Voting For Composition Challenge 29

stratman3142

This is the combined Voting and Discussion thread.

Please use this thread to cast your votes for your favourite entries to Fretboard Composition Challenge

VOTING AND DATES

Voting System - voters can pick their favourite entries.

First choice gets 5 points - Second choice gets 3 points - Third choice gets 1 point

The entry with the most points wins.

Simply post in this thread your top three choices for winner in order, 1st choice first etc etc. 

(Note for Entrants of the competition: Self Voting is NOT Allowed)

Voting ends midnight 8th August 2020. The results will be announced shortly after.

REMINDER OF THEME

The theme for this challenge is:

"Create music that reminds you of a good place or holiday. Something that brings good memories. The music could be based on what you heard at the time or music of the place/region."

Each entry has an picture.

Thanks to @Fretwired for the idea for the theme.

PLAYLIST

Below is the playlist of entries:

https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard/sets/composition-challenge-29

flying_pie

My place is a place in time; specifically the mid 80s which was a really happy time for an adolescent flying pie. I've composed a piece "heavily influenced" by two of my favourite artists at the time with the sources being 1984 releases which continue to elicit good vibes when I hear them (although you sadly don't hear Ride The Lightning on the radio as much as Madonna) 

I'd also like to thank @Bezzer for very kindly providing the Kirk to my James at the last  minute. Much appreciated mate

MagicPigDetective

Here’s what I posted on the other thread: 

My entry is really a sketch or outline of a song. Inspired by a walk to Capo Rosso on Corsica. A high peak on the edge of the Mediterranean sea. The most stunning scenery I have ever seen, looking down the sheer cliff faces to the deep blue sea. It had rained earlier and the smell of the vegetation, the herbs, called ‘maquis’ was overpowering. My tune was inspired by this place of dramatic beauty and tranquility, not so much the native music of the area. I used 7th chords learnt from a course by Antoine Michaud. 

Ok much less effort went into this then other entries. It’s a first take, one take recording, a mic’d up boss katana recording my pedalboard, into a focusrite itrack and garageband. The delay is a Walrus Audio Arp 87, the reverb an Alexander Pedals Sky Fi, the tremolo an OBNE Whitecap. This track definitely needs more layers, drones and pads. Suggestions and feedback welcome.

To be honest I’m quite chuffed to have finally got a song recorded. I do come up with many ideas but never get them recorded. I hope this will be a positive step to address this failure.

And here's the pic, a corny postcard made of photo's I took.

   

stratman3142

Mine's about holidays in the Greek islands.

It's not a real Bouzouki. It's programmed using the VSTi at the link below.
https://impactsoundworks.com/product/plectra-series-1-8-string-acoustic-bouzouki/

Snags

Background to mine is basically fortunate synchronicity, in that I'd been messing about with an acoustic version of the song with an eye to future open mics, then saw this and used it as a spur to learn some more stuff about recording.

The inspiration is a combination of three factors: a desire to write something more upbeat (most of my stuff is either acoustic bedsit misery or pub-rock with snidey or acerbic lyrics better suited to my eeyor voice); reflecting on regular trips with Mrs Snags to the coast (Cornwall, Devon but mostly Norfolk); and the other guitarist in 'our' band deciding to chuck his job in and relocate to Cornwall in the middle of lockdown because life's too short and he had to follow his heart.

So there's bits of me, and bits inspired by conversations with him, and a few cliches for good measure. The overall aim was to capture a bit of a summer vibe with freedom, warmth, clear skies, and affection.

Recording-wise I have no clue what I'm doing (third ever attempt at programming drums, and only about the fifth or sixth thing I've attempted to record). For those who are interested Squier Strat via Egnator Tweaker for guitars; horrid Peavy bass DI via a cheap Behringer pre-amp pedal. Guitar delay/reverb from a mix of Dr Tone, DD-6 and RV-6; any other FX the bog standard ones in Reaper.

One day I'll manage to sound cheerful.

MagicPigDetective

My votes:

1st, 5 points, Fretwired. Very evocative of being in those once in a lifetime places of epic beauty. Did you record this with pedals? Direct or mic'd up? The downtempo beats work well. Like this a lot. 

