Production competition?
Production competition? Posted on: 21.12.2009 by Verona Fashbaugh Maybe nobody will go for this idea. But I like it.I believe that if multiple people took part in this, we could learn a lot from one another. Let's say we start with a series of parameters and basic guidelines for a track, and then whoever wants to can make their own track based on these simple guidelines. For example, let's say for one of them the track has to be a basic house track, with a simple 4x4 beat and the use of a 303-ish synth, make use of some common sample, and be three to four minutes long. Additionally, this could help people broaden their production skills by encouraging them to try to produce styles they hadn't before. And, say that in general we could have a new set of guidelines to use each week, so that the whole thing would be a fairly quick, but insightful, endeavor. Just an idea. I suppose it's not really a competition, but a giant collaboration project of sorts. Any thoughts? | |
| Jayne Yellowhair 02.04.2010 | Even though it was a great idea, I believe interest is low. People like myself really want to be free in when and how they make a track, and not be -forced- to have it finished at a certain point. Also, sometimes your work gets interrupted by school, work or something else and submission to this competition will not work. I thought it was cool to enter two of these rounds but I believe it's not the thing I want to do every week. Maybe I'm completely wrong and overgeneralizing and shit but that's just my two pennies worth. Sorry to say this, it was fun. |
| juan garcia 30.03.2010 | did interest die down on this? |
| juan garcia 13.03.2010 | anyone have ideas? someone who didnt enter the last one want to pick one out so maybe they will have incentive to enter the next one? |
| juan garcia 11.03.2010 | there's is a couple places to look a few pages back in this thread. we need some soulful chick singer or something... |
| Nancey Teck 09.03.2010 | umm. where is a good place to look for some safe to use samples? i have no clue? i guess i'll just google for a bit. maybe we all could search around and post up some ideas in a few days, then we could all vote on the sample to use. then have another go? would like to continue this exercise. i believe without it i wouldn't have made a song yet. haha. i'm working up some energy for another one! i understand everyone gets busy and has their priorities. thats life. but i still believe the more the merrier. so if you have some spare time it's find a new sample time! |
| juan garcia 09.03.2010 | thanks for the input, yeah swing/groove is something i need work on. if someone else wants to decide on the sample i'm down to start rocking it. |
| Nancey Teck 09.03.2010 | ok, sorry for being late on feedback. i do have to say that this was super fun! i was hoping some others would throw in a late submission just for kicks but oh well. i 'll just comment on those who posted up tracks. they were all pretty good. as for mine i wasn't really satisfied with it. i totally agree with you guys in that it was missing more. i also feel kinda bad cuz i didn't use more of the vocals. i tried, but failed. haha. is anyone still down to go again with a better sample or rules? charo, i had to listen to your track quite a few times. for me it seemed unpredictable, but still repetitive to have a dark industrial type of feel. i really liked the echo/delay on the vocals. for me they were just right. and props for using all of the sample. one thing i believe would help is some more swing or groove in your drums. dubresearch, the intro is probably my fav. part. its sound like the guitare is chopped. but i'm guessing you gated it? either way it sounds good. and at :54 the synth that sounds like a flute, is very nice. i need a sound like that in my bag. the only thing i was hoping for was more bass movement being dubstep and all. but i still believe its solid for what we had to work with. twb, not much to say really, i believe your song took this comp. this time. your track had a really nice sound. and considering the sample everyone had to use i believe you guys utilized the sample best. the vocal effects are tops. just one sugg. maybe bring the vibe up one notch around 1:48. but like i said, great sound, i'm voting twb on this one. hopefully we can do another. |
