One Synth Challenge #105 - Thorn by Dmitry Sches (J. Ruegg Wins!)

[toonertik]

heh, looking at the scores... some interesting data in there.

Would "Harry HH" (who gave my track a "1"), "organistchrisrendall" (also a "1" for my tune) and "Mister Natural" (who gave my track a "2") mind elaborating on their scoring system a bit and how I might win more favor with them down the road?

To me a "1" implies you view a track as absolute dog shit. Please comment.

It's probably nothing personal mmGhost... just they got out of bed the wrong way that day they voted your track>>
But the voting is interesting... and I would add that I am very happy that the guys who I really admire "get" what I am doing... you know who you are

[generaldiomedes]

I’m not sure if some people listened to every track before voting ...

[Taron]

Don't even look at the damn score sheet. It can be scarily annoying sometimes and has led to some heated exchanges in the past! I think, it also has bitten off a good chunk of courage in people to genuinely share their opinions. Of course, only sincere opinions are really valuable, but to get everyone into that type of mental relaxation and clarity is a whole different kind of challenge.
I had decided to widely ignore the potential impact my opinion might have on somebody's voting behavior, sticking stubbornly to honesty and the chance to offer some real life advice as best I can. I stand for what is to gain for everybody, because that is the only gain that matters to me in our setting here.
I cannot tell you, whether I'm actually doing the right thing or not from some universal perspective, but I can keep it very simple for me that way and remain reliable for everyone here, too. It's something that I learned over great many years, going down my particular path. Everybody has their own, of course, and to come to my kind of conclusions may not even be possible to some, as much as I'd hope for it, really. I think, they make life more beautiful for everyone, including myself.
- Be honest!
- Don't let "bad/harmful" agenda drive your voting and commenting actions!
- Care for and respect what you are allowed to do!
Then we can much more easily learn from each other and take each other to the next level.

The challenge may actually also be bj's, finding out, who is really only pooping into the punch bowl, you know!
...kind of figuring out what's going on with a proper conversation with such a potential candidate and then decided where things go from there...

[sqigls]

Congrats guys!

Hey if nobody claims Tantra, feel free to swing it my way

[liqih]

heh, looking at the scores... some interesting data in there.

Would "Harry HH" (who gave my track a "1"), "organistchrisrendall" (also a "1" for my tune) and "Mister Natural" (who gave my track a "2") mind elaborating on their scoring system a bit and how I might win more favor with them down the road?

To me a "1" implies you view a track as absolute dog shit. Please comment.

May I chime in?
You may have read some posts above that I and Taron (and possibly others) agreed about Tj Shredder: "Competition in art does not make too much sense anyway, its about the fun of participation."

For me Metis was a winner (5 in my scores), but even if your song was the first in the "world top 10" we
must accept that some listeners may hate it. BUT with our voting system that's not even that, since each voter has a different interpretation of the numbers.
For instance I give 2 to tracks that for me are still well made but that don't tickle my fancy or are not interesting to me along their whole duration.

Moreover I use the five levels to spread the scoring, so 2 or 1 are not "almost crap" or "absolutely crap", just values related to whole quality of the current month. That's me, so how do we know what 3 or 2 or 1 mean for other voters?

[liqih]

I’m not sure if some people listened to every track before voting ...

Yes, we can never know that. Or if they listen just to few seconds of a track or many times in a row.
(I made the mistake in the past to take OSC scores too seriously, <grin>)

[Taron]

Uh, that's what I mean by starting a conversation to find out the motive. I remember the damn near cage-fight between Peter (I think, wasn't it?!) and me some months back, because of dubious voting philosophies, though it was probably the most extreme case imaginable (Kudos!!! ), yet, it was a genuine motive. ...some, though, are not as genuine as Peter had been. Those should be investigated more closely and pulled into a proper dialogue! If they happen to not care, then they shouldn't vote in the first place, nor participate!

[liqih]

Like "neverScene" I also tried to spread them out... but seriously, there were some really amazing submissions... even those who's genre I would not normally listen to now, the technics and productions were so good, I put aside my bias ...
One of my favs that did not win was liqih ... that totally blew me out and reminded me so much of what I listened to in the mid 70's 80's >>> thankx for the memory.

