So the Spitfire Audio Westworld scoring competition went well... there's a riot going on in the YouTube comments ;-)

[Dirtgrain]

Thanks for clearing this up for us.

No problem.

[fairlyclose]

gone back and read the rules - this winner is within the rules "create an original musical score for the provided clip " with no mention of style or mood etc. So if that is the complete instruction then the response is fine.
My problem is still that I think the winning track is pretty bland and not well arranged. Too cliched rather than humorous riffing on standard tropes. But maybe that's as good as they got - there is a lot of tedious epic and overblow faux orchestral around. If the winner had dumped the orchestral and trad synth sounds and worked on the actual sound more eg pushed the chiptune sound further, I think it would be much better.

[machinesworking]

But that just makes the decision a political one, which is not an improvement in the process... IMO of course.

You cannot eliminate for the most part nepotism as factor in a supposedly open to the public contest without declining people who might be a recipient of said nepotism. It's political only because if you think about it, any "decision" is political.

I definitely think it's an improvement to eliminate friends, family, and employees or associates from contests, period. The subtly of confirmation bias is too great. People don't even know they're doing it.

A quick speculation on how this could go:
"My god that's a crazy take on a soundtrack with the chiptunes?"
"Hey this guy worked on a project I was on!"
"you know that's some wild creativity there!"

[WatchTheGuitar]

https://youtu.be/TepB6xbJCiw

f**king hell, Christian Henson claims every genius director ever would have voted for the winner and basically that getting shafted by someone who didn’t follow the brief is a wonderful intro to the world of professional soundtrack music production.

[fairlyclose]

https://youtu.be/TepB6xbJCiw

f**king hell, Christian Henson claims every genius director ever would have voted for the winner and basically that getting shafted by someone who didn’t follow the brief is a wonderful intro to the world of professional soundtrack music production.

he has put me off buying their products for a long time. That and their products being overpriced, driven by current fashion in popular movie soundtracks, and not allowing license transfers. But I find him painful to watch

[elxsound]

But that just makes the decision a political one, which is not an improvement in the process... IMO of course.

You cannot eliminate for the most part nepotism as factor in a supposedly open to the public contest without declining people who might be a recipient of said nepotism. It's political only because if you think about it, any "decision" is political.

I definitely think it's an improvement to eliminate friends, family, and employees or associates from contests, period. The subtly of confirmation bias is too great. People don't even know they're doing it.

A quick speculation on how this could go:
"My god that's a crazy take on a soundtrack with the chiptunes?"
"Hey this guy worked on a project I was on!"
"you know that's some wild creativity there!"

But you can’t just say it’s nepotism because even your suggestion was just to avoid the appearance of it.

And that’s all there is here... some have already decided like it’s a fact when the only thing clear is that nobody knows.

[machinesworking]

But you can’t just say it’s nepotism because even your suggestion was just to avoid the appearance of it.

I'm sure there's a point here, I'm just not getting it. Are you saying that no matter what nepotism is possible, so don't do anything to prevent it? Do you think it's possible to have friends and family join in a contest you're judging without it seeming rigged if they win? what about business associates?

And that’s all there is here... some have already decided like it’s a fact when the only thing clear is that nobody knows.

This is why eliminating people who are the most obvious recipients of nepotism is the only valid solution though. Someone with no known ties to an organizations contest is less likely to be a recipient.

I mean this isn't politics, these contests are not about rights being withheld, it's not mandatory or a matter of some civic duty to participate. It would have been the logical thing to do. They didn't do that, and their unusual choice with ties, however tenuous to a judge, is backfiring on them. Their good will publicity stunt has turned into a third world election drama.

[elxsound]

But you can’t just say it’s nepotism because even your suggestion was just to avoid the appearance of it.

I'm sure there's a point here, I'm just not getting it. Are you saying that no matter what nepotism is possible, so don't do anything to prevent it? Do you think it's possible to have friends and family join in a contest you're judging without it seeming rigged if they win? what about business associates?

And that’s all there is here... some have already decided like it’s a fact when the only thing clear is that nobody knows.

This is why eliminating people who are the most obvious recipients of nepotism is the only valid solution though. Someone with no known ties to an organizations contest is less likely to be a recipient.

I mean this isn't politics, these contests are not about rights being withheld, it's not mandatory or a matter of some civic duty to participate. It would have been the logical thing to do. They didn't do that, and their unusual choice with ties, however tenuous to a judge, is backfiring on them. Their good will publicity stunt has turned into a third world election drama.

The point is clear when you don't remove context by selectively quoting since you can't seem to remember what you've previously written.

Anyway, you're repeating yourself again, so lets start fresh.

I shouldn't have to state it, but I am not advocating for nepotism. I don't think anyone is, so this is not an argument about not allowing friends and family to participate and win.

My only point is that this part of the conversation is in itself is pointless because you can't prove that the winner was in fact favored by way of any prior contacts or relationships. Its just speculation.

Now brining things full circle (as much as possible)... What's the point of penalizing someone just because someone else out there might make the claim of nepotism without any proof.

[FarleyCZ]

I am blown away by the response.

1) It's their f*cking competition. If they chosen an asynchronous sound of dog barking as a winner, they would still have full rights to do it.
2) They had to listen to 11 000 entries. I was sceptical they would even play my clip. And they did. Twice. So they probably DID listen to all them. For a perspective, that's a month of music. A MONTH, without breaks. Are you really THAT surprised they've chosen the one thing that wasn't just another Zimmer impersonation?
3) Even if they stuck to "serious score" and all the strict rules, out of that massive amount of entries, they would still pick just one. Statistically, whoever you are, you would not be amongst them. Even if they picked 50 winners, you would not be one of them. Anyone who went into the competition expecting anything else is foolish and egoistic.

Problem with this comp was, that there was too much world-class talent in the jury. Djiwaldi, Abrams, Nolan, Joy, Zimmer hovering all over them as he knows them all personally. It stopped being fun for some people and it became a worldwide job opening. I really wish next time Spitfire won't reveal who's in the jury until the results are announced.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Djiwaldi, Abrams, Nolan, Joy, Zimmer, Sessions

FTFY /s

Are you really THAT surprised they've chosen the one thing that wasn't just another Zimmer impersonation?

I think the saddest outcome of this competition is that rather than notice there’s a whole world of music, genres and sounds out there to delve into and use it seems a big number of complainers are stuck in that po-faced Zimmer aping mindset when Zimmer himself is a pretty inventive guy. Doesn’t seem like they’re taking the hint from Spitfire that being creative is worth more than portrait artistry. Maybe Spitfire need to wheel Zimmer himself out to say something before the rest will listen.

[Michael L]

Maybe Spitfire need to wheel Zimmer himself out to say something before the rest will listen.

Ask, and you shall...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyS-_H ... e=emb_logo

[fairlyclose]

Doesn’t seem like they’re taking the hint from Spitfire that being creative is worth more than portrait artistry.

baby jesus cries at the thought people think the winning music is creatively noteworthy

[WatchTheGuitar]

Doesn’t seem like they’re taking the hint from Spitfire that being creative is worth more than portrait artistry.

baby jesus cries at the thought people think the winning music is creatively noteworthy

In a world of blind Zimmer clones the one-eyed eight-bit...

[WatchTheGuitar]

Maybe Spitfire need to wheel Zimmer himself out to say something before the rest will listen.

Ask, and you shall...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyS-_H ... e=emb_logo

Exactly like that, but with his co-operation.

[Michael L]

Exactly like that, but with his co-operation.

Nooo...there’s a whole world of music, genres and sounds out there to parody without getting stuck in that po-faced Zimmer-cooperating mindset.