Song Of The Month Club - August 2019

Spidericemidas

@richardyot said:
@Spidericemidas unfortunately I can't see the track, it's almost certainly because it's set to private. Any chance you can make the track public, or share on Dropbox or the like?

Set to public now, just for the month :-)

Spidericemidas

@richardyot said:
@Spidericemidas unfortunately I can't see the track, it's almost certainly because it's set to private. Any chance you can make the track public, or share on Dropbox or the like?

Have edited the original post with a public link. Strange, I can post private tracks with the private links on Patreon and email, but the Forum wouldn't accept it.

richardyot

@Spidericemidas said:

@richardyot said:
@Spidericemidas unfortunately I can't see the track, it's almost certainly because it's set to private. Any chance you can make the track public, or share on Dropbox or the like?

Set to public now, just for the month :-)

Lovely - thanks for posting

Lots of great sound design of course, but most importantly some great music as well. It's a complex and engaging piece, with lots of interlocking complementary musical elements, with the keys and pads flowing nicely and later on the bassline adding a low-end counterpoint below them (along with the thudding bass and the varied percussion). All the subtle background elements really add a lot to the atmosphere of the track, and the structure is built so that it flows smoothly without ever becoming dull.

The main lead instruments play with the theme beautifully: always changing and evolving but without seeming to noodle aimlessly, every note has a purpose.

I would normally complain if a track is six minutes long, but in this case it's justified, the track takes you on a journey and I'm happy to be taken along. Great job 👍

Spidericemidas

@richardyot said:

@Spidericemidas said:

@richardyot said:
@Spidericemidas unfortunately I can't see the track, it's almost certainly because it's set to private. Any chance you can make the track public, or share on Dropbox or the like?

Set to public now, just for the month :-)

Lovely - thanks for posting

Lots of great sound design of course, but most importantly some great music as well. It's a complex and engaging piece, with lots of interlocking complementary musical elements, with the keys and pads flowing nicely and later on the bassline adding a low-end counterpoint below them (along with the thudding bass and the varied percussion). All the subtle background elements really add a lot to the atmosphere of the track, and the structure is built so that it flows smoothly without ever becoming dull.

The main lead instruments play with the theme beautifully: always changing and evolving but without seeming to noodle aimlessly, every note has a purpose.

I would normally complain if a track is six minutes long, but in this case it's justified, the track takes you on a journey and I'm happy to be taken along. Great job 👍

Thanks for really interesting and useful feedback, Richard. I’m trying to keep tracks shorter now than in the past by limiting sections to 8 bars, duplicating a section and adding new elements and removing some previous elements, and inserting little turnarounds between sections to give more momentum and interest.

I think I might have had Gadget’s limiter a bit too high. I have to work in headphones always, so it’s difficult to judge the mixing and EQing. 🙏

Spidericemidas

@richardyot said:
My entry this month, Nanostudio 2 and Auria, lyrics in the spoiler:

I can help you with your burden
And you can lift me when I’m down
In this world nothing is certain
If you don’t swim you’re gonna drown
If you want me to stay
You just have to say
You just have to say

Just say
And I’ll stay
Cos you know we don't belong
To yesterday, to yesterday

When you told me you were certain
That once lost you can’t be found
Well it turns out when you’re hurting
That you might just come around
If you want me to stay
You just have to say
You just have to say

Just say
And I’ll stay
Cos you know we don't belong
To yesterday, to yesterday

I really like this, especially the “just say...” chorus with the floaty vocal harmonies. I have some old psychedelic compilations on vinyl, a few from the original 60’s stuff and a few from the 90’s when the genre and its specific sound was enjoying a bit of a resurrection. And this track could be from any of those albums. Drum kit sounds great in the mix, as do the leads at the beginning and end. This really appeals to my more acoustic and psychedelic side. Great track, Richard.

richardyot

@Spidericemidas said:

@richardyot said:
My entry this month, Nanostudio 2 and Auria, lyrics in the spoiler:

