DnB Battle #1: WINNERS ANNOUNCED! plus feedback & rec notes

The Lounge Mission Briefs
22

Oh my gosh. This was really difficult. There are so many great tracks and I’m honored that my track was a part of this battle.

A short summary:

#1 good beginning. I was already impressed by the quality of all other participants. Especially as a starting track.

#2 There is a dark vibe, there are bongos and also a bit of the voice /instructor

#3 I like the dark bass, there are bongos and the melody.

#4 There are bongos and the track has a dramatic vibe.

#5 I think it has a good use of bongos. I also liked the breakdown.

#6 Bor me some Goldie-vibes in the beginning. There could be more bongos/sample use for my taste. But it sounds great.

#7 I like the intro - I like all the sounds and it sounds great on my laptop speakers. but there are more bongos on other tracks.

#8 There are bongs - jazzy vibe. I like the last third of the track.

#9 I like the use of the bongos samples. Tracks could mixed louder.

#10 could be mixed better - I like the pads and the arp section.

#11 I like the use of the vocal samples. Really well made.

It was a tough choice for me, but in the end I have to make a decision:

#1 Track 3
#2 Track 11
#3 Track 2

6 Likes
23

One day left to vote!

Three votes left to be cast.

(Four if you count mine, but since I’m acting as selector, I’ll post my top 3 last.)

4 Likes
24

#1 - track 1 - sounds like a professional quality banger on my end. Really nice and clean, good use of bongos
#2 - track 11 - as someone else said, full commitment to bongos. Nice squarepusher/afx vibes in my opinion.
#3 - track 4 - hits really hard AND has bongos.
I was going to add special mentions but that would feel unfair perhaps, considering the quality on display.
Overall, really well done to everybody. Hard not to feel mega outclassed but hey, it’s a good learning experience.

6 Likes
25

What an amazing field! I can honestly say that if you could wipe my memory, Men in Black-style, so that I could judge my track impartially, I’m not sure it would crack the top half.

There’s something to like on every track, but as a teacher, I can’t help grading with the bongo assignment in mind.

My top 3, starting from most favorite:

#2: excellent use of space and effects, and a very nice mix of samples. The progressions & change-ups are also ace

#8: love the groovy, chopped & screwed jazz atmosphere, very Amon Tobin.

#1: extremely well-mixed and arranged, works really well as DnB while keeping an impressive amount of bongotude

Well done, Nauts! Really excited to hear some track breakdowns after the voting is tallied. Teach me your bongo-slicing secrets!

7 Likes
26

Extremely pressed on time today so I just drop a list. I try to comment later. Great work everyone!!!
1st= 2
2nd= 7
3rd= 3

5 Likes
27

Final Results!
(plus my own votes)

THANK YOU to everyone who took part or kept the thread going this month, this was a lot of fun… and here are your results!

:trophy: CHAMPION :trophy:
goes to @kokosnuss
with 12 points!

:2nd_place_medal: 2nd Place :2nd_place_medal:
goes to @Musement
with 11 points!

and :3rd_place_medal: 3rd place
gets picked up by @alexleigh83
who nabbed 9 points!

CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS
And all who submitted a track!

As for my own votes… I listened to these tracks a lot this week and enjoyed the hell out of every single one. It was hard to put them in order, but my tops were:

1st: TRACK 11. I really enjoyed how the music sample was integrated and the tension you created between the stocky music and the new elements.

2nd: TRACK 10. I liked the bass line on this one a lot. It made me move my feet. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

3rd: TRACK 2. I dug the classic sound, paranoid vibe and clean mix. Great snare sound, too.

I also really liked how relentless TRACK 4 is.

~Oh, and the Band Camp album has been updated with user names and track titles~

Thank you so much to everyone for taking part,
this was a lot of fun!

Next DnB (n Jungle) Battle Assignment coming in 2 weeks!

12 Likes
28

Congrats to everyone!

Can’t wait for the next one :).

3 Likes
29

Ayayayay it must’ve been a long-assed day at work because a few of you DMed me to inform me that I got the tallys wrong… I’m just going to blame Excel rather than user error… stupid Excel.

Anyway, please see above for the new final score tallies
(and congrats to @kokosnuss for the win and bagging the CD!)

Maybe if I get better at counting, my track will perform better next time.
But probably not?
-KD.

4 Likes
30

Oh well I celebrated for a moment :grinning:

5 Likes
31

Thank you all who voted for my track, i really appreciate it. Especially because i just recently joined amazing elektronauts community, and this kinda made me feel welcomed by all of you. Just a nice feeling.
Looking forward for the next dnb battle, it was allot of fun, especially because most of it was created on my dt2, first elektron box, and helped me learn more about using this device
Also i already asked @KingDuppy if it’s ok with all of you, that 2nd place get cd, since i don’t own a cd reader/player, and i just receive files via some download

6 Likes
32

Thanks very much to those that voted for my track and for all the kind words about it.

