Interpolation challenge - Bob Marley’s Jammin’

Diverse for sure.

The voice you hear in mines was ME LOL l have a lil Yard in me

E l see tyou used real drums all so. Nuce man. What's that Calypso under the main music?

I knew CR was going to do what he does.

lm freakin shocked at Tao and CD. Yall did it , this is a classic Challenge!

I told ya’ll not to bring your C game lol... maybe I should have upgraded to B game

Okay, so first of a couple posts. This one to explain my entry.

* You guys all read my hints at a genre change, and yes it's influenced by jazz fusion.

* The crowd... I had actually planned to do something I thought would be cool - the last challenge - the Motown one, I had planned on bringing in the end of that song, then having an MC announce the next act coming to the stage, which would have been this song. But didn't do it... didn't have the time actually.

* The voice is me, through a vocoder. I kept the vocal melody and the chord progression of the music, but obviously changed the playing style.

* I like to simulate real bands with my music, so that you can't really tell if it was a band, or just me in my studio. I study bands, A LOT. How they play together, where the instruments are in the stereo field, and how a simple guitar riff for example, like you hear in the far right during the climax of the song, can add emotion and energy without a noticeable perception of it. Listen to the right speaker during the last part - you'll see what I mean. It's there, doing it's emotional and energy part. But you might not hear it if you're not focusing on it.

* And the typical reggae guitar riff plays throughout, only in the left speaker, so that your brain still associates what you're hearing with a reggae foundation, despite the genre clearly departing from that.

* Many people use percussion to carry the rhythm, but used the right way, the percussions can be equally expressive, and can be used to signify several things to the listener. In this song, the percussion comes in various parts to add energy - but subtle. If you don't listen closely, you won't notice it's there. That's the beauty of instruments - they're not always all front and center, and even though you don't perceive it directly, they add so much energy that if I muted them, you'd be like... something is missing. Bringing in instruments also let's the listener know that change is coming. Examples... bongos come in on the right at 1:51. Drum pattern calms at 2:07 - calm before storm. Keys relax then too. Starting the emotion build. Shaker comes in on the left at 2:23. Then at 2:40 all "members of the band" are playing their parts. The epic emotional part. Hand claps come in then too - adding to the groove of it all. Everything gets emotional. Keys, drums, electric guitar. Then at 3:43, the band relaxes and prepares to the bring the listener down to a graceful finish. I added the crowd noise as if reacting to the emotional build. The analogy I use is a rocket ship blasting off. at 2:40 is launch. Crazy energy. Violent launch. But synchronized. Then at 3:43, is the calm, quiet weightlessness of space. Yeah, I'm nuts, I know - lol, but that's how I compose. Energy at the right places, and the right time. I want to take control of the listener's brain for these few minutes. When I let go, you want to listen again.

Other than that, yes @danoc - real drums, performed though, not sequenced. And you'll notice that I dropped the C section of the song - didn't feel it needed it.

Alright, that's that. If you want to know more about my thought process, ask away - be glad to answer. And apologies for length. Just sharing my thought process. I imagine you all think similarly.

Danoc wrote:E l see tyou used real drums all so. Nuce man. What's that Calypso under the main music?

Hmm, not sure about the calypso. Wish I could say "yeah bro, I'm deep like that". LOL. But nah - wasn't my intent. If it sounds that way, wasn't on purpose. Just a fusion style.

Figured I'd write something individual for each of you. Please don't take any of my comments without a grain of salt. Just trying to do my best to give feedback. And by all means, don't think for one second that my comments are coming from a perspective of superiority. This is all coming from humility, and I'm glad you're giving me the opportunity to possibly contribute something meaningful to your music.

NearTao - this first post is for you.

Man, I'm feeling this.

The drums feel dragged a bit, which I read your post, referring to that a bit. At least that's what I call it - dragging the beat. I think it fits REALLY good with this.

The melodic hit on the snare - like that. It adds some nice depth that follows the melody.

The bass - is that a synth? Really like that too. Has a raw, edgy feeling to it.

And the organ that mimics the vocal melody - really like it.

When the voice sounds come in - man that was a nice addition. Had me look around my room to see if someone said something. Haha - awesome.

