I had a few different ideas but this one seemed the most interesting. I also got the idea from an earlier battle while researching. This one is kind of serious but I believe we are living in serious times. It’s not a political theme; it’s about change, turmoil, and documentation of a specific year (1968). Think of it as a mini history lesson using your OP-1. Here’s a link if you’re younger and not familiar with the events of 1968.
Rules:
Use part of a famous speech or news story from 1968. Do whatever you want with this sample, just make sure it’s from the specific year. Example: Civil Rights struggle, Vietnam, etc.
Take a look at the Billboard charts from 1968. Try to use some element of any genre of music popular during that time (if I was in this Battle I would look to Motown, psychedelic rock bands, even lesser-known electronic music from the time). You don’t have to mimic a specific song, just try to include some element that pays homage maybe (example: live drums from a Motown-style sample).
Change- try to do the opposite of what you normally do, even if it’s uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
I hope this isn’t too complicated. This is my first time doing this. You may use one additional piece of equipment or instrument but, your entry should be mixed down to Album on the OP-1 before you upload it to Soundcloud. Try to use Soundcloud so I can make a playlist.
The deadline for this Battle is Saturday, August 1st, 2020. Good luck and maybe we’ll all learn something new!
We’re hoping for at least 10 entries so come on peeps, let’s hear from you. Let’s grow this thing so we can get a little love from TE et al. Maybe one day we can offer prizes. I’m thinking big here.
Looped a snippet from Herb Alpert “This Guy’s in Love with You”.
On top 2 tracks of live-jamming (like in the good old 6ties,lol)
and at last some words from Ulrike Meinhof´s statement about
the student protests against the Schah of Persia´s visit in Germany ´68
and voila:
my entry.
@joeyfivecents Thanks for this one, I found it pretty inspirational and I really enjoyed the process and my final result. Here is my entry:
The speech I chose was Martin Luther King’s last speech, “I’ve been to the mountaintop” delivered on April 3rd, 1968, the day before he was assassinated. Its outrageous that the words still resonate today even as they did a half century ago - as black people are still being persecuted. Music provides a means to amplify these words and that is that is what I wished to do by including this clip.
I incorporated elements of music during this time by sampling the song “Ain’t no mountain high enough”, the version recorded in 1968 as a collaboration between Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations. I used a little bit of the intro that included Marvin Gaye. The women’s vocals that come later are from Diana Ross. This sample dovetails into the speech where MLK prophesized his untimely death.
I tried doing something I don’t normally do here - I used mostly samples on this. Normally I make songs using only synth engines so I have lots of control over the modulation parameters. I don’t like using samples because it takes me hours to figure out how to chop them in a way that makes sense to me. I think I got lucky on this song, but it still took awhile. The OP-1 makes sampling so intuitive which helped a lot. The piano/bass/vocals are all form samples mentioned above and the drums are sampled from Anderson .Paak “Make It Better”. The arp and the pads are from the OP-1 synth engines. Another change was using a PO-33 (my extra instrument) without PO-sync syncing in order to record onto the Album of the OP-1. The “Ain’t no mountain high enough” samples are played from the PO-33 so I can punch-in effects in realtime. I made a video of how I perform the song on my instagram.
Hope you enjoy! Can’t wait to see the other results from this battle
SPEECH
Brief excerpt from Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 announcement and speech in Indianapolis, Indiana, following the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.
SAMPLES
For the music sample, I dug deep into 1968 and referenced a mostly unknown psych-rock band (see “change” below) called C.A. Quintent and the song is Trip Thru Hell.
Additionally I referenced the CBS News Walter Cronkite announcement (1968) and a 1968 Chips Ahoy TV commercial.
CHANGE
I avoided genres and artists I am familiar with and challenged myself to discover something I had never heard of and wouldn’t normally seek out. Found a lot of wonderful samples from the era but felt minor key was more appropriate given the content. I also looped more than I normally would (I love the way the OP chops samples!), which was rather frustrating.
INSTRUMENTATION
Entire piece created on the OP1 except for the upright piano recorded onto the Sony TCD5 then into the OP1 where I did some editing.
i did too and watched ebay for about a year until one popped up from an estate sale and i made an offer and got a major deal on it. it’s such a rugged and solid design and the tech works like a charm.
Samples are almost entirely taken from two Nixon 1968 campaign ads (“American Youth” and “Together”, hence the title), additional sounds from an Ace Tone FR-1 drumkit (a drum machine from that era) and a Rhodes Mk1 piano from the Yamaha Reface CP.
As for the “Change” part… well, first I think I’ve never delivered that early in any battle before (mostly close or after the deadline). And the piano was recorded freestyle in one take, despite I’m not a very talented keyboard player.
All editing, mixing and recording was done inside the OP-1.
Here’s what I was able to come up with and let go of. It’s quite long. Sorry about that. Sampled some Gabor Szabo (my new favorite guitar player) and used JFK’s Mindless Menace of Violence Speech. It’s all the way at the end and kind of feels like an afterthought, but hey. I used my mini kp2 to help me freak the take, so I had to record into my DAW, instead of album. I hope that’s okay. I (clearly) did not do any further mixing or mastering from that point forward. I sampled a bunch of power tool/cordless drill sounds and recorded my own voice and had fun mangling both. I certainly haven’t done that before. Anyway, haven’t checked out any of the other entries yet, but I’m sure they are great. I’m looking forward to enjoying the entire playlist as a collection at the end