I don’t like using samples without manipulating them so I found it tricky to incorporate lots of the sample material into the style of track I wanted to make. happy to post a more detailed explanation of what I did but it was a pretty extensive project in the end, lots of layers!

6 Likes
33

Congrats to the winners in a strong field! And a big thank you for the generous feedback on my entry—hugely appreciated :pray:

So where are we posting the gear we used and creative process? I’d love to hear how people made their tracks?

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34

Good question. Originally I’d meant to do it in this thread, but now I’m wondering if those will just get lost.

Time to start a new thread?

2 Likes
35

I’m planning on posting here later today myself, have to wait till the kids are down for the night tho :+1:

2 Likes
36

Wow! Thanks to everyone above for the generous reviews on Track 11. This was a really fun challenge that helped break me out of a musical rut. Huge thanks to KD for hosting, sampling, and arranging everything!

I’d love to see track breakdowns, but my workday is just beginning out here on Pacific time, so it might be a while.

6 Likes
37

My feedback on the other tracks:

TRACK 1: Very clean and intentional sound. Good breakdown, too. Maybe a little too sparse at times? I think it might be improved by adding an ongoing melody on top of what’s there now.

TRACK 3: Great, simple, direct use of vocal samples. And it got a big laugh out of me when the numbers go in random order. Has a good movement and momentum to it. My constructive (AKA negative) feedback would be that I think the middle 8th part goes on a little too long; I’d cut it by a few bars.

TRACK 4: Great use and integration of bongoes. Goes hard. Admirable.

Seriously, how do you guys get your stuff so damn loud and intense without clipping? My track sounds so weak and quiet compared to some of these…

TRACK 5: Good bass line and tone. I loved the vocal samples, too. But this one didn’t quite grab me as much, not sure why . . . maybe it was a bit too controlled? Like, as clean and smooth as it was, I think it could actually stand to be a little more chaotic in places.

TRACK 6: Very chill vibe, good squelchy sounds. I like the use of the other (non-provided) vocal samples, but think they show up just slightly too often and take some attention away from the music. I’d cut some of them to make the mix a bit sparser, leave more up to the listener’s imagination.

TRACK 7: Beautifully mixed, rich atmosphere and good build-up. This also happened to be my wife’s favorite track, but she doesn’t get a vote.

TRACK 8: was my track. Recording notes to come.

TRACK 9: I liked this one a lot—to me it had the dreadest bass line and clearest inspiration from the foundational tropes of reggae & dub. I also appreciate it being just over 2 minutes. I’d really like to hear a remastered version of this track.

8 Likes
38

I think in here is best, nice for people to see the recording notes alongside comments

1 Like
39

My Track was track 1

Thanks to everyone that voted for me and all the comments. I really appreciated them.

My idea for the track was to make something really sparse and cool like a kind of liquid drum and bass type thing. Most of my tracks a a bit manic and kitchen sink so I wanted to try something a bit more minimalist.

Thinking about bongos it didn’t really seem to be something that melded with drum and bass that well so I thought about some kind of Big Beat made on an Atari ST which seemed like a suitably weird mashup.

I made the track on Bitwig. Synths were Hive, Bass Sublab, kick was kick 3, Vocoder Pigments 6 All the other samples were from the track in a drum rack other than the Apache break which seemed rude not to.

9 Likes
40

Wanna do breakdown of my track as well.
But first i need to open files and check all the elements.
Mine was Track 2
I started with digitakt 2 where i did most of my drum patterns, sample choices, and vocal editing ( i used comb filter with some automation to get some movement in vocal). I also made another pattern on digitakt for half beat downtempo to explore some experimental stuff and kinda decided to leave it in because it felt right while jamming.
Digitak is so easy and perfect for quick rhythm explorations, editing and coming up with ideas.
Bass, and synth sounds came form Deluge. If i want to play something melodic Deluge is the shit. Love this device. So easy to play chords, lay down melodies… I used dx7 patch for bass, and some sample pads for synth. Important part was to find matching sounds for the mood i was going for. To create nice balance. Few people noticed Jazzy/Photek vibes, which was kinda my vibe for this one but not on purpose. Wanted more moody oldschool but with warm lowend to be in contrast to Bongos. I also only used one drum break sample, rest was done by chopping Bongos and jamming
Entire track was made within few hours. After i exported in in Ableton live via overbridge.
There i just added a bit of intro shoosh, and bit of delay/reverb, compression…
Ah yes, also most of low end elements were sidechained to kick, and mid frequency elements to snare. I like it clean and snappy.
For sidechain i use m4l device by GMaudio called Ducker. Easy to use and perfect for proper ducking
Lastly i added Arturia J37 tape emulation vst, plus clippers and limiter to boost overall loudness.
I used MasterPlan which is also very good and gives fast results if in pinch

3 Likes
41

Here’s the track I almost submitted before deciding on my final entry… I kind of like it more now. Ah well, too late.

2 Likes