Freesound Forums
DARE 8 - 10 Random Samples ! - DISCUSSION
Started November 26th, 2011 · 75 replies · Latest reply by Cimex_Official 12 years, 7 months ago
afleetingspeck
You alsow made an organic one. Light in sound with a good rithmn. Lovely. I can dance on it.
((((((((ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ON ONE PAGE, FOLOW THE LINK BELOW!!!!!))))))
http://klankbeeld-freesound.blogspot.com/2011/12/dare-freesound-community.html
When i did forget somebody, please forgive and send me a mail. Thank you.
Oh yes! We have a proper dare going on here!
I think this time there will be VOTING 
However, please don't forget the reviews. That for me is the best part!
By the way... The dare will be closing tomorrow.
I will be coming home late, so you have until 11pm or midnight tomorrow if you still want to make a submission.
A quick comment on the entry by whatsanickname4u.
First of all: Welcome to the dare!
This entry is quite different and deserves a quick special comment.
I think the track is quite effective at its intended purpose. I particluarly like the dive portion as it really feels like we are going underwater.
The piece does not follow all of the dare's rules - but that is honestly explained upfront by whatsanickname4u.
The purpose of the dare is to inspire and motivate creativity. So I think all entries are welcome.
I will provide some more detailed feedback when I come to write feedback / comments for all pieces and I would like to ask the other participants to do the same.
The challenge for you whatsanickname4u, would be, in the future could you combine the "audio scene" creation with a music so that it would more closely fit the dare challange of creating a "musical piece"?
I have planned for the future some dares where people will be asked to create an audio scene rather than a music piece. I think you will enjoy those.
Oh yes, audio scene + music. Heh, I'll try that out next time.
- I also just enabled downloading of my submission.
I have just closed the submissions thread. - apologies this took place a bit later than antecipated, I was out tonight and came back quite late.
We have enough entries this month to run a vote.
It is late now and I need to give it a bit of thought how the voting should work. I wil be opening the voting thread tomorrow, which will explain how the voting works.
Absolutely awesome submissions! Well done everyone!
* * * * * REVIEWS * * * * *
Here are the first five reviews, in order of appearance.
Everyone else please be patient as it does take me a bit of time to write up the review for each piece. Don't worry... I will get round to reviewing all of them.
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dare 8 - klankbeeld - becoming a boeddha is painful
This piece starts with a peacefull setting by a waterfall... some of the sounds pop in your face "sssss" sounds and later some beeps and bleeps. These sounds do appear a bit out of place, they might have blended in better if they were made to sound further away (with a bit of low and high cut and reverb).
The part from 50s to 2m10s is much quieter. This is a very minimalist piece: the sounds have been used sparsely and without effects.
There is, however, a sense of rhythm as the water sound is brought again and again.
Now the thing I positively don't like about this piece is that at 2m10s, after this long period of "quietness" a few very loud sounds are thrown at you. The "pump...snap" sound at 2m15s is particularly loud.
As you may have guessed, I had raised the volume to listen to the quiet part... AND I was listening on headphones. So the "pump...snap" nearly imploded my cranium! - so becoming a boeddha was certainly painfull... for me, at least!
I think this piece does have the potential to create a meditative mood. The water sounds are very well suited for this. Other sounds, not so well: the very artificial bleep sounds that were part of the 10 random sounds could, in my oppinion, have been fitted better if they had either been stretched to create drones or put through some generous reverb.
But then again, klankbeeld certainly knows this, and he instead made the conscious decision to use no effects and take the sounds as they were - quite a brave decision!
More importantly "becoming a boeddha is painful", so the piece tittle tells us. All these artificial sounds played over the natural peacefull sounds work as a very good reminder of the continuous intrusions and distractions imposed by the modern world on any attempts to achieve a higher spiritual or meditative state.
As a final commical note... the piece finishes with the "eh" sound... almost as someone who is awaken from their meditation by the loud sound going "eh?".
This is a minimalist piece that threads the line between a musical piece and a sound scene piece.
Interesting use of the 10 sounds.
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Thatjeffcarter - December Dare
Jeff's piece features a strong bass drone. His pieces are oftem calm and relaxing. Not this one.
... alien animal sounds seem to echo in the background... this is a dark alien forest.
Through our heavy, bulky, clumsy space suits we are the first humans to set foot on this land. A planet so remote it does not even have a name!
The atmosphere is dark and dense. Our science ship is in transit to Gama-7, we will only remain in orbit for a few hours. The whole planet is covered by one single coninuous steamy jungle. Massive trees extend hundreds of meters up. Even if one could pilot a shuttle through their canopies, he would only find an impassable mesh of lianas further down...
The only suitable landing place our sensors could find from orbit, was in the planet's night side. No time to wait for daybreak, our ship must be gone by then.
