Nur Ein VI Round Zero "First Blood"

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:11 pm

Abbot & Hines - Nice piano playing. The lyrics are a little overdramatic, but I like the singing and the use of two voices. Problematically, however, the female vocalist is recorded on a microphone of noticeably lower quality. This is another one that I didn't quite get until I actually read the lyrics thread and noticed that certain pronouns were capitalized... maybe I just pick up on religious cues poorly? Not a whole lot else to say about this one, I'm afraid. It's quite pretty.

Billy's Little Trip - Bringing the BLT rawk. Whoa, what happened to the vocals? The lead sounds pretty badly muffled. Also near the end, it sounds like you missed quite a few of your notes... though it also sounds like you may have done so in order to emphasize the emotional aspect of the performance, maybe? Other than that, this is the standard BLT package - awesome riffs, great mixing, catchy melody (this time by way of a strange lilting verse melody). I like this, though it's not my favorite of yours. Looking forward to seeing your next entries (don't be late!!!!).

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:24 pm

Generic wrote:Billy's Little Trip - Bringing the BLT rawk. Whoa, what happened to the vocals? The lead sounds pretty badly muffled. Also near the end, it sounds like you missed quite a few of your notes... though it also sounds like you may have done so in order to emphasize the emotional aspect of the performance, maybe? Other than that, this is the standard BLT package - awesome riffs, great mixing, catchy melody (this time by way of a strange lilting verse melody). I like this, though it's not my favorite of yours. Looking forward to seeing your next entries (don't be late!!!!).

Your haircut is lilting!

.....

Funny thing about the muffled vocals. At one point I realized that I was singing into my condenser mic on the wrong side, lol. When the foam is on it, I can't tell and I had to hold the mic with my hands through all the vocal tracks because my mic stand is at our studio. I miss the old days when a mic looked like a penis and I knew which end to put my mouth. ...........wait, what...

..and yeah, I was going for broke at the end. In a dimly lit studio all liquored up, I tend to get a bit soulful. Well, let's just say I "feel" the soul.....delivering the soul is more of a subjective thing.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 12:16 am

Billy's Little Trip wrote:
Generic wrote:Billy's Little Trip - Bringing the BLT rawk. Whoa, what happened to the vocals? The lead sounds pretty badly muffled. Also near the end, it sounds like you missed quite a few of your notes... though it also sounds like you may have done so in order to emphasize the emotional aspect of the performance, maybe? Other than that, this is the standard BLT package - awesome riffs, great mixing, catchy melody (this time by way of a strange lilting verse melody). I like this, though it's not my favorite of yours. Looking forward to seeing your next entries (don't be late!!!!).
Your haircut is lilting!

.....

Funny thing about the muffled vocals. At one point I realized that I was singing into my condenser mic on the wrong side, lol. When the foam is on it, I can't tell and I had to hold the mic with my hands through all the vocal tracks because my mic stand is at our studio. I miss the old days when a mic looked like a penis and I knew which end to put my mouth. ...........wait, what...

..and yeah, I was going for broke at the end. In a dimly lit studio all liquored up, I tend to get a bit soulful. Well, let's just say I "feel" the soul.....delivering the soul is more of a subjective thing.

Am I missing something? Where is the BLT song?

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:58 am

I need to take a cue from BLT and record whilst liquored up rather than hungover.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:19 am

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Well, let's just say I "feel" the soul.

You are soul

...but I still can't find your song

BoffoYux · Post by **BoffoYux** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:06 am

BLT song is here. You also might want to get the other delayed entry, Abbott & Hines.

http://nurein.songfight.net/nureinvi/fb ... rip_fb.mp3

http://nurein.songfight.net/nureinvi/fb ... nes_fb.mp3

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:07 am

Caravan Ray wrote:
Billy's Little Trip wrote:
Generic wrote:Billy's Little Trip - Bringing the BLT rawk. Whoa, what happened to the vocals? The lead sounds pretty badly muffled. Also near the end, it sounds like you missed quite a few of your notes... though it also sounds like you may have done so in order to emphasize the emotional aspect of the performance, maybe? Other than that, this is the standard BLT package - awesome riffs, great mixing, catchy melody (this time by way of a strange lilting verse melody). I like this, though it's not my favorite of yours. Looking forward to seeing your next entries (don't be late!!!!).
Your haircut is lilting!

.....

Funny thing about the muffled vocals. At one point I realized that I was singing into my condenser mic on the wrong side, lol. When the foam is on it, I can't tell and I had to hold the mic with my hands through all the vocal tracks because my mic stand is at our studio. I miss the old days when a mic looked like a penis and I knew which end to put my mouth. ...........wait, what...

