The TGF Challenge - Words of Wisdom?

[Iron1]

The other day a conversation cropped up about where to host TGF Challenge entries. That got me thinking about all the things participants have learned since this Challenge started four score and too many sleeps ago.

So it seemed like a good idea to start a WoW thread.

What have you learned from the challenge that's helped you get better? Please share that wisdom here, along with any bits of encouragement for others who are either still on the fence, up on the porch or otherwise haven't accepted the challenge yet.

And... GO!

 

[Moondog Wily]

Not sure that I have learned anything that helped me "get better", but I have learned a lot! Here are some examples:

1. The champions set a very high bar to compete with (as they should, it is what makes them champions)!
2. The participants and commenters don't seem to be arseholes!!
3. Not everyone here is a metal head (not that there is anything wrong with being one)!!!
4. There are some talented folk who participate!!!!

Now as for wisdom/encouragement and such, I offer the following:

1. You can do it!
2. This is all about getting you motivated to DO SOMETHING (such words lurk in the title), not you winning the "game" and producing the next big hit!!
3. Sketches of ideas are ok, it may even prompt something you would not have thought about doing otherwise!!!
4. Don't we all want a "TGF Recording Artist" banner under our avatar? It would look great on your resume!!!!

It has been fun to participate, and I will try to throw something up there this week (probably a new synth piece), but I have embarked upon a mission. I spent the last 10 weeks or so trying to get a single song "finished". And I still am not happy with it. I decided what I am going to do is, release songs as "Studio Live" versions. This will be what I record live and will sound similar to my most recent release "All I Need" from a production/effects viewpoint. Do some EQ, fades in/out, mix levels and a bit of mastering and release them. I wrote ~20 songs in September and only one made it out the door because I have been focussing too much on being an engineer/producer rather than just recording my ideas in their most raw form, so dropping those hats (engineer/producer) for the near future and am just going to throw a bunch of songs out there with minimal prodction and zero punchins/overdubs/extra instruments.

 

[PLX]

I've learned a lot about ReaperDAW while trying to record and mix clips.

Quite a bit about gain-staging and signal chains.

 

[T Gobbs]

Taking the time to measure out a stock song structure (verse, chorus, etc. I use regions in Reaper for this) helps me a bunch. I also map out a snare on the 2nd and 4th beat for the entire song and subtract if needed. The kick usually lands on the 1 so can add that early on with some confidence. Drums come together pretty fast after that, and then I have something to jam with. The less I overthink any of this the better.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I think it's better to release something into the wild rather than keep it in captivity. Yes, it could have a broken hoof and may get eaten out there -- but at least it's free. And maybe it settles nicely into a herd, or maybe it's an outcast, doesn't really matter. Your animal just needs to roam.

 

[Iron1]

I think it's better to release something into the wild rather than keep it in captivity. Yes, it could have a broken hoof and may get eaten out there -- but at least it's free. And maybe it settles nicely into a herd, or maybe it's an outcast, doesn't really matter. Your animal just needs to roam.

Not sure which part of "sex, drugs and rock & roll" you're talking about here, but I like it!

 

[fretworn]

Eyes wide open on better streaming services (aka Audius atm) … so much happier

 

[DrewJD82]

Nothing really involving playing or recording, I started that challenge as a way to force me into playing more after a long break in my motivation to even touch a guitar. And it worked a little bit on my good days, but overall, I had to just wait that whole period out. Vai was right when he said “Be ready for when it comes back, because it’s going to come back HARD”, but there was no amount of meditation, therapy, advice, input, whatever, that got my motivation back in order.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Not sure which part of "sex, drugs and rock & roll" you're talking about here, but I like it!

 

[FuzzyAce]

Nothing really involving playing or recording, I started that challenge as a way to force me into playing more after a long break in my motivation to even touch a guitar. And it worked a little bit on my good days, but overall, I had to just wait that whole period out. Vai was right when he said “Be ready for when it comes back, because it’s going to come back HARD”, but there was no amount of meditation, therapy, advice, input, whatever, that got my motivation back in order.

It's helped me stay involved with writing and recording more consistently, instead of waiting for that big block of inspiration to come around. I'm not getting any younger and it's tough to balance the music with my work schedule currently. I'd love to be able to do much more music.

 

[la szum]

Music is hard. Really hard! Learning to play a single instrument is far from easy. There's a reason
most people never do. Now put together multiple instruments in some kind of context that may
be appealing to others, and you have an huge undertaking on your hands. Then chuck your little
premature infant out into the wild to be consumed by raging beasts, or worse yet, totally ignored,
and you have to start to wonder if the people who don't do it are the more intelligent ones.

 

[DrewJD82]

It's helped me stay involved with writing and recording more consistently, instead of waiting for that big block of inspiration to come around. I'm not getting any younger and it's tough to balance the music with my work schedule currently. I'd love to be able to do much more music.

I just can’t force it. It’s like I have to have 110% “I’M SO EXCITED TO WORK ON THIS!” or I just won’t even think about it. Hell, even the stuff I was excited about in that time didn’t see much action. There were a couple false-starts where I thought it came back, which is why I waited this time until I hit about 6 full weeks of playing like a maniac every night before I even mentioned it!

 

[FuzzyAce]

I just can’t force it. It’s like I have to have 110% “I’M SO EXCITED TO WORK ON THIS!” or I just won’t even think about it. Hell, even the stuff I was excited about in that time didn’t see much action. There were a couple false-starts where I thought it came back, which is why I waited this time until I hit about 6 full weeks of playing like a maniac every night before I even mentioned it!

I know what you mean, but I have to say that sometimes when you think nothing's there - all of the sudden you play a riff a certain way or take out an instrument from a track and BAM, there it is. A direction. Gets the juices flowing for me. Just the track I did the other day was like that, nothing fancy. I was playing guitar and nothing came to me, so i picked up the bass and just started jamming to drums and I suddenly heard a song developing. Dropped a guitar in afterwards just to fill in the space and i like the way it turned out. Took 3 hrs total. Yeah, i can add this and that and make it 'better' but it's nice to feel like something got done. Point is, I wasn't even expecting to get a track started much less to where it ended up.

 

[fretworn]

I’m just seeking a state of mind called flow; you know that expanded sense of time while everything else seems compress tight and focused. Almost slow motion, but super intense.

Happens in three key areas of my life. Competitive shooting, being on the race track behind the wheel, and playing/composing/engineering/producing music.

Flow is a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity. Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity.

It’s cool that we all have different motivations

 

[duzie]

I’m just seeking a state of mind called flow; you know that expanded sense of time while everything else seems compress tight and focused. Almost slow motion, but super intense.

Happens in three key areas of my life. Competitive shooting, being on the race track behind the wheel, and playing/composing/engineering/producing music.



It’s cool that we all have different motivations

 

[fretworn]

View attachment 11516

Co-witness.

Comptacs here

 

[fretworn]

Co-witness.

Comptacs here

The big one … blaser tac2 in .300wm w/ 24x hd glass. Good to nearly a mile.

 

[duzie]

I’ve got one of these in .308
Saiga.
Stock photo not mine lol.

 

[fretworn]

I’ve got one of these in .308
Saiga.
Stock photo not mine lol.
View attachment 11518

Ha ha ha … I’ll see your .308 w/ a larue obr in 308 … the battle rifle lol

1200 yds all day

 

[duzie]

Ha ha ha … I’ll see your .308 w/ a larue obr in 308 … the battle rifle lol

1200 yds all day

View attachment 11520

Damn!!!!!
Nice