KVR :: Music Cafe » February Contest: Gossip [View Original Topic]
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D.H. Miltz - Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:04 am

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Have at it.

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rachmiel - Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:55 am

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> This month you are asked to submit an entry expressing happiness. Not necessarily a piece about what makes you (or anyone) happy but one that itself expresses (sounds like) happiness.

a tricky* and cool theme. :-)

* could there be a musical sound/passage that expresses happiness without making anyone happy? can music itself be "happy" independent from its effect on listeners? if a tree falls in the woods and no one's around to hear it ... ;-)

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gorgorgathgorgorgor - Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:56 am

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I am looking forward to this, already composing something special for my first Cafe entry...

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gorgorgathgorgorgor - Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:58 am

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I intend to interpret this quite literally...

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Mister Natural - Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:08 am

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all I can think of right now is a certain Rolling Stone's song . . .

:=)

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folderol - Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:27 am

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Hmmm. Foot-tapper time I think.

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evo2slo - Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:40 am

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Happiest song ever?

Here's my vote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ

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D.H. Miltz - Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:01 am

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That'll be up to the voters (and/or: yes, but I can't prove it).

Also, here are two versions of a good, happy song (the album version and a live radio version):
http://youtu.be/mCk7gb7b2MA
http://youtu.be/EyBbTe7Kn7k

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farlukar - Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:16 am

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I hate happiness.


As pHz would have it, "thinly veiled free-for-all"

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JJBiener - Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:19 am

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The last contest wasn't much of a challenge for me since I have been through composing music for years. This one, however, may well be impossible for me. I am not noted for writing happy songs. I am going to have to think long and hard to come up with piece of music that represents happiness. That one is just not in my colorwheel.

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rachmiel - Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:47 pm

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maybe you need to find a take on "happiness" that resonates with you? there can be silly, whimsical, witty, light, dark, black-as-night humor. surely there are just as many flavors of happiness, yes?

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kryptonaut - Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:45 am

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I can't find a reference to it online, but I remember a nice quote from the original Reginald Perrin series where gloomy Tom says, "I'm not a happiness person. I'm only happy when I'm sad." Always liked that one!

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Beardedone - Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:25 am

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Good one!

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rp314 - Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:57 pm

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Having participated in many conversations over the years regarding what music 'expresses', somewhere along the way I've concluded that some of us have trouble classifying our own stuff along such lines.

Having a sense of what constitutes the expression of happiness, say in liturgical music, or in the popular forms, is within reach, but setting out to do it in a creative effort is more difficult, especially if one does not consider one's skills to lie in the traditional forms.

That said, as others are suggesting, that might just be the interesting challenge here...

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folderol - Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:38 pm

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I'm out this month

It occurred to me that I'll be leaving for a week's holiday a few hours before voting would start!

See you in March (from a competition point of view)

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robojam - Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:05 pm

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Next month we should have extreme depression and unhappiness as a theme.

'Happy' is not my thing musically...

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Wopelka - Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:47 pm

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yes, challenging. I think it's way easier to make dark ambient textures, experimental sessions or agressive grooves among many others than a simple, gentle, uplifting, yet interesting, song. In other words, Mozart's art is beyond reach, for most of us (not that I ever ambitioned such an achievement). Even if his works may sound "easy" sometimes, the contrary is true.

I bet we'll have a lot of parodies or twisted interpretation of the theme, this month. My entry included, if I keep failing to find a way to start.

I really like it.

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rachmiel - Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:46 am

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easy for most people to write that kind of music, no. easy for mozart to write that kind of music ... yes. for him it was as easy as breathing afaik. :-)

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farlukar - Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:03 am

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I see covers aren't forbidden this month...
YAY cop-out!

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robojam - Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:44 pm

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robojam - Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:53 am

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Ah well, I cracked and posted something

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pljones - Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:47 am

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OK, so the click was set to 110bpm. Reaper, though, was set to 120bpm. Sadness follows whilst trying to figure out why I could not align anything! Anyway, it didn't matter for this but I figured out how to fix it: convert from MIDI to Text (MIDI2MTX), edit the clicks per quarter note from 960 to 850, convert from Text to MIDI (MTX2MIDI). (I'm not sure why 850. My maths says it should be 880 but that didn't seem to work as well... I might try it again as I was having "some issues"...)
Hey, robojam... "3:05"... It's a very different something from mine but just as "something". Nice chimes .

