Gsoul82

​Come oooooooooon. You know you don't need pitch editor.

I'm brand new to all this stuff, but looking to really get into Logic Pro X.

UPDATE: Please check the current month's challenge topics for the most current information and dates pertaining to challenge start and end dates. The dates in this topic that pertain to selection of the next month's genres and songs still do stand.

For example, we will begin voting for the next months challenges on the 25th.

Then song suggestion starts on the 29th.

Then challenge song voting will start on the 2nd.

However, for the date that the next month's challenges will start, please check the current challenge topics.

Hey all,

This thread will contain all the rules and guidelines that make up the structure of the monthly challenges that we will be doing. There will be a new topic every month for each actual challenge, so it's important to have a topic where everything regarding how it will work is posted. This way, anybody interested in taking part in this can simply come in here and read how things will work, then go into the latest monthly challenge topic to discuss everything about that particular challenge.

What is the monthly challenge? What is the point of it all? What will I get out of it?

A few weeks ago, I proposed a monthly challenge. Each month, we will vote on a different genre to approach, then select a song from the genre. For the duration of the challenge, everybody involved in the challenge will attempt to sing that song. It's important to note that this is NOT a contest where someone will lose. The point of this challenge is for everyone to gain something from approaching things they would not normally attempt. For example, I identify as more of an R&B guy. The current challenge for May is Highway Star by Deep Purple. I have an appreciation for Rock, but I rarely sing it. This month, I'm going to sing that song and I'm going to post it. And this next part is also noteworthy. You do NOT have to sing it the way the original artist does and use the same vocal effects (rasp, twang, etc.). You can also choose to take the song and arrange it so you're at home with the way you're singing it. For example, I could attempt to take Highway Star and sing it with an R&B vibe as well. At the moment, I actually don't know how I would do that, lol, but that's exactly why it's a challenge. So, I have to decide whether I'm going to approach it and try to attain that Rock sound or re-arrange it R&B style.

The whole point of this is that, if you can approach a song that you wouldn't normally sing, and then sing it in that style or re-arrange it so that you can sing it in a way that's natural for you, you can truly sing anything. And, once you are left to your own devices and you are faced with a challenge that's completely out of your element, that's when your inner artist is really going to come out.

Even if you're at home with the current genre that's being chosen, and the song that's chosen happens to be relatively easy for you, it is greatly encouraged that you participate so that you can help others with the stylistic aspect of the challenge.

In addition to approaching new things musically, many of us will be undertaking the task of learning our way around audio production software. Some of the programs that people are learning while undertaking the challenge are Cubase, Reaper and Logic Pro X. Production is an extremely valuable skill to learn, especially if you are considering pursuing music as a career. This skill will allow you to create your own demos to send out and get singing gigs and you may even end up producing your own album.

Summary

So, to sum up. We vote for a genre, select a song, and everybody spends about a month attempting to sing that song while either maintaining the style of the genre or trying or re-arranging it so that you can sing it in a way that is natural for you. You may post as many versions of you singing the song as you desire, as long as you make it clear when your final version is posted. Rough drafts are greatly encouraged. All versions should be posted in the current monthly challenge topic. We will all discuss our difficulties and accomplishments regarding style and production for the current monthly challenge inside of the current monthly challenge topic. At the end,  there may be some anonymous voting to decide which version is liked the best, but it's important to note this is not a challenge between us. This is a challenge against yourself. Everybody has something to gain from getting involved here.

Genres:

R&B

Country

Blues

Rock

Pop

Folk

Jazz
 

Gospel

Important Dates

Let's open voting on the 25th of the month from now on. This will be for genre selection. We'll be doing two genres again. Voting will be open for 4 days. 

Voting will open for song selection on the 29th. It will be open for 3 days. This won't be a poll. Everybody can suggest two songs for each genre, just like before.

Voting for the challenge songs will open on the 2nd, and it will run for 4 days.

The challenge will begin on the 6th.

By the end of the 6th of the following month, all final recordings should be in. I'm going by Pacific Standard Time, so if you live somewhere else where time is somewhat behind, just send me a message so I know. Anonymous voting will then go on for about 3 days (69 hours).

By the end of the 5th of the following month, whoever received the most votes will be clear.

This month's contest will officially end on the 6th of the following month, meaning everything to do with it will be done by that time. 

