Tune Contest -- WINNER ANNOUNCED (10/04 - 18/04)

DoorKnobHandle · Sun 09/04/2006 23:26:20

TUNE CONTEST
___________________________________

This time we'll get a little experimental.

The rules are simple: write any kind of song using the so called Gypsy scale!

For your information, this is how this scale goes:

Root - Minor Second - Major Third - Perfect Fourth - Perfect Fifth - Major Sixth - Minor Seventh

or:

Root - 1/2 step - 1 1/2 step - 1/2 step - 1 step - 1 step - 1/2 step

or in C:

C - C# - E - F - G - A - A# - (C)

Entries will be judged on how good they express the feel of that slightly uncommon scale and how good the overall production is of course.

Now, stop reading this and get working! Lay down some ideas in this scale, put them together and post your entry! The last time I did this contest, there were NO entries! Don't do that to me again or I'll never enter a tune contest again!

BOYD1981 · Sun 09/04/2006 23:33:13

music contests with rules like this generally don't get many entries so you could end up seeing a repeat of your last contest.
not everyone that makes music knows about and/or knows how to use scales, or even likes being limited to them...

DoorKnobHandle · Sun 09/04/2006 23:41:23

You might be correct. I didn't think about that. I am curently thinking of an alternative set of rules - I'll edit the original post then.

Thanks for letting me know!

Ghormak · Mon 10/04/2006 00:48:42

Are you sure that's the gypsy scale? I found one site claiming it should be a minor sixth and not a major. http://home.swipnet.se/freakguitar/gypsy.html
And then there's this one that's completely different. http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textg/Gypsyscale.html

Both are called the gypsy scale. I know this isn't really a big deal, I guess we could choose any of these and just make a tune with it, but I'm just wondering if you're sure you've heard the scale you proposed being called the gypsy scale, or if it was a mistake?

Gregjazz · Mon 10/04/2006 06:14:50

Otherwise known as Mixolydian b2: the fourth mode of harmonic minor.

[Cameron] · Mon 10/04/2006 06:39:19

How many mixolydians are there? I have trouble enough with the one

Here we are. I had a go. Bit odd I think but at least I finished something. I suck at sustaining a tune though. Anyone wants to show me how I could improve please feel free to do so in PM

Here it is

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 10/04/2006 10:02:51

Hey, we have an entry! I like it!

This also means that it is too late to change the rules, I guess. I am sorry for the songwriters that can't participate because they don't know the required music theory. You'll have to wait this week.

About the question with the scale: You can use both. As long as you bring the scale to sound through your piece that's great!

So. Anybody think he or she can beat Camerons entry? Please?

Paper Carnival · Mon 10/04/2006 12:11:54

Great idea! I love writing songs using weird scales. I'll try to make one soon, thanks for the awesome rules

[Cameron] · Mon 10/04/2006 12:29:26

Dont do it Peepwood! I want to win

Cino · Mon 10/04/2006 13:37:19

I'm not quite familiar with musical theory, but I hope I got it right. So here's my entry (save as probably won't work)
Feel free to disqualify me if I misunderstood the gypsy scale.

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 10/04/2006 13:56:23

That sounds good, Cino! Nice song and I certainly won't need to disqualify you - the "strange" scale was definately there!

Very good. Can't wait for Guybrush Peepwood's entry. Keep it up, guys!

Ghormak · Mon 10/04/2006 15:13:28

From me, the usual incoherent, overkill melodies and impossibility to play on one piano.

Piano Tune nr 11

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 10/04/2006 15:19:26

Wow, that's a great entry! I just loved the melodies and atmosphere that you managed to squeeze out of that scale. Great!

Helm · Mon 10/04/2006 21:30:49

bah, I know this scale inside out but I still couldn't do anything worthwhile with it for this. Oh well.

BAH!

Gregjazz · Tue 11/04/2006 00:52:47

My entry:

21st Century Gypsy

The bass in the tune is from my latest sampling project...

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Tue 11/04/2006 05:36:21

I'm not sure if I got the scale right, I'm not even sure if it's good, but here it is. I'm a more play by ear type of guy, and for some reason this reminded me of Crocodile Dundee once I finished. I mainly did it to try out some soundtracker samples I got anyway.

http://members.cox.net/progzmax/gypsy.ogg

DoorKnobHandle · Tue 11/04/2006 09:22:26

Wow!! Great entries, everybody. Seems like the gypsy-scale rules are quite popular after all.

I will give a short comment on each piece as soon as this competition is closed.

Anymore entries?

He-Man · Tue 11/04/2006 09:34:41

Yo!

Don't close the competition yet. I want to join as well. I just need to get my microphone. I'll get it today and I'll add my entry in a couple of days...
Great entries so far and the competition is just one day old...

