The Urban Beat Mangler Competition - Sample Submission Thread

[jodal]

Congrats fong on being the first ever entrant to the beat mangling competition.

To answer your questions:

All the samples have to be used at least once. No exceptions.

No outside samples are allowed. Not even midi tracks or drum kits. You can always chop up the drum loops and link them individually to a midi controller or drum programmer. But I have no problem letting it slide in your choon, just this once.

The entire sample does not have to be used. IMHO you can fuck with it endlessly, untill you cant hear the original sample anymore. This should make up for the fact that you cant use outside samples.

Those are just my thoughts on the rules. By no means are they set in stone however so feel free to tell me it should be different to make it a better comp.

 

[audiotech]

Oddly it handled 16 just fine, maybe I am just thinking back to the last time used that many samples, it was awhile ago.

Right Click Save As

All 16 are in there somewhere, but so is a complete midi drum track I added for backbone. Nothing else tho, no other samples or instruments. Some of them samples are impossible to tell, as they are so manipulated but they are all there.

Its a bit trippy and well I not exactly polished like I should. Just sorta finished and thought, that will do.

Nice track there Fong. One criticism, clipping is heard (and seen in Sound Forge) throughout as an 'orrible digital click. Check those levels. . Use compression to level out those peaks in the drums - not too much on each channel.

 

[Moggy]

Anyone tried Ableton Live?

Yeah, got a copy of Live 4; i still use cubase sx3 for sequencing and production, am starting to get to grips with using Live for doing live stuff (funnily enough ) but haven't had much time to really get the most of it. There's some solid looking aditions been made to Live 5 though, might just have to track down a copy

 

[Fong]

Nice track there Fong. One criticism, clipping is heard (and seen in Sound Forge) throughout as an 'orrible digital click. Check those levels. . Use compression to level out those peaks in the drums - not too much on each channel.

Yeah lacks the polish I should have done, but wasn't sure if i would have to scrap it.

I will take out the midi track, see how it sounds, probably space out the overdub'd drum samples I was using to pad it out more. and clean out the pops and clicks.

Thanks Jodal, tho I think you being over optimistic in calling it a tune.

 

[audiotech]

Uploaded my final version called urbandirtbag.

I have removed link to said track in respect to copywrite law, viz a ve the star wars sample? On reflection I think I'll mash it up.

 

[audiotech]

Yeah, got a copy of Live 4; i still use cubase sx3 for sequencing and production, am starting to get to grips with using Live for doing live stuff (funnily enough ) but haven't had much time to really get the most of it. There's some solid looking aditions been made to Live 5 though, might just have to track down a copy

The ability to simply activate a sample via a MIDI controller (in this case a keyboard) made it a must.

 

[kakuma]

ive just spent all day with those samples and got fuck all done

and im back to work tommorow

 

[jodal]

I know, I've had a couple of goes and just cant seem to get anything worthwhile.

 

[audiotech]

..

 

[Moggy]

Like it, a good improvement on the original one you posted up!

Will hopefully have the time to get a bit more done on mine very shortly.

 

[hiccup]

Just downloaded all the samples.

Fuuuuuck. I think I'm a bit out of my depth here.

Anyone got a copy of Propellerheads Recycle they could fling my way? I've only got the Lite version, which ain't really going to cut it.

Or I could try and figure out Acid I suppose.

Shit that's a lot of samples. Good thing I've got lots of beer.

 

[audiotech]

Go for Acid. Easiest for straight out of the box.

 

[hiccup]

Go for Acid. Easiest for straight out of the box.

Been playing with it this evening. I like. I've used it a couple of times before, but always preferred Reason for doing my own stuff. It's pretty much ideal for mangling beats tho' innit?

 

[audiotech]

Been playing with it this evening. I like. I've used it a couple of times before, but always preferred Reason for doing my own stuff. It's pretty much ideal for mangling beats tho' innit?

Acid's ability to match any sample to the chosen tempo with no change to the pitch is ace.

Important to equalise and to use compression on every channel using the plug-in affects. Go steady on the reverb if you intend to use it (it uses a lot of cpu power). I use it sparingly on bass guitars. Pan some instruments. Bass, drums and vocals should always be centred in the mix. After pre-mastering and rendering down to a single wav file, load into an audio editor (Sound Forge is good) and master away with more eq and a limiter. Add affects to some of the track if appropriate and experiment with your ears.

 

[hiccup]

Ta for that. Haven't really got into using the effects yet, just loaded everything up and tried to get some sort of structure. I'll have a play around over the weekend.

 

[audiotech]

When you've mastered the wav file, rip to an mp3 file 128 kbps (CD Quality) and there you have it. Your final mix should have this affect on the listener:

 

[audiotech]

Tweaked a bit more:

 

[kakuma]

still no pregress

but acid is the best

 

[Fong]

MC5 fancy giving us a heads up on how to utilise the effects. I had a look couldn't find a way to tweak them at all.

 

[audiotech]

MC5 fancy giving us a heads up on how to utilise the effects. I had a look couldn't find a way to tweak them at all.

Click on the little green icon (track fx) and the audio plug-in box will open. You will see track eq, as this is defaulted. Top right you will see a similar little green icon as before (says edit chain) you can load other plug-ins from here. Fiddle with the sliders to get the desired result, or use a preset from the drop down menu.

 

[audiotech]

What's happening? Anyone?

 

[Fong]

Well i been working on another peice using Acid, but its not a lot better then the first one, probably less popping and clicking on it tho, and i not really done the ending.

Other then that, not sure, there wasn't really a prize anyway was there, just for the fun of trying to make music out of some rather difficult samples.

 

[audiotech]

Well i been working on another peice using Acid, but its not a lot better then the first one, probably less popping and clicking on it tho, and i not really done the ending.

Other then that, not sure, there wasn't really a prize anyway was there, just for the fun of trying to make music out of some rather difficult samples.

No prize? Fuck! I was expecting a sack-full of musical gear, a million pound recording contract and a night out with Girls Aloud.

 

[kakuma]

i just cant make fuck all music since my sabbatical in japan

these samples are pretty rock tho

gonna work on it tonight. to be fair to me, i moved into a new flat on sunday which was full of booze

 

[top_biller]

I'm moving house this weekend so all bets are off for at least a week or so. Havn't even managed to have a crack yet, the closing date's not til after christmas though is it? Liked the samples, grimey.

 

[audiotech]

Don't want to panic you muso's but.............

......The deadline for entering the tune will be Sunday 4th December.

However, the deadline for voting is 18th December.

 

[hiccup]

the 4th? Urg. Any chance we can push it back a week or so?

 

[audiotech]

said a recording artist to an executive.

 

[kakuma]

i've just finished a track and will upload it tonigt

but the deadline should definetely be the 10th since we only have 2 entries....

 

[audiotech]

i've just finished a track and will upload it tonigt

but the deadline should definetely be the 10th since we only have 2 entries....

That date is ok with me. An opportunity to tweak 'urbandirtbag' a bit more.