Masters Of Song Fu #1: Round 2 Challenge Voting Begins!
We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we’ve launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
A few weeks back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Only 19 responded in time.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They were given one week to complete their songs - however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth below…
ROUND 1 CHALLENGE
You must do a song in the style of a classic television show. Not only that, but this song is the theme for a fictional television show about yourself (or your band). By “classic television show” theme song, we mean the type of themes found in shows from the 1960’s - 1980’s (ie Gilligan’s Island, Cheers, The Fall Guy, Diff’rent Strokes, Welcome Back Kotter, Greatest American Hero, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Facts Of Life, Green Acres, Gimme A Break, The Monkees, etc.). Your theme song must include both lyrics and music. It must run no shorter than 30 seconds, and no longer than one (1) minute.
When all was said and done, only 16 of the 19 Challengers were able to send in the songs in time. You voted HERE. The TOP 7 vote getters then moved on to Round 2. Here’s the challenge given to our 7 Semi-Finalists…
ROUND 2 CHALLENGE
Here’s where we step things up a notch. Your challenge is to write a song that utilizes a repeating syllable (ex: la, na, doo, etc.). The syllable must repeat at least 5 times in a row (ex: la la la la la). The resulting “repeated syllable” phrase can appear anywhere in your song, but must be repeated in full at least 3 times within the song. Also, this challenge includes a thematic element. Your song must feature a conflict between two (2) elements, provided below. You must choose one (1) element from COLUMN A and one (1) element from COLUMN B.
COLUMN A
—————
Santa ClausMiami Dolphins
Stephen Hawking
A Beach Towel
High School Physics
Albania
The Color Orange
A Toothpick Factory
Marc Singer
Hydroponics
———————————————————————–
COLUMN B
—————
DraculaLinux
Pudding
Coupons
Scabies
Cosplayers
Your Kindergarten Teacher (must be named)
Albert Camus
Non-Alcoholic Lager
Doc Hammer
Your song must be at least 1m45s in length. Finally, your song must be an ORIGINAL CREATION, both music and lyrics, and can not utilize or sample a preexisting work.
You also voted on the contributions of our three Masters, eliminating one. Two Masters remained, and they were presented a special challenge of their own. Their entries will also be voted on by you, the readers. The winner of the Masters Challenge will be the one who duels with the winning Challenger.
ROUND 2 MASTERS CHALLENGE
The following challenge applies to our Masters of Song Fu only. As Masters, it is expected that they have achieved a musical voice all their own - but does their mastery extend to assuming the voice of another artist? With that in mind, Each Master is tasked with writing a song in the style of their opponent. The Masters will be judged on how accurately they write a song in their opponent’s style without it becoming a simple parody. When listening to their entries, you must genuinely believe that they were written by the original Master. Got that? The Master’s songs must also be no shorter than 1m45s.
As we mentioned, the winner of the Round 2 Challenge will move on to a head-to-head battle with one of our Masters Of Song Fu, whose fate will also be determined by you.
But right now, let’s check out the Round 2 songs from each of our Masters and the 6 challengers that made the deadline. At the bottom of the page, you’ll then be able to place your votes, and decide who brings their Fu to the head-to-head battle…
MASTERS OF SONG FU
JONATHAN COULTON
Jonathan Coulton on Jonathan Coulton: “In 2005 I left my day job writing software to pursue music full time. To keep myself busy I released a new song on this website every week for a year in a project called Thing a Week. A few of those songs became big internet hits (my folky cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, a funny video called “Flickr”, a song called “Code Monkey”), and I am now fortunate enough to make my living as a musician.
I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it’s funny, but a lot of it’s not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I’ve been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.
I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff - music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I’m unsigned, and I’m proud to say I’ve created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy… I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now…”
Official Website: www.jonathancoulton.com
ROUND 2 SONG: “Big Dick Farts A Polka (in the style of Paul & Storm)”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Monkey Shines“
PAUL & STORM
Paul and Storm are a comedy music duo, and they have been performing as a duo since 2004. Before that, they were one half of a cappella band Da Vinci’s Notebook for about 12 years. A Paul and Storm show is part music concert and part standup/improv comedy–just enough of both to fit neatly in neither category. They like to engage the audience, and are known to award snack cakes and/or other prizes for good (and sometimes bad) behavior. Their show would be PERFECT as a cable special, and would make lots of money for whichever brave channel decides to air them first.
