August Contest: Submissions

[DrApostropheX]

Real. Simple.*

Last month's theme got kind of crazy, so for August we're going to cool things down a bit. This month's theme is simplicity, but with a twist! So think of it as a two-part theme:

Part 1: Simplicity. Obviously, this is going to mean different things to each of us, but the guiding impulse of your composition this month should be to keep it simple. Only one melody line, no harmony? No key changes at all? Something that repeats over and over? It's up to you. Just nothing complex. That makes Victor's brain hurt and he has to go listen to Chick Corea's "Children's Songs" again.

Part 2: Real. Here's the twist (of the knife, I suppose, depending on your musical tastes): your composition this month should include an audio recording or audio samples of something REAL (or "concrète", existing in the real world, if you will). I'll leave the interpretation of this up to you: do you use a field recording of a rainstorm in the background of your track? Is your composition arranged and composed for that steel swingset at a nearby playground? Maybe you've sampled something that sounds like nothing else and that forms the basis of your track (I've got a grill spatula I've been meaning to record for a while now). Don't have a field recorder? A smartphone can definitely do the trick. Don't want to record anything yourself? Poke around online for (free, unlicensed please!) recordings of real objects that you can use. Obviously, a musical instrument like a guitar is "real" and you could just record that, but how far can you take it -- while keeping it simple, of course?

NOTE: When you submit your track, please note in the thread below what your "real" soundsource is so we can all be appropriately impressed by your ingenuity!


________________________________________

Submissions MUST follow these rules:

1 - Encoded in either .mp3 or .ogg format.

2 - A STRICT MAXIMUM of three minutes in length. If it shows up as 3:01 in my player, it's getting the boot.

3 - entered into the contest by posting a DIRECT LINK (note: THIS MEANS A DOWNLOAD LINK) in this RULES & SUBMISSIONS thread (use the GOSSIP thread for everything else). If you cant provide a direct link, please contact one of the following people listed below, they will be happy to help you out. These people provide free hosting for the purpose of this contest only! They are not a hosting service. When contacting these people, please take the effort to understand the terms and conditions they provide.

Providers:
1 - knockman
2 - watto
3 - slartibartfast

In addition...
http://www.kara-moon.com/forum has offered "self service" space. Log into the forum to find out more.

4 - Submitted by early a.m. (US Central Time) Friday, August 26th, 2016.

5 - Your entry must be composed specifically for this contest (or, if a cover, arranged/recorded specifically for this contest).

6 - Your entry must be created using at least some audio plugins, virtual synths, or software studio.

7 - Your entry should have the FILE named in a format of "yearmonth_artistname_tracktitle" (eg "1608_Festus_DefenestrationTango.mp3"), where the artistname is the same as your KVR name. Please do not use spaces and special characters in the filename. Special considerations will be given to those that have the hosting agent change the file name.

8 - If you are going to tag your mp3--and you should--the artist name is to be the same as your KVR name, and the title tag is to be the name of your tune.

9 - One person can participate either with one entry, with one entry and one collaborative effort or with two collaborative efforts.

10 - Every submission has to be tagged with:
a) used instruments (virtual and 'real')
b) players' and singers' names (if other than entrant; collabs are allowed, sometimes encouraged, but they must be credited)
c) origin of loops and samples, if they're not free of copyright (this includes CreativeCommons material; please read and follow the license of the samples and loops you use); naming the origin of copyright free loops is also encouraged, but not mandatory. Please only use samples you are legally entitled to use.
d) name(s) of composer(s) -- if an entry is a cover this should be noted in the file name and/or the mp3 "Title" tag as well as the submission post (not everyone reads the submission posts).

11 - If there are strong doubts about the origin of the composition or parts of it, the participant should have the possibility to send a project file to the moderator, who could give it to a trustworthy person with the right host to examine it. Important: the participant should not be forced to do it.

12 - No resubmissions without permission from the moderator, INCLUDING for time-overage correction. Please PM me for permission.

13 - Any tracks not adhering to these guidelines will be very naughty indeed. Possibly disqualified upon peer review. And at least mocked for all to point and giggle.

14 - Voting (members must have at least 20 posts to vote ... although contest entrants are exempt from this ruling) will run from the submission deadline until early a.m Sunday, May 1st. Anyone voting for themselves will find ALL their votes disqualified; any entrants not voting will also be disqualified.

If you have questions, send a private message to drapostrophex (that's me, Victor!) or ask in the gossip thread.
______

PRIZES


Quinto from SKNote Software Sound Synthesis has donated any one of his plugins for the contest this month. (and later months until further notice). Thank you, Quinto.

Michel Rouzic the developer of Photosounder has donated a copy (with noncommercial license) of Photosounder, a copy of SplineEQ, or a copy of Spiral (until further notice).

Varazuvi has donated a copy of Acoustic Guitar Pro for this March's contest (and later months until further notice). Thanks, Varazuvi.

Uncle E from JRR Shop has donated a copy of SONiVOX Pulse, SONiVOX Wobble, or SONiVOX Twist for June's contest (and later months until further notice).

