Thanks, happy to share! I had the drum loop playing while I went through Pigments bass presets - found the first sound, printed it to audio, then auditioned for the second one, printed that, repeated the first one… It was really fun and nothing like I would ever make outside of this challenge! Pigments has blown my mind.
Also bonus points for @1-2 for putting so much effort into sampling everything, sounds like this challenge has been inspirational for you too! I’ve sampled GI Joe a few times for some of my older tracks, the voice acting is amazingly cringe and perfect for humourous interludes.
I like it. Mpc and elektrons are my favorite bits of kit, great for making something all in one box. I have some choice synths and fx etc but there is something nice about only using one thing. I think they have always been all digital apart from the external mfc42 add on unit, so I assume you mean the ever annoying touch screen aspect etc. I don’t understand why some people say daw in a box (maybe because I’ve never used a daw) but for me I almost never use piano roll or anything like that and don’t use the step seq at all and only rarely need the grid edit so mostly for me the touchscreen is used for what it’s great at; cutting samples at high resolution and naming things. Benifits over my older mpcs like more memory fx and fx slots and especially the quick resampling pad flatten and seq bounce features( which I used all over my track) far outweigh the minor touchscreen drawbacks which I mostly avoid. I don’t really use the plug ins or anything which are pretty weak and even though I’m on a really old firmware they keep having some very nice updates. Maybe the new plugs are better and a lot of added features I’m sure
As far as sound I think the workflow and tools available influence that maybe as much as adc/dacs and such would
For my track I did what I usually do, played things live on the pads ( which was crazy at 174bpm) lot of quantize of course and If I make a mistake I’ll usually just re re-record or real-time erase
Pads are great and I really like mpc for live playing and elektrons for more of a programming mindset. I could imagine detailed programing on mpc being a pain and there are issues like how weak the lfo is, not for everyone I’m sure but it is an all around great tool
@Claid yes very inspirational and great to work under limitations and in unknown territory
As far as the GI Joe samples I found something even more cheezy that I almost used but left out. It was a Chuck Norris cartoon from the 80s. Some of the cartoons I came across while collecting samples for this were quite ridiculous
Some of the ones I found were almost like unintentionall memes
I almost went completely ridiculous but I ended up going with using mostly samples of things that revolved around listening to music and talking about musical instruments so some of the all out cheeziest had to be left out
My cartoon selection was MASK (S1E1:The DeathStone). A few weeks back I was surfing youtube and saw a video of about 30 1980’s cartoons opening sequences and our son was teasing me about how cheesy the intros were (especially MASK). I don’t remember much from the show growing up, but I know a friend and I did have a few of the toy cars and when I read the contest announcement I just decided to roll with it.
Bass was NI’s Massive, and everything was done in Live (heavily leveraging the techniques in Ned Rush’s youtube tutorials).
Someone mentioned earlier they thought it had real drums but it’s not me. I had a collection of breaks I downloaded years ago, wanted to do something non-standard and so the main loop that I chopped up was from the Beastie Boys “Pow”. I also took this as an opportunity to try out lalal.ai as well as Dante-via, so the isolated drums from the MASK theme song are chopped mixed in too. The final drum loop chopped in is LZ’s When The Levee Breaks. The random speech samples are just clips chopped from the episode 1 audio.
My main complaint with my own track is I rushed to complete it on the morning of New Year’s Eve and mixed in headphones so it’s not super balanced. I tried to spend more time on the track earlier in the month too, but with my wife and daughter both down with Covid early in December and then a vacation to visit family over Christmas it is what it is.
Hope to do more of these in future because I don’t share my music out often enough. Thanks for the push @BLKrbbt
Great breakdown. And cool track. I’m glad you were able to get something out!
For these challenges, I don’t care if someone throws a couple loops together an hour before the deadline. It’s good to be involved, and we can share the whole experience together.
The real prize is the conversation after the battle.
And the M.A.S.K. Intro was so huge for me as a kid. That synth intro stuck with me, and even as a teenager, in the 90’s, I recorded a bunch of themes off of VHS to a mini tape recorder. This was one of them, along with the whole beginning sequence to the intro to Transformers the Movie.
It’s weird, but I don’t touch the things I really like for music production. Every time I use a sample, from pouring over every detail, and listening to it so much while producing, that it ruins the sources for me. And the production could take a turn for the worst and I trash the whole endeavor.
Protect the ones you love, folks. Especially from yourself.
I just picked up Pigments. As well as the Analog Labs.
I’m waiting to use them after I tackle the Maschine mk 3. Plus I bought all these expansions, so I haven’t got to using Pigments yet.
Soon though, once I work through all the online video masterclasses on her, I will start using Maschine to work my samples instead of the SP404. Even though I’m getting really good at using the 404 now.
I just have samples that are 32 bars long and need better visual feedback to chop and arrange.
I went on a sample spree this Black Friday and bought the entire Infinate Samples catalog and all of AJ Halls drum breaks.
Soon I’m going to be pumping out tracks left and right.
This is funny, because this is just based on generational culture. The cartoons now will be seems as equally cheesy by future standards. That’s how popular culture keeps evolving.
Take this as example, Humphrey Bogart movies have a certain cadence to them that some still find ridiculous. But some find it soooo classic. And they mimic it for very effective storytelling. Think of Rian Johnson’s The Bridge. It takes its dialogue from the same cadence.
Now it’s all classic Noir.
Now children’s programming has such an adult subtext that I see how the obvious cheesiness is a great way to signal the absurdity of the narratives, and tempers the influence on what children perceive as real situations.