Official Website: www.paulandstorm.com
ROUND 2 SONG: “Live (in the style of Jonathan Coulton)”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Theme Song To Paul & Storm“
THE CHALLENGERS
PAUL FRUMPTON EXPERIENCE FEATURING LARRY
Born in the fall of 2006 in the center of the two-man acoustic comedy rock scene, Columbus, Ohio, the self proclaimed Turner and Hooch of Rock and Roll, The Paul Frumpton Experience Featuring Larry - known more colloquially as Jeff Stormer and Jeremy Hoover - are best described as what happens when comedy, music, caffeine, and improv collide in a chocolaty, peanut buttery explosion of good times. Stormer and Hoover met as students of Ohio State University and have been performing for scraps of food and hobo nickels ever since. Jeremy and Jeff’s major influences include Bacon, Booster Gold & Blue Beetle’s irreverent banter, David Bowie’s crotch in Labyrinth, and a deep-seated love of go karts. Finally, we feel obliged to mention all the things that are off limits to the comedy duo… This list includes NOTHING.
Official Website: myspace.com/thepaulfrumtonexperiencefeaturinglarry
ROUND 2 SONG: “Dracula’s Beach Towel”
ROUND 1 SONG: “The Paul Frumpton Experience (Feat. Larry) Comedy Hour Spectacular“
LEX FRIEDMAN
Lex Friedman’s musical influences include artists like They Might Be Giants, Moxy Fruvous, “Weird Al” Yankovic, CAKE, Barenaked Ladies, Tom Lehrer, Ben Folds, and Michael Jackson. Lex has left a smattering of bizarre music videos on YouTube, which have been slowly overtaken by videos of his 18-month-old daughter Anya. He occasionally shares new songs on his blog. He currently appears both weekly and weakly as the host of the “Week in Douchebaggery” on Cracked.com. Lex, his aforementioned daughter Anya, his lovely wife Lauren, and his diabetic maltese Charlie all live together in New Jersey, and sincerely hope that you don’t hold that against them. He gives one of them two injections if insulin each day - guess which! Lex also wrote this sentence. To avoid appearing like a suck-up, Lex has neglected to mention other musical influences of his who may or may not be the Iron Chefs of this Song Fu competition. Let’s just say he happens to also love the musical stylings of a guy whose name rhymes with Shmonathan Shmoulton.
Official Website: www.thefriedmans.net/blog
ROUND 2 SONG: “Orange vs Lager”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Hey, It’s Lex Friedman!“
CLOAKIE
My Fu is stronger than you! I am Coleman Bear Saunders, or Cloakie to most. At the age of 25 I work with music everyday at my studio that I recently built. I produce, engineer and compose various genres of music with ninja like precision. I have been picking away at the guitar since the age of 7 after watching my Dad play Johnny Cash tunes in the wrong key while singing the wrong lyrics, although I do the same thing because that’s the way I was learnt, ya hear me boy? I live in Kentucky and the music scene isn’t the greatest, so I turn to the internet to pipeline my Fu to the masses for free. I’m getting tired of music these days, I want some more songs about Dragons and fucking! Songs that take you on a journey and let you experience a different world, like movies do. My dream is to compose and score music for video games, TV, and my ultimate goal, the big screen. This is why the Song Fu competition was made for me. All the challenges that the competition presents to me will be similar to the expectations of future employers. Good luck to all, and may the best Fu win.
Official Website: myspace.com/colemansaunders
ROUND 2 SONG: “The Tale Of Hawking vs Dracula” (EXPLICIT Lyrics)
ROUND 1 SONG: “Cloakie The Nazi Killing Zombie“
ELAINE CHAO FINNELL
Elaine Chao Finnell is a singer/songwriter from the San Francisco Bay Area. In her checkered musical past, she has been a choral singer, a pit musician, an a cappella vocalist, a vocal percussionist, a hip hop beatboxer, contemporary Christian worship musician, and a musical librettist. After leaving the a cappella world in 2001, Elaine shifted into the world of hip hop theater, touring with spoken word artist Aya de León, then going solo and performing in such venues as the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco and at the Apollo Theater in New York City. She began writing music at the tender age of 17, co-authoring her first musical with Brian Allan Hobbs. Since then, she has written two full length musicals and two plays. She currently plays regularly at her church as a lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. While not in her musical pursuits, Elaine can be found in a cubicle at a major software company, at home with her engineer husband and their network of Macs, or studying martial arts at a local university.
Official Website: www.gotspit.com
ROUND 2 SONG: “The Dance”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Cubicle Gopher“
JEFF MacDOUGALL
The Deal: After 20+ years making music as a hobby, I recently wrote and recorded a song for my daughter. I got a little taste of mild success (hey, my mom liked it). So now I’m taking my music out of the closet, dusting it off, and seeing how it does in the sunshine. Who knew there was so much work in just attempting to do music for a living. I feel like I am opening a Subway franchise (Only opening a Subway franchise seems more fulfilling in a creative way).
