The Challenge March 2013 - Voting - GuitarTalk Community

The Challenge March 2013 - Voting

Renesongs

We have had a bumper crop of entries this month Delay challenge. Some entrants, indicated their skills category, beginner, intermediate or advanced. Each member of has three votes one for each category. As not all entrance indicate there category and there is no mechanism for us to control how you cast your vote it is a matter of conscience how you exercise your vote. Voting ends Sat 6 April.

[quote author=ftcl link=action=profile;u=6768 date=1364072072] Thought I'd give this month's challenge a go. Here's my effort: https://soundcloud.com/christiaan-jacobus-mentz/first-gfsa-challenge-effort I read somewhere that the entries will be split into beginner, intermediate and advanced? If so, I reckon this should be in beginner... :-[ [/quote]

[quote author=Adrian Rogowski link=action=profile;u=2434 date=1364117865] Can I be entered into advanced, if there will be categories that is. This is my rendition of a delayed track. It’s very progressive, I am aware of that. Also, there are a lot of vocals, but they are manipulated to quite a degree. None the less, it is my voice. Everything is delayed except the drum/bass groove that comes in halfway. Enjoy https://soundcloud.com/fruitargeek/delamentia [/quote]

[quote author=briang link=action=profile;u=1940 date=1364122917] Link to my entry for this month. I think there was a problem with the "#" previously so therefore two :-) https://soundcloud.com/#brian-john-gallagher/briang_mar2013-competition https://soundcloud.com/brian-john-gallagher/briang_mar2013-competition Thanks and Cheers Brian [/quote]

[quote author=V8 link=action=profile;u=1415 date=1364123626] Thanks as usual for doing the admin behind the competitions. Heish, a catastrophic hardware crash stymied my attempts to start early and finish strong for this challenge. I'm missing two tracks from 0:58 onward, a outro & a whole bunch of polish. This is as far as I managed to get : https://www.box.com/s/9vzvuzvv4jpylgac2adg Greets, V8 [/quote]

[quote author=Jethro link=action=profile;u=4844 date=1364158565] This is my entry for the challenge this month. Regardless of the quality or skill, I had fun doing it. http://soundcloud.com/stabbings/b-jethro-habeas-corpus [/quote]

[quote author=Hammeron link=action=profile;u=3309 date=1364744016] This is my entry for the March challenge: The subject for this challenge was great, it left it open for me to enter under my favourite genre. Then the pressure was on for me to learn how to use my new br600 {Thanks Shaun ;)} Nothing like a little pressure! This is a riff I came up with a few weeks ago, soon to be a Tamla Kahn song. It is me on my V thru the br600. {No Marshall !! } I hope there is sufficient delay. Enjoy! https://www.box.com/s/fjv52mvow20w2322aig8 [/quote]

[quote author=G-Man link=action=profile;u=2202 date=1364805098] Here is my compo entry. https://www.box.com/s/lp257z41ylmnl1iuh4z1 Cheers G [/quote]

[quote author=Alan Ratcliffe link=action=profile;u=10 date=1364867432] All one guitar: https://www.box.com/s/1p54pbpp6gsknidkmwr8 If anyone wants it, I'll explain what I done did later... Alan [/quote]

[quote author=RudivwDarkLord link=action=profile;u=8571 date=1364891536] Ahoy! Sorry for the delay (no pun intended lol) Here is the link to my submission for the March challenge ;) hope it is enjoyable :D. https://www.box.com/s/09yiarcm8ms219qr0uuh [/quote]

(old forum) Poll Results: Delay

ftcl: 2
Adrian Rogowski: 13
briang: 7
V8: 9
Jethro: 12
Hammeron: 6
G-Man: 2
Alan Ratcliffe: 21
RudivwDarkLord: 6

AlanRatcliffe

I uploaded a tweaked version of mine a few minutes ago.

FruitarGeek

First off, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who entered. This is the biggest turnout I have ever seen, and I am excited to hear more from all of you. I encourage as many people as possible to enter these competitions. You only stand to gain.

Secondly, I realise that delays are not the easiest things to work with in studio, partly because sometime the mix becomes so muddled, or the timing becomes so finicky that you can't actually hear the delay, which is kinda pointless then.

