GETTING READY FOR MTM STUDIONET COMPETITION 3

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Permalink Reply by TCwebtime on July 4, 2009 at 4:33pm

What do other think about having MTM deciding in what 'genre' the entry-tracks for the next competition should be. (e.g. rock, deep house, IDM, ambient, breakbeat, grime, hip hop, etc..).

It could be fun and interesting to see how each of us uses the same samples to create a one-minute track in a specific genre while trying to be original. It may even make it easier to maybe compare results. Just an idea

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Permalink Reply by John Zealey on July 4, 2009 at 4:57pm

How about really pushing us, giving us something like 1 note from an electric piano, a bass drum and tambo!!?? I think limiting to a genre will take away some of the fun!!

(P.S. I'm really grateful for the votes from my last effort, there was some really great tracks on there to compete with.)

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Permalink Reply by TCwebtime on July 4, 2009 at 10:54pm

Nah, it's ok. There are always new members joining that have not taken part to previous competitions and it is always fun to make a short tune out of one or a few samples then see what the other members did as well. Also a new sample will take your creativity in different directions and for people that are too busy with life to create full length tunes, the motivation of the competition paired to the short 60 seconds effort represents a way to make some music without super long commitments.
The more we go on and the better the prizes will be as well, I'm sure, which will be always a good excuse to play with sounds and make some noise :)

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Permalink Reply by TCwebtime on July 6, 2009 at 3:33pm

I think IDM stands for Intelligent Dance Music... I didn't come up with it so don't shoot me :)

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Permalink Reply by Alex - DVD Editor on July 5, 2009 at 12:58pm

One idea I've really been wanting to do for ages is a comp based on just a four bar section of vocal. For example using a four bar rap and having to turn that into a tune (using sibilance for hi-hats etc and micro loops on the bassier notes for pitched bass lines). I think it would work better on a male voc than a female one as you're more likely to have some lo-end to play with...

Just an idea...

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Permalink Reply by John Zealey on July 5, 2009 at 1:02pm

great idea, keep the genre free though

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Permalink Reply by Jace on July 6, 2009 at 12:49pm

I agree, then also great for a little voice sampling/manipulation.

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Permalink Reply by Jace on July 6, 2009 at 1:16pm

I bet you are wrong about many not being capable to make music from a single sine, i reckon many would be brave enough to have a go, But it is the simple fact it was not an official competition and still maybe a little boring to do, not say that great results could not be had once the time was put in and the diferent tones where created and put to sampling devices.
But it is also more about the fun and exsperimenting, so the freedom to be more diverse that is what makes it fun to hear the other competitors end results.

Astral Traveller you said,
So to be truthful here, I must admit that I do not find much of a challenge in manipulating or utilising a collection or subset of samples or sounds that have already been manipulated Okay so you are not a traditionalist, more a collector of Blips_in your career / i would say more a cyborg mathametician from Europa that some how has not yet devloped musical feeling_ blankety blank. Not being argumentive by the way, just having a jest of sorts, Oh astral you are a funny one.

But on a serious note_ i do get a litle confused with you sometimes astral are you here to make music or do the talk, please lighten up and make some effort, if it is that simple then you should excel, not make exuses.
I was looking forward to competition entry 2 by you, and we got nothing/ I hope , like i said last time, you can lead by example.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by TCwebtime on July 6, 2009 at 2:06pm

It is all ok,
I don't want to talk for Astral but as far as I know he was moving home when competition 2 was in full swing; so he didn't make it on time.

In terms of sinewaves or samples of defined timbers or vocals I don't think the argument is that big. If we only give ourselves a sinewave then we may as well just say... hey guys.. make some music. In the end every synth we have or most anyway give you a clean sinewave and there are even presets that come from there. It also could be a bit boring for some or too time consuming for others.

It is more about the fun of having sounds that actually already have a timber, a character, then modifying those into new sounds. If you start from a sinewave and creat a new sound or if you start from a vocal A then create a new sound on a high level view it is sort of the same. But starting from a vocal A could be more fun, and more people would understand what to do.

About the sample frequency suit, yes I barely noticed that thing when it happened, it had less buzz because it was not supported by MTM and there were no prizes... this time around it is much more fun.

The other topic that I feel is popping out from this discussion is Sample-Mangling Vs SongWriting/Arrangements; especially if one has more weights than another when we judge our own peers' tracks. This probably would be resolved if we did have a specific 'genre' to compete with per each competition. So that for example an orchestral piece doesn't go against a minimal techno one. But there are good reasons (mentioned in the posts above) for keeping the competition open to any gengre, so I personally don't mind. It was only a suggestion

Having said that, I guess it will be hard to separate song writing/arrangement/sample wizardy/mastering from each other, becuase you do refine your sounds based on the piece you are making so each track appears as a whole a mix of all those things that go into making a track. Of course the extreme cases I would think would score very low, for example 'original sounds presented as a mess of a track' or 'no much sample mangling presented into a polished well written piece'. In both cases these two tracks would have no chances to win because the first one will probably sound unpleasent and lazy from a production point of view and the second one may be a nice piece of music but there was no effort in customising the sounds. Of course if we limit ourselves to only one sound, you are bound to do some mangling otherwise you want have a good enough palette of sounds to make a nice piece of music

Right I am typing all of this really fast as I got to go, hopefully it made sense :)
Got to go bah :)

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Permalink Reply by Jace on July 6, 2009 at 3:26pm

Agreed, Good explanation. its about a balance,
As far as the same genre/theme goes, it would be good to maybe have a different one each comp, to get that better comparision. and it would be an interesting challenge for me as i would expect others, so maybe this would also interest astral in it being a challenge to create sounds to match a specific genre, makes it that little bit more exciting and gives more learning creating genre not in our own area.

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Permalink Reply by Alex - DVD Editor on July 6, 2009 at 4:25pm

Hmmm... it's a tricky one. I'd really like to see this competition grow more. We've got a massive community here and only a fraction are currently entering. My worry at this stage with making the competition too 'niche' or difficult, is that the beginners may be put off entering... That said, we don't want to totally water it down and you could argue that a tougher challenge may entice the more experienced producers.

I think another minor issue at the moment is that it's the same small group discussing how it should develop! We could do with some wider input and opinions. Given that we don't want to put anyone off at this stage, I'd be a little reluctant to impose a genre, as it may take the attention away from the sample manipulation itself and turn people away who hate that specific genre!

My personal thoughts on the matter would be to go with a short rap that has to be remixed into a 1 minute track (maybe just for competition 3). Then we're making the comp a bit more difficult, but can judge the manipulation and creativity more easily. If we were going to go more down the genre route then I think you would want to provide a few more samples... Or possibly something completely different like 'turn 16 bars of string quartet into a Dubstep tune'!

ALL SILENT MEMBERS OF STUDIONET THAT ARE INTERESTED - PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!

Thanks,
Alex

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Permalink Reply by Mathew Gostelow on July 6, 2009 at 5:54pm

I'd be up for getting involved. Must admit I've been a bit of a lurker for too long.

As far as genre-restricted comps - I think that takes a bit of the surprise and individuality out of it, but I'm all in favour of a limited sound pallet, that helps to sharpen skills I reckon.

I dunno though, just my 2 cents.

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