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Hey guys Been a while since I made one of these - I just felt like blowing over some changes - let me know what you think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIPDpAEzuE Hope you enjoy Cheers Mike

Great work this month guys - I'll second various comments to the effect that it's so hard to choose a winner - all entries this month are of superior quality and very impressive. Seriously well done... bring on next month's ASAP Cheers Mike

Gotta love any 91 year old who's making music like this - respect is due http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfFXrVJcNQ

Great suggestions Paul and Garry - I'll have a look at those myself - my sample library is groaning with stuff at the moment but one of the cool sources for me has been Future Music and Computer Music magazines as each month they come with a DVD with about 8GB of content on - admittedly it tends to be on the electronic side of things but it's worth a look once in a while: http://www.musicradar.com/futuremusic It's also costs money... but hey thought I'd mention it - they often have useful tutorials and other stuff like pesky gear reviews that make you spend more money

I love it and I don't care if it's a rip off - proper musicians playing funk grooves in the charts again... what's not to like???

Love the three I have - consider myself lucky to have three custom instruments all made for me - my single cut 5 string is the main bass but the other two are pretty special as well...

Loving this album 'Cricklewood Broadway' by Norwegian soul-jazz band Beady Belle: http://www.jazzlandrec.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=6&flypage=vmj_naru.tpl&product_id=111&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=830&vmcchk=1&Itemid=830 Some great dirty synth and wah funk bass lines and lush soulful vocals on top

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1369007017' post='2083970'] OK, I'm done. What a month! I decided early on that I couldn't really do jazz any justice - not in its truest sense, anyway. So I just aimed for something "jazzy, urban and upbeat". Sort of trying to replicate the style of artists like Tribe Called Quest, Guru, Ronny Jordan, etc. Trouble was, the vocal - I can't rap So I took a punt and collaborated with a guy via SoundCloud who goes by the name of Donnie Ozone, who was game for working together on something. It ended up being a fun project and definitely something I'd like to try again. Anyway, here it is... [b]NB: this track is hip hop in an old skool, positive sense - so it's 100% cuss-free and family friendly [/b] [url="https://soundcloud.com/skollob/good-day"]https://soundcloud.c...kollob/good-day[/url] I've produced this solely using headphones, so any feedback on the mix itself would be hugely appreciated (especially the low end). Ta. And cheers everyone for another good month of making music! Paul [/quote] Hey Paul Really good track there - mix-wise it sounded good over my iMac speakers which is good as I always feel if something sounds good on them then the mix and overall sound comes over well on a computer then you've nailed the levels and EQ etc. I'm guessing you used some samples for the brass/sax parts but hey it grooves and more importantly made me think of rap tunes (the kind I like) from the 1990s, it was a bit Tribe Called Quest with a hint of Pharcyde - Jurassic 5 spring to mind as well - took me back top my days working in HMV in the late 1990s - good times! Maybe we should collaborate on next month's track - you give me the beats and I'll add some bass - and vice versa - I'll bung you some chords and bass loops and let you add some of your lovely dubby synths... but that might be deemed cheating... Cheers M

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1368984051' post='2083673'] Nice work, Mike! That new ending is great. Are the strings following the b-line via Melodyne or is it that new audio-to-MIDI thingamajig in Live? Whatever... it really works Paul [/quote] Thanks fella - I was walking around London yesterday and I had the idea for the ending so put it together quite quickly when I got in - it is the bass part put through Melodyne - and using a little auto-harmonisation in Kontact 4 which is where I got the string sounds from - it's all in FMinor so that helps... glad you like it - the tune feels like it has a proper ending now - glad I took your advice

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1368721611' post='2080728'] V. cool, Mike. My only constructive criticism would be the ending - slightly too abrupt perhaps, as I was nicely grooving along at that point and then it ended... But that's no big deal - I just played it again [/quote] Hey dude - just added that ending you were suggesting and remixed the bugger too... https://soundcloud.com/munkio/flight-of-the-pollinator

Damn - I feel a new ending and mix for mine is imminent - am going to get on the case today

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1368721611' post='2080728'] V. cool, Mike. Nice percussion. The fretless sounds superb - very expressive, almost 'vocal' and synth-like in places. The Hammond-style tone towards the end is amazing, as is the playing! My only constructive criticism would be the ending - slightly too abrupt perhaps, as I was nicely grooving along at that point and then it ended... But that's no big deal - I just played it again [/quote] Cheers Paul - I know the ending just kind of ends but well, the fact you stuck it on again is kind of the idea - this is also one of those tunes that I really could have kept working on and adding more and more sections etc - I wanted to keep it tight and say "what's done is done" - I just worked on this over the last three nights and can't face doing any more now Thanks for the feedback - it's always appreciated

