Skol303

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1350514145' post='1840079'] Great stuff. I love the bassline, and rhyming 'ruckus' with 'm*****f***ers' is inspired.[/quote] [quote name='silddx' timestamp='1350514501' post='1840087'] Wickid man! I like it![/quote] [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1350547223' post='1840230'] Not fair! You can sing. I like it too! [/quote] Cheers gents! I appreciate the kind words. My other half is an English teacher and I don't think she'd approve of my rhyming choice (I'd probably get a 'detention' for that one), but it was the best I could come up with. Plus, swearing is cool. Fact. As for the singing, I've got an old condenser mic I've had kicking around for ages - bought it cheap on a whim and never used it till now - so I plan to use these challenges as an excuse to wax lyrical. Doubt I'll ever have the cojones to sing on stage (did drunken karaoke once, on honeymoon), but hidden at home and slathered in FX, I'm quite enjoying it.

Ok, here's my effort this month: http://soundcloud.com/skollob/ruckus [b]WARNING: this song contains strong language[/b] (specifically one s*** and three mother******s). Not safe for work, at home with the family or in the car with grandma. With that disclaimer out of the way… this is my first punk/metal track in nearly 20 years. I'm used to working with fast and energetic genres like drum'n'bass, so it was sort of familiar in that respect but very different in others. I certainly had a bunch of fun making it. And for the record, if anybody else can think of word that rhymes with "ruckus", other than "suckers" and the word I ended up with, then you win my admiration and would make a formidable Scrabble opponent. PS: contains samples sourced under Creative Commons license from www.freesound.org

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1350473755' post='1839276'] Come to think of it, I'm probably old enough (in theory, of course) to be your girl's dad (legally, if she's under 25) & as I grew up listening to stuff from Thrash Metal & Hard Rock to Jungle, Hardcore & Breakbeat & love This kind of stuff (us old farts ain't into sedated elevator music anymore!). [/quote] ^ Well, I'm not quite old enough to qualify for fathering Charic's girlfriend (!), but that musical journey you describe is me too, in a nutshell

Doesn't do much for me, if I'm being honest. Although I'm probably a bit jaded by the recently quoted price of tickets for their upcoming tour: averaging £300! Wouldn't be quite so insulting if they paid their share of taxes. Grumble, grumble...etc.

Bass sounds fine to me too - I'd even say it's sitting nicely high in the mix. Really nice cover, Jez. Very tight playing all round and a great production. Good job!

Great band! Saw them live a number of times in my youth on various UK tours. This track brings back a bunch of very happy memories. Cheers Stance! PS: no idea about the bass, soz.

[quote name='urb' timestamp='1350288093' post='1836705'] Totally - no matter the outcome the process is really inspiring - I like the fact that many people including you came at this from the 'concept' point of view, while I did a bit of that but just grabbed all my basses - next time I'll go more concept and less bass - but hey I could easily work on my tune for another week and still be finding ways to add stuff to it - which is why I'm leaving it as it is - for now! Overall though I'm really impressed - again - with everyone's efforts - top marks all round I think [/quote] Couldn't agree more. The variety of approaches is - again - just superb. It's weird, 'cos for me I'm using these challanges as an opportunity to plug in my bass, rather than mess arounds with synths, etc, which is my normal way of working. So I'm coming at it from the opposite angle - less concept, more bass! Makes a nice change for me. Anyway, I should have mine finished soon. Spent Saturday laying down a first pass of it, just need to work on the mix now.

