Atomic Age Library comps.

[apmnut]

Hello, all. This is to be a topic where I post my home-made compilations of 40s/50s/60s library music. Each compilation is designed to whisk you on a musical ride through a bygone era of our history, to take you back to the days of poodle skirts, drive-in movies, and that ever-present threat of imminent danger brought on by the Cold War. Each track has been hand-picked by moi to conjure up in your mind images of the era fondly remembered by many, and many others wish they were in; as well to ensure that the music is always memorable and stays in your mind for days or even weeks or maybe even years.

Confession time: I've been putting this off for a while now, and this time, I think I'll actually get some work done on the first one, but since I'm only a beginner at this type of thing, unlike Retro or Tuneboy, who are pretty much practitioners at this type of thing, so I may need some help figuring out this whole compilation business. So if anyone's got tips [or if you'd like to do some cover artwork for the series], PM me.

The first volume in this series will be titled "Light & Bright", a bright compilation of 18 scrum-diddly-umptous orchestral nuggets reminiscent of campy educational films, classic black and white sitcoms, and at least a million other things!

Upcoming volumes include:
AA 1002: From Another World
AA 1003: Dig That Crazy Rhythm!
AA 1004: Marchtime
AA 1005: Comedy Capers
AA 1006: Midnight at the Cemetery
AA 1007: Spotlight on: Impress
AA 1008: Spotlight on: Harmonic
AA 1009: Spotlight on: Jack Shaindlin
AA 1010: Spotlight on: Chappell
AA 1011: Spotlight on: JW Theme Music
AA 1012: Spotlight on: FDH Mood Music
AA 1013: Light and Bright Vol. 2
AA 1014: Dig That Crazy Rhythm! Vol. 2
AA 1015: A Musical Potpourri

Misc. comps not in this series:
LIB 1001: Groove Me Amadeus (all Mozart Edition tracks)
LIB 1002: 80s Library the Spectrum Way!
LIB 1003: BTW, Here's Some BTWs

Watch this space for more!!

[tuneboy]

Wow! I look forward to these, apmnut. I think it's important to adjust the volume/gain between the tracks on DIY comps, or else they will be hard to listen all the way. I use a simple sound editing program called WavePad Sound Editor for that. But it must be done by ear, no automatic function can do it. This program also has all kinds of other important editing options, like click removal, fading in/out etc. I recommend it.
https://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html

[Greta]

Nice project apmnut.

Tuneboy, would you explain me how to do it with WavePad? Do you use the "Auto Gain" function or the "Normalize"? And then, how? What do you mean "by ear"?
I tried to install the demo version (hell, the full one is a bit expensive).

[tuneboy]

Nice project apmnut.

Tuneboy, would you explain me how to do it with WavePad? Do you use the "Auto Gain" function or the "Normalize"? And then, how? What do you mean "by ear"?
I tried to install the demo version (hell, the full one is a bit expensive).

You should use 'Amplify', NOT 'Automatic gain control' or 'Normalize'. Stay away from those!!! Then draw the "gain %" lever up or down from 100. Use "undo amplify" to get back to the original volume if you have overdone it. Always check by ear.

"By ear" I mean that you must listen and do it manually by trial and error for each track, there are no presets or auto-functions that work. The machines don't understand how our ears perceive musical sounds. You just join the tracks into one big file and work on the volume adjustments that way. Then it's easy to jump around from one track to another and listen.

How to join many files into one:
First mark all the tracks and open them in the program. Then, under Edit - go to Batch Join. Then Add All. Then close all the single files, and the one big one will remain. Then you can begin the job. When you're satisfied with all the adjustments, mark them sequentially, then 'copy to new' and then 'save as' (with a new name). This must be done one by one track.

Yes, WavePad costs money, but I think it's worth it. It has many useful functions for this kind of comp editing. I would never have been able to make my comp series without it.

[Greta]

Thanks a lot for the tips Tuneboy.

[apmnut]

Bumping this thread because I'd like to know if anyone has the following tracks, which I'm going to use in the comp:
Casual Acquaintance- Paul Deveraux (KPM)
Chit Chat- Roger Roger (Major Records)
Spiral Staircase- Jack Helyer (FDH Mood Music)

These are the only two cues on the comp which I don't have, so if anyone has them, that would be super!

[Retronic]

I can do the KPM but lots of us should have that.  I can check the others after work today- slim chance but possible.