KVR Audio

Saukar30 · Post by **Saukar30** » Tue May 17, 2016 1:23 pm

Iiight. So here are the two tracks I was considering. Neither of these I have done a great deal of mixing with, so they are very raw...most of the tracks are just mixed as stereo.

https://app.box.com/s/890sbsn3z987wey6l8ywo87bd8nvkooj

This one is the darker trip-hop sound that I like more, so this one is a little bit more developed conceptually. I have some plans for this one. It doesn't really "jump" out at you as of yet because I was planning a slower build up with some more sounds & fx. I was working on more sound design for this one as it came easier for me & this was my first thought from hearing some of the Posolski presets. I worked on this one for about 8 days piecing little things here & there & changing things around. I'm just trying to figure out if people will actually dig the vibe I'm gong for on this one.

https://app.box.com/s/k1shjtz2f6p589a88a35e18clzav9ufh

This is the more dance upbeat EDM kind of song (o at least will be). I just placed the main patterns together, so this one is completely underdeveloped and I haven't really thought of a direction as of yet.. I was just playing with some of the sounds. This is more truer to ow I work mostly: I start with sounds & just make basic patterns that together initially and then build from those seeds. It's completely not mixed... I just did some quick stuff this morning to get a basic idea of how it may sound.

Any and all comments are appreciated!

z.prime · Post by **z.prime** » Tue May 17, 2016 2:57 pm

Saukar30 wrote:... here are the two tracks I was considering ... Any and all comments are appreciated!

So a couple comments, and I understand these are very raw tracks. First, the trip-hop version, to me, is WAY better. It has some feeling to it, some interesting sounds. The "EDM" has nothing special, and the sounds are very far from where they'd need to be to make that track work, I think. The problem with both, however, is the general lack of melody, which will hurt in this competition. Melody should come pretty much first.

bjporter · Post by **bjporter** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:31 pm

Saukar30 wrote: Any and all comments are appreciated!

Well i'll be darned. Both of these tracks are solidly written. I think either one could go forward for me. However... Z' is probably right in that the Trip Hop one has an edge in general.

Julian Ray · Post by **Julian Ray** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:37 pm

'Practice1' definitely has some nice chill/atmospheric feel. I agree, it will benefit of having a melody line.

jasinski · Post by **jasinski** » Tue May 17, 2016 7:59 pm

Going to agree with everyone else that the trip hop track sounds more modern and likely to do better in the contest. Has a bit more melody too. I like the sound design better as well

actioncat · Post by **actioncat** » Tue May 17, 2016 9:42 pm

Saukar30 wrote:So here are the two tracks I was considering.

hey Saukar, just wanted to say I also think the first one is a lot better, and also you should play to your strengths and just do your best in whatever genre you're best at.
last month I missed the top five by 1 or 2 points with a weird track that starts hip-hop and ends noise/metal, so now I'm pretty convinced that as long as you have an interesting idea and good sound design you can do pretty well.

and I don't want to be negative here, but unless you're a superhuman producer like Z and Jasinski here, going in hoping to win is probably just gonna be disappointing... you should just enter as many of these as you can, try to learn from each and improve, and just do what you do without worrying about how you place, eventually the planets will align or something and you'll win a prize.

I remember your Charlatan entry and I thought it was awesome, you have the talent to make it into the top 5, you just need to be patient and get a good month where you have a great idea, the synth really works for you, and neither Z or Jasinski are involved so there's more room at the top lol

actioncat · Post by **actioncat** » Tue May 17, 2016 9:55 pm

oh yeah and I'd like it if you were here more often, besides liking your music, I've been trying to get some of my friends in on this and having more hip-hop producers here will help me do that lol

bjporter · Post by **bjporter** » Tue May 17, 2016 10:38 pm

actioncat wrote:oh yeah and I'd like it if you were here more often, besides liking your music, I've been trying to get some of my friends in on this and having more hip-hop producers here will help me do that lol

Good luck, that should be fun! I find that asking people to try out the OSC is like asking them to do a triathlon.

z.prime · Post by **z.prime** » Tue May 17, 2016 11:31 pm

bjporter wrote:... I find that asking people to try out the OSC is like asking them to do a triathlon.

