KVR Audio

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:35 pm

mehum wrote:
Taron wrote:It's really tough with tracks I've already listened to, because there's a clear bias I can feel. Not to mention that I had no trouble spending time with listening to a track all the way through on one day so I knew if something awesome would still happen. One of those tracks is mehum's awesome piece which gets these massive parts after the halfway point, like a bunch of them. However, I really dig his track a heck of a lot and understand the beginning of it, but if I didn't...hmmm...

So...note to self:
- figure out what's the most exciting part of a song and put some strong foreshadowing of it into the intro (ideally in the first 10-20 seconds)
- don't listen to tracks too much before voting
- make sure mastering pushes the volume and perceived volume properly
- get ready to be stunned by awesome tracks...
(here's the note I won't need: keep it tight, but if you have one that splashes the 4min mark, keep the long version for fans and post the 4min skimmer to the contest! ) (just wrapping up those notes)

I have to clean up my rather big 5pnt list!
Thanks!

It really is easy to be biased, both with tracks you've heard before and with people you know make great tracks. I really try to be analytical and deconstructing while listening but that requires both time and effort.

I'm quite strapped for time these days, and (probably) won't make sound cloud comments with my thoughts.
My plan for rating is like this:
1. Listen through everything without thinking too much about it. Having it on in the background. This helps to just get a feel for everything and knowing what to expect.
2. Listen again and sort all tracks in "Better than average" and "Not better than average". I'll just give them in 4 and 2 points respectively. If I don't have time for next step I then at least have a vote done.
3. Any favorite tracks from the 4:s goes into 5. About half of the rest goes to 3.
4. Least favorite tracks from the 2:s goes to 1. About half of the rest goes to 3.

For the Synthmaster challenge, for which I also didn't have much time, I listened to most tracks only once and just voted quickly. It was dreadful...

I might change my mind about commenting, but we'll see
As I've said before, if anyone wants some "critique", just PM me.

Could I get a critique about a non OSC track? Just wondering.

mehum · Post by **mehum** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:43 pm

wagtunes wrote: Could I get a critique about a non OSC track? Just wondering.

Of course, but I will probably not prioritize it as high since there's quite a lot of tracks to listen to as it is

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:47 pm

mehum wrote:
wagtunes wrote: Could I get a critique about a non OSC track? Just wondering.
Of course, but I will probably not prioritize it as high since there's quite a lot of tracks to listen to as it is

Not a problem. It's a "whenever you get around to it" kind of thing. I'll send you a PM shortly.

Parduz · Post by **Parduz** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:47 pm

Mh, it will be another tough voting session! Which is good.... i mean: good music for free? YAY!

About critiques: i usually don't want to "force" someone to lister carefully and critique my stuffs, so if you feel in the mood to destroy my track piece by piece to address whatever is'nt working for you, pls do, either via PM or comments on Soundclouds or post here. I'm always happy to get feedback, and more than happy to learn from other ppl critiques, even if i may not agree with them

martin_l · Post by **martin_l** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:20 pm

I am back home now after 4 weeks without decent internet, and I am blown away by the entries to this OSC.

Great compositions, and I myself am surprised about the sounds, you guys squeeze out of the plugin.
I really have to limit myself in the '5' to give...

Well done to all!

Cheers,
Martin

Edit: Votes are submitted.

Taron · Post by **Taron** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:56 pm

Parduz wrote:Mh, it will be another tough voting session! Which is good.... i mean: good music for free? YAY!

About critiques: i usually don't want to "force" someone to lister carefully and critique my stuffs, so if you feel in the mood to destroy my track piece by piece to address whatever is'nt working for you, pls do, either via PM or comments on Soundclouds or post here. I'm always happy to get feedback, and more than happy to learn from other ppl critiques, even if i may not agree with them

Pfffhaha...yeah, that's REALLY easy for you to say, all this beautiful humility. Only trouble is, yours is one of my favorites, too!

Reefius · Post by **Reefius** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:02 pm

Voted!

Five points go to Meakaale, Jasinski, Skelpolu, Psmacmur and Parduz. Amazing tracks!

