Elektronauts Hiphop Beat Battle #17: The Legend of Zelda Edition

The Lounge Mission Briefs
#143

Thanks @Jedilicious
And well done @Unifono @aarb420 and @1-2
And everyone else

Just a traditional rundown on the making of my beat.

The beat, as usual was made and levelled, eq’d etc in Digitakt.

The only other processing once recorded from the master onto laptop was the vocal sounds from the Ocarina sound effects, then some waves L2 limiter to maximise the volume on the whole thing.

The Rhodes type sound is actually the last sustained note that Claid used for the intro to his beat, played as notes on the Digitakt with a bit of pitch lfo effecting the start so it sounds slightly like it’s bending into each note.

I might host on the next one as I haven’t since the Morricone battle, I have got an idea and I think most will be happy with it unless @Unifono has an idea that he wants to get out there of course.

11 Likes
#144

Let’s GO!!!

2 Likes
#145

Yeah, winner takes ball!

2 Likes
#146

:joy: That was the bit I was doing at 4am all those years ago.

Congrats to the winners and everyone involved. @aarb420, your drums were delicious.

4 Likes
#147

I’ll try and set up the preliminary to the next battle tomorrow so if there’s a few of you usual suspects online tomorrow at around 6-7pm GMT I’m gonna need help for some controlled randomness.

(Hopefully it’ll make sense when I post tomorrow)

9 Likes
#148

I am intrigued.

7 Likes
#149

Congratulations @Yabba @Unifono @aarb420 @1-2 ! Well deserved all.

Thank you @Jedilicious for running the battle and herding us cats. This was a fun prompt! I’d been thinking how nice it would be to have a videogames battle or a beat switch battle, so having the two together was a cool surprise.

–

My beat, Number 6, was done at the last minute on my M8, with mastering in Audacity. From LoZ, I sampled the Water Temple theme and Ganondorf’s Theme.

Both sections are too busy, especially the A section, but I am proud of the way the first sitar hook swings. The bassline of the boss section is an old metal riff I had in the back drawer; unfortunately it has some bad zero-crossing noises.

Drums were Orange Tree’s old JazzFunkKit, which I’d been wanting to try for a minute. They didn’t knock the way I wanted them to, but I’m chalking that up to my own leveling and processing.

7 Likes
#150

Thanks @blaize @monquixote @sleepside - much appreciated (and thanks @Jedilicious for the idea). The syntakt has been fun getting to know… it’s a pretty versatile and capable machine but definitely depends on what you want out of it.

4 Likes
#151

The stage is yours my friend! :slightly_smiling_face:
Congrats to the @yabba, @aarb420 and @1-2

Thanks for the votes, I feel honored. Thanks @Jedilicious for hosting!

Looking forward to the next chapter.

Sidenotes:
I tried to get something done with the original soundtrack, but I really had a hard time to get come up with something I liked. So I went with the orchestral version. Immediately came up with my main chops.
I used koala for sampling, chopping and basic drums. Then I moved to ableton, layered drums, added bass, arrangement etc
Koala first, ableton second has been my routine now for all the battles I participated

8 Likes
#152

Congrats to the fellow winners @Yabba @Unifono @1-2, and also thank you to @Jedilicious, and everyone who participated and helped make Jamuary this exciting! You all made exceptional, complex tracks that really made the ears tickle, and it felt great to be a part of this event! @Yabba for the past few days I’ve been waking up in the morning with that intro of yours in my head! Also, have some more sounds to associate to your individual artist profiles. :upside_down_face:

Thank you for the votes, and to be tied with @1-2 sent me to the moon! I am beyond humbled and surprised by the feedback, and if I could go back and correct the loud waterfall I would (maybe in the future). At the time I started that beat, @sleepside had mentioned his home encounter with Poseidon, and I wanted to make a beat for them to be able to look back on that moment with feelings of triumph, hence why the waterfall was so obvious/loud in the beginning, then sort of calms, then disappears in the “boss battle” which was more of a resolve/conquer if you would join me in imagination. Wasn’t trying to pull for any sympathy votes either, but you inspired that beat @sleepside!

@looms thank you, man! I have to give credit to @sezare56, @Microtribe, and @natehorn for putting up with my endless harassment for the past few days/weeks/months and trying to learn how to achieve such wonderful sound out of OT like they do in their songs. Awesome people! :older_man:

Can’t wait to join on the next round, @Yabba @allthehomiesfromthischallenge, and if you guy’s are free, @natehorn just posted a sweet “new” old school rare/unkown USSR-disco track for this week’s Bi-Weekly Record challenge, and everyone is welcome to join us! :beers:

11 Likes
#153

I should give a rundown of my track as well.

I wasn’t feeling this one. It brought up too many of my limitations, and I was distracted with other things, like learning the Maschine.

I used the 404, because I’m most comfortable using it for chopping, and I can say it sounds better than Maschine. It’s just warmer.

My problem was the soundtrack. Its vibe is sooo Zelda, and it has that N64 sound that I couldn’t really vibe with. I used the one track I got the most mileage during the “fuck around” stage, but then threw Navi all over it. I liked how I got it together, and did the tempo change, felt real good, and I think I was the first submission.

Then I listened to the rest of them, and realized how basic mine sounded. Not enough depth to the samples I used, and not enough “narrative”.

Let’s be honest, I’m just too new to production to make consistent bangers, the good tracks are the outliers, and the mediocre tracks are where I am in terms of my production skills. But, there is always the next challenge.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

Edit.

I should have added way more outside elements. I’m spoiled by the other challenges having such deep source material, that the samples are able to stand on their own. There wasn’t any backing orchestration in these tracks, and I should have listened to the real orchestrated ones, which I didn’t.

Plus, I rarely listen to hip hop anymore. It’s mostly…. well, you know.

6 Likes
#154

If anyone wants to join me here for a while that’ll be good :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes