May Composition Challenge - GET WRITING

[lurksalot]

1 minute ago, Dad3353 said:

Top Tip : Reaper also has a Menu entry, just under 'Save project as...'... 'Save new version of project'. This saves the project with an incremented name ('1', then '2', then'3' etc; you get the idea...). Every time that I'm about to make a major change to my stuff, I invoke this, and carry on. Some of my projects have a dozen incremental versions; if I make a mistake (don't laugh; it could happen..!), I can call up any previous version and carry on from there. As can be imagined, I save any adjustments I make very frequently, too.
At project's end, it's simple to delete all the previous stages (I don't; I prefer to keep 'em. Not as nostalgia, but sometimes as a stepping off' point for other projects, but going in a different direction. Yes, I'm daft, no need to rub it in..!).

Hope this helps. 

Yes cheers Douglas  a good tip indeed , I have never had a reaper file not load since I first used it , and even opened up a few early ones to 'remix' them , but this one just had gone , I tend to increment the renders I do but hadn't given a thought to the reaper files until last month . as I tried a few midi files that I wasn't sure of, I did the incremental reaper jobs , worked a treat 

[Dad3353]

7 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

... and a tumble-drier solo...

Paging Leonard Smalls..! Paging Leonard Smalls..! Urgent need of a tumble-dryer solo..! Paging Leona...

Oh, hang on... 

[lurksalot]

I am at the point that if I try and make it better , it gets worse, and that takes some doing 

If I could make it better I ........ Would .. enjoy

 

 

[Dad3353]

I've just been listening to Weather Report; this follows on nicely. Good Stuff.  (well, until the 'singing' started..!  )

Edited May 11, 2020 by Dad3353

[adamg67]

I don't know why I do these things to myself. Last month it was using strings, this month I decided to do vocals. Why? I can't sing. So at the moment I have a tune I'm happy with, I have some words and an okay vocal melody, and after multiple attempts nothing I try for actually singing it sounds anything other than distinctly dodgy. It will be William Shatner style spoken word at this rate.

[lurksalot]

3 hours ago, adamg67 said:

I don't know why I do these things to myself. Last month it was using strings, this month I decided to do vocals. Why? I can't sing. So at the moment I have a tune I'm happy with, I have some words and an okay vocal melody, and after multiple attempts nothing I try for actually singing it sounds anything other than distinctly dodgy. It will be William Shatner style spoken word at this rate.

If it’s like me , you believe one day you’ll nail it .......one day I’ll nail it......one day I’ll nail it ......one day........

 

you can see what @Dad3353    thinks of my vocal input above and that was just talking ......with irony 

[upside downer]

3 hours ago, adamg67 said:

I don't know why I do these things to myself. Last month it was using strings, this month I decided to do vocals. Why? I can't sing. So at the moment I have a tune I'm happy with, I have some words and an okay vocal melody, and after multiple attempts nothing I try for actually singing it sounds anything other than distinctly dodgy. It will be William Shatner style spoken word at this rate.

I feel your pain, I've got no vocal quality so I'm always trying to disguise the lack of tone etc by using effects. I do much the same with the tune too because my playing's not up to much either 😄 

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, lurksalot said:

...you can see what @Dad3353    thinks of my vocal input above and that was just talking ......with irony 

Yes, that's just the 'talking'. The 'singing' is worse; much worse. 

[bobbass4k]

I've had a eureka moment, I was trying to do lots of creepy intervals and dissonant chord shapes on guitar but found it difficult to get going - ended up in a frankenstein tuning that just sings foreboding evil (F# F# B F# G# E low to high)

[lurksalot]

4 hours ago, bobbass4k said:

I've had a eureka moment, I was trying to do lots of creepy intervals and dissonant chord shapes on guitar but found it difficult to get going - ended up in a frankenstein tuning that just sings foreboding evil (F# F# B F# G# E low to high)

Aha

I think you’ve stumbled on the secret of my success , well, not so much the retuning , just the Frankensounds I get from standard tuning with my Frankenfingering guitar technique, not by design though 

[Leonard Smalls]

10 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

The 'singing' is worse;

I can give y'all lessons if you like...

However, this month I've steered clear of crowd-pleasing singing, because in common with melody and time signatures it's just a bourgeois concept designed to oppress The Workers while at the same time profiting from Their Labour.

😎😄

 

[adamg67]

7 hours ago, bobbass4k said:

I've had a eureka moment, I was trying to do lots of creepy intervals and dissonant chord shapes on guitar but found it difficult to get going - ended up in a frankenstein tuning that just sings foreboding evil (F# F# B F# G# E low to high)

I'm in F# minor for this one, at the risk of sounding like NIgel Tufnell, it is the darkest key IMO

[adamg67]

14 hours ago, upside downer said:

I feel your pain, I've got no vocal quality so I'm always trying to disguise the lack of tone etc by using effects. I do much the same with the tune too because my playing's not up to much either 😄 

Yeah, I've gone the same way, the effects chain on the vox buss is up to about 20 effects now (many doubled up via two seperate all-in-one "signature series" plugins). It's like polishing the proverbial richard the third I think. I'm tempted by this: https://www.waves.com/plugins/ovox-vocal-resynthesis#ovox-next-generation-voice-controlled-synth 

[upside downer]

9 hours ago, bobbass4k said:

I've had a eureka moment, I was trying to do lots of creepy intervals and dissonant chord shapes on guitar but found it difficult to get going - ended up in a frankenstein tuning that just sings foreboding evil (F# F# B F# G# E low to high)

Was mucking about with DADGAD last night so I think I'm going with that. Your tuning sounds far more sinister!