My votes are mostly based on both the composition and the mix. Some songs had really great potential to receive 4 or even 5 points, but only got 3 because of a flat or unbalanced mix. I'm quite critical when it comes to mixing, especially for myself. I've updated my own track about 25 times and I'm still not completely happy about it

penguinfromdeep · Post by **penguinfromdeep** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:10 pm

Mixing is also somewhat taste dependent, I mean there's certain level when reached it becomes also more of a taste thing .. For example I don't like too bright mixes (some of the very good tracks were quite bright to my tastes) - but in this compo I look past the mixing somewhat

But always its a whole of course, everything ...

Btw. lot of good tracks, almost done with the voting myself!

Reefius · Post by **Reefius** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:27 pm

I especially listen to the dynamics. Drums should sound like drums, I really want to feel them hit (I'm listening at quite a high volume). Some bleepy/clicky noises in the background just don't do it for me.

If I could hand out 6 points for only one track, it would go to Jasinski. Not only did he create an amazing track (as usual

), the mix just sounds incredible.

doctorbob · Post by **doctorbob** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:54 pm

Reefius wrote:If I could hand out 6 points for only one track ...

It would be quite nice to have a "6 slot" for just ONE entry - that is your absolute favourite from all your 5's!

Let's face it, the only 1 score tends to be your own eh? I think we all feel bad about giving out a 1, but less so about picking out one "winner".

Just my 1p's worth (for all you others, that's 1c !!!)

dB

doctorbob · Post by **doctorbob** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:56 pm

Reefius wrote: ...Some bleepy/clicky noises in the background just don't do it for me.

OK, sorry about the beepy noises on my track

Hope you liked the "non-beepy" bits

dB

z.prime · Post by **z.prime** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:01 pm

doctorbob wrote:
Reefius wrote:If I could hand out 6 points for only one track ...
It would be quite nice to have a "6 slot" for just ONE entry - that is your absolute favourite from all your 5's!

Let's face it, the only 1 score tends to be your own eh? I think we all feel bad about giving out a 1, but less so about picking out one "winner".

Just my 1p's worth (for all you others, that's 1c !!!)

dB

Just slide your scale, make that your "5" spot. Last month I moved the 'average' for my votes down to 2 to allow for more differentiation in the 3, 4, 5 range. A 10 scale could help. But with 60 entires... sheesh.

Taron · Post by **Taron** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:21 pm

Ugh, I went by musicality at the highest weight, but some outstanding mixing got a push up to 5, too, which made it quite a big list up there. I've never updated my track, which makes it mix wise one of the worst, I'm sure, but I take the beating and move on, heavily inspired by the fantastic bags of tricks in the upper echelons.

(slight edit: Sometimes for some tracks I think the EQ went too far and when you start hearing that, it gets a little unpleasant, I find. I've done a whole bunch of extra tracks for fun, experimenting around with it and began to notice it as a problem on my own, but when I went through the songs there were a number of almost awesome sounding tracks that suffered from such EQ-massacre... guess it's vital to clean your hearing pallet every now and then to read when it goes haywire. Anyhow...)

My hat's off to you guys'n'gals, and my gratitude for your most welcome inspiration!

psmacmur · Post by **psmacmur** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:36 pm

Reefius wrote:Voted!

Five points go to Meakaale, Jasinski, Skelpolu, Psmacmur and Parduz. Amazing tracks!

My votes are mostly based on both the composition and the mix. Some songs had really great potential to receive 4 or even 5 points, but only got 3 because of a flat or unbalanced mix. I'm quite critical when it comes to mixing, especially for myself. I've updated my own track about 25 times and I'm still not completely happy about it

Wow, thanks!! I think we have convergent musical innamerests

Still working on my first listen through...

doctorbob · Post by **doctorbob** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:56 pm

z.prime wrote:Just slide your scale, make that your "5" spot. Last month I moved the 'average' for my votes down to 2 to allow for more differentiation in the 3, 4, 5 range. A 10 scale could help. But with 60 entires... sheesh.

Sheesh indeed!

Don't you just love the OSC

Yeah, I hear you - still would end up with 4 or 5 in the 1 slot. But we have been through this "folk getting upset by low marks thing" - so I don't want to resurrect that again. Mind you, with 60+ voting, maybe we will have an interesting spread this time ... this will be an interesting OSC for sure -

Done my first pass on paper and on-line, but I'm sure it will change again with more listens. Tough tough tough ... and quite a few genres represented as well ... some outstanding mixes, some outstanding/amazeballs bits of sound design too (not always in the same track though!).

dB

One Synth Challenge #75: PG-8X (Jasinski Wins!)