TorturedSaints

I'm finding inspiration a bit of a challenge this month too.

I've just been asked if I was interested in joining a band that do originals in Glasgow. As it happens, I wasn't into the particular type of music, but it was an 'older' band and it didn't sound anything like Classic rock/GnR. PM me and I'll pass the details on. Ralph

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1464818328' post='3062952'] Haha, I took that photo at the Bristol Zombie Walk a couple of years ago. Banabraaiiinns Splits? [/quote] Not wishing to pick a fight with a zombie, but he will get a much better air-tight mask fit if he shaves off his beard! Steampunk music? (whatever that is . . . .)

I wanted to vote for everybody. The standard is really high this month, and I found it really difficult to choose 3. I really liked the way everybody took inspiration from the picture and chose different world viewpoints. They were all pretty dystopian though! That says to me that it was a very good choice of picture Rikki. For anybody just passing through this thread and wondering whether to bother listening to the entries, I would strongly recommend it, there's a lot to like here.

A late and rushed entry for me. Somewhat of a departure from my normal style, I've definitely gone for the sound-canvas and thrown lots of metaphorical paint at it . . . Using about 6 different sounds from Camel's Alchemy VSTi and some vocal FX from Izotope's Nectar Elements. And a confession - there is no bass guitar on the track. Is that grounds for automatic disqualification? [url="https://soundcloud.com/torturedsaints/dirty-city"]https://soundcloud.com/torturedsaints/dirty-city[/url] Ralph Enjoy!

[font="Source Sans Pro, Arial, sans-serif"][color="#3c3241"]Band now folded. Thanks for looking.[/color][/font]

I just bought an ACG Finn from David. Excellent transaction, bass extremely well packed for courier, excellent communications throughout. Thoroughly recommended.

Lots of good advice above. I think it's a good idea to go in with the gear and sound that you think you want, so the engineer can hear it. If it doesn't fit with the track the engineer might ask you to do something different as long as he/she explains the reasons for it. When it comes to approving the mixes, if you don't like the sound of the bass then say so. It's up to you and the band to approve the mixes, and most studios have a revisions policy that allow a couple of minor tweaks to the sound. So yes, being more assertive with the engineer regarding the final mix is definitely the way to go, after all, it's your music, your artistic vision and he/she is paid to deliver that, not his/her interpretation of what he/she thinks you want! Good luck, have fun and enjoy your studio time!

I have the Adam F5s which I listened to in the shop (Rubadub Music in Glasgow, great store, knowledgeable advice and mail order, very friendly and keen to be price-competitive ) and compared them with other likely suspects. I didn't like the forward presentation of the KRKs nor the PreSonus (can't remember the model, but it was new out a few years ago), so it is definitely worth listening to them if you can. I did want to have a listen to the Equator D5s but they didn't have them on demo. They also recommended for the size of room that I was using that 5" was probably the best size, they had a deal on Rokit RP8s at the time, but said they would be too much for my room. Also, budget for some kind of stands - either the foam ones or monitor stands as well. If you can do a day trip down to London from Cambridgeshire to listen then I would say it would be money well spent (along with acoustic treatment for your room!) I still like the Adam F5s but TBH I do the detailed editing/mixing on headphones and only fire the monitors up in the latter stages. That's a whole different 'can' of worms though . .

The handles look good!

Thanks Dad! Even though I voted early, I kept coming back here to read your comments.

Voted! Another cracking crop of entries. It's becoming more difficult to choose, because of the different qualities/genres/interpretations of the pieces, but that's what makes it a fun listen. Well done all. I *hope* to have time to enter April's competition, so I'm looking forward to seeing what photo the winner chooses.

[quote name='NickD' timestamp='1454322317' post='2968474'] OK... It's 28 days until the end of February... I've got a DAW I don't know how to use, a midi controller I'm not sure about, an effects unit they say can be used as an audio interface, no mic, no keyboard skills, no time, no ideas... and I'm wearing sunglasses... Hit it! [/quote] @NickD - it's worse than that - 21 days until submission! Good luck - but if you need help, the guys here are very knowledgeable and very helpful, so please ask. cheers Ralph

Don't try this at home, kids! 😀

Well done, a well deserved win Douglas!

I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro26 (which is FireWire so no use to you Steve), however it comes with Focusrite MixControl. If the Scarlett interfaces have their own version of this (downloadable from their website) you can create headphone mixes with no delay/latency and add comfort reverb for the vocalist as well (signal recorded dry). Having said that, I don't bother as the latency achievable on my iMac (2012) and Reaper is so low as to be not noticeable. Hope this helps. Edited to say, yes there is a MixControl for Scarlett, and the tutorial is here: [url="http://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/scarlett-mixcontrol-tutorial-0"]http://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/scarlett-mixcontrol-tutorial-0[/url]

I haven't used it, but it might be useful for someone. It looks like an emulation of a 1176 and LA2. [url="http://www.dontcrack.com/news/2016/01/nomad-factory-and-dontcrack-say-thank-you-with-the-free-bus-driver/"]http://www.dontcrack.com/news/2016/01/nomad-factory-and-dontcrack-say-thank-you-with-the-free-bus-driver/[/url] cheers Ralph

Voted, as ever a difficult decision. Amazing diversity and musicality. Ralph

Douglas, thanks once again for your time and effort in producing your reviews of everybody's pieces. For me, it adds an extra dimension and unifying framework to the competition, and takes it to a different place . . . Now off to listen again and vote. Ralph P.S. I am so not a Hippy. 😀

It's about time for my semi-annual entry into the competition! I always wish I had more spare time to participate, it just only seems to happen when I've got a few days of holiday not allocated for other stuff. I was going to metaphorically squeak under the wire and submit tomorrow, but I've got a band rehearsal to go to - and we won't be doing this song, although I'm sure a decent vocalist could do more with the vocals, the lyrics, and probably the tune! [url="https://soundcloud.com/torturedsaints/wings-of-a-butterfly"]https://soundcloud.c...-of-a-butterfly[/url] Luckily, I didn't get flooded in the recent UK deluges, but my heart goes out to those who did.

DarkSky video at the Lucky Break Club. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FyR8Yxqt88"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FyR8Yxqt88[/url]

For the OP, as far as I know, you can't have a free download on iTunes. I'm pretty sure that iTunes sets their own pricing. We use www.distrokid.com which was cheap with a first year deal (about £20 as far as I remember) and they deal with all the UPC/ISRC admin trivia, but we were unable to set our prices for iTunes, so Apple set our prices for us at 99p per track. Another option is www.nimbit.com which we have also used, and there you can do free downloads (or mark it as 'donation ware' and let people donate what they think your music is worth - so far we've not had much lol). I'm pretty sure it's free to sign up for the basic package (which doesn't include iTunes submission) and they take (for the basic level package) about 10% cut of sales. We never looked at bandcamp, but a lot of people use it, but we do use Soundcloud for quick and dirty uploads, or dropbox for rough ideas. Hope this helps Ralph