Great work everyone!

My noob ears have explored and, if I may:

Stoffeltoo – Shame man. I could almost hear how miserable you were with the flu. Very bluesy. Nice solid rhythm. Lovely!

G-man: Reminds of something that ‘Bush’ or ‘Cranberries’ might have come up with. Same kinda feel to the song. Nice on the ears and very relaxing. What effects did you use on the guitars?

Meron – all I can say is that the song is aptly named ? Very groovy!!

Stud – your entries are always stellar! Superb guitar work and fantastic sounds. Just wish I could hear the lyrics more clearly. Is there some REM influence there?

Voting is going to be difficult...

No comment on my entry, 'nuff said

G-Man, love the shimmering sound with tap delay effect. Cannot talk of a genre but it was really relaxing, a bit on the soft side though

Wern: Awesome song and really liked the intro with the acoustic followed by the driven 'leccie. Lekker voice and awesome lyrics. Well done

Stud: Jislaaik ou! Lekker catchy song, reminiscent of REM. Vocals could come out a bit more. The lead work from about 1:16 amazing and well done!

Meron: Bond and Prince! The keys aka Pimpocaster comes to its right here. You nailed it with the talking bass effect. Catchy tune lick on the guitar with the brights

Stoffeltoo wrote:
Wern: Awesome song and really liked the intro with the acoustic followed by the driven 'leccie. Lekker voice and awesome lyrics. Well done

Dankie oom! :-[

Stoffeltoo wrote: Stud: Jislaaik ou!

My centiments exactly!! ? :bopping:

Thanks guys, vocals went through a shure green bullet and I battled, got to keep experimenting.

Wasn't really thinking of REM? but now that you mention it...actually this was a rehash of one of my early entries with the theme of a radio friendly pop-ish song "Radio GaGa" or something, my idea was to mix up something between nickleback and lady gaga?


Stoffeltoo: Great Blues-ish track with a really unique Americana influence? The more I listen to it, the more I like it...really like it. Also envious of that Trio. .....Hope you feeling better?

G-MAN: Lovely playing, a really nice acoustic piece, unfortunately the volume's a little low?

Wern101: Impressive track, tone, playing and composition all compliment one another ...and great vocals! I look forward to hearing more, definitely worth completing!

V8: Great track, superb playing Meron, reminds me of something Beck would come up with, very cool and original!

Stoffel that Trio seems like a good piece of gear to have? I checked out couple of vids and it seems to be a great accompaniment for a guitar player Your pros and cons?
Price? Dealers?

Tough vote again this month - tougher now that I bumped the volume on G-MAN's track...bugger!

G-MAN : Bro, your track was soooo soft, it was tricky to hear it properly. But I liked what I could hear - So I popped it into Reaper, it was peaking at -30db, which is rather quiet (As a general guide, I try aim for -6db when recording and tweak from there). Forgive me, but I had to bump up the volume a bit with some compression and boosted the eq a bit in the 800-2k range to accent the guitar.
http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/mp3s/G-MAN_II.mp3

Stoffeltoo : What a trooper, sick and still gets a entry in! Was expecting a lyrical parody...I could have help write some lyrics ("When it comes out your bum like a bullet from a gun...diarrhoea, diarrhoea") - but you got to try out the Trio instead (and the strat?) - nice one!

Wern101 : A proper song - yeah! I hear the mismatch with the drums, two thoughts : You could drop the kick and just keep the hihat OR swop the kick and hats - to me it sounds like the hats are on 1 and the kick on 2, which sound a bit odd for what you are doing. Out of curiosity, do you have a version in afrikaans - I just have a feeling that would really suit this track?

Studmissile : Ahh, you was trying a new mic? Had gritty quality, but way too soft - perhaps you could have tracked vocals with two mics and blended them to taste? At 54s you head into a rocking chorus...then into the lead break at around 1m14s - great to listen to you rocking out like a mofo!

Thank you all for kind comments : Mine's just a bit of fun (again) - rewarding to hear 6mths of bass playing paying off - Very chuffed with the way the bass came out in this track. Although it's balanced by the fact that my hands now feel very stoopid on the guitar :-\

Pimpocaster was a bit of a struggle, spent most of the afternoon finding freeware brass plugins that didn't suck - I was thinking of a AWB feel (Average White Band), but I could not get usable syncopation of the brass sections for stabs and fills - although the slower swells were good fun, so I went with the funky Bond vibe.