..and yeah, I was going for broke at the end. In a dimly lit studio all liquored up, I tend to get a bit soulful. Well, let's just say I "feel" the soul.....delivering the soul is more of a subjective thing.
Am I missing something? Where is the BLT song?

Niv was also kind enough to put in in the Round 0 folder with all the other entries, but because it's just a bare folder with no GUI, there's no tag (other than the "Last modified" column) to let us know which two entries were uploaded later than the others.

http://nurein.songfight.net/nureinvi/fb/

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:16 am

Caravan Ray wrote:
Billy's Little Trip wrote:Well, let's just say I "feel" the soul.
You are soul

...but I still can't find your song

If it's not up yet, you can hear it here.

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:33 am

So you can't be troubled to get the song in on time, but you have time to make a video.

Priorities, man, priorities!!

Nur Ein

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:36 am

Billy's Little Trip wrote:If it's not up yet, you can hear it here.

So it is a love song! I knew those were just metaphors, like "I've got you under my skin" or something.

Billy's Little Trip · Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:13 am

I just did the vid real quick while waiting for the round ein title. Amazing how some of the explosions match my punches, like at the end.

...and I'll get a lilting haircut like Jon before I allow myself to turn in a song late this year.

Pop Machine · Post by **Pop Machine** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:36 am

Generic wrote: Pop Machine - Well, you certainly got the "educational" requirement out of the way, but I have to admit that a lot of this went right over my head, so I didn't really get much out of it. It's musically-executed well enough, and you had enough panache to know to add elements of musicality to the otherwise dry lyrics (in particular, I liked the "Frequency of T! Frequency of T!" part), but I don't think I'll remember much of anything about this track two or three weeks later.

Thanks for the feedback, Jon. We misunderstood the "First Blood" challenge and indeed went for something educational (it's actually from my EE grad school work), and really were interested in getting "feet in the door" for round 0, so did a one-pass record & mix-it-quick thing (i.e. REALLY pushing the deadline). We're looking forward to learning from y'all...

AM from PM

RangerDenni · Post by **RangerDenni** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 3:38 pm

really great feedback. reviews are imminent. I'm going to try to say something useful, rather than fill them with disclaimers. THAT is going to be quite hard.

Den

BoffoYux · Post by **BoffoYux** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:07 pm

Here's a few thoughts on songs so far, since others are putting their 2 cents in. More to come.

JoAnn Abbott and Caleb Hines -
Interesting piano ballad. I like the counterpoint between your voices. Not something that I'll keep in heavy rotation on the iPod, but it's a solid effort.

Adamadamant -
I know I'm going to do a forehead slap, because I can't figure out the game this goes with. Interesting choice of instruments. The Uke was a little grating on me.

Billy's LIttle Trip
Nice driving guitar opening. I like the way this song builds. The stereo effect on the solo guitar counterpoint was a nice touch. In my top 5.

Bram Tant -
I know you had issues with the level of the vocals. - they were so low you really couldn't make them out at all in the track. I'd like to hear a new version with a better mix. Guitar work was good.

Dj Ranger Den -
I love the scat beatnik rap. Is that an ocarina doing the counterpoint? Cute method to add the educational info in there as well. In my top 5.

Embers of Autumn -
I needed to check out the lyric sheet to see where you were coming from. Even then, not much there to go on. Slow ballad that didn't really do much for me.

Frankie Big Face -
Nice TMBG vibe with a slower tempo. Kicks into a Bowie feel in the bridge. Overall a strong entry. In my top 5.

Glen Raphael -
Funky beat and Porno Bass lines. Loved the Flute part kicking in. Felt like Huggy Bear was around the corner. Solid entry.

John Kloberdanz -
A Happy History Lesson with a harmonica. I like the way the lyrics came together.
Nicely done.

Jon Eric -
A reggae history lesson. Morphs into a upbeat story on kings and sacrifice. Must have been hard to shoehorn those names into the song. The time change didn't quite kick in for me - but good effort overall.

Luke Henley
Dirgelike Ballad. Interesting guitar work. A bit of a slow Loudon Wainwright III feel without the humor. I know you're going for the Tortured artist vibe, but it didn't work for me in this case.

BoffoYux · Post by **BoffoYux** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:49 pm

Last batch of thoughts on Round 0 songs

Manhattan Glutton -
Good Guitar work. Flowed very nicely with the transition into the bridge. Solid effort.

Merisan -
A pleasant surprise - a nice twist on the vampire theme turning it into a fetish. The guitar and accordion work very well together. In my top 5.