I can help you with your burden
And you can lift me when I’m down
In this world nothing is certain
If you don’t swim you’re gonna drown
If you want me to stay
You just have to say
You just have to say

Just say
And I’ll stay
Cos you know we don't belong
To yesterday, to yesterday

When you told me you were certain
That once lost you can’t be found
Well it turns out when you’re hurting
That you might just come around
If you want me to stay
You just have to say
You just have to say

Just say
And I’ll stay
Cos you know we don't belong
To yesterday, to yesterday

I really like this, especially the “just say...” chorus with the floaty vocal harmonies. I have some old psychedelic compilations on vinyl, a few from the original 60’s stuff and a few from the 90’s when the genre and its specific sound was enjoying a bit of a resurrection. And this track could be from any of those albums. Drum kit sounds great in the mix, as do the leads at the beginning and end. This really appeals to my more acoustic and psychedelic side. Great track, Richard.

Thanks for the listen and the feedback! 🙏

Kitusai

@richardyot : still this very personal pop style. I’m a fan. It reminded me a bit Broken Bells and their pop atmospheres and melodies.

@fattigman : excellent! The sound is as good as your studio is cool allowing you to record top music and… to cook :-) A perfect song.

@orchardman : yeah a good slow for lovers! :-)

@Thardus : I enjoy this dark atmosphere. Very dramatic. Maybe it would be more intense if shorter.

@audiblevideo : Atari going mad? :-) Very funny music, it would be cool with a crazy video full of robots in an asylum! Maybe it could be also shorter?

@Spidericemidas : what a beautiful excellent flying sounding! Very relaxing track, bravo ! As clear as a summer sky.

So many different styles in this forum, it’s really cool to unit such different feelings and it’s a pleasure to jump from one to another.

richardyot

@Kitusai said:
@richardyot : still this very personal pop style. I’m a fan. It reminded me a bit Broken Bells and their pop atmospheres and melodies.

Good reference - I'm a big fan of James Mercer.

Kitusai

@Spidericemidas is the main instrument a guitar playing with echo or a patch like the ones you cook for D1?

Spidericemidas

@Kitusai said:
@Spidericemidas is the main instrument a guitar playing with echo or a patch like the ones you cook for D1?

I used an acoustic guitar sound which only appears on the outro. The rest of the instruments throughout the track playing the main melodies etc are a piano and a couple of tweaked patches from the iMono/Poly (Montpellier) and Helsinki.

fattigman

@Kitusai said:
A contribution with a saturday night lonesome fellow
https://soundcloud.com/kitusai/richardyot-kitusai-lonesome-saturday-night

@Kitusai that’s a pretty cool song. I can feel the agony of beeing all alone a saturday night through your song. I love the silent break in the middle, very effective.

Spidericemidas

@fattigman said:
Hi all!
This one is created with group the loop and drum jam.
Real instruments are ukulele, ukulele bass and melodica.
Unlike my other creations I tried to finish this one as fast as possible so I didn’t bother to spend time on mixing.
I’m not super happy with the vocals but it’s live and I think it’s good enough since the instruments are far from perfect either. It’s easy to focus for perfection when you work with midi and a piano roll. When you play real instruments that’s impossible unless you’re a pro. I had lots of fun doing this one, more fun than I would have if I aimed for perfection.

Really enjoyed this song and the video was good fun to watch. I think it sounds all the better for not spending too much time agonising over absolute perfection which wouldn't suit the instruments or the feel and style of the song. Great natural voice talent you have there too! Would love to hear that over some reggae and dub! Very nice work.

Spidericemidas

@orchardman said:
Our last two country ballads were a bit too rock n roll so we thought we would try gospel this time

Sweet track, very relaxing and soothing vocals and harmonies. Big fan of country music here, so this sits well with me.

