Wow. I am blown away by the quality of muso's! Well done chaps.

My comments (if I may)
Hasie
There's a kind of 'raw' sound in that blues/rock intro, which sounds very cool! Dig it!! :goodtimes:

Gman
I am always a sucker for the 'heavier' stuff and I think you got me hooked.

Stoffeltoo
Very mellow and 'rustig'. Kind of song I could easily listen to while chilling round the fire. Very nice on the ears. I like the soft drums in the background and the sound of the acoustic (My left ear had to listen carefully to the lyrics ? )

V8
I absolutely love the intro!!! The lead riff reminds a lot of Metallica! Sound and melody. Very nicely done. :bopping:

Adrian
I enjoyed the variety of sounds in the song, makes for very interesting listening. Very creative. :applause: I was holding my breath for the vocals to start... ?

Studmissile:
All round nice country Christmas tune. Very much enjoyed the lead sections as well.

Again well done everyone! :woohoo:

Hey again.
Pls explain to me how the voting works? The vote says 3 options, are these according to category? So one vote per category?
Thanks.

wern101 wrote: Adrian
I enjoyed the variety of sounds in the song, makes for very interesting listening. Very creative. :applause: I was holding my breath for the vocals to start... ?

Thanks, I thought the track could benefit by me not adding my vocals ?

wern101 wrote: Hey again.
Pls explain to me how the voting works? The vote says 3 options, are these according to category? So one vote per category?
Thanks.

Yes, generally one vote per category. Although you don't have to use all votes

Excellent entries! There is a lot of talent on this forum.

Enjoyed it!

Now that all the festivities have started to die down, I can listen and comment on these tracks. Here are my thoughts:

Hasie
As with all entries, I can hear your progress. If you keep up with these challenges, you will be gaining ranks in no time. Its commitment like yours that will reapl the most rewards. Your track was true to blues genre, my only gripe was that it didn't have much to do with the theme. Now I know we like to encourage everyone to enter, hence why we keep the themes so open ended, but I think if you really want to see progress as a musician, you must try write something that puts you a little out your comfort zone, i.e. Jingle Bell Rocks. Nonetheless, I'm ecstatic you entered, and I hope you continue to do so.

G-Man
Your interpretation was great. You really took a classic tune and you turned it 180°. This is the kind of 'out-the-comfort-zone' I like to see. The beginning even sounded like the Star Wars theme song. What you could do to start progressing your track to another level is to work on the mixing. The guitars could use some depth/bass/ballas and the kick drum was quite loud. I must say however, the drum pattern was quite spot on for that genre.

Wern101
Absolutely loved this. The lyrics were hysterical, and your guitar work was absolutely great. I think most people would focus on your singing, but I listend to your guitar playing, and I was very impressed. You got lots of subtle notes in their which really took the song to a new level. Its one of those things that no one notices whilst you playing, but if you take it away, everyone notices. How many guitars did you use? Just the one? And I like the effect you used on the guitar. Where you could improve? From a mixing point of view, maybe bring the vocals down a bit, they were quite loud, and gooi some reverb. Mainly on vocals, but also on guitars. Reverb acts like a glue that holds everything together.

Stoffeltoo
Your harmony work is great. The bass, melody, and chords complimented each other incredibly well. I enjoy how you just do a single strum, and let the melody do the rest. Many people tend to overcompensate by doing too much, but not this song. You let it breath. My main gripe, why pan vocals hard left? I'm somewhat deaf in the left ear so I could hear the melody, but no lyrics haha. Bring centre my bru ?

V8
Need I even say anything? Naturally this was of the calibre I'd expect. Your intro was fantastic, and actually, the vocals were so appropriate. What plugins did you use? IT made you sound badass. I know you claim not to be a good singer, but there was nothing in this track that suggested otherwise. You also do some cool production techniques, like that sweep effect at 15s. Great use of it. Now, I think you could have pushed this song a little longer, and also boosted the bass guitar somewhat. Other than that, you were spot on.

Stud
This was so cool. When many hear Jingle Bell rocks they do a rock theme, but no, you went straight for the country. And you pulled it off so damn well. The vocals were absolutely great. So soothing, and nice use of reverb, it really gave it that country twang. The intro, the verse and outro were all great. I actually dont have any suggestions for this. Maybe one thing? The snare, that for me was the only thing that gave it away that it was samples. Obviously all of us use samples, but I think the trick is to try make it sound like we not using samples. I'm not sure what you could have done, maybe use a different snare sample, or vary the volumes of the hits, or add some verb. But great track Stud.

Thanks for the kind words Adrian. Yes, I only used my acoustic for this and added a bit of chorus to it, nothing else.
I do struggle with the recording side of all of this. Specially the input levels and clarity of vocals. I am very new to recording so still trying to get my head around all the effects and what they do.
I am looking forward to the next challenge and will certainly be playing around with different effects.... now just to find a good drum machine...

Thank you Adrian. I will try and stick more to the theme in future challenges.

wern101 wrote: The lead riff reminds a lot of Metallica!

Thanks wern!



Used .73 hetfield pick for authentic Metallica riffage :? I think this is my 1st metal (albeit 80's riff-y) entry for the challenges - seemed to fit the mood I was in. Though I did use the stock (single coil) strat, the LePou amp sims are delivering me some great tones.