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robojam - Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:19 am

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Really? Ah f**k...I put a fade out at the end too and it showed as 2:58 in Audacity.

So my next question is to D.H. Miltz - can I edit a few seconds more of fade into it and resubmit?

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D.H. Miltz - Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:53 am

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Yes.

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pljones - Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:01 am

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I've had MP3 encoding do slightly weird things to timing occasionally. I double-check in {insert media player of choice here} just to be sure.

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robojam - Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:12 pm

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Thanks - no other edits, just refaded the end so it's now 2:59.

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D.H. Miltz - Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:44 am

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I got my decoder ring. Thanks, Ben (and thanks to Meffy for all the help with the moderator stuff up to now).

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GMoneh - Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:40 pm

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Cool, congrats...

Beware of the boot now!

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D.H. Miltz - Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:08 pm

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Thanks, GMoneh.

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mellotronaut - Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:49 am

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after 2 months there was a wonder: a technician called, came and solved all the cable mess, his company had made, within two hours. back in da virtual world finally.

melloveryhappy

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Beardedone - Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:28 pm

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Hey Guys! I finally managed to submit a track this month.

Cheers,
Gordon

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pljones - Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:50 am

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It does look like a bit of a challenge. Hopefully there will be a mad rush at the end. Actually, cancel that...

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robojam - Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:11 am

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Yep, definitely a challenge!

Maybe KVR isn't the best place to find people who find it easy to provide 'happy' output...

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Laguna Rising - Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:34 am

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mellotronaut - Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:24 am

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some thoughts

pljones

steam engine with occasional whistle blows: pioneers discovering new territory: happy buggers! positive vibes.

robojam

slowly evolving: different steam engine and different whistle: joyful and serene ascending. evocative and mellikes.

Patrick9

80's meet late 50's sweaty hands and instant happy soup in the cellar of a confetty fat house. unbearably funny and i like it.

Beardedone

chords, groove and jam: delicious guitar tone. everything fits well together. bass could be more prominent. happy jazzcream and i like it too.

evo2slo

happy verby eightinest. very catchy and groovy. great vox and instrumental arrangement and this lovely teletone. in love.

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D.H. Miltz - Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:29 am

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Hey, mello!

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mellotronaut - Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:19 am

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Hi Dan!

the Miltz police never sleeps

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pljones - Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:53 am

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Thank you

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evo2slo - Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:50 am

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Thanks for the review mello!
Hope you're able to bring us some of your own happy sounds this month.

I've really enjoyed listening to the other entries so far. Philadelphia February's can get pretty dreary and I can use all the cheeriness I can get.

pljones' impregnating drums, robojam's evocative soundscapes, Beardedone's inspiring guitar, and Patrick9's absolutely crazy and infectious happy riffs have all brought big smiles to my face!

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robojam - Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:17 pm

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My thoughts so far:

pljones - The fast tempo is definitely happy. Interesting evolution of sounds.

Patrick9 - Made me smile. Very cheeky and humorous.

Beardedone - That's some jazzy guitar playing there sir.

evo2slo - Catchy grooves and a happy vibe.

Laguna Rising - very proggy. Made me smile at quite a few points.

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Beardedone - Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:33 pm

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Wow! Thanks for the kind words, guys!

Cheers,
Gordon

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Laguna Rising - Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:07 am

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Cool, Thanks !

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farlukar - Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:37 pm

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Hey, I'm working on it!

Just not very hard.

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peppy197 - Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:13 pm

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While composing the HAPPIEST song in the world, I found a likely competitor

Listen to this one its HAPPY
And it is of no wonder that I have never heard of these great musicians before...Sounds like my brother's first band in 1965
dah

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farlukar - Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:09 am

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I beg to differ

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offthewall - Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:11 am

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Just recently I had a go at making a video of a song. On showing it to my daughter she made the observation that, when listing the instruments used for the song this gives the viewer that extra insight as to what each instrument is and what sound each contributes to the mix.