Official Website: jeffmacdougall.com
ROUND 2 SONG: “A Brief History Of Pudding”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Jeff MacDougall Dot Com“
RUN AT THE DOG
Run At The Dog are high energy, rock/pop, category-sluts with multi-gendered vocals and intricate arrangements. They are like Abba meets Faith No More meets Mos Def meets the Mormon Tabernacle Choir meets Steely Dan. The songs of this Minneapolis 5-piece are always written right away, with no respect for the calculating mind. Audience members are unsure whether to dance, laugh, or panic.
Official Website: myspace.com/runatthedog
ROUND 2 SONG: “Pudding Came To Town”
ROUND 1 SONG: “Run At The Dog TV Theme“
Jonathan Coulton - "Big Dick Farts A Polka" [2:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Paul & Storm - "Live" [3:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Lex Friedman - "Orange vs Lager" [2:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Cloakie - "The Tale Of Hawking vs Dracula" [4:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Elaine Chao Finnell - "The Dance" [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Run At The Dog - "Pudding Came To Town" [3:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Jeff MacDougall - "A Brief History Of Pudding" [2:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Paul Frumpton Experience featuring Larry - "Dracula's Beach Towel" [3:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
ROUND 2 VOTING
And now, it’s time for that all important voting, where you’ll decide who the Challenger who will get to move on to The Final Round. Please remember, you can only vote FOR ONE song - so choose very carefully. Also, be sure to vote for your favorite song from our reigning Masters of Song Fu - either Jonathan Coulton or Paul & Storm. You may only vote once, so make it count. VOTING CLOSES AT 11:59pm EST on WEDNESDAY, JULY 9th.
ROUND 2 VOTING - THE CHALLENGERS
Which of the Song Fu Challengers for Round 2 brought the most fu?
- Jeff MacDougall (32%, 251 Votes)
- Elaine Chao Finnell (30%, 237 Votes)
- Run at the Dog (18%, 145 Votes)
- Lex Friedman (11%, 87 Votes)
- Cloakie (6%, 51 Votes)
- Paul Frumpton Experience Featuring Larry (2%, 16 Votes)
Total Voters: 787
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ROUND 2 VOTING - THE MASTERS
Which of the Song Fu Masters is the Master of Round 2?
- Jonathan Coulton (53%, 420 Votes)
- Paul and Storm (47%, 366 Votes)
Total Voters: 786
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If you triumph, not only will you win remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, you will also become the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder. Yes. Dana Snyder.
Good luck, and bring on the Fu.
Comments:
62 Responses to “Masters Of Song Fu #1: Round 2 Challenge Voting Begins!”Leave a Reply |
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:40 am
[...] newest song was written for the Masters of Song Fu songwriting contest at Quickstop Entertainment. Our task this round was to write a song in the [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 am
[...] on over to THE VOTING and cast your picks for the final two. Posted by admin on July 1st, 2008 | Filed in Uncategorized [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 am
Wow - there is a lot of Fu here, and the responsibility of voting should not be taken lightly. However, while Quick Stop is to be complimented for publishing this web page so quickly, there is one snafu: all the Run at the Dog links are duplicate links to Elaine Chao Finnel’s ditty. Given the quality of their round one entry, I’m looking forward to their round two.
That, and the broken link for Jeff MacDougall’s web site has been copy-pasted for like the fifth time in a row.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 am
That was quick~thanks!
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 am
I seriously cannot decide on which “Masters” song to vote on. They both did such an amazing job. Going to have to play them over and over all week and then see how I feel.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 am
I’d really love to shoot a link out to my people to draw attention to your cool competition and our friends Paul & Storm. But this website / voting system is confusing and flawed. Hope someone over there is on it.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:08 am
The voting is pretty straightforward - what issue are you having?
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 am
I think the voting is messed up somehow. I went to vote and it already says (shows in italics) that I voted for paul frumpton and Paul and Storm. WTF? I know that no one has used my computer or IP address to go to your site until I did. You might want to look into it. It might account for the higher votes for Paul Frumpton (not that they don’t deserve votes… but c’mon… I’m just sayin’)
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:37 am
[...] So hop on over an listen to the MASTER’s Level Round #2 entries, decide which of the two songs you like, then vote for Paul and Storm. Just because. [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 am
Wow. Truly amazing entries this time.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] My friends, the time has come to vote for me again. [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
[...] Voting has begun for round 2 of Quickstop Entertainment’s Song Fu Challenge. As you may recall, Paul and Storm and I were each asked to write a song in the style of the other. [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hehe…Jonathan Coulton and Jeff McDougall got my vote! Great stuff, all!
