August Contest: Gossip

[Vulcandj]

Mello......thanks for the kind words. Funny that you mentioned Roger Waters: when I first saw the theme, I thought something in the realm of Floyd would be the way to go. Thanks again!

Walt

[D.H. Miltz]

Thanks, mello.

[Shangsean]

Thanks for the comment Mellotronaut.

[davidstiles]

Thanks for the kind review, Mello!

[thomekk]

Thx, Monsieur Mello!

[proxc]

Thanks! Constructive feedback always appreciated.

[mellotronaut]

Thanks! Constructive feedback always appreciated.

it's quite difficult to get string or brass samples sound 'real'. i've more or less given up on this, but not entirely.
the problem is, in reality, every single instrument is played by a different person in a different mood in the same situation and space. also the instruments sound different. and nobody begins to play at the same time and there are different bow actions and the resonance of the instruments' bodies. anyway there are some nice tricks to fake variety and some sample libraries are quite qood actually, but not quite affordable. i like a lot to blend sampled stuff with synth stuff, because synth stuff usually isn't as stiff as sampled stuff and in a situation, where some kind of reverb is used, the fake works quite well.
there is a very interesting soundset for U-He Zebra2: http://esgalachoir.wix.com/corinneff
the patches don't sound realistic in most cases, but they give a great atmosphere. so one can double the sampled stuff with Zebra 2 and turn down the volume of the synth stuff.
staccato strings are an especially difficult subject, because the should have a certain impact. to fake different mic positions, is a good trick. this only needs radical eq'ing and different reverb settings in different doubled tracks. ... and every single note should have a slightly different beginning and ending and a different velocity anyway.
i'm only good in theory at least in this case and your music is quite powerful and good, imo. so it's just to make something good even better.
btw., there is Thomekk, whose orchestral instruments sometimes don't sound 'real', but he's some kind of pirate and anarchist and Kraut and ... i suppose, he doesn't give a shit about it and i'm not a bit disturbed by the 'artificial' sound ...

Chris

[thomekk]

Thanks! Constructive feedback always appreciated.

i like a lot to blend sampled stuff with synth stuff, because synth stuff usually isn't as stiff as sampled stuff and in a situation, where some kind of reverb is used, the fake works quite well.
there is a very interesting soundset for U-He Zebra2: http://esgalachoir.wix.com/corinneff
the patches don't sound realistic in most cases, but they give a great atmosphere. so one can double the sampled stuff with Zebra 2 and turn down the volume of the synth stuff.
staccato strings are an especially difficult subject, because the should have a certain impact. to fake different mic positions, is a good trick. this only needs radical eq'ing and different reverb settings in different doubled tracks. ... and every single note should have a slightly different beginning and ending and a different velocity anyway.
i'm only good in theory at least in this case and your music is quite powerful and good, imo. so it's just to make something good even better.
btw., there is Thomekk, whose orchestral instruments sometimes don't sound 'real', but he's some kind of pirate and anarchist and Kraut and ... i suppose, he doesn't give a shit about it and i'm not a bit disturbed by the 'artificial' sound ...

Chris

It depends When I tried at first some orchestral stuff I had only Soundsfonts with no super quality, so I used more reverb on it. For the orchestral stuff I later bought the Vienna Symphonic Special Edition. There are lots of tweabilites but did not go into them that much right now. Still lots to learn.

For the combination with synth stuff: I enjoy sometimes combining synths with samples for the reason to hear both worlds in combination but not always with the intent to fake an orchestra. Here I tried it to be more orchestra "but" there is a synth part also: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 7#p5688477 and this one hopefully sounds like some quieter chamber ensemble work (without synths): http://www.musik-und-text.de/wordpress/archives/315 For the contest right now it's obviously some bastard thing, not pure.
But if someone wants to go the Hansi Zimmer-Way then it's a different alley of course.

[mellotronaut]

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 7#p5688477 and this one hopefully sounds like some quieter chamber ensemble work (without synths): http://www.musik-und-text.de/wordpress/archives/315

i didn't say, you're not able to do it ... and you do it quite well ...

For the contest right now it's obviously some bastard thing, not pure.

... it's just: it doesn't matter to you sometimes ... and it doesn't matter to me either sometimes.

if one is on the Zimmer route, it does matter, of course.

[RuediRena]

Some short reviews, well done everybody:

Laguna Rising - The Dawn of Air Combat
Dramatic illustration of airfights with sometimes rather strange percussive -hmm- crossrhythms.

rifftrax - Flamethrower
Intense modern track which I really like, but it doesn't for me it doesn't this month's theme.

ericbourne - Lost Generation
This creates an atmosphere of desperation. Well done.

davidstiles - Lament for the Great War
Fine, sad composition that is so focused, it suffers a bit from the lifeless quality of the samples.

mellotronaut - Berlin Juli 1914
Oh yes, another illustration of the madness that led to this war. In the style of 1914 composers avantgarde (?).

Hellfog - War of Chaos
Concept like RuediRena's three phases, but we are not quite sure what to think of the first two parts. The final timbre of the piano does it for us though.

ClaRago - Trench Storming
Another hybrid orchestral approach. Well done.

thomekk - Friedrich Brück
Masterpiece. You can't describe this horror with normal sounds. Strange as it can be. And rightly so.

Vulcandj - This War
Beautyful and sad and dark and like being made to be played by The Band. Musically we like the subtle changes in rhythm a lot. Great.

Shangsean - Heavy Load
A piece as dull as the trench war with some movement that doesn't lead anywhere. Good.

beanpole - Tipperary
As hip-hip-hooray as the beginning of the war. Thanks for adding, it shows the spirit of this period.

kryptonaut - Shell Shock
Imaginative look into the brains of warriors.

D.H. Miltz - Shot at Dawn
The broken voice matches the theme of this song. Thanks for the link to the Guardian article. Moving.

proxc - Trenchant
Another orchestral track with a somewhat unnerving 'artillery' percussion. We like the ending which could have gone on a bit longer.

[mellotronaut]

Some short reviews, well done everybody:
mellotronaut - Berlin Juli 1914
Oh yes, another illustration of the madness that led to this war. In the style of 1914 composers avantgarde (?).

Angst, Hysterie und Säbelrasseln eben. kann auch 2014 sein, ist aber dada, ja (fear, hysteria and sabre-rattling. could be 2014 too, but it's dada, yes.

thank you very much for the reviews, Ruedi and Renate!

and thank you very much for the votes so far, especially to Laguna Rising.

[whitebalance]

Heh, I missed the submission date (the fact that the rules had been copied and pasted from a 2013 post didn't help ). Yeah I know I'm dumb Is it ok to at least post the link to my finished track here, for fun, outside the contest?

[D.H. Miltz]

^The main rules are always copied and pasted, but usually I remember to change the date. Sorry.

Sure, you can post the link to your track here.

[D.H. Miltz]

Thank you, RuediRena.

[whitebalance]

^The main rules are always copied and pasted, but usually I remember to change the date. Sorry.

Sure, you can post the link to your track here.

Thanks

Here it is

Your King and Country Want You

The original is here.

Logic Pro X, NI Reaktor (Ultraloop, Razor, Finger), Massive, Kontakt (VSL, Session Strings), FF-ProQ, ProC, Saturn.