2nd, 3 points. Snags. Has a kind of loose, low-fi indie sound of the 80's going on, like the Weather Prophets. It does sound like someone has written and sung an upbeat song which they are not used to doing, as you say above. And it works.

3rd, 1 point. Tricky decision to have to leave just one out of the scoring, they're all good!  I was wandering if you were playing the instrument, but you've answered that above. Pretty impressive rhythm playing and very, er Greek. Flying Pie is excellently produced and played, but for me is more or a mash up tribute than a composition. So I will give the point to @stratman3142 .



 

Fretwired

Back in the mid-90s, I spent time in Cape Town - my wife is from SA. It was the era of acid jazz and Afro-chill. We used to sit in the outside bar at the Mount Nelson Hotel and watch the sun go down while some acid-jazz/chill tune was playing in the background. The late acid jazz guitarist Ronny Jordan was popular out there .. the African version of acid jazz had a lot more African percussion instruments and rattles than the UK version giving it a distinctive vibe. Good times ..

Snags

I think this needs a kind of awards ceremony preamble before I open the envelope.

Thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and have listened to them all multiple times now. I suspect that flying_pie and I are of a similar vintage, although I never really got into Metallica, and was more of a Motorhead/Maiden kinda guy for my heavier tastes. Everyone clearly has better recording chops than me, too

However, if you're going to do a thing, do the thing, so these are ranked purely against the brief as I understand it, rather than on any other criteria of personal preference etc.

1st - Stratman3142

Instantly conjures up 'Greece'. Hardly surprising given the bouzouki, but the structure, rhythm, and bass part all felt 'right' too. Whether an actual Greek would think so I have no idea, but in terms of a piece of music to conjure an image of place, it just does.

2nd - Fretwired

I have lots of South/Southern African friends, although I've never been there. Something about this really had a southern African vibe for me though - the percussion, but also the floaty bits. Possibly because of echos of The Benjamin Gate in places, who I went through a phase on (although they're far from ambient).

3rd - are we allowed ties? If we are, I'd genuinely like to tie flying_pie and MagicPigDetective

Both pieces really well done.

- flying_pie's very impressive, and a great mash-up of Metallica and Madonna, but a bit more "mash-up" and a bit less "composition" in my mind, and also for me doesn't really evoke the time/place, but that's because it's a very personal memory for flying_pie, and my memories of the mid-80s are triggered by different things. But it is a very contemporary take on the 80s.

- MagicPigDetective's I thought was really nice, very evocative and cinematic/ambient background kind of vibe but the images it conjures in my mind are much more abstract and dreamscapey - a weird mix of late night walks with out-of-focus taillights passing, under water stuff, floating in a boat, floating in the sky; a sense of gentle motion, but slightly detached from the world. Again, would work great as soundtrack music to link scenes in a film or something

If we're not allowed a tie, then MagicPigDetective just edges it for being that bit more obviously compositional, and a bit more personally evocative.

Fretwired

MagicPigDetective said:

My votes:

1st, 5 points, Fretwired. Very evocative of being in those once in a lifetime places of epic beauty. Did you record this with pedals? Direct or mic'd up? The downtempo beats work well. Like this a lot. 


 

Thanks.

For the gear geeks, this is how I record most things.

US American Strat into a Line 6 POD HD Pro into a Steinberg UR44 into Cubase 10 Pro.

The POD is running in stereo with a pair of Fender Blackfaced amp emulations with a stereo FX loop engaged but no cab. This is routed to multiple tracks in Cubase with the Torpedo Wall of Sound loaded as a VST in each trackto provide a pair of 2x12 cabs. Sounds better than the Line 6 stock cabs.

The guitar goes into a volume pedal followed by a Wampler compressor and a Strymon Riverside boost/distortion pedal and then into the front of the POD. I sometimes use a Pitchfork as well.

I then have a Strymon Timeline, Strymon Mobius, TC Flashback Triple Delay, and a Strymon Bigsky in the stereo loop. All the pedals are powered by a Strymon Zuma.

For the lead line on the track, I used an eBow. A lot of the string noises are the Bigsky's Cloud preset. I used a few samples as well such as the electronic drum loop which I routed through a stock Steinberg reverb plugin.

Here's a picture of the basic setup - I sold the Immerse so I no longer have it. In the pic the Mobius is in front of the Timeline as I'm using the autoswell function on the Mobius.