Spidericemidas

@Kitusai said:
A contribution with a saturday night lonesome fellow
https://soundcloud.com/kitusai/richardyot-kitusai-lonesome-saturday-night

I love this! It really reminds me of Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) especially when some of the vocals have that strange filtered lo-fi effect put on them. It's amazing what can be done with one ride cymbal, a guitar and a piano. The piano has a really sweet tone. This music really does portray its title. It's stripped back, very minimal, lonely, sort of tense but soothing at the same time. Really cool! Well done!

Spidericemidas

@audiblevideo said:
I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's really congealed, but here's a longish ditty - not very produced and sounds spectacularly brittle over computer speakers - so use something else.
(While you're at it point me towards mixing tutorials that show how to get a better mix on shitty speakers)

Made with auDSPr , Discord4, Shaper, FAC chorus, DAW Cassette, Modley, Korverpressor and Degrader, as well as Ruismaker Noir, E L S A, DRC and Speak Unit.

This is why I love this Forum. Every now and then you hear something so radically different to what you're used to hearing, that it stops you in your tracks, freaks you out, your eyes widen, and you wonder what kind of mad genius mind was at work here!

This is awesome! I was totally disturbed and genuinely tripped out by this. I thought I was going to start having acid flashbacks. You have a very interesting and creative mind! Never in a million years could I create something like this, but I love it! It's so far out! I love to be taken to the mental and emotional edge by music, but I cannot do it with my own music. This works for me!

I don't know if you should worry too much about producing or mixing it better. It works as it is, and if you tidied or cleaned it up more in some way, it might lose its edginess and extreme personality. It's got chaos, but there's an order behind it.

Brilliant and unique!

audiblevideo

@Spidericemidas said:

@audiblevideo said:
I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's really congealed, but here's a longish ditty - not very produced and sounds spectacularly brittle over computer speakers - so use something else.
(While you're at it point me towards mixing tutorials that show how to get a better mix on shitty speakers)

Made with auDSPr , Discord4, Shaper, FAC chorus, DAW Cassette, Modley, Korverpressor and Degrader, as well as Ruismaker Noir, E L S A, DRC and Speak Unit.

This is why I love this Forum. Every now and then you hear something so radically different to what you're used to hearing, that it stops you in your tracks, freaks you out, your eyes widen, and you wonder what kind of mad genius mind was at work here!

This is awesome! I was totally disturbed and genuinely tripped out by this. I thought I was going to start having acid flashbacks. You have a very interesting and creative mind! Never in a million years could I create something like this, but I love it! It's so far out! I love to be taken to the mental and emotional edge by music, but I cannot do it with my own music. This works for me!

I don't know if you should worry too much about producing or mixing it better. It works as it is, and if you tidied or cleaned it up more in some way, it might lose its edginess and extreme personality. It's got chaos, but there's an order behind it.

Brilliant and unique!

Firstly, thank you for your very kind words. 🤯
Secondly, glad my faffing around gave you pause? joy? inspiration? 😄

Thirdly, if your interested I can try and post a AUM setup.

I was inspired myself by fine producers like you and some real crazy genius who figured out how to make music using floppy drives and other computing equipment.

I went this particular direction during some sound design - I heard the buzzing and went ah maybe I could do something like this (or at least my take)

Spidericemidas

@audiblevideo said:

@Spidericemidas said:

@audiblevideo said:
I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's really congealed, but here's a longish ditty - not very produced and sounds spectacularly brittle over computer speakers - so use something else.
(While you're at it point me towards mixing tutorials that show how to get a better mix on shitty speakers)

Made with auDSPr , Discord4, Shaper, FAC chorus, DAW Cassette, Modley, Korverpressor and Degrader, as well as Ruismaker Noir, E L S A, DRC and Speak Unit.

This is why I love this Forum. Every now and then you hear something so radically different to what you're used to hearing, that it stops you in your tracks, freaks you out, your eyes widen, and you wonder what kind of mad genius mind was at work here!

This is awesome! I was totally disturbed and genuinely tripped out by this. I thought I was going to start having acid flashbacks. You have a very interesting and creative mind! Never in a million years could I create something like this, but I love it! It's so far out! I love to be taken to the mental and emotional edge by music, but I cannot do it with my own music. This works for me!