Hey thanks mate! I see we share some of the same jazz rock nostalgia, <wink>
(sorry for I'm not active on SC with comments and replies, for many reasons)

[sqigls]

I've cross-checked the data listed under my name with my actual vote...
The scores shown on the chart is definitely not what i voted for.
I even took screenshots, so i know exactly what i voted.

[Aluto]

heh, looking at the scores... some interesting data in there.

Would "Harry HH" (who gave my track a "1"), "organistchrisrendall" (also a "1" for my tune) and "Mister Natural" (who gave my track a "2") mind elaborating on their scoring system a bit and how I might win more favor with them down the road?

To me a "1" implies you view a track as absolute dog shit. Please comment.

Even if I am not concerned by this question, I just wanted to leave a comment on this point.

As this is my first time participating, I found it rather difficult to find a fair balance in the vote. During my first listening, I had put no "1" but far too many "5". As a result, at second reading I tried to be tougher to give a meaning to my vote.
In the end, I think I voted fairly harshly, but I hope to make progress on this point in the next vote.
For me, "1" doesn't mean it's an absolute dog shit, but rather that I just didn't understand the song. The difference between "3" and "4" is much more difficult explained, just a question of feeling.

But I'm open for a more structured/objective voting grid from more experienced voters !

Congrats to the winner !

[Guenon]

I had decided to widely ignore the potential impact my opinion might have on somebody's voting behavior, sticking stubbornly to honesty and the chance to offer some real life advice as best I can.

- Be honest!
- Don't let "bad/harmful" agenda drive your voting and commenting actions!
- Care for and respect what you are allowed to do!
Then we can much more easily learn from each other and take each other to the next level.

In a system like this, this really is the best approach.

So mmGhost, especially if your track is well received by those who you consider musically and/or technically like-minded when considering your own goals, preferences, production skill set and so on... it doesn't matter if there are also those 1-ratings in there. If someone gives a track like that -- confidently and expertly produced using just one synth at that -- a score of 1, it means (assuming they aren't rating like this just for the heck of it) you are so far from reaching that person with your material, techniques and creative decisions anyway, they aren't your target audience in the first place. They aren't the ones you would try to "sell" your chops to, in any other circumstances, so you shouldn't needlessly worry about doing that here either. Just keep doing your thing, here and elsewhere, you can be sure it is well appreciated

Regarding voting, generally speaking: when ever there's a strong technical component in a competition/challenge like this, I personally put a lot of weight on technical prowess when rating things, regardless of musical style. Can't do anything about anyone else's perspective, though

[Guenon]

For me, "1" doesn't mean it's an absolute dog shit, but rather that I just didn't understand the song.

That sums up what I tried to describe above, and that's a very honest way of putting it. I can respect that

[mmGhost]

This is how i go about voting.

5 - Track stands on its own, would never know it was part of a one-synth contest, sounds professional, could be released on a label
4 - About the same as a 5, but perhaps lacks a professional mix-down, or perhaps some of the sounds give it away as a once-synth track
3 - Middle of the pack, I often find that 3's are solid but often sound as made with one-synth, or perhaps lack a bit of tension and release in the composition, no "ear worms" or other elements that have me saying "how'd he/she do that?"
2 - Track has some nice ideas, but either has elements that hurt my ears, or perhaps was not well-thought out from a composition standpoint.
1 - Someone recording them self messing with presets, no thought at all given to the music or how to impact someone emotionally

This scoring helps me remove my bias towards certain genres of music, and i don't vote on how much i personally "like" something, but usually any time i give a 5 i do like it. in fact there were two tracks this month i loved but scored 3 and 4 to be fair to my scale.

some of us go to great lengths in this hobby to write compositions and make sounds that move others.

in any case, party-on. didn't want to open a needless can of pointless internet debate!

[mmGhost]

So mmGhost, especially if your track is well received by those who you consider musically and/or technically like-minded when considering your own goals, preferences, production skill set and so on... it doesn't matter if there are also those 1-ratings in there.

right-on, right-on, this is a good bit of wisdom

[Guenon]

Your scoring rundown is very close to how I approach it, too.