| juan garcia 05.03.2010 | had a chance to listen to them all thus far, wow i'm really impressed, I definitely feel like i'm missing something from my song that you guy's nailed. i'm not sure what i was going for either lol, and for the next one i'm going to try and work on that...i don't take offense in the slightest, and if you have recommendations for how i can better define what i'm going for that would be excellent, not saying you know my intentions but perhaps explain how you channel what you're going for.... dubresearch, really liked your song, nice groove & nicely constructed. if i had to say anything in terms of areas of improvement, thought maybe the vocals could stand out a little more. end1, nice job, excellent work for your first song. thought maybe the intro could be a little shorter. THEWETBANDITS, another great song, i like you're style, very danceable. not sure what to suggest, the vocal sounds lowpassed, it's a hard vocal to work with. thanks again everyone for participating. |
| Prudence Vlasyuk 05.03.2010 | My take so far. @charo: I really liked the drums and the different synths and effects in the background. You do a great job of evoking a particular style. It reminds me of older Aphex Twin. My one complaint would be that the vocals seem to float in tempo a bit. I'm not sure if this was intentional. @end1: This is really impressive for a first song. I wasn't expecting drum n bass. The drum sounds and the bass are all nicely done. I agree with thewetbandits that it could maybe use one or two more sounds to flesh everything out. @thewetbandits: Really polished and nicely done. I like the way you flipped things around while still retaining significant elements of the original. My only criticism would be that the plucked string type sound didn't quite sit well in the mix to my ears. It's probably nothing some extra reverb or chorus couldn't fix. |
| Margarette Griggers 05.03.2010 | http://soundcloud.com/banditbeats/folktro Ok, here's our attempt. We struggled to push the sample out of its original genre, tried to make some electro house. We're pretty happy with the intro/outro and breakdowns, but don't like the main chorus part when all the elements drop. Part of our problem may have been starting with what the piano was playing, then picking it out on a synth because it is a really folk-y melody. Dubresearch: We believe your song sounded really well put together, definitely could tell what you were going for. We believe maybe messing with the vocals, chopping them up or gating them to the drums could make things more interesting. Charo: I guess we're just still struggling to understand what you were going for. End1: Good first attempt- the drum and bass sound was definitely there. The tracks sounded a little empty, maybe another synth or more varied drums would make it more interesting. We also found the vocal stretch around 25 seconds unbearable, sounded like something from The Matrix. We hope nobody is offended by our criticism, we're all in this for fun and hopefully all of you will rip us to shreds too- because that's how we're all going to get better! We'll poke around for another sample, hopefully next time we can do something more dance-oriented- we started DJing because we want to play music that makes people dance, and that's what we want to produce. The last sample was pretty distant from anything you'd find in dance music, and we definitely struggled trying to work with it. Starting with a folk vocal sample puts you at a disadvantage right away. Thoughts, everyone? |
| Nancey Teck 05.03.2010 | http://soundcloud.com/o_o-djendone-o-o/bohart-wayfairingstranger-end1-remix ok. here's mine too. this is my first song i've made. i've only had my daw for about a month and a half now and been spending most of my free time trying to learn. but anyways, i hope everyone will post comments good or bad so i can learn more. i'll post feedback for everyone else's tracks in one post over the weekend. this was super fun. i believe without this friendly comp. i never would have actually made a song. |
| juan garcia 05.03.2010 | here's mine: http://soundcloud.com/charotapeproductions/boheart-wayfaringstranger-charoremix i spent more time trying to mix everything this time. i'm really excited to listen to other people's...i haven't listened to dub's yet, wanted to get mine done first. |
| Nancey Teck 04.03.2010 | 1 day left. i hope everyone is still in. |
| Nancey Teck 03.03.2010 | @dubresearch, that was pretty clever what you made. i like it. i'll post some feedback when i get to listen with some headphones. i'm on some crap laptop speakers right now. i'm still pretty far off on my track, so i'll post on the 5th. |
| Prudence Vlasyuk 03.03.2010 | I'll be the first to post since I'm getting bored of twiddling with it. It's kind of a straightforward remix, but hopefully it's still fun. It's a dubstep sort of style with arpeggiated synths paying homage to Zomby. Stick it out till the end for a random booty music outro. http://soundcloud.com/dubresearch/boheart-wayfaring-stranger-dubresearch-remix |
| juan garcia 02.03.2010 | the more the merrier and for those that hit the brick wall, start climbing |
| Amada Brierley 02.03.2010 | Word |