Thanks Meron, not sure what happened there, was sounding ok on my end. Appreciate the help thanks a lot

Stoffeltoo: Great Blues-ish track with a really unique Americana influence? The more I listen to it, the more I like it...really like it. Also envious of that Trio. .....Hope you feeling better?


Hi Guys, thanks for the kind words. Feeling much better thank you. Sadly I would be banned for life if I added the lyrics ?

Wern. The Trio is an awesome little pedal
Availability, some stores and FB music trader forums for second hand

Pro's: 7 genres, each with 12 styles including 3/4beats.
Bass sounds lekker and is pretty accurate with the chords you feed the pedal
Playback, nice and loud with variable tempo and volume adjustment
Size: small and light
Add ons: Guitar FX, three part recording and alternative time to put some spice in your mix
Material: All metal man! Will be difficult to bust
Firmware: yes and USB updatable

Cons:
Your idea must be clear and your rhythm simple and bullet proof
Not really for live use but well suited for studio use.
Rhythm may differ from original intent in third and second parts
Wish I could add a SF3 pedal then on the fly selection would be a breeze.
No looper but can be integrated with other loopers (Which I have not yet tried)

All in all a useful studio and idea generator tool or writing backing tracks for acoustic and electric guitarist

Thanks for the nice feedback all.

The track will hopefully be completed in all its glory this month. Original draft was over 7 minutes!! Cut it to just over 4min.

Drums was an experiment using an android app. I am NOT a drummer and played with my fingers on the phone without hearing till playback. Twas quite amuzing. I am looking at getting a proper 2nd hand cheap electric drum set soon. That should sort the problems...

Meron - No afrikaans version yet... but you just sparked a thought. ?

Stoffel tnx for the detailed breakdown of the Trio! Will look into it.

Ciao.

G-Man wrote: Thanks Meron, not sure what happened there, was sounding ok on my end. Appreciate the help thanks a lot

.
A pleasure - probably a touch unfair to the others that I did give your track a little tlc - apologies to all, I did it before I thought too much about it. But in the spirit of us learning together in the challenges (and not focussed on competition) - I think (or hope?) it's okay with our fellow entrants.

Stoffeltoo wrote: Wern. The Trio is an awesome little pedal

All in all a useful studio and idea generator tool or writing backing tracks for acoustic and electric guitarist

I did see a few pop up recently - one on GT in Cpt (w/SF3) and one on SA music store (probably the one you got?). It's the one pedal I can't find a plugin that'll replicate it : broomstick bass + addictive drums is about as close as I got.

I was slightly tempted until I saw the Trio+ (more styles + looper)...which got me interested. I'm hoping for one to surface at the gear junkie so I can mess around a bit and see how usable it'd be w/nylon string. One thing I did notice is that the SF3 pedal was around $35 on amazon, cheap (essential?) addition to the redal.

My one thought - I'd hope the drum variations would work for me (especially hihat patterns). I'm becoming sensitized to what the drums are doing - where the kick is, where the snare is and what the pulse is.

wern101 wrote: Drums was an experiment using an android app. I am NOT a drummer and played with my fingers on the phone without hearing till playback. Twas quite amuzing. I am looking at getting a proper 2nd hand cheap electric drum set soon. That should sort the problems...

Meron - No afrikaans version yet... but you just sparked a thought. ?

I'd rather try EZ Drummer or similar drum plugins before a electric kit. Unless you really want to bash around on a kit - in which case, go for it! I have a electric kit, but I hardly ever use it to capture beats (I'm not tight enough drummer and quantizing my playing sounds even worse) - mostly just for having fun and the occasional jam.

I was thinking that you might approach the tune with a different feel if you were doing it in afrikaans - perhaps less worship and more folk flavoured - for storytelling I think folk has it's uses :?

Well done all, I can't decide who to vote for, the field has definitely narrowed in these compos. Not much time left!

A Tie! Well done Stud and G- Man. Will another round be hosted for the final winner decision?

