July , Tis the time for another Composition Challenge

[Al Nico]

@Lord Sausage Huge musical composition. Keeps turning up new and interesting melodies and ideas all the way through. Some stunning playing in there too.

[lurksalot]

I'm also done, I was reminded of the whirling dervishes and the noises I produced seem to be consistent with that 

 

 

 

EZ drummer , Fleabass, guitar and keys all through waves gtr3 and messed about with , splash of ozone 8 and there we go ! 

[Al Nico]

@lurksalot Intense. I wasn't sure at first, but the sound is good so kept going. I did get drawn in. The intensity starts to lower and then picks us a bit harder. The drums are done well. They have a live energy about them, that must have taken a lot of fiddling. The performance is unique and holds it's own style. It left me feeling like I'd experienced something. Lots of points awarded for that alone.

[Baloney Balderdash]

36 minutes ago, lurksalot said:

I'm also done, I was reminded of the whirling dervishes and the noises I produced seem to be consistent with that 

 

 

 

EZ drummer , Fleabass, guitar and keys all through waves gtr3 and messed about with , splash of ozone 8 and there we go ! 

This is awesomely chaotic!

 

Love it! 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I was intending to add a vocal to my track, however on re-reading the lyrics I decided it was better left as an instrumental. Drums, percussion, electric piano, & twinkly sound are from Logic Pro as are all amps and FX, B3 is my Yamaha Reface YC, Bass is my Ric 4003 recorded onto two tracks via the ric-o-sound output.

 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

This is an old composition of mine, so couldn't enter the competition, even if it fits very well into this month's "topic", but just recorded this take of it :

 

 

A single track solo bass surf math rock (or progressive surf rock, if you will) piece, played on my just 28.6" scale length 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, "Mr. Growly - The Noodlemancer", tuned in G# standard tuning (that is as one half step bellow the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, plus a high E).

 

Edited July 22 by Baloney Balderdash

[MoonBassAlpha]

Ok, here's my entry, another hurried effort, but I'm out tomorrow, hence the rush!

Inspired by the picture and by a jam at a friend's house over 40 years ago. Turned out a bit more guitarry than I intended, but these things do tend to evolve a life of their own, once started.

Guitars and bass going in via a NuX Mighty Plug thing, except the lead guitar, Cry Baby into a Session Rockette 30. The usual Gretsch kit and tambourine, all into Reaper.

 

[upside downer]

After a fight with both my ageing laptop and a cranky Soundcloud, I've finally managed to upload this month's effort.

 

 

The Sage. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he want? What does he know? Why has he started breakdancing in the old part of town? Has he got the moves? Can he still do them? Will we have to call an ambulance for the mysterious old coot?

 

There's a wee bit of guitar and a drum sample (or two) from Looperman but Ableton is Employee of the Month as I cobbled the various synth and bass lines together by programming everything using the 'noises library' within.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 20:39 by upside downer
words

[Al Nico]

@MoonBassAlpha Track goes together well, moves through and keeps interesting. Good sounds too. Bass came out well. I like the mid drive sound, it's live sounding and has even weight low and high. It's original too. Nice work.

 

@upside downer Good mix. The slury synth bass riff makes my head go funny, in a good way, and so does the arrangement and phrasing. It has good drive and evolves as it goes with some subtle surprises. I enjoyed it.

[MoonBassAlpha]

1 hour ago, Al Nico said:

@MoonBassAlpha Track goes together well, moves through and keeps interesting. Good sounds too. Bass came out well. I like the mid drive sound, it's live sounding and has even weight low and high. It's original too. Nice work.

 

Thanks  Al, much appreciated!

I  haven't listened to any others yet,  but looking forward to  it!

[upside downer]

9 hours ago, Al Nico said:

@upside downer Good mix. The slury synth bass riff makes my head go funny, in a good way, and so does the arrangement and phrasing. It has good drive and evolves as it goes with some subtle surprises. I enjoyed it.

 

Cheers for that. I've had a quick listen last night to everyone's and, as usual, both the variety of ideas and quality of the tunes is a credit to all.