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1368700880' post='2080278'] Reminds me of 1990s Steps Ahead, Mike. [/quote] Is that a good or bad thing? Smiley face... I just went with the two basic ideas I had and span them out into an epic fretless-a-thon - for some reason I was attracted to a slightly cheesy Hammond sound on the bass solo at the end... oh well - I never know what to make of these things but I was surprisingly motivated this month - I did want to do something with some big melodies on it so I hope that comes over. Thanks for listening M

Here's my thing... [i][b]'Flight of the Pollinator[/b][/i]' [url="https://soundcloud.com/munkio/flight-of-the-pollinator"]https://soundcloud.c...-the-pollinator[/url]

I got quite a way along with my idea/tune last night - I used Live 9 to get the ideas down as it's great for getting things down quickly and I have to say the new audio-to-MIDI conversion is pretty impressive - in a nutshell you drag an audio file (a WAV etc) to a MIDI channel and it then asks if you want to convert it to drums, harmony or melody - you choose the one you want, it then converts it in a few seconds and then bang, it's ready to use with either a soft synth or drum module... damn cool. So I've got the bones of the track now and I'm moving over into Logic to spruce it up and bang the f*cker into shape - I find editing and arranging tracks in Logic really useful - typically once I get going I have a load of ideas and it's just putting them in the right order that can make or break the track... I want to take my time on this one so probably won't be posting anything until next week - but I seem to have gone a bit African on this track... oh well

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1367584954' post='2067238'] Interstingly, when Branford Marsalis finished the Sting tours, he said that going back to Jazz was hard because he had to get back into [i]thinking[/i] (rather than playing) that fast. I think Mike has a point; it is not the chops that are missing, it is the ability to translate your mental idea into a physically executed line that is lacking when you are not hitting the mark. [/quote] Totally - it's not about having insane chops - take Charlie Haden for an example of someone who has fairly limited technique but plays all the 'right' notes... or Steve Swallow who rarely plays faster than 8th notes but sounds sublime - for guys like that it's the thinking (and listening) behind the notes that matters - not how many of the damn things you can play in a bar. For me it really is about listening and being able to react fast enough - when I'm off my game it's my reaction times that suck - but then I think building self confidence is also about saying this is who I am and this is how I do it...

Er yes it bloody is... I did a gig last night with my new band and I count myself lucky to be among such incredible players - I really appreciate the fact that I have to give it my best to match up to what they are doing - mostly I succeed but it's the bits where I feel like I've made a mistake or just lose concentration that annoy me most - it's not easy doing a day's work and then going out to play a 2-hour jazz gig. That said my fave bit of the gig was playing this tricky little latin funk tune - and while the groove is not the easiest to nail I really got hold of it in the solo sections and myself and the drummer had a ball... I think one of my greatest frustrations with playing jazz is I have good days and bad days - and mostly it's all in the mind (being tired being the main culprit) which means each gig has a huge amount of variability in it - the guys that play all the time are so good because it takes every moment you have to maintain a certain high level of ability - and I'm talking about mental/conceptual ability not just technique. It's all a mind set that takes a long time to develop and the further you go into it the deeper you realise it is - it's scary and exciting all the time and that's why I love (trying) to play it

Just got a couple of ideas into Live this morning - I'm going all tenor-bass on y'all - could be an interesting one this one....

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1367242687' post='2063025'] TDR Feedback Compressor. Not sure what it is like [not tried it] but hey it's free. [url="http://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-feedback-compressor/"]http://www.tokyodawn...ack-compressor/[/url] Beyerdynamics FX for doing/testing headphone mixes, again not tried it yet, but some positive responses on a couple of forums. [url="http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/virtual-studio.html"]http://north-america...ual-studio.html[/url] Garry [/quote] Nice one Garry - I had the loan of the Focusrite VRM box which was good but I had to return it (it was for a review) but hopefully this come in handy as a workable substitute - I don't have a lot of option but to mix on headphones a lot of the time... thanks for posting

I'm thinking some flower-power jazz... not got a lot of time until later in May - will have a go for sure if I can think of a tune that'll work... lucky I'm off to the flowery Spa town of Cheltenham for the jazz festival this weekend then innit?

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1367412448' post='2065282'] Very nice indeed. Did you wake Ben up in the process? ;-) [/quote] Thanks and no, Ben (my 5-yo son) was out at the time of recording - we've just switched the boys bedroom and our office/studio around - hence the wall decorations - must change that to my Miles Davis posters :-P

Well done boys - you will be beaten one day... (I think)

Wow - really close this month...

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1367236784' post='2062898'] 'Interesting' fact - "Stella by Starlight" was composed by Victor Young for the 1944 horror film "The Uninvited". [/quote] Indeed - very interesting and I had no idea - the original is pretty wicked - harps and strings and all... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMoY-Z4S5NE Not sure I'd get the orchestra into my house...

[quote name='steve' timestamp='1367147469' post='2061658'] Nice playing and definately some much more than just OK bits [/quote] Thanks Steve - I was perhaps being a little hard on myself - but it's always good to reflect on one's progress...