May Contest: Gossip

[inboxzero]

Voting Done.
That was harder than I was expecting it to be.

[Doc Jon]

folderol and forw, thanks for the reviews

Emerald Tablet
A nice theme which suited the choice of instrument sound. I felt that the long sustained notes sections at 0.58 and 2:10 probably pushed the boundaries of monophony a little

JJBiener
Lovely guitar sound, DelayLama is a great blast from the past and nice to see it making an appearance

inboxzero
Very good indeed, genuinely sounds like a piece of modern orchestral music, I really liked the way you integrated the percussion

evo2slo
Impressive considering you played it all on 1 string, really taking the monophony theme to the extreme!

nikp2000
Some nice touches with the vocal stabs, I would have liked the melody to have been a little more melodic

offthewall
A thoughtful piece played with great feeling

Patrick9
One of several oriental style tunes this month which all suit the monophony theme well, authentic sounding and atmospheric

Mr Ear Bleeds Wine
Interesting use of bell sounds and I think a good choice for the monophony theme, mixed a little too loud for my ears and I would have preferred less reverb

folderol
Beautiful melody and a really evocative piece

beanpole
I think the melody was good, but I didn't really like your choice of sounds, a little too harsh - would have been better I think with a soft plucked sound but that's just my personal taste

rockstar_not
A great melody, mix a little too loud. The filter modulation at 2.22 to 2.24 was great!

Laguna Rising
Some great guitar playing although I thought the bass notes detracted a little from the melody and could have been left out

forw
Surprised we didn't get more music boxes this month as it seemed a good monophony instrument. This is great

softegg
At first I thought there was some morse code message hidden in the tune! Not really my taste I'm afraid

Kryptonaut
Impressive combination of sounds and a truly authentic cathedral vibe!

nahkaorava
Very impressive piece, beautiful melody lines, stunningly authentic instrumentation. A little worried about whether those rapid strums constitute monophony, will have to give it some thought

D.H. Miltz
A beautiful lament, sympathetically played and well recorded with just the right ambience, one of the best this month for sure

bzur
That opening sound is just pure awesome power, I could have listened to 3 minutes of that alone!! Great piece

GMoneh
Nice theme and melody but the pan flute sound sounded a little artificial the way it was played which did reduce the overall feel somewhat

mellotonaut
A brave and interesting piece, I admire anyone who can sing solo with such conviction, your enunciation is superlative!

Peterhud
Yup, I like this, reminds me of the soundtrack to some 1960's sci-fi film

tuz
!!! Another brave and original submission, great idea and well executed....just not my cup of tea though

Mister Natural
Big respect to you for your singing, the effects didn't do much for me, but your voice is great and so was the tune

Friendly Stranger
A good tune, the sound fitted well and was truly monophonic, a little short, it seemed to be developing really well and then it finished!

Voting to follow soon! Best of luck everyone

Jon

[Laguna Rising]

Laguna Rising
Some great guitar playing although I thought the bass notes detracted a little from the melody and could have been left out

I agree, listening to it after a week, I can see the bass doesn't add to the tune. Those bass notes are even annoying here and there.
thanks for the reviews, Jon

Cheers

[GMoneh]

I'll share my notes on the entries. I explained in a previous post my criteria in evaluating the compliance with the contest theme.

D.H. Miltz - The Old Place
Tastefully done. Although the guitar is not inherently a monophonic instrument, you demonstrated that it can indeed be used that way with control of the releases. The ambience works perfectly without threatening the monophonic characteristics of the piece. My #1 piece within the theme, and one of the few keepers this month.

kryptonaut - Domine Abomine
Interesting choral piece. Even though there are multiple voices in play here, as far as I could tell there was no violation of the "one melody line" rule that I mentioned before, so it gets through. Feels very complete.

forw - Mono Moon
A music box! Of course it's monophonic, perfect for the theme. Don't know the instrument you used for this, but the result is haunting and captivating. The winding up at the beginning helps to give it some authenticity, to the point that if I close my eyes I can see the ballerina figure going around while the music sounds. Very good.

