Bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza | 11 | Ilija Rudman - Hibiscus Theatre

The Lounge Mission Briefs
#1

:clap: FOLKS :clap:

A bit late again I’m afraid! So let’s be a bit loose on the deadline ay! I hope your week has been better than mine. My TT is also still with the Doctor so I’m thumbing through working from memory haha - but fear not, we have something delectable.

This week our sample is… Ilija Rudman - Hibiscus Theatre from the Trigonometry EP. Here is a YouTube video for you to sample from - if anyone has any trouble getting the audio please DM me and I’ll send you a file or give you instructions :v:

Ilija Rudman struts out once again on his own turf with this latest slab of sizzling discoid delectability, shaping out all manner of warm and fuzzy grooves across varying tempos and intensities … “Hibiscus Theatre” ploughs deeper into the soil with its swirling pads and shimmering percussion lines.

THE BRIEF

YOU have been selected by the notorious Global Sound Syndicate for a top-secret operation. Not really, please, share with your friends, family, and anyone that looks like they could do with some company.

-Sample any part(s) of the track we’ve nominated
-Spend no more than 1 week turning it into music/noise
-Post your creations here for us all to enjoy

You can use as much or as little of the track as you like - add whatever other instruments/samples you like. No winners, no losers, just good times*

DEADLINE Sunday , February 26th, 2023

Submit your entry no later than 11:59 PM, Sunday, February 26th, or be faced with a brief moment of regret. You could also submit something after that date too, we’d still like to hear what you make!

I’ll give you an extra 2 days for my lateness but it means your tracks need to be extra banging!

COMPENSATION

Hearts and compliments from the community*

Enjoy yourselves and join us in the chat for existential crisis and advice! :metal:

* Not guaranteed

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Share your tunes
#2

Tagging all the amazing participants from the last challenge @BLKrbbt @Doug @aarb420 @proskynesis @emadb @monquixote @flipinfantile @Yabba @looms @wumpushunter

Hope to see some new faces too and some from previous rounds :raised_hands:

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#3

MAN this track melted my headphones! :fire:

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#4

Soo… Im listening to this and I have some pre chopping thoughts, so I can read back to my younger self and see how I looked at this before commiting to slices and changing my perspective.

This is deceptively difficult. While I welcome the fact that this is basic quantized goodness, easy for 8 bar sections (that sometimes repeat), its very rooted in its musical narrative. It stays on its message so well, and all the variation all serve the greater composition.

As tempted as i am to keep this pitched the way it is, maybe a tempo change, get it a bit faster.

Also, while the beat is very kick snare to 4 on the floor style, maybe it might be better to chop on the synth parts on the down beat, and adding another kick.

I think the best approach would be to break it up into 8 bar sections, then go more granular from there.

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#5

I have to say, this is by far my favorite challange. @natehorn and @aarb420 always bring a challenge, and its not always easy to complete, but its always brought with such a refined musical taste.

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#6

Sounds like you’ve got a plan! :raised_hands:

Thanks for the kinds words mate we do our best :blush: To be honest I always try to pick stuff I think will be interesting to sample and then often struggle with it myself haha - but I think that can be part of the fun with sampling like this - if it’s too easy to grab sounds it can feel a bit like using samples rather than sampling, if ya dig. That said it can be nice to have choices :laughing:

Messing with pitch is always worthwhile - it’s one of the things I really like about vinyl - I’ll often play my records slowed or sped up slightly - I have a couple tracks I think are much better played that way, can really shift the vibe!

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#7

Yeah, I was worried I was repitching too much, but I have to give it a go first.

My problem is that when I start repitching, or making too many chops, I lose my gameplan…

I should mention that this sample is also hard because how subtle the variation is. It’s such a good track, that anything I (we?) do to it is just going to tarnish it.

i’m starting to see how the softer and elegant tracks are the most masterful at times, than ones that are big a crass…

This is the best way to be. Always striving for something out of reach. Thats what i meant about this challenge… its feels like a real challenge, and I appreciate that. But it also has sophistication in its taste.

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#8

:beers:
We’re all on our own unique but parallel journeys and it feels warmer when surrounded by supportive, like minded people! Always glad to have you here @BLKrbbt and thanks for stopping by and supporting our challenges!