*Not to be confused with "Real Simple" which is a pretty decent magazine and probably also has a registered trademark on the term, without the periods which is how I have it above.

[Laguna Rising]

I scrapped a rocking guitars tune because it was not appropriate for the "real" sound I had in mind.
I did this little tune instead :


Liquid Skies

The real sound is a recording of my kitchen blinds (metallic) waved and rattled by the evening breeze (yesterday).
Here it is --> http://www.laguna-rising.com/Music/Tmp/ ... Blinds.mp3




HW:
Mobile phone to record Blinds
SW :
Minimogue VA, Stringz2, String theory, Glaceverb, Camel space, Kjarehus classic bundle

[bluerobot]

Real. Simple.

I've been wanting to try an experiment like this for a while.

Audio recording of Anthony Hopkins reading The Lake Isle of Innisfree by WB Yeats.

Processed with reverb, delay, etc (Ableton Live) as well as via Mutable Instruments Warps and Clouds Eurorack modules. Pad from Waldorf Blofeld.

https://soundcloud.com/bluerobotmusic/t ... -innisfree

You can hear (and read) the poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyz0aw4ySE8

[Chickenman]

Well, I would never normally do this but I thought it was ok for a laugh.

I don't have a great voice and my intonation is terrible but I had a crack for this months contest just to see how I would feel.

THERE ARE EXPLICIT LYRICS - Probably not safe for work or children.


Similarly to last month I have limited the amount of finesse and fine tuning as the more I listen the less I want to enter it.

Here it is though - enjoy... or not.

https://soundcloud.com/postalpro/1608-c ... sy/s-ZSjEP
It's a private link but download should still be enabled.

The song (term used loosely) references our recent move and building some flatpack furniture for the cupboards. It was actually pretty easy but I have had some horrible experiences in my time with instructions in different languages or printed so that the image is reversed.

My 2yo daughter has a cameo as she loved singing into the microphone with reverb and delay.

VST and Gear:
Superior Drummer
Kids hand drum
Kids maraca
My included sample is quite hard to hear but it's used on the 2 of each bar in the verses etc - it's the sound of a bendy straw being.. bent.
$200 Tanglewood acoustic
Ibanez RG420 "Bio Armour" ->GT5->Ashton 15w bass amp MP3 input->AT2020->daw (lots of room noise because it was recorded at night).
Kontakt factory instruments for strings and synth bass.
Ferric TDS, standard daw compressors and limiter.

I wouldn't say I am proud of it but I am only working here to enter every month without second guessing myself constantly. Thanks for listening and I apologise if it sounds as bad as I think it does.

[shrikant]

Titled Monsoon Blues. I have added a sample I had recorded of the rains. Tried to keep the mood mellow, calm and simple to get the feel of a rainy day.
Software and Hardware used -

Akai MPK 25
Ableton live
Richman 2
Tapeotronic
BFD Eco
DVS Saxophone



http://www.kara-moon.com/forum/index.ph ... ttach=6937

[kryptonaut]

A Penny For Your Thoughts

All the sounds were made using an old 1915 penny I found while gardening.
Recordings of the penny being flipped, dropped and spun on a kitchen worktop were speed-adjusted in Audacity then looped and assembled in Samplitude Music Studio.

A Penny for Your Thoughts (soundcloud)




FX:
SplineEQ32, Kjaerhus Classic Delay/Reverb/Compressor Melda MAutopan

Mic:
Zoom H1

DAW:
Magix Samplitude Music Studio 2014

[Yeager]

Jumping The Gun.

Made in FLStudio, plugins used :
6 x Synth1
1 x Bassdrum.
Sample : AK47Reload.

Official DR value: DR7. Enjoy.

Jumping The Gun

1608_Yeager _Jumping The Gun.jpg

[Dasheesh]

Just playing synthmaster this evening.

Synthmaster
indent
kuassa
room
hands

This is a new site I'm giving a go. It's buggy as hell but hopefully it works.

https://hearthis.at/jcme-yn/16-8dashees ... ormalized/

[BojanKerkez]

Late Night Strolls to the Grand Central

https://soundcloud.com/bojan-kerkez/lat ... al/s-U8cOu

Made in PreSonus Studio One Pro v3
Key: A# major
Tempo: 114bpm
Time signature: 5-4

Instruments:
NI The Maverick (piano), Spectrasonics Trilian (acoustic bass), Presence XT (vibraphone), NI Razor (synth pad)

Field recordings:
Dr. Macak - NightCity-1
https://www.freesound.org/people/Dr.%20 ... ds/252690/
freesoundjon01 - Zagreb Train Station Announcement
https://www.freesound.org/people/freeso ... ds/323063/
freesoundjon01 - zagreb Train Leaving
https://www.freesound.org/people/freeso ... ds/323062/
freesoundjon01 - Zagreb Train Station Ambience - Diesel and Whistles
https://www.freesound.org/people/freeso ... ds/323064/
volivieri - art gallery
https://www.freesound.org/people/volivi ... nds/50677/

[Jazzaria]

Low Tide



Low Tide

She sells sea shells by the sea side. She sees spare shells surface as the sea subsides. She snags sea shells, swiftly setting them aside. Queen of sea shells, shall the tide abide?

