(Log in to disable ads.)

  • Competitions

  • [VOTE] GFSA 'Something with Delay' Challenge Revisited

The GFSA 'Something with Delay' Challenge Re-visited

Heeeerrreeee we go go go go go...Great to see a bunch of entries, thanks guys! Reckon everyone had a lot of fun this time around?

6ix entries, 2wo pools to vote in and 4our days to vote. Voting ends on 26th May 8)

[b]Pool 1[/b]

[b]Peterleroux - Something else with delay[/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/peterleroux.mp3 [i] Ok, a little sketch recorded on my iPad with Music Memos and Garage Band using an iTrack Pocket and my Squiers- a CV Jazz and a Cabronita.

Bass was recorded using a home made Rebote delay at maximum delay- One pulse on the '1' with 3 repeats. Drums were generated automatically by Music Memos to match this tempo, then tweaked in Garage Band. I went into Garage Band to record the two guitar tracks- the arpeggios with the Garage Band delay slaved to the master tempo through a Voxy rig, and the volume swells using the Rebote pedal set close to infinite repeats in an orange coloured amp. [/i]

[b]Warrenpridgeon - Stupid Hero [/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/warrenpridgeon.mp3 [i] [/i]

[b]Stoffeltoo - Ode to 100 slaughtered donkeys[/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/mp3s/stoffeltoo.mp3[i] [i] Guitar SX Telecaster

Pedals: Surf and Turf Compressor,Corned Beef Reverb, DD3 Delay, Joyo Analogue delay and keys done with guitar through a EHX Key 9 pedal.

My first try at delay song so kept it KISS.

I was looking for something sad but with beat, hence the name. The lead guitar was the most challenging. [/i]

[b]Pool 2[/b]

[b]Bruceikins - Indigo Bay[/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/mp3s/bruciekins.mp3[i] [i]What better way to demonstrate the glory of delay than a tip of the hat to the the first guitarist to popularize the effect- Hank B. Marvin, lead guitarist (as they used to be called) of The Shadows. My entry is a Shadows influenced tune I wrote many years ago, and named after the band I was in called The Indigos. About a year later my band The Zombies (South African) recorded it, and on listening to it recently I thought it deserved re-recording. For the technically minded, I used my '94 Strat with Kinman Traditional II pups and Callaham bridge block into my Ethos pedal, with Strymon's El Capistan and Xotics EP Boost direct into my mixer on Sonar X1. The backing was a mix and match selection from Band-In-A-Box 2017. [/i]

[b]Studmissile - Said & Done[/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/mp3s/studmissile.mp3[i] [i] [/i]

[b]Wizard & Meron Rigas - Afro Electro[/b]http://guitarforum.co.za/gfsacomps/mp3s/wizard_v8.mp3[i] [i]Collaboration with Wizard rocking away on his awesome electrified n'goni plugged into a delay and a small amp. I'm hacking away unplugged on my nylon stringer trying some kinda mix of strumming and percussion.

Since my interface is away on band duties, we got creative with the engineering for the live, one take recording. Track 1: Used my laptop mic to capture the natural reverb of the room and my guitar. Track 2 : Wizard used his phone to capture the n'goni through the amp. Mixed them together in Reaper. Panned the tracks, Track1 65% left and Track2 50% right. A bit of compression to glue things together and a hint of delay on track1 when the guitar drops out.

No click, just used the delay on the n'goni to try and stay in some kinda time. We were not attempting a poly-rhythmical thing, that's just me making boo-boo's. [/i]

(old forum) Poll Results: [VOTE] GFSA 'Something with Delay' Challenge Revisited

  • Peterleroux: 3
  • Warrenpridgeon: 5
  • Stoffeltoo: 1
  • Bruceikins: 3
  • Studmissile: 4
  • Wizard & Meron Rigas: 5
    Some really cool entries here peeps!

    Unfortunately for some reason I had it in my head that the deadline was the 28th ???
    As such I've been building a pergola in the garden for the wife over the last couple of weekends.
    Was sitting on the couch last night and I randomly went to GFSA on my phone and checked the submission date... it was the very same night!
    It was 10:14:52 pm and I had just over two hours in my pocket... I had an intro and verse chords and riffage setup. I had 4 lines of words...