Well isn't that a strange turn of events. ?
G-man and Stud will have to share the prize. lol.

Well done guys!!

Meron Rigas wrote: Unless you really want to bash around on a kit - in which case, go for it!

I was thinking that you might approach the tune with a different feel if you were doing it in afrikaans - perhaps less worship and more folk flavoured - for storytelling I think folk has it's uses :?

Yes i do want to bash around on a kit. I really do wanna learn the drums. Think it makes for a more 'rounded' musician. Plus i'd be able to stand in for the drummer at church if needed. ? AND my kids also wanna learn... or so they say.... :?

You really have got me thinking about an Afrikaans version now. Might be very interesting.

Stoffeltoo wrote: A Tie! Well done Stud and G- Man. Will another round be hosted for the final winner decision?

Arrrggghhh, a tie indeed! I was kinda hoping that only one vote each would avert this...but it didn't :-\

I'll break out the chainsaw and chop the mic in half...or we could :

1. Run another round of voting with only Studmissile and G-man. Since I did a touch of work on G-man's entry I reckon it compete's fairly (Intermediate vs Advanced)
OR
2. Graham has the deciding vote (I honestly couldn't guess which he'd go for)

I'm easy - what do you guys think?

Meron Rigas wrote:

Stoffeltoo wrote: A Tie! Well done Stud and G- Man. Will another round be hosted for the final winner decision?

Arrrggghhh, a tie indeed! I was kinda hoping that only one vote each would avert this...but it didn't :-\

I'll break out the chainsaw and chop the mic in half...or we could :

1. Run another round of voting with only Studmissile and G-man. Since I did a touch of work on G-man's entry I reckon it compete's fairly (Intermediate vs Advanced)
OR
2. Graham has the deciding vote (I honestly couldn't guess which he'd go for)

I'm easy - what do you guys think?

Thanks guys. Well done G-Man, Nicely played. Actually great entries all around ....Meron I've sent you a message

Meron Rigas wrote: I'm easy - what do you guys think?

Seems weird that with over 400 views there were only 6 votes?? Which makes one think that the 'next' round of voting may not get more votes. Maybe let Graham make the final decision? I think that is fair.

Quick question to all who entered - did you also vote? Or were these votes from thread viewers only?

wern101 wrote:

Meron Rigas wrote: Unless you really want to bash around on a kit - in which case, go for it!

I was thinking that you might approach the tune with a different feel if you were doing it in afrikaans - perhaps less worship and more folk flavoured - for storytelling I think folk has it's uses :?

Yes i do want to bash around on a kit. I really do wanna learn the drums. Think it makes for a more 'rounded' musician. Plus i'd be able to stand in for the drummer at church if needed. ? AND my kids also wanna learn... or so they say.... :?

You really have got me thinking about an Afrikaans version now. Might be very interesting.

For the kids, I can only recommend a electric kit - it's the right kinda musical toy - take a beating and keeps on rocking. Mine has had a plethora of 5 y/o's beat the living <poopy> out of it and it's still in one piece.

I can't abide by the nux/medelli kits, they feel and trigger like something cheeeep ? See if a roland pops up at reasonable $ (6k-ish) 2nd hand - patience is key! I'd say a TD4 or TD6 is a great starter kit, there's other roland options, but those are likely to be good value 2nd hand. There's also the yamaha express kits, but I'm a roland fan.

I had my producer hat on - I think it's worth a go - there is definitely a local market for afrikaans worship/gospel. Interesting experiment to see what would change if you did a version? Soutie (me) and some afrikaans mates did some jams where we took some tunes and ran it through our attempts at translations - was a hoot!

Well done guys and especially Stud.

Look I'm not to phased either way, I'm also disappointed at the low voter turn out. 400 views and 6 votes?

I think Graham could swing the vote, that would be completely fair as he is the prize donor.

I don't think I have another acoustic song in me lol, this is something that I have been noodling with for ages and in different parts, the compo gave me a chance to revisit it and actually make a track out of it. (I'm more of a metal player haha)

So ya that's my 2c, I don't mind what you decide, just stoked I got some votes ?

I entered and voted. 8) Sad to see that other forum peeps don't spend the time and courtesy to at least vote >
The idea is to motivate participation from other musos.
My two notes worth