# Vi-Control's Collaborative Learning Project 8: Percussion



## Darthmorphling (Oct 7, 2013)

Submissions:

davidgary73
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/115544100&secret_url=false[/flash] 

Percussion only: 
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F114833980&secret_url=false[/flash]

ModalRealist
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F116965246&secret_url=false[/flash]

Tod
https://db.tt/HjGY4BFU

David Chappell
[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F118129847&secret_url=false[/flash]

This time around we will be writing a piece that focuses on percussive elements. These can be any type of percussion you feel like using. While percussive instruments should be the main portion of the piece, you should not be limited to just percussion. Feel free to use other instruments in rhythmic ways. The only limitation will be no melody.

Try and make the piece interesting using just rhythm.

The deadline will be October 27. If you are going to participate please give a commitment in a reply.

Here is the Project Archive and Ideas thread:

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33266

Don


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## park bench (Oct 7, 2013)

I'll be in, hopefully, for this one.


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## davidgary73 (Oct 11, 2013)

Good day darthmorphling,

Here's my simple take on Percussions. 

Library used:

Albion 1 Redux
Drum Circle Lite 
World Percussion 2.0 Djembe

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/115544100&secret_url=false[/flash]

Percussion only: 

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F114833980&secret_url=false[/flash]

Cheers


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## Darthmorphling (Oct 14, 2013)

davidgary73

I updated the first post with your submission.

I actually heard the track on Soundcloud a day before you posted it here. I do like the percussion in the track. I know we are to make the percussion the focal point, but I feel that it is too prevalent in the mix. If the other instruments were brought up a bit, it would really bring out the musicality in the rhythm I think.

I am having a hard time with this one. creating interesting grooves is rather challenging.

Good work!

Don


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## davidgary73 (Oct 17, 2013)

Darthmorphling @ Tue Oct 15 said:


> davidgary73
> 
> I updated the first post with your submission.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much for the feedback Don. I have reuploaded a new soundcloud clip with instruments brought up in the mix. 

Cheers


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## AndreP (Oct 19, 2013)

After procrastinating, I think I can have something by the deadline :lol: 

Epic Drums!


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## AndreP (Oct 19, 2013)

@davidgary73

A very good track. I agree with Darthmorphling that bringing up the rest of the orchestra helps to accentuate the percussion. Awesome skills.

Though, I have to admit, the percussion only track can stand on its own just as well.


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## davidgary73 (Oct 23, 2013)

Thank you AndreP for your feedback. I've raised the orchestra level as suggested by Don. 

I have also submitted both tracks for Evolution Djembe Competition as well since Evolution Djembe was used in these tracks. 

Cheers
David


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## ModalRealist (Oct 24, 2013)

Apologies for not indicating earlier that I was going to produce something...! It's a bit of a poor show anyway so... :? I procrastinated a lot over how to approach writing "for" percussion. As Darthmorphling mentioned, coming up with a "groove" so to speak is actually damned hard! I have a newfound respect for the guys who come up with those great percussive arp patches. In the end I decided to approach it a little differently, and try to write a piece that made heavy use of a variety of percussion in order to give it its heart and soul, while not being a specifically "rhythmic" piece necessarily. And this is the end result:


[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F116965246&secret_url=false[/flash]

Forgive the ending! I couldn't resist it. :oops: (I suppose I could say it's meant to provide contrast, which it does... would be interested in knowing if it's just too much contrast!) Not much else to say really. There's not really any mastering or effects going on (no compression on any of the perc for example).


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## korgscrew (Oct 25, 2013)

Might have to enter this one!


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## Darthmorphling (Oct 28, 2013)

I feel kind of bad as I'm the one who started these, but I'm not going to have a piece. Things just got a bit crazy in the past week and I just did not have time to get one finished. I have some ideas saved and of course I will get it done, in time.


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## ModalRealist (Oct 28, 2013)

I wasn't very happy with the level of the first version, so I went back and tried to tidy up the mix a bit, and this is the result. Again, not a particularly great job, but hey. At least the percussion is a little more forward and (to my ears) stuff leaps out that little bit more (the original wasn't just quiet - it was also a tad dull mix-wise). I think the dynamic change between the main section and the ending has collapsed a little, but not so much as to totally ruin the effect.

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F117562584&secret_url=false[/flash]

I like DavidGary's piece a lot. Particularly the percussion (and the percussion-only version). The Albion shorts sound nice too, although in this case they (to my ears) are making a pleasant "produced" sound as against a "real" sound. I think they're almost too clean and smart for some of the twirling motifs. The double-note patterns sound really good though. Are the woodwind runs Albion? They sound particularly neat too. 

One final observation: the mix sounds quite "transparent" in the sense that everything feels like it is hovering forward in space (in that kind of pleasantly-produced manner), and it occurred to me that this contributes to my sensation of the piece juxtaposing the "epic" percussion with an almost more "jolly" tone. I have no idea if that analysis is anywhere near the right ballpark, but it was what my ears noticed for me, in any case.


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## Tod (Oct 29, 2013)

Hi Don,

I did something that has a lot of percussion in it I could post, but it's something I'd done quite a while ago when I was playing around with ideas for a particular project. So I don't know if it's allowable or not. Also I don't have a Sound Cloud account so I'd have to post it from my own dropbox.

Anyway, if it's not allowable that's cool. 8)


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## Darthmorphling (Oct 30, 2013)

Tod,

By all means submit it! I would be great to hear more of your music.

