nOe ii - RPM 2011 - liner notes

all tracks written, performed, recorded, and engineered by Ryan Paul using exclusively FOSS software @ OpenSourceSoundLab in Rollinsford, NH. album art by Ryan Paul.

track 8 "swirlywhirlywee" synths performed by Elia Brooke

special thanks to Lucas Ryan, Ethan Mitchell and Gavin Dennis for kindly lending various toys for audio samples heard on tracks 1,4 & 5.

FOSS Credits

Audio Engine & Routing:
QJackCtl
JACK
Patchage

Recording (Multi-tracking, MIDI, Looping):
Ardour2-GTK
Qtractor
SooperLooper

Mixing&Mastering:
Ardour2-GTK
Audacity
Jamin

Drums:
Hydrogen

Synths & Samples:
Qsynth
ZynAddSubFX
Yoshimi
Swami
VMPK

Plugin FX:
Jack-Rack
Rakarrack

Playback:
VLC
Brasero

Artwork:
GIMP

comments on the web @ overhauser.blogspot.com

album ii - second critique - car speakers

nOe-ii
car speakers

015 -drums too loud (esp. bass), robot okay

012 -drums too loud

014 -ok

hangman -awful! muddy, guitar way too quiet, drums too loud

OS002 -guitar too quiet, muddy

SL010 -chh too loud

album ii - first critique - over-the-ear mixing headphones

ii


nOe-ii
over-ear headphones

015
high synth a little sloppy - like the 1/8th note chord part

012
ok

014
loud!
short outro

SL004-hangman
noise-clicks :(
guitar a little too quiet
really long outro

OS002
guitar a little too quiet
missing bass?

SL010

SL011
too long and just a bit weak

SL007
drags on a little long for main theme at 2min
fade out guitar part then fade back in?

016
omit chh

robot drums and nursery rhymes?

This groove has been the funnerest I have put together yet for the rpm2011 challenge. I had the goal to build a robot drum library as well as use some more kids-toys samples. nOe-015 has these built into a techno groove. Feedback welcome!

nOe-015

RPM Challenge 2011 - nOe-SL-011

I have been having some software woes lately that have blocked my creative juices, I got pumped when I found out qjackctl patchbay would save all my jack connections, except not totally since it cannot differentiate between my two E-MU XMidi1X1 USB connectors. And Yoshimi let me down in a big way when it kept crashing if I tried to used more than one channel or otherwise load a preset .xmz file. So I finally gave up and switched back to ZynAddSubFx for my live looping since I like having 5 different softsynths loaded in channels 5-9. With looping it's all about flexibility and options on the fly! I mean, you need that. Yeah?

Anyway, after pouting a bit, I managed to put together a new piece:

SL-011

It's nearly 01:00 so I think it's time to throw in the towel.

Open Soarz

I have been using open-source software for music creation for about a year and a half now.  Actually, I have mostly been learning the ropes until recently and now I have a chosen set of tools with which I plan to compose record and edit audio art.  The ability to have freedom and flexiblity is important to an artist, and I am truly becoming passionate about open-source software as it has given me an opportunity to create, a journey of the mind and spirit.  I am hopeful that I can return the fruits of their labour from the fruits of mine.  I don't really like the idea of selling my music, however, should I have the opportunity to collect donations from live shows, I plan on giving at least 50% to the open-source projects that have helped me create.

I also decided that "Open Soarz" would be a good "industrial/metal" band name that used only open-source solutions to making music.  My first couple attempts at some edgy-er material for Open Soarz (OS) is below.  I realised quickly that I will need to keep practising.

OS-002

hangman