|
|
Post by coji on Jan 24, 2004 17:40:50 GMT -5
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! THat was some ENTERTAINMENT! Laptopbattle, off da hook! I must comment though, that there were many GENREs of music last night, and, it seemed like VERY VERY talented musicians could not proceed on with the rounds because the people in general liked pop/dancy/move yo ass type sets. (or, extreme hard-core glitch stuff) I hope the great musicians that participated won't get turned off to the laptopbattle thing because of that. Maybe we should set separate leagues- like "SAMPLE/DANCE" and "AMBIENT/SOPHISTICATED" sections...
|
|
|
|
Post by coji on Jan 24, 2004 17:42:05 GMT -5
oh and my friend Peter and I were talking about the "set up" time in between each contestants... maybe there's a way to shorten it?
> have a table with everything set up, with rollars so that switching would be easy
> etc...
|
|
|
|
Post by zapan on Jan 24, 2004 20:53:40 GMT -5
yeah, it was quite long. last time it didn't seem to take that much time.... it was sorta chaotic w/ all those (24) contestants...
|
|
|
|
Post by maniactrucker on Jan 24, 2004 22:14:58 GMT -5
Reply to everyone: That was the most painfully spent evening of my life! Laptop battle sucked everyone's nuts and I've never before wanted to have my $10 back! I have never seen so many untalented kids with no production skills, no rhythm, no mastering skills....no you name it. The judges were drunk and I'm pretty sure the audience was drunk and had no idea what they were supposed to expect in the first place. The judges were also subjective and picked their friends every time. (Did everyone see Danger Dave get robbed by Kris Moon when the audience clearly chose Danger Dave? Hmmm..... I wonder if that's because there is a Robotrash affiliation/friendship going on there.) And where do I begin with syzygy?  ?!!!!! The guy got up there and played looped mp3s! How many artists did he rip off? There was no skill whatsoever involved in his sets..... has anyone ever heard of plageurism?! Why doesn't the guy invest in turntables instead of a laptop if all he can really wants to do anyway is beat juggle? Which brings me to my final point: Not every rich white boy who can afford a laptop can necessarily make good beats. I'm sorry everyone. Not everyone has talent and most of you if not all of you do not. Not everyone deserves to get on stage and perform and have the nerve to charge a bunch of friends $10 to listen to their unmastered mp3s that they could listen to at home. Anybody down to promote a real laptop battle where there is limit on how many people enter (that thing was just way too long and delayed-felt like a football game- and I couldn't even stay to the third round-way too painful!) There needs to be a battle with real judges who know something and an audience who knows something and contestants with skills who use more than one plug-in and can make something happen! |
|
|
|
Post by maniactrucker on Jan 24, 2004 22:18:31 GMT -5
I'm sorry. I'm really not trying to rip everyone apart. There were some good sets. It's just that those people got fucked anyway. I'm not trying to be a huge dick. I have constructive ideas to help this thing out. It just really felt like the whole evening was such a joke. And everyone I talk to seems to agree. I had to say something. I'll leave you all alone now. PEACE!
|
|
|
|
Post by thegoodtomchi on Jan 24, 2004 23:41:22 GMT -5
I think a good way to improve things would be to streamline the setup between sets. A lot of times we were waiting 2-3 minutes while the cables were getting worked out, or when a laptop needed to be moved. A simple way to fix this would be to buy extra cables. Have 8 eighth-inch cables available and tape them down in 8 clearly defined "laptop setup spots". During the intermissions when groups of 8 are changing out, have everyone pick a spot and plug into that cable. No shuffling things around.
The cables then run into a mixer where you have one empty track which you can use to "Solo" in order to mute all cables during setup. Instead of having to ask what number cable the laptop is plugged in to, just mute call channels by solo'ing the empty track, and then unsolo right before the performer begins.
Also the MC needs to be strict about playing times. Time the sets for real -- maybe you could even have a big stopwatch display projected on the main screen. When there are 30 seconds left, give the 30 second warning on the mic and have the sound guy fade it at 3 minutes, period.
