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October Composition Challenge ---starts here


lurksalot
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Congratulations to @Doctor J on his September win , that puts him on a double , he has thus supplied the following image for your inspiration.

 

 

image.png.055c950c65efc662521767005014e1b2.png

 

 

 

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. please no bagpipes, summer equinox truce now Expired. panpipes only if you have too.

 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 , it works nicely on the voting thread.

 

Deadline wise , we will go for  midnight on  'United Nations day '  👍, and yes, yet again, again you probably have till about 19.00 on the 25th, ( the clue given here is that 'United Nations day' is the 24th).

 

Good Luck and Happy Composing

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Here is my contribution to the September 2021 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by a picture chosen by the previous winner: Doctor J.
Introspection again, I'm afraid. Taking stock, reflection, inspired by the (apparently...) more simple life led by (apparently...) more serene sentient creatures. Are they telling us something..? Can sentiments be transmitted..? Yes, they can (apparently...).
Mostly Oliviya Nicole (Ghosthack...) samples knitted together, E minor vocals underpinned by G major guitar work. Tempos have been adjusted to create the overall feel. The drums are... absent; there are none..! I played the basson 'live' with my tiny MIDI keyboard, and all mixed in Reaper, with no treatment at all, save my usual Cockos NY Glue on the master track. The lyrics are further down (originally titled 'Alone'...)...
Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

 

 

Lyrics...

All we have is now 
Yesterday is gone 
We have so much time 
Let’s not stay alone 
Alone 
No one should be on their own 
Alone 
There’s light after every storm 

Let it go
You’ve got to move on 
With your life
No time to wait 
Find a new someone 
Love is not to waste 
Let it go 
Love is the cure

Edited by Dad3353
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Finally some time!

Crap weather and no diesel cut me a little slack this month.

Here is my contribution to the October 2021 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by the picture chosen by the previous winner: Doctor J.

Lovingly knocked together in Cubase Elephants, using a few of the bundled VSTs, The Jake 5 and a Vintage Strat (the brand, not old and overpriced), both through the Helix. Vocals hastily recorded in the front room at a neighbour-friendly volume.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

That's excellent, Nick, nice one!

 

Thank you, very kind!

It's been a while since I've been able to participate, what with finally getting our album out of the door, and the usual work and family stuff. It felt great to finally sit down, look at the picture (great pic by the way!), and try to get something together.

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16 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

I know what you mean, I'm fighting a losing battle not to veer into stoner/doom territory this month. I don't want to, particularly, but it's where I feel at home 😂

I'm glad it's not just me!

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In we go. A cheery one this month 😁

The technical guff - Yamaha kit into cheapo Thomann mics and Behringer preamp. Bass is a Bacchus 24, guitars are Bacchus Strat and Tokai 335 straight into an Avid Eleven, all fed into ProTools. I've been pissing about experimenting with delay a lot recently and that carries over here. It turns out it's quite useful at times. I used an ebow for some of it too, as well as too much phaser for a swooshy, watery sound which I recorded with and, therefore, was unable to dial back afterwards 😂

 

About the music - This looks like the sub-aquatic future which seemingly awaits us on our unstoppable journey into oblivion. Do electric trains run underwater?

 

 

 

Edited by Doctor J
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Inspiration:

The pic got me thinking about swimming with dolphins and generally drifting around, which gave me the feel for the song. I was recently loaned a beautiful mid-70’s Gibson Thunderbird acoustic guitar by my aunt, which belonged to my late uncle who passed last year. She wants it to be played. So it’s included here and contributed to the feel.

Technical stuff:

Daw: Studio One. Drums: studio one piano roll with “Red Zep” drum samples. Bass: Vantage avenger. Acoustic Gtr: Gibson Thunderbird (family heirloom on loan to me)., Electric Gtr : Vox Standard 25. Vox : Sure SM58

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My effort...

I fancied a bit of Dub, so here it is! Sounds best on big speakers with serious bass handling... 

 

 

For those that like that sort of thing, bass is an ACG Recurve double tracked with Bassroom and Voxengo eq. Guitar is a trusty Strat, FX and keys all IRIS 2. Drums programmed from Sample Magic dub kit, cymbals through Jabo Sparks vintage on EZ drummer. All smeared liberally with Dubstation 2, Raum and Phasis, mastered with Ozone 9. Vox by Lee (apart from BG shouts - me!), cheers m8!

Edited by Leonard Smalls
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I cant hang on any longer , I have tried the vocal line on this about a hundred times and there is always that moment when you realise you've fluffed it , and as I havent trained the neighbour to perform for me yet, my offering will have to suffice!

 

I saw this a journey which obviously has choices of destination and timing to a degree , you can go when and where you want to. A fairly simple thought on journeys in general.

 

 

I used EZ drummer , and VG iron for my VSTi's and in real life played an Ibby 6er through waves GTR3 , Gordon Smith bass through an amp sim and sang for my supper 

 

Tickets please

 

 

 

lyrics for those interested 

 

Where are you going , which way do you choose , 

a trip to the skies or, a train wreck down with the blues.

Did you want to take this trip  or was it a surprise

It circles right back to the start , hidden by a clever disguise

 

Your seat is safe here ,  yours   on demand

you can ride whenever you want  we all understand

 

Tickets please

 

Did you make a choice on this journey , or did you just wander on board

It doesn’t matter either way but yould think it deserved a reward

if it all gets a bit too surreal you can hit the emergency brake

 come back whenever you like   , it’s your decision to make

 

Your seat is safe here   yours   on demand

you can ride whenever you want  we all understand

 

tickets please

Edited by lurksalot
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Tally Ho, here's my 3 minutes worth for this month.

 

Hello, I'm Johnny Trash. The image brought to mind the rising sea levels and the consequences of climate change. However, I'm a glass half full kind of guy and that struck me as far too morose so instead I went with a country tinged toe-tapper about a train trip gone awry and the narrator more worried about his lack of Adam Peatyesque prowess and getting to his journey's end. Where was he hoping to get to, though?

 

Epiphone guitar, Westfield bass, Hohner harmonica and drums programmed with Hydrogen. Vox Apogee Mic+. Recorded with Audacity and Wavepad for that wax cylinder clarity that I'm accustomed to. No auto-tuning has been harmed in the making of this ditty.

 

Lyrics hidden below.

 

Spoiler

The Train Kept a Sinkin'

 

Hello, I'm Johnny Trash.

 

Hey daughter, hey daughter,

Why the hell are we under water?

We were on dry land when we got on the train,

I just had a little slumber,

And now we're two leagues under,

I see dolphins swimming around outside the window pane.

 

Now when I paid my fare,

I didn't know I was heading for Neptune's lair,

But here we are at the bottom of the sea,

It's a tricky situation,

Being surrounded by crustaceans,

And I don't think we're going to get to where we want to be.

 

Hey daughter, hey daughter,

I really think we oughta,

Get out of here real quick or things may turn out grim,

Can't get off at the next town,

There's a real big chance that I'll drown,

'Cus you know it's true that I never learned how to swim.

 

Got our tickets in my hand,

But things just haven't worked out as planned,

I doubt that we'll get to our destination,

What a rotten public service,

We're nowhere near the surface,

And we're missing out on our trip to the aquarium.

 

 

 

And now to listen to all your splendid efforts, you clever Trevors.

 

 

 

 

 

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