august contest - GOSSIP

[koorby]

Hey, here's a question:

Looks like lots more people enter the contest than vote, even though they are technically disqualified for not voting. Is that any different when we just have to vote on 5 or when the voting was secret ballot? Just wondering....

Yeah good Q plunge ... I am a little puzzled why someone would sumbit an entry and then not vote?? Makes no sense to me.

[koorby]

Firstly, a big thank you to Sepheritoh and sdunn1110 for the #1 votes - thanks guys, I'm flattered and honoured.

Also, my thanks to Bagungie, baggio, Guitarjeff and sttjelle for your votes!

I went out on a limb with this entry and pushed myself outside my comfort zone to try some orchestration and capture a "big" feel. It seems to have struck a chord with some of the reviewers, so I guess it worked to an extent. It has certainly encouraged me to take this experiment to the next level and build a more solid, longer work from that initial sketchpad.

IMHO, the August comp has been one of the best since I started visiting KvR in March this year.

Let's choose next month's theme wisely and see if we can improve even further in Sept.

[Markleford]

Looks like lots more people enter the contest than vote, even though they are technically disqualified for not voting. Is that any different when we just have to vote on 5 or when the voting was secret ballot? Just wondering....

We've been over 60 entries for the past 3 months. Which is great and all, but that's a lot of material to seriously review! Add to the fact that the track time limit is now 2 minutes, and you wind up with two hours of music to review every month.

I know I'm finding it harder to get reviews done these days, particularly since I'm never at my desk at work anymore and don't get my listening time in there. I used to vote on the first or second day, but now I'm winding up scrambling at the last second.

Worse yet, when I see I'm not making enough votes to have a chance at placing, it kind of takes the pressure off me to vote, as a DQ won't lose me anything. So I get even lazier and my vote comes in even closer to deadline, to the point even when I didn't vote for the Sci-Fi contest because of this. I imagine others might do the same thing.

Honestly, I didn't *used* to do that, and I know it's bad for the spirit of the thing, but I'm just having to cut corners *somewhere* these days...

Personally, I'd like to take the track time limit back down, but I understand I'm vastly in the minority on this.

- m

[plunge]

Worse yet, when I see I'm not making enough votes to have a chance at placing, it kind of takes the pressure off me to vote, as a DQ won't lose me anything. - m

Yeah, that was why I wondered how things turned out on the months when it was secret ballot, because I have sensed that some people bail when they see they aren't getting much response vote-wise...

[RayS]

Just a quick "Thanks" to those who either made a "review" of my entry or made it an "HM" along the way. I'm still in the "growing" phase of all this. My weakest point (besides not being able to write a complete song...lol) is endings. So I apologize for using the dreaded fade . I hope that future entries will NOT include one of those nasty little creatures. This was a great experience for me. So many talented people hanging out here. It really was a chore to pick just 10. (It'd be even harder to simply liste them from 1 to whatever the number of entries is.)

[Bagungie]

Firstly, a big thank you to Sepheritoh and sdunn1110 for the #1 votes - thanks guys, I'm flattered and honoured.

Also, my thanks to Bagungie, baggio, Guitarjeff and sttjelle for your votes!....

Well Koorby, I'm not at all surprised to see you get some number ones and a few H.M's in this month's comp.

I am convinced that there is significant promise in your abilities.

In your entry, you obviously came from the perspective of 'the big picture' alright and I was thinking that as your discernment for the use of interwoven tones and textures which support a well defined harmonic structure develops, I'm sure we'll see your realized abilities shine like a beacon!

If that's the case, (which I believe can easily happen), you'd better strap yourself in!

(Here's one for you):

'Silence is the ally of a good musician.' - WP

I see that your location is in Melbourne, Australia which is the same as mine! We should catch up one day and chew the fat!

If you're interested, send me a PM

Regards,

[mystahr]

I'd never expected much votes this month with a rather strange dance-tune, but to see a vote from Plunge and HM's from Koorby, GuitarJeff and Mo Verdigast really surprised me a lot. Thanks guys

[Beardedone]

Hey System ERA! Thanks for the vote. Getting way more than I expected.

[nikp2000]

more reviews

Vishalshetye Good vocal and I love the accordian break!