Speaking of repitching, it can definitely be a great tool and there’s a dope example in the recent hip hop thread hosted by @Yabba that I picked as my number 1 for that challenge (track 11; still unknown who made it)! I personally prefer messing around with time-stretching samples more than altering pitch on OT, but that’s because it’s a science I’ve been trying to figure out since my early MPC days. :baby:

Hopefully everyone get’s some free time to join, and excited to hear what you cook up chefs, @natehorn dropped some heat on us this week! :muscle:

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#9

I was saying that I think I have been repitching too much in my submissions, and want to try a more traditional approach… and time stretching is great on the Maschine, not as good on a 404…

but I got some rough chops… and what I see so far is good… the 8 bar groupings of this composition made it easy to get it sectioned up. and this is great because of the synth work on the downbeats…

So once you get the measure chopped, I would back up to the down beat and get a nice of hit of a snare or shaker, and a tail of the preceding synth element.

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#10

Really? :thinking: Would have assumed those would be vice versa for that task, but that’s neat if you’re able to get better results on the Maschine :beers:

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#11

you get more artifacts with the 404… its great for texture, but way less on Maschine… its like butter

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#12

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#13

That repeating intro leading into the Mars sample is lovely. Dope beat, the vocals/synths are crispy, and the “Oohs” really sound like Sade! :beers:

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#14

Straight on it! This is cool!! In fact it’s given me some ideas so thanks for the inspiration :raised_hands:

IMO it’s crying out for a bridge a little past half-way, almost feels like it’s working into a drop! That would be asking a lot from you though :slight_smile:

I think those kinds of dramatic musical twists take more effort to come by when using hardware - especially when patching is involved :scream:

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#15

This is one of my favourites of yours so far mate. Good work!

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#16

Thank you, and everyone else for the kind words.

I knocked it out and passed out from exhaustion. Listened to it just now and I definitely hear what @natehorn means.

Plus, I repitched only one chop of the sample in a way that it’s not quite a G (not a G, but a harmonic of G… maybe the 4th or fifth. Idk). Maybe a little sharp? So the samples don’t sit 100%, so I leaned into it more as I went.

You can hear it on the track. As I go farther in, I dial the synths into it better, then I get so comfortable, I just flip the first part again.

For a bridge, I should have dropped out the main sample and let the vocal drops do the work, and then dropped back in. But, I’m onto something else now. I’m sick of the Ooo’s and Aahh’s.

It’s crazy, I can’t produce in two sessions or I lose what I’m doing. It’s has to be done in one shot. And by the time I’m done, i am SPENT. Can’t even look at it again.

And I worked on that thing for HOURS. As soon as the challenge dropped, I started listening to it actively and then got to work.

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#17

Maybe I’m a bit hardheaded. But alot of what I was hearing is discordant. And I’ve been leaning info off key sounds trying to work with them.

I know it’s difficult to hear, but there’s always small windows of resolution where I force everything to work. But if you break up the individual elements, they sound nothing alike. They are only the sum of their parts.

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#18

I think that derives from an honest attempt at presenting/expressing oneself :muscle: Although we are not physically pushing our bodies’ limits, the mental focus/attention required during any original project silently uses up energy, and for my process, I find it helps to take intermittent breaks (i.e. smoke breaks, not suggesting that btw maybe instead go outside and observe nature for a moment). After a quick breath of “fresh air” and resting the ears, I can come back to a project with a better picture of if the song is going to be worthy of the time that is going to be committed cleaning/expanding, or if it was just some noise that needed to come out for the day lol. :man_shrugging: Not production advice whatsoever, and I’m sure there are more qualified/established people that could give better advice on this matter. :beers:

This scene from Caddyshack comes to mind:

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Hiphop Beat Battle #18: Voting and Feedback
#19

Had a few goes with it today and landed on something I like :raised_hands:

It’s all the sample track apart from a vocal one shot I used - really enjoyed working with this track actually - I squeezed a little staccato guitar thing in the last movement out of the bassline… somehow - ended up being one of my favourite elements even though it’s quite subtle in the mix.

I think part of what made it nice to work with for me was part of what made it intimidating for you @BLKrbbt and that’s how lovely all the sounds were - although it’s hard to improve on the original it’s a really nice palette to work with.

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#20

Nice work on these so far.

I was going to go for a mellow vibe, but since you guys have nailed it I might have to go for a death metal gabba remix or something :rofl:

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