Solo of the Month (SotM) #33

stratman3142

poopot said:

Submission sent... be nice

Added to the playlist in the original post. That makes 5 so far.

markv

Five in five days! That's pretty good.

On the volume thing: whenever I render from Reaper (as a WAV), it seems to come out quiet, even if I try and ensure it's peaking at 0db. So I've got into the habit of pulling the WAV into Audacity, using the "Amplify" effect and exporting as MP3 from there. I'm not sure how this differs from using a master limiter or something. I have experimented with a couple of limiters on the master - LoudMax seems to be effective, if a somewhat blunt "instrument", as it were.

stratman3142

markv said:

Five in five days! That's pretty good.

On the volume thing: whenever I render from Reaper (as a WAV), it seems to come out quiet, even if I try and ensure it's peaking at 0db. So I've got into the habit of pulling the WAV into Audacity, using the "Amplify" effect and exporting as MP3 from there. I'm not sure how this differs from using a master limiter or something. I have experimented with a couple of limiters on the master - LoudMax seems to be effective, if a somewhat blunt "instrument", as it were.

I generally use a master limiter for my full compositions because, even if the track isn't that loud, there are often transient spikes (e.g. from the drum software) that can peak above 0dB.  But then I might push it a bit further to get a level that's a bit more competitive with commercial tracks, whilst trying not to compress the dynamics too much for the style of the track. Or perhaps combine that with compressing individual tracks that are peaking too much.

I happen to use Voxengo Elephant for master limiting. I'm not familiar with LoudMax but I guess it might do something similar.

poopot

poopot said:

Submission sent... be nice

Feel free to critique!... was the second take!.

flying_pie

poopot said:

Feel free to critique!... was the second take!.

Be nice... Feel free to critique... Make your mind up @poopot ; ;-)

Now I think you wish a critique so I'll say it doesn't matter of its take #1 or a comp from 300 takes - I'll form my opinion based on what you have submitted!

For starters I like the tone, there are some tasty licks in there and the approach fits the backing track. That's what really matters and you've achieved it. The rest is entirely subjective. Being picky I feel in the first third some of the licks fizzle out instead of finishing convincingly but the middle section especially is good and strong.


By all means critique mine if you wish but reciprocity isn't necessary. I'm always open for feedback, especially when handing out opinions, but I don't want to fish for validation! 

Rowby1

@stratman3142 I’ve just emailed a tweaked version 2 of my entry. Hope it’s okay to replace my original one. There was a couple of things bugging me about it so I’ve fixed them in my version 2.

stratman3142

Rowby1 said:

@stratman3142 I’ve just emailed a tweaked version 2 of my entry. Hope it’s okay to replace my original one. There was a couple of things bugging me about it so I’ve fixed them in my version 2.

OK. The playlist has been updated with version 2.

Rowby1

stratman3142 said:

Rowby1 said:

@stratman3142 I’ve just emailed a tweaked version 2 of my entry. Hope it’s okay to replace my original one. There was a couple of things bugging me about it so I’ve fixed them in my version 2.

OK. The playlist has been updated with version 2.

Thanks, much appreciated. 

flying_pie

@stratman3142 I've just sent a remix of my submission with less volume for the sake of any listeners ears. Hope that's okay with you

stratman3142

flying_pie said:

@stratman3142 I've just sent a remix of my submission with less volume for the sake of any listeners ears. Hope that's okay with you

OK, no problem. The playlist has been updated with version 2.

flying_pie

Cheers @stratman3142 much appreciated 

Bellycaster

Sent In.

stratman3142

Bellycaster said:

Sent In.

...and that makes 6 entries so far.

Brad

stratman3142 said:

...and that makes 6 entries so far.

Make that 7  

Rather than do a solo as I'd normally approach this (which would be very similar to the entries so far), I decided to make it more an exercise and play the same line but using a different pentatonic each time round, aiming to let the sounds settle and create contrast from one to the next. 

stratman3142

Brad said:

stratman3142 said:

...and that makes 6 entries so far.

Make that 7  

Rather than do a solo as I'd normally approach this (which would be very similar to the entries so far), I decided to make it more an exercise and play the same line but using a different pentatonic each time round, aiming to let the sounds settle and create contrast from one to the next. 

Added to playlist.

Perhaps not a huge coincidence, but the title you gave to your solo was one I considered giving to the backing track.

Brad

stratman3142 said:

Brad said:

stratman3142 said:

...and that makes 6 entries so far.

Make that 7  

Rather than do a solo as I'd normally approach this (which would be very similar to the entries so far), I decided to make it more an exercise and play the same line but using a different pentatonic each time round, aiming to let the sounds settle and create contrast from one to the next. 

Added to playlist.

Perhaps not a huge coincidence, but the title you gave to your solo was one I considered giving to the backing track.

I just couldn't resist a reference to the age old question! 

DulcetJones

Sent.

stratman3142

DulcetJones said:

Sent.

Added to playlist. You put "Got It" at the end of your email which I assumed was the title. If not, it's called that now

DulcetJones

stratman3142 said:

DulcetJones said:

Sent.

Added to playlist. You put "Got It" at the end of your email which I assumed was the title. If not, it's called that now

Cool.  

stratman3142

It's the last weekend before the submission deadline, which is 11:30pm on Thursday 22nd February 2018.