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November Composition Challenge

lurksalot

By lurksalot,
in Recording

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lurksalot Grand Master

lurksalot

Posted
Posted

A close run challenge for October, but rising to the top in the final throws came @SH73 with a great entry.

 

As is his privilege, nay, honour, he has offered up the following for your inspiration.

 

"Something futuristic....."

 

image.png.a9ad415c92c3d9f77dcd1ed3f87c7ca3.png

 

 

 

Simple rules 

✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and recorded between now and the deadline.

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

✖️ No Bagpipes/panpipes , everyone had the chance last month , so there!

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

 

Deadline wise , we will go for Midnight on the 23rd as I will be away for the weekend and leaving it till the 26th only leaves 4 voting days.

 

A line or two of blurb as usual for the vote thread will be lovely. 

 

Have fun 

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Dad3353 Grand Master

Dad3353

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8 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

oh boy. I have very little time in November but will try to produce something for this! When I put in the work, I usually record a video too. Are videos acceptable or should I just rip off the audio track?

 

Why not both..? It's 'tradition' to use a Soundcloud track, as everyone can easily access it in decent enough quality, but if there's also a (Youtube..?) video, it wouldn't hurt, so... Fill yer boots, chum; fill yer boots, and 'Welcome'. :rWNVV2D:

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Dad3353 Grand Master

Dad3353

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Here is my contribution to the November 2023 Basschat Composition Challenge, illustrated with a picture chosen by SH73.
Just keep going. Don't look up, keep your eyes down and try to look natural...
My Xavière guitar, one take direct into Reaper through my Tascam interface, using Bias Fx 2, 'American Dream' preset, and that's all.
Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

 

 

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Dad3353 Grand Master

Dad3353

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Posted (edited)
29 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Listen to Straight As Calm Can Be by Boodang on #SoundCloud

...

One take using a looper and wiretap. The image reminds me a of the game Bio Shock. With that in mind this is the result.

 

Edited by Dad3353
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lurksalot Grand Master

lurksalot

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We had grand little Lurks over last weekend , and he played the piano for a while , when I say played, we set the soundscape, I hit the record button, and he had some fun making a lot of the noises.

It was ideally a soundtrack for one of our 'expeditions' in a star wars kind of way, but I did a bit of cutting and restructuring and I thought it fitted this quite well, if a little dark.

 

All in Reaper

 

 

 

 

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Dad3353 Grand Master

Dad3353

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3 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Every time I try to record myself, I practice the hell out of it, then during recording, I realise... I should at least double my practice time. Recording is an ugly, but honest mirror.

 

Hope 10 more days is enough... 🙃

 

It was made clear at the very start of this Challenge, that the criteria of recording quality, production, technical ability and more were (and, for me, still are...) essentially secondary to the inspirational and composition elements of the work proposed. Not everyone has a studio at their disposal, nor even the domestic conditions for professional-level recordings, so the pieces with background noise, some 'flubs', a low, or too high, level can still be appreciated for the idea behind them. Some may benefit from a heavenly choir, others a soft trumpet solo or a Trinidad steel band, but, even without any window dressing, a Good Composition is a Good Composition. I would humbly offer some of my own renderings as model of just how little technique is required; some of my pieces have even been voted as 'best', proving that it's not always the most 'pro' efforts that are recompensed.

In short : don't sweat it; it's fine as it is..! ;)

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Wolfram Rising Star

Wolfram

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2 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

It was made clear at the very start of this Challenge, that the criteria of recording quality, production, technical ability and more were (and, for me, still are...) essentially secondary to the inspirational and composition elements of the work proposed. Not everyone has a studio at their disposal, nor even the domestic conditions for professional-level recordings, so the pieces with background noise, some 'flubs', a low, or too high, level can still be appreciated for the idea behind them. Some may benefit from a heavenly choir, others a soft trumpet solo or a Trinidad steel band, but, even without any window dressing, a Good Composition is a Good Composition. I would humbly offer some of my own renderings as model of just how little technique is required; some of my pieces have even been voted as 'best', proving that it's not always the most 'pro' efforts that are recompensed.

In short : don't sweat it; it's fine as it is..! ;)

100% this ^^^
 

Without a doubt the best compositions are those that sound just as good whistled as they do performed by a symphony orchestra.
 

2 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Every time I try to record myself, I practice the hell out of it, then during recording, I realise... I should at least double my practice time. Recording is an ugly, but honest mirror.

 

Hope 10 more days is enough... 🙃


I think we all have Red Light Syndrome to some extent - I certainly do. You're on fire, playing like a god, those killer lines flying from your fingers. Hit the red button, and suddenly you're fumbling like you just picked up the instrument yesterday and haven't yet worked out which way round to hold it! Don't over-think it, just go for it!

