Covers Competition

Apologies for the delay in announcing the Covers Comp winners - as I'm sure you can appreciate, we've been up to our eyeballs with the Vienna and Rage in Eden releases. We're now moving back onto our second re-listen of all shortlisted entries though, and are hoping to get the results up on the site in two weeks.

Thanks for your patience, and all your fantastic entries!

Cheers,
Cerise & Rob.

That`s perfectly okay - I can only imagine
how bussy you must have been!!!

And once again I will thank you for the
incredible and outstanding work you have done
- it relly is beyond words!!!
I will be so exciting to listen to the
re-releases and extra material! WOW!!!

aye it's all go eh? You'll be needing another holiday! It is appreciated though, as Jesper and lots of other folk have said ...... I know I'm looking forward to listening to all that live stuff!!! excellent!

As for the covers competition..... the entries were sooooo good this year: they/ we are all winners!

Hi Cerise, any sign of an ETA for the results? The suspense is really getting to me now!

Paul - Yes! We'll be putting the results up this weekend, probably on Sunday night.

Apologies for the delay, everyone - it's all go on the EMI front! We appreciate your patience and you can rest assured that you haven't made our jobs easy this year; the standard of entries, as always, is absolutely breathtaking.

Cheers!
Cerise.

Thanks for the update Cerise, I know you've been manically busy with the remasters as well as wading through all of the many entries. Look fwd to seeing the final outcome at the weekend!

Looking forward to seeing the results tonight

Sorry folks, we didn't quite get it all written up tonight, although the winners have now been chosen (how exciting!). I'll try to get it finished tomorrow night instead.

Cheers!
Cerise.

Holding breath!!!

Neil
(Geigertek)

Oh lord, I seem to have stumbled through the wrong door.

Haway Cerise, get ya supper doon ya neck and put these folks outa their misery.

Results please...

I'm writing, I'm writing!!

Results shortly...

C.

The Covers Competition Results 2008 are here! Congratulations to all who entered, it was an extremely tough call to decide the winners and runners-up. Well done, everyone! You should be very proud of yourselves.

Next year's comp end date is June 27th, 2009 - ten months away. We're going to try to keep it annual from now on, so get those thinking caps on!

Congratulations everyone.

Congratulations everyone!!!
Very well done!!!
If I got the time, I will surely do a track next year too! But I´m 99,9% sure it won`t be in the Best Cover section...it`s too hard to get right!

Some thoughts about doing Man Of Two Worlds:
To me it was an extremely difficult track to do
- mostly because of the bass guitar. To a non bass player like me...errm...it took me months to get it sound just a little bit decent. It really is very hard to play it right and tight and I encountered the "What the fick is going on here..." more than once hehe....
What I always knew but stood face to face with doing the track was, that it is totally impossible to copy a UV-track, because of the playing style...it just is so special!!! A good example on this is Billy`s solos...as we all know!
The best thing is that I´ve learned a lot...and I mean a lot!!! The track is the first track I´ve done in my little home studio and it was the first chance to try it out. A lot of times I realized, that this and that wouldn`t work out as expected. One of the things was mixing in the box...using software eq`s etc. I just doesn`t work that good for me really. Result...I ficked the mix up more than once hehe.... The same thing about softsynths...I used them a lot on the track...but I never got that satisfied with the sound really. In the future I will only use hardware synths the old UV-way....get the sound right with effects and all from the start! That`s the way for me!
Helen did the vocals just incredible wonderful -
under extremely difficult conditions...with the cheapest Philips mic you can buy... a great example of, that gear isn´t the most important thing!!!
It surely is a shame, that the Midge-vocal is missing, because the track looses a lot because of that. To me it also gave some difficulties mixing the track right...or the other way around...pointed out that I really have to practise a lot more mixing....

And last...thanks a lot Helen...you where FAB all the way....

PS! And a BIG BIG thanks a lot to Mike L for giving me a hint of the chord progression...

Congrats & well done to everyone, there were some cracking tracks in there

Well done guys!!!!!
1st runner up in our catagory? NO WAY!!!!!! REALLY??? Bladdy 'ell.........

WOW! Well done Jesper!

Well, well!
Two category wins and three runner-up spots...I'm very pleased of course! Much credit is due to my brother and constant partner-in-crime Johan who helped out tremendously with engineering, mixing etc.

'Reap the Divine Wind' came about for a couple of reasons:
The song's original melody is almost completely in a pentatonic scale (that's the black keys on the piano folks ) often used in traditional Japanese music, making it ideal to sound 'right' on a koto.
The slight change in the title: if I'm correctly informed, the word 'kamikaze' translates literally as 'divine wind', fitting nicely with Ultravox's original theme of fighter pilots etc. So the Japanese talking and aircraft sounds were nicked from the film 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pretentious? Moi?
'Dedicated to those who gav all...everywhere... including in the Pacific!'