Adrian Rogowski wrote: the vocals were so appropriate. What plugins did you use?

Thanks Adrian - glad they worked someone else, I cringed ?

I had two tracks with the identical vocal - one was clean w/compression & on the other I added a bit of grind with a Ingite amps sim (NRR-1), some compression and a bit of eq (boosted mids, cut the highs) to tame the fizz and bring the vocal forward a bit.

I tried the Ignite Amps Emissary high gain sim - it was waaayyy too much fizz - I liked it lots, but my sister couldn't hear a word =D. Tried a few tube saturators, distortion pedals & amp sims but the NRR-1 seemed to work for what I wanted.

Heish, was tough to growl a lyric but try and keep the enunciation clear enough to hear w/o lyrics in front of you - I gave up and tipped my hat to Max Cavelera and co.

I even got use my Xmas pressie (from me to me), a Ebow! I used it on the legato-y lead - I quite liked how it worked and you didn't have to hassle with picking, just aim it on a string and tippy-tap away.

1stly a big thank you to all for the entries this month - I'm sure Adrian really enjoyed his challenge drawing a great group of entries.

Just my 0.000002c - you are all winners!

hasie : Rock-a-billy...I also missed the xmas-y vibe, but every entry is a good prgression from the last one. Needed a bit of swing to the 2nd guitar - that kinda line needs a bit of feel to work (for me - but I was taught to play it on a bass by a pretty groovy danienel)

gman : Yeee-hah, great track! I hear lotsa effort went into this one, loads of detail - from the riffage inter-rocking with the evolving (and sweet ass) drum patterns and sleigh bells. Me like!

wern : Dug the lyrics - my kinda cynicism "Trawl the Malls" - bwahaha! Prettyy damn good for your first GFSA entry - keep em coming. There was a ground loop somewhere in your setup that I was hearing and a touch of digital clipping - easy to fix!

Stoffeltoo : For me, you could have cranked the strong vocals up quite a bit and had them centered in the mix. Imho - they were (with the lyrics) the focal point of the track. The mix was a little odd with the bass on the right channel and vocals left (like Adrian mentioned). Also a bit long, but it wasn't at all boring, playing and composition was good - so it's okay =D Sorrryyy, lots of crits - but you be in the advanced group now (well done for stepping up!)

Adrian : Sheeessshhh what a track...such a great mix of styles, so smoothly executed - cheesy keys 'n all (huge thumbs up for the jazzy and reggae bits!). Only a teeny crit, was a bit tricky to keep the xmas-y vibe strong through the 5 styles though?

Studmissile : Another great country execution, c'mon Santa! The crit is...you're too comfortable at country =D

Thanks for the good advice as usual, glad we had such a good turn out. Picking who to vote for is so tough

Great entries everyone, this was really fun for me. Hoping to enter more in 2016 if time allows it.

Excellent entries from all. I could not open V8's entry :'(
I have however voted and cannot crit all as most have already done so. Thanks for the honesty and comments. I am glad that I could progress to advanced ? (Thanks Adrian!) It gives me even more oomph to enter other challenges.
To Hasie who deserves special mention, well done for sticking to it. Every entry of your is an improvement. Keep it up.
To all a Happy and prosperous new year. Hope Santa treated you all with music related gifts.
Peace

V8 wrote: wern : Dug the lyrics - my kinda cynicism "Trawl the Malls" - bwahaha! Prettyy damn good for your first GFSA entry - keep em coming. There was a ground loop somewhere in your setup that I was hearing and a touch of digital clipping - easy to fix!

Thanks V8. Glad you enjoyed the song. I hope to enter many more comps in the new year. Please do let me know how to sort out the digital clipping and ground loop? I have a very basic setup where I connect the mic / guitar straight into the PC with an AUX jack. I used 'mixpad' for this recording but am planning on using reaper or audacity in future, soon as I can figure out how to use it. ?

And you are right...voting is very difficult...

V8 wrote: Adrian : Sheeessshhh what a track...such a great mix of styles, so smoothly executed - cheesy keys 'n all (huge thumbs up for the jazzy and reggae bits!). Only a teeny crit, was a bit tricky to keep the xmas-y vibe strong through the 5 styles though?

Yes, you are quite right. I thought exactly the same. I wanted the transitions between the songs to be smoother as I felt the theme was being lost each time. But in the end I just decided to accept it as is.

Adrian Rogowski wrote:But in the end I just decided to accept it as is.

Glad you did - was deeply impressive the way it genres meshed together - a fitting tribute to yourself, really well done! :goodtimes:

Now to figure out the next challenge topic...

Adrian, congrats!

Please PM me the best email where I can send your R250 Takealot voucher ?

Congrats Adrian!
Well done to the runners-up, G-Man and V8 as well.

Yes congrats gentlemen. Looking forward to January's challenge. Game on!!

Norio wrote: Please PM me the best email where I can send your R250 Takealot voucher ?

Aw Yisss 8) Will do, thanks Norio

V8 wrote: Now to figure out the next challenge topic...

This is now your baby haha.

Well done, Adrian great entry!

And everyone else!

I'd love to read those lyrics stoffeltoo? really liked that song.