Hey @Lois Lane
Strange Reflections, eh? In some circumstances, inner reflection can end up proper strange.

Music-mangling by me and voiced by MIdnight Furie of RadioTFSC, the project below, much akin to your painting, lures a person into a relaxing state of mind.

https://www.oarpower.com/tutti/download/HereBeDragons (Meditation).wav

It's 20 minutes (plus small change) long.

 

Last edited: Jun 3, 2024

Sorry for not replying earlier but I had a drudge today.

I actually listened to it the first that I awoke this morning and it made my day. Hearing Midnight Furie's voice after such long a spell had a profound effect on my face...I grinned from ear to ear. After a few minutes I centered myself and dove deeper into the meditation and followed it as I entered the cave. As I was nearly nose to nose with my dragon guide and our eyes were locked in a spirit stare Flirty Gertie came up behind me silently from the shadows and gave me a quick boot on my butt which scared both myself and my dragon guide. I'm lucky Nithe (that's is my dragon guide's name) didn't burn my face off in fright.

The accompanied music is a perfect fit for Midnight's beautiful voice and majickal prose and is setting the highest standard for the rest of the participants to aim for. Incredibly well done and I feel blessed by your participation!

 

@DarthFader : did you write this song for the contest?

 

@Grape Ape : there is one sound effect in the piece that was not created by me. A Welsh sheep contributed a solitary "baaaaaa". So, I guess that technically disqualifies my entry, eh?
Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

 

its okay, relax, its a simple question. was the song created for the contest?

 

In my capacity as "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" I have spent hours listening, researching, interviewing both flocks of sheep and sheep dogs in the Welsh countryside, have spoken with the eminent Professor Eshwar Mahenthiralingam who heads the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University over pizza and mango beer at the Zerodegrees restaurant, and while still trying to uncover the veracity of Darth Vader and the Good Lady Midnight's submission aquired one hellava two day hangover from plying sherherds with spirits gathered in some fucking backwater pub who insisted on a shot of Bullion Rum per question...and beside my own queries, they had dozens of their own (bastards even asked me how many fingers I had on my left hand at one point!).

In conclusion and after deliberating with Saint, ArctiStorm, @No Avenger (he's so out there in a secret location somewhere in The Black Forest at a silent monk's retreat that we needed to communicate by carrier pigeon which he oddly provided me with the day before he left...never got a live bird in the Post before) and omiac, and can confirm that both that the sheep sample is an actual Welsh sheep named Chloe who is a (one of many) secret girlfriend of the Welsh Prime Minister Vaughan Gething and the entry itself was written specifically for the contest.

@DarthFader ... you're still in the running with a legitimate entry. Please do not lose any more sleep over this, it's just not worth it.

Sorry, Prime Minister, but it just had to be said! (His father was a veterinarian and this issue is multigenerational)

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2024

Awww... @Lois Lane. You're too kind. Well, that's what I heard from Chloe the sheep anyways. Her comments concerning the former Welsh First Minister's introduction of a 20mph speed limit throughout Wales are vile. It means nobody is allowed to go fast enough to catch Chloe and satisfy her carnal instincts.

 

@Lois Lane : he cant answer a question himself? and if he didnt make it for the contest, doesnt that defeat the purpose? the whole contest is around making a song for the painting.....

if we can just submit anything we've made at any time in our lives that kinda matches, and you dont care, the painting is pointless

@DarthFader : what are you afraid of? its a question, if you dont want to talk about your art with other artists, thats cool. but now it seems like youre trying your best to not answer a simple question honestly, so ill take it as you didnt make the guided meditation for or from this; since you need others to speak for you regarding your work

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2024

Lost in a lonely sky,
Falling like a stone,
No letters, no words, no lines,
I am blind...

 

I'd love to participate, but I don't have access to my keyboard or studio speakers, so I'm on 20 euro headphones for now...

 

@Aidene : nice job, very cinematic. i especially like when the drums come in, makes it more like a spiritual experience with that and the backing vocals - theres definitely a feeling of openness that makes it seem large and expansive; having the sparse instrumentation, especially in the beginning, helps get the feeling of loneliness across around your voice

only thing i would say is; its very floaty; unless youre in space, i feel like falling like a stone would be faster paced, with gravity and all - overall i get the feeling though, which is a great and i like the sound design

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2024

thanks for your comments @Grape Ape ............yeah ok point taken i see that ..... maybe the bird was falling in slow motion movie fx ........dramatic affect. It was in slow motion in my imagination

 

im down , but seriously dont expect any attempt at mixing or even mastering from me at all cause my headphones broke and all i have are some 5 dollar walmart ones until my amazon order gets here

 

Hi everyone! Thank you gals and guys for these creations!

