Composition Challenge #5 - Voting

Antique_Guitars

Hi Everyone,

Decided just to combine the voting and discussion threads as it should be easy enough to sift through to get the votes.

Thanks to all that entered the competition.

Please use this thread to cast your votes for your favourite entries to Fretboard Challenge #5.
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Voting System - voters can pick their top 3 favourite entries.

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

Entry with the most points wins.

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

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


The winner will be announced just before midnight on the 30th November, this thread will be locked and voting closed at 11.30pm on that day.

(you can edit your vote up to the time the thread is locked)

A reminder of the competition Guidlines:

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Compose a piece of music inspired by the 80's, whether you love hair metal, new romantic, alt indie, electronic music or even if you hate 80's music now is your chance to re-create some of those classic sounds!
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Entries: (in no particular order) (Entrants - please contact me if there are any mistakes with your uploads)

Please see all the entries uploaded on SoundCloud HERE in the FB Challenge #5 playlist.

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Dindude



Thecolourbox



TTony



Daveww



Littlegreenman



Lev



SteamAbacus



Fretwired

Antique_Guitars

Wow some awesome tracks there!

I have only just listened to all of them now, well done everyone amazing!

steamabacus

Just listened to all the entries on SoundCloud. Congrats to everyone - some really excellent entries there! It's going to be difficult once again to pick a top 3, let alone a winner.

I was a little daunted when I first saw this challenge as, although I first learned to play during the 80s, I was always more influenced by music from the 70s. I really wasn't into most mainstream music in the 80s and I still detest the sound of 80s production methods (kind of 50s Phil Spectre wall-of-sound only done on the cheap with low bitrate digital reverb - euuuugh!).

My first thought was to use a knackered old Alesis Quadraverb I have and get some (horribly cheesy) early digital chorus and flanging going. I also threw in a bit of gated reverb for good measure.
I've never really understood 'genres' in music - I realised this stemmed from an early exposure to Frank Zappa who taught me that ALL genres and styles of music could be made to sound interesting - even Country & Western could be good if you made it funny enough!
Also, I remembered learning most of the theory I know from Ralph Denyer's 1982 classic 'The Guitar Handbook' which includes this never-to-be-forgotten quote from Zappa ..

"I think that any device that's been manufactured for usage is worth messing around with, but I try to find applications for them that are unusual. The biggest challenge in making a record, though, is just trying to get the best possible sound from the instrument, to make the instruments sound as good as possible without flanging the piss out of them."

So that's my 80s inspirations - FZ and crappy digital fx.

Right, time to pick a winner..... I'll have to have a few more listens.

Fretwired

I've just finished a quick listen and there are some fine entries. Well done everybody. I need a few more listens but I think I have a favourite.

When I think of the early 80s I think of electronic music so I opted for a homage to Kraftwerk. It may sound simple but there's over thirty layered tracks - everything was played live on my synth/keyboard/ancient drum machine and the only samples are the vocals which I treated to make them more authentic.

I need to improve my mixdown as everything sounds clear until I mix down when it gets a little muddy. Overall I'm pleased with the result. Let's see what everyone else thinks.

dindude

Wow, some awesome stuff here, will need more listens before I vote. I'm also surprised, with this being a gutar forum, that mine is the only cock-rock entry. Loads of synth loveliness here.

TTony

@daveww - where's the rest of it ??

Lev

This is though to call, I've listened to them all a few times now and I like elements of each one. Outstanding work. I'm going to have listen some more before voting.

steamabacus

TTony said:

@daveww - where's the rest of it ??

Trapped somewhere in 1983?

ftumch

Ok I'll kick off the voting, I've chose these based on what I felt fitted the 80's theme best, and obviously which ones I liked most. All great though

1st- lev
2nd-littlegreenman
3rd-fretwired
Thanks for letting me hear your stuff

TTony

Fretwired said:

When I think of the [early] 80s 

Beginning of the 80s, I was still at school with no clue what I wanted to do.  By the end of the decade, I was working for a bank "in the City" during the red braces & Porsches period, and before banking and the City had been totally discredited.  Though, in hindsight, the direction of travel was pretty much set.

Anyways ... musically for me, the beginning of the 80s was the arse-end of punk, leading into part-time disco & radio work through Uni days, then Quo broke-up, Live Aid happened and I don't remember much more.  Music was still walkman rather than iPod, which made it a lot less accessible.