Paco del Stinko -
Skid Roper lives! Nice history lesson tied into a southern twang. Well done western tune without the country.

Rabid Garfunkel-
Interesting song from a sideshow barker's point of view. I don't have a frame of reference for what it's about. A duel? A fencing event? Something's going on, but I'm at a loss as to what. Good track.

Ross Durand-
Simple tune with a complex story. Nice take on the classic vampire story. Well done. In my top 5.

The Worldly Self-Assurance -
Jellyfish meets Dukes of the Stratosphere. Nice production with nonsense factoids. Makes me smile.

WreckdoM -
Deathmetal for John Rambo. With that garage sound, you might want to grunge up the vocals or tie them into the instrument echo. Nice effort.

I think this is a strong field and looking forward to hearing more from you guys.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:35 pm

We are still waiting for one of our judges. Because it's round zero, I'm waiting before posting votes. In the future, if the wait gets too long, we will use the alternate's (Spintown) votes in the place of the missing judge.

Billy's Little Trip · Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:26 am

Oh crap, Spin hates me. He never seems to like my musical ....swagger.

Spintown · Post by **Spintown** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:58 am

Oh crap, Spin hates me. He never seems to like my musical ....swagger.

If I hated you, I wouldn't want you to compete in future SpinTunes competitions...and I DO want that.

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2011/04/ ... eview.html

Songs are not ranked in any type of order here...reasons are posted on the blog.

Rabid Garfunkel - 1950's educational film meets carnival barker. Granted, being educational is part of the challenge, but it wasn't a good combo for me. Mostly because a carnival barker or announcer would have a lot more energy than this.

Embers Of Autumn - Congrats! All the boredom of a 5 minute song condensed into 2 minutes. I read your explanation though, and expect better from you in round 1. Bring it.

Jon Eric - K'inich Yax K'uk Mo'....Siyaj Chan K'awill II...Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil...I can't read this shit, and have no idea if you're saying it right. So on top of a good song that fully meets the challenge, I have to give you bonus points just for trying to sing this...and doing a good job of it as well.

Billy's Little Trip - Dug the music, but didn't really feel it was all that educational. You're not the only one this round I felt that way about, and I didn't really take it into consideration much since nobody was getting eliminated this round. However...in future rounds where there will be eliminations...this sort of thing would have hurt you greatly. Oh, and I KNOW your vocals could have been better.

Frankie Big Face - This is the first song I listened to that really created a problem for me. I personally have a weak stomach for blood. Some people can't look at it...well I can't even talk & think about it without getting sick sometimes. I won't be explaining all this for each song that causes my stomach to churn...yours was just the first I happened to listen to (lucky you) & I felt I should explain it at least once. The music was a little slow for me personally, but it was good. The lyrics...well they turned my stomach. I'm not saying they're bad, but that's just my reaction to the topic. I'm trying not to hold that against you, and with time my rankings usually change a little. Allowing a song to sit, and coming back to it is generally a good thing. Nur Ein doesn't give the judges that opportunity though.

Merisan - I felt like using my pillowcase as a cape, and dancing with my broom. Fun & smart lyrics performed wonderfully by the vocalist. I expected vampire songs, but this exceeded expectations.

Adam Adamant - Nothing about this worked for me. You said it was rushed, and it really sounds like it. Lucky for you, everyone goes to round 1. Hopefully you're less rushed next round. Good luck.

Popmachine - As an alternate judge, I don't feel the need to follow the beaten path. I'm making my own rules... Rule #1 have lyrics. Rule #2 post lyrics in forum. Breaker of rules gets no reviews other than ranking.

Wreckdom - Mixed feelings here. It made me laugh, and I was hoping someone would do Rambo. But, until the end when the spoken parts came in it wasn't educational. I'm not saying you didn't meet the challenge, I'm just saying I didn't like how you decided to go about it. I think I'm harping on everyone who ended up using this approach.

Bram Tant - 3rd person I know of this round using the, "I found out late..." or "I didn't have time..." excuse. These excuses may all be valid, but I hope everyone knows the same excuse doesn't hold water in round 1. Like most people who were rushed...this didn't do much but depress me. Sorry Bram....now get started on round 1. Now, not in 5 minutes...right now. EVERYONE!

Ross Durand - During the first 2 verses I was starting to think that you're not such a nice guy. Then the 3rd verse started & I realized I'm a sick individual. I laughed, and this song is better than every Twilight movie that will ever be made. How do I know that? The same way I know Twilight sucks, but I haven't seen any of the movies.

