One Synth Challenge #165: BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover by Spitfire Audio (Schiing Wins!)

[doctorbob]

Hi Taron,

I have been "done" by SC a lot. Wait a few days and it will allow you to comment again. I think somehow they measure how many comments over a period of time - ie they think you are trolling (which of course you are not, maybe, possibly, haha!).

The instruments as loaded first are panned to their "correct" orchestra positions. But, as you say, without close mic-ing, the separation can be a little "mushy" with that reverb! I found I needed to tweak the pans a little to help with that. I had to volume automate every track (of course!) to get some dynamics into the track. I suspect with the full product you have oodles more control over all this, and lots of mics as well.

This round has brought out some interesting/good/unique composing skills. It was good to not have to mangle sines or find out how to make noise by stacking notes for a change. I think it did make people think about composing in the broadest sense. I feel sure this will have helped many to bring out their " inner composer", and will enhance their tracks in further rounds.

Given we have 47 tracks, I have found after a few listens, I can have a reasonable voting list for refinement. This will come with commenting and moving tracks around the bins!

Enjoy the voting phase folks. Oh yes, I agree that some have not fully embraced the "compose for the challenge" rule. Sadly, those tracks are very good indeed ... not sure what the guidance should be. At least I know mine was composed over a few hours on the Sunday night before submission, and even though "basic" in the composing/arranging arena (ie minimalism), I found that passing the phrases around the orchestra in various forms worked quite well - i think, or, "I would say that, wouldn't I ???"

I would like the say thanks to Richard Semper for being "brave" in choosing this - a number of people had suggested it - there was some trepidation to start, but everyone stepped up to the plate and did good.

dB

[Yadrichik_Chaya]

Did a first real fast listening session, I'd say 15+ tracks are clear 5 points!
But then I'd have to sit with 30+ other tracks and put them here and there…
As always I can not really keep my word when promising things (this only happens via the internet thankfully, never in real life).
So I will not vote hehe! Heard really amazing stuff though

[FrogsInPants]

[ Holy tintinnabulation, Batman - so much stuff! ]

Eh, I'm going to stop this now. I already feel a bit awkward about myself, but I'm still so excited about this stuff and so happy and grateful about what I have learned in the last year, I really want to share with you all I can. So.... forgive me, I'm not trying to appear important, haha, shi.... it's like you've jumped into my sandbox and I'm like a little boy being all excited to show you around, HAHA. Oh, you know "sand" already? AHmm...

There is nothing to forgive. To the contrary, I am deeply grateful for your excitement and your generosity with your time to give such a response. To extend the sandbox metaphor, yeah, I know "sand" already, and I know that you can moisten it to make it stick together, and I know some tools to sculpt and smooth it, but my sandcastles come out a little lumpy and awkward anyway, and sometimes I don't know why, and sometimes I can't even see it.

Like what BrainBeatMusic said above, I'm finding voting difficult because so very many of the entries this month just seem like great compositions to me. Only a very few seem a bit bland or awkward. Really, I often find the voting quite difficult. It's a learning experience in itself, trying to develop better discernment that will hopefully aid my creative process in the future. So yeah, I'm finding this discussion very interesting, thank you so much. Though I fear sometimes I may simply be incapable of hearing some of the subtleties like whether the room characteristics are coherent.

You had the James Bond stuff in there, too, or High Noon, inspired by both, I guess, but it was fantastic. Some things went a bit sideways with notes ending on the toes of others here and there and there was a bit of a constant awkwardness in there, while it had me smile the whole time to with actual pleasure.

I wasn't thinking of Bond or Westerns, but they've no doubt influenced me. I did consciously draw on the opening of Toccata and Fugue in D minor to help sell the organ sound. That same expression on brass does have a Western feel, which might have pulled me in that direction a bit.

When you are able to comment again, I would be - well, maybe "happy" isn't exactly the right word - but I would appreciate feedback on any of the more egregious toe stepping moments or, especially, patterns of awkwardness I should be aware of. There are definitely things I know I struggle with, and I feel like I have mostly taken care of them in this piece, but I'm sure there are plenty of things I'm just not aware of, or just don't prioritize highly enough.