Anyway, I've had the pleasure of listening to each and every entry, and here are my thoughts for each:

ftcl: I have never seen you enter the comps, so welcome. Was great to hear your entry. I am a big fan of large sound-scape sounds. The synth and delay guitar was very pleasant to my ears. But, next time, I'd like to hear you do a bit more. You kinda just repeated the fast strumming of single notes. This track had plenty of potential, and I would of loved to hear you utilize every ounce of it. The chord choices where great!

briang: This is your best entry by far. The drums sounded much better than last time. Your song had a 'Shadows' feel to it. I like the Shadows 8) The melodic impact is quite good, and this track is quite original too. But for quite a large portion of the song, there is no delay? i.e. the intro, and then when your guitar does that solo. The delay should be the main emphasis, not a supporting feature. A great track though. You can take pride in your work!

V8: Very very nice. Solid rock groove! The delay complitmented the track quite nicely. But from 0.59s onwards, the track changed a bit, and I could no longer hear the delay. Was your delay track one of the few that got lost? Would of LOVED to hear something there, it would of made the song complete. But a solid entry none the less. You've stepped up your game.

Jethro: I don't know which category you placed yourself under, but you certainly aint no begginer ? This was an outstanding track. A good song for starters, and delay was good too. I enjoyed the delay guitars particularly in the beginning riff, and the ending riff. When one strums, it becomes hard to hear and appreciate the delay. You got some good producing skills man!!

Hammeron: True to the genre. I like. The drums first of all where grooving hard, and your riff was wells suited for the groove. My main gripe with the song . . . where was the delay? :-\ I couldn't hear anything in your opening riff, and then when you did those little riffs halway, the delay was so subtle, it almost sounded like a reverb. That middle part also sounded quite bare to me. Would of been awesome if you did some Dragon Force like 2 or 3 part guitar harmonies + delay. Alas, your guitar was all alone. I'm sure you will turn this into a killer song for the band

G-man: A wicked wicked entry. I don't know if you played Diablo I, or any of them for that matter, but this song reminded me EXACTLY of the Tristan song. Your song took me on a journey. It was a good use of delay, I know for a fact, had the delay not been there, the effect the song is trying to provoke would not have been there. The delay created this ominous feeling, and I think you knew this too!! Well done. I must add that you were a very close second to getting my vote for the Int category. I was stuck between you and Jethro, however, I feel that Jethro just did a bit more with the delay then what you did. However, it doesn't detract from the fact that your song was perfect as is, it's just one of those things.

Alan: Ah, Alan, I don't think much needs to be said about your song. You say this is all one guitar? If so, you already have my vote! Then again, I am convinced your mother gave you a tape delay for your first birthday or something. You are born to use delay haha! Great track.

Rudevw: I also havn't seen you in these neck of the woods? Welcome! glad to see so many new contestants, and good ones for that matter. Okay, your entry. The song was a solid song. Nothing I can say bad about it. I enjoyed it, and it's something I expect to hear on some high-end metal bands album one day. My issue? same as Hammeron's. Where is the delay? Now I know it is in there, but it become incredibly hard to hear it with everything else going on in the backround. Unfortunately this does not work in your favour, cause I would of loved to have had the delay be more pronounced.

So the 3 that got my vote:
BEG - briang
INT - Jethro
ADV - Alan

Again, congrats all. See you next month ?

AlanRatcliffe

Nice broad range of entries, from "drainpipe" and subtle simple repeats, through "The Edge" and some stuff I'm gonna have to listen to again before I vote.

I said elsewhere that I used two delays, but I just realised I used four (I know, right? How do you forget two delays?). Breakdown as follows:

All recorded in one take on my Strat with both magnetic and piezo pickups.

1 - ("Acoustic" - Left) The piezo sound is not delayed as such, but I split the signal into chains each with a reverse delay, modulation and a pitch shifters for the pads (one with a highpass filter to turn it into a shimmer pad, the other with both high and lowpass filters to get a bandpassed pad).

2 - (Bass - Center) A single-shot 1/8th note delay on the magnetic pickups, shifted down an octave with a pitch shifter to fake a bass. No original signal at all in either shifter or delay, so the "bass" sound is truly delayed and happens after the piezo

3 - (Electric - Right) Similar single shot delay, 100% wet, but set to a dotted eighth note, so it only happens even later than the bass. Heavily compressed.

Weird, huh? And yes, I can do it live... I just leave out the pads.

