Premeditation (Evil April Prefight)

rone rivendale · Post by **rone rivendale** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:20 pm

Speak for yourself.

MUMBLES-TheRedEyedSamurai · Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:22 am

No, thank you. Have you got anything that involves real musical instruments, or singing? That would be better, I think.

Yeah. We could do a rock track. Maybe a ballad of some sort.Some good potential for Evil April.

chris · Post by **chris** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:44 pm

im gunna enter this one. but its really bad nerdcore... actually i like the song. but i dont really know anything about music.

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:12 pm

chris wrote:im gunna enter this one. but its really bad nerdcore... actually i like the song. but i dont really know anything about music.

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I'm genuinely curious -- assuming you're being sincere about your lack of musical knowhow, what drove you to enter what is essentially a musical contest? It seems like entering a cooking contest without any kitchen experience. We seem to get lots of non-cooks in our kitchen... so...what's the story?

Reist · Post by **Reist** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:56 pm

I'm slightly disappointed with my vocals, but that goes without saying. Enjoy a hastily put together Evil April by Jolly Roger. (hopefully the mix is better than last time ... compression, gating, limiters, etc galore! Oh, and a 'bass' track. I went all out.) It's slightly experimental and pretty fast.

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:44 pm

anti-m wrote:We seem to get lots of non-cooks in our kitchen... so...what's the story?

I don't really know either, but why do Macs come with Garageband? What percentage of Macintosh owners have the training, ability, equipment and experience to make any use of that program? It's got to be awfully close to zero. Why is "create your own hot beatz" a selling point to non-musicians? And why is it such a popular conception that music is easy?

As for songfight!, the policy of "we don't care how shitty it is, we'll take it" probably doesn't help matters. There's no motivation to improve, beyond an occasional gentle reminder that if you are "slightly disappointed with" your vocals then you have four fucking days left in which you could improve them. And most of those comments pass unchallenged anyway.

Your typical songfight! regular is good at music. He (because there aren't many gals around, relatively, though this applies to them as well) has been playing at least one instrument for years, if not decades, and can probably handle several others well enough to play them competently in front of a live studio audience. He's been involved in the recording of dozens of songs and would probably not be uncomfortable in a professional studio. Despite all this he is still miles and miles and miles and fucking miles away from ever being able to make professional quality recordings. For some people, the main barrier is actually financial-- none of us can afford to invest a half million dollars in microphones, for example. Life's tough.

Doesn't matter a whole lot, anyway; the point remains: If most of us can invest a significant portion of our lives into creating music and still not be very good at it, why why why do people think "I will rap into this two dollar microphone over a demo beat from my Casio and people will like it?" They won't. You won't even like it yourself. You might think it was cool because you did it yourself, but imagine if you had just bought a CD by someone else, with your song on it. Wouldn't you be pissed off that you had wasted your money? Of course you would.

NatchDan · Post by **NatchDan** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:03 pm

I declare myself in for this fight. That is, if I can get the bass down in the next few days, it's proving tricky.

No HBoYaW in sight this week, oh no.

chris · Post by **chris** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:42 am

anti-m wrote:
chris wrote:im gunna enter this one. but its really bad nerdcore... actually i like the song. but i dont really know anything about music.
I'm not trying to be snarky, but I'm genuinely curious -- assuming you're being sincere about your lack of musical knowhow, what drove you to enter what is essentially a musical contest? It seems like entering a cooking contest without any kitchen experience. We seem to get lots of non-cooks in our kitchen... so...what's the story?

i guess i know some stuff about music. not nearly as much on the people here. But I try my best. I made the beats in my song myself. Except for the drum beat on the chorus. Thats not mine. I've never rapped before. so this is this is my first time for that. And my song is alright. Its kind of a mess. But its the best i can do.

Project-D · Post by **Project-D** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:58 am

bzl Spoke Thusly:

What percentage of Macintosh owners have the training, ability, equipment and experience to make any use of that program?

OOhhh! Ooh! Ooh! Me Me!

but really, well - freaking - put, bzl.

spinlock · Post by **spinlock** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:06 am

bzl wrote: I don't really know either, but why do Macs come with Garageband? What percentage of Macintosh owners have the training, ability, equipment and experience to make any use of that program? It's got to be awfully close to zero.

The reason I bought a mac was for garageband. I had surrounded myself with gear that I didn't really know how to use, and hadn't made a song in two years. When I first used it, on a friend's mac, my creativity returned. So maybe people like me are the reason?
I wouldn't have the mac for any other reason, I find them incredibly irritating for wordprocessing and browsing as the home and end keys don't work right.

You are free to judge if I have the appropriate training, ability, equipment and experience for yourself, based on what Xan and I've produced. I don't know what your standards are, but I'd personally qualify for at least 50% of your list. Especially the miles away from good bit, but we're all here to get better, right?