So ... here is a video of my current entry ... just for fun

http://youtu.be/udnU4TXb630


James

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evo2slo - Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:17 am

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Thanks for sharing that! Super song, and it really is great seeing those BEAUTIFUL instruments in action. I want an acoustic bass like that so bad!

I'm digging that drummer's style.

That song needs to be accompanied with a three foot bong to be properly appreciated.

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offthewall - Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:45 am

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Thanks for the comments.


Strange beast, that one. You won't see another.
I picked it up a few years back from a local flea-market, for almost no money.
It's a home made job and was unfinished. I had to make a bridge for it. The fret slots had been cut but no fret-wire inserted. I weighed up what to do and decided to just leave it as fretless. Best decision all round

Here's a better look at it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/offthewall/guit003.jpg


James

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evo2slo - Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:30 am

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What a find. It's got so much character. Great job with the bridge, it kind of looks like a dapper mustache!

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Patrick9 - Thu Feb 16, 2012 1:52 pm

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I Love the video James - keep em coming.

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offthewall - Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:03 pm

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Yes, Pat .....

but you remember me from more than 40 years ago

Those were the days, mate ..... didn't need to wear the hat back then

Thanks for looking.


James

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Patrick9 - Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:40 pm

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Those were the days my friend...

It looks like you've still got the same fine head of hair - just grown through the top a bit.

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Mister Natural - Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:32 pm

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think that I have my submission sorted correctly this month . . .

thanks to Ronin

peace

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kryptonaut - Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:27 am

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To Mister Natural (and anyone else using SoundCloud for this contest):

To make a nice downloadable and playable link to a soundcloud track, you can follow these steps:

If the file is an entry to the Music Cafe contest then you need to name it correctly on your PC before uploading to soundcloud - for example '1202_mister-natural_fridays.mp3' - otherwise when people download it it will not have the correct filename, no matter what you put in the soundcloud permalink.

In soundcloud, make sure your track is flagged as downloadable (sign in to soundcloud, visit your track, and click the 'pencil' icon to edit the settings. There is a big box near the bottom of this screen allowing you to enable/disable downloads)

In the same soundcloud editing screen you can change the title that will be displayed in soundcloud as well as the 'permalink' - for this contest you need to change the permalink to reflect the required file naming scheme - for example: 1202-mister-natural-fridays - then click the 'save' button.

The soundcloud download URL for such a file takes the form:
http://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/1202-mister-natural-fridays/download
If you include this URL in your post, people can click on it to download your file, but it won't display as a playable file in the forum. You can achieve this by appending '?trackname.mp3' to the URL - this extra text is ignored by soundcloud but indicates to the forum that the link resolves to an MP3 file.
http://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/1202-mister-natural-fridays/download?friday.mp3

To provide a more readable text for your link in the forum posting, use the '[url]' BBCode (without spaces):

[ url=http://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/1202-mister-natural-fridays/download?fridays.mp3]Fridays[/url]

Which displays as:
Fridays

You can further enhance this by changing the font size, colour, etc. of the text between the ']' and '[' characters, thus (again, without the spaces):

[ url=http://soundcloud.com/mrnatural-1/1202-mister-natural-fridays/download?fridays.mp3][ color=cyan][ size=20]Fridays[/size][/color][/url]

Which displays as:
Fridays

Now you can right-click the link to download the track, or click the play button to hear it directly.

I'm pretty sure this scheme works well, if anyone knows otherwise or has other suggestions then please let me know!

Note that a free soundcloud account limits you to 100 downloads per track - so far I have not hit this limit during the voting phase of a Music Cafe contest but it has come close!

[edited to include info on setting local filename before uploading]

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Mister Natural - Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:49 am

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thanks for the great tutorial

peace

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gorgorgathgorgorgor - Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:24 pm

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Thanks for this, I'll go edit my sub now...

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Doc Jon - Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:09 pm

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Poised to make my first ever Music Cafe submission, should be ready very soon

Big thanks to Kryptonaut for the Soundcloud tutorial, excellent stuff!

Jon

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knockman - Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:33 pm

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I've made a track, but somehow between starting and finishing, it lost much of its happiness quotient.

