Remix Competition 1 - warm up!

krd · 22-09-2010 10:48pm

I think I'm losing my mind. I have two clearish ideas - but I need to nail stuff that's - Actually, I need to nail a lot of stuff.

Which is the best way to do drums in Ableton? Operator or the Drum rack? - I've been using operator for months because it was simpler to use.

I don't want to clutter my DAW with separate tracks for each drum - it's not laziness - it's a fear of losing control.

The clap sound on the original recording has been driving me nuts - What is it? Is it some kind of noise - is the attack funny on it - is it dead on 2 and 4 or is it off. I know I've heard it a thousand times before - I know it's really common but I've never created it.

Something Emma Bunting, Baby Spice, once said that now comes to mind; fail to prepare - prepare to fail.

Damn

Android 666 · 23-09-2010 12:01am

So here's what I managed to get done over the last few days. Chopped the melody in half and kind of went from there:

http://soundcloud.com/android-78/duderstadt-sunrise-android-78s-boards-of-management-remix

Looking forward to hearing everyone else's!

krd · 23-09-2010 4:50am

Android 666 wrote: »

So here's what I managed to get done over the last few days. Chopped the melody in half and kind of went from there:

http://soundcloud.com/android-78/duderstadt-sunrise-android-78s-boards-of-management-remix

Looking forward to hearing everyone else's!

And I did the video - President Android Vs Duderstat - Sunrise of the Androids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6KIIQSqHkY

It makes more sense once you've seen the video.

Bet you're wondering where I found the time to do this when I should be working on my mix. ...So am I.. so. am . I.

Anyway - that was fun - wondering why my Ableton Warp is off by 3 32ths' isn't.

Android 666 · 23-09-2010 10:13am

krd wrote: »

And I did the video - President Android Vs Duderstat - Sunrise of the Androids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6KIIQSqHkY

It makes more sense once you've seen the video.

Bet you're wondering where I found the time to do this when I should be working on my mix. ...So am I.. so. am . I.

Anyway - that was fun - wondering why my Ableton Warp is off by 3 32ths' isn't.

Ha, ha Brilliant

Just one small thing - President Android is lazy atom's nom de plume and his stuff is way, way better than mine.

Neurojazz · 23-09-2010 11:33am

krd wrote: »

Which is the best way to do drums in Ableton? Operator or the Drum rack? - I've been using operator for months because it was simpler to use.

Damn

IMPULSE

Trust me!

eeloe · 23-09-2010 11:35am

Yeah, i've completely given up on this now!

I just can't get anything decent sounding!

I've about 2-3 minutes of it done, can't get anymore, i'll upload that over the next few days and take criticisim from there

seannash · 23-09-2010 11:57am

just looked at the midi files now.

for some reason the volume had been fixed to be at +1.9 db when i dragged it into logic,easy to fix i guess.

interested to hear what people make of it

lazyatom · 23-09-2010 12:53pm

krd wrote: »

And I did the video - President Android Vs Duderstat - Sunrise of the Androids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6KIIQSqHkY

awesome video! that's great. the track works really well with it! pity it isn't mine..

Android 666 wrote: »

Ha, ha Brilliant

Just one small thing - President Android is lazy atom's nom de plume and his stuff is way, way better than mine.

uh, many thanks for the compliment but you do talk a load of bollocks as well it has to be noted!

Android 666 · 23-09-2010 1:38pm

lazyatom wrote: »

uh, many thanks for the compliment but you do talk a load of bollocks as well it has to be noted!

Well, bollocks talker is my middle name. I had cruel and unusual parents…

lazyatom · 23-09-2010 3:32pm

well, here goes...

http://soundcloud.com/lustbader/duderstadt-sunrise-lustbader-remix

i was about to upload earlier when a mate mentioned that the kick was lost in the mix. considering i had layered 8 different kick sounds, scooped out all extraneous frequencies, compressed the crap out of it, with an added limiter to boost the damned thing PLUS had sidechained the sh!t outta everything in order to get it 'loud' in the mix, that came as a bit of a bodyblow.

he then suggested i just 'make it louder' which... uh, i did. by increasing the volume. simples. stripped the kick back to a 2kick sandwich and pushed it all the way to eleventy.

for the rest of the track, i took all the energy and loveliness of the original and, uh, well, got rid of them. the result is above.

dasdog · 23-09-2010 3:42pm

Both so far knock the sh1t out of what I've been doing..good stuff though. I think I'll need to revert from the keep it consolidated and midi only methodology.

lazyatom · 23-09-2010 3:43pm

Android 666 wrote: »

So here's what I managed to get done over the last few days. Chopped the melody in half and kind of went from there:

http://soundcloud.com/android-78/duderstadt-sunrise-android-78s-boards-of-management-remix

Looking forward to hearing everyone else's!

great track! really liked that. Fischerspooner meets Boards Of Canada. meets Sasha. nice mix of sounds. great stuff.

krd · 23-09-2010 4:04pm

lazyatom wrote: »

well, here goes...

http://soundcloud.com/lustbader/duderstadt-sunrise-lustbader-remix

i was about to upload earlier when a mate mentioned that the kick was lost in the mix. considering i had layered 8 different kick sounds, scooped out all extraneous frequencies, compressed the crap out of it, with an added limiter to boost the damned thing PLUS had sidechained the sh!t outta everything in order to get it 'loud' in the mix, that came as a bit of a bodyblow.

he then suggested i just 'make it louder' which... uh, i did. by increasing the volume. simples. stripped the kick back to a 2kick sandwich and pushed it all the way to eleventy.

for the rest of the track, i took all the energy and loveliness of the original and, uh, well, got rid of them. the result is above.