One of the definitive 80's tracks for me is Tainted Love.  Hated it, but there were some hugely extended 12" mixes that (a) filled the dancefloors and (b) meant that I could get to the bar.  And the lav.  And back to the bar again.

It might have been an influence on my composition.

Lev

One of the definitive 80's tracks for me is Tainted Love.  Hated it, but there were some hugely extended 12" mixes that (a) filled the dancefloors and (b) meant that I could get to the bar.  And the lav.  And back to the bar again.

It might have been an influence on my composition.

Maybe you should have called it 'Tainted Lav'..... I'll get my coat 

daveww

steamabacus;416612" said:

TTony said:

@daveww - where's the rest of it ??







Trapped somewhere in 1983?

@Ttony and @steamabacus lol it's stuck in 84 not 83. Can't you tell? Tbh I didn't dare subject you guys to anymore.... Seriously there's some brilliant efforts here. I'm amazed at the quality of some of the recordings as well. I had a quick listen to them all last night and I'm really impressed. It's not going to be an easy choice but I guess it's going to come down to what 80s means and it'll mean different things to each of us.

thecolourbox

=[ beginning to wish I hadn't entered haha or at least had done my usual "last couple of hours before entry closing" effort so I have an excuse... I feel like a taxi driver being the only one with vocals, ie I'm the worst person for the job but do it any way and leave everybody else to suffer for it

Some excellent work here fellows, can't pick a favourite just yet so will listen again

Antique_Guitars

wow we have had 236 listens in the last 24 hours thats pretty good going.

thecolourbox

That might have been me

Lev

5 points - @fretwired

This is just so 80's and the main keyboard drone/riff really stuck in my head after listening. Quality recording also.

3 points - @thecolourbox

This is such a charming little song, it works both in a contemporary context but also could have been release in 1984. There's definitely an 80's Indie feel and I can hear some Morrissey in the vocals.

1 point - @littlegreenman

Chorus, shimmery delay, what's not to love? Excellent lead and bass work also. Brings me back to some early Satriani albums.

All tracks were fantastic, well done everyone!

steamabacus

Right, votes are in .....

1st   @Fretwired  Strom   5 points
Excellent production. Took me right back to sitting in my mate Simon's bedroom as he played Trans-Europe Express really loud trying to convince me to like Kraftwerk. Of course, now I'm older and wiser I realise that Kraftwerk were really good - before the two guys left to form Neu! and Florian and co went totally electronic.

2nd  @thecolourbox  Sheena Is A Monster  3 points
Great, quirky tune. This is about Sheena Easton's bizarre transformation from pre-X Factor Scottish reality TV star into Prince's muse, yes? 
[As an aside, Challenge #4's clip from the Night of the Living Dead would make an excellent tongue-in-cheek video for this song - I can just see Annie Nightingale introducing this on (The-no-longer-Old-or-Grey) Whistle Test]

3rd  @Lev  Murphs Boogie  1 point
Very authentic 80s - to the point where that vocal sample and pounding snare really gets on my nerves!    But once I'd managed to get past that, I realised there's some excellent guitar playing in this one. Is the title an Alan Murphy reference?

horse

1 - @Thecolourbox
2 - @LittleGreenMan
3 - @Lev

Tough to choose between them all tbh. Liked @SteamAbacus nod to the Bergerac theme, and @Dindude's pinched harmonics in particular as well!

steamabacus

horse said:

 Liked @SteamAbacus nod to the Bergerac theme

Er ....yeah, right. Totally deliberate (NOT!)
:-/

Funnily enough, in the late 80s, my mate's landlord/flatmate also played guitar and his favourite tune to play was the Bergerac theme. Something must have buried itself in my subconscious. I haven't heard it in years but I'm off to YouTube now to listen to it.

TTony

Listening to these properly really exposes the limitations of my production techniques.  Or maybe I should look beyond iPad Garageband.  Or maybe I should just learn how to use that properly ...

I think I have my favourites sorted, but, tbh, there's so much depth to some of them that I'm hearing different aspects each time I listen to them, so I'm going to listen again tonight.  Which won't be a hardship!

Lev

Sorry @steamabacus for getting on your nerves :-) I do know what you mean though.

Yes, Alan Murphy was very much the inspiration for this one.