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10-07-2019, 04:33 PM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
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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.
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10-07-2019, 11:37 PM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Warrington, UK
Posts: 1,444
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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
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10-08-2019, 08:55 AM
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#3
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,423
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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.
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10-08-2019, 11:37 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,195
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The link doesn't work (application error)
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10-08-2019, 01:43 PM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
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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.
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10-08-2019, 05:07 PM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 523
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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
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10-08-2019, 05:27 PM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 50
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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.
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10-09-2019, 01:36 AM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posts: 1,965
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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.
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