february contest - GOSSIP

[Beardedone]

ah beardedone - the old jazz programming. its kind of simultaneously beyond my intellectual capacity and also very groovy.
i woldnt know how to start doing something like this so top marks. and it sounds pretty pro too.

Thanks so much UniCon! Real glad you like it. Intellectual Schmitellectual! I just like to take chords I noodle with on guitar and plunk them into a piano roll. Then I run through quantize (big thanks to Krim for pointing out the importance of smart quantizing) until they sound reasonable. The hardest part is getting the frickin' drums to work. Unless you are like Squids that part is as you all know plodding work even with the help of Slicy and Fillin drummers.

Cheers,
Gordon

[You™]

utm - sounds really smooth. excuse my ignorance but this is a cover right?! were the drums loops or programs - they sound v fresh.

Not a cover. It was expunged from my subconscious specifically for this contest. I was following the "space cowboy" thread a while back and started thinking about doing a yodeling song but then I read Lady J's post and thought WTF, why not do something for Valentine's day because I never would. I swore many years ago when I didn't sing that I would never use the word "love" in a lyric.

Drums are a combination of my godawful flailing on my broken Octapad triggering sounds the kits from a Yamaha RX-5, TG-33, PSR-520. Roland D-10, Alesis Quadrasynth (I think this uses mostly the TG-33 cause it's so fakey sounding) and a couple chopped loops and samples (I never use anything straight). Then I did a fair bit of MIDI quantizing and restructuring, print to audio with a bit of EQ and effects to muddy the sound, followed by more slicing and too much compression. That's my recipe for spicing-up leftovers to make them seem fresh again.

[Ixox]

ixox - hello! wow. I thought you said you couldn't sing? I think you should be doing more with your composition talents my man.

Hi Matt, Thanks i'm glad you liked it !
I've never said i can't sing
I told you that I can't play well the guitare and that to get what you hear i had to make a merge between around 20 recordings of my wife

See you, et non je ne sens pas trop le fromage aujourd'hui

AND YOU MUST MAKE AN ENTRY FOR FEBRUARY !!!

[Anakha]

anakha - this really reminded me of a moshing Ozric tentacles mix, did you play the lead? quality! Drunkit from hell programmed or loops?

Cool! Glad you liked it
I played all guitars. Drumkit from hell was programmed in NI Battery.

[Wopelka]

Wopelkaladdin - good work feller - wasnt too sure about the beat at first but the double tracked vocals rule! i'm impressed! (not that that means anything!!)

Thanks for your nice words UniCon.

Out of curiosity, what was the things you were not sure about the beat? Maybe the HH, a bit thin and undefined? i worked hard on the snares and i quite like the result - but i might be the only one?

Cheers

And you are right: Aladdin should be written with two 'd' - sorry for the mistake.

[UniCon]

honestly Wolpeka? I dont know. I think the rhythm itself just didnt sound too 'street', but how that works out technically i would say i dont know! I would have perhaps placed the 3rd kick somewhere else to make it a little less smooth flowing but really its such a minor point!

Ixox - ha ha that shows my ability to understand the French language! ha we have probably been having 2 different conversations!
Never mind about the cheese.

so, beardedone and youtm - quantising is the way ahead? ha. that might explain a few things for me. Maybe I should quantise from now on
but seriously its not just quantising both tunes sound fresh, lively and human too.

[Wopelka]

Ok, this month i gonna try the reviews thing again. Here is a first bunch. As i'm at work, the chosen ones are the ones my memory is the most acquainted with.

All is naturally said under the IMHO label:

Garret – THIS is a beauty. I'm already a fan of your worksongs, but this one shines upon us like the morning star at the crack of dawn. Warm mix. Delicate instrumentation. Mastered voice. Nice structure. Love it.


You™ - Nice tune. i particularly like the voice treatment. you made some nice variations. The mix is probably not perfect, but it works fine for me. The incidental increase in volume due to the compression, as you said, is quite a good chance. Lyrics are nice, too.


Beardedone – another great delivery from you. This one has the power in it. An extended version would be warmly welcome here.


Tristeza Orange – This little tune is so charming! Just a bit too much overdrive for my taste, although distortion is a part of its charm. It has a great feel and makes me dream about strange forms and lights.


