Anybody want to be an Interstellar Fur Trader?

Thanks @Stan_Halen !

When Steban gets back we’ll see what he says and maybe put this on the BTR if we all want to. In the mean time I’m going to take a look at the reality show cue. That needs some crowd noise, do you know where to get a sample of that?

Ah yes, I have the script for Cue 2 (or whatever you want to call the segue between Song1 and Song 2) printed off and will do audio of Charlton and Captain’s log ASAP, should be by tomorrow. BTW, I will probably be out of touch this weekend and part of next week. I may be able to check in, but no chance for audio work. So whatever voice tracks I can get in before then I’ll try to do as many as I can.

There are quite a few SFX sites, some are free. If I’m looking for a specific SFX I usually Google the best description I can and see what comes up. You’ll learn which sites are free by doing that too. Many others are “Royalty Free” which may mean you need to pay once but can use them in anything you want for as long as you want. A few you may find free are:


Freesound.org
NeoSounds
SampleSwap.org
SoundBible.com
SoundBoard.com
SoundJay.com
Soungle

(some of those I haven’t used in awhile, so not sure if they are still there, these are just some ideas)

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Thanks Stan, I’ll check those out when I get time. Never mixed a crowd before, might need some help with that!

Thanks mate… My free trial has expired so I guess I’ll have to find 60$ or use a free site!

Hey @Ailwyn according to this:

https://infinitybass.com/why-i-love-reaper-daw/

Reaper does not stop working after 60 days, you are just on the honor system to pay for it (heh)

I think you should spend just a few minutes a day checking out the videos, then start messing with the program, it’s not hard but it does take a little bit of time. Your first problem is to get your bass to plug into your computer and then for Reaper to “see” it so that you can record.

Do you have an interface to plug in to?

Yeah, maybe Steve can suggest how big the crowd is or what kind of venue. I’m sure it’s big and boisterous, and maybe a clip of American Idol (applause) at the beginning before (emcee) whats-his-name speaks could give a clue what it sounds like. Could maybe grab some audio off something like that. I don’t know that anybody would copyright audience applause.

Or, several SFX clips of applause playing together might make it sound bigger, and the appropriate reverb on each to make it sound like a bigger venue.

Hi mate… no, I don’t have an interface. It’s all a foreign language to me. When I did that Audio Refugees project I drove down to CJ’s house and plugged my bass into his laptop via my DI box. I think we went straight into his Reaper?

Maybe I should just do what I’m best at… playing live!

It’s up to you @Ailwyn . You might be able to plug your DI box straight into your computer with an adapter plug or cable, you can look at the sound card on the back of the computer and see what plug is there.

You can do all this with very little effort and expense but it’s your choice. The hard part is learning to play an instrument and you’ve already done that. So it’s up to you, but with all due respect excuses aren’t the answer here :smiley:

I had to try!!! Got a quiet weekend looming, so I’ll plug in and have a go! I’ve got a couple of leads and adaptors I can try out!

All right @Ailwyn , then check out this page, it should help!

http://wiki.cockos.com/wiki/index.php/Setting_up_an_integrated_soundcard_for_recording

Take a look in the Google Drive “POBP” folder for the file “CPT BISHOP 02_with Charlton.mp3”. That is Charlton the announcer immediately followed by Cpt Bishop’s log. I hope it sounds good.

Hey @Stan_Halen , GREAT job! I love the way you distinguished between the two characters, not an easy transition to make, very professional.

I’m sketching out some music; putting this cue together is going to be a challenge.

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Thanks Ingo! I’m glad you like it. Just a reminder I’m going to be out of touch for the most part until late next week. Also, my main audio computer died yesterday. I won’t be able to address that until I get back. While I should have my GAOTSS session in my backups, my whole audio setup and workflow is lost and will have to be rebuilt. And it’s going to be a priority to do that for many reasons, so I know I’ll be occupied doing that. I do have an alternate system so I’m not totally sunk, but it will work mainly for the narration parts. So I should be able to furnish the narration as you need it (fingers crossed) in the coming weeks for the cues. I’ll have to see what I can do on GAOTSS without the optimal tools, as I’m able.

cc: @steban

Sorry to hear about the computer trouble, I’m glad you have backups. Which reminds me . . . .

But anyway there is a lot of work ahead here so there is plenty to do and we’ll be at this a while and we really don’t have a deadline so no worries there.

And just having some good ears for production advice helps me a lot.

Hey @ingolee, @Stan_Halen, @Ailwyn, I made it back! It was great! I just woke up as I was plumb worn out and now catching up on all the new developments. It all sounds good to me in words, will try to hear everything by tomorrow. I feel for you, Stan. Dying computers are a total bummer. If you were Win 7, it is not easy to find on all deals, and software and licenses, not to mention data, are a nightmare. Makes me want to get another laptop and try, I stress try, to set up all my stuff on it as a working backup, before the inevitable crash.

And Ailwyn, Ingo’s suggestion in just recording it straight into your PC is probably your easiest solution. You need a female 1/4 inch to male 8th inch adapter to plug your bass cord (or effects box cord if you run your bass through one) into the Audio In on your PC in all cases. Sound Recorder for Win 10 and Voice Recorder for Win 7 and 8 are part of Windows, just no bells and whistles. Just type Sound Recorder or Voice Recorder in Search to launch them That is perfect anyway because Ingo will want to apply effects in the mix, just like they are doing with my voice and drums and synths. Try to save as 320kb m4a file, should be about 1mb a minute, small enough so you can upload them here. It doesn’t matter if it’s mono or stereo.

Once we know you can record your bass, dude, you be high tech and we’re in business! Just write down the file name and where it is saved so you can find it to upload. Reaper will then be a pretty easy next step.

@ingolee, here is a link to a bunch of applause samples that we can use without a license. They are easy to download by playing the sample in Google and downloading in Google Player.
http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/applause-sounds.html
They are a good size and can be mixed/overlapped as desired!

Welcome back and thank you for the link @steban, it looks like some good stuff.

I have pulled back the current version of Cue 1 + POBP that Stan ( who is out of town for a week ) had said needed de essing, which I did and he liked it, but then I had another idea so I’m reworking the Cue 1 part and I hope to repost shortly.

The good news is that Stan did a wonderful job on the Cue 2 vocals which he posted, so I have that partially completed also, and hope to post soon as well.

@steban and @Stan_Halen . here’s another mix I could use your help with.

Edit: Do we need de essing on Stan’s vocal?

I can tell you right now there is way too much de essing on my voice making it hard to understand best of the best beautifullest etc. I here beth of the beth, netht guestht. In my opinion when all the critical rhymes feature s’s, over de essing is bad. The volume level on the vocals, however, is good.

I also think the wind hiss sound is being de essed also, which is 75% of the sound.

It just sounds like the synths, the piano especially, and the vocals are being over compressed and suffering a critical loss of brightness and character.

The drums are OK but the shakers and cymbals are missing high end.

Stan’s vocal sounds good to me, I don’t hear any problem over two listens. It is possible a little reverb on de essed copy track could be added, but I’m liking as is.

Lastly, on the female choir, when it hits full volume, gets a tad too loud at the peak at around 2:48-2:50 before it tapers off.

On the very positive side, I’m very much liking the new background with the theremin all the way to the choir ending. And the bass sounds great and sits in the mix very sweetly.

@steban , thanks for your help here. I’ve made some adjustments so let me know what you think.