The lyrics include the word 'happy' on multiple occasions and I was very happy while making it so perhaps I could still submit? - but I'm thinking it doesn't really conform to the prescribed theme.

Very difficult to write happy music - miserable, annoying, daft or bent I can do.

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D.H. Miltz - Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:33 pm

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Yep. I seem to have stumped myself. I've got nothing.

As for your entry, I'd say if you've got something done, might as well submit it.

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kryptonaut - Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:59 am

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I think voting is going to be difficult too, trying to decide how well a piece of music expresses 'happiness' regardless of whether it mentions happy things in the lyrics. It's a pretty subjective thing! But that's what makes the contest interesting

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rachmiel - Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:32 am

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"Happiness is in the brain of the perceiver." - Doktor Kristian Engel-Güdbrandsdalen

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Laguna Rising - Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:51 am

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Oh, I see. I think I know your style in music, and I can understand the dark side of it, and it could sound "unhappy"
But I like all these different "colours" in the contest !
Go ahead.

Cheers

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Laguna Rising - Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:55 am

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Well, of course, it depends on too many variable things...

it can't be objective

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mrblitz - Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:11 am

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I did something for the contest theme, but it turns out it's too long: So Happy Ogg Vorbis

...featuring Bill Ray on drums...

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Emerald Tablet - Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:59 am

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What are the odds
Smile with the gods
This cosmic way
Is a comic play
The atomic way
Is a comic play
Happy, happy, happy
Is a state of mind

AND YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT

mine is up folks.
a bit of sadness and a bit of hope spells happy

HUG

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Mister Natural - Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:29 pm

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cool poetry, Rennie

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rp314 - Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:48 pm

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As with other characterizations of music, it's also "cultural", no? And maybe "happy music" is more cultural than the descriptions people tend to have of the other kinds.

However,in looking at established works the distinctions can be thought of as being certainly more than just personal ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtRombx5DM

I think most listeners would agree that that's clearly not one of Gustav's somber works.

None of this makes the notion of composing "happy" music any easier, of course.

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Mister Natural - Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:50 pm

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happy is, as happy does

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D.H. Miltz - Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:14 am

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Okay, submission thread is locked and voting thread is up.

Next month's theme: Hypnotic.

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rachmiel - Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:37 am

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cool. you're coming up with fun/challenging themes. :-)

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pljones - Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:57 pm

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First, thanks to D.H. Miltz for going with the theme this month: the tunes have been almost without exception great to listen to.

Second, I'll take this opportunity to say thanks to Emerald Tablet for the HM... if I could drum that fast... (I can do 160 pretty well now; 240... ugh... )

And now, one line comments. These are the gut reaction thoughts on listening to everything.

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beanpole: good tune (could have been more original); length was perfect. A good try.

Beardedone: mmm, dusky warm summer evening somewhere, nice drink... yes. That's what I was after Could maybe have done with more "tune" and less "noodling" but the guitar tone is good, so it's allowed .

D.H. Miltz: Sounds fun with happiness going on but... does it express it or merely record it? Hm...

Doc Jon: Hm. (Sorry, no connection here.)

Emerald Tablet: a very nice piece of music but didn't quite do the "happiness" for me.

evo2slo: MASSIVE. The house is shaking. Great production, good tune and structure. I can see the idea of happiness here... could be stronger, though.

GMoneh: More authentic-sounding than Beardedone yet somehow lacking the deep warmth.

gorgorgathgorgorgor: a bit bouncy but somewhat slow, not keen on the instruments but the vocal is great (as are the lyrics). (Sometimes there's just a hook that gets you, okay? )

jackoo: The theme is coherent though I'd have preferred something more complex, this feels a little sterile to me.

knockman: okay, "about" but not "embodying", really...

kryptonaut: MMmmmmm... yes, this is a good way to burn off the cold and get things fired up.

LagunaRising: Not keen on tune or instrumentation; didn't "get" happy.

Mister Natural: I waited patiently but it didn't take to the air. "W'uh?"

nikp2000: Oh, stylish opening... Not sure about the brass but the guitar arrangement is sublime. TOO SHORT!

offthewall: I really like this piece, nicely put together and really conveys happiness (subject not withstanding).

