SMA Feedback Contest Round 6 - A DSound Community Initiative
15 Days To Enter And Earn Points!
The main focus of this Feedback Contest, is for Musicians and Producers that are participating in the SMA Challenges and the Beat Battle League for Season 2. I find that having a fresh set of ears listening to your track always comes in handy! And you never know, that bit of feedback you receive, just might put you in the winners slot.
Consider this an open invitation to all, submit your tracks, and give some positive and constructive feedback to your fellow Producers and Musicians taking part in the challenges. :-)
And now the SMA is partnered with DSound, the decentralized sound platform harnessing the power of the STEEM blockchain.
DSound's support of the Steemit Music League & SMA will allow for greater recognition and rewards the Steemians who take part in the SMA's contests and challenges. So a big shout out to @prc , @dsound!
I will be awarding SBD Prizes this round.
And if you want to win the top spot this is how ya do it:
This is what we need, detailed song analysis! So take note of @novili's feedback. Round 5 was really great, and thanks to all who took part! So let's keep that momentum going with Round 6 with some awesome feedback, that is detailed as you can get.
Good Luck!
The Rules of the Road:
Your track can be of any genre.
Producers/Musicians: If you submit a track for feedback, in order to qualify, you need to give feedback to others on at least 1 track.
Feedbackers: Provide constructive and positive feedback. BS comments will get a big red flag.
There will be three tiers of prizes for the best feedback provided, judged by yours truly.
Both the Producer and the person giving the feedback will get a 50/50 split of the prizes. And the Producer/Musician will earn points for the Challenges.
First Prize: 14 SBD For 40 Points/2
Second Prize: 10 SBD For 30 Points/2
Third Prize: 6 SBD For 20 Points/2
So let's get it going on! Submit your tracks, and earn some Challenge Points...
And don't forget... show some love to your fellow Musicians and Producers with an Upvote!
The SMA Feedback Contest: Round 6 is now live, and the current dates for submissions are:
April 2nd until Apr 17th - 12 midnight est. Winners announced on Apr 18th 2018.
Lots of contests going on right now, including the Beat Battle,
and the SML Challenge!
Our Faithful Supporters
The @killerwhale Karaoke Contest is sponsored by #thealliance and judged by @topkpop @enginewitty @sol25 and @avesa, and there are 20 SBD up for grabs in Prizes! This is an Awesome Contest, that is a lot fun for everyone. So, drop your video and/or link to your post with the video of you in the comments section of the contest post.
You channeled a spirit of organic and extensive .... aliveness. Like a determined pirate sitting on the drums enjoying himself and the flow of the track, I can almost see him grinning ;)
The effect is a catchy riff despite the absense of strongly melodic notes - rather you seem to paint a picture with fractional notes brought on by the strong percussive elements.
The downturn at the end of every phrase makes it a seriously compelling case, and the challenging leads that come in later make the psychedelic experience unmistakable and rewarding. We are slightly out there, which is always a good chance to discover aspects about ourselves as listeners.
I absolutely ADORE the irregular piano offbeat chords you snuck in there, as well as how it turns to open up more room for them as we go on.
The mix is solid, which seems rather hard to do considering all the instruments at play here. Stereo Image seems balanced and the short reverb works well with the 'craze' of this track's level of aliveness.
Definitely not a journey I could go on on any day, but today was more than fitting to go out and try something new. You captured that perfectly with this track.
In its odd crazy way, it stuck with me even after the track was over. Like a good psychedelic journey ought to ;)
The artwork and name further underline the spirit of the music. It feels royal somehow - especially with the strong pianos that give it such a grown-up vibe - complemeting the craze of a tough trip into play and freedom a reckless child in a sandbox would have when noone is looking.
Hope you can use this info, reading it again now I am not entirely sure if my impressions can be put into words AT ALL ;) Which is an ample win for your track, as these things are best LISTENED to, not described.
Rulebreaker ;)
Very much appreciate your feedback, and I'm glad my tune was able to bring out such creative descriptions from you. It's always rewarding to see how my work grows in the minds of the people who experience it.