I don't know if you should worry too much about producing or mixing it better. It works as it is, and if you tidied or cleaned it up more in some way, it might lose its edginess and extreme personality. It's got chaos, but there's an order behind it.

Brilliant and unique!

Firstly, thank you for your very kind words. 🤯
Secondly, glad my faffing around gave you pause? joy? inspiration? 😄

Thirdly, if your interested I can try and post a AUM setup.

I was inspired myself by fine producers like you and some real crazy genius who figured out how to make music using floppy drives and other computing equipment.

I went this particular direction during some sound design - I heard the buzzing and went ah maybe I could do something like this (or at least my take)

Ha! That’s genius.
Yeah I would be interested in seeing your AUM setup.
I’ve been dabbling a lot recently in AUM setting up an evolving chilled out random generative type thing for live jamming. Very different to my usual Gadget workflow.

Kitusai

At least I understand the utility of hard drives, scanners and modems for musicians!

Kitusai

Another mobile iPad-like machine: https://youtu.be/bGQ9Za-rPEo
@richardyot A short piece isn't it?

richardyot

@Kitusai said:
@richardyot A short piece isn't it?

Yes, just needs to trim 9 hours and 53 minutes and it's good to go

audiblevideo

@richardyot and @Kitusai is it bad that it took me 3 minutes to figure out it was looping practically to infinity?

Kitusai

@audiblevideo said:
@richardyot and @Kitusai is it bad that it took me 3 minutes to figure out it was looping practically to infinity?

There is a huge short change between 1hour and 9hours! (but I don't remember exactly where...)

Kitusai

@Kitusai said:

@audiblevideo said:
@richardyot and @Kitusai is it bad that it took me 3 minutes to figure out it was looping practically to infinity?

There is a huge fabulous short break between 1hour and 9hours! (but I don't remember exactly where...)

pianowillbebach

@richardyot love the song, the lyrics, and the dinosaur!

richardyot

@pianowillbebach said:
@richardyot love the song, the lyrics, and the dinosaur!

Thanks 😊😊

orchardman

@Thardus said:

Howdy folks. This is the first song I’ve posted on the forum, it’s part of an album I’m trying to wrap up at the moment. The full title is Heavy Steps Outside Your Door. The songs were all written with thematic intent, maybe not all theme songs necessarily, but these one in particular I wrote as if it were the theme for a show like Luke Cage or the Wire.

My goal is to get a collection of 30 or so tracks that can easily be broken into stems and loops to be used for commercials of tv shows. Not expecting much, but I’ve got some friends in the industry and managed to sell a couple songs when I was stil a touring mousician. If I was smart I would have stuck with that, but no I had to stubbornly pursue playing in a live band, to the detriment of my finances and health.

This one was made primarily in iMaschine, and then I bounced the subgroups to Cubasis. I actually had a difficult time finishing tracks with Cubasis, in addition to the lack of busses, I find it to be a bit of a pain to use for editing and always seem to accidentally erase or move something. I know Auria Pro is the preferred daw for mixing in iOS, but it’s so similar to using a desktop program that at a certain point it just made more sense to mix the more complex songs in Logic.

This track is an outlier and actually ended up with a version mixed in Cubasis and “mastered “ with Grand Finale and one that I imported into Maschine 2 on desktop and finished in Logic using Izotope Ozone. Surprisingly, I ended up liking the iOS version better. It has a cohesive quality that the more professional mix lacked. Was considering posting a comparison if anyone is interested.

Its got a real menacing quality to it and I loved the horns. It would probably be great as a soundtrack with the cameras rolling over some alien landscape but as a stand alone piece it doesn't really go anywhere.

orchardman

@audiblevideo said:
I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's really congealed, but here's a longish ditty - not very produced and sounds spectacularly brittle over computer speakers - so use something else.
(While you're at it point me towards mixing tutorials that show how to get a better mix on shitty speakers)

Made with auDSPr , Discord4, Shaper, FAC chorus, DAW Cassette, Modley, Korverpressor and Degrader, as well as Ruismaker Noir, E L S A, DRC and Speak Unit.

