January- Rules And Downloads

[brandondrury]

Band Name: Execute the Captor
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ExecuteTheCaptor
Reference mix: Grave Mistakes | ExecuteTheCaptor

**Important info:
The clip of people laughing and the panning piano are extremely important. Do NOT bury these. The sine wave sub drop at the end should be as massive as you can get away with. Be careful with how you handle it. I've included the DI tracks to everything I could to in case someone doesn't like my axe fx tones that I've provided. The bass has a dead note or two. Shit happens . Go nuts, have fun.

Tempo
I'm told that the tempo is embedded in the MIDI. According to ruprect (who is ALWAYS reliable source....sarcasm times 150 billion) he had to go in and do the tempo track in Cubase manually. There are only 3 tempo changes so this should take about 12 seconds. No big deal.


**These are the tempos:
1-51: 148 bpm
52-103: 180 bpm
104: 120 bpm

**Key: Guitars are tuned to Drop Bb. All I know.

MIDI Drums Decoded
C#0 - Mid-Right China
F0 - Loose-Mid China
C1 - Kick
D1 - Snare
G1 - Tom 4
B1 -Tom 2
A2 - Lowish Crash
B2 - Highish Crash
C#2 - Mid Crash
E2 - Mid-Tight China
C3 - High Hat
F4 - Tom 1
G4 - Tom 2
A4 - Tom 3
C#5 - Bell
D6 - Other Crash
B0 - Kick
D7 - Crash
C8 - Splash or Zilbel

Downloads

Download DIs
I goofed and left the bass DI in here which is required so I guess everyone need to download this after all. Download it here.

Download #1
Head over to the Slate propaganda page, answer the questions correctly, and you'll get the link to Download #1. http://recordingreview.com/lib/verification/january.php

Download #2
Grab the second half of the download filles here.

Download MIDI Drums
Snag the MIDI for samplers like SSD4, Superior Drummer 2.0, etc here. See the drum decoding above.

Download Drum Wav Files
I just now noticed that Jeronimo tossed up the drum tracks as I was uploading mine. If it was me, I'd just use Jeronimo's because at least the "intention" will be correct. I have a nasty habit of screwing things like this up.

Option #1: Jeronimo's Drum Files
Option #2: Brando's Drum Files

[m24p]

Hopefully the tempo map is embeded in some included midi file so you just drop the midi file into your project first. . I'm away for the holidays but looking forward to this!

[Stan_Halen]

I'm dying to get a chance to mix this. Some of JM's finest recording work I believe. \m/

[JoshERTW]

I think I've heard this one before - this will be fun!

I second the comment that a tempo file would be most appreciated - hate editing tempo maps

[bobbybovine]

I think I've heard this one before - this will be fun!

Yes, he upped his mix of it for some mastering practice here: Free Mastering Practice It was a fun experiment for me that actually didn't turn out to badly.

[Jeronimo Mora]

The tempo *should* be embedded into the MIDI.

EDIT:

IF the first thing you do is import the MIDI and create a new project from it (Like in cubase), the tempo map should be created from the MIDI itself. If you open a project and THEN import the MIDI, you'll have to make the tempo map yourself, but as brandon said. There are 3 tempos. It takes half a minute tops.

[m24p]

The tempo *should* be embedded into the MIDI.

EDIT:

IF the first thing you do is import the MIDI and create a new project from it (Like in cubase), the tempo map should be created from the MIDI itself. If you open a project and THEN import the MIDI, you'll have to make the tempo map yourself, but as brandon said. There are 3 tempos. It takes half a minute tops.

That's weird. Tempo maps usually work for me. Oh, well, I did it manually, subtracting 1 from all the numbers, because measure 0 had to have a tempo so I figured it was just offset. The tempo does change on the big "boom" right?

I imagine this one will have quite a few screw-ups with basic setup. I'm hoping I won't be one of the people who does that.

[Jeronimo Mora]

First tempo change happens when the pickup to the solo begins (Kick - Kick - Kick Kick Kick Kick).
The second tempo change occurs when the piano starts.