'Guns and Arrows' is not nearly as deliberate, it's just a different arrangement and sound to a favorite song. And it gave me the chance to pick up the old guitar!

Congratulations to all winners, runners-up and participants! Well done!

Thanks a lot Helen!

By the way! I would also like to thank my brother
Morten for the very very cool mastering - it sounds much much better...
And Billy Currie and Gmedia. The solo sound on the impOSCar softsynth was heavily inspired by one of Billy`s leadsounds in his outstandig signature set!

Will Definatily Not Been On This Dumb Site Again, What a Joke.
I'll just stick with fond memories of Ultravox, not this site.

Darren, don't be like that, please. You submitted two fantastic covers; you didn't win this year but it doesn't mean they aren't appreciated by everyone here.

As we said, it was a really, really tough call to judge - it always is - but somehow we have to pick the ones that we like the best. At the end of the day, the judging is just our opinion, and our opinion doesn't - and shouldn't - detract in any way from all the other entries, we love them all. You should ALL be very proud of your achievements. Every single track entered is fantastic and as far as we're concerned, every single one is a winner.

It doesn't matter how high the price of a barrel rises, somehow Cerise always seems to have a plentiful supply of soothing oil to pour upon troubled waters.

In a way, it's encouraging that people can be so reactionary in response to these decisions since it means that they've approached something with a creative passion that can sometimes seem a little lacking in modern music. I'd echo Cerise's sentiment, though, in-as-much as so much of this is subjective. There are elements in a number of the winning tracks that I didn't really like - a lyric, a key change, a progression of notes that felt "not quite right" - but that's because I listen to things with my big and gently whining ears, and the brain and memories connected to them, and not another person's, not because they're necessarily "wrong" (much though it galls me to say it).

Personally, there was much in Darren's pieces to which I could only aspire (the only time I'm likely to enter the competition is if there's ever a category for "Most in need of Help") and heart should be taken from that. It's made no easier since the standard of entries is so high.

Cerise and Rob must have had a real task selecting a short list, let alone "winners" (an unfortunate term, suggesting as it does that the other tracks are "losers", which they clearly aren't), a task completed whilst simultaneously working on several other projects. Disappointments are inevitable but taking offence is a hiding to nothing. Don't deny yourself the pleasures of the site. Use this as a spur, use that emotional energy for your next competition entry and enjoy it for the simple, honest, gentle cut-throat fun that it is.

Not that it has any relevance to the final results I'm sure but it seems a shame some of the "votes" scored in the best cover section of the media archive seem to be artificially low. When tracks get an average of 3 or less with over 50 votes you would expect them to be really really bad - and nothing I've heard so far has been.

Registering false votes happened a couple of years back I seem to remember - be a shame if it had happened again...especially when it serves no purpose as far as the end result goes. :rolleyes: Apart from making the original artist feel bad maybe.

High standard overall anyway - the bar seems to get that much higher each year. Congrats to all.

Oh, and Mike's French female alter ego I found rather scary, I must admit...

Yes, you're right Flip - I'll look into whether it's possible to disable the rating function, I think. But you are correct in your assumption that it doesn't affect the judging - we don't even look at the ratings in the media archive until afterwards.

I think both of you have a good point!
I have a feeling, that what Darren is most
sad/angry about is the very low rating
- and I understand his feelings towards that
really well - though you have to be ready
to deal with some rather more or less unfair
ratings if you enter the competition. We did
that ourselves - it`s just a part of it it seems.
I just laughed a little bit a it really.
I think it would be a good idea shut the rating-thing down. I don`t think it really serves a good
purpose - what is great to someone, doesn`t have to be great to someone else - and the ratings are not used picking the winners anyway.

And really good to see you Flip!
Hope you are fine over there!

Can you please delete all of my tracks, since its more of a embarrassment. Maybe some other site might appreciate.

Well if it helps, you certainly were't the only one to get stupidly low ratings - too many prats on the internet to use these things properly.

Jesper - hi, yes fine ta. Just haven't been here too often lately. Hope all's well with you.

Well I've been working on it the last couple of hours, and I've managed to remove all the code relating to ratings. They're all gone, all of them. I've been thinking for a while that it's stupid to have them, for two reasons: one is that they can be open to tactical voting, and secondly that when you click to rate something, '1' is selected automatically. I really think many people don't realise that it's the lowest rating, not the highest (rating it 'number 1', if you see what I mean). Especially where English might not be the visitor's first language. So - ratings are all gone, completely removed from the site. No trace left.

Darren - as I've said, we DO appreciate your tracks, as we appreciate ALL the excellent entries - I've been playing the whole lot all day, whilst working on Quartet.

