August Composition Competition

[Skol303]

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1375719131' post='2164705']im doing ok, just trying to sort out a new job, as well as fighting with BT to get them to show up and install my broadband, so i have no internet or phone line at home at the minute, which is another reason i wont be entering this[/quote]

Good luck with all that Rob! We had to wait over a month at work to get BT to install our phone lines... and we paid a premium for the "service" as business customers. I think the acronym stands for [i]Bloody Terrible[/i], or perhaps [i]Ballsup Time[/i]

[charic]

I'm going through the BT battle too atm. Luckily I've found a shortcut through their phone system yesterday I got pissed off and just started hitting buttons. Eventually I got through to someone and then transferred

[RockfordStone]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1375780516' post='2165373']
Good luck with all that Rob! We had to wait over a month at work to get BT to install our phone lines... and we paid a premium for the "service" as business customers. I think the acronym stands for [i]Bloody Terrible[/i], or perhaps [i]Ballsup Time[/i]
[/quote]
they have since told me it will be done this week, but i bet they come up with some excuse.
if its not in by saturday im cancelling and going back to sky.

ive read a lot of reports about them doing the same to other people, especially fridays.

my gf and i between us have lost a day and a half of work, and will have to lose at least another half day to get it installed.

if it goes on longer, im giving anne robinson a ring... im sure bt will be happy to appear on watchdog

[Skol303]

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1375786026' post='2165475']...my gf and i between us have lost a day and a half of work, and will have to lose at least another half day to get it installed.[/quote]

If they agree to do the install on a particular day and then fail to show up you can put in a claim for loss of earnings. That's what we did when they messed us around at work. You don't need to get any lawyers involved - just write to their complaints department (email is good as it provides a record of the correspondence) and ask for compensation. They'll dilly-dally and try to avoid paying you anything, but if you persist they'll most likely cough up eventually. At least they did in our case.

You won't get anything near an equivalent day's pay, but you'll get something. Worth bearing in mind anyway mate.

[RockfordStone]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1375787866' post='2165521']
If they agree to do the install on a particular day and then fail to show up you can put in a claim for loss of earnings. That's what we did when they messed us around at work. You don't need to get any lawyers involved - just write to their complaints department (email is good as it provides a record of the correspondence) and ask for compensation. They'll dilly-dally and try to avoid paying you anything, but if you persist they'll most likely cough up eventually. At least they did in our case.

You won't get anything near an equivalent day's pay, but you'll get something. Worth bearing in mind anyway mate.
[/quote]

we did complain, they offered us a tenner of our first bill....

[Skol303]

[b]So... how's everyone getting on with this month's challenge?[/b] Anybody started yet? Who's in and who's out? (conscious that Douglas finished this back in July - swot! - and that Bilbo, Discreet and possibly Lurks are skipping this one).

I'm pretty much knee deep in mine without a paddle. Something like that. I've set out to produce a mini-remix of each of the tracks I've produced thus far and then mix them together as seamlessly as possible, so they make some kind of sense as a whole. I thought this was going to be a time-saver as I'm stupidly busy this month, but I'm now realising that I've created a rod for my own back and would have been much better off just writing something from scratch, as per usual. Oh well. Live and learn.

I'm producing the audio in Reason using markers to delineate each section of the video. I'll then comp it together with the footage in iMovie once I'm finished (have tested this and it works fine).

One of the biggest difficulties has been the timing of each section of the video - they're not consistently the same length (thanks Charic! ), which has made smoothing out the transitions quite fiddly. If it helps anyone, I have a written list of the start/end time and duration of each section [i](yes, I am an anorak)[/i], which I found useful given that my DAW doesn't have a built-in video player. I'll post the list of timings up here if anyone's interested. I also found it helpful to sketch out the initial structure at 128bpm, which allows a neat 30 seconds per clip, and then make adjustments from there.

Other than that - and my own stupid idea of creating a 'mega mix' of songs that aren't designed to be mixed together - it's all proving quite straightforward, really! No, really. If you're in two minds then give it a go. It's much less of a faff than you might think...

[charic]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1375866391' post='2166554']
[b]So... how's everyone getting on with this month's challenge?[/b] Anybody started yet? Who's in and who's out? (conscious that Douglas finished this back in July - swot! - and that Bilbo, Discreet and possibly Lurks are skipping this one).

I'm pretty much knee deep in mine without a paddle. Something like that. I've set out to produce a mini-remix of each of the tracks I've produced thus far and then mix them together as seamlessly as possible, so they make some kind of sense as a whole. I thought this was going to be a time-saver as I'm stupidly busy this month, but I'm now realising that I've created a rod for my own back and would have been much better off just writing something from scratch, as per usual. Oh well. Live and learn.