I totally know that feeling for sure <3
I love the liveness of Mongo Chops first off. Their is a nice chunky vibe brewing here! and I enjoy the long build before we get to the guitar. that bass has a real nice sound to it. The slap happy drums come with a fun rhythm that I dig. This bass and drum combo makes me feel like I am watching a cheech and chong movie, and this is a great thing! Were having fun! We are stoned out of our minds! The music is raw and rowdy. I feel a story here. And I could hear this tune in a soundtrack. Perhaps a scene where the druggie needs to flush all the drungs down the toilet and the cops and busting in the front door! Again, we are having fun!
So you got me with all the rawness and juicy radicalness that Mongo Chops is bringing.
Now for my thoughts on possible improvements and such.
I honestly think you have to do another take on the guitar. i bet even you know that you have a better take in you. it is sloppy and i get that is the point, but from some of what youre doing already, i know you got another take in you that would really make this one go! the drums and bass are so loopy that i really want the guitar to be the master bad ass lead that it is meant to be!
And hell, I love this piano but I wanna hear it better! So now I am talking about the mix. There is a better mix for this rad track. spread them out with some panning. it is getting a little muddy. i know you want some mud, but let that be heard! and I wanna hear that piano more!
i hope my notes land kind as i truly am a big fan of Mongo Chops! For me you are doing a lot of right here! about 80% right for me. but i feel another guitar pass, mess with the mix a bit, maybe some panning or more EQing. But as I said, you have won with so much with this one for me.
great ride! thanks for making it, being creative, and sharing it, and letting us feedback!
I don't know why I've always been hesitant to use panning - I probably figured that I'd go even wilder by having everything waving back and forth. But now I'm starting to educate myself more on the proper way to do it, like using a panning map. The name kind of threw me - maybe if had been called placing I would've understood sooner.
And so thank you for pushing me in that direction; it's great advice.
a lot of times when i think of panning. i think of it like a band on stage. their amps and such are spread out across the stage. drums and bass i normally keep straight up and try to make them work and fit together with EQ. also vocals i normally keep straight too. even if it is an orchestra or a big band, they are spread out, even if it is just a little. but experiment with it. go nuts! always go nuts! thats how we find amazing weird ass sound!!
I pressed play and will type as I go, pausing to formulate thought.
Starts strong, the guitar is cool and the drums do well in assisting the songs rhythm. Has a cool rock and roll sound and sounds pretty well produced. I like the parts where you cut out the guitar and just leave the hats.
The section goes on for too long in my opinion though. I'm a minute in and the song sounds basically the same. You have this cowbell comin at 1:29, but it doesn't really do enough in terms of destagnating the repition.
The guitar that comes in at 1:52, however does. Maybe put this in earlier. I would also look into the mixing between the new guitar and the old one, because they seem to clash. The sounds aren't coming through as cleanly as I feel they could be. That being said the new guitar is really cool. I like the melody and timbre, has a real rocker sound and the cuts where you just have the high hat sound even better in this section.
The cowbell you brough in around 2:34 really just sound bad in my opinion. It doesn't fit in very well and distracts from everything else.
Starting at 2:59, this is just too much. I can't hear any elements out and it just kinda sounds like a rhythmic clusterfuck.
The rhythmic clusterfuck didn't end till the end and franctly I found it really hard to listen too. I supose that that was what you were going for, but damn. Try removing elements from the song in the progression. You had a rhythm set and then you kept adding things on to it and really was just too much. I feel confused.
The idea was good, but the song kept going up. Sometimes music needs to go down in energy too.
Thanks for this valuable feedback. It will definitely help me improve on my mixing and arrangement decisions.
Thanks @fireawaymarmot much appreciated my friend! :-D Have a great evening.. I am adding the link to the update post, and in discord.
I personally like the funk feeling of this track, but am going to give you some collective feedback on this track to help you with building in the future.
