Beat Battle S02R6 | "Mama Yetu" by: Ivan Atman (Sensei Archers) |
TROPICAL PARADISE
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To myself when I think about the term "Tropical Paradise" a few things come up to my mind. One of them being the Eastern African savanna plains and it's vast beauty. From the amazing wilderness and the animals within, to the human culture that is so diverse that it is like a whole another microcosmic region on this beautiful planet. Everything is special about this region, it is a cradle of our civilization and origin of all of us. In this track I decided to sing in Swahili even though I am a mere starter in the language I just felt it and went with it because I had fun and think it is one of the most beautiful languages of our planet.
Listen to my entry directly via soundcloud below
Vocals | Production | Instrumentals | Lyrics | by: @ivan.atman
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Read The Lyrics And Translation Below
| SWAHILI | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| Kwenda kulala kati ya nyota | Go to bed between the stars |
| Kati ya matiti ya mama yako | Between your mother's breasts |
| Sisi sote ni huru | We are all free |
| Kwenda kulala kati ya nyota | Go to bed between the stars |
| Kati ya matiti ya mama yako | Between your mother's breasts |
| Kuchaguliwa kutoka juu | Selected from above |
| Nuru yako ni | The light is |
| Chombo chako | Your instrument |
Brief About The Arrangement
I started the song with the beat that I made from scratch in Battery 4, I was at this time heading towards Cuban style because it seemed like a cool thing to try for a tropical paradise and I played with a trumpet a bit, but then I added some brass with Spitfire MASSE and it changed my flow heading towards a more ambient approach, soon after that I added the bass with MODO Bass that gave the song a whole structure by laying in bed like a tandem with the beat I made. At this point I was playing around with congas from NI CUBA emulation and added a conga loop that shaped everything to sound entirely different from before. I decided to add vocals and sing in Swahili, which led me to a desire to finalize this project.
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Equipment Used On The Project
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Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
This little soundcard might be in the budget range, but it is the best one out there in its price range. It has an amazing mic amps inside, and basic 2 inputs and 2 outputs. Has virtually no latency, and comes with the +48v, PAD and INST buttons. If you want to learn more about this soundcard check here
Waldorf Blofeld
I use this amazing synth as an instrument and a MIDI controller, so everything from the beats to orchestrations is being made via Blofeld/MIDI. In this track I haven't used any internal sounds from the synth. If you want to learn more about this synth check here
Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO
This is my only tool and reference for mixing and mastering for now, they are excellent in the kind of situation I'm in, it is relatively possible to make a good mix with them because they are really balanced and have an incredible mid range frequency response. If you want to learn more about this headphones check here
Shure BETA 58A
This is the best dynamic microphone I've tried so far, it improved so much from its predecessor adding more high-mid frequency response and resulting in an amazingly crispy vocals while keeping that Shure softness at the same time. If you want to learn more about this microphone check here
Ableton Live 9
All of my mixing and mastering are made on this DAW. Ever since I've switched to it my workflow has improved by 500% it is the most intuitive software I've came across so far and its routing possibilities are endless. If you want to learn more about this daw check here
IZotope Ozone 8
This is my major tool for mastering, I mostly use its Vintage Limiter which limits and balances the track overall without breaking the track with the usual things like cpu spikes or a wall of compression. If you want to learn more about this vst check here
MODO Bass
This is by far the most versatile bass vst I ever came across. It comes with more than 10 bass models and gives you an absolute control over the sound, from pick switch to which finger are you playing with. If you want to learn more about this bass check here
Spitfire MASSE
This orchestra vst is among the better ones I tried, truly revolutionary emulations of brass, strings and woodwinds sections. If you want to learn more about this vst check here
Kontakt 5
Kontakt is where I load all of my emulations, such as the Spitfire Masse or Native Instruments West Africa I used on this project. If you want to learn more about this software check here
Battery 4
I almost use Battery exclusively for beat creation and sampling, it is the most practical piece of virtual equipment for making your own sample groups and arrangements. If you want to learn more about this software check here
Native Instruments West Africa
Amazing compilation of African percussion and traditional instruments, for example in this project I used an African flute, but there are other amazing things like Kora, Ngoli, Balafon... If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Lexicon PCM Native Reverb Bundle
This is the most famous rack reverb out there which recently got emulated into vst, it is incredible how much it sound like the real thing in most of the presents, truly remarkable. If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Native Instruments Cuba
This little but amazing pack has all of the Cuban traditional instruments inside. For this project I only used the congas which are recorded immaculately and sound exquisite. If you want to learn more about this emulation check here
Check my previous #beatbattle entries below
Written and arranged on the 01.04 April 2018 by @ivan.atman
Join the SMA Community Here
you're an amazing artist! i really respect your styles.. pro
respect brudda :) glad you think that
That's a lovely Swahili song and the choice of your beats is excellent.....Congratulations :) I like it.
Thank you @practicaleric coming from a kiswahili speaker it means a lot, are you an expat or were you born in Kenya?
