Freesound Forums

Right boys and girls!...

... I know some of you have been itching for voting.
So, here it is! This time we have enough participants for a voting.

= = = VOTING RULES = = =

1 - Always read the rules before voting: different dares may have different voting rules!
2 - This rule won't ever change: You can't vote for yourself! If you entered a piece which is a collaboration you cannot vote for that piece either!
3 - Who can vote? - Any Freesounder who has entered the dare must vote! So if you have entered don't forget to vote!
Freesounders who have not entered the dare can vote IF they have been with Freesound for longer than 3 months and have either uploaded 10 sounds or have 10 forum postings.
4 - Voting system - Voting takes place in this thread.
You vote by listing your 10 favorite tracks starting with the one you like the most, this track receives 10 points from you, the next track on the list gets 9 points and so on... the 10th track on your list gets 1 point. All other tracks do not get any points from you.
5 - Voting deadline - Exceptionally, because of the holiday season, the voting will be open until the 5th of Jan.
6 - Results - once the voting deadline is reached the dare organizer (no points from guessing who that is ) will add up all the votes each track received and post the results.

= = = REMEMBER: THIS THREAD IS FOR VOTING ONLY, FOR ANYTHING ELSE USE THE DISCUSSION THREAD = = =

Alright, here's my list of 10:

#1 - Schluppipuppie: awesome processing and use of the sounds! great atmosphere. Simply love it. (10 pts)
#2 - Hoscalegeek: Love the interplay between chords and melody and it has a cool break in the middle. (9 pts)
#3 - toiletrolltube: darn creepy stuff. really great atmosphere! (8 pts)
#4 - afleetingspeck: (Sorry for missing your entry at first) pretty cool arrangement, develops into a nice, groovy tune. (7 pts)
#5 - Ultranova: Starts with a cool hiphop feel, continues with a reggae type style. just groovy, although i miss the further development a bit. (6 pts)
#6 - AlienXXX: interesting processing and arrangement. although it's somewhat random, it's done with style. (5 pts)
#7 - Jeffcarter: Pretty sombre mood as well, quite tasteful, but it's not interesting enough to be further up top. (4 pts)
#8 - Eriksommers: creates a nice spacey mood towards the end. the intro is too long. or there's not enough happening. Still a nice atmosphere. (3 pts)
#9 - Kyster: enjoyed the cool tremolo you used on the steampipe. Still, it's somehow missing something really special which stays in your head or creates a picture in your mind. (2 pts)
#10 - Joannageralyn: Random? Like the use of the hinge. (1 pts)

Klankbleed: it needs something to make it distinct, something more than a compilation of sounds. you have a nice start on there already though, creates a soothing type of atmosphere, which is disrupted somewhat by the radio noise etc. a bit of processing can make it fit better.

Sorry "whatsanickname4u" for not listing you. I LOVED your entry, it creates a motion picture film inside your head. but we were supposed to only use the 10 sounds that were given and everyone tried very hard to restrict their entry to these 10. So, great entry, not played by the rules. I'm sorry

I hope to receive some constructive feedback as well Great work everyone, it was very interesting to see what everyone came up with

What about Afleetingspeck?

Somehow he escaped my notice, thanks for telling me. List is updated

Sorry Klankbeeld. It wasn't personal.

Here's my vote:
Generally speaking: All tracks are so different while we are all using the same sounds.
That says a lot about creativity and originality of all participants, regardless of the positions reached.

#1 SCHLUPPIPUPPI

Very groovy, intricate rhythm that fits other sounds as well. A kind of drive, master of suspense in it. And it's also good to forget about time and being surprised that the song is already close to 3 minutes when I first look at the time. Making something like this requires the overview like that of a producer or so. Not many melodic aspects though but the other features are so obviously well done that it still makes it to number one.

#2 ULTRANOVA

Nice intro, pretty surprising how you could get such chords out of it! The chords and beats together have a nice easy-going feel to them. A little disadvantage is a clipping sound probably due to the way one of the samples was recorded (I think it's the trashdump sample). It was hard to choose between this track and that of Afleetingspeck, I had to make my personal music taste tip the balance just in favour of this one.

#3 AFLEETINGSPECK

Also a very catchy one, the playful whistling melody is something that I noticed is sticking in my head today but in this case I don't really mind.

#4 ALIENXXX

Rhythm very nice, it's clearly the main focus of the song. Some of the original samples I really didn't know what to do with, other than reversing or drastical pitch changes, but you seem to be able to make them lose their sharp edges and fit in to an integrated whole. Compliments.

