War (The State Of The Union) - Thethanx

16th Sep 2010 21:12 - 16 years ago
Tags :
Description : Made on an Itouch in Beatmaker
First attempt at Dub, so all you Dub heads out there feel free to give some advice. Lots of loops from looperman! My thanks to Dubmaster321, MimouNaMamiA, Ensam and Dextdee! All vocal samples are royalty free licence goodness from soundbible.com's royalty free section. About the only thing originally mine is some drums. And yes, that is Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

*Edit After some good advice, cut out some vox sampling, added a reverse piano pulled from a track (with permission) of DanielGtrman. It's minor changes, but I hope it warrents a relisten.
*Second Edit- After more advice added a Bassline made using Argon synth (ipod VST)... I wish I could have just played it on bass, I'm terrible at keys and even worse at virtual ones.
FX'd Obama clips, and cut gunshot sound bites too, as I only have a maximum of 16 loops/instruments and needed room for bassline

Comments (12)

If you have time take a listen and give Thethanx some feedback.

clinthammerMUSIC
clinthammerMUSIC 10th Nov 2010 22:53 - 16 years ago
I really like this. Very mellow and relaxing. Awesome reggae synths man. everything feels right in this track. Make a me a wan' hit da big spliff and take da ganja straight to de dome!!

Cheers!
Spivkurl
Spivkurl 24th Oct 2010 17:45 - 16 years ago
This is a haunting style of dub! I love that you made good use of the organ, I'm a sucker for organs! Great use of sound effects, I think that's what makes this track dub! Interesting bass, it really growls! Good effecting of the vocal clips too! Nice work man!
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Thanks or the review Spiv! Always appriciate your kind words. I´m currently working on another Dub track, I hope you´ll check it out when it happens!
Salook
Salook 18th Oct 2010 21:26 - 16 years ago
I like it, kinda ska intro moving into the harlem acoustics, different but works, if this is your first attempt then its a good one, its Dub music without a doubt, digging all those sound effects, great Dub beat also, good job man.
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Sorry for so long on the response, Appriciate the listen and appriciate the words! I´ve got more dub in my future for sure. I love the feel of it, and I love a good Bassline. Thanks again for the listen!
SGN
SGN 4th Oct 2010 08:09 - 16 years ago
Really like this tune. I especially love the reverse piano. It's amazing how the simple act of reversing a loop can lead to a totally different feeling and sound. The organ is really what makes me even think of this as a dub tune, or else I would have no idea how to categorize this. Love the pads you bring towards the latter half as well. My only criticism would be the that the bass sounds maxed out and distorted, especially in the few bars where it's the primary sound. Maybe you could eq that and make it more of a sub for those few bars, while leaving the rest as is. Keep up the good work.
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
I have no idea why I took so long to reply to these, but Thanks for the review and thanks for the advice. Right now it´s a bit hard for me to EQ individual parts of a song without it effecting the whole thing (I´m using an ipod app) but once I get a real DAW I plan on remastering all my tracks. I will definitely fix that bassline! Solid advice and thanks again!
JohnBoutilier
JohnBoutilier 25th Sep 2010 01:02 - 16 years ago
Quite honestly, I have no idea what the genre dub should sound like. What I can say is that I enjoyed this track, very very much. It is so well constructed. Perfect use of fx and the transitions are seamless. An all around sweet piece of music.

Faved

John
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
How did it take me so long to respond to this? Thanks for the fav and thanks for the listen!
BrokenScythe
BrokenScythe 21st Sep 2010 22:40 - 16 years ago
Wow thanx, very interesting track here man. Never a dull moment IMO, well constructed. The bass is fine in my opinion as well, could be a lil less squelch I think though. Just a tad brother, just a tad.
Great use of vox saples, the percussion really keeps it moving! Synthwork is on point, and the reggae sub synth really rolls the track along.
Great track, as mentioned, only ish i have is the bass personally. But maybe thats just me lol. As a matte of fact, screw it, just keep it, its great as is. Haha
EDIT:
Nah I think I was trippin Thanx, its fine.
it does? How so?
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Thanx Scythe, It's funny that you're review of my track sounds so much like my review of yours... good criticism though, once you mention it I can see hear it myself. I think I still have the synth saved in Argon, once I replace my headphones maybe I'll go back and alter it... Thanks again.
Beyond
Beyond 18th Sep 2010 00:00 - 16 years ago
nice homie thumbs up good job
blackryan
blackryan 17th Sep 2010 10:25 - 16 years ago
This comment is hidden.
MCHN
MCHN 17th Sep 2010 08:52 - 16 years ago
Real chilled out vibe. What catches me alot is the reverse piano. Gets kinda dark with it then comes back to the sunny side. Gave it another listen. It's got a dope vibe with the acoustic coming in at around 29 sec or so. It's a sick combo with the organ and all that. I guess I kinda key on dark sounds more. Also the perc and drums are really varied. Gives it a bigger sound. It's a trip all this was done on a Touch. Only advice I can give is, play with some delay and reverb a bit. Dub music loves delay and hard spring verb sounds. I like it as is already so dubbin some stuff to it might add some new flavor. Cheers :D
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Thanks for the review! actually the piano was totally a happy accident, I meant apply a different effect and accidentally clicked reverse, but I gave it a listen and was like "woah that sounds sweet" I took your advice (and the advice of many others) and added some reverb and delay... at least to a lot of the vocals. One of the sad restrictions of Beatmaker is that it only has 2 channels for fx, only 4 of them, and if you want to apply delay to something like the drum track, it affects the drums for THE WHOLE SONG... Otherwise I would have added some reverb to the drums in certain parts. maybe when I pony up the dough for a laptop and invest in some REAL equipment, I'll come back and tweak it some more. Thanks again!
Mrbillionx
Mrbillionx 17th Sep 2010 02:42 - 16 years ago
Nice nice nice.
this is the kind of stuff I like - I see a big future ahead of you.

Some people don't know how to use samples they find in anything.

Two thumbs up!!

You might need to send me some of your other stuff in the future.
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Thanks for the review! If you like my style and ever wanna collab just let me know, I'm always looking for new inspiration
StereoMathematics
StereoMathematics 17th Sep 2010 00:29 - 16 years ago
the vocals get washed out at times, and the reverb on em makes it hard to hear what is being said. but you have a really good song here man. i like the sparseness, i think it helps move the song along at a relaxing pace. nice and uncluttered. good use of samples too, im gonna have to check out this sound bible. good job man.
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Soundbible is very cool for free sound effects and such... thanks for the comment on the vocals. I ended up reducing the vocals over all in favor of a nice backwards piano loop, but I think I pulled most of the loops that got washed... Thanks though mastering is something I really need to work on.
EzIcarus
EzIcarus 16th Sep 2010 22:27 - 16 years ago
Sounds a little too happy to be a Dub to my ears (not a bad thing bro) but maybe you could add a little more music and a little less of the samples. A tearing B line wouldnt go a miss. Good use of Mr B A BarakObama not over powering.

Nice laid back vibe, chilled me right out.

Keep the interesting beats coming...

B line (Bassline)
Thethanx
Thethanx replied Unknown - 2028 years ago
Thanks for the tips! Any chance you could help me place it in the right genre then? It sure ain't reggae...
I took your advice, cut some samples (especially on the vocal ones I think I over did those) and added another loop.
Edit: Bassline added.

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