Hi everyone,

At the French forum I used to hang, someone one day had the idea to organize a friendly compositions' "contest" (nothing to win and no real winner, it's just an excuse to exchange views, and review / criticize other's creations).

What is different about these periodical contests, is that the compositions must be inspired by an image chosen by one of the participants. Anyone can participate, but each time there is a deadline: you must finish your work before one or two months (organizer's decision) after the contest have been officially launched.

All the songs must be 100% original, and directly inspired by the image that is chosen by the "organizer", a person randomly chosen among the participant...

At first, there was a vote during which the "best" song was elected, so the person that was elected this way became the "organizer" of the following "contests", meaning: it's this person who is in charge of choosing the next image (it could really any image, taken anywhere, but it must be inspiring, and preferably subject to interpretation) and open the new thread at the forum. But now, no more vote anymore: the "organizer" is randomly chosen.

Last time, here's the image that was chosen by the "organizer":

​

This image is in fact a real painting composed by the hands the "organizer", it is called "Faust".

Why I have taken the time to explain all this? Simply because this kind of friendly happening could very well possibly exists here, in this forum, if there is volunteers to organize it (I could of course participate, but I couldn't be the one who organize) and of course if the moderators / webmaster are OK with it.

So now that you have the origin / context, here's the little thing - inspired by the painting of course - that I proposed for the last "contest":



Compo in 3 parts (00:000 -> 01:53, 01:53 -> 03:31, 03:31 -> 07:28), the last one is deeply inspired by Vangelis (RIP). The second one was supposed to include a vocal part, unfortunately one year of hospitalization have completely ruined my abilities in this domain.

(EDIT: Oops, forgot to say that the first part is a humble tribute to Dead Can Dance)

(And here my thoughts goes deeply in direction of Olymoon, will never cease to regret his almost-continuous presence here and there and his incredible work for this forum and the sister site!)

 

Last edited: May 26, 2024

I'm glad that you're out of the hospital and hopefully on the road to full recovery.

I like both the idea of a contest that isn't a contest and as well your own submission.

I was just the other day listening to Into The Labyrinth. It is a perfect album in my opinion.

 

Certainly an interesting idea!!
Im assuming its not a Genre specific proposition?

Id throw my hat in the ring for sure

Btw "1.11 TO 1.15 theres a gorgeous kinda dark bowed hook, great for a pre drop DnB Project"

 

Thanks a lot, @Lois Lane ! "Into The Labyrinth" 1993... Each album of this wonderful collective of creation had been like a punctuation in my life...

In terms of organization, you master your partition very well for sure! "Alien in a Jar" is a wonderful and amazing project! It's why I secretly hope that you will take the head of this one too!

But whatever you do, I would like to attract your attention to the fact that in this forum, we often talk about techniques and mixing, but more rarely, about the music itself. And what I really appreciated in the French thread at this other site, it's that the technique was secondary, we discussed above all about inspiration, poetry, arrangements, etc...

Because we are all unequal in terms of hard or soft, and above all in knowledge. Not all members of AS have the ability to loop samples, make sound design (like Olly did ), (re)mix or master tracks, etc. It's why I think this kind of - false - contest have to be most inclusive as possible and include also those who don't have any technical ability, but have interesting musical / lyric writing abilities.

In particular, there's a implicit, non-spoken rule about the fact that we should review each other's work, in positive or negative - or any nuances between the two -, because it's a pretext to develop ideas and debate, not only on Music itself, but on everything's artistic, and human.

Last thought: You know what finally decided me to participate? It's the deadline! The fact that I have to develop my ideas in only one month was really motivating.

 

Ok, I'll bite and do the organizational thing...starting tomorrow as I'm going to sleep in a couple of minutes..

I'm much more into expressing the creative aspect of anything that I do and am with you on that. Hardware or the software employed is generally secondary, the motivation and origin of emotion driving a song to me is primary.

 

Wooow... great! Thank you!!!

Now, @jynx and I will have to face a new composition challenge, depending closely on the image you will propose!
It will be... hard! There will be bl... eh... beer?

 

Outstanding work!

 

Actually it was Beth who was the beauty and brainchild behind Alien In A Jar, wearing the hat of executive producer, editor, composer and she even pitched in to wash the dishes when the washing machine went kaput.