Your pal
Niels

Paper Carnival · Tue 11/04/2006 17:20:57

Wow some awesome entries there! Helm's and Ghormak's are my favourite, but there are more good ones. I'm working on mine, it will take a while because I'm slow but it won't be nearly like the quality of Helm's or Ghormak's.

EldKatt · Wed 12/04/2006 11:49:37

Considering the number of replies and successful entries (not that I've listened to them yet), the point I intend to make is probably quite irrelevant, but I still feel the need to vent my frustration.

Is anyone else as tired as I am of the anti-intellectualism (to use a possibly elitist-sounding, but well-intended, word) that arises as soon as someone starts a tune contest with rules that expect a certain prerequisite of musical knowledge? This time it was quickly disproven and didn't give rise to much discussion, but it's not the first time, so I've begun to muse upon its motives. If I went into a sprite jam and complained that I didn't know what a pixel or a palette is, I would get lynched, ignored or consensually disagreed with. This sort of celebration of ignorance seems limited to the field of music. If you don't know what a gypsy scale (or an irregular time signature, or twelve-tone technique, as has been the case in previous contests) is, why can't you take this as an opportunity to learn? (Or am I the only one who takes pleasure in learning about things I didn't already know?) It's a rhetorical question, but I have no idea what the answer is. It seems absurd to me.

I'm sorry if I'm offending anybody; that's not my intention.

That said, I'm probably entering this contest.

biothlebop · Wed 12/04/2006 12:27:52

EldKatt: Because great music can be made without classical knowledge. Pixels and palettes are the building blocks of sprites, scales can be ignored. Your example is comparable to someone asking what is rhytm or what is melody, which exist in practically every song except 4,33.
...but it's quite easy to learn the theory behind this weeks restriciton, or at least worth it.

Made with my first love since 4-5 years back (FL).
Castlevania 2030

EldKatt · Wed 12/04/2006 16:44:08

Quote from: biothlebop on Wed 12/04/2006 12:27:52
EldKatt: Because great music can be made without [theoretical] knowledge.

(You'll see that I've taken the liberty of changing "classical" to "theoretical", because the former word is quite ill-defined and means little to me.)

I disagree. It might appear that skilful "autodidacts" (J.S. Bach was one, would you believe it!) lack theoretical knowledge, but they don't. The only difference is that they got their knowledge from practical experience, rather than from a teacher or a textbook. The knowledge, however, is still the same knowledge. And music is still a craft like any other; you'll need the tools and knowledge of how to use them in order to be successful. Whether you learn of them by example or from a book is sort of irrelevant.

I fail to see how this answers any of my original questions, though. Is the fact that there are successful autodidacts a good reason to avoid theoretical knowledge? Non sequitur.

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 12/04/2006 17:00:12

I really hate to have to interrupt this interesting discussion, but this thread is really not the place to talk about this. If there's still need to discuss this matter, EldKatt, I'd like to see a similar argument over at the General Discussion forum. I do think you have a valid point.

Anyways, great entries.

I didn't even have the time to listen to all your pieces, but I will download them all and listen to all of them - one after the other - once this competition has timed out. So, thanks to all for participating!

EldKatt · Wed 12/04/2006 17:05:53

You are, of course, right. I'm sorry for my reckless hijacking of your thread. If the discussion wishes to continue, it should do so in General Discussion--I could start a thread now to aid it, but that would feel odd if nobody replies. Eh, should I?

Gregjazz · Thu 13/04/2006 00:47:21

Quote from: EldKatt on Wed 12/04/2006 16:44:08
I disagree. It might appear that skilful "autodidacts" (J.S. Bach was one, would you believe it!) lack theoretical knowledge, but they don't. The only difference is that they got their knowledge from practical experience, rather than from a teacher or a textbook. The knowledge, however, is still the same knowledge. And music is still a craft like any other; you'll need the tools and knowledge of how to use them in order to be successful. Whether you learn of them by example or from a book is sort of irrelevant.

Right! You can always tell when someone just doesn't quite have their music theory down.

He-Man · Fri 14/04/2006 14:10:52

Hi
I've made an entry but my website is down for some strange reason, so I can't upload the song.
I'm working on it and I'll post as soon as the song is uploaded...

DoorKnobHandle · Fri 14/04/2006 14:14:55

That's great to hear, He-Man! Remember, you still have almost 4 whole days left to get your page back to work and upload the song there. Alternatively you can always use some free uploading service (which may not be as user-friendly or fast but still works). For example savefile!

Psych0F0x · Sat 15/04/2006 11:08:32

ooh thanks thats what I needed, I'm almost done with my entry, and btw hi all, I'm Ravi, I'm new here.

EDIT
Eh does anyone have alternatives? savefile isnt very practical.

DoorKnobHandle · Sat 15/04/2006 12:17:23

First of all, welcome, Ravi! Can't wait to hear your entry.

