October Music Challenge

nohshow

The Music Challenge isn't really as confrontational as it sounds. It's more to do with testing ourselves and learning from others. And it's open to every musician or lyricist in every conceivable discipline, including the ones I'm about to leave out from the following list: Singers, Lyricists, Guitarists, Bassists, Drummers, Cellists, Flautists, Keyboardists, Kazooists, Orchestral Arrangers and Stylophonists.

We're only in it for the music, so here's the deal:

Every month, or until everybody gets fed up, moves on or becomes incredibly rich and famous, we'll post the address for a backing track. The style will ideally vary each month to make it that much more of a challenge.

Now comes the fun part:

Listen to the backing track.
Let the inspiration flow over you as you do so.
Grab the instrument(s) of your choice and fill in the blanks as you see fit.
Record the result and upload it to SENDSPACE or PUTFILE or any other server of your choice and PM me with the address. I'll then put all the addresses together at the end of the month and we can all have a listen to each other's work and comment appropriately.

There are no hard rules to this except for these:

1) No snobbery about recording quality or vocal skills (unless the entrant professes excellence in singing). Offer practical help or assistance instead.

2) Voting should be according to what you like about the musician's contribution.

3) You can add as many parts as you like and are able to do, you can re-edit the backing track to suit yourself, supplement it or even re-record it to fit your preferred style or tempo, but you should not make the song significantly longer than the original without some serious justification. There is also no reason in the world why two or more people can't work together on one submission, but please mention each person's individual contribution.

4) Copyright of the backing track remains with the original composer and you must consult with the copyright holder before performing or re-recording it for any reason outside the confines of this Challenge. You retain any copyright pertaining to your contribution(s) to the recording, so if you create a sublime melody you can, of course, re-use it yourself. Further use of any aspect of the end result should be negotiated fairly between the composer of the backing track and the composer of each contribution involved.

5) Backing tracks submitted must be copyright free within the guidelines of the above paragraph (4). Please do not submit a backing track that is taken from someone else's copyright material or whose copyright is not wholly owned by you. It will be noticed. You will go to jail.

6) This Challenge is open to any musician whether they are regular posters or not. The idea is to encourage more people to get involved, not to make music more cliquey than it already is. If you wish to add a couple of lines of bio and/or a link to your own website, please feel free.

7) If submitting lyrics, aim for an age range of between All-ages and 12/15. If you have to use content that may be considered offensive, please mention it before linking to your submission. Depending on the exact content, the mods may decide to remove it. You have been warned, etc.

8) This is not intended as a collaborative programme, but if collaborations emerge as a result, that's okay. It's much more like a virtual jam-session. There are no demands on anyone to contribute. It's completely up to you how often you participate, if at all. If a backing track doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. If two or three in a row don't appeal to you, try to submit one of your own.

9) Comments are welcome from anyone, even non-contributors, but bear in mind Rule 1).

No hard rules, then. Okay...

If anyone has more suggestions about the rules or format, PM me or post it here. If anyone can help me figure out the fine details of stickies and how to get a poll thingy going, I'm all ears. I haven't a clue about those things.

Other comments welcome as well, of course.

It's now 24 Sep 06. The first backing track will be posted later in the week. I hope a few of you will join in.

feylya

This belongs in the collaboration forum...

Fingers Mcginty

nohshow, count me in anyway

Beecher

Have a backing track nearly complete, ill try and get it up later to see what people think.

mike65

Could be interesting.

Mike.

nohshow

Recording on a PC.

Minimum Requirements:
A PC running Windows or Linux or an Apple Mac.
A duplex sound card (to enable you to listen while recording).
Waveform recording software. There are loads on the market for free
apart from Audacity, which I keep mentioning cos I use it. It's
available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
Depending on your instrument, you may need some or all of the
following: a suitable Microphone, an Amp or Pre-Amp. Anything else
is optional.

The Process:
Plug Mic into the Mic-In of the sound card OR plug the line out from
your amp/pre-amp/mixing desk into the Line-In. It is possible also
to plug guitars and some keyboards into the Mic-In, though keyboards
would more often have Line-Outs so you'd use the Line-In.

Set your mixing desk to accept input from WAV and from whichever
input you're using, Line or Mic. (click on the loudspeaker icon in
the tray or another icon that might be specific to your sound card -
Linux users should be sure that either ALSA, JACK or the other one
I've forgotten is running). If the input source you want doesn't
appear on the menu, go OPTIONS and PROPERTIES to select it.

Adjust levels.

Download the backing track.

Play it back in your Waveform Editor, for this example I'm using Audacity.

When ready, hit record. A new track opens up to record your new
track(s). These will play back in synch together when you're done.
You can record several tracks this way and choose the best later.

Mixdown using the QuickMix command after you've set a reasonable
average level.

Save the resulting track as a WAV or (in preference) and MP3.

Upload according to the instructions of your favourite Uploader site
and PM me.

You can also set a portable cassette recorder running and hope for
the best, absolutely no reason why not if that's all you can get your
hands on, but other than that, I think this is the most basic way to
record yourself with a backing track if you want a slight bit of
editing flexibility. More complicated methods are available in
Cubase and Cakewalk.

If anyone else has suggestions, please add them.

nohshow

Beecher wrote:

Have a backing track nearly complete, ill try and get it up later to see what people think.

Brill. Fingers is getting a bit antsy .

frobisher

I'm about to go away for a lot of October but fingers crossed I'll have time to get something in on this! If not, I'll defo be there for next month. Should be wortha go!

red_ice

count me in!

guitar and bass... and if you need a drummer, i can lay something down im sure pritty quick with damn good quality (for a 16 piece drum kit)..