#5 ERIKSOMMERS

Hard to choose between Klankbeeld and this one, for numbers 5 and 6. I chose for this one because the soundscape is more spacy and the rhythm is something that catches my attention in a nice manner, there are some subtleties in it and the stereo.

#6 KLANKBEELD

The composition is such that even without the title I would have easily associated it with meditation or something spiritual. That idea has been realized without having anything to change in the sounds, which is a pretty remarkable achievement that I didn't dare to do, and really everyone somehow manipulated the sounds. That is something unique. Maybe the same recording would have sounded more ambient with just some basic effects over it such as chorus and reverb or a slight echo here and there, while keeping the recording and composition intact.

#7 TOILETROLLTUBE

Nice soundscape, and I also hear skills into it. There is not really much that particularly draws my attention, or hit a snare with me, in terms of "catchy" or so, so it's mainly the technique that makes me decide it reaches number 7. Probably just a matter of taste.

#8 KYSTER

Nice tremolo effect that's a bit like a helicopter. Reminds me somewhat of one of the more eccentric Pink Floyd tracks. The rest of the track also pretty OK but I never can resist an urge to skip through a song when it develops slowly (like in the style of minimal music), to find out that not much has changed during the 30 seconds that I missed. That also goes for #9 Jeffcarter. Of course, for this contest, I listened to the entire tracks, but in other circumstances I would have started skipping through the song quickly. But don't forget, I like the sounds when I hear them.

#9 JEFFCARTER

Very spacy, ambient, smooth, I like the sound but if it would have been other circumstances than this Dare, I would have skipped through the song while listening (see #8 for explanation).

#10 JOANNAGERALYN

It's pretty hard to find a kind of system in it but that could well be a matter of style (at least 1 other of your soundcloud songs has that as well). You managed to get the annoying sound of the trashdump more smooth, so that I even start to like it.

Not listed:
TARREI ("#11").
I had to choose, and between numbers 2-3, 5-6-7 and 10-11 it was relatively hard to choose.

WHATSINANICKNAME ("#12").
I'm terribly sorry but there is no fair chance for everyone if you use more than the 10 samples of the rules. Off the record, unoficially, I think with your skills a 10 sounds song by you could have stood a pretty good chance of reaching the upper half of the top 10 listing.

I'm really blown away by the skills you people possess!
AlienXXX could you make it a rule that people have to tell what software they use? I think it would be a great help to those who perhaps never done something like this before, but want to join.

#1 schluppipuppie:
This is absolutely brilliant! I like everything! It just swept me off my stool.

#2 Toiletrolltube:
BAM!! I was searching for the volume buttom on my headphones. Not because what i was bad, but loud. It's dark, atmospheric and i love it!

#3 AlienXXX:
Nice work. I like the beat and the way you've treated the different sounds. It makes me think of a running man trying to escape something, or someone.

#4 Thatjeffcarter:
I really like what you've done stretching the sounds. Ambient music has always appealed to me and, i must say that this is just what i like. It's dark and gives me pictures behind the eyes. It borders to the concept of soundscape.

5# ericksommers:
Great dark atmosphere. I like what you've done with the panning effect, and i like the "chill" the composition brings along.

#6 Hoscalegeek:
Nice idea to make the songtheme like that. Also the bass is very nice and clean. Perhaps a little too much "cutting" in the melody, but still a great piece of work!

#7 afleetingspeck:
Nice work with the melody. It brings a smile to my face, and a boost to my mood.

#8 tarrei:
Nice. It reminds me of back in the day, when the commodore amiga was the new thing on the block. It's slow and groovy in its own way. Great drumkit you've made from the sounds.

#9 Ultranova105:
Nice rhythm and tune. Relaxing to listen to, but a little too happy for me . But it's very well done.

#10Klankbeeld:
Great idea not to manipulate the sounds. I like the way it grows, when i hear it several times. Nice dare!

whatsanickname4u:
I love yours, but rules are rules.

jgeralyn:
I like it, but as the point giving went on others took your place. I'm sorry.

Thanks for everyone giving feedback on my entry. I meant for it more of as a suggestion and example for future Freesound dares that I'd be fond of.

