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Oxidizer

By onezero on February 28, 2016 10:34 pm

Kind of an evolving piece here.  Lotsa guitar, lots of changes during the creation process, and only becoming a thing at the very end.  I started with a drum machine line using glitchy samples from a Visco Space Drum, with an 808 for contrast.  Then another drum machine line using some single-hit samples from a hand drum I have, and...there was a kind of groove.  I added a number of potential bass and pad lines in Operator...but removed them during the week, keeping only one (sine-tone with a sine-wave tremolo from auto-pan).  After tracking guitar (three different Moderne parts and one Res-O-Glas part) and bass (80s Epiphone), the Visco stopped sounding interestingly glitchy in this context and started sounding wrong--particularly on the hat, which sounded like a robot stepping on a wet 4-bit sponge over and over.   

To replace the Visco, I went with another track of single-hit 808 samples, which then opened up the potential for comb-filtering and frequency collisions with the other track of 808 samples.  On the kicks, I got around that by checking with Spectrum, and applying both filtering (within the Impulse instrument) and nudging the pitch on the kick (which also got them out of the way of the fundamental of the bass).  Then the guitars--some of which used the Amp plugin on the Fendery setting--started sounding squelchy.  So I replaced both the Saturators on several channels and the Amp plugin with the Overdrive plugin, each set to different frequency curves  and amounts.  Across the board, it sounded a lot better. 

Everything got some auto-pan for L-R variation, while MIDI channels got Humanizer (max delay of 32 ms) and additional auto-pan for slight random volume fluctuations. Send channels: two Convolution Reverbs, one using the Bigger Spaces/Very Large Cathedral impulse (preceded by an effective bandpass with two auto-filters), and one with the Ambience and Small Room/Medium & Bright impulse.  I also used a Filter Delay send channel on the Res-O-Glas, and a channel of Buffer Shuffler 2.0 (randomizing on 16ths, left and right independently) on guitars and the one Operator pad.  The whole mix got the Full Chain Master.

The result? Well...kind of grooves in places.  A struggle to put together and mix.  The title comes from week 8: atomic number 8 is oxygen--just try breathing without it.

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It's got that smokey atmosphere of good jazz. For all the tweaking it sounds totally organic.

Amazing process and thanks for the detailed write up. I agree it sounds authentic. Bass is incredible!

Nice guitar playing and I dig that subdued beat. Nice!

Atmospheric electric jazz maybe? You're developing a quite characteristic sound this year, Maurice. Lots of your particular "movement" on that modulations, though the guitar work sets it apart for your more electronic stuff from back in WB'14 IMHO.

Nice and dreamy as usual

Cool track! big_smile

Very nice! Love the moving guitars and bass. Appreciate the informative description.

This is lovely!  The beautiful Moderne sounds great!!!  Are you liking it?

Jim Wood wrote:

It's got that smokey atmosphere of good jazz. For all the tweaking it sounds totally organic.

Nimble Cipher wrote:

Amazing process and thanks for the detailed write up. I agree it sounds authentic. Bass is incredible!

cfurrow wrote:

Nice guitar playing and I dig that subdued beat. Nice!

Thank you!

Ipaghost wrote:

Oxidizing!

laguna wrote:

Atmospheric electric jazz maybe? You're developing a quite characteristic sound this year, Maurice. Lots of your particular "movement" on that modulations, though the guitar work sets it apart for your more electronic stuff from back in WB'14 IMHO.

Nice and dreamy as usual

Thank you!  I do seem to be hovering around some sonic centers this year. I might be due for shaking things up a bit. 

Naikymusic wrote:

Cool track! big_smile

miraclemiles wrote:

Very nice! Love the moving guitars and bass. Appreciate the informative description.

is nothing sacred? wrote:

This is lovely!  The beautiful Moderne sounds great!!!  Are you liking it?

Thank you!  I am totally loving the Moderne...though there's a lingering setup issue that I'll have to address--with the truss rod tightened all the way, there's still some relief, so I may have to resort to putting in some washers and/or pre-forming the neck to have some backbow with a clamp and straightedge, as described here: http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Learn_About_Truss_Rod_Installation_and_Repair/A_sign_of_truss_rod_trouble_and_an_easy_solution_.html

Also gotta replace that pickup switch...but the guitar feels and sounds great. I really want to see how it does with a cranked amp.

is nothing sacred? wrote:

This is lovely!  The beautiful Moderne sounds great!!!  Are you liking it?


...And just to follow up, a couple days after the latest truss rod tweak and putting on some lighter strings (.010-.046 half-rounds), it's settled in very nicely--to the point that I'm thinking it just needed some settling time.  It feels just about as good as the Res-O-Glas, though different in its way. 

Still have to do the switch.  And...turns out the nut isn't actually glued down any more, so I have an opportunity to replace that, too. (Thinking bone to replace the plastic.)

i just googled "res-o-glas" do you have a roundy one or the funky shaped one?  glad you are settling in with it! 

is nothing sacred? wrote:

i just googled "res-o-glas" do you have a roundy one or the funky shaped one?  glad you are settling in with it!


I went for the Belmont shaped kit from http://guitarkitsusa.com/, and put an Eastwood Saturn neck on it, as well as Alumitone P-90s, Bigsby (too sharp of a break angle; working on fixes), and Epiphone Lucille varitone circuit, because I couldn't decide on tone capacitor values. (Also went with Fender No-Load potentiometers, so when they're all the way up, it's a straight wire from the pickups to the output.)

oh wow - that's pretty!  gonna have to show this one to Josh - he will drool!

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