Unofficial NI Maschine Remix Contest: RULES and CONTENT

Hello All!

By popular request, I'm excited to kickoff NI forums first remix contest!

The material for this trial-by-fire will be a track entitled "Frames" by a San Francisco up-and-coming artist (and close friend of mine) Debbie Neigher.

All of the following files reproduced below are with her expressed permission.

Check out the original song here: http://debbieneigher.bandcamp.com/track/frames

NB! EDIT by sowari, full archive link:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/Archive.zip


And the stems, unprocessed, in losses format:

Main Vocals: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/main vocal.wav
Instrumental Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/instrumental.wav
Backing Vocals (2 takes): https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/harmonies take 1.wav && https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/harmonies take 2.wav


I estimate these tracks are around 83 BPM; feel free to stretch until your heart's content.

We do not have the instruments on separate tracks, so this is all the material you have to sample from.


Here is the timing and format:


1. From this post (12/2), you will have three weeks to complete your remix before it will be judged by the community. All submissions must be in by SUNDAY DECEMBER 23RD.

2. All submissions should be emailed to me directly; ak.slavepod@gmail.com ... I will create a soundcloud exclusively for this contest, so voters/judges will be able to listen to all the different remixes on the same page.

3. You have the artists permission to publish your remix in other places, but make sure to credit the artist and link to her website wherever you post recordings:

http://debbieneigher.com/
http://www.facebook.com/debbieneighermusic

4. Rather than be 'judged' by a small group, I will have a simple voting app attached to the soundcloud pages, so that the entire community can participate. Every user with a NI forums account will be able to vote (+1) for up to three remixes. The person with the most votes wins. Simple.

I think this is the way to keep it the most fair, but am open to a better idea if anyone has one.

5. As far as I know, there are no prizes. Bragging rights. Exposure. Glory. And maybe we can get NI to sponsor the next one and toss the winner a voucher or expose some cool new maschine packs.



Here are "the rules":

1. You have to work entirely inside maschine, as a stand-alone program, but you can use any resources that you can bring into your maschine project.

2. Your submission must be between ONE and THREE minutes.

3. You cannot sample outside material, especially popular songs by commercial artists (no-mashups!), but you may sample instruments that you preform/play in your studio (guitars, electric pianos, played horns are allowed).

4. You many not use sample packs or loops; this competition is about learning and creating things from scratch.

5. You must be able to explain anything you've done in your track if asked... I want this to be about sharing knowledge, not just beating your opponents.

6. You are not confined to a genre or style. Be creative.

7. Your submission must be bounced directly out of maschine stand-alone. No running maschine as a plugin and using mastering features of DAW.

8. These rules can only be enforced by the honor code - although I think it would be cool to post our projects, I think that might prove difficult for those using plugins - so it's on you to submit your best effort and adhere to these rules.



I suppose if anyone has questions we can answer them here, although I'd like to keep this thread pretty clean to just contain to rules and material.

We can start sub-threads if anyone wants to discuss their particular approach to remix this (rather difficult) tune;

Submission sent to me (ak.slavepod@gmail.com) should contain a single bounced audio file (wav/mp3), your NI user ID, and a photo you want to accompany your remix.

If you want to include a brief description of what inspired you to make the decisions you did, I'll also put that in the track description.


Happy remixing everyone! I hope I didn't leave anything else. Will maintain this top post if we need to modify the format or rules for any reason.

 

And in case anyone wants to sample from the master track, that's ok too:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51386401/Frames/02 - Frames.wav

 

good work !

 

When you say "no sample packs", does that include Maschine expansion packs?

 

I think maschine expasion packs are fine.

 

and to clarify, you can use VST and AU Synths and FX inside the Maschine software?

sowari

PS. i'll make this a sticky after a few days.

 

Yeah I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use VSTs etc within Maschine.

Just because someone has some expensive synths doesn't necessarily mean they have any advantage.

Gear doesn't mean skillz

 

I don't know. It might make it fairer if it was restricted to just Maschine (the factory library, expansion packs and massive)...

 

Personally I think you should only be able to use Maschine factory sounds and FX, and Massive. Then the winner would:
- have won on a level playing field
- be showcasing Maschine
- be verifiable (could submit their project)
- be educational (any third party could load their project)

...just my 2 cents

 

i said this at the start of the other thread but i reckon there may be only a few of us thinking that - the advantage of this method would be that project files could be shared with ease and lesser experienced users could see the tricks and how a sound was achieved using the same exact library.

I think we are in the minority though lethal, the whole mixing in maschine thing doesn't really mean jack either when submitting a mixdown as who the hell is gonna know? Personally i will be doing it in standalone like i always do.

regardless it's gonna be cool to see what people come up with - the vocals are pretty good - got no damn idea which direction to travel in yet though.