Inbox Zero - Na alma de todos coisas
The one orchestral piece in the bunch. This was a good example of how to integrate multiple voices/ instruments and still remain within a single melody line. Wasn't too crazy about the melody itself, but it works well under the constraints.

mellotronaut - Guten Tag
Props, mello, for being the first doing an a capella. I honestly thought there were going to be more, since the human voice is the first monophonic instrument that would come to mind, given that most of us have one. Very very short (too bad), but enjoyed that falsetto, and the flute is a nice touch.

rockstar_not - Mono
Yea, I know, it has delay, but I don't think it's abused here to the point to make the piece lose its monophonic character. The melody gets a bit repetitive after a while, but the filter sweeps help it maintain interest and variety.

evo2slo - Single String Theory
An interesting and original idea, taking all the strings but one off the guitar to transform it into a monophonic instrument. Cool jam, a bit too loud and too much distortion for my taste, but in general terms it works well.

folderol - Monotone
The synth patches have a very dreamy quality to them, perhaps for the big reverb. The multiple voices work well together in the parts of the song where they are in unison.

tuz - Have Fun
Fun indeed. As much as I hate the chipmunk effect, I must admit this puts a smile on my face when I listen to it. Another good application of vox humana as a monophonic instrument.

Patrick9 - Japonica
The combination of instruments give it a very oriental air indeed. The pitch bends on the flute sounds strange, though, as the flute doesn't naturally bend (yea, I know, we can do whatever we want with virtual instruments, but sometimes, when emulations of real instruments are used, some expectations are hard to break). Well within the theme, I think, although the melody itself didn't do much for me… Too slow, perhaps, to stand by itself with no backing.

offthewall - Big Bryan's Lament
Enjoyed the melody, especially the part that starts around the 1:00 mark, when the baritone guitar comes in. No one can deny the feeling with which all the parts are played. The two voices don't seem tight enough, though, taking away a bit of the enjoyment of the piece.

JJ Biener - Enchantable
Oh this starts so well, I loved the plucked synth. But I hated the synthesized vocal sound (is that the DelayLama?). If you had kept the pluck and the pad, it would definitely have ranked higher for me. It complies with the theme rules, no problem there.

Friendly Stranger - Stalactites
The arpeggios are fine and within the topic… but there wasn't much more in the song other than the arpeggios, so it wore a bit thin after a while, even though it's pretty short to begin with.

Emerald Tablet - Mono
This one has been difficult for me to evaluate. Its use of only one instrument suggests monophony, and it indeed starts that way. The big reverb doesn't ruin it for me, I think that's within the constraints of the theme. However, around the 2:18 mark, the release of the notes changes to the point where each note blends with the next forming a harmony of sorts, and that's where it loses part of the points in my book.

Mister Natural - Your Particle
It starts very promising. As I said before I expected more a capellas this month, and you were one of only three brave souls to comply. However, around the half minute, that gated delay effect loses it for me. For starters, it blends with the main melody line, in effect breaking the monophony. Additionally, I didn't like the gated quality of it, feels too choppy. I've come to expect a bit amount of delay and ambience as almost a requirement for the theme (otherwise, the music would be dry as bone, with just one melodic line), but I think that in this case it's too much.

Laguna Rising - 1 Take Only
Interesting blend of sounds, starts promising, but at the end I couldn't discern a full musical idea out of it… seemed almost too random. There is a subtle bass line going on that I would qualify as a second melodic line, in effect breaking my criteria for theme adherence.

Softegg - Little Creature
Definitely monophonic, but a bit too percusive for me. There are some hits there where a definitive pitch can be recognized, but in general, I wouldn't characterize it as a melody line.

Doc Jon - Contemplation
Ahh… Contemplation… my overall favorite of the month… and it hurts me that I won't give it any points . I don't doubt that all the voices at any given time are playing unison or octaves… but they don't follow the same melody line, so it's out for me given the criteria I established… So... great piece of music, this will be a keeper for me this month, and it will go directly to my Doc Jon's Greatest Hits playlist, but no vote from me, unfortunately… Sorry...

bzur - Monolith
Another keeper that won't get any points . Beautiful and captivating? Check. Top producing values? Check. Within the boundaries of the monophony theme? I don't think so…

Peterhud - Lines of Fire
It starts promising (if a little weird, sounds like an 80's video game), but it soon abandons the monophony idea with those bass accents. Then, around the 50 seconds mark I can distinctly hear two melodic lines going on (well, you could call one a rhythmic drone, perhaps). So interesting concept, but also disqualified in my voting by adherence to the theme.

nahkaorava - Enchantable
A promising contest debut. I enjoyed the piece a lot. It works as a monody until around the 1:30 mark, where the choral accents come into play and break the one melody line rule. I'm being a bit strict this month, I know, but that broke it for me with respect to adherence to the theme. Looking forward to your submissions in future, less restrictive contests.

