Thread: ATTN: Musicians of Casual Discourse

I think a good way to go about doing early competitions is to have people record them playing a song because that is rather easy to do. You only need a very basic microphone/line in thingy or most MP3 players have some sort of 'record' feature that records .WAV files directly. They're easy enough to be converted to .MP3 files for upload purposes. As long as we agree to be lenient on sound/recording quality in our judgement and focus on the content within then I think that way would get the most submissions. And obviously people who have the capability and the know-how could do more professional recordings as well. But doing it this way then people could upload something that's just one instrument or one instrument and a voice or one instrument a voice and a click track* etc. I know I've explained all this poorly, I'm having a conversation on the phone while I'm typing this.

Also, maybe a good early competition would be to cover another song, probably adding your own twist to it. And to stop people from picking stupid songs no one has ever heard before we could decide on a limited theme (American Standards, Beatles songs, hits from the 70's etc.). That way people can choose for themselves whether to stick to their comfort zones or whether to go balls to the wall and piss on those comfort zones.

Either way, I think that making the entry process as simple as possible will yield the most results. Not everyone has the time to spend hours devising/composing a specific piece and then recording/uploading/whatever. Let's try and keep everyone involved.


*There is a very decent online drum machine here

Originally Posted by simonj

I think a good way to go about doing early competitions is to have people record them playing a song because that is rather easy to do. You only need a very basic microphone/line in thingy or most MP3 players have some sort of 'record' feature that records .WAV files directly. They're easy enough to be converted to .MP3 files for upload purposes. As long as we agree to be lenient on sound/recording quality in our judgement and focus on the content within then I think that way would get the most submissions. And obviously people who have the capability and the know-how could do more professional recordings as well. But doing it this way then people could upload something that's just one instrument or one instrument and a voice or one instrument a voice and a click track* etc. I know I've explained all this poorly, I'm having a conversation on the phone while I'm typing this.

Also, maybe a good early competition would be to cover another song, probably adding your own twist to it. And to stop people from picking stupid songs no one has ever heard before we could decide on a limited theme (American Standards, Beatles songs, hits from the 70's etc.). That way people can choose for themselves whether to stick to their comfort zones or whether to go balls to the wall and piss on those comfort zones.

Either way, I think that making the entry process as simple as possible will yield the most results. Not everyone has the time to spend hours devising/composing a specific piece and then recording/uploading/whatever. Let's try and keep everyone involved.


*There is a very decent online drum machine here

I think something that needs to be taken into acocunt is the fact that originally the idea was to demonstrate the musician's prowess with their instrument/s. I think the best demonstration would not only be to compose, but to perform. If performance cannot be demonstrated it will not be held against any participant, but the ability to compose with their instrument should definitely be demonstrated. Not everyone has the ability to record themselves playing their instruments, but composition software is abundant and, in many cases, free. Not only for Windows, but Macintosh and any Linux operating system as well, I can guarantee you will find something to help and expedite composition.

Originally Posted by thefecesthrowinggod

I think something that needs to be taken into acocunt is the fact that originally the idea was to demonstrate the musician's prowess with their instrument/s. I think the best demonstration would not only be to compose, but to perform. If performance cannot be demonstrated it will not be held against any participant, but the ability to compose with their instrument should definitely be demonstrated. Not everyone has the ability to record themselves playing their instruments, but composition software is abundant and, in many cases, free. Not only for Windows, but Macintosh and any Linux operating system as well, I can guarantee you will find something to help and expedite composition.

Yes but you need relatively strong amount of musical theory to compose something using software like that. I think the effort these programmes take and how boring they are to use would turn a lot of people off. But if all people have to do is plug in a microphone and play then it'd be easier to get people on board. I for one am not prepared to start trawling through the internet for free linux-friendly composition software, familiarise myself with it and start hammering stuff out for the purpose of one of these compositions.

Originally Posted by simonj

Yes but you need relatively strong amount of musical theory to compose something using software like that. I think the effort these programmes take and how boring they are to use would turn a lot of people off. But if all people have to do is plug in a microphone and play then it'd be easier to get people on board. I for one am not prepared to start trawling through the internet for free linux-friendly composition software, familiarise myself with it and start hammering stuff out for the purpose of one of these compositions.

Not necessarily, programs such as Powertab and Finale Notepad are free, easy to use, and cross platform (though Linux is excluded in these two instances. I haven't done a lot of research on the topic). A program specifically for Linux is Amuc. These programs are easy to use, and the first two only require knowledge of tablature to compose, the longest part of composition with these programs is tabbing what you want the computer to play. If we were simply creating a competition based on covers, we would not be demonstrating the participant's ability to compose and adapt to what they are asked to compose. That would simply require a knowledge of the particular band's music, and the ability to play. Simply because one has the ability to play does not mean they have the ability to compose anything of decency. Others may not have the ability to record their playing. Maybe they have an acoustic guitar and their computer microphone will not pick up the soudn well. Maybe they don't even have a computer microphone with which to record. I can guarantee that people will be more willing to download composition software and take 10 minutes to work the program out and then start composing something than they will be to shell out $20 for a computer microphone and learning the ins and outs of recording, producing and, in the case of multiple tracks, mixing their music. The latter will take much more time, and much much more effort. If a participant does not like what they are asked to compose, they need not participate, and may simply wait until the theme changes.