Soundblend
Very interesting, i downloaded the sample... what you have done was inspiring to me.

Brilliant! Are you going to have a go then?
 
I know what you mean with respect to some beats, and I did explore this, but I decided to keep any major percussion out of this. Mainly because I gathered that the guys over at Ambient Online would be expecting more of a beat-less production. Having said that, some peeps have introduced a more powerful percussion element that what I did, and some created a purely beat-less ambient affair... So I may have got away with something more "up-beat."
 
Thanks a lot for that link Jan. I'm going to have a look at that
 
 

Lynn
Wow, Andy, this reminds me of the days when I road the rails.

Yeah, Lynn... You are bang on with that assessment dood! Can you imagine how it nearly drove me round the bend, listening to this over and over haha!
 
Thanks for giving it a go
 
 
cheers
 
andy

smallstonefan
I need to learn more about this sound mangling of which you speak. Omnisphere 2 lets you use your own samples, but I haven't tried it yet...

Hi James,
 
It can be a bit time consuming, going backwards and forwards between Paul's Stretch, Sound Forge and Sonar. And then creating a new patch in Absynth. Getting a sample to continuously loop without too much of a glitch at the start/end was a right PITA, but I think I've pulled it off. I'm hoping to get another project based on this same sample in the next 24/48 hours.

FWIW, for those who may be interested, I made some notes of how I created this project. It's not written very well... I get confused over past/present tense. It's a long read, so I don't expect anyone to read it, but it at least give peeps an idea of the kind of effort I put into this:-
 
Sample Creation Process Steps
1) Renamed original file from In need of oil.WAV to OSD32.WAV
2) Created a copy of OSD32.WAV and renamed it OSD32_001.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and reversed the sample
3) Opened OSD32_001.WAV in Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch, stretched 10x and rendered as OSD32_002.WAV
4) Opened OSD32_001.WAV in Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch, stretched 10x, dropped pitch by 2400 cents and rendered as OSD32_003.WAV
5) Opened OSD32_001.WAV in Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch, stretched 10x, dropped pitch by 3600 cents and rendered as OSD32_004.WAV
6) Created a copy of OSD32_002.WAV and renamed it OSD32_005.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and cropped sample between 2:00.000 and 2:50.000
7) Created a copy of OSD32_003.WAV and renamed it OSD32_006.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and cropped sample between 2:00.000 and 2:50.000
8) Created a copy of OSD32_004.WAV and renamed it OSD32_007.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and cropped sample between 2:00.000 and 2:50.000
9) Opened OSD32_005 in PESS, stretched 10x and rendered as OSD32_008.WAV
10) Opened OSD32_006 in PESS, stretched 10x and rendered as OSD32_009.WAV
11) Opened OSD32_007 in PESS, stretched 10x and rendered as OSD32_010.WAV
12) Opened OSD32_008.WAV, OSD32_009.WAV and OSD32_010.WAV and normalised each one to a peak value of -4 dB
13) Created a copy of OSD32_001.WAV and renamed it to OSD32_011.WAV, opened in Sound Forge, cropped sample between 23.5 and 28.0 and normalised to -4 dB
14) Opened OSD32_011.WAV in PESS, stretched 109x and rendered as OSD32_012.WAV
15) Created a copy of OSD32_009.WAV and renamed it to OSD32_013.WAV, opened in Sound Forge, cropped sample between 1:07.000 and 2:07.000 and then normalised to -4 dB
16) Created a copy of OSD32_001.WAV and renamed it to OSD32_14.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and cropped sample between 38.0 and 39.0, changed into a mono WAV by combining 50% L/R channels and then normalised to -4 dB
17) Opened OSD32_014.WAV in PESS, stretched 430x and rendered as OSD32_015.WAV
18) Created a copy of OSD32_008.WAV and renamed it to OSD32_016.WAV, opened in Sound Forge and cropped sample between 17.0 and 35.0 and then normalised to -4 dB
19) Opened OSD32_016.WAV in PESS stretched 28x and rendered as OSD32_017
20) Opened OSD32_005.WAV, OSD32_006.WAV and OSD32_007.WAV and normalised each one to a peak value of -4 dB
 
Then into Sonar Platinum
 
Busses first:-
 
Master Buss
FX Bin
Pro-Q2 - No surgical cuts made, but the low-mids and hi-mids needed cutting and the low and high end boosting a bit. Actually, I lied about the surgical cuts... I cut out anything below 40Hz with a steep 96 dB/Oct slope, and anything above 20kHz (same steep slope).
Pro-L - I used the Film Score - Gentle and Musical setting. I set the metering to K-14 and raised the gain to +11 dB to get the RMS level to sit at around 0 dB. As it happened, not much limiting took place... Just the odd rogue peak. I set the output level to -0.4 if I am going to output a wave file that is converted straight to MP3, after trimming in Sound Forge.
SPAN - I use headphones for all my listening duties. I therefore pretty much rely on SPAN to tell me if there is anything seriously amiss and at some point I will pipe the sound through to my TV surround system to take a check on the lows. I leave the master fader at zero.
 