I'm producing the audio in Reason using markers to delineate each section of the video. I'll then comp it together with the footage in iMovie once I'm finished (have tested this and it works fine).

One of the biggest difficulties has been the timing of each section of the video - they're not consistently the same length (thanks Charic! ), which has made smoothing out the transitions quite fiddly. If it helps anyone, I have a written list of the start/end time and duration of each section [i](yes, I am an anorak)[/i], which I found useful given that my DAW doesn't have a built-in video player. I'll post the list of timings up here if anyone's interested. I also found it helpful to sketch out the initial structure at 128bpm, which allows a neat 30 seconds per clip, and then make adjustments from there.

Other than that - and my own stupid idea of creating a 'mega mix' of songs that aren't designed to be mixed together - it's all proving quite straightforward, really! No, really. If you're in two minds then give it a go. It's much less of a faff than you might think...
[/quote]

They should actually be all the same length but I used the stock windows movie maker thingy.

[Skol303]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1375867371' post='2166570']They should actually be all the same length but I used the stock windows movie maker thingy.[/quote]

Nah, they vary from 27 - 30 seconds or so but it's no big deal mate. Adds to the "fun"

And besides, I don't imagine it's crucial to get the timings spot on as it would with a sound FX track for some film footage, or whatever. Douglas seems to have made a decent job of the transitions, so it's clearly do-able.

[charic]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1375868393' post='2166598']
Nah, they vary from 27 - 30 seconds or so but it's no big deal mate. Adds to the "fun"

And besides, I don't imagine it's crucial to get the timings spot on as it would with a sound FX track for some film footage, or whatever. Douglas seems to have made a decent job of the transitions, so it's clearly do-able.
[/quote]

If I manage to get my studio out of boxes then I'm probably going to do a live improvised piece on keyboard. No worrying about timings then

[lowdown]

I had a quick look, and put a timing/marker template together a couple of days ago,
and from what I remember, some of the transitions are not so smooth.
Thats where the art comes in, scoring over that transition so that it does look smooth.
I suppose really, the aim would be to make six minutes of music flow in a legato style
from start to finish (always hard).

I like charic's approach, improvise, then tidy up the transitions afterwards.
Hope I get some time next week to have a go at this.

[RockfordStone]

i wont be getting involved, too much other sh*t to deal with at the moment

[Bilbo]

Not interested and waiting for the September competition.

[Skol303]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1375871004' post='2166634']If I manage to get my studio out of boxes then I'm probably going to do a live improvised piece on keyboard. No worrying about timings then[/quote]
[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1375872800' post='2166666']I like charic's approach, improvise, then tidy up the transitions afterwards.[/quote]

Definitely good thinking... it'll save you a lot of fiddling around with MIDI and stretching/pitching audio, which has been my approach.

I'd love to try an improvised piece, but I'm too poor a player to make anywhere near a worthwhile job of it. That's one reason why I'm excited to be working with Mike (urb) on some new material - his improv skills are superb Maybe I'll have a stab at it one day, once I've time for more practice and am feeling confident.

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1375874046' post='2166697']i wont be getting involved, too much other sh*t to deal with at the moment [/quote]
[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1375875200' post='2166723']Not interested and waiting for the September competition.[/quote]

Fair enough guys! If I was being sensible I probably should have skipped this month too, but I've started and am too stubborn to turn back now I need to nail it in the next week before a tsunami of work obliterates my free time until September.

[the boy]

Too much work for me in this one ( I hate video editing or syncing) which is a shame as I really enjoyed last months competition. There were some really top class entries. Ill be back in September. I might do septembers at home rather than on the phone. We will see how things go. Good luck to the die Harders though. I'm looking forward to all the entries and of course the voting.

[oggiesnr]

I've got a melody track done but not sure it'll go any further. Couple of reasons, one is that I haven't a clue how to stitch a audio and a video track together and secondly, de-fluffing it and arranging it is going to take forever which I don't have this month.

My approach was simple, I watched the video through a couple of times, picked up my tin whistle (actually a plastic one ) and played along and recorded on the hoof. Variable results with a couple of bits I like and a couple I'm not sure of at all.

Watch this space (and a pointer on how to stitch it together would be helpful)

Steve

[Dad3353]

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1376379484' post='2172914']...a pointer on how to stitch it together would be helpful...[/quote]

Good morning, Steve...

I'm far from expert; there may be better than this, but...

Firstly, you'll need a local copy of the video; if you haven't got it already, you can get it from here...

[url="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw5jkl_nwj60dGlNUUhwZV9YMU0/edit?usp=sharing"]https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw5jkl_nwj60dGlNUUhwZV9YMU0/edit?usp=sharing[/url]

Then a video editor. I use this one, which is available as a free download for personal use...

