February just kind of blew by and now it's March!
I'm thinking we could go one of two ways for next month's contest. We could do the more traditional thing where we pick a theme (I was thinking "Water", since it's March and all), or we could be a bit more naked in our ambitions and try to radically increase contest participation by doing a "Shameless Self Promotion" contest, which is in line with some of the threads I see bubbling up in the forum from time to time. I'm not sure what that would look like, exactly, though.
March Contest: Gossip
-
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2095 posts since 8 Feb, 2003 from Nearish Detroit, MI
GLHF! (Gandalf Lives, Hobbits Forever!)
-
- KVRAF
- 7153 posts since 4 Apr, 2005 from here and there
I agree we need more entrants
This Contest is no longer popular as it used to be
The reasons ? I have no idea...
-
el-bo (formerly ebow) el-bo (formerly ebow) https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=208007 - KVRAF
- 16369 posts since 24 May, 2009 from A galaxy, far far away
This competition definitely takes people out of their comfort zones, so maybe that's why it is not more popular. Would be a shame for it to become more 'generic'
-
- KVRist
- 81 posts since 14 Jan, 2015
Hey Music Cafe contest peeps.
Long time music cafe contest lurker here, but my first time posting.
I've done the OSC contest a few times, but I admit I feel constrained by my inability to create yet another kick drum and snare from scratch. Looking to maybe branch out a bit..
Is this just a drop-in contest? i.e. any requirements other than KVR membership? Is there a secret handshake?
-Z
Long time music cafe contest lurker here, but my first time posting.
I've done the OSC contest a few times, but I admit I feel constrained by my inability to create yet another kick drum and snare from scratch. Looking to maybe branch out a bit..
Is this just a drop-in contest? i.e. any requirements other than KVR membership? Is there a secret handshake?
-Z
Just because it's insane doesn't mean it's a bad idea.
------------------------
Before visiting my Youtube channel or Soundcloud, make sure your affairs are in order. You just never know.
------------------------
Before visiting my Youtube channel or Soundcloud, make sure your affairs are in order. You just never know.
-
- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12628 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Nay, just pile in with any old crap, been doing it for years.zippy731 wrote: Is there a secret handshake?
-Z
I didn't enter this month due to a number of factors; had to do some actual work, also some family bizzle an ting, and before I knew it bastard February was almost gone. Was nothing to do with the theme, and I shall be listening and casting votes tonight.
I'm at a bit of a loss as to why the contest is having a bit of a lean period in terms of entries - I would have thought that with more and more people making music using computers the reverse would be the case. Perhaps the youth of today is a bit more mercenary craving prizes, than when I was young(er) back in the heady days when it started and you'd enter just for the thrill of overheating your Pentium III 550 with 3 plug-ins so you could inflict your random shite on your peers.
Anyway, enough rambling, lets see what happens this month. How about a theme of 90s indie-pop sung with a raspy smokers voice, featuring drums that are slightly too loud for the track? On second thoughts, a failure to win (as when I came 4th in my own metel contest) would be crushing in the extreme, so lets have jazz, or something.
-
el-bo (formerly ebow) el-bo (formerly ebow) https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=208007
- KVRAF
- 16369 posts since 24 May, 2009 from A galaxy, far far away
As I already hinted at, I think it really is more demanding than other contests. Writing 'to order', and outside the composer's typical genre, is a great way of developing chops, but something many might not want to bother with.donkey tugger wrote:I'm at a bit of a loss as to why the contest is having a bit of a lean period in terms of entries - I would have thought that with more and more people making music using computers the reverse would be the case. Perhaps the youth of today is a bit more mercenary craving prizes, than when I was young(er) back in the heady days when it started and you'd enter just for the thrill of overheating your Pentium III 550 with 3 plug-ins so you could inflict your random shite on your peers.zippy731 wrote: Is there a secret handshake?
-Z
I did enter a few times, a few years back. However, I wanted to concentrate more on writing music that wasn't to a 30-day deadline. The sad irony is that I have hardly written anything since (I seem to have bought a lot of plugins though
)-
- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12628 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
[quote="el-bo (formerly ebow)
The sad irony is that I have hardly written anything since (I seem to have bought a lot of plugins though )[/quote]
Always the way it seems...I've got more money now (and hence more and much much better gear) than I've ever had, but it takes me ages to knock out a tune. In my 30s I was churning about a song a week out, including some contest entries in probably about 4 hours.