Patrick9: bouncy castle, fun and good music too. Good use of time.

Peterhud: more bouncy music; funny rather than happy, perhaps.

rachMiel: mmmmm, yes - a different perspective. Enjoyable.

robojam: serenity, could have been a bit shorter, maybe. I didn't really get "happiness" as such.

shrikant: this is the inner beat of a happy soul, hard at work - very nice. Ends a bit suddenly (but I'll not mark that down).

Wopelka: shame about the vocals (sorry). Shameful fade out! But some good stuff in there, too.

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Emerald Tablet - Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:13 pm

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Thanks For listening and your feedback!

I was expecting the jolly cartoonish uptempo stuff
To me the one who really understands happy is more than frivolous stuff is
robojam. Im also expecting most contestents to judge my song unhappy but to me that realy speaks of partly boxed in minds Not that thats in any way bad but its just an observation. I could be wrong

after doing 3 overly happy things i ended throwing them in the bin
too much sensationalism and cliche and ended up doing a song with the feeling of slowly waking up on a day in spring. I could have easily done an even more melancholic thing. To me those can also feel really happy.

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D.H. Miltz - Sat Feb 25, 2012 6:21 pm

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Credit for this one, if it goes well, goes to Laguna Rising; of course, blame, if it doesn't go well, should be mine.

Also: Thanks for the comments, pljones and Emerald Tablet.

edited to add a comma.

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shrikant - Sat Feb 25, 2012 9:05 pm

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Thanks for listening and reviewing. I was in a hurry to catch the deadline and did not notice the tail getting cut abruptly. I had planned to do it with a longer tail.It has cut sharply on rendering.

Noticed this only after submission.

Thanks.

Edit:
mrblitz000,pljones, Thanks for the votes

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pljones - Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:20 am

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The "problem" (in the context of the compo) with this, for me (!! ), was that I felt I could have been standing high on a hill overlooking the complete destruction of civilization, tears streaming down my face, and this would still have fit. So I had to question whether it really had happiness inside...

I'm with you on the bouncy castle stuff, though: that's not innately happy, either.

But I think voting this month is going to really bring out people differences as much as the composition side did.

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Laguna Rising - Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:14 am

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Cheers

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pljones - Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:47 am

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Quick note: SoundCloud warned I was reaching my limit on downloads, so I've hurriedly shuffled things around. It appears to have worked... (I have one with 92 downloads and another with just one (me testing)).

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Patrick9 - Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:43 am

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Bouncy Castle - Yay! - that's what tiggers do best.

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evo2slo - Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:50 am

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Funny though how perfectly Loius Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" would fit that scenario... arguably the happiest song ever written!
(there was some war movie that did that, but I can't remember which one...)

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farlukar - Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:15 am

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I've been practicing on a cover, but I didn't get around to recording it. Sorries.

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IrionDaRonin - Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:57 am

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Hi guys, just having a pleasant listening of the tracks right now to make my votes in a couple of days.

Other than that, i didn't read this whole thread yet, so any news about which will be the next theme?

Have a good day

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Laguna Rising - Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:20 am

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IrionDaRonin - Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:56 am

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Wow, nice theme!
Thanks for the heads up.

Have a good day

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gorgorgathgorgorgor - Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:41 pm

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I certainly hope mine would have fit...

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D.H. Miltz - Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:35 pm

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I just spotted this:


It's not. But I don't know what to do about it this far into things. DQ?

On the one hand, I probably should have seen it sooner (if I had I could have asked for a resubmission); on the other, folks should know better, not just for the contest but for the whole site.

I have to think about this.

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evo2slo - Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:13 pm

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Stevie Wonder's early records date back about 50 years, and recording copyrights last about 50 years... seems alright to me.

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D.H. Miltz - Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:34 pm

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That I think this is a lousy law is, I'm sorry to say, not relevant.

As far as I can tell, even one-shots, if uncleared, are illegal. Which means using them is in violation of KVR policy. Which means the entry shouldn't be on the site, hence not in the contest.

I'm not seeing a way around it. If someone can show me I'm wrong on the law I'll happily leave the entry in.

