TGF Do Something Bi-Weekly Challenge Week 1 Thread

[DrewJD82]

Nah dude, there is no way I can put in this many recordings under normal circumstances... I took a week off and did whatever over the last week after not taking any PTO for over a 1 1/2. Sadly I have to go back to real life next week and will probably only have time for recording on the weekends. It was fun while it lasted though

Good, my complex won't form nearly as quickly now.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

@DrewJD82 Can we somehow find a reason to disqualify FAKA! ???

 

[JT]

@DrewJD82 Can we somehow find a reason to disqualify FAKA! ???

 

[la szum]

 

[mbenigni]

Well, I did... something. I don't know if I'm late for the first bi-weekly challenge, or early for the second (NDSP style), or really late for the third weekly challenge... screw it I'm just going to put it here. And I'm going to put it here now, before I chicken out. And because I never want to hear this stupid riff again LOL.



It's, um, not a 20 second sine wave?

 

[DrewJD82]

Nice, man!! What are those synthy tones around 2:43??? I love that sound and want it! Really great tones and playing all around.....that lead tone, damn!! As much as I bust the QC's balls, it's certainly capable of some great tones and you're definitely capable of dialing them in!

And I totally screwed the pooch on making a new thread for the bi-weekly challenge....I think? I need to set alarms for these things.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

[…]



[…]

Well done, mbenigni! I love the clean guitars on top of the riff and when the solo kicked in I felt a strong 80‘s vibe. Must.resist.urge.to.use.my.wife‘s.hair.spray

 

[mbenigni]

Well done, mbenigni!

Thank you!

I love the clean guitars on top of the riff...

I just came back downstairs to fix one of the chords in the middle section. That "synth" part (really just very wet guitar) was layered on last, and I didn't realize how badly its timing played off the clean guitar.

...and when the solo kicked in I felt a strong 80‘s vibe. Must.resist.urge.to.use.my.wife‘s.hair.spray

Yeah, when I decide to take a solo I have a lazy habit of defaulting to '80s shred. Actually, when I played the mix back, it was a little disturbing how much it sounded like any one of my own solos from the early '00s. I was sure I'd made a little more progress than that. I'm going to try to do something a little different the next time I "Do Something". LOL

 

[JT]

Well, I did... something. I don't know if I'm late for the first bi-weekly challenge, or early for the second (NDSP style), or really late for the third weekly challenge... screw it I'm just going to put it here. And I'm going to put it here now, before I chicken out. And because I never want to hear this stupid riff again LOL.



It's, um, not a 20 second sine wave?

Great grooves, great tones, great whammy flutters and chirps and solo vibe. Excellent work Marc!

 

[mbenigni]

Thanks so much, @DrewJD82 and @JiveTurkey - I didn’t see your comments until after I’d replied to @TheTrueZoltan! and shut down. @DrewJD82, I’ll try to add some notes and answer your question about that “synth” sound next time I’m at the QC.

This was really just a process of throwing the most obvious s*** against the wall and then polishing it as much as possible (against a ticking clock lol) in the DAW. But I’m pretty excited about the simple fact of having set up a PC, having pressed record, and having “finished” something after many, many years of excuses. I’m so glad you guys kicked off this challenge!

 

[JT]

Thanks so much, @DrewJD82 and @JiveTurkey - I didn’t see your comments until after I’d replied to @TheTrueZoltan! and shut down. @DrewJD82, I’ll try to add some notes and answer your question about that “synth” sound next time I’m at the QC.

This was really just a process of throwing the most obvious s*** against the wall and then polishing it as much as possible (against a ticking clock lol) in the DAW. But I’m pretty excited about the simple fact of having set up a PC, having pressed record, and having “finished” something after many, many years of excuses. I’m so glad you guys kicked off this challenge!

Glad you broke the seal! Challenge is all Drew.

 

[mbenigni]

Challenge is all Drew.

Game changer!

 

[mbenigni]

@DrewJD82 - The synth tone you asked about is actually a QC preset called "Loop Shimmer Express" (a Fender Deluxe in parallel with a slightly detuned, heavily compressed dry signal, merged into a big Hall reverb. I'm sure any of the Fractal boxes could accomplish this and more.) I had that big space in the middle of the recording and no idea what to do with it. Thought about a guitar synth track, or a vocal part, but I was too lazy (and pressed for time) to set up for either. So I just started poking around at the presets until I found that, and played some octaves into it. Voila!

The lead tone is the new JP2C Ch. 2. I didn't really do anything to dial it in, but it's running through the "412 Brit 35B Alnico Cream" cabinet, which I messed with a little bit when I first got the QC, and have been using ever since. The "clean guitar" is also a preset: "Airy Reverbs". A Twin, of course, with tons of effects. Bass is Variax Deluxe Jazz through QC Ampeg B15N with matching cab.

