Battle 44 - Body Operator

motone

Since the last battle #43 ended in a real close decision between me and @quarantequatre (and for another obvious reason) I asked him to join me in hosting this battle...

I mean: HEY! IT'S BATTLE #44!!!

It's called "BODY OPERATOR".

And here are our rules:

#1: No internal synths, no preset samples and/or imported user samples (except those from rule #2).

#2: All sounds must be done and only be done using any parts of your body. No other objects allowed.

#3: Not less than one sample must be recorded as a "loop" with a length of at least one bar. This could be a human beatbox rhythm, a whistled melody, spoken words, singing, a rhythm made with your hands on your leg, etc.

#4: The loop from rule #3 must appear at least once in its full length and as it was originally recorded (applying effects is allowed). Apart from that it can be chopped up and scattered as much as you want.

#5: Unlimited resampling and all effects allowed.

#6: The title of your submission must contain at least the name of one body part that you used fulfilling rule #2. Some examples: "Hand me your heart", "Kneedeep in trouble ", "I head an awful trip". (Let's not drift into NSFW regions here.)

...and finally the golden OP-1 battle rule...

#7: all mixing, processing, recording, mastering and final mixdown to album must take place within the OP-1 (you may use an external microphone and recording device for recording your body sounds, but no external effects or processing allowed!).

Let's set the deadline on Jan., 22nd. 29th

Roborob

brilliant battle plans, looks like a cheek slapping Christmas is around the corner! 

mrbernard

I'm in! Second battle. Imma do better this time. You'll see, dad. 

curdledgurled

sounds fun! i think i'll be able to make something this time!

LyingDalai

I've been willing to get such bodysong battle for ages (it was even one of my proposals for previous brief)
Very exciting!!!

And nice move towards @quarantequatre : if I had closed the previous battle earlier or later it would have been a draw game!
I am relieved, thank you very much :D

Callofthevoid

Nice brief :) hopefully get time to get a track together this time.

Hakon

Sounds like fun. Perhaps I should sample my sniffles and coughs while I still have a cold too - just on the off chance I can use those.

mixrasta

Ah cool, we had these rules before in one of the earlier battles, but we were allowed (or had to) to use one track with a synth sound. No sequencers were allowed...

Fun!

Edit: It was Battle 17

kriller

I've had an op for about 9 months now, and I've lurked this forum for well ovewr a year. Never participated in a battle before. THIS IS THE ONE.

Juniorengineer

Count two lurkers in then!

winerz

Three lurkers!

motone

3 weeks to go!

steveoath

Me is confused, is it one loop only - which is subsequently mangled? Or at least one loop, but other 'body' sounds can be added?

motone

@steveoath You can add as many loops as you want, but at least one. And of course you can add as many other sounds as you want, as long as they are created using your body.

steveoath

Cool.

hudson

I just wanted to say, that the battles idea is great. Even if you don't win or whatever, just through taking part you will discover new approaches to making music and also probably finish some tracks. With the plans laid out already, you have enough criteria to get a track going.

Just wanted to throw out some mad props to this forum.

mrbernard

motone said:

#7: .....(you may use an external microphone and recording device for recording your body sounds, but no external effects or processing allowed!).

Was struggling to get the samples I wanted out of the OP1 mic and a plugged into the OP1 wasn't working for me... so I came back to check this rule before proceeding! Whew!!!! Carry on! Sternum-Bass drum, engage!

motone

Another hint: you can use FX and resampling to totally alter the original sample. The OP-1 has the power to create almost anything even from a simple "click" or "pop" recorded with the internal mic.

ludicrouSpeed

Lurker number 4 here. I will at least attempt something. Considering using only one sample, to work on my resampling $killz

motone

Two weeks left!

