Libre Music Challenge #4: Listen to the muzak

[AnyThreeWords]

@rghvdberg

Great job everyone! 4s and 5s all around!

+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| | Artist | Track | Score
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 2 | Draco | Elevator Pitch | 4 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 3 | Go Back Wrong Wayne | Monte Covideo | 4 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 4 | jdfight | Stimulus Consumption | 4 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 5 | MyLoFy | On Hold | 5 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 6 | rghvdberg | Listen to the Muzak | 4 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 7 | StrangeAnimals | On Hold, Hold On | 5 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 8 | Zwenny | Silent Struggle | 4 |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+

I appreciated folks taking time to write comments on peoples tracks last time. The feedback is helpful. I thought I would do the same this time.

dr4co Elevator Pitch: I like the piano sound and theme a lot! All the sounds are good I don't have complaints about what's there but I was left wishing it went into some other places... mostly because I think the piece is cool and if there was more to it I think it would be even cooler. If some other things dropped out and the piano got a little more spotlight attention I think that would have taken it to another level. Overall great job! I think it fits very well for this challenge.

Monte Corvid: I like this piece It has solid recognizable repetitive themes that fit the challenge well but also has nice variation and a good sound palate I like the stereo effects. Good job on the beginning and ending. The piece definitely flowed in and out nicely. I enjoyed listening to this one.

MyLoFy -On Hold: This is almost too good! I really feel like I'm on hold while listening to it. Good job finding lots of ways to add variation while still keeping it in the Mazak safe zone! I felt slightly uncomfortable listening to it but only because it was a little to real! Top marks for technical execution! Everthing flowed really well!

Strange Animals -On Hold Hold On: I like the overall feel of this one! I feel like I'm in some sort of indie dystopian future syfi film. I like the weird voice and the cool background sounds.

JDFight -Stimulus Consumption. At least I'm not eating rat jerky yet! Great job creating a scene. The music really sounds like something I would hear in the background at a mall or something. Great ending it's a good way of bringing the listener back from the disturbing reality you created!

rghvdberg Hey I think I recognize that melody, or maybe it's a mashup of melodies, do I know that melody??? Was this made on a Casio keyboard in the 80s? In other words, great muzak!

Zwenny This has a nice chill vibe and flow to it. It has a bit too much of an authentic feel for muzak! Nice job though.

[dr4co]

I'm sorry, you are all so good - I had to give out 4s and 5s like candy

Code: Select all

+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
|   | Artist              | Track                | Score |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 1 | Any Three Words     | Stay                 |   4   | felt nearly too authentic for muzak, but repetitive enough. Good easy listening track.
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 2 | Draco               | Elevator Pitch       |   -   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 3 | Go Back Wrong Wayne | Monte Covideo        |   5   | nice acoustic wallpaper. This would make an excellent backdrop for a corporate slideshow video (apart from the dissonant blips at the end...)
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 4 | jdfight             | Stimulus Consumption |   5   | "Now would be a good time to duck and cover" cracked me up. Good absurd take on the shopping mall theme.
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 5 | MyLoFy              | On Hold              |   5   | I love this! This is the "please hold the line" music I heard too often.
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 6 | rghvdberg           | Listen to the Muzak  |   5   | the acoustic guitar + strings is instant "please hold the line"/shopping mall elevator feeling.
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 7 | StrangeAnimals      | On Hold, Hold On     |   3   |   a bit too depressing for the muzak theme. Lovely souds, though; very cinematic. I could see this as a soundtrack for a sad, dramatic slow motion movie scene with lots of people making desperate phone calls.
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 8 | Zwenny              | Silent Struggle      |   4   | a bit too interesting for muzak!
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+

Honorary mention:
cmdory - Shopping in the 13th Dimension - 5 - haunting and just the right amount of wrong.

[obiwanke]

@rghvdberg

Why are so much people using telephone sounds?
Couldn't find the time to throw my piece in (although I had a very crude bosa nova kind of meaningless theme)
I hope nobody is angry about my scoring, I know how much work is behind every single production.