Where do I get the necessary bed tracks to sing over?

When dealing with producing your own track, you need an instrumental version of the song so that you can sing over it. Also, we want to remain on the right side of copyright protection. Please no sharing of bed track / karaoke files. To purchase your own file, is only $1-$2, so please honor the original creator's (the bed track / karaoke company), property rights. 

In order to make things easier for participants, here's one place where many tracks can be found

Karaoke Version

CLICK HERE >>>

If anybody has any suggestions about any of this, go ahead and speak your mind. I may be managing this topic, but this is about the way everyone wants to do this. I'm just putting things into motion.

​Yeah, I guess it's okay to say who you liked. I just didn't want to enter that challenge, because it's completely natural for me to do what's done in that song. Since we've now made it clear that we're only competing with ourselves, when the challenge does land on R&B in the future, I will participate, just because I may just end up with a nice demo. It will also be nice to be able to answer questions people have about style.

I'm going to give Logic Pro X for Mac a shot, because I got it a year or two ago. I'm probably going to end up trying to learn some of the applications for Windows too, just so I know my way around.

Haha, thanks for the shout-out, man. It's great to get out of your comfort zone. You'd be surprised what you can do, because many would classify Bolton as an R&B kind of guy, but here you are as a Rock guy and you're not having much trouble besides temporary range limitations while doing Bolton stuff.

I heard more of what I heard in that BeeGee's cover that reminded me of Michael Bolton. Like how you started with the "I could hardly believe it", and a few other places throughout. Keep working at it. Keep working on increasing your range and this song will get easier, as well as many others. I know you could probably name a bunch of rock singers with big ranges. You were already told that your range started to improve already in that other topic, so keep working on it

By the way, you may want to consider getting involved with the monthly challenge that I just started running, along with the rest of us.This month, we're doing Highway Star by Deep Purple. The whole point of it is for all of us to get out of our comfort zones and attempt something new. We voted on Rock this month and decided on Highway Star, because it isn't an easy song to do. The genre will change each month and we'll do something new. It's not a competition, so there's no pressure. A lot of us are going to be learning how to use production software, as well as how to approach these songs.

​Yeah, but I think you'll be able to do it well at some point. People don't always emulate somebody and have it sound close to that person almost immediately. It's not  always easy to do an impersonation. As a matter of fact, it's relatively difficult unless the object of imitation is your favorite singer and you're always imitating them anyways. Besides, you don't have to sound exactly like the guy to sing that song well. I can just hear certain things in your general tone, where if you actually try to sing like him, you'll get close or spot-on.

Yeah, the whole point of this is to challenge yourself and see what you can do. I know there seems to be more of a love for Rock here, and there are tons of challenging rock songs to put you to the test, but to really challenge yourself, I don't think you can do better than taking on something that is a completely unnatural thing for you to attempt. This is a world music forum, after all. And by doing a challenge like this, EVERYONE will be out of the element at some point. In fact, it will likely happen several times. And when that does happen, we will all be around to offer support by coaching each other and offering tips. We're a family here. Let's improve together.

Another interesting one. Lower stuff was pretty solid. Falsetto is really tricky unless you use it all the time. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I'm getting a Michael Bolton vibe from you.

It'd be cool to hear you sing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFood_bTOX4

Got a nice tone. The choir boy returns!

I liked it. It was pretty cool how you got airy with it in the chorus. Always great to see someone changing things up instead of doing what's expected

​

Now, THAT would be really cool!

Alright, everyone. It's going to be Highway Star by Deep Purple this month. This month's contest will end June 5th. As it nears the end, we'll discuss what we're going to do next month and have everything chosen so that we can go right into the next one on June 6th. On May 26th, a poll will be created so we can start voting on next month's genre. Recordings should all be in on June 2nd. Then, we will have 3 days of anonymous voting and we will see who was selected. If anybody has any suggestions about any of this, go ahead and speak your mind. I may be managing this topic, but this is about the way everyone wants to do this. I'm just putting things into motion.

It's very encouraged that people take to audio arranging programs when creating your final recording. Just as the last challenge, it's also encouraged that people post rough versions of what they've done so far throughout the month.. I know everybody may not have the most powerful computer, but it's very important to explore this and learn, As Rob said, it's a very valuable skill. If you have no idea about these programs, you're not alone at all. Several people here will be trying to learn their way around these programs, me included.

