April Contest: GOSSIP

[Arglebargle]

Cheers to oursvince, slartibartfast and all others who've taken the time to review. (And extra thanks to slarty for not using the Cher effect as threatened. )

That's the second or third comment about string noise. Is it just in this instance, or do people object to string noise in general?

I've always seen string noise as a natural part of the acoustic guitar's character, like freckles on a face. Even listening to the track with these comments in mind, I can't really make my ears object to it. But if it's a significant distraction for others, I might look into different mic-ing. Or becoming a less sloppy player.

I love the string noise of an acoustic guitar. It's definitely part of the package. I'd rather hear string noise than not. Obviously, not sloppy nooby string noise, but you get what I'm saying.

[Arglebargle]

Alchemystic - Soaring
A truly impressive track. Wonderfully reminiscent of those symphonic prog rock pieces. I love the changes throughout. The introduction of the guitars give this track a nice, harder edge. I want to hear the longer version of this, please!

Wow, thanks! And thanks for the #1 vote too.

I would DEFINITELY like to do a longer version of this! I feel this 2 min version is really fragmented and stuff... but I guess it works cuz it's prog rock.

[oursvince]

thanks slartibartfast for the vote on forest!

[Unfocused]

# slartibartfast -I'm Feeling Odd (Yes? No!) what a surprise! I enjoy this one, like Offspring meets mickey mouse, a mention especially to the drums & synth break (looks like the old good times of the Doors!)

Glad you liked it, Vince - although my intention (originally) was to try and make it sound rather more like Yes. Anyone counted the number of references to Yes song titles in the lyrics?

I think you sound more like Fred Frith in one of his "pop" moods.


-u

[choochcat]

chooch - u bahn
Swat that fly! This is an interestingly irritating track. Somehow it makes me feel uncomfortable and puts me on edge. If this was the intention - well done!

Thanks for the review. Intention was to make something that sounded like the inside of my head midway through a slightly disturbing dream about dead people and East Germany. If that makes sense

[Watto]

Part 2 of 5

Watto - Lie to You
What a wonderful voice you have - and it is used to great effect on this track. The percussion provides great counterpoint and interest. I only wish this track could have been longer. I'd like to hear the original of this - it would be hard to imagine it being any better. Shortlisted.

G'day mate,

Thanks for your review! I'll probably expand on this track at some point, when I have time!

For what it's worth, there was no original of this - I made this up for the contest. The only bits which already existed were the basses - there are three bass parts (no guitar), and that saved me a lot of time, having those ideas already down. The rest I did in a real rush, so took quite a few shortcuts (used a tweaked Stylus loop, chucked a compressor preset onto it etc), but I wrote the lyrics and melody etc on the fly. It literally took me about half an hour to compile, which probably sounds like boasting, but once I'm on a roll, I AM pretty quick. They're all first take vocals, which means they could have been better, but they were good enough considering I didn't have time to sing them again!

Thanks for your comments!

Watto

[1-2-Many]

That's the second or third comment about string noise. Is it just in this instance, or do people object to string noise in general?

I've always seen string noise as a natural part of the acoustic guitar's character, like freckles on a face. Even listening to the track with these comments in mind, I can't really make my ears object to it. But if it's a significant distraction for others, I might look into different mic-ing. Or becoming a less sloppy player.

Guilty

Sorry, I really liked your track and I too think string noise adds an authentic factor. It was just so loud that every time it happened it caused a slight distraction - maybe your eq'ing?

[Watto]

So here are my comments on every song, like i said on the vote page, that was an excellent contest, and it was very difficult for me making a choice, so here we go:

# Watto - Lie to You : Very beautiful voice and nice melody, you like radiohead? me too!

Best compliment yet!!! Thank you very much!

I LOVE Radiohead, and bizarrely enough, was inspired to make this Radiohead-ish after hearing the bass parts working, but I didn't think I actually succeeded, so cheers!

(Sorry guys, just going backwards through the reviews!)

[Watto]

Hey Watto!
I have to say that I am so impressed. I checked out a few of your tunes on simonwatson.com and the vocals and piano work on Hallelujah were completely amazing. Great voice. Very polished and heartfelt.

Nice work, I really enjoyed it.