There is no measure zero. There is a blank measure but I took that into account. Make the tempo map with the values I've given and everything should be fine.

[Jeronimo Mora]

And for the love of all that is sacred, if you have any doubts about your tempo map PLEASE ASK OR REFER TO THE REFERENCE MIX. I would hate for your hard work to be disqualified because the tempo map wasn't correct. Inbox me if necessary.

[Radukku]

Okay...
first HAPPY NEW (with lots of mixing) YEAR y'all!
Second I did download the tracks...
Third what is the bass player playing?...
I can grasp, absorb, understand everything else (actually the piano ads a pleasant twist to the whole plot) but not quite the bass...
I mean tuned in a different way (ya i know what's different and what's standard these days but still) he bangs the strings with a drum stick or I dunno...is it all about subs ? I can't hear anything like the provided track when I listen to the reference (actually I can't hear almost no bass at all)
Jeronimo any insights? Pleeease!?

[Jeronimo Mora]

Third what is the bass player playing?...
I mean tuned in a different way (ya i know what's different and what's standard these days but still) he bangs the strings with a drum stick or I dunno...is it all about subs ? I can't hear anything like the provided track when I listen to the reference (actually I can't hear almost no bass at all)
Jeronimo any insights? Pleeease!?

I'm not sure I understand. I don't recall the performance being that bad. In the reference track I know I used a lot of distortion and absolutely SMASHED the bass with a compressor. I ended up removing a lot of the muddy frequencies which happened to be just about the entire spectrum hahaha. Use it for meat only. It doesn't add anything.

[Stan_Halen]

Third what is the bass player playing?...
I can grasp, absorb, understand everything else (actually the piano ads a pleasant twist to the whole plot) but not quite the bass...
I mean tuned in a different way (ya i know what's different and what's standard these days but still) he bangs the strings with a drum stick or I dunno...is it all about subs ? I can't hear anything like the provided track when I listen to the reference (actually I can't hear almost no bass at all)
Jeronimo any insights? Pleeease!?

In the OP he said this:

Download DIs
I goofed and left the bass DI in here which is required so I guess everyone need to download this after all. Download it here.

The non-DI bass track is a highly distorted version with very little low end. So I'm assuming we are to use the DI bass track and do as we will to make that handle the low end. The distorted track is available to crunch it up if you choose to use it. It seems pretty essential to the song, unless you find your own way to 'crunch up' a copy of the DI.

[Radukku]

I'm not sure I understand. I don't recall the performance being that bad.

Happy New Year fellas!
Hey Jeronimo sorry for the misunderstanding!...Performance wasn't necesaryly bad but in my (very limited) experience in general and in this genre particulalrly I've never heard this kinda interpretation or style for lack of a better term of a bass playing...let alone the technique or tuning used...

In the reference track I know I used a lot of distortion and absolutely SMASHED the bass with a compressor. I ended up removing a lot of the muddy frequencies which happened to be just about the entire spectrum hahaha. Use it for meat only. It doesn't add anything.

OKay, well this pretty much answers my question then!

[Radukku]

In the OP he said this:



The non-DI bass track is a highly distorted version with very little low end. So I'm assuming we are to use the DI bass track and do as we will to make that handle the low end. The distorted track is available to crunch it up if you choose to use it. It seems pretty essential to the song, unless you find your own way to 'crunch up' a copy of the DI.

Thanks Stan for chipping in!...Sounds rather straightforward the way you put it but for me it means I will start sharpening my cutting knife pretty soon (just to be on the safe side let me add that's the EQ cutting ) for both tracks...or maybe I'll try using the DI for distortion as well...not easy task this bass...

[m24p]

My DAW counts measures starting with zero. Thanks for the tips on getting the map right.