I can also do some vocal work front and back, but im not that keen on it!

man i love colaborations

Fingers Mcginty

red_ice wrote:

count me in!

guitar and bass... and if you need a drummer, i can lay something down im sure pritty quick with damn good quality (for a 16 piece drum kit)..

I can also do some vocal work front and back, but im not that keen on it!

man i love colaborations

Check out the previous thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054993314&page=3

My tune is at the below addy It needs a nice bass line...go on give it a shot

http://www.sendspace.com/file/w5g2gk

Fingers Mcginty

can someone get the ball rollin' please

Beecher

Fingers Mcginty wrote:

can someone get the ball rollin' please

Ive got something in process, just im currently self employed and also in my final year of college so contractual duties and my thesis proposal have been eating up my time so far this week, but I should be able to get a backing done by Thursday.

nohshow

Come Hell or High Water, a backing track goes up tonight. I'll PM everyone who's shown an interest so far, if anyone knows of anyone else who might be interested you could give them a shout, too.

More details as soon as the track goes up.

Fingers Mcginty

good stuff..looking forward to it

nohshow

A backing track is uploaded now, I'll follow this with the addy.

First, though, the formats:

I'm afraid I broke one of the rules, it's about 4 minutes long, kind of a slow blues I did as a demo (Thanks, Brenda). Just a basic backing, drums, bass and rhythm guitar with all its blemishes. I've uploaded it as:

1 - The whole backing track
2 - All except the Bass guitar
3 - All except the Rhythm Guitar
4 - All except the drums

There's room for anything but if you're going to do MIDI, be warned the sync slips after about a minute and seven seconds (manual edit to get the duration down) but it should hold fine after that. I don't recall the BPM but it's probably a round number like 100 or 130 or something.

Now, I know everyone won't want to play along with this, but I hope some of you will give it a try and look forward to the results. Let's give ourselves till 30 October (that's a Monday, so if you're like me you'll do it all in the weekend before).

When you're done, just upload it and PM the addy to me so I can keep them all together.

If you have any problems with anything, I'm sure you'll let me know and I'll do what I can.

Now:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/8k0zng - The Complete Backing Track
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ihf8w4 - Without Rhythm Guitar
http://www.sendspace.com/file/aky5rg - Without Drums
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wr2q2z - Without Bass Guitar

Have fun, guys, good luck and happy playing.:)

mike65

Er where the fup did the hammond come from? Its on all the versions?

Mike.

nohshow

The Hammond organ is an electric organ which was designed and built by Laurens Hammond in April 1935. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a low-cost alternative to the pipe organ, it came to be used for jazz, blues, and to a lesser extent rock music (in the 1960s and 1970s) and gospel music. It was widely used in United States military chapels during the Second World War, and returning soldiers' familiarity with the instrument may have helped contribute to its popularity in the post-war period.

Go on, ask me another.:)

mike65

I did'nt mean 'where did it develope from' I mean I was'nt expecting to hear keys on your backing track (thanks for the info though!)

Mike,

Fingers Mcginty

nohshow....no offence but that backibg track aint the best. have you another one up your sleeve?

nohshow

No offence taken, Fingers, I ain't the best, either. Maybe there should be two or three choices each time. Anyone have any more??

Fingers Mcginty

Jesus,,,,you are so diplomatic:D

Beecher

Sorry, been away. How about this backing..

Drums,Bass,Strings

Drums,Bass

Drums

nohshow

Welcome back. Mean it.

Yeah, I think I can do something with that. I actually thought I might have to slow it down, but I've had a go now and I don't think I will. Anyway, I've come up with a couple of ideas I'll be trying out next week.

condra

i could only get the "backing all" mp3... but Ill see what I can do.

Its nice to finally see people colaborating on this.

condra

I dont sing or play an instrument and the production is a bit f*&ked but anywyas...

heres mine:

www.womoma.com/files/checkthis.mp3

Fingers Mcginty

methinks that's the challenge gone for this month eh?....cannot access the file that the ould beecher posted

condra

feck. ok ima gonna make a thread with some samples that ill host on my site.

red_ice

womoma wrote:

I dont sing or play an instrument and the production is a bit f*&ked but anywyas...

heres mine:

www.womoma.com/files/checkthis.mp3

sick. what did you use for that? Theres a nice drive to it, the vocals are crap, but they work with the song, its got a... bombfunk mc feel to it with a progressive house twist - i like it ^^

condra

I used Live 6.
I set up another October Challenge here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055001582
coz the files are gone for the first one before anyone started. Its just a few housey loops, hopefully someone can mess with them.

nohshow

Womoma, Checkthis: If that isn´t the best thing I´ve ever heard ever anywhere, then my ears must be broken. Was that my piano? (Maybe not) I really thought it was triffic. NIce job, man/woman (I´ve learned to take nothing for granted around here).

JUst downloaded your backings, I´ll see if there´s anything I can do that won´t embarrass us both.

condra

Noshow Im chuffed you like the track. yeah it was your piano, I only used the first 4 bars of the backing track. I had to readjust the groove somewhat to fit that 4/4 housey format.

Looking forward to hearing what you come up with using my dodgy backings.

Regarding man/woman.. man-woman will do fine! My birth cert says Im a dude though, although my medical card says Im a girl, seriously.
Ive got a willy but my girlfriend doesnt mind too much, thankfully shes mostly heterosexual. Ok Im ranting now. I should go to bed.