EZDrummer for the drums. I don't have any decent effects plugins installed, so I just used the stock Ableton library, which is kind of meh. Couple of multiband compressors, a stereo widener, reverb and dual delay on send buses.

I may allow myself a bit of revisionism and replace the solo. Hearing it on a less flattering playback system (e.g. iPhone), the slop is just unbearable.

 

[DrewJD82]

But I’m pretty excited about the simple fact of having set up a PC, having pressed record, and having “finished” something after many, many years of excuses. I’m so glad you guys kicked off this challenge!

That’s the greater point/goal of the whole thing! And right out of the gate we got to hear people discovering they had a bit more inside of them than they thought they were capable of! Overall, everyone is still way too critical of what their own work. For those who just started recording or have very little experience with it, ya’ll just went from being ”just” a guitar player to being the whole band, engineer and producer, that’s a pretty big f*cking leap and those are all roles that people spend their entire lives perfecting.

But that’s ok, it’s mostly healthy self-critiquing and it’s exactly that which pushes people forward to get gud….as long as no one allows it to make them quit. There’s a lot of talent around here and I’m definitely stoked to hear what everyone is doing as this challenge continues, or even on their own once the realization of “Sh*t, I’m a bit more capable than I thought I was“ sets in.

 

[Mongillo19]

Well, I did... something. I don't know if I'm late for the first bi-weekly challenge, or early for the second (NDSP style), or really late for the third weekly challenge... screw it I'm just going to put it here. And I'm going to put it here now, before I chicken out. And because I never want to hear this stupid riff again LOL.



It's, um, not a 20 second sine wave?

That was wonderful! Self made patch on the QC? Models captures?

 

[mbenigni]

That was wonderful! Self made patch on the QC? Models captures?

Thanks a bunch, @Mongillo19! I worked really fast and more haphazardly than usual. (Well, I should say "than I used to", since my recent "usual" has been "not at all" lol.) I printed everything wet - even some reverb and delay - as I was messing around on the QC, so I've already forgotten some of the details (e.g. which preset/ model I used for the main riff.) Previous post breaks down as much as I know. JP2C and Ampeg models, a preset called "Airy Reverbs", and a slow attack synthy thing called "Loop Shimmer Express".

 

[Mongillo19]

Thanks a bunch, @Mongillo19! I worked really fast and more haphazardly than usual. (Well, I should say "than I used to", since my recent "usual" has been "not at all" lol.) I printed everything wet - even some reverb and delay - as I was messing around on the QC, so I've already forgotten some of the details (e.g. which preset/ model I used for the main riff.) Previous post breaks down as much as I know. JP2C and Ampeg models, a preset called "Airy Reverbs", and a slow attack synthy thing called "Loop Shimmer Express".

That's awesome! I feel like we are in the same boat in regards to music production lol did you do any mixing or mastering?

And did I really ask the details of the patch when you had it listed

 

[mbenigni]

That's awesome! I feel like we are in the same boat in regards to music production lol did you do any mixing or mastering?

You tell me.

Serious answer: no. I can “mix” up to the point where I personally like what I hear on the system where I’m mixing, but I think most anyone can do that. I don’t have any formal knowledge about carving out frequencies conventionally attributed to different instruments, etc etc etc. And I don’t know the first thing about mastering for portability across different speakers, etc. It’s all trial and error for me.

P.S. I misread your question. I thought you meant “do I mix and master” in general. As for this track, I put one of Ableton’s preset audio effects racks on the drum track, and another on the master bus. I don’t think I even tweaked them. Super lazy.

It’s embarrassing to admit this, but the solo is stitched together from a few takes. “OK I like this bit here and this bit here, but what about this big hole in the middle? I know! Tremolo picking!!!”

 

[Mongillo19]

You tell me.

Serious answer: no. I can “mix” up to the point where I personally like what I hear on the system where I’m mixing, but I think most anyone can do that. I don’t have any formal knowledge about carving out frequencies conventionally attributed to different instruments, etc etc etc. And I don’t know the first thing about mastering for portability across different speakers, etc. It’s all trial and error for me.

Yeah my mixing is essentially on unit for the most part lol as far as mastering it's probably considered cheating but that Ozone AI slapped on the master track just feels so right

 

[mbenigni]

Yeah my mixing is essentially on unit for the most part lol as far as mastering it's probably considered cheating but that Ozone AI slapped on the master track just feels so right

I keep hearing that, but at $500 Ozone is above my pay grade lol. I noticed that SoundCloud will “master” your tracks now, but my spidey sense says NO.

See my edit to my last post: I also cheated, with Ableton’s mastering rack. Just a glorified compressor and eq, really.