I will now have my first listen to the other tracks.

Bezzer

@flying_pie you are very welcome man! Was a lot of fun Kirking it up for a couple of days! Only downside is I think it means I can’t vote for you :-(

will have a listen to the tracks tomorrow when I’m more alive provide the votes from the Bristol jury then.

Bezzer

Sorry, I'm very late!  Right vote of the Bristol sub committee ...

5 points @Snags ... started me bopping along, then the voice came in. The difference in tone was wonderful to me, like the ultra smiths ... like Nick Cave has walked in on the B52s instead of the Bad Seeds through a drug induced misunderstanding of the room bookings.  Great!

3 points @stratman3142 ... nice use of the samples and really evocative of the mood you're trying to convey.  Top work.

1 point ... well the rules dictate I'm not allowed to vote for @flying_pie as I'm on the track.  Which is a shame because I fucking love it!  So we are left with battle of the ambients.  I'm giving it to @MagicPigDetective purely as I felt the track developed more.  @Fretwired as usual I adored the sounds you got and as it start I thought you were a shoe in but it didn't develop the way your tracks normally do and I missed that.  So close though, both great tracks.

Snags

Thanks @Bezzer , that means a lot.

guitartango

5 Points goes to @Snags, reminds me of a song from Orange Juice (with an English Edwin Collins). Did you have to Rip it up and start again? 
 
3 Points to the " Hello Peeps Stavros Here" version of Summer Holiday  @stratman3142  ;

1 Point to @Fretwired ;

AndyJP

This composition challenge is an awesome idea.  All the entries are such high quality.  Had a listen last night, here's my 2p

5 points goes to @stratman3142 ;  - Love going to Crete on hols and this track took me right back.   Great writing, playing and tone!

3 Points goes to @Fretwired - this one chilled me right out.  Is that an EBow on the guitar?

1 Point goes to @MagicPigDetective -  Very atmospheric.  Haunting almost which I like.

stratman3142

AndyJP said:

5 points goes to @stratman3142 ;;  - Love going to Crete on hols and this track took me right back.   Great writing, playing and tone!

Many thanks for the points. Just to be clear it's not me playing. It's a virtual instrument that I programmed, so I'm happy if you you want to reconsider your vote if part of it was for the playing.

Fretwired

Listened to them all ...

5 points to @MagicPigDetective : I love this evocative ambient guitar track and your back story about Capo Rosso. An Andy Summers/Robin Guthrie vibe going on.

3 points to @Snags : An Edwyn Collins vibe going on here - great song, singing and the lyrics - great guitar tone.

1 point to @stratman3142 : If you'd played the guitar you'd have been number one - that said great track and puts a smile on my face and in the mood for some plate smashing.

The standard was high again this month ...

AndyJP

stratman3142 said:

AndyJP said:

5 points goes to @stratman3142 ;;  - Love going to Crete on hols and this track took me right back.   Great writing, playing and tone!

Many thanks for the points. Just to be clear it's not me playing. It's a virtual instrument that I programmed, so I'm happy if you you want to reconsider your vote if part of it was for the playing.

Ah missed that bit.  Well it's a great piece of music. Well done. My vote stands, because it reminded me of holidays in Crete. Brilliant

stratman3142

5 points @Fretwired : Summer chill out music. Brings to mind hot hazy sunshine holidays.

3 points @MagicPigDetective : An atmospheric ambient guitar piece with some lovely chords.

1 point @Snags : A very jolly happy track and a good fit to the theme.

Sorry @flying_pie : I thought this was a fantastic track and well produced but perhaps more of a mashup than evocative of a good place or holiday to me.

stratman3142

Voting ends tomorrow at midnight.

stratman3142

Voting ends tonight at midnight.

flying_pie

Very hard for me to pick. They are all great tracks, each with their own merits

5 points @stratman3142 - I vote this as the composition that I'm judging and not the playing (I know fine well you could play it off you owned the instrument). Lots of great artists composer parts and have others play for them so I don't have an issue with it being written rather than played . Great job


3 points @Snags - the vocals are a great contest to the vibe. Jack Dee on his holidays...

1 point to both @Fretwired and @MagicPigDetective - nothing to separate these great instrumentals but fitted the brief less. I fully appreciate the irony of that last comment