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Run at the dog is AWSOME! i love them so much!
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 am
I am also having trouble with the voting system. It says I voted for Paul and Storm, but this is the first time I’ve been to this site since the songs were posted. No one else uses my computer and I have an always-on connection, so I’m thinking no one has used this IP… And I want to vote for Jonathan Coulton.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Let me get this right, I’m voting for both categories and the winners of each one are going to face off? I’m not trying to be annoying, I’m legitimately confused: how does this not end up being an incredibly one sided. Of course the challengers are extremely talented, but ultimately the masters have gained more fans and experience and will ultimately take home the gold.
I think it would be more interesting and fun if the top two challengers got to team up and gain some knowledge from their favorite master and we’d get to vote on the final product of that or something.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 am
Cloakie and P+S got my votes. Good job.
Also I’m happy to report that the polling works nicely in Firefox now, as compared to the problems I was having last time.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Why don’t I see any link to vote????
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Why can’t I vote?
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
[...] is, of course, referring to Jonathan Coulton’s entry for Song Fu Round 2; and these words capture the essence of it all perfectly. So no need for me to explain to you the [...]
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Can someone explain to me the appeal of Elaine Chao Finnell’s song? I just don’t get it. I mean, I can see her being in the top 3… possibly even #1. But #1 by almost 2x the votes?? Seriously?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I guess some of these people just have more friends than the others.
July 4th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I like Jeff MacDougall’s song best. (But I’m probably biased ’cause I have sex with that tall glass of water) but his music and lyrics are fantastic. Now if we were judging his taking out the trash skills… I’d pass.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:34 am
To Jim156:
I’m a Lex Friedman aficionado, but just from listening to Ms. Chao Finnell, she’s an amazing producer, she created an incredibly breathy and beautiful vocal that really takes sheer talent to muster (and expensive equipment to capture), and her bongos/guitar just come out sensual and dreamy. She really put together something that is musically gorgeous.
I just went for appreciation of sheer humor when I voted for Lex Friedman and the Friedman Five featuring Lex! (and the Friedman Five). Plus Lex promised me money and love.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
VOTE FOR LEX
July 5th, 2008 at 5:38 am
If the name in bold italics is indicative of voting choice, then this site thinks that I voted for Jeff MacDougall. I didn’t vote at all. What is happening here? Am I slowly going mad?
Sorry, Lex, but you’ve been screwed out of my vote by the Man. Or possibly a simple error.
July 5th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
yes, what is this voting devilry? I didn’t vote for Paul and Storm, nor ECF.
Rigged!
July 6th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
3 of the challengers put in very strong entries, and it was a tough choice.
JoCo & P&S did great jobs mimicking each other. My vote went to JoCo, though, because I’m biased. <3
July 7th, 2008 at 12:41 am
After listening to all the songs very carefully, I am please to see that thus far, the voters have it right. Elaine, Jeff, RATD, Lex, Cloakie, Larry is how I’d rank the songs. I think I may disagree with the Masters’ results. Paul and Storm have a pretty good Jonathan Coulton song going there.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Yeah, something is seriously wrong with the voting system here. I just came to this site for the first time, and it never showed me the poll. It just gave my votes to Paul Frumpton and Paul & Storm, when they should have gone to Jeff MacDougall and JoCo.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I know opinions are like assholes- as in- everybody’s got one, but this contest is totally ridiculous. Seriously folks, Elaine Chao Finnell only has THIRTEEN votes more than MacDougall??? That’s MESSED UP especially when RATD is in such a distant third place. MacDougall’s song is… well… not worthy of the honors of even being near those other two songs. So it is obvious to me that this contest is more about how many friends you have than how good your song is. Sad.
July 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
@pinky86
Wow. You’re absolutely right about the opinions thing. I feel exactly the same way about Elaine’s song as you do about Jeff’s. I actually think Elaine’s should be 4th behind Lex. And I think that Jeff’s song is the best of the bunch… (and I didn’t like his first round song at all - and voted for Elaine in the first round) But I do agree with you about RATD. They really should have more votes.
P.S. don’t know Jeff… or any of the contestants for that matter. Just vote for what I like.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
OK, admit it … someone put this contest on votefortheworst.com, right? Sorry to the Elaine fans, but it makes me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a rusty spoon.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Wow, both the master songs were amazing this time. I came to vote for Jonathan Coulton, but I left voting for Paul and Storm, because their song was adorable. And because they didn’t take the easy out and make it about a monkey.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I came to this site to hear some music and vote for some people. Incidentally, I prefer Jonathan Coulton’s song to that of Paul and Storm’s, and I don’t mind having “voted” for him.