[Iacopo San]

3 hours ago, adamg67 said:

I'm in F# minor for this one, at the risk of sounding like NIgel Tufnell, it is the darkest key IMO

Pair it with a 7/4 time signature and you can't go wrong 🧛‍♂️

[Leonard Smalls]

I was going to go for a whole-tone piece, as key-based music is non-egalitarian to all other notes, until I realised that the whole-tone system discriminated against frequencies not present in-between the notes... 

So I thought I'd do this slightly over-driven bit of jazzy stuff instead, using 3 brass VSTs, plus Music Labs and AmpleSound Les Paul VSTs - when I saw the pic I thought of Miles Davis' "Agharta" for some reason, hence "Hollow Earth":

https://soundcloud.com/leonard-smalls/hollow-earth

NB; minor remix done - for some reason wouldn't embed hence url...

Edited May 22, 2020 by Leonard Smalls

[NickD]

I do like that.... Shades of Tuxedo Moon in there too!😎

[lurksalot]

5 hours ago, adamg67 said:

Yeah, I've gone the same way, the effects chain on the vox buss is up to about 20 effects now (many doubled up via two seperate all-in-one "signature series" plugins). It's like polishing the proverbial richard the third I think. I'm tempted by this: https://www.waves.com/plugins/ovox-vocal-resynthesis#ovox-next-generation-voice-controlled-synth 

I was very much this , but now I have decided that if it needs me to provide a vocal , then it’s me that it gets , and while I think my tone sucks , it's the only one I’ve got and all the FX I throw at it doesn’t really help , so in the spirit of Chester FC ,  I just embrace the shitness ! 

[adamg67]

1 hour ago, lurksalot said:

I was very much this , but now I have decided that if it needs me to provide a vocal , then it’s me that it gets , and while I think my tone sucks , it's the only one I’ve got and all the FX I throw at it doesn’t really help , so in the spirit of Chester FC ,  I just embrace the shitness ! 

Yeah, I think you're right. If I start off with shitness, adding lots of shiny plugins just gives me shiny shitness.

[Dad3353]

Tell us about it..! 

[lurksalot]

On 03/05/2020 at 13:16, bobbass4k said:

I figured It'd be an interesting change of pace, something a little dark and sinister. 

A little context - I took this while walking home in a state of mild inebriation at about 2am, and had absolutely no recollection of taking it until I was going through my pictures a couple of months later, whereupon it scared the bejesus out of me and I moved it to the "album covers?" folder. 

I’ve just realised , I have a similar photo of a tree , taken under similar circumstances, but as the tree is just across the road, I see it most evenings in the winter , I have no idea what triggered the need to photograph it 

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I’ve just realised , I have a similar photo of a tree , taken under similar circumstances, but as the tree is just across the road, I see it most evenings in the winter , I have no idea what triggered the need to photograph it 

The 'state of mild inebriation at about 2am' explains a lot. 

[adamg67]

Okay, I've done it.

I stayed very much in my comfort zone for the basic idea with a pretty straight up rock song, but tried to take some inspiration from the pic to make it a bit darker and moodier than I'd normally go. Then I jumped on a metaphorical bus out of my comfort zone, went to the airport, caught a plane, and ended up somewhere where my comfort zone was a distant memory, trying to do lyrics and vocals. This is my first ever attempt at that (ever, not just here) and I don't think anyone will need much convincing of that. It will give you some idea how bad my first attempts were when I say that the finished article is a big improvement. Anyway, I did it, and my aim is only ever to be able to sing enough to write words and vocal melodies for other people to perform.

Drums - SSD 5.5 playing an edited Groove Monkee beat.
Bass - Maruszczyk Elwood (Jazz) through a Darkglass Vintage Ultra, doing the simplest bassline ever.
Guitar - Paul Reed Smith S2 Custom 24 through amplitube, double tracked (properly, by playing everthing twice)
Vox - Err... well. I was quite pleased it only needed a few tweaks with Melodyne pitch wise, and I tried to lay off processing it too much. I still hate the sound of my own voice.

Edit - I've noticed that Soundcloud seems to fade in slightly, I should have left a moment's silence at the start but it won't let me overwrite it with a new mixdown now. - Fixed now.

Edited May 17, 2020 by adamg67

[Dad3353]

7 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

...but it won't let me overwrite it with a new mixdown now...

It's a pain in the whatever if you've not got the 'Pro' option, but it's a simple enough job to upload another 'new, improved' version and delete the old. A new link into your post above ^^ and it's done..! I used to do that whenever I found, after posting, an unwanted 'glitch'. Has to be done before voting starts, naturally.
Hope this helps. 

[adamg67]

7 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

It's a pain in the whatever if you've not got the 'Pro' option, but it's a simple enough job to upload another 'new, improved' version and delete the old. A new link into your post above ^^ and it's done..! I used to do that whenever I found, after posting, an unwanted 'glitch'. Has to be done before voting starts, naturally.
Hope this helps. 

Yeah, good idea, I've done that and it's there, it disappeared briefly but once I gave the new one a new URL it works fine