KVR Audio

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:24 pm

donkey tugger wrote:
wagtunes wrote:Hi Victor:

I'm actually considering entering this contest (will be my first one). I am a little fuzzy on the tagging section of the rules. Do you mean the MP3 itself has to be tagged in the details section? I'm not sure there are even enough fields to do that.

A clarification on tagging for us first timers would really be helpful. An example would be even better.

Oh, one other thing. When you say must be created with audio plugins or software studio, are those the actual names of the software? Because I don't own any of them. I use Cubase 7 and various VSTs.
The tagging is just so the name and artist comes up on playlists etc. I do it in audacity when exporting like so....

tag.JPG
But there are loads of programs (free) where you can amend mp3 tags afterwards. I'm sure others will recommend the good ones.

I think you're taking the other bit a bit literally! It's just a list of stuff you used, like in the previous contest here;

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 4&t=500847

Oh, so the other stuff I can just list in the thread itself when I post my submission.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:32 pm

I'm really happy about the collaboration between the KVR Audio MCSC (Music Cafe Songwriting Competition) and the Mix Challenge SWC (Songwriting Competition).

To those that are currently a bit confused as to what is going on:
The Mix Challenge (the actual "mixing challenge") started out in 2014 on KVR Audio in Production Techniques. It moved to a dedicated place in 2017, and got expanded throughout the second half of 2017 with a Songwriting Competition, a Mastering Challenge and a Remix Challenge.

You can find the Mix Challenge community here:
http://www.mix-challenge.com

Victor and I decided to "pick up the pace" a bit, try to connect our communities and do a collaboration in hope to boost the participation amount. Maybe even for a couple of months. So as mentioned in the official submission thread: one entry, two challenges, twice the fun.

A summary of SWC's rules:

You can find the detailed version via the navbar of the Mix Challenge page, and also via the corresponding sub-forum. But they're basically the same as the KVR Audio MCSC...

create anything according to the given theme and genre
use whatever tools you have at your disposal
submit within the given time limit (important: deadline on mix-challenge.com is the 24th and not the 28th!), production must be directly accessible
properly tag/document what tools you used
voting system is "top 10 submissions", however the twist on mix-challenge.com is to give feedback to these top 10 entries as well, else your entry will be disqualified

If you got questions, please let me know and I try to answer ASAP

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 6:00 pm

wagtunes wrote:
donkey tugger wrote:
wagtunes wrote:Hi Victor:

I'm actually considering entering this contest (will be my first one). I am a little fuzzy on the tagging section of the rules. Do you mean the MP3 itself has to be tagged in the details section? I'm not sure there are even enough fields to do that.

A clarification on tagging for us first timers would really be helpful. An example would be even better.

Oh, one other thing. When you say must be created with audio plugins or software studio, are those the actual names of the software? Because I don't own any of them. I use Cubase 7 and various VSTs.
The tagging is just so the name and artist comes up on playlists etc. I do it in audacity when exporting like so....

tag.JPG
But there are loads of programs (free) where you can amend mp3 tags afterwards. I'm sure others will recommend the good ones.

I think you're taking the other bit a bit literally! It's just a list of stuff you used, like in the previous contest here;

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 4&t=500847
Oh, so the other stuff I can just list in the thread itself when I post my submission.

Aye, I'd just include the main ones - unless an effect is unusual or is a major part of the track most people just list the instruments, real and virtual.

rp314 · Post by **rp314** » Fri Apr 06, 2018 9:20 pm

From what I can recall regarding the times I took part in this fine KVR tradition the Music Cafe contest tends to be more about trying to faithfully list the challenges and rather modest abilities involved in one's entry...

folderol · Post by **folderol** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 8:28 pm

Well, well. There is just a remote possibility I might be able to come up with something this month

Tbase2000 · Post by **Tbase2000** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:34 am

I see a familiar fox and donkey in here. Looks like a good challenge. How you been foxxy? See if I can't put something together to make it interesting. Cheers.

Tbase2000 · Post by **Tbase2000** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 am

You putting up a song Fox? Love to hear what you have and how you mix it. I've missed ya.

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:23 pm

Tbase2000 wrote:fox and donkey.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever been in a pub called that. Probably have.

Tbase2000 · Post by **Tbase2000** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:06 pm

I'm sure it was a compliment.

edit...been called that is how I misread. Sounds like a Tijuana Mexico pub.

folderol · Post by **folderol** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:32 pm

I is in

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:34 pm

feeling inspired today - I might jump in

- quick Q? : izzere a score minute limit in either of these contest threads ?

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:30 am

Just a friendly reminder:

1) Remember: you can submit your entry to both KVR Audio and mix-challenge.com
2) Deadline on Mix Challenge - 24th April 2018 (9 days left to submit your production)
3) Deadline on KVR Audio - early 27th April 2018 (12 days left to submit your production)

So don't be shy, hop over to the other place as well, and maybe even have a chance to score a free license.