    I used my PRS SE into Line 6 Pod HD500X into reaper.
    For vocals I used a mic into the Ling 6 Pod HD500x into reaper.

    Effects were all done on the Pod... It took a lot of concentration to stay on time where I was playing along with the dotted 8th stuff.
      Nice entries, cool variety this month. My votes are in.

      Some thoughts:
      Warren - This sounds good, even more so given that you whipped it out in two hours. I enjoy the Edge-type arpeggios and the double tracked vocals. ...and the lyrics - almost into They Might Be Giants territory.

      Stoffel - Nice to hear that EHX pedal in use already- really cool tone, used nicely. I like the rest too- nice rhythm and lead, but I thoght maybe the lead could have been bought up in the mix a bit.

      Bruceikins - The tone and feel on this are spot-on Shadows. I really enjoyed this. Is the clean rhythm guitar also from your strat?

      Studmissile - Great production, nice vocals, enjoyed the guitar tone and sustain

      Wizard and Meron- Electric harp lute? Awesome! I really like the simplicity of the setup- two tracks, two instruments. The delay on the N'goni, alomng with letting the strings ring, sounds really cool, and the flamenco-ey percussion works well.
        My feedback based on my musical preferences and my analysis on what I hear in your recordings.
        Cudo’s to every one for entering and setting a very high standard indeed. Absolutely inspirational. My voting will soon be in

        PeterleRoux
        I liked the very original approach to this song and the solution to produce the result.
        That ambient tone is good however some clipping in the beginning part. Finger work on the melody is pretty much perfect. Well done on a very nice song!

        Warren Pridgeon
        Sjoe Boet! You put that secret pedal to work and really impressed me with the dark art of delays and making sense of the timing. The opposites of crunch overdrive with a cleaner lead balances the song well and creates interest in the sound canvass. Beware of music loss with too much of focus on the vocals. Very cool song indeed with focus on technique and production. I like!

        Bruceikins
        WOW! Well presented and you captured almost every technique that Hank Marvin had in his secret arsenal. Whammy, tremolo, muted and crispy cleans with that telltale delay. Awesome track I have a couple of friends here at work that really dig this instrumental.

        Studmissile
        As always full of pleasant surprises with your songs!
        I liked the opening of the song with the simple double bass drum beat anchoring the mood and then colouring it with the ambient swells. The finish was the kicker. Again clean versus dirty putting a lot of emphasis on the lead with the slight over driven tone. Well produced and mixed!
        BTW the style reminded me a lot of Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia

        Meron and Wizard (Nice Collaboration boyz!)
        Original and mesmerising. JoJo! Diaz meets Masai! Very unique way of producing and mixing the song and keeping it minimalistic yet interesting. The n’goni really has a beautifully haunting sound supported by the acoustic nylon, again complimenting each other like a slow dance. Well executed especially on a one take with two simple recording devices. I hope this exercise serves as inspiration to others.

        My comments on my own song..... A secret as I have nothing nice to say after hearing all of your productions.

        Peace
          Well done for getting entries in and challenging yourselves this month - hope you all had fun with it and played around and learnt a little more about using delay/reverb in your rig/compositions? I threw away a bunch of idea's - analysis paralysis - as Wizard pointed out. But then I heard the ngoni one morning at junkie central, figured we'd have some fun with that, so twisted Wiz's arm to pop in and jam for a hour the following day. The heavy reverb in our track is all natural, that room we used is something else 8) Peterleroux - +1 to Stoffeltoo's comments on the clipping in the beginning. Think it was the synth? But I really liked your entry, reminded me of something, can't quite put my finger on it. The delay was a bit subtle, only really noticed it in the outro with the warbly synth (I'm a sucker for a synth). Warrenpridgeon - Dotted 8th's ala U2? Nicely done, had a electro quality to it, you dialled in a cool tone for that and then mixed the delayed sections and cleans really nicely. Well played! Stoffeltoo - Golly, that B9 pedal sounded sooo good. I honestly thought it was a keyboard. Classic song title, suited the song. Cool merry-go round vibe to it. Delay fitted the track nicely, brought the bits together. What was your objections to your track? The lead sounded a little thin to me - were you DI'ed or mic'ed up? Bruceikins - Great production and playing! I've covered a few shadows songs in my time and this was definitely "in the style of". Guitars sounded killer, also dug the acoustic chugging away like a train in backround, very cool. Only criticism is that I was reminded a little too much of certain lead runs in Apache? Studmissile - Interesting track stud - reminded me of a 80's track that was similarly sparse - the name escapes me. Was this a break-up song, very moody and emotive. Delay on the bass was soo cool to hear in the space you created. Really liked the sparse production to let the reverbs and delays mix.
            Thank you for the feedback Meron. No i did not DI so prolly need to invest in an active. The organ sound was created by an EHX Key9 i am awaiting a delivery for the B9.
            This competition taught me many things related to delay but also that timing needs to be perfect. My own comment relates to too many fingering mistakes and not too a great song structure.
              Stoffeltoo wrote: No i did not DI so prolly need to invest in an active.

