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June Composition Competition


charic
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I'd forgotten about that advert :lol:

The way I see it, I accept that I can't sing... I've got no disillusions that I have any vocal ability, and I have told you all that, so I'm being honest.... Not like I'm looking at entering Britains got Talent as a singer or anything... I'm just entering a friendly competition with other bassists and have no choice but to do an instrumental or have an attempt to relay my concept using my incredible substandard voice!

When your two year old nephew tells you that you can't sing and thinks it a "Good idea that Auntie Deb plays the bass" you are under no misunderstanding about where any musical ability lies :lol:

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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1370510304' post='2101910']
I'm just entering a friendly competition with other bassists and have no choice but to do an instrumental or have an attempt to relay my concept using my incredible substandard voice!
[/quote]

Ditto! But hey, you never know.. with a little practice...

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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1370510304' post='2101910']...I'm just entering a friendly competition with other bassists and have no choice but to do an instrumental or have an attempt to relay my concept using my incredible substandard voice![/quote]
[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1370511144' post='2101937']Ditto! But hey, you never know.. with a little practice...[/quote]

A big +1 to both of the above.

I'd [i]never[/i] attempted to record myself singing before these monthly challenges... at which point I just thought, why the heck not - give it a go! It's testament to the friendly nature of this forum that we're able to have confidence to do that. I'd never dream of doing so on other music forums where the atmosphere can be much more competitive and at times downright spiteful (hence I've largely abandoned other forums and now [s]waste[/s] spend 99% of my time here).

I've since grown to enjoy singing. I'll never be great at it - I don't practice enough for one thing - but it's nice to dabble :)

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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1370499239' post='2101767']
"You can't sing, your singing is out of tune and you sound welshy.... Do you know I really don't like your singing voice. The mix is all over the place, it may sound better if you sort that out, but ultimately if you do, don't play it to me again as hearing it once was enough. It really is a depressing song you know. You aren't really going to enter it are you?"

:lol: you sure you are ready for a female entry boys :P
[/quote]

Don't worry, mines going to be pretty gloomy too, and instrumentals are the way forward. Mine might sound interesting, provided you've never listened to ISIS....

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OK, one terrified Debs here :lol:

I'm loading it now for two reasons:

1. So its like taking a plaster off - get the pain over with!
2. If I don't upload it now, I'll spend all my time tinkering with it and have actual bass playing to practice!

As well as being inspired by the picture supplied by Paul (which was fabulous BTW!), I also took some addition inspiration from Lord Sausage on Nige's thread about what he needs after a great gig. Lord Sausage told me about a cocktail - Drambuie and Tia Maria called a werewolf! After trying the cocktail I knew my inspiration would need to come from both sources!!

So basschatters, please accept that I can't sing for toffee, have never used a DAW before and haven't composed anything since GCSE music some 23 years ago!!

But here is "The Tale of the Wolf People".... this is the first time I have ever had butterflies in my stomach posting on the internet... its rather disconcerting :unsure: :blush: :o

https://soundcloud.com/space-chick/the-tale-of-the-wolf-people-v2

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Tidy! The voice is the only thing that doesn't delivrr, mate. The composition is np worse than many we have put on here. Vocals is one thing I won't go near near because I can't sing but that limits me to instrumentals and to the instruments I can play. We are all working to limitations so good on you for delivering.

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Looking forward to giving it a listen later on. And good on you Debs for entering this month! - the first of many I hope ("once you pop, you can't stop...").

Also, bonus points for being the first to post something up. That's normally Bilbo's accolade, but he's probably already working on July's... :lol:

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[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1370612396' post='2103458']
Tidy! The voice is the only thing that doesn't delivrr, mate. The composition is np worse than many we have put on here. We are all working to limitations so good on you for delivering.
[/quote]

Thanks Rob :D

I'm pleased with my bass parts (standard and fretless solos) from a composition perspective.

I think next time I enter, I may go for an instrumental..... As much for all your ears as anything else :lol:

Thanks to everyone who gave me the push to "have a go" :D

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A big up for having a go! I've popped some comments on there but I think your singing is coming on nicely. I think it will get better with practice as I noticed some improvements as the song went on. I think it outshines the spoken word parts (as a concept, I do like spoken word and will most likely go down this route myself).

I say keep at it!

I'm going to go with some effects on my voice. I have this: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/driver/ which delivers some nice distortion. Pretty sure I got it for free as part of a launch promotion for it though...