RudivwDarkLord

Howdy, Indeed I agree with what you are saying about the delay being lost in the mix. I admit I do get a bit carried away and I lost myself in the mix losing the objective ?. As always I appreciate some good ol' crit ?. As long as my submission is enjoyable on some level I guess I'm happy even if I get no votes. I'll try stick to the objective on the next comp. Good luck guys!

evolucian

Pffft... I got so stuck in mine its unreal.. too many choices to be made and I made the other one... nothing. Regardless, I shall enjoy listening to the fine tracks you guys made ?

ftcl

Wow. Awesome entries everyone!

@ Adrian: Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated.

briang-telkomsa-net

As always Adrian your critiques are enjoyable, you manage to balance the negative and positive well - the effort is appreciated.

I've been doing some reading up on drums mixing, amongst other recording and mixing topics so, glad I impressed this time round on that score
I thought I was being clever by using very short delay with only one feedback in the "choruses" and "lead" verse to give the guitar a bit more body - it still counts as delay doesn't it ?

My choices
Alan - agree, he must have been given a tape delay for his first birthday. Awesome playing and the delay timing so well worked out. I knew we should have disallowed late entries >☹
Adrian - cool sounds and you practiced what you preached regarding the delay effects throughout.
V8 - I liked the groove and great timing between the drums and the guitars. Agree with Adrian regarding the change and losing the delay from that point - still liked it though.

Look forward to next month's challenge and hopefully there are as many entries next month as well.

G-Man

Thanks for taking the time to make your comments Adrian, very good of you. I'm glad that you mentioned Diablo I, because when I was trying to think of something to play for this challenge I just so happened to make THAT chord and I thought to myself "Oh yes, it's Diablo time!" haha.

It's been ages since I entered last, great to hear everyone's take on the topic.

Looking forward to to next month's challenge.

My Votes:

B: BrianG

I: RudivwDarkLord

A: Mr Ratcliffe

But everyone's a winner ?

V8

Wha-hey - what a crop of entries!

Not yet had a chance to listen, finished installing new hardware today & then managed to do some more work on the entry for this month (no time to spit 'n polish alas)...hopefully Rene allows me to update the entry (the extended deadline was 2nd April 23:59?).

chris77

Well done to all the entrants! :applause: Will give them all a proper listen to tonight before I vote.

PaulJ

Here's a sample of my unfinished attempt.......Couldn't get around to finishing it as I have a 1 week old baby!! ???

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45259988/GF%20Delay%20Sample.mp3

Kalcium

Great entried from everyone! Really enjoyed listening through them all.
Alan, I have no idea how you manage to think about and manage so many different signals coming from you guitar at once and make it sound so good!

Adrian, I swear you could be given any theme and shine! This months entry was particularly great, the production sounds really really great! Particularly impressed with you manipulation of the vocals!

FruitarGeek

RudivwDarkLord wrote: As long as my submission is enjoyable on some level I guess

It was enjoyable. Certainly for me. As I said, I can foresee this track being featured on a Class-A album.

briang wrote: I thought I was being clever by using very short delay with only one feedback in the "choruses" and "lead" verse to give the guitar a bit more body - it still counts as delay doesn't it ?

Ah, yes, that definitely is using delay, but unfortunately, it wasn't obvious enough for me. But you still got my vote in the end!

Kalcium wrote: Adrian, I swear you could be given any theme and shine! This months entry was particularly great, the production sounds really really great! Particularly impressed with you manipulation of the vocals!

Thanks man, what a nice thing to say. The trick is to enjoy what you do. I enjoy every part of making music, from the pre-production where I decide what I want to do, then deciding how I am going to do it, then to actually playing my first note, then finally, into making it all sound nice. If I wasn't studying law, i'd probably get into production/studio engineering etc.

jt

Adrian, thank you for the kind words (although I still consider myself a beginner). My goal was to get one vote. yay. ?

I am having a hard time voting, am I the only one? I can't put people into skill levels.

Alas, I have a question:

@Briang, V8, Gman, rudivw and Hammeron what category do you put yourselves in?

Adrian and Alan... tied for the most creative entries by far. I have no idea how to vote between you two.

AlanRatcliffe

Jethro wrote: I am having a hard time voting, am I the only one? I can't put people into skill levels.

I would (and did) split people into these categories:

Beginner: Briang, ftcl
Intermediate: G-Man, Hammeron, Jethro
Advanced: Adrian, Alan, RudiVW, V8

V8

If anyone was left wanting more from my initial submission, Rene has let me know it's ok to post a link here - But for voting purposes please vote based on the original submission (keeps it fair re:voting). Here it is : (The outro is a hattip to Adrian & BrianG - thanks for the feedback gents)

Now for the comp feedback : Listened to all the tracks on 'monitor' headphones & hifi, found the headphones made a difference for listening to the detail in the delayéd tracks.