              The organ sound was created by an EHX Key9 i am awaiting a delivery for the B9.
              You mic'ed up? Think perhaps you might get more joy from reading up a bit on compression and checking out mastering plug-in's like Ozone Izotope.

              Busy recording band stuff and we are getting impressive results going straight into my interface, though we have a few sound engineers in the band that have the soft skills to make it awesome.

              Ahh, my mistake. The organ sounds were legit - fooled me into thinking it was a patch!
                Thanks for the feedback Meron, Stoffel. My regular gig is on bass so this is the only time I get to play on skinny strings, and entering the contest is good motivation to mess around with different things.

                The clipping was on the ambient 'synthy' thing- a volume-swell electric guitar with long delays. I know to check levels BEFORE I start recording next time.
                As for the warble at the end- that's a rebote pedal with the delay time knob being twisted on infinite repeats. Nice messy, analog-y sound. If it only had a tap tempo it would be a perfect delay pedal.
                  peterleroux wrote: Thanks for the feedback Meron, Stoffel. My regular gig is on bass so this is the only time I get to play on skinny strings, and entering the contest is good motivation to mess around with different things.

                  The clipping was on the ambient 'synthy' thing- a volume-swell electric guitar with long delays. I know to check levels BEFORE I start recording next time.
                  As for the warble at the end- that's a rebote pedal with the delay time knob being twisted on infinite repeats. Nice messy, analog-y sound. If it only had a tap tempo it would be a perfect delay pedal.
                  Something I've noticed...I may be wrong as I am pretty much self taught though google when it comes to recording... is that is SEEMS that if you are running one of the tracks in the mix pretty "hot" (i.e. close to clipping) and you add aggressive EQ you might actually put enough gain into a certain frequency that it starts clipping? At least that's what I've experienced... or I think I have...

                  I am still going to listen to the entries again a few times and then I'll comment on them and vote.
                    very cool stuff guys. across the board. enjoyed them all, but had to choose, unfortunately!
                    dh|
                      Peterleroux: This stood out for me especially the composition and its atmosphere. Besides the clipping and a small timing/phrasing issue in the lead I really liked it. I'd definitely put that in my pocket work on it.

                      Warrenpridgeon: I was expecting this kind of delay use in more entries. Nicely executed Warren, great song, would of sounded awesome with drums.

                      Stoffeltoo: That key 9 is so effective. A few mistakes, but a very impressive solo! Didn't mind the mix, volume's nice and up, but Meron makes a point. I watched some youtube videos a while back regarding final mixing and mastering, that I found helpful to get a "fatter sound".
                      obviously its pro equipment, but Rob Williams explains quite nicely what he is doing. Here's his channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-pxLUJ9wLliHhDdsx6JHKQ

                      Bruceikins: Loved every note, I'm a absolute sucker for surf guitar instrumental and the like. Perfect Hank Marvin tones. Thank you, I enjoyed this.

                      Wizard & Meron Rigas: Remarkable, the n’goni is a nice surprise indeed, with such humble recording equipment? Goes to show talent always outshines gear. Fantastic entry guys!

                      Thanks Meron (and Stoffeltoo), Personal but surprisingly not a break up song! It was originally an acoustic track that as I electrified and delayed, morphed into something Springsteenisque. Originally the solo was on harmonica, which I replaced with a guitar solo instead with an almost synthesizer tone. Its that tone that also remind me of some nameless 80's track as well? I keep thinking Miami Vice for some reason?
                        peterleroux wrote: My regular gig is on bass so this is the only time I get to play on skinny strings, and entering the contest is good motivation to mess around with different things.