Sounds good to me, Saus'. Bassline certainly doesn't sound rushed. You're probably more conscious of it being played faster, but coming to it cold it sounds perfectly well suited to the track (and nicely high in the mix too!). The production itself sounds fine thru my cans. Nice wide mix, very crisp and clear. The drums are perhaps a little low and the vocal a wee bit too loud. But I'd need to hear it through monitors to be honest… I'd certainly be happy with it. But that's me

Crikey… this thread is still rumbling on!? Surely this debate is just about economics and market forces. I run a small business (a design agency) and like any business - including a professional band - we work in a market in which there will always be another company prepared to offer their services more cheaply - and yes, in some cases even for free. Sometimes it's necessary for companies to do this in order to gain exposure and bolster their portfolio; sometimes they do it on the expectation of it leading to paid work in future. Does it mean we suffer as a result? No. We did it ourselves in the early days. But people now expect a certain a level of quality from our company and they understand the need of having to pay for it. If they want the cheapest option, we're not the company for them. Ultimately, if you find yourself being undercut all too often, then you're either: 1) over-charging; 2) targeting the wrong market; or 3) don't offer a sufficiently high quality service. It has to be one of those three factors - that's economics. If your band offers something worth paying for, then it shouldn't matter that other bands are operating for free. Otherwise the fault lies in one of the three factors I've listed above - it's not the fault of your competitors. Not trying to preach here; just trying to be objective.

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1350123674' post='1834781'] Surely the Bass of Doom was fretless? Although it does look like it. [/quote] I think Jaco de-fretted the Doom bass himself from a standard Jazz, so it would've retained the fret lines...but I could be wrong!

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1350124826' post='1834804'] Had some time a couple of days ago, so thought i would give it a go. Gone down the edgy chaotic nonsense route. [url="http://soundcloud.com/garrycribb/heros-zeros"]http://soundcloud.co...ibb/heros-zeros[/url][/quote] Wowzer. There's no nonsense in that to my ears, and the chaos sounds really well organised! Bloomin' brilliant. Very dramatic and soundtrack-esque. Superbly produced too; literally exploded out of my headphones. Great work, Garry.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1350119129' post='1834706']...Or the three-legged stool. Or the knife, fork and spoon. If you think about it, technological 'progress' 'is not all its cracked up to be.[/quote] ^ Nice post Bilbo. I try to keep in touch with music tech, but I don't see anything on the horizon that will replace the strings/pickups set up. The materials used for pickups and strings will no doubt change. But the essence of bass playing is down to the very tactile process of plucking, bowing, slapping and otherwise twanging strings. Otherwise it's a different skillset/artform. Until technology can replace strings with something that replicates that - some kind of solid holographic lazer?? [yeah I've got the Patent] - then I think strings and pickups will rule the day, just as acoustic stringed instruments have for over a century. That's not to say that other instruments won't emerge catering for the low end of things. There's a growing resurgence of live performance in dance music that is starting to throw up lots of interesting new ideas. But I think the general rule here is that "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1350082550' post='1834517'] I slightly remixed mine and added some voice. That's it....See if you can spot the Blackadder reference [/quote] My head feels like there's a Frenchman living in it ;-) Great track! Even better for your tweaks, I need to get mine finished...thought I had next weekend to work on it but just remembered I'm meant to be DJing at a mate's birthday party. Oops! Time to look busy.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1350073388' post='1834392'] Black Hog? Featuring John Bon-ham on drums? [/quote] Oooh, so bad it's good! :-D The story is Plant co-owned a farm in Herefordshire, where I spent my youth, and one of my mates and I used to earn pocket money on said farm by helping to feed and muck out the piggies, amongst other critters. Apparently he did visit so I may have even met him, but long haired dudes were common in H'ford at that time and I wouldn't have known him from Adam. ...Clayton, whose budgerigar I used to feed when... ;-)

Is that not Jaco Pastorius' fabled "Bass of Doom" - a Fender Jazz - which Trujillo helped to restore? Linky: http://www.fender.com/en-GB/news/index.php/?display_article=533

I used to help look after some pigs owned by Robert Plant when I was a kid. Not sure how that's relevant, but heh.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1349953240' post='1832583']Autotune had been around for several years before the Cher single. I can remember using it in the late 90s when it was already well established as a plug-in, to fix a couple of errant notes in complex backing vocal part. It was quicker easier and less damaging to our singer's diva-ish ego. It's not all about T-Pain or unnaturally pitch perfect vocals you know. [/quote] Yeah, I agree. I guess the point I was trying to make is that Cher made a feature of autotune as a deliberate effect, rather than using it as a fix to correct her vocals (as you rightly mention it was used long before). Just an example of how music tech can be used in different ways for different purposes :-)