The track has a decent ride up until the cowbells and guitars play in, they block out a great portion of the artistic ability of the track by running to close together in the mix. Sometimes, less is more when recording an instrument track. The repeated hit of the cow bell and such really accents the rest of the piano work and such mashing together. I would consider removing some of the instruments to give a clearer play through, especially around the 3 minute mark.
All in all, this has amazing potential to be a great track if you can clean up some of the pressing together that is encountered during the progressions of the track. At 4 minutes it all mashes together and really makes the first portion of the song which came together well, null and void.
I would go back through, remove a good portion of the mash up, and run through with some basic tracks. You will also want to find a happy medium where the track slows down, it doesn't have to heighten constantly. Reducing the amount of instruments running all at once is my best advice, and dying it down towards the end to leave a cleaner instrumental, would do you justice.
The concept was great, and the rhythm is there, you just need a little assistance with building tracks on a production level, which is why we are here. Thank you for the post of this, and for presenting it. If you need any advice or help with working on your projects, please do not hesitate to reach out to me @terminallyill!
Thanks for your feedback; it's very helpful. I do need to clean up the mix and will try your suggestions out.
Yes nice groove. Crisp and clear. The guitar or bass or tin can or whatever it is sounds fretless?
Lots of room for guitar nuances and atmosphere. Fill it up!! :)
Ah a solo.. I see why you waited so long and there are no chops :) Good one though.
Mental section now. Like the madness. Sounds circus like.
Dying for a key change now eh..
I have to stop :)
Good effort man. Got my ears twisting in a good way.
I like how you can play it from that little box there.
is that only available on soundcloud?
Cheers
Thanks for the input. My bass is a beat up old Wardair model and the reason it sounds fretless is that the action is way high - strings are like a half inch above the fretboard at the base of the neck. I thought about fixing it but decided I liked it that way, and the intonation was already off when it was first "lent" to me (by a friend who never wanted it back). I grow attached to my craptastic setup.
The song is on Spotify with an E.P. of my singles here. And I will likely upload to Dsound after doing some remixing.
Great stuff man. Love the term craptistic setup. I am also a member.
I simply am just not into modern tech.. its getting out of hand
I play a $50 guitar with a 10 yr old Boss RC2 loop station..
My nice guitar i play, which the intonation is terrible,, was given to me also.
So loving your story man.
Big follow right there.
Cheers.
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Thanks once again. :-)
Thanks for your entry @terminallyill :-) Appreciate it my friend. Have a great night.
@inthenow, thank you for giving me the opportunity, more yet, the platform to share this original work of mine. You guys rock!
You are most welcome. :-D Every 16 days there is a new contest, feel free to jump in at any time and take part. Holla if you got any questions, or hit me up on the Discord too.
What is your Discord name?
the same as my steemit, inthenow :-)
Ok, here's my feedback about your song:
@ilazramusic thank you for your honest feedback and full support :) I really appreciate everything!
@terminallyill at your service always my friend, good vibes and blessing always.
I can't get Dtube to play on my crap system. Do you have this song elsewhere?
Good sound effects and tone that paints a stark mental picture. I like the piano mix, with the switch from low to high octave. I think that happens quicker during the chorus, like one turn each? Changes the tone effectively along with the synth.
Sounds like you've accomplished exactly what you were going for here. Nice touch with the footsteps walking off at the end.
Thank you so much @fireawaymarmot :) I'm hoping we can come together for some creative work! I'd really like to help you with some things if you are up for it, as well as learn from you as well!!
Listened multiple times! ;)
Love ho you set the creepy atmosphere of being shoved into the dependence-headspace in world of scarcity. I feel unsafe, high five
I notice your bass is off-center considerably, I wonder if this was an intentional choice. That said, the bass does work well and the center is occupied by other frequency stretches, like your voice which sure needs its space. Gotta listen more to other tracks of the genre and see how they are mixed, since I don't listen to rap often.