The change that starts around 2:00, that was a welcome change to the sound. I think adding more of that sooner would have been great. When it got to around 1:30 I was on the edge of my seat thinking... this is going to change... when it comes in, it works. I would have liked to hear something a bit sooner though. But man that whole change is awesome. Dropping everything around 2:30 - perfect transition back to the main flow.

After that, I would have liked more change. For the last couple minutes, as a listener I was thinking "Ive heard this before". The end, about 4:20 - awesome conclusion.

I think in general as a listener, I would have wanted to hear more change, more variation throughout, but the way you composed the music (not structured it), was awesome. Superb sound man. The structure is all I'm referring to. The instrumentation had me wanting to get pulled in quicker. After the break, you had my attention again, but like I said, once you got my attention, I would have liked you to do something more with it. That was a perfect time to strike and give me something to make me say "DAMN". Instead it was "I've heard this part before".

Hope that's helpful man. The music part is dope. You definitely know how to grab a listener's attention. Just suggesting you exploit that attention grab. It's so difficult to grab someone's attention with music. Let alone keep it.

Really, really like this though! Man if you could do a revision and add more to do something with that attention grab, it'd be cool to hear it. Please consider it man. Would be awesome to see how you can evolve this even more.

Good stuff!!

Eyalc,

The bass is actually from our very own MPC Tutor's "The Reaper", that kit is dope... I just dunked on it with some added FX. If Tutor wants the insert FX chain as a patch I'd be happy to get them over to him.

You should be a music psychologist or something man... whether you meant to or not, you hit on both my conscious and subconscious proclivities for making music. I absolute cut my teeth and was mentored in the the house, trance, acid, and related dance space. The other area I gravitated to back in the day was video game music, which kind of has this need for longer extended tracks because you never know how long it'll need to play out for, and it isn't the main focus of the player. I just naturally fall into making DJ tracks, because that is what I used to do either for myself or for others I was working and collaborating with. As a result, I end up with tracks that I am told "overstay" their welcome lol. For me a 6 minute track is great, because it gives the DJ time to mix and beat match, even though literally nobody does that these days. What is funny to me is that I *really* tried to get the track closer to a radio edit, but from your feedback as well as listening to the track again... I've hit the rough formula of 25% intro for mix/eq, 50% middle hold your own, and then the 25% outro for queuing up the next track.

So yeah... I guess I'm too old... or at least... still sticking to these habits whether I mean to or not . The funny thing is that I was actually feeling uneasy about the track, and I couldn't put my finger on why. As soon as I started reading your feedback I had that "ahah" moment where I immediately thought "yep, I've definitely heard this before", and totally in the best way possible. I couldn't even tell you why, but I just hit this natural rhythm where when I get into the pocket of a track I'm thinking about how it'll sit in a mix with other tracks, where do I fade in, eq, tweak, scratch, etc... and I realize it is *so* old fashioned... especially when modern DJs can just pick the loops and sections they want, and they don't have to worry about beat matching like you did on turn tables, or even relatively recent CD decks... and I hung up that hat when the likes of Serato and NI started hitting the scene. I could appreciate what they were doing, but my heart was not in what they were doing.

All that said, I just don't usually think about the radio edit, and as a result I do hear you, the track drags a bit. What I do find funny is that I played this out to my parents who grew up with this music and they kept saying "make it longer". So I'll take solace partially in the fact that it probably is a generational thing. Plus, I lost a *lot* by how deeply I did cut into the track. It started as 10 elements, and I cut it down to four or five... drum 1, drum 2, bass, organ, weird synth thing... you could argue the vox and fx are additional tracks, but I just kind of rolled them up into the drum hits. Still... I had a lot more movement, transition, and change... but as I cut sounds out... it is also fair to point out that I should have reduced the track length as well. There's not *quite* enough to carry attention through the song.

Thanks for the feedback man, really appreciate it, peace!

EDIT: I don't know that I have it in me to do a radio edit... but if somebody wants the stems then PM me, I'd be more than happy to get them over to anybody that wants to check out the stems or wants to do a remix and see what they can do with it.

This was a good challenge and I really don't have much to say that hasn't already been stated. When I listen to music I really try to hear it as a listener, with no musical knowledge that way I can actually enjoy what is created.

