Song Fu #6

edited January 2010 in Music Industry 2.0
Got an e-mail note tonight -- I'm in! Now, the terror begins. Caleb says he's in too... who else?

The first challenge drops Monday!

See http://www.asitecalledfred.com/category/masters-of-song-fu/

Comments

  • Yep. I'm in. I know Edric, Dave, and the Poo:dlz are in as well. I think Joe is in too?

    If anyone is interested, I have a brand new blog post describing two methods by which I was able to subscribe to Song Fu updates via RSS. Might save you a couple worn-out F5 keys when the challenge comes (from constantly hitting refresh in your browser).
  • edited January 2010
    I just thought of an uber-fu challenge:
    Your challenge is to write a march about an inanimate moleman, using a standard song structure (e.g. it must have a chorus section which is repeated at least once), which involves some number of characters on a journey to the moon, and evokes a holiday feeling, while paying homage to Space Oddity. Your song must last exactly one minute, can only use 10 unique words, and must be titled "It All Makes Sense At the End". Other than that, your song can be in any style you want.
    :-)
  • edited January 2010
    No, Im not in for this one.
    I thought i was gonna be away longer than I thought, didn't *apply*.

    I may shadow one or two though!

    (Edited to change 'cover' to 'shadow')
  • So there goes the first challenge - a song about the rain, featuring a rain-imitating sound.

    Last night at a party, the phrase 'walrus of love' was mentioned. I wonder if I can write a song about the rain featuring the walrus of love as a shadow entry?

    Really, with an idea like that in my head how can I not try?
  • edited February 2010
    Scrambling for time and quiet... it's kind of hard to concentrate on a bass part when the 3-year-old and 1-year-old are both having simultaneous meltdowns. Then the 5-year-old climbs over the baby gate she's not supposed to climb over, up the stairs she's not supposed to go up, and opens the door she's not supposed to open, and is standing beside me while I'm trying to record, "hi daddy!" YEEEAAAGGGHHH!

    Day 1: I've got some rough scraps of instruments recorded that kind of define the tempo and feel I want. No melody per se to go with it yet. I'm not sure what key the parts are in. They fit together in a way that I think sounds cool but might be considered a little dissonant. For this challenge, I'm trying NOT just to fall back to acoustic guitar chords and voice. I guess that will be plan B if this goes nowhere.

    Lyrics pretty rough. I have not tried singing them yet. I'm actually hoping my sore throat doesn't go away -- for the vocal effect I want, it should be rough. Maybe I need to smoke a few Camels?

    Grace is gonna get me some quiet time without the kids, but the question will then be, can I do anything useful with it?

    How many hours did JoCo spend on a typical thing a week? I'll be lucky if I can get 8 quiet hours total.
  • We made rain sticks in VBS one summer- get heavy cardboard tubes (not paper towel roles, heavier). Hammer thin finishing nails into it all over, not too close together though. Seal and tape one end tightly, add fish tank glass, the kind for the bottom of the tank, or just well crushed glass to make a tinkly sound as it strikes the nails- about 1/3 cup or more depending on the size of the tube. Cap and seal the other end. Turned slowly it should make a pretty rainlike tinkly sound for you. Hope this helps someone!

    We tried kitty litter at first but the sound was dull and boring. Glass works much better.
  • I've been working on Creepy Doll, putting together a rather different-sounding mix with my own vocals in it. Once I've got the vocal performance less terrible than it currently is (I seem to have huge problems with the chorus timing for some reason, and at the moment chorus 2 is about half a beat behind in places) I'll stick it up for consideration.

    It is interesting how we can arrive at such different things from the same selection of source material. There are some tracks submitted which simply do not work together, though.
  • edited February 2010
    Rain Concept 1 has some lyrics recorded: http://commonlisp.bandcamp.com/track/rain-concept-1

    but I'm not really liking it... gonna try abandoning this one for something completely different in the hopes that thing 2 inspires me a little more...
  • edited February 2010
    MaW, I'd be happy to see someone else working on Creepy Doll! That project seems a little stuck. I do have a tentative plan to make a radically altered mix of the existing tracks and see where that goes, but I don't know exactly when I'll get time, and I'd be happy to have someone else sing it.
  • Thanks Paul, I'm hoping to sort out the timing problems in my vocals tomorrow night, and then maybe I'll post a preliminary mix. I have used your guitar work for this mix, which I like very much :)
  • Wait, I recorded guitars for Creepy Doll?

    Oh yeah... that's how I got sidetracked into that whole vocal thing... I went into my little studio to record guitars!
  • edited February 2010
    So, this is again rough and very incomplete, but I am going with a different concept for Fu 6 Round 1. http://commonlisp.bandcamp.com/track/rain-concept-2
  • I just remembered this is the Song Fu thread, not the Mandelbrot Set thread.

    Duh.
  • edited February 2010
    Getting closer... guitars and bass! And all 3 verses! But no chorus voice at all yet.
  • edited February 2010
    Could tweak it for another day... but I'm afraid I'll just screw it up! So... submitted!

    http://commonlisp.bandcamp.com/track/polly-loves-the-rain-ft-joe-covenant
  • Couldn't enter because I was away to NY... I'll try to shadow one or two.
  • edited February 2010
    Well, mine's submitted. Writing it was like pulling teeth, but I'm rather pleased with the result: Water Cycle. It's been favorably compared to the Muppets.
  • edited February 2010
    It is indeed Muppet-like... in a good way!

    Wow, the entries are mostly really strong this round!

    Voting just opened at http://www.asitecalledfred.com/2010/02/08/song-fu-6/
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