It would have made little difference anyway, the jungle is so deep and so dense that little light makes it to ground level.
Our search lights barely cut through either... as their beams stick to the thick foggy air only allowing us to see a few meters ahead.
Oddly... we see no animals or moving creatures... we can hear them crying or moving around us like ghosts. We feel watched by a thousand eyes... We can feel the ground rumble under our feet... the trees, the air itself seems to breathe.
This is an ancient place, a planet that is 5 billion years older than Earth... and which will last 10 billion years more, illuminated by its diminute, slow burning sun... A planet, we decide, is best left alone and we head hurridly back to our shuttle, constantly looking behind our backs expecting to be followed.
We make it, almost running, short of breath... phasers drawn... one last look out as we close the hatch.
...
I hear the hissing sound of the door becomming airtight.. but it sounds much longer than usual, like the planet itself is sighing in relief to see us go.
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Ultranova105_DARE _1
What a contrast from the previous piece! I would never believe the same sounds have been used.
Ultranova's piece has almost a latin jazz swing to it. I particularly like the "finger click" sound that comes at around 57s and then again at 2m05s.
Feels very comfortable: the piece exists for itself rather than for the constraint of using the 10 prescribed sounds. It all fits in wonderfully. The sounds themselves actually sound like real instruments: the percussion sounds natural, the lead sound seems like an accordion. Nothing sounds artificial, mechanic or forced.
Very well done. Obviously a construct of a skilled musician.
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Kyster_Second D8
When I started listening to this piece I was not sure where it was going. But there is a growing sense of tension that starts slowly and builds up.
Essentially that is what it is: a gut rattling tension that makes you feel unneasy... even unsafe... quick, reach for the light switch and turn the lights back on!
If I had to give it a name, I would call it "tension"
Nice!
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Tarrei_Freesound Dare8 Done
The starting sound is quite interesting, although once the other sounds of the piece start it should be a bit lower. I think that, as it is, takes up a bit too much "space" and in certain parts obscures other sounds a bit. Especially between 20s and about 47s, I would have made it a bit less loud. Then as the volume of the piece builds up, it could also build up slightly.
Sorry to go on and on about this sound...
But I really think it is great - Would like to see this sound or something like it build into a drum loop. i think it would work great.
Maybe you can upload it to Freesound?
I also really like the sound that appears at around 37s (and several times after that) - sounds like a woman screaming!
Also, really like the use of the sound "18" by CyberiaLainKittyKat. This was particularly difficult sample to use, at least for me. It is difficult to make it fit with other things, but Tarrei integrated it very well and was able to modify the mellody. Well done.
I also like the the "bitcrushed" sound in the music ending. - reading Tarrei's text, I understand this is the "mb-mbbb-ha-in-out 028.aif" sample by batchku played at a very slow speed.
My dear friends
Here are a few more reviews (I am not 100% sure these are in enrty order...)
* * * REVIEWS - PART 2 * * *
toiletrolltube - fs2 dare 8
First time I heard this piece, I did not like it very much. It sounded too boomy to me.
That is why I always listen to things more than once before voting or posting reviews: it turnewd out it was late at night and it was my ears that were tired, nothing wrong with the piece itself!
Toiletrolltube's pieces often sound organic and flowing. But not this one. This one is mechanical rather than organic - i mean this in a good way.
It's a machine, but it is also alive! It sounds huge and cavernous. There are huge moving parts pounding and the constant pulsing and buzzing of imense (electrical?) power flowing through.
But there is something else... it is unsettling, oppressive, scary... There are tortured spirits and devils in there, and they are somehow part of the machine, bound to it.
If I had to give it a name, I would call it "Mechanical Hell".
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ericksommers_december
The bass sound immediately creates a mysterious, suspence ladden atmosphere.
There is, however, something strange on how the bass sounds on ericksommers piece. It sounds "bumpy" on some of the notes, like each note was made by stichint together various smaller pieces. This is more obvious when there are no other sounds playing at the same time - for example on the second bass note.
Reading throurh ericksommers notes on processing used it is not obvious what caused this as he only seems to have used reverb. As I said, it only seems to affect half of the notes... maybe there is a volume envelope in there somewhere or some crossfades that could be smoothed?
For me, this is the one thing that if you could improve would immediately make a great difference to the quality and feel of the track!
The track develops slowly at its own pace. At around 1m the rhythm elements become more intricate.
Intereestingly, without actually accelerating pace, the track gains a whole new energy and stronger feel. The sense of suspense is increased as the listener constantly shifts focus from the slow throbbing bassline to the many different sounds that move in the foreground.
I particularly like the bit crushed "eh" sound. I thing most people shy away from applying bitcrushing to anything other than snares and hats, but they can make for great effects on other sounds too.