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evo2slo - Sun Feb 26, 2012 10:47 pm

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I guess the question is whether the CTEA applies to both compositional copyright as well as sound recording copyright, or just the former. The use of the word 'authorship' seems to imply compositional. I know in Europe they voted in September to extend sound recording copyright from 50 to 70 years, but that doesn't become law until 2014.
Not much info on Wikipedia concerning sound recording copyrights specifically.
Very confusing.

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D.H. Miltz - Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:09 pm

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_copyright_law#Duration_of_copyright

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Emerald Tablet - Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:30 am

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no kidding? one has to clear oneshots? thats what the law says?
Oh how happy i am that i recleamed dominion.

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D.H. Miltz - Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:09 am

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As far as I can tell, yes.

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D.H. Miltz - Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:04 am

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I have, with regret, disqualified gorgorgathgorgorgor's entry, by the following logic:

1. The Stevie Wonder samples used, even if only one-shots, aren't legal.
2. They thus violate the KVR rules, and so the song can't be here.
3. If the song can't be here, it can't very well be in the contest.

I'll note that what's illegal and what's wrong don't always coincide for me, and that I have no ill will toward gorgorgathgorgorgor and I hope he'll keep entering the contest, and that I'm sorry it came to this.

In a minute I'll PM those who voted for "Happiness" to tell them they can revote if they wish.

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evo2slo - Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:16 am

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Not trying to be difficult, but it still seems like there is a little grey area here. Sound recording copyrights from 1972 or earlier are subject to state or common law. Do we know what the state law is in Texas? And if the state law in Texas is such that there is violation, couldn't Gorgorgathgorgorgor's master recording be given to someone in a European country to host - thereby not violating copyright so long as the Stevie Wonder sample used is from 50 years ago?

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pljones - Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:22 am

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Can someone phone Stevie and ask him?

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GMoneh - Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:01 am

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That's regrettable, as this one was one of my top selections for voting this month.

I understand your logic, and support your decision (we don't want to go through the controversy that almost left us without a contest again, do we?). You have to enforce the rules, and that job can sometimes be a bitch.

However, it's such a shame that this wasn't caught earlier when there was chance of a fix, that I wanted to suggest an exception be made for gorgorgathgorgorgor to submit a new version if he so wishes replacing his sampled one shot drums for some other more acceptable drum samples. Frankly, the drums are not even the star of his track: the bass and vocal performances and the clavinet sound are, and those are perfectly legal. He might want to replace the drums for another sound and the track might sound the same ...

I know this might set down a bad precedent, so this suggestion might not fly. I just wanted to put it out there that I at least would be ok if such one time chance was given...


G.

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Wopelka - Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:21 am

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+10000



now that D.H. Miltz addressed the question, I think we just have to welcome his decision once for all. It's already such a mess, with all the revoting thing.

I agree that it's a shame that this wasn't caught earlier, but gorgorgathgorgorgor could have asked before submitting.

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Wopelka - Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:42 am

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thanks for listening and reviewing. Yeah, the fade-out is not my usual trick, but I was in a rush to finish this song in time according to my own schedule.

May I ask why the vocals didn't work for you? (don't be afraid to hurt me) - my german pronunciation, the technical quality of singing, the flow, the timbre of voice, the mixing, all of the latters or other things?

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GMoneh - Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:57 am

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You are right, of course... I apologize to D.H. Miltz for second guessing a decision that must not have come lightly...

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pljones - Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:15 am

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It was more that it didn't gel too well for me with the music. Possibly the production side was keeping some separation but it sounded like the tune and words were very separate entities. As I didn't understand (due to language) the words, they were "in the way" of the (very nice) music. Technically, the timbre was fine and (allowing for the disconnect), the flow overall seemed okay. I can't comment on the pronunciation (I'd have guessed the language was Dutch if asked, though, I think -- but I'm a dreadful judge of these things in general).

However - having vocals at all always adds to a song, so I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much with them stripped entirely.

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gorgorgathgorgorgor - Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:25 am

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This sucks, Would have been nice to know, as I had plenty of time to fix it if I knew there was a problem (that is after all why I disclosed it). I am Officially declaring myself the Winner of the Happiest song contest!

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