Old 10-07-2019, 04:33 PM   #1
Sambo Rouge
Human being with feelings
 
Sambo Rouge's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
Default Yes it can be done.

Due to unforeseen events I found myself without monitor speakers, headphones and to make matters worse my midi controller gave up the ghost. I had lent my other keyboard out.

So here I was sitting with plastic £4.99 Chinese speakers(horrible artificial gold colour), an old pair of Phillips earbuds, and my HP qwerty keyboard.

Well, I thought --- screw it. Against all the odds I'll see what I can come up with.

My advice, especially to newbies, would be: don't think you need a ton of expensive equipment to make your creations come true. Use what you can in the best way that you can.

I composed and put this piece together in less than a week using only the equipment listed above.

No keys, no monitors, no studio grade headphones.

Hope you enjoy it. ( The name of the track is The Last Voyage.)

PS: New link ~ https://www.reverbnation.com/samborouge
__________________
Chill at home and stay well.

Last edited by Sambo Rouge; 10-08-2019 at 01:51 PM.
Sambo Rouge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-07-2019, 11:37 PM   #2
synkrotron
Human being with feelings
 
synkrotron's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
Default

Hi David

Nice little uplifting tune you have created.

Mix sounds okay to me. Percussion could be a bit higher, I guess, but personally I prefer it as it is.

In such situations and I can't properly check my mix I always use SPAN on the master buss. In fact, I always use SPAN regardless nowadays.

And if I am out and about with my little Surface Pro and can't be bothered to take my Keystep with me I use the REAPER virtual keyboard for sketching out ideas and then edit dynamics afterwards.

So, yeah, it is definitely possible to create stuff on very minimal hardware


cheers

andy
__________________
Bandcamp // YouTube // SoundCloud
synkrotron is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 08:55 AM   #3
toleolu
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,423
Default

My two biggest passions in life these days, outside of my family and friends, are music and golf. I'm constantly struck by the parallels between the two, and your post is another example of that.

In golf, we have a saying, "You can't buy a game". Means that buying all the latest and greatest whiz bang clubs, balls, and other gear can't fix a crappy swing.

I think the same applies to music. You can spend bank on instruments and technology, but that's not going to fix poor musicianship.

Excellent work.
toleolu is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 11:37 AM   #4
msundh
Human being with feelings
 
msundh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,195
Default

The link doesn't work (application error)
__________________
Win10 64bit, Core i7 8GB, Focurite 2i2, Schecter Telecaster, Warmoth Velocity, Yamaha AC3R
https://soundcloud.com/mikaelsundh
msundh is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 01:43 PM   #5
Sambo Rouge
Human being with feelings
 
Sambo Rouge's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
Default

I just checked the Orfium link and had no problems

but noticed that a charge for the track has been applied. Mistake.

Try over here: https://www.reverbnation.com/samborouge

The track's title is The Last Voyage

Cheers,
SR
__________________
Chill at home and stay well.

Last edited by Sambo Rouge; 10-08-2019 at 01:52 PM.
Sambo Rouge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 05:07 PM   #6
prom
Human being with feelings
 
prom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 523
Default

Very nice recording,it is a helpful thing to prove what can be achieved with less gear,more obstacles.Would be really something to hear the same musical idea recorded with the prefered gear,so as to really notice the contrast betwixt.
Cool
prom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-08-2019, 05:27 PM   #7
mek42
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 50
Default

I enjoyed the album. What did you use for sax and strings in "Floating in Blue" and "Song for Sam"?

Your style makes me think of what would happen if Tangerine Dream did a jazz album. (Intended as a compliment - Tan Dream is one of my favorite e-music producers.)

I also liked the mix of "We Are the Robots". You kept the vocal space clear so the modulated vocals could still be easily understood. On my headphones, the grindy bass had a smidge of room left, but better to err on the side of caution than making a muddy mess.

Any advice on using sampled acoustic instruments? I think my next Reaper project will be to make a MIDI realization that I'm happy with of a little fugue I wrote for brass ensemble and drumkit.
mek42 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2019, 01:36 AM   #8
Sambo Rouge
Human being with feelings
 
Sambo Rouge's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
Default

Thanks for the kind words Mek,

The sax I have used for years and I did considerable research(used to be called looking in old English) is by Martin Best over here:

http://www.dreamvortex.co.uk/instruments/

I was so happy with it that I made a PayPal contribution.

There is also another one called Iowa Sax from the University of Iowa's electronic music studio, but I'm not sure if it is very realistic even though it is sampled.

The saxophone is one of the hardest instruments to emulate and the best one I ever heard was by the Sax Brothers. I was actually saving up my bucks(actually pounds) to make a purchase and they mysteriously withdrew the instrument.
Such a shame. It was so realistic with many articulations and breath noises etc.

Their company offers other delights however, see here: https://www.samplemodeling.com/en/technology.php

"Song for Sam" was one of my first compositions ever and I've had good feedback on it. I would like to re-do it. A friend of mine even offered to play in a live sax for me. I think this would improve things further --- more emotion.

The key to using emulations is to adapt your playing style accordingly. Imagine you are plucking, or gliding, or sliding on a real piece of hardware. The best way is to play a piece several times in different ways to see which is the nearest to reality. Its surprising how crappy it can sound if not quite right. If you hit the sweet spot it all seems to work fine.

Especially good with strings is to go back and drop a few slide and fret noises in. With woodwinds a few breath noises adds to reality.

Hope this helps,

Regards,
SR
__________________
Chill at home and stay well.
Sambo Rouge is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:17 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.