Servando

I'm working on it!.  I could rush and upload smth today  but I want to do the best out of this one.  I'm happy and surprised about what I achieved this time!  :)

millbastard

Gang, what's the best way to upload/submit? Should I upload to soundcloud then submit a link here, or to someone specific? Excited for my first battle :)

motone

Yes, just upload to Soundcloud and post the link here.

millbastard

Hey guys, here's my submission:

https://soundcloud.com/mlbstrd/hugo-skinlitz

Had a lot of fun with this - it's my first "full" composition completed on the OP1 since I got it in December. It was a real challenge setting up a workflow with the lift/drop and overdubbing to not accidentally delete anything (which still managed to happen a few times). I'm a hip hop producer, and I was going for a dirty, noisy, "obviously sampled" sound.

All the sounds were created using my voice thru the built in mic of the OP1. The drums were made using standard drum synthesis techniques on the samples I recorded - mainly the nitro filter - and resampled using the master EQ to shape them a little more. Really happy with the snare sound, which I lost when I accidentally saved over the synth patch before I'd made a snapshot :,-(((

Lesson learnt there! The kick is a little woofy and probably could have been processed to make it more snappy - it was made by tapping my finger on the microphone. The drums ended up sounding really dirty as I resampled them over the top of each other a few times, which reeeeeally cranks up the noisefloor in an interesting way. Made it a pain in the ass to balance out in the mixer though, next time I'll leave re-sampling til the very end. All other sounds (basses, flute-y sound, hats, cymbals) was from me humming, making clicking noises, etc. and then messing with them.

Loops that play in their entirety are the "oh ee ahh haa" main vocal loop that I triple-tracked, and the spoken word quote (which is what the title is based on).

Once the composition was all lined up I performed it to the album, using some Steeezo-esque techniques (stutter fx on M1/M2), live track mutes and some manual auto-panning. Took a few takes to get one I liked. There's some clicks and pops here and there when I solo'd tracks a bit out of time, but I'm OK with it.

Also, please ignore the tiny little fragment of a previous album save at the very very end - there's a few millisecs of something there, but I figured it would go against the "all within the OP1" rule if I dropped that into Ableton to chop it out :)

p.s. soz for the long post

LyingDalai

Just thinking... @cuckoo, this battle is yours, you might want to get one of your jamuaries to follow the guidelines and drop a submission ^^

100% vocals fits your style so well ;)

yoof

@millbastard - that's awesome!! Great write-up too, always nice to hear about processes. You'd have had no idea that some of those drum sounds came from body noises if you just listened to it fresh - good sculpting :)

Btw, there's a trailing http:// at the end of your link - perhaps you could remove them in your link, else it's broken for others.

cuckoo

LyingDalai said:

Just thinking... @cuckoo, this battle is yours, you might want to get one of your jamuaries to follow the guidelines and drop a submission ^^

100% vocals fits your style so well ;)

Cool stuff. Yeah perhaps I should!

LyingDalai

@millbastard very nice track, I really like it that everything but the beat is behind, feels like it gives some coherence to the track... 

And the tiny bit in the end is like when the drummer absolutely want to have the final word at the end of the jam :D

Indeed OP-1 can be hard to tame, sometimes, but it's pretty cool what you came up with ! Congratulations mate !

PS : you might want to remove the "http://" bit at the end of your track url so that it's easier to access it :)

And there is a setting in soundcloud to have your soundcloud page being 

https://soundcloud.com/MLBSTRD instead of https://soundcloud.com/user-591577744

millbastard

thanks for the feedback @yoof and @LyingDalai! Also props on the extra http, must've slipped up on the copypasta.

Hey @LyingDalai I can't seem to find that setting? I haven't used SC in a while, bit rusty...

Funny seeing as Cuckoo was mentioned here, this piece actually started as a Jamuary piece on my instagram, and then my memory triggered on this battle. Hi, Cuckoo! Big fan.

Looking forward to the rest of the submissions, while I try and work out if I can fit the OP1 into a new live rig.... hmmmmmm....

LyingDalai

Damn, can't seem to find it neither. Maybe one has this option only when creating the account, could be.

motone

Go to your profile page, click "Edit", and then click on the portion after "soundcloud.com/" (or on the pencil on the right side) under "Profile URL".