[Al Nico]

@Jean-Luc Pickguard Your track is a shimmering wonder. The percussive elements are fantastic. I like the production all round. Nice stereo and mix. It made me smile and I felt pretty calm afterwards.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Thanks Al!

[lurksalot]

voting thread is up gents

 

what a great bunch of tracks, some to make you smile , some intense and some really get you moving, superb 

 

 

[MoonBassAlpha]

On 15/07/2025 at 21:56, Lord Sausage said:

Ok, I'm done. I'm not 100% happy with the mix and it's a couple of seconds over. I've cut a minute off it and I can't take any more off. It just sounds weird to me now because of the cuts.😆

 

So I've had enough. It is what it is. Like I said. Based on the E7 triad riff and I mess with the scales each time round. Affecting(contorting) the melody, chords etc.

 

Listen to Echoes of the Altered by Dreaded Ted & The Nutters on #SoundCloud

 

There's some great stuff in here, but I  get what you mean about the mix,  it's tilted towards the treble too much,  ensnare and cymbals,  and the bass is somewhat missing. I  know what it's like hammering it to get it done to the deadline and losing some perspective along the  way. Your stuff usually sounds amazingly well produced! Still voted for it all the same!

[Lord Sausage]

It's just the second thing I've done using Garageband on iPad, a focusrite audio interface and some headphones I can't remember the name of. What I've learned is it sounds flat in the headphones but it is actually trebley and not bass enough. Will have to adjust or get some new cans.

[Dad3353]

33 minutes ago, Lord Sausage said:

It's just the second thing I've done using Garageband on iPad, a focusrite audio interface and some headphones I can't remember the name of. What I've learned is it sounds flat in the headphones but it is actually trebley and not bass enough. Will have to adjust or get some new cans.

 

Listening to equivalent music through those same 'cans' should give your ears/brain the references needed for your own stuff. Put some favourite reference tracks of similar genre into Garageband and compare with your mix. Adjust to get yours to sound as good as your reference tracks to your ears. This technique works whatever one is monitoring with, even if one's own hearing is less than top-notch. 

[MoonBassAlpha]

14 hours ago, Lord Sausage said:

It's just the second thing I've done using Garageband on iPad, a focusrite audio interface and some headphones I can't remember the name of. What I've learned is it sounds flat in the headphones but it is actually trebley and not bass enough. Will have to adjust or get some new cans.

If you can find some frequency graphs for those specific phones you might be able to add an eq curve to flatten them out. If  they're a popular brand they should be out there somewhere. 

I use a plugin called Hornet VHS that has a large library of headphones' response curves. What is the make and model? I'll see if they're listed.

[paul_5]

15 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

If you can find some frequency graphs for those specific phones you might be able to add an eq curve to flatten them out. If  they're a popular brand they should be out there somewhere. 

I use a plugin called Hornet VHS that has a large library of headphones' response curves. What is the make and model? I'll see if they're listed.

I was about to suggest the VHS plugin, but I’m late to the party again. It’s really useful on your master bus and will even give you emulations to f common studio speakers if that’s what you’re used to.

[MoonBassAlpha]

36 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I was about to suggest the VHS plugin, but I’m late to the party again. It’s really useful on your master bus and will even give you emulations to f common studio speakers if that’s what you’re used to.

This is all predicated on VHS having that model in their library of course. 

Edited 6 hours ago by MoonBassAlpha

[Lord Sausage]

3 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

If you can find some frequency graphs for those specific phones you might be able to add an eq curve to flatten them out. If  they're a popular brand they should be out there somewhere. 

I use a plugin called Hornet VHS that has a large library of headphones' response curves. What is the make and model? I'll see if they're listed.

Hi, Thanks a lot.

 

M AUDIO HDH40

 

 

[MoonBassAlpha]

27 minutes ago, Lord Sausage said:

Hi, Thanks a lot.

 

M AUDIO HDH40

 

 

Ah, those aren't in the  list. Another thought I've had is some 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapters don't always make great  connection with the sleeve of the headphone plug resulting in a very odd frequency response. Might be worth trying a different adapter if you have one, or comparing the sound at your  mixing setup to plugging the headphone straight into your phone without using an adaptor?