I probably shouldn't have chosen a Sunday morning with a strongbow hangover to review this piece but there we are. It starts off ok with a nice industrial menace to it but it just goes on way too long. I know I'm old but ultimately there has got to be some melody. Sorry man

orchardman

@Spidericemidas said:
Hi @richardyot I haven't entered anything into SOTMC for a long time. I turned to patch designing/sharing for a while after the SoundCloud debacle last year, but I think my SoundCloud 'problem' should have resolved itself by now, although I am still keeping all tracks set to private.

So here is a link to a simple little chilled effort made and mixed in Korg Gadget recently. It was mainly for a personal experiment with incorporating foley recordings into a track. So most of the hats, drums and percs and flapping/swishing fx are one-shot samples I've prepared, made from iPad mic recording things like scrunching and tearing paper, tapping plastic tubs and bottles, striking my lighter etc and imported to Vancouver gadgets where they could be played back at varying pitches and effected further.

Recife is only providing two different kick drums, a snare, an open hat and a ride (forwards & reversed). The rest of the drum/perc sounds are from my foley samples. Although there is also a little drum loop I made in Groovebox, exported to Audioshare and chopped up into smaller segments for reassembling as imports across a few trigger pads in Bilbao, just to enhance the main beat in the second half of the track.

Not really my sort of thing but a pretty well produced instrumental. Nice piano sound but I found some of the percussion sounds were a bit grating especially in the quieter parts. Way too long.

audiblevideo

@orchardman said:

@audiblevideo said:
I haven't posted in a while. Nothing's really congealed, but here's a longish ditty - not very produced and sounds spectacularly brittle over computer speakers - so use something else.
(While you're at it point me towards mixing tutorials that show how to get a better mix on shitty speakers)

Made with auDSPr , Discord4, Shaper, FAC chorus, DAW Cassette, Modley, Korverpressor and Degrader, as well as Ruismaker Noir, E L S A, DRC and Speak Unit.

I probably shouldn't have chosen a Sunday morning with a strongbow hangover to review this piece but there we are. It starts off ok with a nice industrial menace to it but it just goes on way too long. I know I'm old but ultimately there has got to be some melody. Sorry man

YUP. I agree working on it. This was a first rough pass live mix. Thanks for the feedback.

Thardus

Hey guys, I know this is a late reply, had some family related drama that ended up with a 3 week trip back to my father’s home state of Missouri for an impromptu family reunion, just in case my grandmama doesn’t make til our next bi-annual visit. Anyways, everything is as good as we could hope for considering, but I have literally been either traveling, or preparing for traveling (getting work sorted, pausing construction on our house, stuff like that).

Needless to say I have only managed to jump on the forum a handful of times in the last month and wasn’t able to do the proper engagement for the song of the month club, i.e. not just posting your stuff, but listening to other contributions.

So apologies for that. I had been listening to the songs when things got crazy, but didn’t get a chance to write down my thoughts, and I think there were a couple contributions after that as well... So, I wasn’t sure if I should write something about the songs that were up when I posted my song, or if it would be better to focus my time and energy on what’s left of this month?

I did want to thank @richardyot , @Kitusai, @orchardman, for the feedback, I'm glad the thematic element is getting across, but completely agree with the point made regarding the length of the piece and the lack of variation. I actually was using this version to work on some vocal ideas, and essentially just doubled the original instrumental idea.

That said, I haven't come up with anything I felt to inspired about (vocally), and the response the piece has received on here has led me to reassess this track and some others I was planning to release as instrumentals. I have been trying to shorten most of the pieces, in addition to making sure that there is some harmonic and dynamic variation.

Anyways, I will try and post something else this month, but I’ll make sure to provide some feedback for others first, just wanted to address the failure of etiquette.

Thanks/sorry
Thardus