearly all of them would need to compromise on their originality if they wanted to sell large volumes of music to a mass audience. I guess the role of pop music is to provide something for the underground to rile against! But anyway, I'm rambling...

Great song, Wooks! Catchy and well produced. Love the video too. If you can produce one of these a month, then you're on to something! (or on something?!). Nice work

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1328024837' post='1520469'] Wanted to say that i tried to upload a track to Soundcloud. It was an .mp3 that i had ripped from YouTube - so not great quality.... The upload completed and then there was a scary message, something like, "Soundcloud has detected that this track has copyright" - etc the upshot being that i couldn't upload it.... Is this something new? [/quote] ^ Not sure to be honest. I've never tried uploading anything but my own stuff to Soundcloud, so I haven't encountered this warning myself. I guess it must use some kind of recognition software (akin to SoundHound and others), or maybe the ripped mp3 had some sort of identifier encoded in it. There's probably some nefarious way around uploading copyrighted tracks, but a man of my standing certainly wouldn't want to recommend any such behaviour... PS: there's a constant stream of great music in this thread; keep 'em coming folks!

I honestly liked Video Games the first time I heard it; still do. I was slightly disappointed to hear about her 'discovery' being funded and orchestrated by daddy's marketing department... but heh, you'd have to pretty naive to believe that the music industry is really about guys in garage bands getting lucky breaks on the back of blood, sweat and tears Good luck to her I say. She's more interesting that the vast swathes of dross that normally fills the charts.

I once DJ'd to a crowd that included Mark E. Smith from The Fall - if that counts? Met him on a plane a few days later too, which was an odd coincidence. Although I haven't seen much of him since he took out the restraining order...

I don't really 'play' anything as such (in terms of gigs), but I produce mainly electronic music: electro, pop, drum 'n' bass, dubstep, hip hop, ambient, etc. If I'm noodling on the bass at home, it's anything from classical to heavy metal and (increasingly) jazz. So fairly eclectic I suppose!

Love it! Sounds very fresh and original - kinda like 'The Streets vs. Roni Size', or something. Nice mix too.

^ Cheers for the feedback guys, much appreciated I think the total number of competition entries have now just topped 430 (!), so I don't fancy my chances... nor would I relish have to wade through that lot and pick a winner!! Nice track btw, Jake. Sounds great on my laptop speakers so the mix must be a good 'un. I'll have to crank it up on my soundsystem at a less antisocial hour to check it out properly...

Hi folks, I've just finished working on a remix of a track called "Say" by Olivia Broadfield (a little known British artist who's had a lot of success writing music for TV and film). It's an entry into a remix competition, although I honestly have no expectations of winning anything - I just like these competitions as they give me something to focus on and force me to think outside of the proverbial box! There's very little bass of the stringed variety involved - although I did record a few harmonic notes that play during the intro and other sections of the track (yeah, Jaco eat your heart out). Have a listen if you're interested. Love it or loathe it, all feedback is very welcome so let me know what you think: http://soundcloud.com/skollob/say-remix The original track is here if you want to compare: http://soundcloud.com/obroadfield/say-preview-1 And the full list of competition entries are here: http://soundcloud.com/groups/remix-and-win-say-by-olivia-broadfield

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1327003665' post='1505158'] Released today for Sony PSP [mini games] Trailers everywhere. You Tube etc.... [media]http://vimeo.com/35287705[/media] Garry [/quote] ^ Hehe, that's great! Looks like a nice little game too... kinda like 'Stick Death' meets 'Defender'. Well done getting your track on this

[quote name='jackers' timestamp='1326242057' post='1494510'] it depends on what genre you are playing really. [/quote] ^ This. And especially so if you're writing electronic music for people to shake their bottoms to! Drum 'n' bass, dubstep, hip hop, house... etc... are all based heavily around basslines carrying the 'melody' and being the driving force behind the music. I work mainly with electronic sounds myself, so it's not uncommon for me to start by writing a bassline and building everything else around it. But I imagine this isn't the case with others genres, as previously mentioned.

[quote name='ZMech' timestamp='1326104089' post='1492179'] Not yet, but it definitely sounds interesting, will check it out this evening, cheers. [/quote] No probs. It's a little slower than The Wire (if you watched that series) but no less compelling. I heartily recommend it.

Just a quick aside... but has anyone here been watching Treme? (the HBO TV show, from the writer of The Wire): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treme_%28TV_series%29 I'm only a couple of episodes in myself, but so far it's been brilliant. Great writing, acting and some superb music. I'm no big aficionado of New Orleans jazz, but this show may well get me into the swing of it...

Use 16 bit if you're burning to CD only. Otherwise, I'd opt for 24 - the more bits the better!