You flow really well and have a powerful delivery to your words, which strikes me. I have many times heard words rapped with a weak delivery where I want to believe it but I quite can't - so your track shines in this regard, being an attention grabbing forceful statement with a lot of heart - maybe because of all the pain. Seems like the perfect outlet anyway. <3
Love how the chorus brings in a subtle addition of instruments supporting the intensity of it until all we come back to a verse. Even in the following verses your instrumentation remains interesting throughout the track, which I really like. Often hiphop seems stale to me because so little variety of pattern or color is introduced throughout. This track has done it beautifully.
The strings are perfect, gentle and non-aggressive, good volume and placement.
The sound effects fit very well as well and the piano is about all hope I can hang onto being confronted with your story.
Love how the sound and EQ'ing of the voice underscores the feeling of being trapped as well. Excellent work I gotta say!
and followed ;)
Thank you so much for the honest and in depth review of my material, it honestly made my day to read this :) I take a great amount of pride in my material, from writing to recording, and of course into mixing/mastering. I do like to leave some flaws in the music to accent it's artistic nature, because i believe nothing gains perfection and our flaws are what define us in this world. Thank you for the feedback, it was an absolute pleasure to have read it!
I will have more material soon, if interested I will keep you in the loop. Just let me know my friend!
Song: CHICKEN LIL
Artist: @VOYCEATLAS
Wow! An awesome track that really carried me away <3
I love the easy and optimisting vibe of the music and the tone you set that you so extravagantly follow up on when the beat comes in.
Your arrangement builds to total satisfaction as we go on. The leads, the placement of the voices, the leading piano make it a wonderful 'background' to the journey of your message.
The chorus works as a nice 'reset' for the tension you build in the verses with your... verses... hehe.
Your voice doubling works really well and drills your message into my awareness, changed up in the verses and solid in the chorus. Awesome.
The tune is really catchy, I gotta kinda be careful here ahahaha.
A needless tipp from a psy producer: maybe turn off the harmonic distortions of your voice in the very beginning and end when the voice is by itself ("OK" and til "I hate to tell you..." starts). It's perfectly masked in the track but when your voice comes in at first the whole wall of trebly noise hit me because of the 'empty' background. Not sure many non-producers would notice though, and probably it's not an issue at all as I am listening loud on studio headphones at the moment.^^
Great work dude and a good mix, makes me wanna listen again.
thank you so much for your input!
Thank YOU
I finally got it up and runninG! thanks for the extra link!!
and now my review .
i love the piano line. and i do like the lyrics very much. good emotion and a bit of a throw back to grand old days of good hip hop. when the music all kicks in, i am very happy to hear organic instruments! their is a lot of love in this track! like i said it has an old school feel, but it is newly fresh to me. and the vibe is right! I ask myself what could be done to improve or make it stand out more.... hmmmmm... I think it stands a part already on it's own. So perhaps you don't need any changes or added bridges or anything. Maybe you could tinkle with the mix but no. this track feels great! I really like it very much!
Ok starting out nice littly catch piano, simple yet effective in setting the vibe of the song. Sounds like a cheesy rap/pop song from the 90s. However right before your voice came in, you hear the background noise from the recording. I recommend putting the recording through a noise filtering algorithm, which is likely built in to a plug-in in your DAW. (in FL you can find this in edison)
I really like the vocal layering you did the verse and chorus, sounds really on point. If I could critique anything in the chorus it would be the 'Yeah Yeah'. It sounds a little flat in comparison to the energy the piano and guitar are giving the song.
The first verse starts suuuper strong. The 'craazy' immediatly diversifies the chorus from the verse and allows the listener to sink into the verse. In fact, the whole first verse was really good. The diversity brought on by the changes in layers in the voice almost gives it a band-with-a-back-up-singer quality.
Then again with the chorus, the song continues it's model of being simple yet effective in conveying it's point.
The second verse in my opinion is somewhat lacking, especially in comparison with the first one. While the transition was good, the background layers in the passage 'I do not ignore, I do not adore this matrix anymore' felt kind of off. This maybe stylistic critique and I don't have an easy answer for how to better it, because removing the background voices is also wrong, I think. Maybe look at the section again?
Second verse finishes we come back into the pre-chorus and the you used the chorus as an outro, which was really cool.