A triathlon of Composition, Sound design, and Mixing! BOOM!

7angram · Post by **7angram** » Tue May 17, 2016 11:43 pm

z.prime wrote:
bjporter wrote:... I find that asking people to try out the OSC is like asking them to do a triathlon.
A triathlon of Composition, Sound design, and Mixing! BOOM!

Ha...A very apt description

I usually try and finish mine over a couple of days, so it can feel like running a race. The only thing I hate about writing/recording is the "earworm" that results from listening to the same thing over and over. I try to pick a song from an artist I like and keep playing it to drive my own song from my brain!

Julian Ray · Post by **Julian Ray** » Tue May 17, 2016 11:47 pm

Artwork is done, but still working on that track

Saukar30 · Post by **Saukar30** » Wed May 18, 2016 12:13 am

Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I'm glad yall liked pretty much what I have so far.... even the one where I was stretching it a bit. Your criticism gives me some great ideas... mostly what you have all unanimously said about having a melody. I wrote hip-hop for a LONG time and back in the days I was always told I did way too much and to always make it "less" interesting with less sounds. Usually when I made things people wanted to put their own melodies or they said I had too much arrangement going on. It's kind of a challenge in my head now to UNTHINK and actually make things as interesting as possible! Of course music has changed a lot since I started, and now hip-hop is just now starting to catch on the whole thing of having songs with lots of instruments in them. So, Julian, Z-Prime, Javinski, Bjporter... thank you for the mind expansion!

Actioncat... Ive been on KVR for a long time... about 13 years. I think maybe only about 20 days in total I haven't visited this site. I don't post a lot because I usually am soaking up all the knowledge here, learning new techniques & how people describe use all of this tech. When I started on this forum I knew nothing at all about synthesizer (besides presets, reverb & ASDR LOL). I'm by far no expert though. I usually read about what's going on as I always feel like I'm 20 years behind everyone here as far as creating music. I agree with you.. hip-hop producers (including myself) should be more active on KVR... even on the OSCs.

I, as well, have suggested doing the challenges with people I knew and after I explain the rules of the contest they always say "why just 1 synth? So I can't use a sampler or effects?" LOL

z.prime · Post by **z.prime** » Wed May 18, 2016 12:22 am

Saukar30 wrote:... back in the days I was always told I did way too much and to always make it "less" interesting with less sounds. Usually when I made things people wanted to put their own melodies or they said I had too much arrangement going on. It's kind of a challenge in my head now to UNTHINK

Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. Making a hip hop beat usually is background for the vocal, so you can't add a big melody or anything because it takes away from the track as a whole, once vocals are added, and it has to support the story of the lyrics, so the arrangement might have to be a specific way. But here, we don't have the luxury of vocals, so we have to make up for it with some melodic element in its place.

actioncat · Post by **actioncat** » Wed May 18, 2016 6:21 am

Saukar, yeah I saw you've been on KVR since 2005, and have done OSCs since before I heard of any of this.
I wanted to give you my observations cause I came into this hoping to win a prize and being disappointed, and then just enjoying challenging myself and making music and finally I did win something.

It took me a year of doing this every time I could before that happened, and that was only cause I got a month not many people entered, with a synth a lot of people struggled with but I liked, I did some of my better work, and not many entries were from superhumans

so I just think the best approach is to do as many as you can and put winning out of your head cause there's so many factors involved... you might do your best work and then so does everybody else. Or you might do some of your worst, and then so does everyone else and you win.

Taron · Post by **Taron** » Wed May 18, 2016 6:53 am

Trip Hop!

But, yeah, OSC is there to teach, if you ask me, not to win. Winning is a wonderful bonus for sure and I'm still baffled my music makes it up there, since I'm so far off from being contemporary. If anything, this confirms to me that music itself is what music should be about. Breathtaking gymnastics can be great to watch, but a simple, sincere dance can move your heart and lets you have a real moment. I'm just really happy that that still counts!

One Synth Challenge #87: Podolski by U-he (Jasinski Wins!)