Listen, give it a couple of days. If you still feel the same way on Tuesday, contact me then and I'll remove them. But I think it will be a huge loss for everyone that visits the site.

Hi Cerise.
I appreciate all the great work you do, especially Ultravox Re-Releases.
I have just lost interest in this site and dont want to be associated with it anymore.

Thanks
Darren

The midi, and later mp3 files were the first thing that attracted me to the site. Ive heard and saved most of the files over recent years. I believe all the tracks are equal, and the amount of work people put into recording them too. If anything, as i said last year, the level has increased both in terms of performing and recording. Theres no winners / losers in my book. Its all music and thats what matters.

Hi Darren/ OSCar......
If it was the low rating that other site users had marked your work, then I completely get you. Cerise has already rectified that, and I suspect that isn't your gripe..... I think you're just pissed off that your tracks haven't been marked out for special mention. If this is the case, I think your reaction is really sad..... like a spoiled child really.
Firstly, you are basically dictating which tracks Cerise and Rob should like and puting them in the position where of course they will never please all of the people all of the time, so perhaps they will just stop the covers comp?

Secondly, by demanding that your tracks are worthy of special mention, you are basically saying that those that WERE singled out aren't as good as yours...... yours DESERVE to be in place of one or two of the ones already chosen. I think this is a hellish attitude to have if I'm honest! You must have a MASSIVE ego!
I listened to all the tracks after the deadline and thought they were all fantastic..... I knew Cerise and Rob were going to have a hard time judging and said so on the board on more than one occasion. You've just made their job harder, as they'll be treading on eggshells next time round incase they offend anyone!
If you think you might feel indignant outrage if you don't win..... then don't enter. It's like all those clowns who go on X-Factor, why set yourself up for it? Darren please step back and look at what you've said...... I didn't get a winning place or mention so remove my tracks please.... WTF? get a grip man!
When Jesper and I entered, we did it as a laugh...... just to sort of prove to ourselves we could do it, especially after all the nonsense on the board about "monument backing vocals"...... we did it, it sort of worked (we ran out of time to lay down the Midge vocal, although it was recorded) BUT I personally (I don't know about Jesper) wasn't expecting ANYTHING!!!! I wouldn't be presumptious enough to think that it was worthy of praise, let alone a runner up position. Think hard, your tracks are really good, they deserve to be heard..... but don't start throwing a hissy fit if they don't get a special mention.... the comp was tough this year!
Chin up mate, ok?! Enjoy the glorious Edinburgh weather!

Leggy,

Oscars (Darrens) post was a little more non-specific than you make it sound; ok, he wants the tracks removed, but he's said nothing of the sort of what you've put in your long reply and certainly not dictating how he wants the Covers Comp to be run in future. If he doesn't want to be associated with the site anymore (for whatever reason, specified or not), then that's his choice and Cerise and Rob will make a decision on how to respect and deal with that I'm sure. Your post towards him comes across a tad ungracious, undignified and more aggressive than I'm sure you intend. Leave the poor man alone and don't harrang him as your words are hardly likely to convince him he's made the wrong decision and that he should stay.



Congratulations on your nuptuals by the way. It looked like you had a wonderful day and that the future is so bright, in the words of the song, you, John and the kiddies are gonna have to wear shades...



All the best,

EG

It's often said that in competition there are winners and losers. In this case, judging by the standard of the entries, there were no losers in my opinion. Everyone who entered the competion should be very pleased with themselves, to say the very least. Having said that, it's always an asset to any competitor to be gracious in defeat. Don't be too downhearted OSCar. You really have nothing to be downhearted about. Maybe your decision to quit the site is a knee-jerk reaction. Think again mate, as your input on this site is no less as important as anyone elses.
Onwards and upwards.
Pig

Hi Darren. As I said to another forum member not too long ago,
http://www.ultravox.org.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000580;p=1
please reconsider.

I thought all the covers were quite impressive. And as Ken said earlier the level continues to increase over the years.

I really enjoyed everybodys entries in this years cover competition and congratulate the winners.
But I did not join this site to be insulted, what Leggylady implied was dam right insulting. The issue was with the ratings system and felt embarrassed by my input. Nothing to do with what you implied with your disgusting comments.

So good riddance to this site

This is the official Ultravox website and it's a real privilege to be here.

If you're a bad loser then that's your problem.

Ditto... :rolleyes:

Chris has a point. I, too feel privileged to be a member of this forum, not to mention Metamatic and Torque Point...

Any attack to the site is an attack to us.

How dare you say that I have attacked this site, obviously can't read.
I did not join for Ultravox fans to Insult Ultravox Fans

Yes Cerise I would be grateful if you could delete all of my tracks and also the ones in the media archive.
Oh and close my account user name

Bye

Its a web forum - anyone can join (or not). Its good that you think its a privilege to be here - but it IS only a web forum...