As for my approach: I used the MPC One and Midi Keyboard to composed this track, with imported sound sets. My goals was to show that the MPC could be used to make music that, you wouldn't associate with it. First I replayed the song as cover only the four main parts, added the strings,drums, and small instrument fills, and used the main melody as counter melody.

Since JAMMIN is really a Rastafarian Spiritual song, I left the first part light, fun, and uplifting. During the break, I felt that's were the song was pasting and ascending into heaven. The switch represented, the all the fans morning the death of the music or Mr. Marley. You can hear the chopped, pitched down, vocal snippets. Which are the souls, who didn't ascend. But they could still hear the music and voices from deep into beneath the rock and soil.

Here are some note that stood out to me from my two listens.

Eyalc: Bring the drums up 3-5 db during the crescendo, to knock it out the park. Nothing else to say, I'm sure
you're listening to it and want to tweak something already. (You get my vote.)

NearTao: The bass reminds me of Sail from Awolnation mixed with Jaylib - The Red. I really dig the
industrial gritty vibe of the song. The energy is there, but it tends to flatten out. Work on the
dynamic of the mix, lower and raise some instruments. If everything is hard, nothing is hard, it needs soft parts.

DANOC, I like the kick drums, perhaps incorporate some chords instead of single notes. During the rewind drop, I thought it was going to switch and take me somewhere else, but it bought back to the same place again. Would've been cool if, you freaked it there.

Cockdiesel, is castlevania/Zelda trap version of Jammin. Just need to dial in the mix. The kick needs to bang and the bass line needs to hum. Try bring down the levels of the lead synth and pan some them. That would help clear up the mud.

EDIT: Using a software DAW would've be so much easier. Even without TC the MPC has a machine like swing if you use sequences. Nevertheless, I had a good time and enjoyed what everyone created.

CharlesRandolph wrote:NearTao: The bass reminds me of Sail from Awolnation mixed with Jaylib - The Red. I really dig the
industrial gritty vibe of the song. The energy is there, but it tends to flatten out. Work on the
dynamic of the mix, lower and raise some instruments. If everything is hard, nothing is hard, it needs soft parts.

Yeah this is why I usually don't go with compression, especially to the extent that I did, even if it was mostly subtly used... it's the trap that keeps on taking dynamics away. It was critical in a few key areas to help tame a few of the more unruly parts, but yeah... it does have a way of taking as much if not more than it gives

NearTao wrote:Yeah this is why I usually don't go with compression, especially to the extent that I did, even if it was mostly subtly used... it's the trap that keeps on taking dynamics away. It was critical in a few key areas to help tame a few of the more unruly parts, but yeah... it does have a way of taking as much if not more than it gives

Subtracting instruments or lowering parts during changes can help with that. If I ever go back and do a proper mix I'll correct that reverb and a couple of other things, I would fix. I value your input. That's why this kind of exercise is fun.

P.S. No stamp collections this round.

Says you... but here's a mushroom stamp just in case

Tao- really like the track really shows off a different side of most of what I have heard of your stuff. Great job getting the marley melody in there. Like you I tend to go for more longer or repetitive stuff. I think djing myself and being in those circles alters the way you structure the music The change ups you did have were real cool, but perhaps use more change ups to the rhythm would help with building up emotion and excitement. Really dig what you did with that auto filter or tremolo, thought it was a real nice touch.

Eylac- man you came out of left field with this one in a very interesting way. This song really shows how capable of a musician you are. The one man band wrecking ball. There something I cant put my finger on, it’s not good or bad. More of the whole vibe being a mixture of familiar elements and some very foreign to myself.


Danoc- drums are solid. Might want to work on the mix some, not saying your mix sounded bad but more in bringing the melody and that more up front. I think It will showcase what you did in a better way. Strangely enough I think you did what was closest to what I would classify as traditional dub, Charles had those similar elements too. I can’t believe you wanted to drop out, you did some good work on there man and it would have all been wasted time. Glad you didn’t

Charles-great job on the keyboard work. Nice sounding mix and nice mixture of different elements. The first half the drums don’t click with the same vibe I get with the keys, however on the second half I really liked and vibed with that. I would be interested to see if you expanded on that idea. Great job none the less.