Donkey T – A standard delivery with all the power and talent expected. Someone said huge, and yes this is huge. Particularly like the chords progression.


normal – your style needs larger format, probably. But this too short journey in your worlds is as pleasant as usual. Large, spacey, colourful, enjoyable.


Ixox – dunno if it's the EQ or the Reverb, but you voice sounds a bit too "brightened" for my taste. Apart from this little downside, i quite like this song. Maybe it lacks what CM would call... err... a "hook"? oh, what an idiot i am! There's a hook, and that's your wife and her sweat voice.


smart – it took some time but now i don't skip it anymore... i'm hooked, i love this little peachy tune. Simple and beautiful.


duncanparsons – great number. Sounds a bit thin, yep. Nice arrangement, full of energy, inspired.


vitaminD – trance is not my thing at all. this one sounds a bit different, tho. but maybe i just don't know wtf i'm talking about. For instance, i was pleasantly surprised by the long, naked pad. I'm not sure whether it works in terms of trance music, but i like it, as something "experimental" in a way – yes, your track is interesting.

[You™]

so, beardedone and youtm - quantising is the way ahead? ha. that might explain a few things for me. Maybe I should quantise from now on
but seriously its not just quantising both tunes sound fresh, lively and human too.

Careful with that quantizer, Eugene Quantization is fine to some extent - to fix obvious timing errors and, ahem, latency issues (either software or wetware induced) but if you over do it, it can totally ruin the groove - unless you like dancing like a robot all the time. It's especially tricky when used with loops as they tend to have plenty of timing errors which give them their nice feel.

[Beardedone]

so, beardedone and youtm - quantising is the way ahead? ha. that might explain a few things for me. Maybe I should quantise from now on
but seriously its not just quantising both tunes sound fresh, lively and human too

Yes but I try to use it sparingly and piecemeal. It can help bring a melody out in a different way. Alos just tweaking velocities can be fun and revealing. But note that I only heavily quantize some parts and others not at all. It can take ages to get things to fit together but I find it worth it.

Beardedone – another great delivery from you. This one has the power in it. An extended version would be warmly welcome here.

Wow thanks Wopelka! I wasn't sure about this track for a few days. I took me so long to get it right and I performed surgery on it so many times it kind of felt like an albatross (sorry no choc-ices ). Glad you like it. Extended version eh?Maybe soon.

Many thanks also to everyone doing reviews. I wish I had the time to do it proper.

Best Cheers,
Gordon

[rsmus7]

rsmus7 - i cant knock this at all - well made, good choice of instruments, subtle programming too.

Thank you for your review.

Since I´m not a native speaker I don´t understand the meaning of " I cant knock on this at all"

could you please explain it to me?

[UniCon]

sorry rsmus7 ! i meant i could not find anything wrong with it!

btw - youtm - i spent from the ages of 11 to 15 trying to dance like a robot. I think enough is enough!

[donkey tugger]

Donkey T – A standard delivery with all the power and talent expected. Someone said huge, and yes this is huge. Particularly like the chords progression.

Hehe 'huge' it is then. That's what I was arfter, some kind of big f**k off Dandy Warhols overblown sound. Even did the Captain Mark 'stick a compressor on everything', though I still didn't quite achieve the good Capn's level of bombast!

[You™]

Since I´m not a native speaker I don´t understand the meaning of " I cant knock on this at all"

could you please explain it to me?

It's like "can't beat it with a stick." Don't worry, it's a good thing! It's beyond reproach. And I agree. I like your piece more and more with each listen.

[plunge]

plunge - seems v quiet mix but i like the lead sound!! very Sly and the Family Stone i reckon. what is it?

Lead sound is a wah-rhodes piano sound. I probably would like Sly and TFS, but I don't own anything by them. This is an original piece created for this contest.

Thanks for the generous time spent dolling out feedback. I appreciate it.

[You™]

btw - youtm - i spent from the ages of 11 to 15 trying to dance like a robot. I think enough is enough!

I still dance like an unbalanced washing machine and I spent years 11 to 15 much like the rest of my later years: trying to convince girls to disrobe in front of me.