Otherwise, here is my feedback:

1) hoscalegeek, what caught me the most was the use of the hinge against this urban sounding beat, sounded like two musicians playing together a convergence of modern and traditional
2) klankbeeld, a clear title made me think clearly where you were going - which I felt I could follow everything that was happening - and in conjunction using all the effects as they were with no need for effects, that gets a lot of brownie points from me
3) thatjeffcarter - what surprised me most was your use of the radioblurb which I had a hardtime finding how to use to represent an aspect of nature, but in your submission you've managed to be able to create birds coming out of this dark and dreary abyss (in afleetingspeck, they remind me more of basketball shoes and whistles)
4) AlienXXX - love the use of the darkpad, i think your submission has the most energy in variety of sounds and yet gluing consistency with sections that can stand out on their own and much potential for expansion
5) schluppipuppi - very engaging, what is coming out of these dark ambience? I keep wanting to ask myself, a horde of monsters and then you get into this very spy-like action beat towards the end
6) afleetingspeck - the use of the radioblurb is what gets me again, this song sticks out of all the submissions because it has such a positive attitude that I could see the Globetrotters playing to
7) tarrei, very cool use of this spinning watermill effect and the layering of all the other sounds, the zombie chorus also brings a nice edge to the music as well, it's like one of the ensemble pieces if Thriller were a full musical
ericksommers, i like the progression of the music and satisfactory use of sounds - you have something going, but it's also muddled, i think you depend too much on the darkpad to stand out but it's just too low in frequency. everything else seems to be a bit soft, i think you could bring out everything else except for the darkpad up 2-3dB
9) ultranova105, very clean use of the music and progression, but i wish you could've incorporated many more of sounds in your piece better - i see these dares as having multiple instruments (these sound samples), but in here you've only just stuffed them in the introduction as a "rolling out of chaos" sort and haven't yet used them to their fullest, makes me ask for more
10) jgeralyn, I couldn't connect to it, what confused me was the flurry of the sounds at the beginning and then the rest of the piece i can't quite make sense of what's going on or where this is happening the radioblurb and the hinge seems to be something happening mentally and then there's the water that's very identifiably concrete... your use of the ketagawa sample makes it sound like old time radio static and so I still can't quite place where I am

toiletrolltube, perhaps in a game it would sound great, and subtly great at its changes, but as a stand alone it just doesn't change enough for me to really know where I am, this extended emotional note, i need contrast

kyster, I could only hear the hinge and the hardkick beat along with the darkpad (nice tremolo effect, again). everything else was too much hidden in the background to notice anything - i think stronger choices in bringing the sounds out is needed

EDIT:

Kyster wrote:
I'm really blown away by the skills you people possess!
AlienXXX could you make it a rule that people have to tell what software they use? I think it would be a great help to those who perhaps never done something like this before, but want to join.

Tell us your idea or question on how we did a particular thing and we can give you suggestions in how to execute. I want to emphasize that everything begins with an idea, not a computer program.

#1 - schluppipuppie (it's that bass sound that pushed it to the top.)
#2 - hoscalegeek
#3 - toilettuberoll
#4 - Ultranova
#5 - afleetingspeck
#6 - kyster
#7 - klankbeeld
#8 - alienxxx
#9 - eric sommers
#10 - jannargerlyn

Thanks for playing - tarrei and whatsinanickname

First of all, I apologize for even trying to vote your work, because I am very sure that each of your compositions mattered quite nicely to you; to have a number attached to it might, at times, seem discouraging. However, at the same time, we've all agreed to be part of the competition, and such assigning of numbers, I only hope, will be taken very healthily and in a positively. I am a very layperson with minimal understanding in music and sounds, so please pardon me if I appear rude at any point, but I'm just trying to critique and vote based on what I hear (again, as a person with no real in-depth understanding of sound and music).

For the voting, because it was hard to choose between quite a few entries, I tried to assign points out of 10 (6 out of 10 for processing and 4 out of 10 for the composition/piece as a whole).
The usual format is the entrant's name, a little comment from me, and then the scores. For the scores, (6/4) would mean you scored 6 out of 6 on the processing, 4 out of 4 on the whole, meaning you got a full 10 points. The more the points out of 10 you scored, the higher you are placed on the list. Finally, I've mentioned a bit about other pieces that aren't on the list and then my own. Finally, I simply list the entries from 1 to 10.

One last comment before I get on with the voting: I have listened to all the entries in succession (let's call it a playlist). Because there was a possibility of a bias (that I should get bored by the time I am at the last entry), I listened to the entire playlist on four different days, and at a different time on each day, with my mood greatly varying. I eventually took the average of the scores and rounded them. That is the score that is mentioned in parenthesis below.

Thank you, AlienXXX, for such an excellent dare.