My Ear Bleeds Wine - Ode to Esmarelda
Ouch… really didn't like those clangy bells at the beginning… The one coming around the 45 seconds mark is more bearable, but then the big bells come in again and ruin the melody for me…

beanpole - Monophobe
I believe I can hear a sustained note in some sections of this one. It's the same note/sound that sustains at the end. I don't know if it's a drone used throughout the song or if it's just that the notes have a very long release stage. In any case, I think that aspect reduces the adherence to theme score. Too bad, because other than that it almost work as a monophonic synth piece.

nikp2000 - Time split
I found hard to make sense of this one. It seems that there are multiple melody lines going on at the same time, so even though no two notes sound at the exact same time, I wouldn't categorize it as monophonic. Unless it falls under the Klangfarbenmelodie concept briefly discussed early in the month, but I guess that's too musically advanced for me...

[Laguna Rising]

Laguna Rising - 1 Take Only
Interesting blend of sounds, starts promising, but at the end I couldn't discern a full musical idea out of it… seemed almost too random. There is a subtle bass line going on that I would qualify as a second melodic line, in effect breaking my criteria for theme adherence.

Thanks for writing reviews

a subtle bass line going on that I would qualify as a second melodic line

Well, that is worrying. I tried and tried to understand what you mean, but honestly I can't see your point. How can it be ? Every measure or so, the same note of the melody is doubled an octave lower. How can it be a different melody ?

Tbh the bass notes doesn't fit in very well, and I might have left them out of the mix, but that doesn't seem against the rules

Cheers

[mellotronaut]

6: mellotronaut

5. mellotronaut - Guten Tag

5. MelloKarin - Guten Tag

mellotronaut - Guten Tag
Props, mello, for being the first doing an a capella. I honestly thought there were going to be more, since the human voice is the first monophonic instrument that would come to mind, given that most of us have one. Very very short (too bad), but enjoyed that falsetto, and the flute is a nice touch.

mellotonaut
A brave and interesting piece, I admire anyone who can sing solo with such conviction, your enunciation is superlative!

you make me (and the lady) very happy: thank you very much for the votes and for the reviews!

i had no good idea for the contest before the 24th. the only thing, i thought, could be interesting, was to convince Karin to share the stage with her flute and me. at noon i had an idea for some lyrics, wrote them down fastly and tried to create a melody with some pianochords. Karin joined in with her flute. i tried to imitate an eccentric powdered lord with pointed lips. for the recording i had to do it a capella, which was much harder, but somehow it worked.

[D.H. Miltz]

Thank you, Doc Jon and GMoneh.

[GMoneh]

Well, that is worrying. I tried and tried to understand what you mean, but honestly I can't see your point. How can it be ? Every measure or so, the same note of the melody is doubled an octave lower. How can it be a different melody ?

Tbh the bass notes doesn't fit in very well, and I might have left them out of the mix, but that doesn't seem against the rules
Cheers

What I meant is what I tried to describe (perhaps unsuccesfully) in this post. There is an instrument playing a line of melody, and then there is another coming at the start of each bar and doubling just one note of that. If you were to transcribe each part to sheet music, the parts for each instrument playing at the same time are different (one has a note at the beginning of each measure, the other is playing a more complex sequence of notes), giving it another melodic and rhythmic texture. In my interpretation, that fell out of the definition of monophony, and rather into a kind of heterophony.
I know I interpreted the definition in a more strict way than many of the rest here, but that's how I read it and therefore wanted to explain the reasoning behind my voting criteria.


G.

[Laguna Rising]

@GMoneh
Oh, I see... I missed your previous post, and the concept of heterophony explains it somehow.
Too late...

Cheers

[inboxzero]

Regarding June's competition.

I'm away the first and last weeks of the month, so getting an entry in, will be tight for me, and I'll miss the voting so will be disqualified by default.

Don't think that will stop me from trying though....

[mellotronaut]

thank you very much, James and Tuz!

7 … MelloKarin_Guten_Tag

3 mellotronaut guten tag

[IrionDaRonin]

At last i didn't find the time to participate this month, too much things to do.
Also, before making something wrong i prefered to stay away.

As usual, nice entries so far, guys.

About the next theme, i will try something, yes. I like the pic, and there are some ideas in my mind already.

Have a good day

[softegg]

softegg
At first I thought there was some morse code message hidden in the tune! Not really my taste I'm afraid

That would have been a great idea! I will definitely try that at some point, might give very interesting textures and rhythms.

[sbb_milla]

mellotonaut: Good stuff.

[mellotronaut]

mellotonaut: Good stuff.

thank you very much!