May Composition Challenge--VOTING TIME

[lurksalot]

Ladies and Gentlemen, 'tis time to lend your ear to the offerings served up for you this very fine May 

All based on this wonderful 'album coveresque' photo from last month’s winner Bobbass4K

 

 

 

So for your delectation and consideration please make 3 choices from the following entries..

1  Dad3353 

Here is my contribution to the May 2020 Basschat Composition Challenge, inspired by a picture chosen by the previous winner: BobBass4K..!
An ambient track this time, composition inspired by the thought of the fractal nature of the branches and twigs in the photo. A slow build-up, using fractally-generated themes, intertwining in apparently hapless fashion, but all interlinked, combining natural earthiness with algorithmic rigor. Somewhat hypnotic; it kept me up until the early hours refining it. Was it worth it..? Hmm...
All instruments are Kontakt (Contra-bassoon, horns, Emotional Piano, archtop guitar, percussion...), excepting the Superior 3 drums (a first, for me...). Very little Fx or mastering 'pixie dust', as the quality of the instruments speak for themselves, I think.
Thanks for listening, if you already have; if you're about to, enjoy.

2 Iacopo San

Finally is time for me too to give this a go.Working from home I was given a MacBook Air by my employer, so recently I have been having a bit of fun with GarageBand. Recorded with my Precision Classic 50 MIM and Squier John 5 Telecaster. All the rest is the standard GarageBand stuff - I did not have a chance yet to look into plugins and what not.

I am new to recording so be nice  

3 Nick D

My contribution to this month's composition challenge, inspired by the image selected by last month's winner, bobbass4k.

 

4  Lurksalot 

I am at the point that if I try and make it better , it gets worse, and that takes some doing 

If I could make it better I ........ Would .. enjoy

5 Leonard Smalls

I was going to go for a whole-tone piece, as key-based music is non-egalitarian to all other notes, until I realised that the whole-tone system discriminated against frequencies not present in-between the notes... 

So I thought I'd do this slightly over-driven bit of jazzy stuff instead, using 3 brass VSTs, plus Music Labs and AmpleSound Les Paul VSTs - when I saw the pic I thought of Miles Davis' "Agharta" for some reason, hence "Hollow Earth":

6 adam67

I stayed very much in my comfort zone for the basic idea with a pretty straight up rock song, but tried to take some inspiration from the pic to make it a bit darker and moodier than I'd normally go. Then I jumped on a metaphorical bus out of my comfort zone, went to the airport, caught a plane, and ended up somewhere where my comfort zone was a distant memory, trying to do lyrics and vocals. This is my first ever attempt at that (ever, not just here) and I don't think anyone will need much convincing of that. It will give you some idea how bad my first attempts were when I say that the finished article is a big improvement. Anyway, I did it, and my aim is only ever to be able to sing enough to write words and vocal melodies for other people to perform.

 

7 Fingers 211

Entry into this months basschat comp using picture as inspiration.
On new laptop this month with very few recording bits or gizmos....guitars by me ( and reaper delay/echo), rest is all free Kontakt.
A tree chat is all it is....

 

8 Upside Downer

Finally finished it, all recorded with Wavepad and Audacity. Used a drum sample from Looperman which I treated and twisted into shape, violin bass, Epiphone Gibson Special through a Roland Micro Cube and a Zoom 504 effects pedal. Used DADGAD tuning and got a nice wonky sound in places. A bit of menace, a sliver of light then back to peril. Dedicated to Pauline from Birmingham.

 

9 MoonBassAlpha

May 2020 BassChat composition challenge entry.
I didn't make it easy for myself, the timing is somewhat fluid in places.
At least you can tell it's not programmed on a grid.
Features a first appearance of my new guiro (on the left), kindly made for me by my good friend Timi Sp8.
all done in Reaper again, Godin Solidac phased guitar, Gordon-Smith 12-string electric, US Masters fretless bass bass and US Masters (with flats) "Lead" bass with a bit of octave on.

 

10 SH73 

Listen to Prelude 2020 by ThEddie on #SoundCloud

 

Well there you go , enjoy, and put 3 ticks in the appropriate boxes

voting ends midnight on 31st May  

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Dad3353

[MoonBassAlpha]

I would say it's a stronger crop this month. Will need a few listens to sort this one, though my favourite at first listen was Lenny's

[Leonard Smalls]

10 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

my favourite at first listen was Lenny's

Not often I hear that - ta!

(note to self; must up the dissonance next month - real art is about uniting the viewers/listeners in appalled abhorrence, not in pandering to bourgeois notions of beauty 😆😉)

[Dad3353]

26 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Not often I hear that - ta!

