April Composition Challenge

[lurksalot]

Well many congrats to young @Leonard Smalls and myself ( ah shucks)who managed to scupper Douglas's hat trick.

A picture then , chosen by Lenny himself in his usual eclectic taste, and offers a little insight into the image.

 

 

 A Zulu delegation who came over to the UK to honour those who'd fought at Rourke's Drift, one of whom was my great grandfather (whose grave you can see in the pic)..

.

 

Usual rules apply. You know the drill:

✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and written/recorded this month.

❌ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on

❌ Bagpipes. ( Christmas truce now expired) . Also on thin ice with panpipes, to be perfectly honest.

❌ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you.

A line or two offering an insight to your inspiration will be good as well , I think it works nicely on the voting thread.

 

Deadline wise , we will call midnight on the feast day of St George  ( and yes, you probably have till about 19.00 on the 24th, but don't bank on it though, the 24th is a Saturday and I might not be at work all day , I might sneak half a day off and get the post up early! )

 

Dive In , enjoy 

[Nail Soup]

Great picture and backstory @Leonard Smalls !

[xgsjx]

I'm in for this month.

Took inspiration from the pic, listened to several Zulu songs & then got the vocal samples from Splice.  Created a Kalimba part using a Kalimba sound in Logic's sampler & played a melody.  Used a bunch of Logic's own loops to create the percussion parts.  The bass is a logic sample too.

Here's my finished track (though I may go back to play about with it)...

Just updated the track.

Edited April 23, 2021 by xgsjx

[Leonard Smalls]

Suspect we might get a wide variety of stuff this month!

I've been watching the Rap Game on BBC3 and that inspired me to do something a bit street... Will flop it out as soon as it sounds either more or less unlistenable, depending on your perspective!

[lurksalot]

I've gone for a simple tune this month , I couldn't really get my head around lyrics for it, so I've left it quite empty deliberately. I do of course reserve the right to over complicate it in due course , but I have been messing with all sorts of sounds to underscore it but nothing has taken my fancy ..

Enjoy

 

[Nicko]

On 06/04/2021 at 13:23, Leonard Smalls said:

Suspect we might get a wide variety of stuff this month!

I've been watching the Rap Game on BBC3 and that inspired me to do something a bit street... Will flop it out as soon as it sounds either more or less unlistenable, depending on your perspective!

Mine will certainly be less "World" than the two so far.  The inspiration has led me to something much closer to home, but not where I expected to end up.

[Dad3353]

Here is my contribution to the April 2021 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by a picture chosen by the previous winner: Leonard Smalls.
A solemn occasion, so a sombre mood seemed appropriate, to commemorate the Fallen. A tribal tribute, with a military tinge, and weather to suite. Not really dance-hall stuff; more for reflection on the wisdom of taking the Queen's shilling, or following the Witch Doctor. Sad days for all; there are never any victors.
Almost all is taken from ethnic Kontakt libraries, save the cracked flugelhorn, from the rather fine Decent Sampler collection. Very little in the way of Fx: my usual Cockos NY drum bus and NY glue, with a dash of ReaDelay for the horn. No mastering; s'not necessary here, just a straight Reaper mix.
Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

 

[Nicko]

Here is my entry:

I had to look up the battle and when I realised it was what the film Zulu was based on I couldn't get "My Name is Michael Caine" by Madness out of my head. That lead me to doing something vaguely inspired by the UK Ska sound - not sure whether I got there or not.  There are two famous paintings of the battle both called "In Defence of Rorke's Drift" which have both been criticised for glorifying empire.  I've tried not to make comment on the rights and wrongs of the battle.

Bass is a Squire Precision, guitars are an Epi 339 (the lead line is coil tapped though) all through Amplitube although this month I've splashed out on a Fender package and all the guitars use the new equipment.  Drums are MT Powerdrums.  Bongos, keys and horns are Xpand 2! and its all done in Cubase.

[Leonard Smalls]

I've done a little one...

For some reason this made me think of all the tiny wars going on in our cities - where kids feel the only way they can survive is by carrying a blade...

https://soundcloud.com/leonard-smalls/something-goin-on

Edited to add remixed version with added clarity and less bass mud (bass is a Lightwave fretless with no FX, only mild compression and some eq)...