| Mechelle Duncil 02.03.2010 | I will give it a try.. been producing a lot lately so will try to have it ready |
| juan garcia 02.03.2010 | i remember reading some advice from fatboy slim and he recommended starting with the vocals first as vocals can be the hardest to get to sound right when stretching.... there are a few aspects to production, if you get board on arrangement/song construction then switch over to mixing and sound design. good luck. |
| Nancey Teck 02.03.2010 | shoot, i'm believe of starting all over again. haha. :eek: |
| Jayne Yellowhair 02.03.2010 | I had somilar vocal stretch problems so i dropped that idea |
| Verona Fashbaugh 01.03.2010 | Maybe I was just making things too difficult for myself then. To be honest I still use FL because I still haven't figured out Ableton to the point where I can do anything significant with it. |
| Prudence Vlasyuk 01.03.2010 | I'm actually pretty sure that this track was recorded with a click track at a steady 140 bpm with exactly 1 bar of silence at the beginning. I didn't have to do any stretching or even any cropping (I just dropped the audio file into Ableton and set the tempo). Maybe try 140 bpm if you haven't already? |
| Verona Fashbaugh 01.03.2010 | Is anyone else having the overly noob problem of not getting the vocals to stretch properly? For the life of me I can't get it to work right. So to be honest, I have very little done. Every time I try to work on it I can't get the vocals to stretch and I just get super pissed and feel like strangling someone. |
| Nancey Teck 01.03.2010 | yeah, i'm just using vocals too. |
| juan garcia 01.03.2010 | i'm working on mine, just using the vocals, |
| Jayne Yellowhair 01.03.2010 | I've started on it but got stuck pretty soon. I'm kind of inspiration-less for this one, especially as the original is already really well defined. Trying to work out some cool stuff hasn't really worked yet |
| Prudence Vlasyuk 01.03.2010 | I'm working on it. Mine is more of a remix as opposed to an original production. I'm keeping the original song structure intact and just swapping out the sound palette. It's been fun, and I have the basic structure. I'll probably just work on little edits and fills this week and maybe add in some extra instrumental bridges. |
| Nancey Teck 01.03.2010 | ok, everyone is so quiet? what has everybody got up their sleeve for this one? i actually hit a brick wall. my track is not turning out the way i wanted it to. i believe it's missing a ton of stuff. |
| Nancey Teck 26.02.2010 | count down..9 Days Left. |
| Nancey Teck 25.02.2010 | 10 more days left. hope everyone is still in. |
| Prudence Vlasyuk 22.02.2010 | It's definitely in E minor. I messed around with it this morning trying to figure out the chords. I actually found a transcription here which seems accurate (the E minor version down the page a bit): http://www.theoreticallycorrect.com/...-Stranger.html It's basically a 4 chord song with E minor / A minor in the verses and C major / G major in the refrain. There's a B7 chord used in transitions. Classic folk chords |
| Margarette Griggers 22.02.2010 | We are in as well, will attempt to make a club anthem out of a folk song... hmmm. I am working on my key-detection skills, and I believe the song is in E minor, sometimes resolving into G major. Can anyone else confirm this? I figured it would be helpful information to have out there for everyone if we can find out for sure. March 5th sounds good. |
| Nancey Teck 21.02.2010 | thanks for the advice. i believe this is gonna be a tough one for me. it'll be my first time using vocals. so i've been researching some ideas that i want to do. have fun everyone! |
| Verona Fashbaugh 19.02.2010 |
Originally Posted by end1
And you'll be surprised. You'll accidentally learn things. I do all the time. lol. |
| juan garcia 19.02.2010 |
Originally Posted by end1
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| Nancey Teck 19.02.2010 | ok, i'll give it a shot. so we have till march 5th or sooner? i'm very new at production as you guys have seen my need for help in the community s. |
| juan garcia 18.02.2010 |
Originally Posted by Lambox
no need to say sorry, this should be about having fun and improving, learning something along the way right? |
| Verona Fashbaugh 18.02.2010 |
Originally Posted by charo
So we're using the vocal sample from this page: http://ccmixter.org/files/BoHeart/19749 And other than that... no rules. You guys wanna do two weeks for this one? That way everyone has a little more time to do something better? |
| juan garcia 18.02.2010 | im going to start working on my song with sample...my internet is out so i'll have some time to work on it... I dont believe we need any rules except use the sample and more people should submit songs. |
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