Reverb Buss
I use Breverb 2, and on Void I used the Ball Room preset as the basis and tweaked the time to 5.85s. I also set the Dry mix to zero, so only the wet signal is passed through to the Master Buss. I drop the fader to around -3dB.
Delay Buss
I use Timeless 2 for any delay duties. For Void I used the Stereo Delay preset. I can't remember changing anything except the Dry mix was set to zero. I route a send to the Reverb Buss. I drop the fader to around -3dB with output sent to the master buss.
 
GR Left Buss
This buss was created for using Guitar Rig 5's granular effect. I used th Granular Sparkle preset and tweaked some of the parameters to suit. A send was routed to the Reverb buss with the level set to around -3db. The pan pot was set to 100% left and fader at around -6dB.
 
GR Right Buss
Similar to the GR Left Buss, except the parameters were tweaked slightly different, and the pan pot was set to 100% right.
 
Absynth Buss
This bus was used for Absynth's granular effect. An experiment really and something I had never ever done before. The Absynth granular effect is called Aetherizer and I messed around with the parameters a little bit. I'm still not entirel sure it was worth the effort. The fader was set to around -6dB.

Track 1
Sample OSD32_001 was placed on this track at around 4:20 and the clip faded in and out over a third of the sample. So, 1/3 fade in, 1/3 full level and 1/3 fade out. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin and was used to provide a steep cut at around 230Hz. I decided that anything below that wasn't bringing anything to the party so I cut it out completely. No high cut set. A send was routed to the Reverb buss, at unity gain and 40% left pan. The pan pot was set to 40% left and the fader set to around -16dB.
 
Track 2
Sample OSD32_002 was placed on this track. Although this sample could last the whole length of the project, it is cut out in places and some bits were moved around slightly. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin and was used to cut everything, with a very steep slope below around 75Hz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss, at -3dB and 100% pan right. The pan pot was set to 100% right and the fader to -7dB.
 
Track 3
Sample OSD32_003 was placed on this track. Again, as Track 2, the sample was cut in places, almost the same as OSD32_002, but the whole wave was dragged back in time by a bar. Pro-Q 2 in the FX bin was an exact copy of Track 2. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at -3dB and 100% pan left. The pan pot was set to 100% left and the fader set to -7dB.
 
Track 4
Sample OSD32_004 was placed on this track. Same as Track 2 and 3, except the clip was dragged back by another bar and everything was panned to centre (at least it should have been, but as I am writing this I noticed that the send pan was set to 100% left).
 
Track 5
Sample OSD32_005 was placed on this track at around 0:45, with half of the clip faded in, and the other half faded out. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 200Hz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and 60% left pan. Another send was routed to the GR Buss at unity gain and centre pan. Yet another send was routed to the Absynth buss at -6dB and 100% left pan. The pan pot was set to 60% left and fader to -9dB.
 
Track 6
Sample OSD32_006 was placed on this track at around 1:00, with half of the clip faded in and the other half faded out. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 200Hz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and 60% right pan. Another send was routed to the GR Buss at unity gain and centre pan. Yet another send was routed to the Absynth buss at -6dB and 100% right pan. The pan pot was set to 60% right and fader to -9dB.
 
Track 7
Sample OSD32_007 was placed on this track at around 1:18, with half the clip faded in and the other half faded out. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 200Hz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. The pan pot was set to centre and fader to -9dB.
 
Track 8
Sample OSD32_008 was placed on this track and features for the full length of the project, after a long fade in at the beginning and a long fade out at the end. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin cutting everything below 100Hz with a very steep curve and everything above 3.6kHz with a moderate curve. The FX bin also had an instance of Saturn using the Digi Tal preset, slightly tweaked. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at -1.5dB and centre pan. A send was also routed to the Delay buss at -4.4dB and centre pan. The pan pot was set to centre and the fader to -7dB.
 
