event March Music Contest: The Results Are In!

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,828]

Wow, can't believe that April's here already. Anyway, in March, @Lord Valtasar held the first music contest of 2021. The goal was to submit a music piece that had the theme of "Adventure" and boy...did these entries deliver. These results are extremely close, but...there can only be one winner.

To judge this contest, I judged the entries based on these criteria

• Melodic Composition/Chord Progression: This score is determined by how well the melody is developed and how the chords are constructed. To get a great score in this category, the entrant must create a captivating melody and support it with a chord progression that does not keep the melody limited to certain movements
• Vibe Match: This score determines how well the piece matches the theme, in this case: Adventure. Does the piece pull the listener in? Does the piece seem to tell a story? To get a high score in this category, the answer to the questions above must be yes. 
• Variation: This score determines how much variety there is in your composition. To score high in this category, make sure you got some transitions and introduce new aspects to your melody to keep your listeners engaged. 
• Mixing/Mastering: This category focuses on post production. To score high in this category, your piece must be mixed in a way where there is a great deal of balance in your instrumentation. You must also make sure to eliminate any harsh sounds or frequencies. 

 

Anyway...now that we have gotten that all out the way, let's get to the results.

As I said, the results were EXTREMELY close. All of the entries were very well made. Did I already say how close the results were? Well...since I've been keeping you waiting...here we go. 

Coming in 4th place, with a score of 8.8/10 is... @Rikifive

Coming in 3rd place, with a score of 8.9/10 is... @Ganaram Inukshuk

Comin in 2nd place, with a score of 9/10 is... @Califorum

And now...coming in 1st place, just edging out with a score of 9.1/10 is.......... @Splashee!!!!!

Congratulations @Splashee, you have won March's music contest and will be given the title of Canterlot Bard! And you'll also be receiving a free OC Theme courtesy of yours truly!

Every single person worked so hard in this contest. Keep that chin up! I know you'll get it next time!

Stay tuned for the next music contest!

For a full breakdown of scores, see this doc here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F7_R7br30VaP_dCV5znncKSERU9aUdv-vCPVb0PeT9k/edit?usp=sharing

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,828]

1 minute ago, Califorum said:

@Prince of Waifus

9/10. I'd say I am quite surprised by something I literally threw together in a few minutes after reading the information of the contest. And not only that, it was something I did for the first time. I couldn't say I was expecting to make it on the leader board, let alone 2nd place. 

Quite surprising indeed. The doc is up if you wanna read more details. 

[Splashee 28,603]

I had quite a lot of problems when I was recording my piece. I wasn't confident on how to do quantization on my keyboard, so I left it at what I recorded. The last part of the melody came together by a mistake, which I found to sound good, so I redid the whole piece adding it in.
Sadly while mixing, I had to do one channel at a time, and mix them together (left and right), and it was tricky. And afterwards I realized one of the old bass recordings was turned on, which made that awkward multi-note error. Still, I decided to enter the contest early, to put less pressure on myself. It was very good training, to try to come up with something within an hour of time, and then manage to finish it without giving up. I think I have learned a lot from this experience.

Very flattering words @Courageous Thunder Dash! I saved the document for the future. I have never before been analyzed for my music, and I know where my inspirations come from, yet music has a broad spectrum and so many different ways to interpreted. This was definitely an awesome experience for me!

 

Last I could say that, during the high peak of Friendship is Magic, I had the most creative imagination for music, and melodies and other ideas almost came from nowhere. I have not had that with anything else, so I tried to put myself in that situation while composing for this contest. It is just one of those magic things that Friendship is Magic managed to do to its fans, and it is basically the result of us all being here.

[Rikifive 24,894]

Epic!

I expected you to mention these things, as I indeed didn't put too much thought there. I barely got familiar with the controls there, so kinda aimed to keep it simple, to be able to play it properly while recording, as it's me playing live on pc keyboard.  Fair enough of course, I agree with what you said.  still better than i expected tbh 

Good job everyone and congratulations @Splashee!

 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,828]

6 hours ago, Rikifive said:

Epic!

I expected you to mention these things, as I indeed didn't put too much thought there. I barely got familiar with the controls there, so kinda aimed to keep it simple, to be able to play it properly while recording, as it's me playing live on pc keyboard.  Fair enough of course, I agree with what you said.  still better than i expected tbh 

Good job everyone and congratulations @Splashee!

 

It was still a very unique submission regardless!

[Ganondox 899]

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry my piece was piece was so repetitive. I had just heard about the context a week before the deadline, and I was super busy that week, so aside from developing the one riff and the thematic idea I really did throw it together at the last second, and put it up once I had *something* resembling a song. I can’t wait for the next music competition. I know I can’t compete with all the people hear who actually know something about composition, but I enjoy participating anyway, and I’ll promise next time I won’t just copy-paste a single riff for the whole song. 

Anyway, I’ve got a couple questions with the feedback. First, when the vocals are described as being “unstable”, what exactly does that mean? I assume it means them wavering around the intended note, but I’m not sure. Second, on singing closer to the microphone - the main reason I was so far away was because I was using my built-in laptop microphone. I know I need to get an actual microphone at some point, but I don’t know what to get. One thing is my full-voice is very loud (I never went into it the song because it would have just brick walled), so I’d like something that can handle that. You got any recommendations? 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,828]

2 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry my piece was piece was so repetitive. I had just heard about the context a week before the deadline, and I was super busy that week, so aside from developing the one riff and the thematic idea I really did throw it together at the last second, and put it up once I had *something* resembling a song. I can’t wait for the next music competition. I know I can’t compete with all the people hear who actually know something about composition, but I enjoy participating anyway, and I’ll promise next time I won’t just copy-paste a single riff for the whole song. 

Anyway, I’ve got a couple questions with the feedback. First, when the vocals are described as being “unstable”, what exactly does that mean? I assume it means them wavering around the intended note, but I’m not sure. Second, on singing closer to the microphone - the main reason I was so far away was because I was using my built-in laptop microphone. I know I need to get an actual microphone at some point, but I don’t know what to get. One thing is my full-voice is very loud (I never went into it the song because it would have just brick walled), so I’d like something that can handle that. You got any recommendations? 

I'd be happy to answer all these questions. Let's discuss in PM.