Open Battle #01: “soundtrack // transmission”

While OP-1 battles are pretty successful, OP-Z battles have not taken yet, neither PO battles.
And what about good old operators that don’t use or have an OP-1 anymore?

What if we had “Open Battles” where no hardware is mandatory to begin with?
I want to test this idea, so here is the very first “Open Battle” brief, let’s hope it is successful enough!
It is close to the one for OP-1 battle #73, but there is a filiation between the two, after all. It is OK to post the same track in both battles, as long as it complies with the battle rules of course.

Anyway, this battle is thus not dedicated to (but compatible with) OP-1.
You can use up to two instruments.
Recording can be done in a DAW, a 4 track cassette recorder or a sampler, or any other recording support, including OP-1.
Technical achievement is not the point: the aim of open battles is to explore your instruments further, discover new sound design techniques, get a track done, and most of all have fun!


6 years ago I participated to a competition in which you had to create the soundtrack for a trailer.


I used my (then newly acquired) OP-1 from A to Z to generate sound ideas, and assembled everything (including the video) in Ableton.

It was very interesting, and still today I wish I would do this more often: soundtracks offer the opportunity to go wild on sound design, and to explore other grounds than loops, especially drum loops.

The first axis for this new battle is thus “soundtrack”:

  1. MAKING MOVIES
    Look for a video that inspires you (a trailer the sound of which you cut for instance). You can create it from scratch if you have the skills, or assemble* pieces of (ie copyright free) videos such as the ones bellow and make your own video! Don’t forget to cite your sources!

Here is a video I did to get you started:


All the source files are linked in the comments.
Feel free to rebuild your video from these bits or from scratch !

Here is a link to download the whole video above:

*Da Vinci Resolve is a free software that is pretty powerful to manipulate video and sound.

  1. SOUND + VISION
    Craft the basis for the soundtrack of your video. The aim is to get a “grid”, a structure that clearly gives you the moments when the video changes. You can either record yourself on your instrument while the video is playing, or go forensics and assemble (in Resolve or in a DAW) fragments of sounds to the video. You can even only use “markers” that would disappear in the final track.
    Extract the audio and import this back into your sampler (or whatever support you’re using for your recording).

  2. EXPLORE // MAKE NOISE
    Prepare some sounds in your instrument. As it was introduced above, an extra instrument (hardware or software) is accepted for sound design. Go as wild as you can, you can’t go too strange! In particular, you are encouraged to push the FX to their most uncomfortable zones, and mangle this as clay. Same goes for any sound engines that are disregarded for their awkward sound design or because they offer so much noise based sounds. Explore as far as you can, push the limits.
    You can also sample your own voice and go crazy with this material.

  3. NO LOOP // NO BEAT
    Avoid creating loops, at least no drum loops, unless it is somehow required by the movie (e.g. in a dancing scene). But even then, it is encouraged to use e.g. chords rather than drums. An occasional percussion is ok of course.
    If you need inspiration, check Disasterpeace’s works or just pay attention to your favorite movie soundtrack…


The other aspect I would like to encourage in this battle is “transmission”.

Upload your track in SoundCloud with hashtag #OPBattle01 and submit it here.
You can of course also upload the whole video + soundtrack editing in YT and drop it here as well, if you think it will give some interesting perspective to your track.

  1. SHARE
    When you submit your track, you should share a part (or all) of your sound design as samples, sample chain or user patches.
    Do whatever you can so that other people can reuse your work.

  2. REUSE
    You have to reuse at least one sound/patch/sample chain of a track that was previously dropped! It’s even better if you reuse a piece of each track that was previously dropped.


Make it not too long: target is around 3 minutes, could be shorter but not much longer (unless you have created an awesome short movie)

Deadline: Fabruary 21st 2021

4 Likes

Just added a 3mn video in the original post + the link to download it!
Avoid procrastination!

I am so sorry I missed this!!
I’ve been wanting some more open battles for ages. I had actually given up, so I didn’t even register that it was open!
Am I the only person who has replied though?
I’ll check it out. I mean, someone has to start somewhere, right?
Thanks for opening things up a little.
btw, I asked the Facebook POs group if anyone has signed up for this forum. I think it’s a great forum, but we could really do with more traffic! Teenage Engineerings products are so hot, surely we can draw more people in??

Also, I can’t hear sound in the second video you posted, but I can in the first. Not sure why ?

Hi! The Battle is still open, and I’ll most likely extend it a bit.
The video doesn’t have a sound, it is yours to make ^^
I’m currently working on sound design but I haven’t created my own entry yet…

Please don’t let me down and submit yours!!

Oh I see. Silly me.
I’m just finishing a funding application, and cutting a short video.
I’ll be on it after that.
It’s a cool idea. Thanks :slight_smile:

1 Like

Of course there is an extension!
Seems my brief has not inspired a lot of people, very unfortunately.
Or maybe it’s the lack of time and winter weather.
I have something cooking but it’s far from ready yet… So I can understand ^^

Deadline extended to March “Pi day” 14th!

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It seems the "Open Battles” is still a concept to iron out.
Maybe with a brief a bit simpler / more nicely put.
Let’s try again soon!

In the mean time, cast you vote for OP-1 battle #73 please!
https://op-forums.com/t/op-1-battle-73-soundtrack-transmission-voting/19653/2