Track 9
Sample OSD32_009 was placed on this track and features for the full length of the project, after a long fade in at the beginning and a long fade out at the end. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 30Hz and everything above 3kHz. An instance of Tantra was also in the FX bin, but I'd have to write a separate chapter about this, assuming I could remember all the tweaks I made. All I will say, no drastic effects here... Just a bit of gradual filter changes made to the sample. Sends were routed to the Reverb buss, Delay buss, GR Left buss, GR Right buss and Absynth buss at unity gain and centre pan. Pan pot was at centre and fader set to -19dB.
 
Track 10
Sample OSD32_009 was also placed on this track, same as Track 9. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 30Hz and everything above 3kHz. Saturn was also in the FX bin, using Delay LA I SM preset, tweaked a bit. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan and another send to the GR Left buss at -6dB and 100% left pan. Pan pot was 100% left and fader set to -13dB.
 
Track 11
Sample OSD32_009 was also placed on this track, same as Track 9 and 10. Pro-Q 2 was in the FX bin to cut everything below 30Hz and everything above 3kHz. Saturn was also in the FX bin, using Delay LA I SM preset, tweaked a bit. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan and another send to the GR Left buss at -6dB and 100% right pan. Pan pto was 100% right and fader set to -13dB.
 
Track 12
Sample OSD32_010 was placed on this track starting at around 0:14 and runs to the end of the project. Pro-Q 2 was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and above 2kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. Pan pot was cat centre pan and fader set to -15dB.
 
Track 13
Sample OSD32_011 was placed on this track at around 2:23. Pro-Q was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and above 8.5kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb Delay and Absynth busses at unity gain and centre pan. Pan pot was at centre pan and fader set to -5dB.
 
Track 14
Sample OSD32_012 was placed on this track. Pro-Q 2was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 100Hz and above 11kHz. Tantra was used in the FX bin to modulate the Glitch effect, but in a moderate way. Guitar Rig 5 was used in the FX bin for some grain effects. A send was routed to the Reverb and Delay busses at unity gain and centre pan. The pan pot was set to centre pan and fader set to -18dB.
 
Track 15
Sample OSD32_13 was placed at the start of this track. Pro-Q 2 was placed in the RX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and above 11kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. Pan pot was at centre pan and fader set to -10dB.
 
Track 16
Sample OSD32_14 was placed on this track. This sample provides part of the percussion whick kicks off at around 2:15 and contains cropped parts of the sample giving both a thwump and tick sound. Pro-Q 2 was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and below 11kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. A send was also routed to the Delay buss at -7dB and centre pan. Pan pot was at centre pan with fader set at -9dB.
 
Track 17
Sample OSD32_015 was placed on this track at around 3:21 with a long fade in. Pro-Q 2 was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and above 12kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. Sends were also routed to the GR Left and GR Right busses, at -3db and centre pan. Pan pot at centre and fader at -12dB.
 
Track 18
Sample OSD32_016 was placed on this track at around 5:31 with a long-ish fade in and out. Pro-Q 2 was used in the FX bin to cut everything below 50Hz and above 12kHz. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at unity gain and centre pan. Another send was routed to the Absynth buss at unity gain and centre pan. Pan pot was set to centre pan and fader to -19dB.
 
Track 19
Sample OSD32_017 was placed on this track kicking off at about 1:03 and chopped up into pieces in order to build up the rhythm track. Pro-Q 2 was used to cut everything below 50Hz with a steep-ish slope and everything above 1kHz with a shallower slope and low Q. Tantra was used in order to create the main rhythm by using an envelope to alter the filter in steps. A send was routed to the Reverb buss at -3dB and centre pan. Pan pot was set to centre pan and fader to -3dB.

Pretty amazing stuff really... especially considering you got 7 minutes worth out of it while keeping it interesting.

Hiya Phil,
 
I'm glad you found it interesting
 
Thanks for listening
 
 
cheers
 
andy

Andy,
 
Thanks for posting your process! When I get some free time I want to try some of these steps with my own sample and I had no idea how to get started.
 
Now I do... :)
 
James

smallstonefan
Now I do... :)

 
That's good new James, I'm glad someone has found that wall of text useful
 
I'm looking forward to hearing what you create with any of those sample mangling steps . Drop me a line over at SoundCloud as soon as you have anything for me to listen to, just in case I don't check in here first.
 
cheers
 
andy
 
 

I'm looking forward to experimenting - thanks! :)

Another completely creative use of a majorly re-worked sample into something more!    But based on your punch list it's not as though you simply "stretched" the sample.  
 
FWIW, the tune I'm working on at the moment is a bit more experimental nature, though not this much, and was initially inspired by the material you've been creating.   Keep on it!