[Radukku]

MIDI Drums Decoded
C#0 - Mid-Right China
F0 - Loose-Mid China
C1 - Kick
D1 - Snare
G1 - Tom 4
B1 -Tom 2
A2 - Lowish Crash
B2 - Highish Crash
C#2 - Mid Crash
E2 - Mid-Tight China
C3 - High Hat
F4 - Tom 1
G4 - Tom 2
A4 - Tom 3
C#5 - Bell
D6 - Other Crash

OKay gotta ask...never had to mess around with drum maps and such but I guess I have to now...
in the provided MIDI track there are a series of F#5 notes from bar 104 to bar 111...they don't seem to correspond to any hit in SSD4 (not even in the converted map for Superior drummer - which I believe is the sampler you used, right Jeronimo?)
In the reference mix they kinda sound like some ride tip (or bell not sure)...so tought I asked...
Also (in my track anyway) there are no E2 notes at all...very confused!...

[TVT]

Getting a MIDI File 100% quantized and no dynamic information, for me, is the worst thing that anybody could do to music !!!
What do they do live ? Playing to an IPad ?
And if the bass has no Low End, simply tune it lower. There is still some space between 30Hz and DC.

So, again, i am out and hope for next month there will be more handmade music.

But thanks for all the work here.

A good new year, everybody.

[Radukku]

Getting a MIDI File 100% quantized and no dynamic information, for me, is the worst thing that anybody could do to music !!!
What do they do live ? Playing to an IPad ?
A good new year, everybody.

Okay now, let's try and have a bit of patience here...see what Brandon said :

Download Drum Wav Files
Coming Soon

and let's hope that these will be more of a 'real deal' like you want!...
And honestly the final product doesn't sound half bad! Listen to some versions from Bobby's link and see/hear what I'm talking about..Es ist nicht so schlecht mein Freund!
Warum warten Wir nicht noch ein bitschen mehr und Wir wirst sehen ya?

[Rusty Falcon]

Hmmm... while waiting for the drum WAV files....

I just bought Slate Trigger EX because I wanted to experiment with sample augmentation/replacement - couldn't pass up the $49 digital download price from Sweetwater.

Anyone know if the the provided MIDI file be used to trigger drums from Trigger ?

[Radukku]

Hmmm... while waiting for the drum WAV files....

I just bought Slate Trigger EX because I wanted to experiment with sample augmentation/replacement - couldn't pass up the $49 digital download price from Sweetwater.

Anyone know if the the provided MIDI file be used to trigger drums from Trigger ?

Lucky man! I ran there the second I read your post!...Too late...

Now it goes for $99 on their web site!...

[brandondrury]

Getting a MIDI File 100% quantized and no dynamic information, for me, is the worst thing that anybody could do to music !!!

For me it's like when I was a kid and hated onions. Mom would ask if I liked the food. I'd say, "Yes!". She'd then tell me that there were onions in there. Yuck!! I don't think I'll ever intentionally ask for quantized MIDI drums all set to max velocity, but I liked Jeronimo's mix and never noticed.

A person can always go in and "improve" the MIDI if they so choose.

---

A quick update. I mapped the whole thing to SSD4 and then realized they have no wav export functionality like S2.0 has. So, I guess I may switch it over to Superior Drummer as I don't want to render out a zillion tracks.

Brandon

[Jeronimo Mora]

I didn't want to do this but here are the superior drummer raws haha.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/103932464/Raws/Drums.rar

[ncls]

Getting a MIDI File 100% quantized and no dynamic information, for me, is the worst thing that anybody could do to music !!!

I heard some metal songs where the final goal for the drum is to sound like that. Plus, in the same idea, the dynamic for the whole song should somehow be constant from end to end ("f***king loud!!")

[ncls]

I didn't want to do this but here are the superior drummer raws haha.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/103932464/Raws/Drums.rar

Thanks a lot. I do not have sample library so this is really helpful.

Be careful, I saw it before, DropBox doesn't like heavy downloads and could suspend the sharing facilities for you during hours or days
You could some dedicated services like Mediafire, Rapidshare and so on for that purpose.

[Radukku]

I didn't want to do this but here are the superior drummer raws haha.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/103932464/Raws/Drums.rar

I would be more interested in the map file (something like .iom)
They appear to be the same regardless of the drum sampler make (SSD, XLN, SD etc)
In the mean time I found a few more notes in the MIDI track that have no samples attached to them...don't even know what they are supposed to sound like since I can't hear them in the reference track...