[url="http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html"]http://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html[/url]

...It's quite straightforward to use (at least, when doing straightforward things..!). Basically you'll want to import your audio file ('wav' format..?), then slide it into the audio track of the video (see pic...)

[attachment=141444:Vide_Pad.jpg]

Try it, if you've time, it's fun; hope this helps...

[oggiesnr]

Thank you

Steve

[Skol303]

Ok I'm done.

This took a lot longer than I'd hoped, mainly because the idea of remixing my past 12 months' entries and creating a giant mashup of them all wasn't as easy at it first seemed. In fact, it was a gigantic pain in the ass… involving lots of pitching, time-stretching, re-sampling, etc, in order to make everything fit together with any degree of coherence. I ended up starting from scratch with a lot of it, including the drum track. But meh, it was fun. In a self-flagellating kind of way

The soundtrack doesn't match the video transitions perfectly, but I had to sacrifice the timing in a few places to make the music work.

Anyway, here you go…

[b]NB: this track contains one instance of swearing - a m***********, to be precise! - so it's not safe for work or family viewing[/b] (that's a heads-up for Lurks, who I know sometimes listens to these tracks with his children).

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksAyl2MkFso&feature=c4-overview&list=UUmgDHWbt8-3lAXlSuCBLT8w[/media]

That's me pretty much done until mid-September now (silly season at work), but I'll hopefully have time to sling something together for the start of the 'new season'.

Cheers all

Edited August 18, 2013 by Skol303

[lurksalot]

Cheers Bud , I do get Lurksalittle involved where I can , be she knows we haven't got time this month , I was away the week before last , back at work last week , and away with them all this week , so a bit awkward to squeeze on out , so to speak , I still should get the mix comp entered , but will be rariing for the next composition comp .

I will of course get the chance to listen in and cast my votes . bets of luck to you all .

[urb]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1376842789' post='2179814']
Ok I'm done.

This took a lot longer than I'd hoped, mainly because the idea of remixing my past 12 months' entries and creating a giant mashup of them all wasn't as easy at it first seemed. In fact, it was a gigantic pain in the ass… involving lots of pitching, time-stretching, re-sampling, etc, in order to make everything fit together with any degree of coherence. I ended up starting from scratch with a lot of it, including the drum track. But meh, it was fun. In a self-flagellating kind of way

The soundtrack doesn't match the video transitions perfectly, but I had to sacrifice the timing in a few places to make the music work.

Anyway, here you go…

[b]NB: this track contains one instance of swearing - a m***********, to be precise! - so it's not safe for work or family viewing[/b] (that's a heads-up for Lurks, who I know sometimes listens to these tracks with his children).

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksAyl2MkFso&feature=c4-overview&list=UUmgDHWbt8-3lAXlSuCBLT8w[/media]

That's me pretty much done until mid-September now (silly season at work), but I'll hopefully have time to sling something together for the start of the 'new season'.

Cheers all
[/quote]

Wow Paul - good effort - good to hear my final chord making an appearance at the very end, I feel honoured - seriously that just sounded like so much work you deserve a bloody medal.... bronze perhaps!

Brilliant

[Bilbo]

Not a criticism just all feels a bit pointless to me. Then again, I'm an arse.

[Skol303]

[quote name='urb' timestamp='1376940447' post='2181304']Wow Paul - good effort - good to hear my final chord making an appearance at the very end, I feel honoured - seriously that just sounded like so much work you deserve a bloody medal.... bronze perhaps! [/quote]

Cheers Mike! What made me chuckle is that even when played 20bpm slower than the original, that bassline of yours STILL sounds ninja Great playing mate. And glad you like the mashup.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1376942121' post='2181361']Not a criticism just all feels a bit pointless to me. Then again, I'm an arse.[/quote]

Haha, you're no arse Bilbo - well, not unless you insist! Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I used to DJ back in the 90s (club scene), so this month I wanted re-visit those times and put together a mix of the music I've been making this past year. Simple as that. It's not something I've done before - although I've remixed plenty of other people's music - so for me it was something novel.

A bit if fun? Definitely. Frivolous? Perhaps. Pointless? Nah. I learnt some new stuff along the way - I always do - so I'm quids in on the worthwhile front

...although admittedly it DID become a bit of a chore and not something I'll be rushing to do again anytime soon.

Edited August 19, 2013 by Skol303

[the boy]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1376944251' post='2181408']


A bit if fun? Definitely. Frivolous? Perhaps. Pointless? Nah. I learnt some new stuff along the way - I always do - so I'm quids in on the worthwhile front

[/quote]
Sounds cool to me. Well done.

[Skol303]

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1376962352' post='2181623']Sounds cool to me. Well done.[/quote]

Cheers mate

[SpaceChick]

Brilliant Skol and a laughed out loud at the ending!!!! Top job matey!!