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1342874758' post='1742176'] Sound,lighting,security,staff etc are doing their jobs and expect to get paid.(as did I),but I think generally speaking many bands are by definition not full time musicians,so they're bottom of the pile when it comes to handing out the cash. [/quote] I guess the argument is that bands 'benefit' from the exposure of the gig, whereas the other staff you mention don't - or at least not in the same way. Which is why there'll always be some band willing to play just about any gig for free. It's a weak argument, sure, but it's one I used to hear repeated when I was involved in music many moons ago. Sucks. But "them's the breaks".

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1349880185' post='1831716'] Got mine done. Had fun making the bass sounds & playing them (makes me want more pedals!). I think it's another tough month as this month's entries are a very high...[/quote] Brilliant! Love the feedback at the start. The percussion is fantastic - really inventive and interesting. Great how it kicks in with the synth and kick/snare (nice clean synth btw)...switches from something ambient to very danceable! Reminds me a bit of Eat Static or Banco de Gaia in parts :-) Nice production too. Sounds great thru my cans and even over my poxy phone speaker! (even caught Mrs Skol nodding along - a rarity). Good job mate.

Looks good! Might not suit everyone but seems ideal for budding amateurs like me. And I can't spot any real downsides, especially with it being non-exclusive. Think I might give it a go. Can't hurt. Cheers for posting about it!

Very interesting thread! I can't add much opinion that hasn't already been voiced, other than to say music technology is never inherently 'good or bad'. It's surely either useful to the song/genre in question, or not. A light and transparent touch for jazz/folk, a heavy handed dollop for dance music - and everything in between. To pick up on the Cher thing... I'm no fan of the gratuitous autotune used on 'Believe'. But I'm sure everybody here knows the track and it sold a heap. Innovative for its time? I'd say yes. Since greatly overused? Also yes. Now if only we could 'Turn back time' and rewrite history... [terrible pun, I'll get my coat]. PS: anybody see that Abbey Rd series a while back, when various bands recorded tracks direct to vinyl? That's gotta take some nerve.

Cheers Garry! Dead useful. I've just read the section on mastering and learnt a bunch of good stuff. Thanks for sharing

Really nice, Bilbo. Sounds very "lush" and interesting. You do a great job of playing across all six strings and making it sound easy. I wish my noodling sounded this good!

Holy **** this is GREAT! [i]Very[/i] impressive and just my cup of tea. Amazing how you create that sound. I assume it's some kind of MIDI voodoo and the fact you have a pedalboard the size of Nebraska?! Awesome stuff. Your drummer is super-tight too. I know I missed you guys last time you played near Manchester, but give us a shout next time you're in the neighbourhood as I'd be really keen to see you live. Enjoy the tour!

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1349637547' post='1828592'] Heres my go [/quote] Properly grungy! Reminds me of Butthole Surfers Nice L/R panning. My only suggestion would be to introduce a slamming drum track at some point - the click/hi hats you have going kinda builds anticipation for a beefy kick drum & snare that doesn't materialise… but then I'm a sucker for massive drum breaks! [quote name='urb' timestamp='1349639811' post='1828649'] OK - here's mine - fock knows what you'll think of this - all done very quickly on a Sunday while cooking dinner in between takes [/quote] Wow, great playing as always Mike! This is really quirky. The crazy phasing/distortion that rips it up around the one minute mark and towards the end is great. Sounds nice and clear through my cans too. Goodness knows how your Sunday lunch turned out, but this rocks! [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1349644266' post='1828731'] I am only putting this on here to show that I tried but I have given up (its taking too long and I can't play the instruments well enough to make it sound 'proper!!)[/quote] First prize for the best track title! This one makes me nostalgic for early 80s metal. Nice riff, suitably dirty-sounding and the solos definitely say "Rrrrrock!". The crash cymbals sound a wee bit overbearing to me, but I appreciate you didn't get round to finishing it. Still, you're clearly a metaller at heart, Bilbo