Code: Select all

+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
|   | Artist              | Track                | Score |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 1 | Any Three Words     | Stay                 |   3   |  not directly muzak, but nice with all the vocals; organ too much pronounced
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 2 | Draco               | Elevator Pitch       |   4   |  repetitive enough; drums too exposed for muzak
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 3 | Go Back Wrong Wayne | Monte Covideo        |   3   |  nice anyway, no muzak IMO - to much empathy in theme
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 4 | jdfight             | Stimulus Consumption |    5  |  exactly muzak feeling; better without the voice-over; ending with a elevator(?) crash  :-)
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 5 | MyLoFy              | On Hold              |    5  |  the drums are too expressive IMO; but the melody is nice and friendly and hits the Muzak feeling
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 6 | rghvdberg           | Listen to the Muzak  |    5  |  warm and cozy, not aggressive shopping feeling; music which keeps in the background hence Muzak 
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 7 | StrangeAnimals      | On Hold, Hold On     |    3  |  not directly muzak, repetitive and ambient, but forces too much attention while listening
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 8 | Zwenny              | Silent Struggle      |    3  |  street musician standing next door, but no muzak IMO
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+

[/quote]

[SpotlightKid]

I hope it's not too late for voting:

Code: Select all

+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
|   | Artist              | Track                | Score |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 1 | Any Three Words     | Stay                 |   3   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 2 | Draco               | Elevator Pitch       |   3   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 3 | Go Back Wrong Wayne | Monte Covideo        |   3   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 4 | jdfight             | Stimulus Consumption |   5   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 5 | MyLoFy              | On Hold              |   4   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 6 | rghvdberg           | Listen to the Muzak  |   5   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 7 | StrangeAnimals      | On Hold, Hold On     |   5   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+
| 8 | Zwenny              | Silent Struggle      |   0   |
+---+---------------------+----------------------+-------+

I had to give 5 points to StrangeAnimals purely based on athmosphere and creative use of the the theme. JDFight's entry was also very inventive. rghvdberg also gets 5 for the best simulation of actual Muzak. Unfortunately Zwenny gets zero points because of using a pre-made track and not providing a proper download.

[zwenny]

Thanks for the submission,
can you please provide a download url which doesn't need an account to download a file?

tia

Rob

Sorry for the delay. I don't come here often as I've founded a new project and wanted to leave all the zwenny-stuff behind. You can download my song without an account here: https://archive.org/details/zwenny-silent_struggle

[rghvdberg]

Hi all,
Thanks again to all who entered and all who scored the tracks.
It took me a while to gather all scores, my lame excuse is that I'm programming a plugin lately.

Here are the results: congrats to @jdfight and @MyLoFy!

I hope you liked this little challenge and that you join again many times.

Code: Select all

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+
| SCORE SHEET LIBRE MUSIC CHALLENGE 4 – LISTEN TO THE MUZAK                                                                                               |           |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
|   | Artist              | Track                          | Score | AnyThree | Dr4co | cabsi | jdfight | MyLoFy | rghvdberg | Strange | cmdor | obiwanke | turbidh20 |
|   |                     |                                |       | Words    |       |       |         |        |           | Animals |       |          |           |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 1 | Any Three Words     | Stay                           | 27    | x        | 4     | 3     | 3       | 3      | 3         |         | 4     | 3        | 4         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 2 | Dr4co               | Elevator Pitch                 | 29    | 4        | x     | 3     | 4       | 4      | 4         |         | 3     | 4        | 3         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 3 | Go Back Wrong Wayne | Monte Covideo                  | 28    | 4        | 5     | x     | 3       | 3      | 4         |         | 3     | 3        | 3         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 4 | jdfight             | Stimulus Consumption           | 37    | 4        | 5     | 5     | x       | 4      | 5         |         | 5     | 5        | 4         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 5 | MyLoFy              | On Hold                        | 37    | 5        | 5     | 4     | 4       | x      | 5         |         | 5     | 5        | 4         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 6 | rghvdberg           | Listen to the Muzak            | 32    | 4        | 5     | x     | 5       | 5      | x         |         | 3     | 5        | 5         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 7 | StrangeAnimals      | On Hold, Hold On               | 30    | 5        | 3     |       | 3       | 4      | 5         |         | 4     | 3        | 3         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 8 | Zwenny              | Silent Struggle                | 30    | 4        | 4     | 4     | 3       | 3      | 3         |         | 3     | 3        | 3         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+
| 9 | cmdor               | Shopping In The 13th Dimension | 15    |          |       |       | 4       | 3      | 5         |         | x     |          | 3         |
+---+---------------------+--------------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------+---------+--------+-----------+---------+-------+----------+-----------+