Thanks, dude! (It's .com.au by the way)

[slartibartfast]

Cheers to oursvince, slartibartfast and all others who've taken the time to review. (And extra thanks to slarty for not using the Cher effect as threatened. )

There is always next month (which is already this month in this part of the world) Maybe this month's theme should be "Cher"

That's the second or third comment about string noise. Is it just in this instance, or do people object to string noise in general?

I agree that some string noise is an essential part of making an acoustic guitar sound natural. For me, in this track, it seemed overly intrusive, for some reason, and made it harder to distinguish the lyrics. Not sure if it was the mic-ing, or just where the string noise occurred in the track. It certainly hasn't been a problem for me in any of your other, similarly instrumented, tracks - just this one.

[Maniah]

Former Pharoah - Feaster Bunny
You have very successfully captured the thrash metal sound here, and the sense of humour shines through. Definitely kiddie nightmare material.

Thank you! Actually, i am very much into death metal/thrash/grindcore music. I've been in a couple bands that played this sort of stuff (that never went anywhere thanks to flakey members). I admit, now when i listen to this stuff, i tend to laugh at some of it because of how they take themsleves so serious and make prominence their "Dark", "Evil", "Satanic" lifestyles.
So of course, i just have to make fun of it

[rockstar_not]

rockstar_not - one point se7en five jam
This seems as though you weren't quite at home with the time signature - the groove seems a little rigid and unnatural. This is reflected in the lead guitar also, which otherwise has a lovely lingering tone.

You nailed it exactly. This is the first time I have ever played anything in 7/4 time so it definitely seemed like a foreign land to me - trying to figure out where the bathroom is, what to eat, where to hang out, etc.

The 'groove' was really kind of accidental. After I submitted the track here and for review at another site, I got some hints about how to count out 7/4 that would have made a little more locked in. The tip given to me was to count it out 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, rather than the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 I was counting in. Next time I guess. I did promise Markleford in my voting post that I would try more 7/4. It also was pointed out to me that I didn't put very much in off the 1/4 note beats, which was also true and due to lack of confidence in the signature (and perhaps that I did the whole thing in about 3 hours of fiddling).

Guitar tone was courtesy of my Fat Strat, Amplitube LE and Big Tick Dual Delay.

Thanks for taking the time to review it. Probably one of the best constructive criticisms I've had in awhile.

-Scott

[rockstar_not]

Cheers to oursvince, slartibartfast and all others who've taken the time to review. (And extra thanks to slarty for not using the Cher effect as threatened. )

That's the second or third comment about string noise. Is it just in this instance, or do people object to string noise in general?

I've always seen string noise as a natural part of the acoustic guitar's character, like freckles on a face. Even listening to the track with these comments in mind, I can't really make my ears object to it. But if it's a significant distraction for others, I might look into different mic-ing. Or becoming a less sloppy player.

I have to admit, I never even noticed. I just noticed that you made a beautiful song that didn't really even sound odd-timing; but very natural.

I don't like excessive string squeak, but I also feel a song sounds a little sterile without it, or if the player seems to work too hard to prevent it.

-Scott

[petrudamsa]

Thanks to everybody that had the patience to listen my track.
Big thanks to the ones who find some time to review my track.
Even bigger thanks for those who put my track in their top 10:
Patrick9(first place! . I'm pleasantly surprised!)
Max el Belga, Algodon, Yuskevich, slatibarfast, goldbacker.
Thanks also to those who considered a HM for the track.

This (April) month I was remarked in the gossip thread by absence. I wasn't home most of the time and I just found a bit of space to listen and decide my voting. I appologize for that. Hope in May I'll do better.

Regards, Petrudamsa

[Guitarjeff]

Part 3 of 5


Guitar Jeff - Sing for the Day
The choice of time signature is a little "easier" than those that others have attempted, but this is a fantastically well put together track. Great vocals, great groove, great mix. Great track.

Thanks man!

Yes it's not an extremely difficult meter, I agree. I didn't have much time during April, so I opted for a fairly easy cover rather than sitting it out. (it's an addiction, these contests)

The only difficult thing in the song for me was the singing and getting the mix to sound decent.

As 1-2 many alluded to in the voting thread, the backwards reverb at the end isn't really working very well. I was in a hurry to find an ending that would be more impressive than a fade but should have tried something else I think.

Anyway, thanks for the words and for taking the time to do reviews.

I liked your track a lot!!


Cheers,


Jeff