Myself- I think I get the stamp collector award for this one. After hearing all yours I think I should have made more of an effort to actually stay truer to the song, although my interpretation was play the elements we would sample or play with the structure Bob was using. Admittedly I was rushing the mix in a Gerry rigged way. I should really learn my newer mixer and keyboard better to try and do this right. I made it a lot harder on myself than it needed to be and I believe it shows. Not excuses or wanting a poor baby, just throwing out my own thoughts and criticisms. I really learned a lot this time around about all aspects and also my own personal development. Really hoping for more like this. I swear something like this was really needed for me years ago.

Big thanks to everyone and their feedback. I went with Eylac because he’s really making us look like a harlem globetrotters game… LOL We gotta step our game up!!

Cockdiesel wrote:Tao- really like the track really shows off a different side of most of what I have heard of your stuff. Great job getting the marley melody in there. Like you I tend to go for more longer or repetitive stuff. I think djing myself and being in those circles alters the way you structure the music The change ups you did have were real cool, but perhaps use more change ups to the rhythm would help with building up emotion and excitement. Really dig what you did with that auto filter or tremolo, thought it was a real nice touch.

Eylac- man you came out of left field with this one in a very interesting way. This song really shows how capable of a musician you are. The one man band wrecking ball. There something I cant put my finger on, it’s not good or bad. More of the whole vibe being a mixture of familiar elements and some very foreign to myself.


Danoc- drums are solid. Might want to work on the mix some, not saying your mix sounded bad but more in bringing the melody and that more up front. I think It will showcase what you did in a better way. Strangely enough I think you did what was closest to what I would classify as traditional dub, Charles had those similar elements too. I can’t believe you wanted to drop out, you did some good work on there man and it would have all been wasted time. Glad you didn’t

Charles-great job on the keyboard work. Nice sounding mix and nice mixture of different elements. The first half the drums don’t click with the same vibe I get with the keys, however on the second half I really liked and vibed with that. I would be interested to see if you expanded on that idea. Great job none the less.

Myself- I think I get the stamp collector award for this one. After hearing all yours I think I should have made more of an effort to actually stay truer to the song, although my interpretation was play the elements we would sample. Admittedly I was rushing the mix in a Gerry rigged way. I should really learn my newer mixer and keyboard better to try and do this right. I made it a lot harder on myself than it needed to be and I believe it shows. Not excuses or wanting a poor baby, just throwing out my own thoughts and criticisms. I really learned a lot this time around about all aspects and also my own personal development. Really hoping for more like this. I swear something like this was really needed for me years ago.

Big thanks to everyone and their feedback. I went with Eylac because he’s really making us look like a harlem globetrotters game… LOL We gotta step our game up!!

Don't be too hard on yourself, remember this is just PRACTICE. It's about doing 2 or 3 things that you'll never do. Trying to smash things together and see what happens. Learn from that and incorporate it into your skill set. It's like being in college, most people attend classes to get a grade, instead of attending class to learn something that will stick with them for their life.

I never attended classes or do these kind of exercise to just get grade. I do it to learn it, retain it, and it's good practice of just getting it done then moving on. After that I use what what I learned and what others have done, in future composition. Personally, I never really like remaking other people music, because I was only concerned with what I wanted and what my sound is.

But this kind of process, is great for learning. I composed and mixed this entire thing in the MPC ONE. All I know is, no one can make any excuses about what these machine can do. It's all about the users!

I appreciate it charles, but I am trying to be honest with myself and others who may have been following the thread. Reading it again, yea it comes as Im dogging myself but it isn't that way. I should have made it more balanced in what I was trying to achieve or did but I really didn't want to make a wall of text about myself.

Cockdiesel wrote:I appreciate it charles, but I am trying to be honest with myself and others who may have been following the thread. Reading it again, yea it comes as Im dogging myself but it isn't that way. I should have made it more balanced in what I was trying to achieve or did but I really didn't want to make a wall of text about myself.

Honest, it's the MIX not the art. PM me the stems and let me touch it. Let's see if there is a difference.

dude I tracked out into my mixer down to two. That was the issue I couldn't transfer my stems because I couldn't track out my synths. So I had to track all my synth patches at once through one track, where normally I track them out and flesh them out. I'll get a system down, just need more time with my gear. That was literally the first time I hooked up that mixer, and I am still learning a lot on my synth in terms of editing and that.