Lastly, it might be good to have it so the first round is 2 minute sets, second is 3 min, third is 4 min, and finals are 5 min. That would give some variety to the types of songs people would prepare, and also give the later rounds more presence. It would actually shorten the event too... for a 16 person battle, the current system (3 min each) adds up to 90 minutes of sound. The revised system would be 82 minutes, but the people who have advanced far will have more time to perform more advanced/complete works.
|
|
|
|
Post by FirestormViper on Jan 25, 2004 2:18:45 GMT -5
Wow...crazy battle...a bit too long for me...and many other people I spoke with...I had to work the next morning (today) at 6am..so I left a DOCTOR POOPIE!!!! after my set...I was tired and so were the people who came with me....I guess I was nominated for the Peoples Choice Award? anymore info on that would be appreciated, I heard I lost all my prizes for not being there... ..what up with that? Peoples Choice must be present to win? Was it actually a vote or was it a drawing? Let me know whats up!! If I actually go voted by the Peoples, I want to know, just for the sake of know that people dug my NUTS! From all the people I talked to, the majority opinion seems to be that people were getting robbed left and right...Audience opinion was often ignored and the judges went for the "favorites". Something needs to be done about that...if people begin to think that the judges are voting for people because of who they are and who they are affiliated with (Fourthcity, Robotrash, blahblahblah, so and so this and that) the laptop battle will fall apart really quick...I personally DO NOT agree with the affiliation argument...Kris Moon rocked at both battles in my opinion, I would have voted for him (even in the last battle when he beat me, his NUTS was just better than mine) but maybe the next battle should cut back on the amount of "regulars" and go with a bunch of new blood. And somehow make the audience response factor into the decision. I like the idea of doing some style type battles...Harder stuff/jungle/DnB/whatever...then having seperate IDM/downtempo stuff...and the more Pop/remix type stuff in another... alright..I'm out...thanks to FourthCity/ChopSuey for doing this again...I look forward to the next battle...and nice meeting you COJI! nice shirts..nice button..nice site!! KEEP IT UP! |
|
|
|
Post by breakerbox on Jan 25, 2004 6:01:39 GMT -5
copied this from my post in artists/contestants section, seems like this is the proper place..
sorry I t hink you got robbed big time firestormviper
Thanks
__________________________________________
The show was cool, but I wanna talk about the stuff I didnt like.. I am sure a lot of people did enuf asskissing after/during the show.
first of all GALGUCCI -COOCHIE = Plastiq Phantom
the guy already released a full length album on a major label... I dont know if its right to have him as a contestant, it would make more sense to have upcoming people who are unsigned... may be make him a judge, since the ones last nite kept voting for the guy who was looping mp3s he dowloaded.
...SYZYGY... what was up with that guy, there was not one part of track that was self produced, all of the sound was looped from commercial tracks.. thats called Plaigrism... And the judges ignored it both times and he was playing obvious tracks, people next to me recognized too...
I am sure it is fun to watch him, but I paid 10 bucks to get in.. which was not worth it.... to watch some dude loop other peoples tracks...
Oh the MC.. I have a a suggestion about that.. kill him and leave him in a ditch cause he blows chunks, by far the most irritating person on the stage... the guy cant rap or beatbox... so just kill him, sweet mother of God kill him please...
to some dudes who played last nite: Downloading some loops and running them through Smartelectronix plugins is not IDM, Its not NUTS.. you know who you are.. stop trying to look cool and make someting INTELLIGIBLE (dance sound)...
Thats it.. I hope it will get better over time, some of the performances were good to watch,.. some of them were ok...
My suggestions
-get real judges not some drunken super white hipsters
-its not worth 10 bucks, and it never will
-screen the contestants better
-its not live
other suggestion is:
have different category, where its fair game like:
give everyone a cdr with bunch of samples (drum loops, hits, synth sounds) and give 30-60 minutes to come up with a song thats between 2-5 minutes, where they use ONLY THE SAMPLES that were given to them, no additional samples, no voice genarators like synths etc.. all the sounds have to be from the samplesthey can use fx to manipulate the sound but no additional synth parts etc...