BTW, anyone know why it won't embed as anything but the old version? On entering the new link it only finds it as "track not found"?

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Leonard Smalls

[Nicko]

On 12/04/2021 at 17:49, Leonard Smalls said:

BTW, anyone know why it won't embed as anything but the old version? On entering the new link it only finds it as "track not found"?

I'm assuming you're on a Pro Plan and replaced the track in Soundcloud but that shouldn't stop a new link working.  As a basic user I had to delete the old version and upload a new one and that works fine (though it loses stats and comments).

[Dad3353]

On 12/04/2021 at 18:49, Leonard Smalls said:

...BTW, anyone know why it won't embed as anything but the old version? On entering the new link it only finds it as "track not found"?

Is this the right version..? Too much wild bass often confuses Soundcloud, so it's best to stick to a 'P' bass (with flats, naturally...) playing root and fifth. That may be the issue you've been having. 

[Leonard Smalls]

1 hour ago, Nicko said:

I'm assuming you're on a Pro Plan

Just standard skinflint plan I'm afraid!

So I had to delete the original, upload the shiny new mix then delete the link from my post here  and re-insert the new address. However, all it would embed was the "track not found" Soundcloud graphic - though telling it to display link instead worked...

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

Is this the right version..?

Aye! And I kept any FX off just to keep you happy - though perhaps the use of a fancy new-fangled magnetic pick-up-lessbass offended Captain Soundcloud, or more likely, the BC software. Either way, as Ms Wilcox would say, it's a mythtery.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Leonard Smalls

[skankdelvar]

I've hit a brick wall with this one, dunno why. Wrote something, it went nowhere, sounded horrible 

Best of luck to all, see you next month 

[upside downer]

10 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Wrote something, it went nowhere, sounded horrible 

So does mine but I'll still be inflicting it on you all 😄

[lowdown]

It's been a few years since I did one of these Basschat Challenges but, this one caught my attention. So I thought I would have a go this month.

I have always had a fascination with the defence of Rorke's Drift, along with the punch up over at Isandlwana earlier in the day and have read dozens of accounts, watched various

documentaries and generally, been curious about the whole episode that happened over those two days.  This goes back to when my Dad took me to see the opening of the film 'Zulu' in the West End, back in 1964.

KwaJimu' is 'Jim's Land' in the Zulu language...

 '

 

 

 

Spectrasonics Omnisphere VSTi for Synths / Spectrasonics Stylus RMX for Drums and Percussion / Spectrasonics Omnisphere VSTi for African Voices, Choir and Chants patches.
Musicman Bass Guitar.
Vienna Symphonic Library for Cornet & Strings.
DAW - Nuendo 11.

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by lowdown

[upside downer]

Here we go, here we go again.

I've kept it simple and dignified (I hope) with strings from the Epic Online Orchestra, some keyboards, a drumming sample mixed up and added to inspired by the Zulu beat and brief sentences from the isiZulu language. The title translates as "Thank you, my friend".

The few words are along the lines of "Hello again" and "Thank you", taken from an online English to Zulu site so I apologise if the quality of the translation isn't up to scratch and I'm saying "Bus Replacement Service" or some such nonsense instead. Recorded with Wavepad and Audacity as per usual.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by upside downer

[Nail Soup]

OK, I'll throw my hat it!

Start of blurb:

I abandoned early on any attempt to incorporate Zulu-based music. Also abandoned an idea to have a narrative based on Leonard's Great-Grandad's story. But two ideas did come to me ...... the "Zulu" in the phonetic alphabet and the reconciliation process which the UK and Zulu descendants have been involved in. These combined to lead me to the young persons word of apology, which in phonetic alphabet is Sierrra Oscar Zulu Zulu. Disclaimer: I didn't, and haven't, checked that those are the correct words for S, O or even Z! One word from Leonard's GGD's life story survives in the lyrics - Himalaya, the name of the boat he sailed to Africa in.

 

End of blurb

 

Technical details:

Studio one drums, Vantage Avenger bass, Vox Standard 25 guitar, Squier tele guitar, Studio one strings, SE58 mic, Studio one DAW.

[lurksalot]

late shout for any more , I've listened through these and fair play guys , some stonkers in there , all very interesting takes as well , top stuff 

[lurksalot]

The voting thread is up and running , how is that for efficiency