Worldly Self Assurance - Read the Popmachine review up above.

DJ Ranger Den - Was reminded of computernerd01 parodies because a few lines were just so random. Overall I thought it was great that you tried something different, and it made me laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47wUQZs1_NQ

John Kloberdanz - I enjoyed the harmonica. The music is a little more cheery than one might expect with this dark history lesson, but I still liked it a lot.

Boffo Yux Dudes - At first I didn't really get the first blood connection, but then read your comment on the board, and looked at the lyrics again. You clearly did have a connection, and it's a good thing because I liked the song. Have to admit I didn't care for the bridge or the ending, but this made me laugh while still being catchy.

Paco del Stinko - "To Virginia went" Aside from channeling Yoda in that line, this is another history lesson I found entertaining. This could have been a great song for a past SpinTunes challenge as well. (Secondary Historical Figures)
http://spintown.bandcamp.com/album/spintunes-2-round-3

Glen Raphael - Really dug the music...felt funky. The hook was catchy, but in the end the spoken parts didn't do it for me.

Abbott & Hines - I like piano... More? Well...ok... The idea is alright, but it might not be a good topic for a contest like this. Let's face it, a lot of people could say it's fiction & not educational. I didn't really care for the vocal performances, and really had a tough time getting into this. I struggle to pay attention to my choir in church...but they probably would have held my attention more than this.

Manhattan Glutton - Forgive me for not knowing the difference between various types of drums, but the deeper sounding one I enjoyed while the other just annoyed me. I think you did an alright job in writing about something deeper while sticking to the educational bit.

Luke Henley - I got bored with the music, and looked to see how long was left around the 2 minute mark. I was shocked to see this had more than another 2 minutes to go. I wasn't a fan of the performance for the most part, especially when you sang "First comes blood"...but there were plenty of moments where I thought you needed some vocal help.

dantes · Post by **dantes** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:44 am

Ouch. Not even a comment about my song itself. Oh well, to the next round I suppose.

Calliopeva · Post by **Calliopeva** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:47 am

I admit tht I don't have a very good mike- I only started competing last summer, and have a 20 dollar dynex stick mike as well as my old Logitech headset mike- I recorded on the Dynex this time. Can't really afford a better model for now, though I am trying to find one. Figuring out how to use Audacity to remove noise has helped (you should have heard me before *wince*). As I learn to use it more, I suspect the sound quality will improve.

Dantes- Spin didn't like the topic, according to what he wrote on his webpage. His comment about our song, "Let's face it, a lot of people could say it's fiction & not educational." was rather harsh I felt, and more of an attack on Christianity than on the song- after all, people have been studying the Bible for literally thousands of years. For that matter people take classes in >fiction< in colleges as well.

Tom- thanks for the review!

BenKrieger · Post by **BenKrieger** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:26 am

There was a lot of great music in this round...but any one of us is capable of making great music. I didn't think that every song really went full-on with being educational or incorporating the title. Here are a few comments on some of my favorites that I think really met the challenge. In no particular order.

DJ Ranger Den - The use of the title wasn't the strongest, but I found this endearing and understated. if you were teaching 4th graders they would TOTALLY memorize this. Understated won't help you ever time.

Frankie Big Face - There's the title, there's the great composition and the interesting recording. The incorporation of the title could be a little stronger. It seems like it uses "you should" and "you make" in order to seem like it's giving someone directions, but that wasn't enough for me. I docked a great song a bit for this. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Paco del Stinko - Love this. Love. Do you really need me to tell you what worked on this? You know, right?

Merisan - I thought this was perfect. It was a good song, it met the challenge, it was clever, charming. I think it could fit on A Young Ghouls Guide to Halloween compilation.

Ross Durand - I really liked the feel of this one. I think Merisan tackled a similar subject with a stronger "educational" feel to the lyrics. But this was definitely good enough.

Jon Eric - Well produced, good incorporation of the title and challenge. Keep it up!

Boffoyuxdudes - I really liked the song so much that I'll mention it even though...I thought it was educational, but the use of the title was not strong at all. But man, if the title was "First Sap" you would have kicked ass.

frankie big face · Post by **frankie big face** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:34 am

@Spintown - I'm not a big fan of blood either, but then, I didn't pick the title.

If my lyric turned your stomach, then it was effective, right?

@Ben - I hear you about the challenge. That's why I threw in the "here's the lesson..." bridge. On the other hand, the challenge did point me in the direction of the instructional aspect of the lyric so even though I failed to meet your standard, I definitely didn't ignore it.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Nur Ein VI Round Zero "First Blood"

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