November Contest: Gossip

[S.HUSH]

I actually thought of a great idea for a submission that would guarantee most of you would get pissed off. To make it even more interesting, it's an instrumental! No lyrics! Yet I guarantee it would really piss off most if not all of you. But then I thought about it and decided best if I don't do it.
It's probably going a bit too far so yeah....December theme por favor.

[farlukar]

But then I thought about it and decided best if I don't do it.

Chicken.

[farlukar]

And re:zanussi; I can't remember hovmod doing a washing machine thingy (though he did do a motorcycle engine drone) but Patrick9 did.

[S.HUSH]

Chicken.

No really....I was going to submit a tune that starts out with extremely low volume piano, so one had to turn the volume way up and then, BOOM! Loud harsh aggressive thrash metal blastin' yo ear drums!!!


But it would be bad to add injury to insult. After all, the theme is "piss me off" as opposed to "piss me off by inflicting physical damage" although that would be an interesting theme.

I could always submit a tune about racism if that would be within boundaries. I feel humans are inferior to animals.

[Patrick9]

And re:zanussi; I can't remember hovmod doing a washing machine thingy (though he did do a motorcycle engine drone) but Patrick9 did.

Indeed I did - and here I am, five years later still wandering why my clothes never come out the same as they went in. (Maybe something to do with the sample rate).


Thanks for the reviews Aziraphal - a labour of love this month I think!

[folderol]

folderol_I_Know_A_Song
LOL, that's what being annoying is all about.

Thanks a lot
...
but I'm not entirely sure I want to be considered a sucess at being annoying.

[vespers75]

... waiting for the december contest

Me too, I've got an idea for it. Can someone here provide me with samples of a broken fax machine?

[thomekk]

Chicken.

No really....I was going to submit a tune that starts out with extremely low volume piano, so one had to turn the volume way up and then, BOOM! Loud harsh aggressive thrash metal blastin' yo ear drums!!!

Could have been a winner? The idea sounds good.
The prob I have with ideas like provocate on demand is that to me provocation is something that grows out of individual situations not themes. Anyways - a funny discourse out of the norm this month is.

[LauraMichelJarre]

LauraMichelJarre_WhoDoIHaveToSleepWithToGetOutOfThisShow
Please tell us more here .. how you got the vocals, is it an editing of actual Julie clips / songs? It works very well as an actual Broadway act; great arrangement!!

Thanks. The score is here for those here who like flyspots. The lead sheet is here.

It started out as a writing exercise in suspended chords and altered bass notes. I also modulated from F to Ab and back again as a silly idea. Most key changes don't go up a third, but I did it to avoid a "3-chord rondo".

The vocals were performed by a friend, Lauren, and this was the first take, except for the last line which was second take. There were better vocal takes on 3 & 4 but they were clipped so I had to scrap them. I didn't have monitoring during the recording as I was using a Boss BR600 with no effects and the vocalist had the headphones. The vocals were done on a Rode NTK mic straight into the BR600 recorded in my loungeroom.

The fact Lauren sounded like Julie Andrews I only realized at mix-down. She has done a few amateur productions here.

The string sounds were from a Roland Synth (SRX-04 card) and the french horns were from the Orchestra-1 JV card. It was all done on an old XV3080, driven from Noteworthy Composer through an Edirol UM-1 USB-midi interface. I did the original rushed ideas for parts on a Korg Poly-61 but it sounded a little artificial. I recorded the synth into an Echo Mia sound card.

The mixdown was done in n-track and I use Waves plug-ins (usually the R-verb on vocals and S-1 Imager on the mix, and C4 on the drums). Because the vocalist had a really strong vibrato there is no pitch correction. I couldn't use compression on the whole mix because it turns the string sounds to plastic. The gentle panning of section sounds was done at the midi stage.

I don't know if this answers your question, but that's my usual approach to recording. It was a case of laying down the track and really working hard on the arrangement. I also was trying to "catch the flame" as Mike Stavrou says (see mixingwithyourmind.com) with the vocals.

So no great tricks with cutting and pasting.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Laura, it sounded like you had spliced together a bunch of actual "julie samples."

The singing around the key changes was impressive, whether live or sampled.

If you get a chance, tell that Lauren she's a really good singer. To be able to modulate around like that is impressive.

It's kind of cool to hear that you recorded the vocals on a little BOSS. I went through 3 of those BOSS machines (4 track, 8 track, 8 track with CD writer) before arriving at 'DAW.'

The 'COSM' effects are actually quite good. YMMV of course. The one thing I miss from the BOSS machines; is the ability to easily 'dial in' a fairly good sounding bass guitar. I haven't yet worked with any VST which will take a guitar signal and make it sound like a bass, the way COSM does.

Anyway, kudos on everything it took to make that tune!

[LauraMichelJarre]

I will pass on your remarks to Lauren. I'm certain she'll be very happy.

I don't know how, but some days you finish a track and it is surprisingly good, and other times you end up with a monkey fart in spite of all the effort.

I think I need some of Max's "magic mixing dust" to make all my tracks shine.

I got lucky this month.

[Hovmod]

And re:zanussi; I can't remember hovmod doing a washing machine thingy (though he did do a motorcycle engine drone) but Patrick9 did.

I did a washing machine thingy once. The washing machine provided a rhythmic backdrop for some obnoxious sounding frogs I recorded in a patch of tall grass after midnight in the rainy season in Congo. Only later was I told that the frogs attract all sorts of snakes, so the locals cross the street when they hear those loud frogs.

[Aziraphal]

It started out as a writing exercise in suspended chords and altered bass notes. I also modulated from F to Ab and back again as a silly idea. Most key changes don't go up a third, but I did it to avoid a "3-chord rondo".

The vocals were performed by a friend, Lauren, and this was the first take, except for the last line which was second take.

Holy wow.
Your friend has an incredible voice and this is a fantastic song. I'm already envious of all the musical accomplishments waiting for you in the future!

[folderol]

It started out as a writing exercise in suspended chords and altered bass notes. I also modulated from F to Ab and back again as a silly idea. Most key changes don't go up a third, but I did it to avoid a "3-chord rondo".

The vocals were performed by a friend, Lauren, and this was the first take, except for the last line which was second take.

Holy wow.
Your friend has an incredible voice and this is a fantastic song. I'm already envious of all the musical accomplishments waiting for you in the future!

ditto

[xh3rv]

I don't know how, but some days you finish a track and it is surprisingly good, and other times you end up with a monkey fart in spite of all the effort . . .
I got lucky this month.

I always tell myself stuff that isn't very good is just part of my process.




I'm pretty deep in the process most of the time.

Great track, totally unexpected, pretty sure no one else could have pulled it off quite the same way