Don


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## Tod (Oct 30, 2013)

Darthmorphling @ Wed Oct 30 said:


> By all means submit it! I would be great to hear more of your music.
> 
> Don



Okay, this is short little piece I ended up not using for a wildlife video. I call it Snake.

The percussion is basically Congas, Timbales, Bass Drum, Hybrid Toms, and what I call Native Drums. 

https://db.tt/HjGY4BFU


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## David Chappell (Nov 1, 2013)

here's my submission for this one:

[flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F118129847&secret_url=false[/flash]

Didn't really know how to go about using melodic instruments in a purely rhythmic way so I went with just percussion instead. which is also something I've not done before so I learned a fair bit

I'll post feedback on the others tomorrow


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## Darthmorphling (Nov 1, 2013)

@Tod

Very nice piece. The percussion is right in front of the mix, but doesn't seem to bury the rest of it. Nice job mixing it. You should really just get a Soundcloud account and post more of your music. I was getting a sort of "Lost World" vibe from it.

@David

Nice use of syncopated rhythm. The groove from :13 on is very solid and then the accented hits kind of throw you off kilter a bit. Not in a bad way that is reminiscent to some Exodus guitar riffs. They were an "80's thrash metal band that had very chunky syncopated riffs. Nice piece.


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## korgscrew (Nov 1, 2013)

ModalRealist @ Fri Oct 25 said:


> Apologies for not indicating earlier that I was going to produce something...! It's a bit of a poor show anyway so... :? I procrastinated a lot over how to approach writing "for" percussion. As Darthmorphling mentioned, coming up with a "groove" so to speak is actually damned hard! I have a newfound respect for the guys who come up with those great percussive arp patches. In the end I decided to approach it a little differently, and try to write a piece that made heavy use of a variety of percussion in order to give it its heart and soul, while not being a specifically "rhythmic" piece necessarily. And this is the end result:
> 
> 
> [flash width=450 height=110 loop=false]http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F116965246&secret_url=false[/flash]
> ...



I really like this! Im a bit sick of epic at the moment! Its nice to hear something with some space around it 

I would love to know wich libraries you are using. Especially the brass and strings!

Sounds like Spitfire percussion to me /\~O


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## ModalRealist (Nov 1, 2013)

@korgscrew: Thanks! Glad you liked it. You're right that it is Spitfire Percussion. As a matter of fact, it is 100% Spitfire. The strings are all Solo Strings (specifically the Harmonics articulations) and the brass is just BML Horns.

@Tod: I felt the percussion rhythms really carried this piece in a very pleasant manner. The mix is great, with the percussion forward, but in such a way as to help carry the melodic components. The percussion in and of itself I thought had a solid "modern percussion" feel to it which I can't really fault. It's worth noting maybe that I think it might sound too "thin" if it was used in a more organic-sounding mix, but as it is it sits just right with the other instruments.

@David: I echo Darth's comments about the groove - very nice. Actually the most impressive thing I found about this piece was how the drums felt very "live," being possessed of that rhythmic urgency that one associates with a genuine percussion performance. The mix was very nice overall although I felt that some of the "high hits" in the ~:10-:45 started to feel too forward and thus repetitive to the ear. But that might just be an arbitrary opinion, rather than a useful constructive criticism! In any case, I thought this piece was really well done, and doubly so given the total absence of any tuned component. Great stuff.


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## David Chappell (Nov 4, 2013)

here's my feedbacks:

@davidgary: Cool piece. I particularly like the string shorts you have going on. at about :33 onwards the percussion seems a little overbearing in the mix, I can't really hear the string part through it. The ending is really good too - love those little flute glissandi.

@Modalrealist: very cool! awfully ominous start, the "tick-tock" of the wood hits is really quite creepy. Not too sure about the ending, I couldn't really tell if it was supposed to be massive/bombastic or an expansion on the creepy that had been built up to that point. Overall a very good piece though, I really love the atmosphere.

@Tod: Love the start. That hybrid drum pattern is awesome, and the synth swells are massive. Not really much to critique, other than (to my ears at least) the flute - i'm guessing some sort of ethnic - I wasn't really expecting. But that may well be a good thing, surprises are always fun!


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## Tod (Nov 5, 2013)

Heh heh, I didn't realize if we posted something we also had to critique. I'm terrible at critiquing so please take what I say with a grain of salt and this is totally off the top of my head.  

@davidgary73: The percussion certainly sounds good and it's deffinitely in your face. It's hard to know how you approached this, percussion track first and added other instruments or maybe all together? For me the end kind of brings things together a little better when you bring in the other instruments a little more.

@ModalRealist: Tic, Toc, Tic, Toc, this is totally something I didn't expect. A very different and refreshing approach in the midst of the expected heavy duty percussion sounds. 

@David Chappell: This reminds me some of the Drum Core in my old College days (early 60s). Your's is a little more precise, sounds better, and probably more in your face.  I mean that in a good way.


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## davidgary73 (Nov 7, 2013)

@ModalRealist

Thanks for the comments mate. The twirling motifs short strings are presets pattern from the Ostinatum Presets which is pretty fun. The woodwinds glissandi are from Albion 1 Redux. 

@David and Tod

Sorry about amateurish mix guys. I started mainly with percussions track first and thought maybe i submit only the percussion tune but i then decide to add some instruments to it. Don did advised me to raise up the music instruments to bring things together. 

Cheers
David


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