The Beat Union - Beat of the Week #002 (2/12-2/19)

[joeysimms]

I agree and disagree.. There should be a new beat every week, if at all possible.. People will just jump in and work the ones they can work. I like the pressure of having to finish something in a few hours.. it's a refreshing break from over-analyzing every last decision.. I look at Jon's tracks like we're playing in a room together.. wharever happens, you go with it. You know?

[jajjguy]

Okay, here it is! I can't believe I'm the first one to pick up and run with this hectic groove. Awesome drumming, Wing, i really had a great time chasing you!

Have a listen, and i'll be happy to say what I did if anyone's interested.

http://symphony.arch.rpi.edu/~jonah/mus ... 20much.mp3
(edit: link now works)

Also, feel free to check out some of my other stuff in that folder. It's pretty completely different from this one.

[joeysimms]

jajjguy, that track was beautiful! good job! What did you track on? How many tracks do you use?

[jajjguy]

thanks joey.
my setup is DP3, using a metric halo ULN-2, mic preamp and firewire interface.
bass and guitars went in direct, bass used an RNC and gtrs used a centaur overdrive. cello, doubled, used an earthworks QTC. vocals, doubled, used a akg 414 b-uls, with an RNC running in parallel.
so that's actually 9 extra tracks, on top of the stereo drums.
i found i needed to do a lot in the mix to get things to stand up to the super-compressed drums. basically, aggressive compression and EQ on everything except guitars, which didn't need it. normal concerns about signal fidelity and such really went out the window.
the main challange, though, was matching the energy level in the drums, which are very active! thanks again wing.

[xonlocust]

i just found this thread. fricking brilliant. way to go jonathan, tearing up the skins dude! way to work it jajjguy - kinda reminded me of a twisted bobby conn thing

i am officially impressed by youse guys.

[trashy]

Okay!!! Finally!!! My internet went down at my house, and Gerber Technical Institute and Elementary School (where I work) is officially on break, so I had no way to upload these files. I'm spending the last three days of my break teaching damn-close-to-flunking kids at Red Bluff Astronomical Reasearch Observatory and High School, so I finally have access to the internet.

Here's my contribution:
http://pongpingrecording.tripod.com/sit ... ig_day.mp3

(in case that doesn't load, here's the page: http://pongpingrecording.tripod.com/pon ... s/id4.html
it's the song called "BIG day" bottom of the list)

I had fun with this one, as you will soon see. Please ignore the vocals; I was right in the middle of cold. (I'm feeling better now - my own cold cure of too many onions and too-hot baths.)

Let me know what you think!

-Phil

[Electricide]

is somebody playing with their new Alesis mod boxes?

[wing]

Okay!!! Finally!!! My internet went down at my house, and Gerber Technical Institute and Elementary School (where I work) is officially on break, so I had no way to upload these files. I'm spending the last three days of my break teaching damn-close-to-flunking kids at Red Bluff Astronomical Reasearch Observatory and High School, so I finally have access to the internet.

Here's my contribution:
http://pongpingrecording.tripod.com/sit ... ig_day.mp3

(in case that doesn't load, here's the page: http://pongpingrecording.tripod.com/pon ... s/id4.html
it's the song called "BIG day" bottom of the list)

I had fun with this one, as you will soon see. Please ignore the vocals; I was right in the middle of cold. (I'm feeling better now - my own cold cure of too many onions and too-hot baths.)

Let me know what you think!

-Phil

this song rules! i love the vocals, what do you mean ignore them? you sound great despite a cold!... and the bassline. what is that bassline and synth from? the clapping is very nice. and those crunchy drums rule.

i also love the lyrics.
"i cut my face when i shaved, and i ran out of cereal"... and "there's no heart for hitchikers anymore"

love it!

[wing]

Okay, here it is! I can't believe I'm the first one to pick up and run with this hectic groove. Awesome drumming, Wing, i really had a great time chasing you!

Have a listen, and i'll be happy to say what I did if anyone's interested.

http://www.melodank.com/jonah/it%20don' ... 20much.mp3

Also, feel free to check out some of my other stuff in that folder. It's pretty completely different from this one.

thanks, i'm glad you enjoyed yourself! i like this song a lot. the vocals are very interesting, and it has a fun 80s xtc style feel to it or something. it's very nice. thanks!

[trashy]

I'm not sure if that synth line is from something else, but I played it myself using my Roland Juno (the bassline is played on that too, if ya didn't know.)

I love handclaps, and I have a tendancy to use them on every song.

Thanks for the positive feedback!

[wing]

I love handclaps, and I have a tendancy to use them on every song.

how were they recorded? they sound great.

[bobbydj]

Coo-eee, trashykins, I can't get nowhere with that link brudder.

[XXGABEXX]

I've always loved claps too. I used to worry that they sounded silly, but then Fugazi of all bands had a song with claps, so yea, screw it. Hand claps kick butt.

I like both of your songs, Trashenheimer.

-GABE

[joeysimms]

Good job trashy! Sounds like you looped a part of the beat? Then let the end part play as is? Sounds great! I love handclaps, too!

[trashy]

Good job trashy! Sounds like you looped a part of the beat? Then let the end part play as is? Sounds great! I love handclaps, too!

Yeah, I looped just a section of the beat - it sounded like a typical break beat, so that got the juices flowing and the "song" just fell together after that. I liked the part where J.W. stopped and started again, so I decided to use that, and that's how that part came about.

My usual technique for recording handclaps -if the song is based on loops or played to a click track (like this one)- is as follows. I set up Logic Audio to record one measure looping over and over again. I usually use one of my DIY omni's because I like the way it picks up the room (although I think I used by SP B1 on this track because it was up). So then I record - either to a loop or a click - and Logic Audio is just staking up these little bars of handclaps. After about 3 minutes of clapping I have like 92 measures; sometimes I stop and move mics or myself around to get a different sound and do it again. Then I take all those measures and move them- I like to make a loop of the handclaps that's an odd number of bars - 7 or 13, say- so that if there's any irregulars, the listener won't hear them in the same place everytime (and so, presumably, won't notice them.) I usually stack 7 or 8 tracks of handclaps panned variously, and then I bouce down and voila! a stereo track of handclaps. On this song I added some sample delay to the left, just to spread it apart a bit. I think I added a bit of reverb, too, but I can't remember.

Anyway, that's how I usually (and quite often) record handclaps.

The End.