All in all, I really liked this song. It's simple, it's catchy and all around just good vibes! :)
While it certainly isn't the 100% I had in mind - there came a point when I finally had to let the track go before I tweak myself to insanity - still I'm curious - how does it sound to you? Anything that took your focus away all too harshly from the journey at hand?
Any other feedback that comes to mind?
https://steemit.com/beatbattle/@paradigmprospect/floor-dynamics-affect-or-beatbattle-s2-r7-electronic-dance-music
Really freakin happy I can now exclusively start with fresh tracks that adhere more to my recent workflow style - this was the last one of the old days that was worth finishing <3 It can be such a pain tidying up old unfinished messes after long breaks ;)
A painful but rewarding lesson nonetheless, ahahaha <3
Quite an enjoyable track. Very textural; I could feel the sounds working their way into my mind, riding along that fast yet smooth bass line. Was that Alan Watts speaking at around 3:00? I loved how you layered his voice. A deep but not too heavy wave of music. You've managed a sweet balancing point here.
Thank you for your feedback.
The voice is Rupert Sheldrake's, who regularly evaluates the evidence for the supposed certain truths that make up the generally-held scientific worldview today.
If you want to find out more about it I highly recommend his lecture:
I am curious, is this normally your area of music? Because to most who have not danced on psychedelic floors this music can be quite inaccessible at first. So your comment means even more then, if you still found it enjoyable.
Cheers ;)
Thanks for the link. I've just listened to the first ten minutes or so, and it seems very intriguing. I will definitely check out more of this man's work.
I like all sorts of music, but as far as electronic type stuff goes, the various incarnations of Dj Food are what really appeals to me.
will check that out
I regularly find DJs whose music I really like, there is so much room for innovation in these genres.
Thanks for entering your song once again my friend, much appreciated. :-) Have a great day.
The Pawn Quest - FEEDBACK ENTRY R6
https://dsound.audio/#!/@hilladigahackles/20180403t191603564z-the-pawn-quest-sma-feedback-contest-round-6-entry
Looking forward to listening and feedbacking on your tunes!!!
Bar-atmosphere in an odd way, your tracks always paint such a vivid picture. I can almost feel the counter, and the wooden floor.
When the bass came in the picture became even clearer. The percessuions pierce through and make the track really present despite its roomy atmosphere. The downpart is just awesome, the crawling percs were amazing.
The quote was hilarious. Audible and rather fitting to the vibe of the track.
Loved the lead sounds coming in toward the middle of the quote.
The later thrid was quite unexpected and took me on a heavy turn desperately wanting to find out whether we were still in that bar-place. Then I quickly settled in to where we were now. And it got quite warm, never looking back kind of thing.
A really unique journey with a good and vibrant mix and level. The outro was much needed to bring the energy back down a bit after the ride, which I like. Got too settled in, you know?
Thanks for your entry my friend! Appreciate it a bunch. Have a great evening. :-D
Gave it a few listens, and here's my feedback.
So once again you start off with an oomph! of sound and speech sample, before settling into your beat. Still not sure how I feel about that device, but it does get my attention...
For the next forty odd seconds the beat gets established. Everything has a very distant source vibe to the sound, and as it progresses I get a feeling of hollowness waiting to be filled... Then at about 0:49 the bass line fills in that hollow space very nicely. I like how the clappy beat adds a nice syncopation over the fat bass here... Sounds like bamboo sticks combined with finger snapping or something.
Overall it's not as experimental as some of your previous entries, and I think that is a deliberate choice in order to make room for the dialogue - great scene from The Wire right there.
After the "smart ass pawns" line, at 4:37, the keyboards add a good high end to the melodic structure, right when my ears were beginning to want something like that. It's the second time in the piece that you create a need and then fulfill it.
Good straightforward work with an excellent balance of sounds.
Thanks for listening and feedbacking @fireawaymarmot
I forgot to mention that most of the sounds in this track, i recorded from an online chess game. I love and play a lot of speed chess and was like, "hey! I should sample these and make a tune!" I also was going for a minimal sound with this track. When you are in da club, that bass will war and fill the space wonderfully! And as well, I am always thinking about mixing my tunes! the idea of some vocal right off top can be fun for the dj. and this tune is made directly for that dj man. thanks kindly for your mind, ears, and time!