I find the transition to the water and waterfall sounds at 2m15s a bit too abrupt. I personally would have preferred these sounds to have faded in slowly.
No technical flaw, just a matter of personal taste.
I found it very interesting that ericksommers also choose to process the hinge sound by denalwa through an amp simulator!
Also worth mentioning is the intersting use of the sample "18" by CyberiaLatinKitKat. This is always a different sound to integrate and ericksommers took the inteligent approach of using this clip pitched down and then ste the tempo of his piece around it.
The result is a very intersting piece, which is captivating despite being nearly 4 minutes long.
On the areas of improvement I would say fixing the bumpy bass sound would greatly improved the quality of the piece from my perspective.
Adding some variation to the bass notes through the piece would also bring additional interest. Although, to be honest, the rhythmic elements provide enough distraction to the listener with the bass remaining almost subconscious that you almost don't perceive that it is the same note played over and over again.
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Hoscalegeek_Freesound dare 20111213
Ahhhh we are back into the old Amiga territory with the obvious playing of the "eh" asmple up and down the keyboard.
Very clever and well achieved. At some point it almost sounds like a little elf or other creature laughing.
The whole piece, but especially the first 30s or so could easily have been the game music for one of those early Amiga platform games with cute graphics. You can imagine a little man running and jumping through the landscape whilst trying to avoid little gargoile like creatures and collecting gems for extra points!
This is a beautifull piece that illustrates what can be done with only 10 sounds and mostly re-pitching portions of them and/or playing them up and down the keyboard. Few, if any, effects are used in real-time once the samples had been prepared.
Very nicely done!
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schluppipuppie_dare_mh2011_02_mastered
I am surprised by some sounds in your piece that resemble horns or brass instruments! - nice!
This is a very heavy, thick and intense piece. It takes the feelings of stress, anxiety, even fear to the next level.
A perfectly crafted piece that would sit comfortably in an action movie. The sequences with rapid bass notes and stomping percussion sounds are particularly appealing to me.
******
More reviews to follow... Christmas/New Year commitments with friends and familiy allowing
Oo I've included my discussion within my voting post.
Also to again bring up Kyster's question
Kyster
I'm really blown away by the skills you people possess!
AlienXXX could you make it a rule that people have to tell what software they use? I think it would be a great help to those who perhaps never done something like this before, but want to join.
Yeah, let's open up to people. Anybody, ask away at how we did certain portions or our process with the piece as a whole and we will answer them (at least I know I will). Again, everything begins with an idea, so don't be so dependent on utilizing various computer programs or equipment as I like to reiterate from sound designer Diego Stocco. http://vimeo.com/diegostocco
A big place to get ideas is from http://www.designingsound.org ... I forget if it was first Freesound that redirected me to that website but I think it's a great place for sound designers to read about and listen to sound designers in the industry.
Hi whatsanicname4u
Thanks for your comments, and for the links.
Freesound is used by a lot of people, including many students.
That is why i have asked people to describe what processing and effects the participants of the dare have used. The idea here is that if you know that, for example, chorus and overdrive distortion where used on a certain sample you should be able to recreate the resulting sound with a bit of experimenting - regardless of what software you are using. Of course, it also helps if you can specify what vst plugins and/or software you have used, as some processing is specific to certain software.
This should make the dare entries and discussions usefull for people learning about sound - whether or not they participate in the dare
There was also one processed sound that i have asked the user to upload. I might do that for other sounds that i find interesting or usefull. 
I would not go as far as making it a rule, though. Just a polite request.
Some people don't like writting a lot and thus would not be posting long descriptions and explanations.
I feel it might be a good idea to ask the submitters (if they are willing) to self-critique and perhaps tell us what they would have done differently in their own composition now after it's been such a long time since they submitted. Just lends a a good insight into the thought patterns of such wonderful composers that we have here.
I have tried something like that in previous dares but i don't think i got any replies.
Myself and others often have commented on pieces along the lines of "this piece makes me think of..."
I wonder if we have interpreted correctly the composer's message or intention...
I asked the participants to self-critique, just like yiu suggested, and also to comment on their intended message or feel for their piece. As i said, i don' t think anyone did in the previous dares... Maybe on this one
Hey, Triple-Alien-san:
Thanks for the feedback, man; it really helped me analyze not just this piece in particular but some of the ways I work on music in general.
As to the specifics, I can only suggest the bumpiness you found was an artifact of the pitching effect interacting in some strange way with the waveform. Also: NICE CATCH. After a tortuous bit of editing I killed it and you are right; it sounds noticeably better. Can I send you all my mixes?
And I agree totally, in retrospect, about that abrupt change. So I re-did that, too … seriously, you wanna produce my next album? Great suggestions!