You could add a few cymbals and crashes - you have something against cymbals? - there is not a single cymbal in the entire track. They make it sound like something about to happen. So the elements won't sound like they're just drifting into each other.

Anyway mines turning into a real disaster - there's no way I'll get the stuff I want done for Sunday. Spent hours last night trying to get a simple riff to work and couldn't.

lazyatom · 23-09-2010 6:38pm

krd wrote: »

You could add a few cymbals and crashes - you have something against cymbals? - there is not a single cymbal in the entire track. They make it sound like something about to happen. So the elements won't sound like they're just drifting into each other.

i don't think i've ever used a cymbal crash in any track of mine. ever. so yeah, i guess i have something against them for some reason. i think it's cos anyone i have just sound so cheesy. like, ba-dum-tish cheesy. i never can slot them into a track in any way that doesn't make it all... cheesy.

i do like hats though. they're like cymbals only better, no?

@ Matt; many, many thanks for all your feedback and comments. as a mate of mine pointed out, you'd have to pay good money for professional advice like that. it's really deeply appreciated that anyone takes time out to listen to the tracks let alone make any constructive criticism on them in order to better the music and increase the skills.

i have to agree with every word you say as well... i knew the levels were all over the shop and sounds were fighting. all because i wanted a full-on kick like in the original. ah well, back to the drawing board.

are we allowed to post up re-edits? please say no cos i don't want to look at the damned track again...

Neurojazz · 23-09-2010 7:19pm

lazyatom wrote: »

i don't think i've ever used a cymbal crash in any track of mine. ever. so yeah, i guess i have something against them for some reason. i think it's cos anyone i have just sound so cheesy. like, ba-dum-tish cheesy. i never can slot them into a track in any way that doesn't make it all... cheesy.

i do like hats though. they're like cymbals only better, no?

@ Matt; many, many thanks for all your feedback and comments. as a mate of mine pointed out, you'd have to pay good money for professional advice like that. it's really deeply appreciated that anyone takes time out to listen to the tracks let alone make any constructive criticism on them in order to better the music and increase the skills.

i have to agree with every word you say as well... i knew the levels were all over the shop and sounds were fighting. all because i wanted a full-on kick like in the original. ah well, back to the drawing board.

are we allowed to post up re-edits? please say no cos i don't want to look at the damned track again...

Don't worry about re-edits - this is exactly what we need to eliminate *Procrastination* - and getting the skills up. The next tests will be a bit different

krd · 23-09-2010 8:50pm

lazyatom wrote: »

i don't think i've ever used a cymbal crash in any track of mine. ever. so yeah, i guess i have something against them for some reason. i think it's cos anyone i have just sound so cheesy. like, ba-dum-tish cheesy. i never can slot them into a track in any way that doesn't make it all... cheesy.

i do like hats though. they're like cymbals only better, no?

.

I hada big long answer - but my internet connection when funny and it got gobbled up by the magic invisible cat of the internet.

Hats are not really symbols - they and things like shakers - are to act as pedals to drive the music. A symbol can nearly be anything. So if you think one sound is too cheesy just use another. There's a fashion at the minute for not using classic sounding symbols.

Cymbals - and this is true outside of dance or electronic music - are used to announce things like changes or ends or climax things. They make transitions sound smoother less jarring. Also they can just spice things up.

dasdog · 23-09-2010 9:56pm

I use them a lot. And classical not in the dance sense but as in rolling soft hammers on a cymbal that would sit beside a pair of kettle drums. That and a edge slashes across ride cymbals. I'm looking at Saturday afternoon before posting anything up as I've had two neighbourly complaints in the past couple of months about night time guitars and John Lee Hooker blaring out too loudly and I don't want to mix everything on a set of headphones but I'm getting there.

lazyatom · 24-09-2010 10:40am

@ neurojazz: hi matt, you mentioned in your comments that i should listen to some current tracks (N20 and Anjuna...). this shows how little i know and how outta touch i am with what you crazy kids are listening to these days but are those actual track titles or artists? cos they appear as both within Beatport.

any other hints on what sounds hot right now? jeez, just had a weird feeling i was will ferrell in Zoolander just there... <shudder>.

Neurojazz · 24-09-2010 10:44am

lazyatom wrote: »

@ neurojazz; hi matt, you mentioned in your comments that i should listen to some current tracks (N20 and Anjuna...). this shows how little i know and how outta touch i am with what you crazy kids are listening to these days but are those actual track titles or artists? cos they appear as both within Beatport.

any other hints on what sounds hot right now? (jeez, just had a weird feeling i was will ferrell in Zoolander just there... <shudder>).