                        As for the warble at the end- that's a rebote pedal with the delay time knob being twisted on infinite repeats. Nice messy, analog-y sound. If it only had a tap tempo it would be a perfect delay pedal.
                        heh, skinny strings! I find myself hopping between the 135-50 set on the djenty bass and the 46-10 on the strat - if I havn't touched the strat in a while it feels sooo weird. Oddly, the nylon stringer doesn't ever feel odd, but I think the thinest string on a nylon is .026.

                        +200 for using the challenges to - err, um - challenge one's self. I often test new/unused gear and techniques I'm learning to see what it actually sounds like with a bit of deadline pressure. I try to stray from the safe zone for the challenges, not always but one can try.

                        I'm all for messy analog delay sounds - the grittier the better. A roland tape echo with a dirty tape would be my holy grail (except lugging it around, it's large & heavy). I'd settle for Moog Minifooger, great little unit.
                          studmissile wrote: Thanks Meron (and Stoffeltoo), Personal but surprisingly not a break up song! It was originally an acoustic track that as I electrified and delayed, morphed into something Springsteenisque. Originally the solo was on harmonica, which I replaced with a guitar solo instead with an almost synthesizer tone. Its that tone that also remind me of some nameless 80's track as well? I keep thinking Miami Vice for some reason?
                          I had to sleep on it...but I eventually remembered which track I was thinking of.



                          The sparseness/space you created reminded me of this - why did you ditch the harmonica solo? Would dig to hear ya rock out on a tin sandwich!
                            [quote author=studmissile link=topic=26110.msg274673#msg274673 date=1495532199] Goes to show talent always outshines gear. [/quote] Like Peter & Stoffel, I wasn't 100% happy with my playing, but Wizard was on it and we had big fun - so it's all good. Here's a pic of Wizards rig : n'goni, his 80's ibanez power trio & my beat-up 10W ibanez troubador amp. Excluding laptop/phone the total cost of our gear for this recording was about R1k - both our instruments were gifts and the rest was sourced 2nd hand - junkie style 8)
                              So is there a mic inside the n'goni? Piezo? I can't see a magnetic pickup but I'm squinting at the photo
                                peterleroux wrote: So is there a mic inside the n'goni? Piezo? I can't see a magnetic pickup but I'm squinting at the photo
                                Cheap as chips piezo stuck onto the bridge with a glob of prestik! Think the 'electrification' process was R30 in parts ???

                                Wizard has been experimenting with piezo's on a variety of things - on the n'goni he found it worked really well on the bridge. Think it's just jack to piezo - simple as that.

                                It sounds so good, we're planning on making one specifically for electrification, let's see how that comes out.
                                  Peterleroux - Something else with delay
                                  I liked the idea with using the bass delay thing. 40 seconds felt a little short like we had only just started down the musical path you had us on and then... credits roll ?
                                  Would have liked it to be a little longer maybe.

                                  Stoffeltoo - Ode to 100 slaughtered donkeys
                                  Feels like a scene from a western in a saloon. Dig it. You managed to get the lead working lekker. For a first try of doing something delay-y it's decent!
                                  I played you some of my older delay stuff and it got HORRIBLY out of time. I liked your experimentation and I feel like I can hear you growing musically.

                                  Bruceikins - Indigo Bay
                                  Definitely hear the shadows influence in the song. I nice composition and it feels like you have some experience recording stuff. Pretty polished overall.

                                  Studmissile - Said & Done
                                  Some ping pong delay going there in the beginning? I haven't gotten stereo stuff working on my pedal yet... was considering it, but ran out of time.
                                  Definitely a high quality entry.

                                  Wizard & Meron Rigas - Afro Electro
                                  Very clever guys! Necessity is the mother of invention and you guys pulled a cool tune out there.

                                  Warrenpridgeon - Stupid Hero (leaving commenting on myself for last)
                                  Needed some EQ work and to get a couple of the parts flowing a bit better... it feels like you rushed to complete this just before the deadline ?
                                  The vocals need some work and they hid the guitar a bit. They need 1. practice and 2. possible EQ and some reverb.

                                  I enjoyed this challenge and am looking forward to the next one! I entered two months in a row... it's a record for me!!!
                                  Voting was tough in this challenge as the entries were all really good quality.