This is actually great info. Because it mimics the limitations of the 404 for me.
How do you manage the workflow? Do you only produce in small sections then move on? That way you’re not scrubbing back and forth all the time trying to find the section you are working on?
Luckily, I’m getting really good at sequencing patterns on the 404, since it played pattern changes seemlessly, and resampling is so easy, with the button combos being muscle memory now.
My new found trick is duplicating the pattern, and cropping the section Im working on, then bouncing the pattern chain to a single pad when I’m done.
So 32 bar loop can be truncated to 4 or 8 bar sections to keep everything manageable.
But it’s hard keeping a macro overview for full arrangements this way, that’s why I’m going the Maschine route.
You get 128 sequences so no reason to have it all in one long seq. Most everything was a 2 to 8 bar seq. Sometimes I will start small and then double the seq legnth once or twice and it copys everything over just like you would on elektrons. Most pgms are set to mono so sometimes just changing up the end or a small variation along the way in overdub mode because it will choke out the other pads even if they are still recorded the highest note gets priority
You can work in a very long seq and move between bars but separate is easier for me. then everything gets chained together and arranged/ rearranged
It started off just trying out different ideas in different seqs and then after chaining keep what works (or sometimes what dosent I just wanted to use it anyway) and see what flows together and then add things like build ups and fills and things dropping out etc changing what’s there to connect better. After this a couple new parts were made if needed to bridge anything out
No visual overview or even hearing the full flow just one small section at a time. When making the changes to a part to go into the next I can’t hear the part it connects to so I will just go back to the song mode to see if it worked or not listening to them back to back
I’ll just listen through and feel it out by ear like if a part feels too short I will set it to play multiple times and then sometimes double it and then go back to the original sq and make a little change so it’s not too repetitive
This one was a bit chaotic and not the smoothest connections between parts but I was kind of going for that anyway and just tried make it work together ok, even with some of the more extreme change ups. ended up with kind of a mixed bag. Kind of disconnected and connected at the same time for the good and bad of it.
Many fresh from scratch sequences, some copied to another and altered and only a couple were reused. Some parts had to be extended to tell the vocal story i wanted to use from all the samples i collected but it was crazy long so I thought it best to shorten some parts and had to leave some good stuff out too, keeping weaker parts instead because they worked with the flow better. Also some seqs were bounced down rechopped and used in different parts later.
After having some kind of a lose structure with more than i needed i planned to work subtractive style cutting it down to the best parts taking out some of the fluff and soothing things out and refining a little more, got part way through this process and ran out of time.
So in summary for this one I was writing different mini tracks most not intended to go together, kept some of what I liked, tested an arrangement and adjusted where needed, then went back into the individual sequences making changes to make them work together better. Coming up with ideas was lightning fast, making sense of it took a little longer
. Not sure what applies or if these are good methods to use, just finding my way of what works for me. it feels messy but also finding some side benefits along the way. I know almost nothing about dnb but have been trying to learn sampling more and like manipulating and layering things and making it all work or getting a little unconventional way more than just cutting a loop and calling it a day. Even if that can sound great I find it a little boring to make music that way, so it’s kind of a cross between experimenting and learning, and making something that has at least some value to listen to. It might be strange but my end goal right now is not to make the best sounding track I can make. Picking things up along the way might be very nice to have in my pocket if I wanted to go that direction someday because somethings stick with you and become more of an automatic process. All in all just having a lot of fun and trying to push myself a little along the way.
Hope this helps, happy to talk deep dive on process and techniques
The last paragraph resonated with me the most. I know I am refining techniques as I go along, and going in an unconventional manner will yield results, though if others see it, that’s a different conversation.
If we were to make popular music, we would have to simplify and loop parts in a very conventional manner. A/B parts and a lot of call and response. That’s what I’m lacking, because I’m at the point where it’s an accomplishment getting a rhythm and melody to work together.
I listen to a lot of weekly mixes from Zeds Dead, Alison Wonderland, Nghtmre and Slander. Almost exclusively. And sometimes Monstercat radio.
But I religiously look out for the DnB podcast by Hex. It’s monthly.
My point is I listen to a lot of new releases, and I can see the format and how strict it is to have an official release.
It just depends on what your goals are, if your looking for more mainstream appeal I’d assume using a computer is in the better interest. You can put things together quickly with more polish and refinement. Simplicity is of course very beautiful and will help to reach a bigger audience. The subtleties of say an analog synth or joy of the tactile nature of hardware won’t matter so much to a casual listener.
A double edged sword of thinking in genre is that it can be formulaic. Nice to have a recipe to quickly get started emulating your favorite artists, but with cookie cutter techniques how does one stand out amongst the crowd to get noticed while simultaneously following all of ‘the rules’.
Probably knowing what the traditions are and how and when to gently bend and break them can go a long way. I don’t keep up with new much or attempt to fit in with a certain genre but it seems that mainstream listeners have at least some mainstream limitations on what is expected and there are certainly things to follow if you wanted a dj to put your track in a mix for example.
Just keep in mind the genres you love would not exist without innovators pushing the boundaries and creating/ morphing things into something new. So music is evolutionary and shouldn’t stagnate and nontraditional approach or a different take on things still has Great value even when being strict on fitting a certain style
As far as getting to a bigger picture, just focus on one thing at a time, it comes with time, no need to rush it.
Crawl, walk, run
Man, this might win the “Most original sample” prize if there was any! The soundtrack is so crazy combined with the animation, is it from finnish broadcast?
