April Contest: Gossip

[skipscada]

Thanks to all who have left comments. Some comments (about my own track and others') make me ask myself whether we are listeing to the same track, but different perspectives and perceptions is what it's all about. As for my singing, Syd Barrett seems spot on when it comes to the cavalier tuning and unconventional technique, but I feel I also have managed to develop the style further, incorporating some elements from the singing voice of that great entertainer Kermit the Frog.

[Mister Natural]

thanks to everyone for the feedback this month to myself & others. I know how much this helps me and can imagine you feel the same delight when someone points out an element/mood that either was completely intended or . . . not

:=)

wanted also to remind all readers that you don't have to be a participant in this competition to vote &/or leave comments(looking at you CompyFox). Feel free to chime in everyone

[donkey tugger]

..and here are some random comments..

Wagtunes- Drums, bass and organ have a pleasing authenticity for the genre - a bit more velocity variaition for the drums in the loud passages perhaps, but not bad at all. The guitars are..ok..but you can tell from the phrasing it's programmed, and especially in the solo more bends and vibrato if you want to convince. Love the piano/strings bit, but I think the transition needs to carry over a bit somehow. The elephant in the room is of course Vocaloid (I'm NOT re-opeing that whole debate, but it is a factor for me), it doesn't work here (whereas sometimes it can fit) so marks off from me .

Folderol - I liked the last section; the first two were a bit too 'jaunty' for me (miserable bugger). I'm assuming that, 'Yoshimi' is some kind of sinthersiser (you know how I like to keep up with these things..)? Sounds very 80s.

Mr Natural - As I said on the Mix Challenge forum, I like this, falls just on the right side of jaaath experimental for me. Love the acoustic guitar, ambivalent about the 909 stylee drums. Good production and composition.

Laguana Rising- Some great chord changes in the intro. The change - some some more of your trademark mentalist approach - sort of lounge prog rock! I shall grumble about more drums as is my wont - sufficiently loud but don't like the room type sound as it doesn't seem to sit with the rest of the mix, and that snare is a bit rattly and loud in the quieter bits - velocities probably need editing.

Tbase2000 - (I'll get to complaining about the drums shortly) Nice riffage and the usual commited vocal. I like all the individual parts, and indeed the sound effects work really well, but there's nothing to sort of connect it as a whole for me - perhpas one element is needed to glue them all together - haven' t a clue what that would be! Drum sound is nice...except the hi-hats are verry overpowering (to be fair a lot of modern metal seems to suffer from this) and I would have liked some more kick and snare power instead. Enjoyed it though!

Beanpole - This is a bit different from you! Sort of OMD like. Really good nad very nice balanced, crisp production. Love it!

Johnny Quest - Very filmic (the little two note bit did remind me of the theme from Blakes 7 though! I am that old...) and I have no problem with it being short - it has an economy of composition which is a good thing. Nice one.

Skipscada - When it started I thought you were going to launch into Summer Breeze by the Isley Brothers (which would have of course disqualified you, this being about spring...). Liking the understated nature of this (and even the drums...!) Would liked to have the vocals up just a bit, but no biggie.

Yasha - Welcome to the contest... Quite a lot going on here rhythmically, which I do like, and also the little breaks are good. It does feel more like a sketch to me than a fully realised thing (perhaps I'm programmed to expect bass etc...), which would work more with visuals than as a standalone thing. Will be interested to hear more of what you do.

[Compyfox]

wanted also to remind all readers that you don't have to be a participant in this competition to vote &/or leave comments(looking at you CompyFox). Feel free to chime in everyone

I am fully aware of this fact.

Keep in mind that there is a special rule in place on the Mix Challenge community if the participation is lower than 4, that there needs to be a balance vote (which is why I stepped in). Other than that, "outside votes" are not a thing there.


Getting feedback regardless is only fair - especially since this was a collaborative effort. Might take me a while to get to that though (currently busy with prep work for the May games)

However, I might not cast a vote - there are enough participants here on KVR to handle that. And I'm being honest with all of you - I'm not a fan of shifts in results due to "popular vote" systems.

[wagtunes]

Unless those outside the contest end up voting (I don't know how this works) I did some preliminary number crunching.



As you can see, outside of the top spot where the deviation was smallest, there was no clear hands down "this is a great track" as some of the high/lows were extreme.

What to take away from this? Taste is taste and really doesn't reflect on the overall "quality" of the music submitted. I think the only thing that everybody agreed on was that Donkey Tugger's track was one of the best. Everybody else, one vote here or there could have made a big difference in how this all turned out.

So be proud of what you all did. Not many even bothered to enter this thing, which puts you in special company to begin with.

Not sure if I'll be entering May's contest. I'll see how I feel.

Anyway, congrats to the top vote getters.

[Tbase2000]

I'm confused with your numbers WagTunes. Don't you and Yasha still need to cast your votes?

[wagtunes]

I'm confused with your numbers WagTunes. Don't you and Yasha still need to cast your votes?

We both did.

[wagtunes]

I'm confused with your numbers WagTunes. Don't you and Yasha still need to cast your votes?

Correction. Yasha hasn't. Don't know how I missed that. My votes I put in another post so the one I bookmarked is wasted space.

Okay, so we're not quite done yet.

Don't expect too much to change but who knows? This could be exciting.

[Compyfox]

What to take away from this? Taste is taste and really doesn't reflect on the overall "quality" of the music submitted. I think the only thing that everybody agreed on was that Donkey Tugger's track was one of the best. Everybody else, one vote here or there could have made a big difference in how this all turned out.

Did you take into account, that "outside people" can still shift the votes?

Else, of course it is always about taste - working on/with audio content is always subjective.

[wagtunes]

What to take away from this? Taste is taste and really doesn't reflect on the overall "quality" of the music submitted. I think the only thing that everybody agreed on was that Donkey Tugger's track was one of the best. Everybody else, one vote here or there could have made a big difference in how this all turned out.

Did you take into account, that "outside people" can still shift the votes?

Else, of course it is always about taste - working on/with audio content is always subjective.

Well, like I said, not really sure how this works. If there is some "secret" voting that we're not privy to, well, not much I can do to account for that. But this is where we are just taking into account those who voted publicly and entered the competition.

[wagtunes]

Having said that, here's where we are now that Yasha has voted.



Like I said, not much has changed.

[Nielzie]

8 bar loop. Apparently that's the most popular genre on KVR.

Hell yeah! I can do those any time of the week, I'm in!

[Tbase2000]

Response to Yasha about YouTube Samples

Female Background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1OEZisEktE&t=20s
Bird Singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsqr2RJ-bgo&t=1s
Ocean Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP7K8tf6kT8&t=178s
Bass Drop Effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf6S-uErp2M


I don't know...seemed legit. Here's where they came from although I got enough last place finishes I don't think it matters. Female Background is explicit...Warning!

[Tbase2000]

Wow...how about the size of those links! Sorry...didn't do it.

[donkey tugger]

Wow...how about the size of those links! Sorry...didn't do it.

It automatically does that with youtube links. I have no idea how to stop it. Some computer person will no doubt tell us!