Hi Ivan,Am fully Kenyan- born and bred, grew up speaking Swahili, Luhya and English. I speak some Arabic too :)
That is great @practicaleric you live in the amazing country with such a rich tradition
What a song, and such a great post to go with it. I love how you have shown equipment used. Congratulations on the win too, Well deserved!
Thank you @uncleroro I appreciate it
I am Kenyan and this brought so much joy :)
You are doing great so far. Keep it up @ivan
Asante sana @elsiekjay I am very glad the song brought you joy :)
Haha..Karibu Sana Kaka.
I'm super impressed. You should check #JustinBradford on Youtube, he is veryto popular over here because of his keenness to learn Swahili :)
Thank you I will check his vlog out 😉
Most Welcome.
Man o man this is literally one of the best overall #beatbattle entries I have witnessed.
Everything from your beautiful and soulful singing in Swahili to reiterate the Tropical Paradise theme to the absolutely stunning arrangement (those brass and congos yessssss) to the knowledge-filled Steemit post, holy smokes everything is top-quality.
The amount of time and effort to create this Steemit post let alone the beautiful music is so evident and you inspire the heck out of me with this entry.
I love knowing and learning about the equipment you used and I am sure the music community can learn from it as well.
And to include the translations as well o my brothaman you absolutely excelled in every way in this entry.
I can't thank you enough for setting the bar so high and sharing this moment in time with us. Your music affected me greatly and put me in an almost meditative state. And then all the information you included is so useful and gives us the listener the full experience of your entry.
Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into creating this music and post. You the man.
Thank you @chiefmappster for the ever so kind words, as always I tried to make something a little bit different and enjoyed the process, I'm glad it got you in that state mah man, I was in one while making it, as always making music is my meditation in movement, I'm happy to bring quality and effort to SMA and platforms music regardless on upvotes I get, when I make these tracks I make them out of love and respect for the future of independent musicians on the blockchain ✌ big thank you to all of the judge panel and yourself
O man I bet you were in the zone with the Universe while creating this one o myyyy. Really appreciate that making music for the joy and inspiration is so authentic and people can sense that consciously or subconsciously. Excited to change this world with you it's going to be one heck of an adventure.
And you're very welcome glad to do my part. Let's keep it going :)
Yeah people who see it or get to it feel it, everybody in its own way, I'm slowly getting out there musically but I have lots of things that are priorities, I'm excited to change things with you guys as well man, always ✌
Amennn so true. O weee understand that only so much time in the day.
Glad to hear real, positive change is coming o weeeeee.
I really love the sound of the percussion, the realism in the congos and the ride cymbals at the end.
The Shure beta 58A you use sounds pretty good. I always like their 58 'mesh ball' model better than their 57 'flat top' model ... both are good and rugged for taking on the road. My impression was that the 58 had a much better response across the frequency range than the 57 ...
58A and 57 are incomparable if you look at the overall response, 58A is so much brighter than the regular 58 and the 57, and the mesh ball is amazing for the dynamics, if you ask me there are 20 positions on the mesh giving different sounds.
Oh yeah, if I didn't make it clear I much prefer the 58 over the 57. It sounds like you've gotten more familiar with the latest models compared to the older ones, 'sm58' versus this newer beta 58A ... So you really got to play with the placement in your musical endeavors it sounds like...
Well Sm58 was a standard model with fewer changes until Sm58A Beta came, and with 58A they upped their game, I would suggest anybody to transfer to SM58A cause it has everything the old SM58 has but twice the response in mid, high-mid and high frequencies, having said all this old SM58 is still preferred by many for that trademark sound
I went and bought a used Sennheiser MD421 for my studio efforts, but certainly will take your advice for something more rugged and affordable to replace if need be, for live gigs in the future, because I agree the 58 was always brighter (and perhaps deeper) than the 57. With the 57 I thought I noticed a bit of 'boxy' band limits for other instruments, but otherwise OK for vocals only and perhaps the field (cardioid) response a bit 'safer' in terms of feedback potential ...
57 definitely has less feedback due to its physique, but is boxy for it yeah, I haven't tried MD421 but I would imagine it to be a really great mic for the amp, but wouldn't compare it with SM58A because it SM58A is specifically designed for the vocals
My violin sounds really sweet through the 421 ... none of that harsh raspiness violins sometimes take on, even with the best players and engineers ... I also record a Soprano Baroque recorder with it ... nice round tone all around. If my vocals are lackluster, it sure ain't the fault of the 421! ;-)
So heartfelt. Incredible tune and delivery Ivan <3 <3
Thank you @paradigmprospect really appreciate the love ✌
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@Ivan.atman just listening to this now it's awesome love the base line and the bongos 😁
thank you @theorangegent glad you liked it :)
It's awesome if you ever wnat a poet / rapper to spit on a beat hit me up we could work on a project maybe ?
yeah definitely, some of that Welsh rap could do some good, just dont spit on my beat but rather drop rhymes ok? 😆 you have a decent microphone?
Yeah sweet sounds good to me haha great stuff and yes I have access to a great studio that I use
cool sounds good, you can contact me on discord @Ivan Atman#2066
What is discord I have never heard of it before
Nice i love the vibe on this one
Thank you @polarbeats 👍
Anytime bud