 

Thinking i might give this a go, but would be good to get clarification on third party VSTs before i make a start on this. Maybe we could limit it to NI products?

 

I think limiting it to just Maschine (factory sounds, fx and massive) is a good idea. Like Mr.Pizzle said, it will level the playing field.

You could also police it by having the tracks submitted as project files rather than wavs/mp3s.

 

I'd just like to add: good work OP!

 

I don't think it would level the playing field AT ALL. I apologize for this rant in advance but here is why:

I actually rarely use Maschine factory sounds that are not drum sounds.

I rarely use Massive - I just don't find its sonic possibilities as incredible as many of you do.

I sample sometimes - but primarily I program my own software and hardware synths with custom presets that I make, or by editing existing presets.

What about effects? Maschine does not have great effects for stereo placement, eq, and many other needs.

If I use MIDI, which I almost always do, I will use Sonar 8.5.3 rather than struggle with Maschine's abysmal piano roll editor.

By making this *fair* for some, you are making others feel constrained and removing the enjoyment factor of an honest remix, and it doesn't really make sense if you want to see what people can really do. I think all you will do is get less quality in some of the submissions.

I have never heard of a remix contest that was limited in this way unless it was a paid advertisement. Most remix contests are simply interested in getting cool remixes and sharing music, and the *contest* part of it is secondary to getting everyone involved. I know many of you want to put the battle mentality into it and try to be the *winner*, but that sounds less like fun to me and more like work. I've no problem with competition and voting, but don't care to be artificially limited. Not sure I want to do work either just so I can force my project into a format everyone can open - again the point should be fun not work.

Also, despite contrary belief, it really is going to come down to talent, not what people use to generate sounds. I can make great presets on something like synth1 - a freeware synth if I really need to. There are quite a few good freeware effects and synths if people want them.

 

Either you have total ristrictions (only factory sounds and massive) or you have no ristrictions what so ever. You can't ristrict some people (no using Maschine in a DAW) but have it unrestricted for others (use as many third party pluggins as you like). It'll give some people a massive advantage over others.

 

It would enable everyone who enters the contest access to the same tools and the same palette of sounds.
I thought the point of this is that it's not meant to be like every other remix contest out there, it's meant to be a showcase for Maschine, not your amazing array of outboard gear, not my Studer tape machine, not my UAD plugs.
I thought the restrictions would force us to be creative with what we have, and would enable the community as a whole to learn how to get the most out of Maschine.

This I definitely agree with. Which is why I'm not expecting to win

Absolutely, and the important thing is that we're doing this in the first place. I think I'll have a bash with just factory sounds and FX and Massive anyway. It'll be fun!

 

in terms of my 'normal' workflow - i don't tend to use Maschine's Compressor/EQ/Filters, because i have Komplete 8 and the new Compressors, etc, etc.

that is why i want clarification on the use of VSTs.

fwiw, i enjoy using Maschine's 'limited' MIDI and its Piano Roll because of the integration with the hardware Controller.

anyway, i definitely feel that no additional DAW should be used for this remix. this is after all a 'Maschine' Remix.

sowari

 

stems downloaded - hopefully get a look at it soon.

aporia - pass my thanks to the lady.

 

my thoughts

I'm glad everyone has taken to this idea with such enthusiasm; hopefully I can clear up some lingering questions.

VST, VSTI's, AU, RSTA, any audio plugins that you can load inside a channel'ls 4 inserts here are FAIR GAME.

As the steward of the competition, I can share my reasoning in ALLOWING pretty much anything that one can do inside maschine, and no post-processing outside of maschine:

1. Some musicians like to sample their own playing and I want to ENCOURAGE this.

2. Some musicians focus on sound design, and I also want to ENCOURAGE this.

3. Some exclusively use and resample OTHER PEOPLE'S content. This is the only thing that's not allowed in this competition because of licensing/legal issues and also because no one wants to listen to a string of pre-made house or techno loops.


In addition:

I hope interesting sounds that people find when work on the same track spur conversations about HOW YOU ACCOMPLISHED WHAT YOU DID.

I am also trusting the people of this community to work inside maschine, and I'm not asking for a project file; there are no prizes for this contest, and your incentive for participating should be BECAUSE YOU WANT A CHALLENGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MASCHINE.

If you have a question about whether 'X is ok or not' I think the best practice is to air on the side of inclusion. If you made it, we want to hear it.


To clarify: if you can do it in maschine and the content is not already from another song, it's FAIR GAME.

We all good?

Remember, the winner doesn't get anything... yet. Maybe the second one of these will have official NI involvement and then maybe there can be fabulous prizes.

 

aporia my thanks to the lady.
Edit: just bought the song. My way of saying thanks. And I left a reply for the hottie. <3