Submissions so far:

KVR Audio:
- wagtunes
- donkey tugger
- folderol
- Mister Natural

Mix Challenge (SWC):
- donkey tugger
- Mister Natural

Mister Natural wrote:- quick Q? : izzere a score minute limit in either of these contest threads ?

In case of the Mix Challenge community, it is recommended to shoot for something in-between 3-6min of run time. Production shouldn't be shorter than 1:30min, and shall ideally(!) not exceed 10minutes

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:29 am

Just a friendly reminder:

1) Remember: you can submit your entry to both KVR Audio and mix-challenge.com
2) Deadline on Mix Challenge - 24th April 2018 (2 days left to submit your production)
3) Deadline on KVR Audio - early 27th April 2018 (5 days left to submit your production)

So don't be shy, hop over to the other place as well, and maybe even have a chance to score a free license.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:53 pm

Okay, a question for you folks...

If DrApostropheX (Victor) is not available throughout most of the month, who is second in charge of this contest? Because the deadline over on mix-challenge.com just expired and compared to the 7+ entries on KVR, we have 2. That is even less than we had the last 2 months (which were 3 to 4 participants).

So the collaboration was not really working out, in fact it was actually damaging from my point of view, and I'd love to maybe try to find a better solution (if a further collaboration is of interest). But I can't do that, if the person in charge is only on KVR once to twice a month and therefore no active conversation is possible.

I don't want to step on anybody's turf here - the collaboration was an idea to push the participation for both of our communities. But I obviously feel left out.

What I'm trying to aim at:

Two different deadlines do not work...

In case of the Mix Challenge community, I decided to go for the 24th last year (the time I started this) so that the participant interaction is more "tight wound". Within a day, all tracks are bundled together and participants have 5 days to give feedback to each other, not to mention declare their top 10. This way the challenge starts on the 1st of the month, and ends on the 1st of the following month.

donkey tugger is a regular, he can further comment how well this works.

The rule sets are not drastically different...

In fact, they're nearly 1:1 the same, aside from two major things: 1) a tighter schedule and 2) giving feedback to each other during the voting process is mandatory. This adds to the learning process and interaction. The KVR Songwriting Competition doesn't have this. So I'd consider this a good thing. Yet apparently this is a thing to be scared off?

I PM'd pretty much all of you people, and I got "I might join, but I might not"..

Yet I only saw one person joining on the other place - which was even before me PMing everyone. I'd love to know why. Time sure isn't an issue, or is it? Is it because KVR is about 15 years older and nearly 20x bigger? Mister Natural jumped between two forums. So please fill me in as to "why" you're turned off, so that I can improve on that. Thank you.

So my main request to all participants here on KVR:

If you'd be interested in doing another collaboration (to which I'm definitely not against - the "theme" for next month is already known from my side as well), can we find a middle ground?

That being:

deadline being 24th of the month 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST (we could use the global countdown/timer I provide on mix-challenge.com)
do better visual counter promotion (in my case, I announced the collaboration on Social Media, in a Newsletter and via a special marked info block on the forum - the KVR MCSC would actually benefit from that, as this no extra work involved for promotion!)
do everything inside one thread (a multi purpose thread for Submissions and Voting) and one global gossip thread (adds to clarity in this sub-forum)

So... what do you say?

Jonny Quest · Post by **Jonny Quest** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:44 am

Compyfox wrote: So my main request to all participants here on KVR:

...

So... what do you say?

Pardon me if this has been explained before...but how was the "collaboration" supposed to occur? To me, it suggests two (or more parties) working together to create a track. Was this meant to be a collaboration or a cross-platform double-entry thing?

In the past on KVR, we did occassional collaborations for these contests. Usually, at least the ones I was involved with, there was a call for a couple of musicians working together on one single track (with the monthly theme.) For example, one person might play guitar and bass. The other might write lyrics and sing. One might put all the tracks together and mix the final entry.

We did it on a "pick your own partner basis." And back in the old days, when we had dozens of participants, it yielded some interesting results. The "problem" I see is there are simply not enough frequently participating members.

Again apologies--I am not very familiar with the Mix Challenge community as a whole, so I'm not sure exactly what your monthly challenge is fully about. Correct me if I am wrong...is it not a mixing/remixing challenge in which participants work from the same track/stems to create new mixes? and then you guys (and gals) comment on the different entrants' approaches (e.g., using delay and compression on the vocals, putting chorus on the bass, etc.)?

The concept of collaborating is intriguing but it seems a lot more planning, coordinating, organizing would be needed to pull it off. But I commend you for attempting

April Contest: Gossip