I first entered this challenge in January (New Year's resolution, maybe? 😉) to help me get back into writing and recording music after an almost complete gap of fifteen years or so. For me, every month I try something I haven't done before - either a musical style or technique that's completely new to me. They're far from the greatest compositions ever (...as my daughter reminds me. Repeatedly 🤣) but that's not the point. It's been fantastic to take the motivation from the challenge, share and listen to all the other creations. The world is a richer place for each and every one of these recordings existing.

 

...And I look forward to hearing the first whistled BassChat Composition Challenge entry! 😆

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Leonard Smalls Grand Master

Leonard Smalls

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Here's some racquet...

I got to thinking about a certain type of person for whom the future is only acceptable if it stays exactly the same as the present, hence a ditty about some bloke who won't never grow up.

 

All is by me, except some EZ drummer loops (plus some programmed by me). All mixed in Ableton with bass fx by Helix, guitar tones by Bias FX, keyboard is Iris. Everything's rolled in the glitter that is Ozone 9.

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BabyBlueSound Rising Star

BabyBlueSound

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So I fell into a pretty deep rabbit hole. I wanted to shake up things a bit, and had some ideas for the video part I simply could not do properly in my noob-friendly Filmora, so I started learning to edit in DaVinci Resolve.

 

This was some pretty bad timing for a great idea.

 

Now all that time I should be spending on recording the guitar and the synth properly is actually spent on slow but fun colour grading of the half-complete footage (wow my bass finally looks as blue on film as in real life), and toying with keyframes and stuff... 😅 at least the bass is already recorded 🙃

Edited by BabyBlueSound
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Wolfram Rising Star

Wolfram

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I've actually managed to get an entry finished well in time for a change!

The soundtrack to a carefully-planned and executed mission to rescue the Princess and her people. Channelling a little Vangelis maybe, and segueing into a full-on dance track, I present "Follow Me"!

 

 

Ok, the tech stuff: This month's New Things™️ for me were the arpeggiator and glitching - I had great fun developing the arp and strings playing live, latching with the sustain pedal. Synth sounds are from Diva, Monark and Steinberg's Hypnotic Dance. I created the female vocal in the dance section with Synthesizer V's Solaria AI voice. I programmed the rhythm with NI Maschine and Arturia Spark. Glitches created using iZotope Stutter Edit. Delays and reverb from EchoBoy Jr and R4. Radio voice is a public domain sample from NASA. Arranged in Cubase and squeezed through Ozone 8.

 

 

Edited by Wolfram
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sammybee Proficient

sammybee

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Recorded today.. I don't think it's finished yet - hoping to get a 'real' sung vocal on there. Quite simply produced... Akai S900 handling drums and the EP/Chord sample, sequenced on my trusty Akai MPC 2000xl. The flute, sax and all other key parts played live from a Korg Triton. Bass is my EBMM Stingray with flats DI'd. All audio recorded into Logic Pro X, using only stock plugins.

 

Inspiration, the 4 in the foreground look like they are heading home after a heavy night in the club as the sun rises..

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upside downer Grand Master

upside downer

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Here's mine. Recorded with Wavepad and utilising the many and varied beeps and squelches available in Ableton. Drums from both MT Drums and Looperman.

 

Get me out of the Paranoid City, where the trees are scorched and the living is gritty, oh, won't you please take me home? A wary and weary band of cyberpunks plot their route through the mean streets where fear, suspicion and mistrust rule.

 

Edited by upside downer
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fingers211 Community Regular

fingers211

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At some time in the future, (actually it's 18 minutes after the Rush album), if you have a thought of your own or one deemed to be out of the collective, then a blue light glows round your head only seen by the "Thought Spotters" . Once spotted, you're escorted out the city gate !!

 

Started out as some atmospheric stuff but got nowhere, so went nowhere in another direction.

Fender squire, t bird bass, lpk25(bbc orch, keys) and vocals all my fault...a looperman drum thingy and some amplitude all cobbled together in Reaper.

 

And for "BabyBlueSound", I've left in all my missed notes (creating space), bum notes (adding discord) and other fluffs - coz I always do !

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BabyBlueSound Rising Star

BabyBlueSound

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Inspiration: Halloween is long gone, but the Post-Halloween Prowl is still on! Cheer up, hit the derelict streets, get your digital sweeties, and try to have some fun for once in this wasteland.

 

Used the Sterling Shortie for this, going through a cheap comp, Tech21 Paradriver and a Rafferty HPF into the Focusrite Scarlett. The high-pitched noise on the bass track is due to recording the single coil pickup, so let's call it an effect!

 

The drums and the synths are played on the Maschine Mikro. I finger-played the drums and cymbals separately and quantised them, so they can act as the backing track. I routed these to Reaper where I finished recording the bass and the guitar.

 

I kept the sound simple, there's some minimal EQ, dynamic compression, reverb and limiter.

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