Dope concept... I actually learned something about chess. This is something i would listen to while I code. Great structure and build up.
Thanks! you can also listen to 'The Pawn Quest' on @musicoin https://musicoin.org/nav/track/0x735c8ab7d86278224439fdd2fdec835a4f346237
Gonna put it in my musicoin playlist I leave open... since we can't save them yet :(
Check my @musicoin out Here
i got a page warning blocky thingy when i tried to open your page up. got another link?
Try this. I think its because of my security. I need to fix that. http://www.voyceatlas.com/$voyce
Great contest @inthenow! Here's SPAWN's submission: https://steemit.com/dsound/@spawnband/20180414t150301802z-sma-feedback-contest-round-6--spawn-monosyllabic
From the catchy, trademark, brass opening you know you are in for a great journey with Spawn, the feelgood factor hits you in the face and away you go, head bopping and occasionally smiling at the lyrical content , the arrangement is always engaging from beginning to end, they give you a little breather 3/4 way through just before the last peddle to the metal final section. What's not to love, these guys know there genre like true professionals
Great! Thanks for your feedback @theturtleproject :-)
I'm confused. Those lyrics were more than one syllable words FALSE ADVERTISING MAAAN nah I'm just being stupid.
Plenty upbeat and fun ska style track with lots of drive. The mix was excellent overall, but maybe up the levels a bit? It sounded little thin considering the energy of the performance.
You guys sound like you've been playing together for a while and have got your act down. I'm sure you put on a great live show.
Thanks for your feedback @fireawaymarmot!
Your contest was added to Steemit Contest Compilation for current week (02.04-08.04)
How do we submit a track?
Hi @voyceatlas all you need to do is add a link here in the comments that points to your DSound or SoundCloud or Youtube. Thanks! :-D
Thanks!
Y/W :-) And an fyi.. be sure to give some feedback to the other songs and you're good ta go. Have a great day.
You got a 19.18% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @inthenow!
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@wolfnworbeikood's entry:
https://dsound.audio/#!/@wolfnworbeikood/20180413t221135301z-second-womb--rope-a-dope--live-from-the-cave-volume-007
Good night to everyone here! here's my original song to participate on R6, thank you so much i hope that you enjoy it:
Thanks for your entry @ilazaramusic I appreciate you putting up your song into the contest. Have a great night. :-D
Thank you so much for the oportunity to show my work, have a great night too, good vibes and so much blessings.
Wow, did I feel WELCOME!
The music speaks volumes, the instruments are well balanced and leave space for your voice(s). the chorus works well with the choir and the beat is steady and rich, balancing us through the journey.
Spanish is just so perfect for music I feel, great performance and heartfelt vocals!
I also loved the downpart before you brought us back to the brass section and the end. I feel inspired! Cheers
Lets have a go :)
This is my original tune titled Concrete Castle.
It tells the tale of a hord of Vikings sailing into land ,only to be met by their fate.. I reckon an army of ghostly Deaths with scythes.
No bloody chance.
Hmm Ya think?
https://steemit.com/dsound/@jeffandhisguitar/20180311t145146692z-concrete-castle-acoustic-instrumental-jeff
LOL :-D Thanks for your entry @jeffandhisguitar Appreciate it my friend. :-) Have a great evening.
Cheers buddy :)
Ah I see the tune does not play!!
I can't upload another file either..
Dam shame.. lol
Yes it is.. I wanna hear it! :-) After 2 days, still no luck tho.
Haha :) Bless ya :)
I put it on my musicoin man :)
https://musicoin.org/nav/track/0xed15f0abb0f0538222df52422785b3c7257a100e
wella :) Concrete Castle.
Yeew :)
Dsound not working for me. Do you have it elsewhere?
Ah dam, not for me either.. not many of my old tracks are!!
I will get it on musicoin and give you my page :)
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