Keep in mind that this is all about fun and learning. Let's get to work and see what we accomplish.

​So be it. Quarterpounders with cheese all around

Hey, Rob. I'd be happy to manage it. And I'm glad you  got around to weighing in on this topic. The whole point of this is for everyone to learn without feeling any kind of pressure not to post their version because they feel it's inadequate.The anonymous voting system is a way to take care of that. The more I expand my musical horizons, o find songs that I normally wouldn't listen to and I like them. My appreciation for different sounds grow. I saw how the All of Me Challenge brought the community together, and I thought we needed more of that.

​Looks like 7 people want to do it, so yeah. I didn't even know what song that was until I heard the lyrics. I just wanted to approach something new without me having any say in it so that I could really approach something fresh that wasn't my idea.

​Well, look at what's being said throughout, and try to put it together.

"Nobody gonna take my girl I'm gonna keep her to the end
Nobody gonna have my girl she stays close on every bend"

He's oozing with confidence. The way I would do this is I would imagine myself as a Nascar driver where I'm going for the championship. Or if you want

"Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound"

Maybe he's in an illegal street race where the stakes are high, because the loser will lose their car. Fast and Furious vibe, anyone?

"Nobody gonna steal my head, now that I'm on the road again
Ooh I'm in heaven again, I've got everything"

He was out of commission for a while. Maybe he got into a crash where he came this close to dying, which would explain how confident he is to be racing again. He feels immortal. Or maybe something happened to his car, and it was saved. Lots of different ways to take this where you can explain the feeling he was having here.

"I love it, I need it, I seed it
Eight cylinders all mine
Alright hold tight, I'm a highway star"

He can't live without racing, which is why he's doing it again, building off of what I said in the last excerpt. And you see the name of the song mentioned here, "highway star". You can say it all took place on a highway.

So, to sum up this interpretation, he participates in illegal races where the loser loses his/her car, he's extremely confident because he was in a crash and nearly died, may have even be declared dead, but he survived it. There may have even been foul play there. He may have contemplated not coming back to racing, but he can't live without the thrill, so he's back on the highway and he won't lose.

Whether you like racing or not, just put yourself in his shoes. Maybe he wasn't even into racing before. He's just a mechanic and one of his family members was sick, so he got involved in racing so he could afford the medical bills, but he found out he loved it along the way. Lots of ways you can play this.

Alright, am I to understand everyone is okay with Highway Star?  I actually didn't recognize it by name, but I realized I knew that song once Killer posted the lyrics. It's a cool song. I'm alright with it.

Congratulations on the wedding performance spot. I don't see anything wrong with doing this version.

​Exactly what I'm talking about. And if I'm an odd duck too for liking that kind of stuff, then it's quite alright with me.

I think we really work our musical brains whenever we do this. We learn how to approach things we wouldn't normally approach. And there are odds we'll find influences where we wouldn't have looked before.

Yes, I think if you tell people you're going to sing an "R&B" song, they'll expect a certain sound. There were times before where I've heard people singing, and I've never realized what they were singing until I found out at the end, and it completely surprised me, because I knew the song but didn't recognize it because of the way they did it. A skill like that is worth developing.

Either way, learning how to go about singing a song in a certain genre is beneficial. You may find you like singing that way but not necessarily the stuff from that genre. Learning how to incorporate your own style into a song that's completely out of your comfort zone is something beneficial as well, because you really learn something about yourself as an artist when you're faced with tailoring a song to your voice and your preferences technique-wise.

Yep. The whole point is to get comfortable with doing things you probably wouldn't do under normal circumstances. It's not even a competition where someone wins or loses. You could translate the song lyrics into your normal style of singing or you can try to maintain the song's original style. 

I saw this already a few days ago and thought I commented already. I love Jazz. too. I'm from about 15 miles away from where Sinatra grew up. You looked like you were really in the zone here. Very nicely done.

Damn, Elvis. Rode is going to give you an endorsement deal to trick people into thinking they can sing like you if they buy that mic

​Oh, Captain Jens.

​Alright cool.I just didn't know what the odds would be that people would choose songs that everyone knew about. I don't really care what the song is, I just want to attempt this.