Nuisances nice sound collage. Interesting mix of timbre

aMUSEd The spoken words have a nice cadence. Spooky background music

andrewsimon nice melody and nice accompanyment. drums could have been a little lighter, may a jazzier drum track. brushes would sound good

patrick9 vocal and guitars reminds me of the undertones. this is a nice song

astanine nice percolating percussion track. early depeche-ish

RayS I like that heavy organ sound. Doors-y

synthpoop lots of synth textures. could use a little more variety

Garret Nice vocals and really good guitar/bass accompaniment

windchillfacter good use of 'found' sounds. I like how the single voice and group voice 'respond' to the other

mo verdigast nice mix of textures in this ambio-mood piece

sttjelle very nicely put together. it has a nice build to the vocals then a good release

wilkoryte i wondered if blues were acceptable here or considered dinosaur good greasy blues. love the organ

tancos interesting concept like 'fractured fairy tales'

jens leuner electro-rocker good heavy guitar

sdunn good contrast between the piano and the synth backings. nice use of sound effects

vurt


yagushi good game-y sounding tune, but that vocal is ugly man

jeff dickens all vocals? wow, i didn't think you'd be able to pull out so many timbres

rusted monkey hey, wasn't last month metEl? oh right, free for all. good dub-ya clips and heavy guitar

youtm nice bit of funky cut'n'paste holds together well

pHz good bit of loop-o-mania very funky, this shows loop tunes can be funky too

dr ' i didn't think i'd like this until it got real funky at 1:10. vocal really rock from there on out.

peppy197 neo modern nice mix of sounds and a lot of movement.

[nikp2000]

nikp2000 - august2
This is another track that seems to be crying out for vocals or some other melodic line. Didn't care much for the synth line mid-track, but the remainder of the track is well constructed. Another b.... fade-out ending.

Thanks for the review. Wow, I'll never fade-out again.

[jens]

Looks like lots more people enter the contest than vote, even though they are technically disqualified for not voting. Is that any different when we just have to vote on 5 or when the voting was secret ballot? Just wondering....

We've been over 60 entries for the past 3 months. Which is great and all, but that's a lot of material to seriously review! Add to the fact that the track time limit is now 2 minutes, and you wind up with two hours of music to review every month.

I know I'm finding it harder to get reviews done these days, particularly since I'm never at my desk at work anymore and don't get my listening time in there. I used to vote on the first or second day, but now I'm winding up scrambling at the last second.

Worse yet, when I see I'm not making enough votes to have a chance at placing, it kind of takes the pressure off me to vote, as a DQ won't lose me anything. So I get even lazier and my vote comes in even closer to deadline, to the point even when I didn't vote for the Sci-Fi contest because of this. I imagine others might do the same thing.

Honestly, I didn't *used* to do that, and I know it's bad for the spirit of the thing, but I'm just having to cut corners *somewhere* these days...

Personally, I'd like to take the track time limit back down, but I understand I'm vastly in the minority on this.

- m

for me it's a bit similar.

I'm scared of being 'unjust' to some people because I haven't listened thoroughly enough to everything for being able to really make up my mind, but damned: it's a lot of stuff, isn't it?

Anyway: before I vote 'wrongly' I rather vote not at all.

[kilroy]

Anyway: before I vote 'wrongly' I rather vote not at all.

Which, in fact, is rather like casting a vote in favour of not having an opinion.

[Mo Verdigast]

Anyway: before I vote 'wrongly' I rather vote not at all.

Which, in fact, is rather like casting a vote in favour of not having an opinion.

I don't have a lot of extra time either, but here's what I do when I have so many tracks to listen to.

1. Listen to the first 20 seconds or so.

2. If there's nothing there to grab me, I'll skip to a point halfway into the track to see if it changed.

3. If I still don't care for it, I might do one last check at 3/4 of the track.

4. If the beginning, middle, and end don't grab me, I toss the song aside, going on the theory that I won't vote for a song that doesn't have a strong middle and ending. And usually if the beginning isn't great, forget it. Honestly, the tracks I love are the ones that grab me within the first 2 seconds!

5. Anything that survives steps 1-4 I will then listen to all the way through.

6. I then add it to my major list. As I get new songs to add, I insert them above or below each other.

7. When I've finished, I do a bit of checking again to make sure I've got things in order, especially around the 9, 10, 11, and 12 positions, because only the top ten votes count.

So far I find there are between 15 and 20 songs I like, and often there is a clear winner. This time, Ixox was way out in front, but "Don't Let SleekMonth Win" was clearly #2, and so on.

An important point to think about with music is that if your listener is not interested in 10 to 20 seconds, they'll go to another song.

I guess this says that ultimately, I'm voting for music I like. But I do have pretty wide musical tastes. As a child, I grew up listening to Jazz, but then when I was a disc jockey in college, I learned to appreciate most forms of pop music.

[Wopelka]

4. If the beginning, middle, and end don't grab me, I toss the song aside, going on the theory that I won't vote for a song that doesn't have a strong middle and ending. And usually if the beginning isn't great, forget it. Honestly, the tracks I love are the ones that grab me within the first 2 seconds!

interesting. i couldn't use the same process. i often need way more than one listen (partial or not) to 'get' the track.

sometimes i begin to love a tune after several listens.

[Mo Verdigast]

sdunn1110 thanks for the review...

And thanks a lot Mo Verdigast for the number 1 vote...
Don't understand what you say about my plug in your number 3 line but it's free... Follow the link in my signature.

I just assumed if it was that good, it HAD to be free!