(note to self; must up the dissonance next month - real art is about uniting the viewers/listeners in appalled abhorrence, not in pandering to bourgeois notions of beauty 😆😉)

Spoken like a true and very successful Artist; s'been a long time since you pandered to any notions of beauty, bourgeois or otherwise. 

[Iacopo San]

Voted! And looking forward to next month's challenge! 🎸

[adamg67]

6 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Not often I hear that - ta!

(note to self; must up the dissonance next month - real art is about uniting the viewers/listeners in appalled abhorrence, not in pandering to bourgeois notions of beauty 😆😉)

I really did vote for yours more as an expressive piece of art than because i actually enjoyed listening to it 

[Leonard Smalls]

38 minutes ago, adamg67 said:

more as an expressive piece of art than because i actually enjoyed listening to it 

😂

Great art should evoke a feeling of "please please please make it stop!", followed by enormous joy when it actually does...

😁😎 

At least that's how I justify making such a terrible racket every month (*)

 

 

*Though the real reason is to annoy Doug 😄

[upside downer]

Voted. A particularly strong collection this month and so difficult to narrow it down to a top three. Well done, you creative types 👍

[bobbass4k]

Couldn't get the time together this month unfortunately, bad form I know, but too many half finished ideas and not enough time... Great crop though, not all what I expected but all the better for it.

[SH73]

Either another listen to, or 9 names in the hat!

Update: voted

Edited May 31, 2020 by SH73
Voted

[MoonBassAlpha]

8 hours ago, bobbass4k said:

Couldn't get the time together this month unfortunately, bad form I know, but too many half finished ideas and not enough time... Great crop though, not all what I expected but all the better for it.

Yeah, the general feel is quite dark.  You weren't expecting that? 

[lurksalot]

Only 27 minutes to go , I only need 6 more votes to clinch this , so I might need @leftybassman392 to work out the chances of getting enough votes to overtake all the others , assuming that the extra voters might inadvertently vote for those I am needing to overtake. 

Its a tricky one but I reckon I could work it out given a couple of minutes .....

 

........

 

 

...........

 

 

sussed it ....

 

0  

[Dad3353]

And the winner is...

Leonard Smalls..!



Here, then, is your Winner's Certificate (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ...

BC_Chal_Cert_2020_05.pdf

... which looks like this (but bigger, of course..!)…

Edited June 1, 2020 by Dad3353

[lurksalot]

👏👏👏 well done that man  , I’ve really enjoyed the last few of yours , great stuff 

[lowdown]

The competition this month was rigged...

It seems the winner had already been chosen.

Well done, Lenny.

Edited June 1, 2020 by lowdown

[Leonard Smalls]

Cheers chaps! As Mr Lowdown alleges a fix I am forced to issue a strenuous denial and point out that I have an alibi, and that the fingerprints found on the envelopes stuffed full of cash in the possession of those who voted for my ditty only bear a superficial resemblance to my own...

😁

Now before the rozzers turn up, who should I send my pic to?

 

[upside downer]

Well done, jazzy gent! 👏👏

[MoonBassAlpha]

Well deserved Lenny! I think I called this one early. It's the kind of thing I'd probably listen to even if I didn't HAVE to!

 

[lurksalot]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Cheers chaps! As Mr Lowdown alleges a fix I am forced to issue a strenuous denial and point out that I have an alibi, and that the fingerprints found on the envelopes stuffed full of cash in the possession of those who voted for my ditty only bear a superficial resemblance to my own...

😁

Now before the rozzers turn up, who should I send my pic to?

 

Either to me or Skol , I can post it this evening after work if needs be , though I could be a bit late as I might be out spending some spare cash I found in my wallet this month 

[Leonard Smalls]

Pic sent to Mr Lurks... And I'd like to apologise now if anyone feels either nauseous or deeply upset by it.

😎

[lurksalot]

Over in the recording forum .......

’and now for something completely different ‘

 

 

[Dad3353]

4 hours ago, lowdown said:

The competition this month was rigged...

It seems the winner had already been chosen....

Trick o'the light, Sir; a mere trick o'the light. 

As 'excuse', I would refer to an apt work from Mr Carroll ...

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
    "And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
    Do you think, at your age, it is right..?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
    "I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
    Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
    And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
    Pray, what is the reason of that..?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
    "I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment (one shilling the box...)
    Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
    For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
    Pray, how did you manage to do it..?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
    And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
    Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
    That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
    What made you so awfully clever..?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
    Said his father; "don't give yourself airs..!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff..?
    Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs..!"

... with apologies to the worthy Lenny  (who now has two certificates; a 'First' ...).