I assume that as organizer I'll need wait till the next round to field an entry.

In following the theme, this is the last painting that I did about 20 years ago entitled "Odd Reflection". It is acrylic on linened board.



I'll split the difference and pronounce the final day to submit a song shall be on July 8th, 2024 which is six weeks from now.

Good luck and may your muse whisper sweet melody in your ear.

 

Last edited: May 27, 2024

So this is a paint for "our" little contest as I guess? Maybe other topic about it will good solution? ;)

 

I agree with this. Maybe opening a new topic (topics with an s, probably in the future) with a title like: | 'title of this friendly contest' - 'name of painting' - 'submission date' | to create a clear indication between each cycle.

Also, I feel inclined to suggest at least some parameters for this competition. To treat this almost like a musical cue so the submissions aren't too varied in length. Organizer can set the length of the compositions (i.e. a 3 minute track +/- 1 minute). Could have multiple cues, be a short/long cue, or whatever the case the organizer decides. With the nature of this competition being very open-ended, I think having a time limit would be beneficial to bring every one of different musical backgrounds to a similar goal. What do you think guys?

 

I'm on it! Give me a minute as I'm a little busy for a couple hours. Great points!

 

@Amore_de_la_Vida great track! Well done indeed! Right up my alley Also like the idea of the 'competition' ......i'd certainly take part

 

I meant...Aidene

 

A good one but a bit repetitive.

Maybe if it was a video, it would be less repetitive.

 

Last edited: May 27, 2024

Hi everyone, and THANK you for your interest and listening!

Yes, I agree that the "contest" should sit in a completely separate thread, this one was just a presentation, and also I was curious to read different points of view about my little compo...

Yes @Danie , of course it's repetitive... because I was supposed to sing on it! But as I said, my voice is almost ruined, but I already started to make a series of vocal exercises with a specialist, an attempt - perhaps completely vain - to recover some abilities / notes / tessitura? Future will tell! (Perhaps, if I work very, very hard...)

(If ever you wanna have an little idea of my original voice, please listen to this, it's the voice I had in the 90's... recorded on a cheap cassette tape recorder!)

About the length of the propositions: I'm not sure it's good omen to start with too severe restrictions, I think we should let the composers decide... What is the difficulty to listen to one minute or seven minute song ? None.

All the participants are invited to listen to the others' productions, and to say something about it, whatever you think, my point is: you can't progress nor evolve if you have no critics. Receiving different POVs is always positive in the end, because it can opens creative doors in your mind and envision other ways of creation...

@Lois Lane : Woow thank you for the painting! It's perfect because it can be interpreted in many different ways, I think each one of us can say something different about it... P.e.r.f.e.c.t.!

Conclusion: Thanks a lot for your listening and reading, see you in the other thread!

@Aidene and @Lois Lane: Of course I will listen to your own contributions with great attention, and to all the others!

 

@Amore_de_la_Vida
Your goal is composition, but I feel it won't be fulfilled in this thread. The reason is that most people's understanding of music is mixing of sounds, loops, samples and suchlike by any means. Hope people settle on other ways to achieve your goal.

 

H

Im assuming by "Image" you essentially mean the direction or "Genre" im moving within right..

Erm well the image in my mind is one of a Dark Nature.

Therefore im gonna goto my Forte,

"Dark Intelligent DnB"

 

Last edited: May 27, 2024

However i need time

And i also need other members to participate for me to use my energy reserve

Truth is if others participate, i ask for a 5 to 7day period To program

Im Scepticle many will mind you

That said Friendly rivalry is also the mainstay of Progression so i always welcombe that

 

Last edited: May 27, 2024

In fact, by image I mean literally... image. A *.jpg, a *.png and so on, which will serve as an inspiration to compose your contribution.
This is the (amusing) principle of this false contest: you have to compose something directly inspired by the image proposed by the "Organizer in Chief". In this case, this is @Lois Lane .

Please, have a look at the image - it's a real painting, made by our Chief with her own hands - in the Lois Lane message above.
This will constitute our source of inspiration in the next weeks!

About time: our Organizer have decided that the limit of time will be: July 8th of this year.
So you see, you have 6 weeks to compose your contribution, if you want of course, no rush!

 

Yes Yes i resalise that!

What im getting at is the emotional diretion the image Itself drives one towards!!

"Musically speaking"