In order of entries submitted,
Klankbleed - Because a collage was allowed, I wouldn't mind this piece, but an understanding of an apparent theme (or something similar) would've helped me more. (1/1) =2.

thatjeffcarter - Would have liked some more development. Very good processing, though! (5/3) =8.

ultranova - excellent processing of sounds. I mean just excellent. The beat, however, seemed like it was gonna be one of the chase-sequences in a movie that uses ethnic percussion (sort of like what schluppiepuppie did) but the beat took a different turn. Very clever and creative use of the e sound. The fading-in synth (like a smoothed organ) reminds me very much of Enigma (not comparing you to Enigma, please don't get me wrong)! Also, the best bass! (6/3) =9

kyster - like the rhythm that develops, and good work on the processing, too. The chopper was just excellent. But as a whole, would've liked some more development. (5/2) =7.

Tarrei - That you actually pulled dubstep (I hope I didn't get that wrong) out of this is just an amazing thing! One thing I would have liked a bit different processing of the sounds. (5/3) =8.

ericksommers - Like this piece also. A little more development would have sounded nice. One thing I would have liked to see in the development would have been more beats taking up more space, sort of like a build up and then a good sequence (or something of the sort, y'know!) I would have liked to see a little more processing. (4/2) =6.

toiletrolltube - Loved it. I like tracks that fill up space -- the ones that give you an "epic" (I apologize, have no better word!) feel. This one did. Dark and epic. I would have like a little less distortion, but then it wouldn't have been epic, I suppose. Excellent work! (5/3) =8.

Ho Scale Geek - Amazing processing. Would have liked a little different development. Can't say much more, I just liked this one! (Love the apparently ethnic bass drum, and the growl!) (5/3) =8.

Schlupipuppie - Loved every single thing about this. What I would have liked different about the steampipe is a less elongated usage. It's utterly amazing what you've been able to do with this, though. If anything, it motivates me to think that it's actually not impossible to make such tracks. This is MY kind of track! (6/4) =10.

jgeralyn - It seems like some sort of a soundscape. It's got a theme/setting to it, just not sure if I can completely follow it. Would have liked a bit more processing. (3/2) =5.

AlienXXX - Excellent job! The really reverberant sound was the only part which I found was a little bit, you know. I mean spatially speaking, of course, but the sound itself was good. The way in which you synced the radioblurb with the tempo was something I would've thought as nearly impossible or something that would require too much patience (and I have none). Again, this is just very motivating for me knowing that something like this can be done even with constraints set in place. (6/3). =9.

whatsanick: Yours was actually good. I hope some dare in the future does get made such that we can, perhaps, have 2 samples of our choosing outside of the normal indicated samples. Nice one!

A critique of my own track: OK. I feel I would have been able to give this much, much more. I have very little knowledge of processes and effects and music in general. I mean I am no fool, and I do understand it, but I am not "there" yet. To me, my own track seems a little harsh (the highs) and also a little loop based. A few other things here and there, but I think I could've done much more.

So the final standings:
1. Schlupipuppie
2. AlienXXX (just because the style resembled something I liked)
3. Ultranova
4. Ho Scale Geek
5. Tarrei (same reason as AlienXXX above)
6. ThatJeffCarter (Had a much smoother flow to it)
7. ToiletRollTube (The highs and some distortion; else it was really close between you and Jeff)
8. Kyster
9. Ericsommers
10. Jgeralyn

Same as afleetingspeck said comes into my mind, voting is a bad thing, but nevertheless, we accepted the rules...here's my list in short:

jeffcarter
- excellent atmosphere, very consistent
eriksommers
- nice drone/bass sound, good evolution of the beat, sounds could have more blending
afleetingspeck
- nice accelerating polyphonic sound in the beginning, nice stereo, especially like the beat, the kick and the bass
klankbeeld
- very bold to use no effects, very dry, gentle
hoscalegeek
- nice percussive melody in the beginning, promising, appealing broken flute, in my opinion the beat needs more blending of the sounds
alienxxx
- deep drone/bass, good stereo, creative beat
toiletrolltube
- nice consistent atmosphere, good ending
jgeralyn
- interesting composition, but very loud sounds, also (intentionally?) distorted, (well, the original sample is distorted as well), not very consistent atmosphere
ultranova
- nice sounds created out of the samples, stylisticly consistent, could have more "body"
kyster
- nice gentle atmosphere but very little development

tarrei
- nice vocals, some sounds could have better blending

Thank you all for taking the dare and the time and the effort!

Now for the hardest part of the dare: VOTING!