This case that made me think "How did I convince myself that was good enough?" Been ciphering about it for a couple days now and as the conclusion is "laziness," I will change a few things around in my 'process' because of your elegant criticisms. Thanks a million.
THIS DARE WAS AWESOME. When's the next one?
I will happily self-critique.
I got lazy. It's as simple as that.
I did not put enough thought into the use of the water-sounds and how they were introduced, certainly nothing like the amount of effort I put into conceiving and arranging the rest of the pieces, anyway. And — thanks again, Alien, for catching that weirdness — I did not carefully monitor the results, never asked a second person to give it a listen, didn't wait a day or three to come back to it, didn't listen through pro monitoring (which I posses plenty of) but just through the bookshelf speakers in my office. Which are decent, but are not monitors …
These are all things I normally would do, too, if this were a release with my band or something I was working on for a client. I have no excuse.
Also (and this is the worst of it) this kind of exercise — that is, downloading various bits and manipulating them in nearly absurd ways to make musical or at least atmospheric pieces, is something I've been doing since I joined freesound. In truth I found freesound in the first because I was looking for a resource to help me do just that. The results of those games — not published anywhere except in my iPod, hey— are not dissimilar in execution to my dare-entry. That being the case, as I have essentially been practicing for this dare since March or whenever it was, I could have done something radically different, totally outside the box. Indeed, after listening to one of my colleague's entries, I immediately felt I had been 'way too conservative in my treatment of several things in mine.
The saddest part is that I even thought about doing so, when I was mucking about with the bitcrushed "eh" vocals. An altered formant here, a quick slice there and you can get/invent more than just the one syllable, yes? A whole new piece kind of jumped into my head for a minute there … something about alien voices … but I knew it would entail too much work.
So I just made that fourth section of the piece instead (it originally ended with that water-sound fading at at much faster rate than the "eh," all the way to level zero). This, too — the hasty add of an entirely new different ending as a substitute for redoing the piece — is also kind of unusual for me to do. In rock songs or something, writing silliness with my friends and with too much booze, sure; in an "art" piece like this? Not. So. Much.
Laziness.
And also — I am a professional and work under deadlines — I have developed this kind of callous around the idea that "the perfect is the enemy of the good." After reflection over it, I find that might not, after all, be true. It's just a saying we use in America, right? Part of our generalized business-like, production-factory-floor approach to getting 'er done. And that approach is inimical, I have slowly realized, to my own artistic ambitions. So, whaddya know? This dare has helped me to see some things I might've (probably would have) otherwise missed.
GRAZIE!
whatsanickname4u wrote:
Oo I've included my discussion within my voting post.Also to again bring up Kyster's question
Kyster
I'm really blown away by the skills you people possess!
AlienXXX could you make it a rule that people have to tell what software they use? I think it would be a great help to those who perhaps never done something like this before, but want to join.Yeah, let's open up to people. Anybody, ask away at how we did certain portions or our process with the piece as a whole and we will answer them (at least I know I will). Again, everything begins with an idea, so don't be so dependent on utilizing various computer programs or equipment as I like to reiterate from sound designer Diego Stocco. http://vimeo.com/diegostocco
A big place to get ideas is from http://www.designingsound.org ... I forget if it was first Freesound that redirected me to that website but I think it's a great place for sound designers to read about and listen to sound designers in the industry.
Thank you for your answer
My reason for asking about software is fairly simple. When i made the dare 7, i started from nothing. I've never edited sound like that before. The only tool i knew, was audacity. After that impulsive thought "i wanna join"! - i started looking around, figuring that there perhaps were a piece of software that fitted me as a newbie. I still am (a newbie), big time, but i've been looking into what would suit me, and of course made quite a few acquaintances regarding audio software.
So in telling what we've all been using, would be a huge favor for those who stand in the same shoes i did, two months ago.
Btw, thank you so much for your links. They're bookmarked, and stored for further study
AlienXXX,
You are a good listener and thinker . sorry I hurt you
regards Swami klankbeeld
For anyone who bothered to listen to all samples: Thanks for the constructive criticism of my sample. Thank you.
@ Kyster
Most important: do you use a PC or Mac?
I would recommend Reaper - especially as you are new to things.
The demo of Reaper is fully functional and does not expire. If you then decide to buy a license it will cost you €30 or so.
I have used it for the Dares and certainly it is more than up to the job.
Works on PC, I can't remember for sure, but believe ther eis a Mac version too.
klankbeeld wrote:
AlienXXX,You are a good listener and thinker . sorry I hurt you
regards Swami klankbeeld
hurt me?
Don't know what you are talking about, my friend
EDIT:
Just realised what you meant. You meant when I was listening to your piece!
I should have been more careful - I could see in the sample editor that there was a large peak ahead, so I should have brought the volume down!