(And I'm sorry to take this looong time to finish my own contribution, full of doubts and questions, started over and again loads of times, still not sure that the result will not be the sonic catastrophe I announced earlier... )

~~~

First, concerning the @Aidene's contribution, I must start with a serious warning: if you wanna receive a giant slap in your face at 2:47, please raise the level of your headphones!

It was my case, and my two cheeks are still red as tomatoes! I think I received in fact a double slap on my face, with this enOoormOuuus bass sound which plunge deeeeep into the guts of your unconscious....
I know it's theoretically impossible with headphones, but even several minutes after, I keep feeling my body vibrating in (sym)pathetic resonance...

Apart from that, I was expecting something special, and it's exactly what I got! If you close your eyes since the beginning, you will understand that this music is an actual voyage across the creator's patiently built dream country... Based / biased on an impression of reality?

Because sometimes, what gives the ultimate deepness to a creation, is when the starting point, or one of the elements, is an (in)direct reflection of / about what the creator sees / feels about the present.

This music have a lot to offer: it allows us to consider our reality from a more distanced, poetic, philosophical point of view, helped a lot by the beautiful voice that brings human, warm, compassionate harmonics to the sound scene, like a healing incantation...

"Falling like a stone"? This is a feeling that anybody can live at some moments, but this work of Art offers us also a way to fly back up to the surface of the Lake, and to keep on flying always higher, enlightened by the full summer Light.

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2024

Now just a little word concerning this creation:

Thank you to allow us to listen to your contribution, but actually I couldn't dare to say anything about it, because I have difficulties to understand spoken English without subtitles, do you have a link to a page with a textual transcription of the story / guided meditation, even partial?

The first impression is interesting and positive, but I got that your music follows closely the narrator... narrator that alas, for a French guy, is difficult to follow with all the nuances etc... And so the risk is to don't fully enjoy the richness of the text.

Whatever, anything that I could tell is insignificant, so I will better simply read the others' advice with interest.

@Lois Lane wonderful, incredible, majestic Dragon's portrait! Love it!

 

@Amore_de_la_Vida : so you had the original idea for this contest right? what happens on the forum where you got it, if its suspected that a piece wasnt created from the painting or for the contest?

i understand you dont understand english well; but the meditation doesnt have anything to do with reflection, its about guidance. the lady is guiding you through a forest, to meet guides, who you then look for guidance from; and then she guides you out

they avoid simpler questions, so im curious what they do they on your forum in such cases?

 

@Amore_de_la_Vida firstly, oops, and apologies for 2:47 !

The boom was deliberate, obviously, and was meant to signify the bird hitting deep and hard. You were meant to "feel" it. I mixed it on JBL Series 3 monitors, so they can handle a lot of low end. I haven't heard it on headphones. But yes, I take your point and can see I was heavy-handed on emphasizing that moment of sound and it's a lesson learned. I hope the redness and the body vibrations have settled down, and you are back to normal now

For the rest of your review....thank you so much. You have a lovely, very poetic way of writing. I am glad you enjoyed listening...apart from the unexpected sound punch to your solar plexus and importantly that your ears and your headphone drivers survived!

 

Your question is totally legitimate, but I think that the answer is in the hands of @Lois Lane, she's the only one who can take the decision to accept a contribution, or not, based on the rules she agrees, or not, and based on the answers @DarthFader could bring to the table... or not, if he/she doesn't want to explain anything. Though I wish he/she'd make a minuscule effort to answer clearly, considering there is nothing to win, no pressure and no real competition.

One word concerning the original idea: it is not mine, but comes directly from the French forum I often take a pause to chit-chat in. I don't know who exactly had the original idea, because this friendly contest started long, long time ago: the last one is the 78th!

So I can't claim nor own anything, it was just a suggestion for fun and musical friendship.

 

@Amore_de_la_Vida : well Lois Lane already made up their mind, so it is what it is i guess. i definitely wouldnt have entered if anyone could just enter anything and nobody can question it and the host doesnt care if people follow the rules. makes it unfair to the people following the guidelines

but whatever, ill let it go; if the host doesnt care, then i dont care - thanks for another perspective tho

 

I'm very interested in this friendly contest. I've been in a musical slump for nearly two years. It could be exactly this that breaks it, and gets me at least wanting to open my DAW these days.

Thank you @Lois Lane for setting this up, but just to be clear, the entry track name should be called "Strange Reflection", and the music should reflect what inspiration you get from the piece of artwork that you have provided? If I have mistaken this, I'm very sorry. That's exactly why I'm asking this question. I don't want to miss anything.

Just to mention, in case I do actually end up being able to complete a track for this, everything that I do will be programmed. I don't use loops or samples. All guitar, bass and drums will be programmed, because I cannot play any instruments. Keyboard/synth included. That should be interesting.

@Grape Ape, I agree with you. I think this would be much better if we all wrote a brand new track from scratch to enter. It feels that it's not that much of a contest if we can enter anything that we have laying around. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but that's my two cents.

I do also think, what is the point of a time limit if we can just enter songs we have laying around? Again, just my 2 cents.

I'm sorry I keep on editing my comment. These are thoughts typed down as I think them.

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2024