I can probably hint at a few - but there's a lovely DJ forum on boards that you'll find you can ask also what artists and labels are 'current'

N2O is an artist - does some crazy mixes and has a fairly distinct sound - and anjunabeats is a label that is very strict with the sound it signs...

Also check out Marco V for percussion - he's great.

That's mostly Trance orientated, so feel free to go and ask a few DJ up in the other forum for different genres.

Good luck! - have fun with it all.

Android 666 · 24-09-2010 11:22am

lazyatom wrote: »

@ Matt; many, many thanks for all your feedback and comments. as a mate of mine pointed out, you'd have to pay good money for professional advice like that. it's really deeply appreciated that anyone takes time out to listen to the tracks let alone make any constructive criticism on them in order to better the music and increase the skills.

+1!

Its been great getting detailed feedback like that and it really makes you want to up your game. Cheers for the analysis!

Android 666 · 24-09-2010 11:25am

lazyatom wrote: »

well, here goes...

http://soundcloud.com/lustbader/duderstadt-sunrise-lustbader-remix

Really great version and full of acidy yumminess. Definitely agree with Matt about that last riff being a great basis for a standalone track. Great stuff!

Can't wait to hear what else people put up.

dasdog · 24-09-2010 11:34pm

There is nothing new or innovative about this. I got the idea in to my head to not play a single midi instrument note and to just use the midi parts provided (4/5 used) which I did for some reason. The drums were put in though as was the bass/guitar. It's kind of bland/flat but it was a great learning challenge. I'd never used the bundled Cubase Studio Prologue synth or Groove Agent One (drum machine) before which most of it was done on but I ended up slaving Reason 4.0 off it. The more I added or tweaked the worse it sounded which nearly drove me nuts. I'm awaiting a barrage of either too much or not enough bass comments cos I can never judge.

http://soundcloud.com/dasdog/duderstadt-sunrise-dasdog-backintime-remix

Neurojazz · 24-09-2010 11:43pm

dasdog wrote: »

There is nothing new or innovative about this. I got the idea in to my head to not play a single midi instrument note and to just use the midi parts provided (4/5 used) which I did for some reason. The drums were put in though as was the bass/guitar. It's kind of bland/flat but it was a great learning challenge. I'd never used the bundled Cubase Studio Prologue synth or Groove Agent One (drum machine) before which most of it was done on but I ended up slaving Reason 4.0 off it. The more I added or tweaked the worse it sounded which nearly drove me nuts. I'm awaiting a barrage of either too much or not enough bass comments cos I can never judge.

http://soundcloud.com/dasdog/duderstadt-sunrise-dasdog-backintime-remix

Can you post this up in - http://soundcloud.com/groups/boards-ie please?

A few others are lurking on that page

While give comments on it tommorow

dasdog · 24-09-2010 11:52pm

I did originally...but I deleted it from my own profile account after that as I was not too happy with it which in turn deleted the track from the boards group. It's re-posted now.

krd · 25-09-2010 1:18am

Today - I dusted down my monitors (which I've never used and were a gift).

And I have noticed, there are, what you could call major frequency holes in my old speakers.

I'm not really ready for Sunday - But I've found out some really cool stuff about tracks I'd done before and had only heard on really ****e speakers.

I've spent the whole week, trying to get a snare that goes spluish spluish - instead I get kuish kuish kuish.

krd · 25-09-2010 2:58am

Neurojazz wrote: »

Can you post this up in - http://soundcloud.com/groups/boards-ie please?

A few others are lurking on that page

While give comments on it tommorow

This is fun - I'm listening to this stuff on my "new" monitors

I much prefer http://soundcloud.com/lustbader/duderstadt-sunrise-lustbader-remix

One criticism - there's a general rule - you keep your basses (the bassy parts of your basses panned to the centre - the higher bits you can have all over the place - Just it's really good to have the bass driving down the middle with the Kick - Like an Android rock band is playing. )

That was fun.

Yes, I know it's 3 in the morning and yes I have been drinking. But it's still fun.

I prefer the version with the robots in it.

Jev/N · 25-09-2010 4:01am

Fair play to all involved!

Exams are finished for me in two weeks so I'll definitely give it a shot if there's another one once I'm done

Stab*City · 25-09-2010 10:24pm

Ok my attempt is here.. Bit of a rush job in the end.. i hope it dont sound too much like the original as i only listened to original once.. Also would have liked to have done more with the break/buildup.. And the breakbeat was a total afterthought.. Well i tried and i hope ye like.. Truth be told its the first track i have ever "completed" which im delighted with in itself.. Even at work i seem to do better/get more done working to short deadlines..

http://soundcloud.com/carlitobriganti/duderstadt-sunrise-carlitos-way

red dave · 26-09-2010 12:12am

This track has broken my heart, anyways here's my version:

http://soundcloud.com/red-dave/duderstadt-sunrise-red-dave-remix

Stab*City · 26-09-2010 1:02am

red dave wrote: »

This track has broken my heart, anyways here's my version:

http://soundcloud.com/red-dave/duderstadt-sunrise-red-dave-remix

Very nice RD:)

Remix Competition 1 - warm up!

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