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In the past I've used some royalty-free movie dialogue clips that I bought from Loopmasters that work well. Have a listen to some of the dialogue in these to see how the phrasing/voicing/inflections/whatever-it-is works as it all adds some interest to the spoken dialoge: http://soundcloud.com/mornats/vampires and http://soundcloud.com/mornats/mystery-and-magic

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Sorry for spamming this but Spacechick's track reminded me of Paul Oakenfold's Urban Soundtracks that I used to listen to on long drives back from Newcastle. They're popular novels that he put a soundtrack onto. I found one online: http://www.mixcloud.com/divineandrogyne/paul-oakenfold-dracula-urban-soundtracks-21/

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1370615337' post='2103515']In the past I've used some royalty-free movie dialogue clips that I bought from Loopmasters that work well.[/quote]

Nice idea! I can see how that would work with this month's pic in particular.

In the past I've done plenty of digging in this area myself - i.e. ripping audio from out-of-copyright films. Easy to find lists of these online, though typically the films are hosted for download on US websites and are therefore governed by US copyright law, which can sometimes be different to that in the UK. It's also common for these films to be a bit cr@p - there's usually a reason for them being in the public domain! - although there are a few gems hidden amongst the dross. That said it can be a time-consuming process to not only find films that are available, but also to find sample-worthy clips within them. I might check out that Loopmasters library myself as it looks like a good collection, and more importantly a good way of saving time!

PS: my biggest disappointment in this regard was the film Forbidden Planet. It's chock-full of great dialogue (well, great in a retro sci-fi way) and I was sure it was out of copyright, but sadly not.

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Well done Deb , lovely tune and playing , I think your singing is spot on, actually I would have liked more of it , For practice I would suggest singing and recording one line at a time , that way the breathing is easier and makes the note control more even.


I have just realsied the summer months aren't condusive to vocal recording , the neighours windows are still open and if I am singing now they might hear it, it is not so bad if I get 1 take in 20 , you guys will hear it , but the neighbours will hear the other 19 aswell :blush:

Edited by lurksalot
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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1370611029' post='2103429']OK, one terrified Debs here :lol:[/quote]

Right, for starters you're being way too hard on yourself about this track. If this is a first attempt then I'm genuinely impressed! The mix needs a lot of work - sure - but creatively I really enjoyed it. And besides, you can make vast improvements with mixing through some easy-to-learn technical stuff; whereas it's not so easy to learn creativity from a book or YouTube video. And your track has plenty of that.

The bassline(s) are great (I think there are two?). I like the spoken word storytelling aspect of it - it's kinda folky and definitely engaging. "...corpses of mauled strangers at their feet, as the reality of the night before unfolded". Sounds like many a night spent in Cardiff during my youth! ;) :lol: But seriously it's good stuff. Like some kind of Grimm's Fairy Tale. I also thought your singing was fine - I was expecting some real caterwauling based on your 'sales pitch' of the track, but it was fine. Had you not mentioned I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

Oh, I also liked the gun shot / wolf howl sound effects. Well, I hope they were sound effects and not recordings you made at home with your pet werewolf and the twelve-bore you have slung above the fireplace :blink:

In all: great job Debs! And welcome to the club.

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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1370689755' post='2104389']
You lot are making me blush now!!

Glad you think I could have some potential and are seeing past my flaws.... Means a lot xx

Paul - does very much sound like a night out in Cardiff :lol:
[/quote]

the fact it sounds like a night out in cardiff makes it sound personal and unique, i like it :)

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1370703051' post='2104641']
Well my mic didn't arrive at PMT so I've gone for some more movie dialogue samples which I think work. It needs a few more listens to see what needs tweaked but I like it so far.
[/quote]

Can't wait to hear it :D

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To pique your interest, here's the list of instruments I've used on it:[list]
[*][color=#333333]Overwater Classic Jazz bass [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Ibanez GRG70 guitar [/color]
[*][color=#333333]EZDrummer POP! Drum Kit [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Miroslav Philharmonik [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Sampletank Roots Pandeiru [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Synapse Dune synth [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Kontakt Orchestral Grand Piano [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Guitar Rig 5 Pro and Rammstein plugin[/color]
[/list]

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[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1370710644' post='2104761']
To pique your interest, here's the list of instruments I've used on it:[list]
[*][color=#333333]Overwater Classic Jazz bass [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Ibanez GRG70 guitar [/color]
[*][color=#333333]EZDrummer POP! Drum Kit [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Miroslav Philharmonik [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Sampletank Roots Pandeiru [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Synapse Dune synth [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Kontakt Orchestral Grand Piano [/color]
[*][color=#333333]Guitar Rig 5 Pro and Rammstein plugin[/color]
[/list]
[/quote]

I'm a bit dissapointed not to see the Horn of Gondor on that list , but maybe Bilbo has that put away somewhere :P

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