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December Cover Song Challenge - GET WRITING!


Skol303
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Out of interest what is being judged? The standard of the recording or the interpretation of the song?

I ask because I have two possible entries - one is a proper studio recording and actually already available to purchase as a download from the usual outlets (would that exclude it from the competition?) The other is going to performed live on the radio tomorrow, and while it's possibly a more ambitious choice might not be as well recorded as the first.

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14 hours ago, Skol303 said:

Ok I'm in! And I think this is my first entry into the Composition Challenge this year. Well it feels nice to be back at least :)

It's a cover of 3AM by Thundercat, from the album 'Drunk'... probably my favourite of 2017. Bass, guitar and vocals by yours truly. Drums, Rhodes and piano written in MIDI. All recorded and mixed in Reason.

The synth-like solo at the end is actually a fretless bass run through the Scream plug-in with a funky envelope filter going on. Mostly to help disguise by crappy intonation... but I liked how it sounded, so it stayed.

I'll be winding up the entries and launching the voting at midnight on Christmas eve :santa:

...then taking on the Santa duties for the two Skol Jnrs. That Santa guy never seems to pull his weight around here. I'm calling the damned Union.

Nice work Skol, love the use of microtones on the bass near the end! :) Just like I use on my backing vocals...

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33 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Out of interest what is being judged? The standard of the recording or the interpretation of the song?

I ask because I have two possible entries - one is a proper studio recording and actually already available to purchase as a download from the usual outlets (would that exclude it from the competition?) The other is going to performed live on the radio tomorrow, and while it's possibly a more ambitious choice might not be as well recorded as the first.

The judges are the BC massive , and if you can work out how they will interpret the voting criteria then go for it with either of your choices , as long as it is a cover :D

I might have missed overiding genre interest of forum , but I'm hoping to influence the vote with humour and cuteness xD

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2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Out of interest what is being judged? The standard of the recording or the interpretation of the song?...

Over the years we've developed a 'points-based' system, in order to rationalise the results of the final poll. Here are the attributions to be used when 'judging' an entry...

Originality (or originality of choice in the case of these covers...) : five points
Technical appreciation of the execution (playing...) of the piece... : five points
Recording quality : five points
Any humorous or quirky characteristics : five points
The piece being the one you wish to vote for : five zillion points

Hope this helps. :|

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2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Out of interest what is being judged? The standard of the recording or the interpretation of the song?

Both and neither :)

For me personally, it's always simply a case of "whichever I like best". As with how I judge all music, the level of quality - whether it's in the recording, the performance, or the creativity - certainly plays a part; but then I love plenty of old songs that were recorded really badly in garages using a single mic (e.g. much of my early ska collection). So yeah. No set rules on how to judge, other than one's own ears/brain/thingamy.

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2 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Nice work Skol, love the use of microtones on the bass near the end! :) Just like I use on my backing vocals...

Thanks bud! My intonation was quite dodgy during that final part, so it helped to mask it... and I kinda liked how it sounded too. But mostly the first bit ;) 

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1 hour ago, Skol303 said:

Both and neither :)

For me personally, it's always simply a case of "whichever I like best". As with how I judge all music, the level of quality - whether it's in the recording, the performance, or the creativity - certainly plays a part; but then I love plenty of old songs that were recorded really badly in garages using a single mic (e.g. much of my early ska collection). So yeah. No set rules on how to judge, other than one's own ears/brain/thingamy.

That's certainly been the case for me when I've voted for the composition competition - overall enjoyment of the piece is always above the technical aspects of the recording or performance unless either is particularly sub par (although I don't recall that having happened).

I'd like to submit the piece we are going to be recording/broadcasting tomorrow as it's the less obvious choice given the musical style of the band, but considering that we've only been working on it for a week and we played it together as a band for the first time at last night's rehearsal, I'm a little worried that the performance won't be up the standard that I would like.

The alternative is submit the track we recorded earlier this year. However it is available to buy on iTunes etc. - does that make it exempt from the competition? Also I won't be able to put it up on Soundcloud, I'll be submitting a link to the Promo Video on YouTube that we made to go with the track - is that OK?

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47 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The alternative is submit the track we recorded earlier this year. However it is available to buy on iTunes etc. - does that make it exempt from the competition? Also I won't be able to put it up on Soundcloud, I'll be submitting a link to the Promo Video on YouTube that we made to go with the track - is that OK?

Absolutely fine, go for it.

SoundCloud is preferred but YouTube also ok... basically any medium where BC listeners can just click to hear it, rather than having to download a file is all good.

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On 22/12/2017 at 18:23, fleabag said:

Studio recorded,  one take for the band, then vocal over the top.  The old Python Lee Jackson track which featured Rod Stewart

 

Ooh - smooth as a polished knob of butter!!! Great track, never heard it covered before. Nice work everyone!! 😉😊

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