Play the samples to audience, so they know what the samples were.. and then let the guys get on the stage a compete, live or just hit play, like half the people tonite did... but then it makes it fair because they ACTUALLY did USE their laptops other then hitting play and jumping around like monkeys or they to look like they are doing anything.
I still think the laptop battle is great idea... just needs work.. a lot of work.
glad someone is doing it.
thanks
get rid of the MC.
|
|
|
|
Post by thegoodtomchi on Jan 25, 2004 13:33:12 GMT -5
Sup Firestorm,
For the People's Choice, I think they were going to do a crowd vote because we had a close number of votes in the tally. I'm down with sharing the prizes, so just drop me a line.
|
|
|
|
Post by FirestormViper on Jan 25, 2004 14:58:51 GMT -5
to THEGOODTOMCHI: I'm not too worried about the prizes...I was just wondering if I really won a vote or something like that...but if you won anything you don't think you'll use/need....I'll take it off your hands!! anyways, congratulations to us for getting a high number of votes!! to BREAKERBOX: did you like what you heard from me? or did I get robbed cuz the other guy didn't play his own shit? BTW, whats up with all the added words like DR POOPIE and NUTS and stuff like that added into the posts? I didn't write that in my earlier message, they just showed up... www.noiseliberationarmy.com |
|
|
|
Post by noraposch on Jan 25, 2004 19:16:23 GMT -5
First off, thanks to fourth city / zapan and all involved for putting this on. I had a blast - yet again. The composition quality was raised at least a few notches in this one by all return artists and the fresh blood. Which is what i think this kind of event should be about. I know that people prepared for weeks and months before this, to get to a point where they wouldn't absolutely embarass themselves.. I remember the production level of the previous battle being higher... and i was thinking the extra cost of the show was going to contribute to that. No matter what, a lot of hard work / coordination was put into this by fourthcity and the cost justifies the means/times alone. I just think seattle is used to open source sound - so expect some critical feedback. The laptop battle to me and many others has always been about giving those who are new to production a chance to show their stuff and put it up to the test. This is not about who writes the best track either. It's a combination of elements that are being tested against -> including stage presence... which is a good part why Syzygy won the rounds he did. Comments like that of maniactrucker are pompous at best, but i can understand his reaction when the promoters are charging $10 for entry. That price will probably not sustain once the novelty is worn off, and various things were to improve - which they will - by the very nature of evolution. Also, the sound / compositions and contestants willing to battle can only hope to improve. Later, I heard from many that there was a decent amount of confusion in regards to the show being promoted as portland vs seattle... and if that was the case, then there should of been some portland judges. Just worth noting.. as i know some people felt slanted about that. Scott from Holocene was here, and while that might no of even been appropiate, i thought he would of been a great judge. I'd be curious to see more evidence about what maniactrucker knows, or how he feels he has anything to stand on in regards to his comments about the judges. I know each one of them and their sound tastes, and i thought they were reasonable choices. These people have made their life out of electronic art and their interests _have_ spanned from the worst and best of downtempo/idm to hardcore. Let alone the hard work *most of which they do out of their own time/pocket* and participation to the community outshines most. I personally thought all the choices were sound, despite some incredibly tough decisions in a few key rounds. thegoodtomchi: you have the best suggestions i have seen... here are some of mine. - a decibel meter for the crowd would be fun to route to a large display - more clarity on what the judges are actually taking into consideration for the voting. BREAK IT DOWN. Have the MC explain this to the crowd. the website isn't even clear honestly, and i couldn't find anything that explained this... - MC needs to offer more info in general about the contestants, and the intended purposes of the battle. People prepare for weeks before this, where there might not of been no inspiration otherwise.... pay for an MC who would do the same. Preparation is important. (btw, i put no blame or feel i need to rip on the current guy.. these are meant as constructive suggestions) Aron Schoppert aron@dbfestival.comwww.decibelfestival.comwww.artsbrewery.comp.s. I spent all day yesterday capturing the video from the show. I watched some of the sets over again that i saw people complaining about, and at no point did i see anything that was "obvious". Danger Dave definitely had a very original and wikked composition... but Kris interacted with his material a lot more... even if it was as what one person called " generic breakbeats with x plugin efffect". Executed nicely IMNSHO. I could go into more detail on that one... but i thought it was pretty clear. p.p.s. but really, who cares who really won. it's interesting at best, but it doesn' make that person the most talentd soundian/producer - and i think that is what some folks felt burnt about. I really enjoyed all the variety of sound and talent that i did hear... I will be definitely looking forward to more material from my favorites in the future. |
|
|
|
Post by thegoodtomchi on Jan 25, 2004 19:57:59 GMT -5
I think that Noraposch has a good point. People shouldn't get miffed about winning or losing because the ultimate point is to build the electronic community in the Northwest.