I wouldn't want to change songfight (after all I'm still new here, and if it's been going 5 years, you've damn well got something right). But sometimes I think it's sad that I only get the impartial reviews and votes *after* the song is written. I know a few songs we've submitted were really suffering from /something/ but we couldn't always work out what. And after spending hours on something, not submitting it feels like a waste of the effort. Earlier feedback = quicker improvements.

All the best
Spin.

For what it's worth, Evil April as a title has left to a couple of uncreative ideas, and Xan is busy so we won't likely be entering this week.

MC Eric B · Post by **MC Eric B** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:16 am

Spinlock,

Why not post your demo version of the song to the prefight forum thread and ask for suggestions?

Spinlock wrote
================
sometimes I think it's sad that I only get the impartial reviews and votes *after* the song is written. I know a few songs we've submitted were really suffering from /something/ but we couldn't always work out what. And after spending hours on something, not submitting it feels like a waste of the effort. Earlier feedback = quicker improvements.
================

TruthAndRegret · Post by **TruthAndRegret** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:33 pm

I'm in as my nerdcore project Antisoc

http://antisocial.softcheese.net

rone rivendale · Post by **rone rivendale** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:09 pm

bzl wrote: *A long holier than thou rant*

This isn't professional song fight, it's just song fight. Have fun or go away.

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:39 pm

Rone Rivendale wrote:
bzl wrote: *A long holier than thou rant*
This isn't professional song fight, it's just song fight. Have fun or go away.

Yeah, heaven forbid he should care about the quality of the music.

Denyer · Post by **Denyer** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:12 pm

Rone Rivendale wrote:
bzl wrote: *A long holier than thou rant*
This isn't professional song fight, it's just song fight. Have fun or go away.

learn how to make a song or fuck off.

Mostess · Post by **Mostess** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:16 pm

bzl wrote:Your typical songfight! regular is good at music.

This is key. The crappy musicians go away after the joy of "hey my song is on the Internet!" wears off and the sting of a couple harsh reviews sets in. The good ones stick around until they get bored or poor.

Having to swat away the flies is the price of letting new butterflies in. Sucks but it's worth it.

Post by jb » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:37 pm

for every three clueless newbies, there's a melvin. i accept that ratio.

and go listen to all of the Dr. Worm catalog if you think clueless newbies never morph into monarch butterflies.

songfight is a kiln for songwriters.

spinlock · Post by **spinlock** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:42 pm

jb wrote:songfight is a kiln for songwriters.

Meaning that some of us crack in the process?

rone rivendale · Post by **rone rivendale** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:49 pm

Mostess wrote:
bzl wrote:Your typical songfight! regular is good at music.
This is key. The crappy musicians go away after the joy of "hey my song is on the Internet!" wears off and the sting of a couple harsh reviews sets in. The good ones stick around until they get bored or poor.

Having to swat away the flies is the price of letting new butterflies in. Sucks but it's worth it.

Yay! I stuck around, I must be good! lol just kidding.

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:52 pm

No, no, y'all miss the point. I don't care if we get all sorts of crappy stuff submitted by people who don't know any better, because it is (mostly) quite obvious and easy to not listen to. I just don't understand the motivation, and I don't get why people think it is easy to make a song.

I don't have a problem with Garageband, either. There are a few people here using that program to good effect, but does anyone really think they are the rule, rather than the exception? What I question is the marketing plan: it is a tool for creating music sold primarily to people who have no idea how to create music. It's packaged with a computer and almost everyone who buys that computer has no intention of using it to make music. Why?

Melvin was already good when he first showed up here, right? Dr. Worm got good because he wanted to get good and worked hard at it for a long time. Songfight! can't really take much credit for either of them.

chris · Post by **chris** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:40 pm

yeah i dont think im gunna enter. I made a song, but i dont want to enter when i know i dont stand a shot at winning. I'll just embarrass myself. I'm gunna wait till i get better.

spinlock · Post by **spinlock** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:45 pm

Chris: As MC Eric B suggests, you can still post it here if you'd like feedback. I'd certainly be interested to hear what *bad* nerdcore sounds like, even if you don't want me to say anything about it.

bzl: This is getting way off topic, but to answer your question again:

According to the research over 21% of the UK population over 5 years play an instrument, with 57% of them being under 35 years. However from the research it would appear that an additional 15.5m people would also like to learn to play music.

1. Macs are aspirationally marketed.
2. UK population ~60m
3. Percentage aspire to learning an instrument: 25%
4. Percentage potential Garageband users: 46%
5. Percentage of iLife suite represented by Garageband: 20%

Edit: this seems to be the same for the USA

GarageBand -- According to Apple, about half of U.S. households include someone who can play a musical instrument. NAMM 2006 - 82% of Americans wish they had learned to play a musical instrument, and 67% expressed an interest in learning to play

Premeditation (Evil April Prefight)

song reviews