Featuring recordings of the sea organ in Zadar, Croatia - a series of pipes powered by the waves - and other atmospheric ambience centered around harp plucks.

REAL - Features crossfaded excerpts from the following five public domain recordings of the Croatian sea organ: http://freesound.org/people/Skjor1/sounds/321735/, http://freesound.org/people/Skjor1/sounds/321734/, http://freesound.org/people/Skjor1/sounds/321731/, http://freesound.org/people/Skjor1/sounds/321732/, http://freesound.org/people/Skjor1/sounds/321733/

SIMPLE - One patch (Atmos Harp from Rapture Pro), <100 notes and only 4 distinct pitches (granted repeated across 3 octaves)

FX - T-RackS CS: LIN PHASE, OPTO COMP, EQ 1A, BR WALL

[funky lime]

https://soundcloud.com/halfwalk/space-time-wizard

This one sort of popped into my head at work last night, and now I've spent the last 6 hours making it. Itis really kind of dumb and lyrically absurd, and slightly NSFW as a result (I use the word bollocks at one point and kind of make vague innuendoes).

Simple: I kept the bassline as a straight 8th note rhythm, that is pretty much the same note throughout most parts of the song. It pretty much "drones" on in the key of E. I also stuck to 4/4, which is somewhat unusual for me lately. Additionally, I used a verse/chorus structure and simple step-sequenced drums (for the most part) which was much simpler than how I usually do drums.

Sounds: I incorporated samples of snaps, silverware, and vinyl noise into the beat. There's also the hum of a microwave oven in there for the second verse.

Mix: I've just bought new monitors and this is the first mix I've done on them, so I'm not sure how well the balance translates.



kit:
Cockos REAPER, ReaGate
TDR Kotelnikov, SlickEQ, Nova
TB BarricadeCM
Voxengo AnSpec
Sonimus Britson
Klanghelm MJUC, SDRR
IK Amplitube, Sampletank
NI Kontakt, Scarbee Mark 1, Scarbee A-200, Abbey Road 60s & Modern Drummers
TAL Flanger, Chorus 60
D16 Frontier
Kjaerhus Classic Delay, Classic Chorus
Ignite Amps PTeq-X
Izotope Vinyl
VOS ThrillseekerVBL, ThrillseekerLA, ThrillseekerXTC, epicVerb
arcDev ET-301
LVC TransectorCM
Acon Digital Multiply
Arianna Strat-style guitar
Samick P-style bass
AT2020 mic for vocals

SFX and samples mostly from 99sounds. In particular, I used:
Cinematic Sound Effects
Atmospherik Mekanisms
Hands Make Sounds
Mangling Audio
The Warehouse

[Mister Natural]

download : https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/27931 ... YYO50NUGpJ

https://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/0816 ... and-cheese


just Guitar(s) & Geist
couldn't resist adding a simple pad made from Rapture
concrete vocal
LIVE9 environment
Tantra
ValhallaVintageVerb
ValhallaSpaceMod
Ozone5

[slartibartfast]

I think I can do simplicity!

Here is:
(Human) Nature

All sounds are "real sounds" as follows:
Sofia's Dawn Chorus - Creative Commons Attribution License
TottenhamCourtRoad.mp3 - Creative Commons Attribution License
Downtown traffic and crowd noises - Creative Commons 0 License
DMP002011 RUMBCITY SIRENS.wav - Creative Commons 0 License
Explosion 1 - Creative Commons Attribution License
explosion.wav - Creative Commons Attribution License
Recording of a spoon hitting a wine glass (recorded by myself)

The spoon recording was manipulated in Audacity and imported into Padshop.
The only effects used were:
FabFilter Saturn
FabFilter ProC-2
Some gentle mastering from Ozone 6

I could have subtitled this "from simplicity to complexity", as this was the idea I wanted to get across.

Enjoy

[rachmiel]

Simplicity: The sounds are quite rich and complex, so I made the form very repetitive and simple.

Real: A public-domain sample from Freesound.org, 323010__bartjebral__chant-deur03.wav.

OCD: I used just the one sample from Freesound to make everything in the song.

Original sample:

https://soundcloud.com/rachmiel/323010- ... 16-contest

What I made from it:

https://soundcloud.com/rachmiel/squeeee ... 16-contest

Software: Sound Forge to edit the original sample and to master the mix, Acid to mix.

Enjoy!

[folderol]

Here we are

I hope you enjoy a somewhat time-shifted collaboration between Mr Bird and Me .

https://archive.org/download/BitsAndPie ... dandMe.mp3

The real sound consists of edits from an 8 minute recording I made many years ago of a friend's hand-reared blackbird.

Other stuff used
Rosegarden
Yoshimi
Audacity