OK... I did all the technical bit on the reviews, really.
But music is more than technique. Music is alive. Music is feeling!
For this reason, my voting criteriaa is simple: rate the highest the pieces that created in me the highest emotional response. - Close my eyes, listen to the piece... What does it make me think of? How strong are the feelings and emotions that the piece creates?

In practice, it was very difficult to rate the pieces nonetheless. But here is the list:

10 points - Thatjeffcarter - VERY evocative.
I wrote a whole mini-story just inspired by this music! (check the reviews!)

9 points - schluppipuppie - The action movie soundtrack! Excellent!
As good as Jeff's above... I was just tooo lazy to write another story!

8 points - afleetingspeck - The most creative and musical use of sounds

7 points - Hoscalegeek - The triumph of a simple, elegant idea

6 points - toiletrolltube - I prefer his more organic pieces, this one sounding a bit mechanical.
Nevertheless, VERY evocative.

5 points - Ultranova - Jazzy feel. Technically this piece deserves to score much higher.
On an emotional level, other pieces just created stronger emotions. Sorry.

4 points - ericksommers - A great piece, despite some points for improvement

3 points - klankbeeld - simple and minimalist. The idea of the piece is well transmitted. Some points could be improved.

2 points Kyster - A tension piece, could benefit from a bit of variation.

1 point Tarrei - interesting. Great use of the sounds.
In the voting lost out to other more emotionally appealing pieces.

whatsanickname4u - Sorry, no votes since the piece does not follow all the rules.
A great piece, though. Hope to see you again in future dares.

jgeralyn - Sorry, no votes. For me, this piece was quite difficult to understand.
Then again, took me a longtime to understand many musicians and I am sure it was not their fault.
Hope to see you again in future dares too.

When you see my voting it is clear that I like the compositions close to the original sounds. I know it is within the rules, but it is just my tast.

10 points - jgeralyn Very good song. Very nice use of the sounds.

9 points - Ericksommerts very minimal and musical. I love the play with the è-sample

8 points - thatjeffcarter A ambience sound right from the hard. I love this very much because I am a ambience man.

7 points - Kyster, nowing my taste, I like this composition very much. Very close to the original and with a great beat. The flute a keypoint. Beautiful.

6 points - Alienxxx great sound, real composition. Lovely. Great beat.

5 points - tarrei competitive to kyster and thatjeffcarter. It's a funny song I song say.

4 points - afleetingspeck Even it is sometimes far from the original I like it very much.

3 points - Hoscalegeek Very nice composition with great use of è-sample. Sorry it the end could be more expressive

2 points - Ultranova105 A great composition, but opposite most of you I like it to be as close as possible to the original sounds

1 point - toiletrolltube Beautiful but for me to far from the originals.

schluppipuppie beautiful composition bet to me to much effects. I do not see most of the originals any more.

whatsanickname4u out of competition.

And last but........

Klankbeeld – well done me boy without any knowledge of music, but you get no point from me. Study some more for the next dare....... 10 points for being the first contribution I will say... haha

Thank you all for making this dare possible. I loved it. Thanks Alienxxx for leading the dare's

Klankbeeld, you voted for Eric twice (once giving him 9 points and at another instance giving him 1).

afleetingspeck wrote:
Klankbeeld, you voted for Eric twice (once giving him 9 points and at another instance giving him 1).

Hello all, sorry i was down to the wire on voting (I promise it is still Jan4th here on the east coast of the US)
My comments are in soundcloud if you uploaded your piece there. great job everyone! I'm officially in love with these dares; it's like being back in school!

#1: ericsommers.

#2: terrei.

#3: afleetingspeck.

#4: hoscalegeek.

#5: alienXXX.

#6: thatjeffcarter. I'm so into the spatial depth of this piece! You should make a companion piece where that low groove starts with a low amplitude and creeps it's way along to the forefront, and inverse of this piece, of sorts.

#7: klankbeeld.

#8: Kyster.

#9: schluppiepuppie

#10: ultranova105.

toiletrolltube. Very spooky. And your use of repetition is unabashed, it goes past too much and comes back around to great.

Jgeralyn,

You are well on time! Voting will only close tonight at around 10 or 11pm GMT.

In the meantime... We are still collecting samples for dare 9 until the 10th Jan.
After 10th jan i will post the instructions/rules on what to do with the samples
Hope to see you in dare 9!

-------- VOTING THREAD IS NOW CLOSED -------------

Results to come soon on a separate thread !!!!!!!!

Oooooohhh crap.... i forgot about world time and i just got back from work.

Gongrats everybody and may the best of the new year come to our community, respect.