Adrian : At first I wasn't sure, but on headphones I really appreciated what you did. Made me remember that music is an art form too -ala Zappa, John Cage, Varese. Dare I say ávant garde... ? (P.s. great production values as usual)

Alan : I reckoned I've heard this before - one of the tracks you did yonks ago demo for FX's uploaded to http://ratcliffe.co.za/? Now expanded into a tune? I'll venture out of my cave to see you do this live, anytime.

BrianG : A step up from your last entry - I thought the guitars were pretty cool, chord progressions and leads made sense - just the high hat sample in the right ear was distracting me from the rest, perhaps a different sample and panned center could pull the tune together?

Darklord : Great track. One of two that I liked immediately. On headphones I noticed (or perhaps imagined) some occasional clipping and the delays sounded more like a hall/cathedral reverb than delay.

Jethro : My favorite, liked it immediately. Some of the fx made me think 'electro' (eq sweeps & bass line), and it was tastefully done as well - congratz!

G-Man : The best I've heard from you yet. Made me think of some of the early melodic stuff from slayer, sepultura? Delay's were nicely done too.

Hammeron : Good recording! Dug the metal tone, riffing & the ping-pong delays in the middle. A bit disjointed as a song though?

ftcl : I'm a ambient fan, so it was to my taste - I agree w/adrian though, would have been sweet to hear some more detail - perhaps another guitar with a ping pong delay or something?

V8

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Jethro wrote: I am having a hard time voting, am I the only one? I can't put people into skill levels.
I would (and did) split people into these categories:

Beginner: Briang, ftcl
Intermediate: G-Man, Hammeron, Jethro
Advanced: Adrian, Alan, RudiVW, V8

Gosh Alan, I'm flattered... ?. I didn't mention it to Rene, but the initial box.net entry was marked 'Int' - either way, I'm not fussed (but still rather flattered, thanks ?)

AlanRatcliffe

Adrian is spot on with his crits of the entries, so all that remains is to crit his:
@Adrian - a worthy opponent indeed. Delay was front and center and it's a nifty and unusual piece of music - well crafted, good recording, excellent production. Me love long time... If I were to find any fault at all it would be that the sampled voice was almost '80s synthpop (N-N-N-N-Nineteen) - something which was done to death (kind of like using Autotune as effect is today), so has negative connotations for me.

Adrian Rogowski wrote: Alan: Ah, Alan, I don't think much needs to be said about your song. You say this is all one guitar? If so, you already have my vote! Then again, I am convinced your mother gave you a tape delay for your first birthday or something. You are born to use delay haha! Great track.

Delay and I go way back, but not quite to the days of tape. My first delay was a Boss DD3 digital in the early '90s. However I did end up with seven of the things, so do have more than a passing acquaintance with them. Best effect ever after - even more than drive.

Kalcium wrote: Alan, I have no idea how you manage to think about and manage so many different signals coming from you guitar at once and make it sound so good!

Thanks! To be honest, not my best performance (there's a few clams and many missed accents), but I was pressed for time. I think key to using delay is locking in to it and feeling what is happening subconsciously, rather than listening consciously. With something like this, where the repeats are as loud as the original sound, listening too closely will mess you up as you will try to lock into the extra melodic patterns being created by the delay, rather than keeping on track with what you should be playing.

V8 wrote: Alan : I reckoned I've heard this before - one of the tracks you did yonks ago demo for FX's uploaded to http://ratcliffe.co.za/? Now expanded into a tune? I'll venture out of my cave to see you do this live, anytime.

That's exactly it - it's a piece I originally wrote with two guitars and a bass part ages ago. It is loosely based on King Crimson-style "rhythmic displacement", where the parts are the same, but played at different times, creating really complex rhythmic interplay. For a long time, I've been wanting to figure out how to pull it off as a solo piece live using delays. I'm pleased with where it is going so far, but next step is the drum part, which will likely screw up everything...

G-Man

Jethro wrote: Adrian, thank you for the kind words (although I still consider myself a beginner). My goal was to get one vote. yay. ?

I am having a hard time voting, am I the only one? I can't put people into skill levels.

Alas, I have a question:

@Briang, V8, Gman, rudivw and Hammeron what category do you put yourselves in?

I consider myself juuuust in the intermediate, having fought my way out of the beginner categories in these challenges. ?