However, I have not listened to the songs of any of the Challengers, and am disappointed that I have apparently already voted for Run at the Dog because I haven’t heard it yet.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:04 am
No kidding, I can’t vote either and it’s telling me I already voted for Elaine! Someone should fix this, otherwise this is just a big joke. By the way, I listened to all the challengers and my vote (if I COULD) vote would go to RATD. They had by far the best and most creative song.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Can anyone make out the last word in the first line of the third verse of Elaine’s song (after “I stood my ground, declined”)?
For those of you who seem not to be able to vote, refreshing the page worked for me.
July 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
It seems like the site is working again. If you tried to vote before, but couldn’t.. you might want to try now (before it goes down again)
July 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
appears to be down again… (sigh)
July 8th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
There’s nowhere to vote… am I doing something wrong?
July 8th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
After I left the last comment, it let me vote… that was weird…
July 9th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I am unable to vote as well. RATD rules and I wish I could cast my vote for you!
July 9th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Ahaha. I’m unable to vote, like many above me, but I find it funny that it’s telling me I voted for… exactly who I plan(ned) to vote for. This is quite amusing to me.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Still unable to vote. This contest should be scrapped.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
i don’t see a vote button either.
RUN AT THE DOG!!!
cheat on jonathan coulton (”master”)!!! it’s not long enough, and has no repeating noise. please correct me if i’m wrong!!
July 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am
oooh! guys! make a comment and the vote buttons magically appear when the screen refreshes!!
July 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Run At the Dog CLEARLY is the winner here.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hey, here is my comment
July 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
rhuby: The two masters were only required to write a song in the style of the other. They had no other restrictions.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Does leaving a comment really work? Hopefully this will help me vote! Let’s go RATD!!
July 9th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
My screen is also saying that I voted for two people already, but they aren’t the ones I would have chosen. I think this contest is pretty broken.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
As far as the results are going, it’s not surprising. Coulton is driving most of the traffic in, with Paul and Storm behind. There’s an inherent bias, then. Run at the Dog and Cloakie, assuming they keep to their own musical identities, never had a realistic shot at winning.
Next contest should include a more diverse selection of Masters to ensure a correspondingly varied voter demographic. No offense to Doc Hammer, but who knew him for anything other than art and writing?
July 9th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
a comment in order to vote? sounds suspicious… like they just want my email address… I’ll just give them an old one that I don’t even check anymore.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Run at the dog is rocking!!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Strange, I have already voted, but it only got one of my votes right…
July 9th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
But after refresh it’s showing correctly. Very odd.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
The Masters’ songs are tough.
I thoroughly enjoyed JoCo’s song, But P&S DEFINITELY nabbed JoCo’s style dead-on.
Not only was it written in JoCo’s Style, but it was written WELL and executed superbly.
Jonathan did do extremely well, but I’m not quite sure if it’s quite AS good as Paul & Storm’s.
My vote may have to go to P&S.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Jeff MacDougall rocks!!!!
July 10th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Congrats to Jeff and the other competitors on a race well run! For the commenter above, I’d like to state (for the record) that the entire thing was recorded in Garage Band, and the vocals were done on my iMac’s mic… in one take, because I couldn’t get the blasted thing to pop in/out decently. However, I did master it using Adobe’s SoundBooth product, which I’ve been playing with for the past couple of months.
Being one of the competitors, I was really struck by how much work went into each one of the songs - particularly in light of my simple four tracks… great job to all!
Good luck to Jeff on the finals!
July 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Congratulations, Jeff!
I liked the song. Please consider releasing a version at a lower overall level, with the dynamic range left in. It’s distracting to hear how much compression / limiting is on the track. Notice how much more dynamic, for example, JoCo’s mix is than yours, because he doesn’t compress his main channel nearly as much.
Click the link on my name for another example on YouTube, or look up Bob Katz’ web site for a high-quality version of the video.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I just wanted to thank everyone who voted for me. And also to thank Elaine for an exciting race!
“Please consider releasing a version at a lower overall level, with the dynamic range left in” - Matt Mayfield
Matt, after listening to the song again, I realize that you are absolutely right, so I have re-mastered the song and made it available on my site. http://www.jeffmacdougall.com.
Thanks again to everyone who voted. I will do my best to hold my own against the amazing Jonathon Coulton. Wish me luck! (i’m gonna need it)
July 14th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Thanks Jeff!