For England, James

[Recurring Villain]

Okay, so I had an idea that might be more interesting than sitting around complaining that there's nothing going on here.

My idea is that we all get together and plan out and then make a remix of the James Bond theme. Our goal is to do it better than Paul Oakenfolds frankly quite shitty remix:

+ YouTube Video

How anticlimactic is that?

If you liked it then you should go die in a fire.

The essential elements of a Bond theme are (in order of importance) the:

1. Guitar.
2. Brass.
3. Strings.

So, we need someone who can play guitar. I'm pretty sure Ben could do that once we've established what we'd like to do. Brass is harder, as most brass synths suck balls; however Danny's EWQLSO Gold brass might be pwnage enough that we could use it. Strings are easy, however again the Gold ones may be the best.

We could, though, use samples for the 'iconic' bits of the theme, layering in our own bits over the top, which adds a layer of awesome if we sample them right.

And now I've run out of steam because I'm running on 4 hours sleep over the past 3 days. Respond with your own ideas or just yell at me if you think it's a shit idea.

[Ronnie Rowlands]

I can play double bass if that is any help. Only trouble is I have no decent recording equipment and no double bass.

[Ben Dawson]

I can do electric guitar, and acoustic, which could both come in handy, and I have recording equipment which will do the job.

[Recurring Villain]

Then you, sir, are a winner.

You think you could do a demo of the bond theme and upload it? On either.

[Danny Stewart]

Real instruments = fail. It will all be done on the computer.

[Recurring Villain]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

Real instruments = fail. It will all be done on the computer.

Not for guitars it wont. Synthetic guitars sound like absolute crap.

I've spent hours trying to make Slayer2 sound even tolerable and it just sounds like barely a step up from using a midi guitar =\.

[Ben Dawson]

Well, it all deepends on what you're after on guitar. If you're wanting something like in the "Doomsday" theme, then I could add on the guitar afterwards. But If you're thinking of guitar heavy, then the best bet would be to build up the beat with some sort of drums first.

[Marinedalek]

I concur - drums are often the least-thought-of part yet poor quality drums can ruin an otherwise brilliant arrangement. I think we need plenty of timp rolls and orchestral drums, but a good solid drumkit backing seems appealing too.

Plus I just thought I'd be the synthesiser representative for this thread. If not playing a main part in the Bond theme, it'd be nice to have synth pads doing backing, or a nice synth lead somewhere in the middle doing a variation on the theme...

[Ben Dawson]

That sounds cool, it would fit in well I would imagine.

[Recurring Villain]

Originally Posted by Marinedalek

I concur - drums are often the least-thought-of part yet poor quality drums can ruin an otherwise brilliant arrangement.

Not in my mixes


...that often.

Originally Posted by Marinedalek

I think we need plenty of timp rolls and orchestral drums, but a good solid drumkit backing seems appealing too.

Lots and lots and lots of breakbeat samples kthx.

Originally Posted by Marinedalek

Plus I just thought I'd be the synthesiser representative for this thread. If not playing a main part in the Bond theme, it'd be nice to have synth pads doing backing, or a nice synth lead somewhere in the middle doing a variation on the theme...

We can do anything.

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Recurring Villain

Not for guitars it wont. Synthetic guitars sound like absolute crap.

Which is why we won't be using synths. We'll be using samples.

Originally Posted by Marinedalek

Plus I just thought I'd be the synthesiser representative for this thread. If not playing a main part in the Bond theme, it'd be nice to have synth pads doing backing, or a nice synth lead somewhere in the middle doing a variation on the theme...

Huzzah.

[Recurring Villain]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

Which is why we won't be using synths. We'll be using samples.

Which is why I'm hoping to get Ben to record them for us.

Unless you're volunteering to isolate the guitar from the Bond themes like you so famously did with the elements of the Derbyshire theme?

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Recurring Villain

Which is why I'm hoping to get Ben to record them for us.

I mean samples from a sample library.

Originally Posted by Recurring Villain

Unless you're volunteering to isolate the guitar from the Bond themes like you so famously did with the elements of the Derbyshire theme?

I didn't isolate them from the theme itself. I had additional outside source material from which I (with much assistance from Pete) was able to extract them. It's impossible to get them from the original theme.

[Recurring Villain]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

I mean samples from a sample library.

I bet you $5AUD you can't make samples sound as good as the real thing.

[Danny Stewart]

I bet I could, but not with the amount of work I'm willing to invest in it.

[Recurring Villain]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

I bet I could, but not with the amount of work I'm willing to invest in it.

Then Ben it is.

[Marinedalek]

Originally Posted by Danny Stewart

I didn't isolate them from the theme itself. I had additional outside source material from which I (with much assistance from Pete) was able to extract them. It's impossible to get them from the original theme.

As I recall, the melodies were retrieved from the 1996 Destiny of the Doctors game, the samples of which I then treated with Waves x-noise to remove the 8-bit quantisation. These were then subtracted using Adobe Audition from a channel-subtracted copy of Mark Ayres' 2002 stereo mix to get the high pitched emphasis notes and low noise drones.

The cliffhanger scream was recreated from a number of sources including the bubble sample from the BBC Radiphon-a-tron, a sped-up version from the Sea Devils soundtrack (at the end of the Duel track if anyone's wondering) and a sample from the start of the 40s closing theme. These were then processed and treated in various ways to get a nice scream that tailed off nicely.

The bassline was fashioned by Danny's infinitely talented brother from a high-quality sample discovered by Chris Adams (Hardwire) on the radiophon-a-tron which subsequently mysteriously vanished from the BBC site. However, I believe the bassline is now made using the less-high-quality sample that currently resides on the BBC site. Opinion is divided on whether this is better or not: Danny and Ian say it is, I say it isn't.

Hmmm... this has turned more into a ramble than a nitpick, but to maintain conformity I have to end with the appropriate tag.

[Recurring Villain]

Oh, ok. Thanks.

[Danny Stewart]

Originally Posted by Marinedalek

As I recall, the melodies were retrieved from the 1996 Destiny of the Doctors game, the samples of which I then treated with Waves x-noise to remove the 8-bit quantisation. These were then subtracted using Adobe Audition from a channel-subtracted copy of Mark Ayres' 2002 stereo mix to get the high pitched emphasis notes and low noise drones.

The cliffhanger scream was recreated from a number of sources including the bubble sample from the BBC Radiphon-a-tron, a sped-up version from the Sea Devils soundtrack (at the end of the Duel track if anyone's wondering) and a sample from the start of the 40s closing theme. These were then processed and treated in various ways to get a nice scream that tailed off nicely.

The bassline was fashioned by Danny's infinitely talented brother from a high-quality sample discovered by Chris Adams (Hardwire) on the radiophon-a-tron which subsequently mysteriously vanished from the BBC site. However, I believe the bassline is now made using the less-high-quality sample that currently resides on the BBC site. Opinion is divided on whether this is better or not: Danny and Ian say it is, I say it isn't.

Hmmm... this has turned more into a ramble than a nitpick, but to maintain conformity I have to end with the appropriate tag.

Thank you, Pete.