The sad irony is that I have hardly written anything since (I seem to have bought a lot of plugins though
)[/quote]Always the way it seems...I've got more money now (and hence more and much much better gear) than I've ever had, but it takes me ages to knock out a tune. In my 30s I was churning about a song a week out, including some contest entries in probably about 4 hours.
-
- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12628 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Not very good at this internet lark..double post.
-
- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12628 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
-
- KVRist
- 118 posts since 11 May, 2016 from Spain
I am totally new here, so forgive me if I say anything wrong or out of place...Laguna Rising wrote:
I agree we need more entrants
This Contest is no longer popular as it used to be
The reasons ? I have no idea...
But the quality of submissions is insanely high. Everything sounds like it was written by a pro composer and mixed and mastered properly.
You guys are shitting out stuff in 30 days that's substantially higher quality than the material I slave over for months hahaha.
-
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 2095 posts since 8 Feb, 2003 from Nearish Detroit, MI
Ooh! Now there's a theme idea: "Be More Crappy". Make music that is intentionally very poor (but still listenable?).
Anyone object to the "Water" idea? I mean, if Christopher Tin can get a whole album out of it...
Anyone object to the "Water" idea? I mean, if Christopher Tin can get a whole album out of it...
GLHF! (Gandalf Lives, Hobbits Forever!)
-
- KVRist
- 81 posts since 14 Jan, 2015
Cool, thanks. I usually have a good supply of crap. I'll try to pile in this month, if life permits.donkey tugger wrote:Nay, just pile in with any old crap, been doing it for years.zippy731 wrote: Is there a secret handshake?
-Z
Just because it's insane doesn't mean it's a bad idea.
------------------------
Before visiting my Youtube channel or Soundcloud, make sure your affairs are in order. You just never know.
------------------------
Before visiting my Youtube channel or Soundcloud, make sure your affairs are in order. You just never know.
-
- KVRAF
- 1585 posts since 22 Oct, 2004 from Schmocation
One of my motivations for taking part in this competition is to lower the threshold and thereby encourage others to join in.Karmoon wrote:I am totally new here, so forgive me if I say anything wrong or out of place...Laguna Rising wrote:
I agree we need more entrants
This Contest is no longer popular as it used to be
The reasons ? I have no idea...
But the quality of submissions is insanely high. Everything sounds like it was written by a pro composer and mixed and mastered properly.
You guys are shitting out stuff in 30 days that's substantially higher quality than the material I slave over for months hahaha.
Will try to submit something this month. Focused on FAWM in February, and had to abandon that too because of the combination of a lot of work and those pesky viruses the kids keep dragging home from school.
-
- Boss Lovin' DR
- 12628 posts since 15 Mar, 2002 from the grimness of yorkshire
Water eh? It's as if he knew the ongoing saga with the landlords I've had trying to get my toilet fixed properly... 
It will flush properly and stop refilling now..but only if you have the hot tap running at the same time. 
There's me lyrics I think...
It will flush properly and stop refilling now..but only if you have the hot tap running at the same time. There's me lyrics I think...
-
- KVRian
- 799 posts since 25 Apr, 2011
Water sounds like a good theme.
For various reasons I haven't created much music for a while now, but for over 3 years I entered the Cafe contest every month. I enjoyed the challenge, and found the comments from other entrants very valuable. When Alchemy was on the prize list, that made the contest even more attractive.
I think the 3-minute limit could maybe be relaxed - I know the music has to be composed specifically for the contest but it's also good to have something worth keeping at the end of it, and I have many pieces now which are 2:58 to 3:00 long when they probably would have been better a bit longer. A 3-minute limit is maybe reasonable if there are 30-40 tracks to audition, but that doesn't seem to be the case these days
so I'd suggest a limit of 5 minutes, with no obligation to actually be that long.
Oh, and it would be good to update the Hall of Fame at the end of each contest - maybe the kudos would provide some additional motivation!
For various reasons I haven't created much music for a while now, but for over 3 years I entered the Cafe contest every month. I enjoyed the challenge, and found the comments from other entrants very valuable. When Alchemy was on the prize list, that made the contest even more attractive.
I think the 3-minute limit could maybe be relaxed - I know the music has to be composed specifically for the contest but it's also good to have something worth keeping at the end of it, and I have many pieces now which are 2:58 to 3:00 long when they probably would have been better a bit longer. A 3-minute limit is maybe reasonable if there are 30-40 tracks to audition, but that doesn't seem to be the case these days
so I'd suggest a limit of 5 minutes, with no obligation to actually be that long.Oh, and it would be good to update the Hall of Fame at the end of each contest - maybe the kudos would provide some additional motivation!