While a competition format has its drawbacks (how does one decide two dope tracks of different styles?) , I think one real advantage is that it forced everyone to work seriously on new material. Everyone I talked to had been working nonstop in the days and weeks leading up to the battle, and that sort of focus is obviously beneficial to the scene.
It also gives everyone a chance to meet and be exposed to new ideas. There are definitely people that I heard that I'd like to play shows and/or collaborate with. So instead of focusing on who got "beat" by who, we should make some serious effort to turn this network of musicians that were brought together via the battle into a real force in the Seattle scene.
|
|
|
|
Post by zapan on Jan 25, 2004 20:26:23 GMT -5
just to be fair to the mc, the scheduled mc was insight, not paulish, but he didn't arrive 'till 10:30 so paulish did us the favor of holding it down in his absence. it definitely coulda been organized a little better, for sure, but i think paulish did a fantastic job, especially as he had prepared only to give away certain prizes...
as for all of your comments: THANKS! even if i disagree with some of them, they will all be thought about & taken into consideration for the next one... but, though i wasn't there during the judging, i know all of the judges & can say without a doubt that there was no favoritism going on - their only goal was to be fair (& they do know a little something about music between them). lastly, we decided that the event should be $10 this time because we spent more money on making it better than last time. we charged $6 for the last one & spent about $300 on the event, whereas this time we spent more than $1k (promotion, set design, prizes, etc). anyway, thanks to all of you for coming out & enjoying yourselves... hope to see you all next time! xoxo -> z
ps- aron, after you get that video uploaded, i'd definitely like to bring my hard drive over... coolio?
|
|
|
|
Post by nogunri on Jan 25, 2004 20:40:27 GMT -5
Okay, i have little to say in argument to maniac trucker's crap he posted on this thread - dude, get bent. Dance beats and high production quality are all good, but you need to realize that cut ups are a new, exciting thing to most people and they're gonna be around. Truthfully, I didn't even like techno until I got into lo-fi dutch gabber. House/trance are old formats that no one gives a rat's ass about (or shouldn't),
I have no idea what this contest was judged on. All I know is that I met some great producers etc., had fun and got beat by the guy who organized the whole thing - well, according to the judges. I haven't seen turnouts at many electronic shows like this since the late nineties raves - 21+ year olds get really hard to please.
Mad respect to all the contestants - you are all talented in unique, not standard, ways. It's good to know that experimentalism is alive and well in seattle. Lofi, Hitech, glitchy, groovy, hardcore - I don't care. We all produce the beats of our own inner drummers and I think that point has been proven, even if the competition was a little uneven sometimes. Actually, if you look at the night as more of a talent showcase, it couldn't have gone better.
Thanx for a great night all.
And screw the haters - what the hell are you doing, anyway?
|
|
|
|
Post by dangerdave on Jan 25, 2004 20:44:06 GMT -5
Hey y'all, last Friday was much fun. The sounds dropped by the diverse and talented competitors planted all sorts of new sonic seeds in my mind. It feels as though we're approaching a melting-pot moment in electronic sound; I think the battle successfully communicated this energy and excitement to all who came.
Talking to my friends, I think the biggest issue was the lag time between the battles and the apparent lack of time limits for contestants. I think Tom's suggestions make a lot of sense here. I'd also like to have a big clock, visible to both contestant and crowd. I'm happy to help make these suggestions happen at future battles.
(and since it has come up... Kris Moon dropped a dope set against me. Everyone stop complaining!)
|
|