No, when you go all nuts like you do, you can pan the heck out of things, it won't matter. But it does destroy the natural room sound, making it sound like cheaper samples, unless you know exactly what you're doing and master the heck out of them. And you really seem to know exactly what you're doing with the mix and the sound FX, pffff, wonderful!

The funny thing to me is, I don't feel like I have any idea what I'm doing with mixing and mastering. I rarely have much time at all for it at the end of the month when I am almost invariably scrambling to shape a piece into something even remotely finished. This month was actually more relaxed than ever, as things seemed to come together relatively smoothly. (And yet I still submitted last. )

I just try to adjust the levels so nothing seems to be getting completely buried, then throw on a limiter and try to squeeze a little extra volume out without distorting too much. Maybe EQ a bit if something is sounding harsh or needs a little bump. But I always feel like I'm just winging it and hoping for the best. Based on how often I get comments about a lo-fi mix, I suppose I suppress the highs more than others. Or something. I'm not always sure what people are referring to with that. It could also be more down to my sound design choices.

[Taron]

Thing is, you often have that tongue-in-cheek flair to your stuff, probably echoing from your memorable handle choice, hehe. Did you know there is a bizarre "frog museum" here in town:
https://froggyland.net/
We never went inside, though, hahahaha! But somehow I always have to think of you when we walk by.

I'll see when I can comment again and have the time. Seems like I was able to reply today, so... now it's just time.

It's not that long ago that I forgot to feel like I was just winging it, HAHAHAHA! ...too used to that sense.

AWWWW this is priceless :

[FrogsInPants]

Thing is, you often have that tongue-in-cheek flair to your stuff, probably echoing from your memorable handle choice, hehe.

I've always liked frogs, as long as I can remember. And doing things a bit (or a lot ) tongue-in-cheek, yes. I don't always do it, but something about OSC just draws me into frog themes and naturalistic SFX intros. I suppose that also comes from enjoying New Age music with cheesy intros of crashing waves and such. With this one, I didn't intend to do anything froggy at first, but I saw the frog guiro on my shelf and thought that would be fun and easy to mimic with the untuned percussion sounds. Next thing I knew, I was adding yet another naturalistic intro. Oops, gotta shift everything over a couple more bars to extend this intro... Ha. It's hard to resist.

Did you know there is a bizarre "frog museum" here in town:
https://froggyland.net/
We never went inside, though, hahahaha! But somehow I always have to think of you when we walk by.

Lol, no, I've never heard of that place. "Specialty Museum" it says on the awning - you don't say. XD

I'll see when I can comment again and have the time. Seems like I was able to reply today, so... now it's just time.

In your own time. I appreciate it.

[violator_alba]

All done with the voting on this one. What a great bunch of tracks this month!

[ELEX]

Voted.

Though by no means definitively. That was interesting, confusing, exhilarating, mind blowing and much more besides. I'd say this curve ball was hit pretty well indeed. Ta ! to Richard & BJ for throwing it.

[Eauson]

The tracks this month are most excellent
Apologise to ElVincente & Yadrichik_Chaya for not replying earlier, life has happened

[abot81]

Voted!

[becseigy]

Voted.

[singplumb]

Voted!

[envlpx]

Voted!

[confusio]

done voting

[zipidowski]

Voted! What a round of great music! Sorry for not commenting. Awful busy month.

[davi-dj]

Hey all!

I started working on a calm beautiful thing that sounds like a mix between japanese fantasy music and Steve Reich! Now I like these various ideas so much that I'll skip OSC and make a proper thing out of it without any restrictions. (Viharmonic Bohemian Violin, all the Ben Osterhouse libraries, Arturia Piano V3, + better sampled Harps, Brass & Wind Instruments etc. etc. )

ohh I was waiting your song in the voting list and I read this, I was curious about your creation with your style