Here are some others:

www.yousendit.com
www.rapidshare.de
www.putfile.com

He-Man · Sat 15/04/2006 13:31:44

OlÃ©

Thanks for the upload-links.
My song can be found here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/18062720/the_gypsy_castle.mp3.html
Somehow it reminds me of Seasons in the Abyss but maybe just been to long since I've listened to Slayer.
I'm not that good at making song from a scale and I was actually half way through recording this song before I reconized the scale.

Cheers

EDIT: I forgot to say that the entries are great...

EDIT2: If you want my tune without all the trouble you can get it from http://www.nielshs.dk/soundtrack/thegypsycastle.mp3
Enjoy...

Psych0F0x · Sat 15/04/2006 23:01:46

Here it is, my first attempt to do anything musically with cubase: http://media.putfile.com/Gypsy-tune- I guess it's more of a background music. Nice work yall.

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 17/04/2006 17:59:43

Allright, just letting you know that there are ~30 hours left for entering! Although I really have to say that I haven't seen a tune contest with so many and so great entries in quite a while, thus motivating you guys to enter seems kinda pointless.

Psych0F0x · Mon 17/04/2006 18:13:07

question: is my link working?

DoorKnobHandle · Mon 17/04/2006 18:20:42

Yes, it works, Psych0F0x. Very nice!

As I said earlier, I will give a short review of each song, so rest assured - I will definately go through all your entries and listen to them one after the other to keep things fair.

Psych0F0x · Mon 17/04/2006 18:23:52

cool thanks, I sent the link to a friend and he couldn't get it

Paper Carnival · Mon 17/04/2006 23:38:46

I finished mine in a while, it didn't come out neardly as good as I hoped it would.

I have a problem, the program I use doesn't save to digital audio and I have to record my soundcard's output to save to mp3. The problem is, when I do that it loses a lot of the atmosphere. I spent most of the time trying to get the best atmosphere, fixing the volumes and everything, and most of that is lost because of this stupid thing. So if anyone can suggest something I could do in the future I'd be very thankful...

Anyway, here is what I have now: http://rapidshare.de/files/18272870/Gypsily.mp3.html

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 19/04/2006 16:13:08

Allright, the contest is closed.

I was really very, very satisfied not only with the amount of entries but also with the quality of your work! In the end, it was you who made this round a total blast. Really great, I wish all tune contest had this interest and level of quality -- you can image how hard it was to judge it. Anyways, a short review sentence to every entry will follow. After that I will announce the winner.

Sorted randomly...

Guybrush Peepwood: Very nice piece, I love the atmosphere you create by using distorted guitars with traditional instruments and a great sounding drumset.

ProgZmax: Really atmospheric. You used a very good sounding drumset as well -- however I found the baseline to be repeated too often. Apart from that it was great though.

Ghormak: Amazing piano work. This one reminded me of classical compositions and was very impressing overall!

Psych0F0x: Your song starts off very minimalistic, but I really love the way it turns into a stunning movie theme kind of song after 30 seconds. However, overall the other parts except the theme didn't stand out enough in order to be a track on its own and not a soundtrack in my opinion. Still, that theme is absolutly fantastic!

He-Man: I loved this song. Simple as that. Your voice fits very well -- however it didn't personally remind of Slayer's Seasons In The Abyss.

Cameron: I loved the creepiness of your entry. Especially the piano chords were very scary. It could've used some polishing here and there with the mixing possibly though.

Cino: Very atmospheric, it set a great mood for a game in my opinion. The ending was very abrupt though and seemed unnatural.

Helm: I dig your guitar work. You pulled off some very interesting riffs, a few supporting instruments (bass, drums, synths etc.) may have helped to get the most out of your great ideas -- but that's your decision and it did have character with guitars only.

Geoffkhan: Your sond was great. The drums sounded very smooth as well. It was really a great tune featuring great solos, but it I missed a little variety -- I imagine it would've been great if the overall sound would've changed just a bit at times (for example kick in some distortion for one part of the solo or add new instruments), thus it really only seemed like one long solo part over a constant backing track -- but it was one great long solo!

Biothlebop: This was a great soundtrack for a game. I loved it, but it too was bit repetitive to my ears.

So, before I really announce the winner, I want all of you to know that even if you didn't win, all and every single one of your entries were great. It was really, really close and to be honest, it was impossible to come up with one winner -- but, of course we need one, because that's how tune contests work.

I chose Geoffkhan, because his entry really seemed to appeal the most interesting to listen to. However, again, all your entries were great and deserved prizes as well. So, congratulations to all of you, keep it up!

Thanks for your time, work and interest.

Cino · Wed 19/04/2006 19:39:10

Congrats to Geoffkhan. It was a really good competition, had some very cool entries, even some jaw dropping ones.