He did actually just SAY it was the ratings system that he had problems with... which is slightly different.

If he doesn't want to be on the forum anymore, its up to him; he obviously feels he has his reasons. Why take it so personally?

Slagging people off serves no purpose whatsoever - except to confirm for this guy he was right to leave. Sad. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by OSCar:

Takes one to know one

How dare you insult me on my literacy skills, just for the record I CAN READ... and I'm getting rather tired of the lip service you've been giving me and everyone else around here. I stand by what I said, I will not withdraw my statement, if you don't like it - tough!

Don't we all agree that this thread should be closed once and for all...

SF,

I wouldn't go as far to say an attack on this site is an attack on it's users, goodness it's getting like China in 'ere!

Darren,

you did however say:

'So good riddance to this site'

You've said yourself that Cerise & Rob have done a grand job in here, have you not?

C'mon, that's not fair either is it?

The way your original posts came out, may have made it sound to some members, like your were 'throwing your toys out the pram' because you never won or got a mention in the comp this year!
I do agree with whats been said about the ratings thingy, that's not fair & would make anyone who entered a tad peeved.

Maybe I'm wrong or maybe you can tell us something different?

It's always sad when this happens & peeps leave the site, I hope you reconsider.

Did you ever manage to get along to any of the Monument gigs?

People, I am genuinely astonished by the level of argument in some posts in this thread, which is supposedly about the competition and its results.

As a competition participant I'm fully aware that the ratings system can make anyone feel disappointed if the score is low. That's what Darren expressed. Some very good tracks got really low scores, for unknown reasons (taste, 'tactical voting' or whatever). But the ratings have NO bearing on the judging, and they have now been removed, missed by no-one.

Darren's tracks sound as good as any other contributions, it's a pity if he wants to leave because of how they were rated. But the decision to leave or stay is his own and shouldn't be questioned, whatever his reason may be. Hopefully he may reconsider

There is no reason to put words in each others mouths, or for using harsh language.
The forum has rules, easy to find and read for everyone. Let's play nice, and move on.

No, I don't agree, I think it should get back on track discussing the actual competition results So, what did you think?

For what it's worth, having followed this thread and read the comments about the Rating system it did set me to think about why some tracks I liked were voted lower marks than some which I enjoyed less, and largely put it down to my fondness for the "real" sound of the era, with less of a liking for some of the more "modern" frantic drum rhythms.

There may be another reason, too, which I've found myself guilty of: I have a greater likelihood, in a crowded field, of listening first to covers of less common tracks, then moving on to the more often-covered ones. This means that, if I run out of time, the "usual suspects" go unheard and unrated. Equally, sometimes with the "usual suspects" I'll just listen and enjoy without rating, possibly giving a skewed impression to the viewings / ratings scores.

This may be why I'm seldom asked to judge anything.

I think that, whilst a nice idea, it's probably for the best that the Ratings have been removed. It did surprise me to see the low-ish scores obtained by OSCar's tracks which merited higher.

I know, stable door . . . shut . . . horse . . . speck on horizon . . .

Originally posted by Fredrik:

Hiya Fredrik

The reason why that I stated earlier that the thread should be closed is because the controversy (regarding the ratings system and so fourth) is getting a bit out of hand and might get worse - but that's just my opinion...

But if we can get back on topic without closing the thread then that would be brill.

Cheers for your reply.

Darren - no problem, I'll get that sorted after work today. But as I've said before - removing your many excellent contributions will be a sad loss for the site, and we'll miss you. Be well, my friend.

Yes, ratings are now all gone - I just wish I'd looked into it sooner. It wasn't easy to remove as I had to find and edit about five different scripts and remove bits from the HTML templates, but it was worth it. I don't think ANYONE will miss the ratings, they were just too open to misinterpretation, mischief and abuse. It always used to tick me off a little whenever I'd put something up that I'd worked hard on, to get a low rating - so our apologies for not tackling it sooner.

I think we can leave the thread open if we carry on discussing the entries. Let's move back onto that.

Cheers all,
Cerise.

Personally I think the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

Anyway...

Here's a question for yaz:
Would this years entrants like to share what instruments, recording methods & sequencing were used on their tracks???

Well Jesper's already answered that for me earlier in the thread..... it really is probably the cheapest Philips mic you can buy (I've have it for years as well) and was recorded using Blaze media pro software.......
Now for the musos to share their toys and experiences......... good question there Sleepy

Okay then, but first of all congratulations to all the winners and contenders in this years competition. There were some tremendous tracks and some great performances. My own personal favourites came from Fredrik Helander, but I guess that might be because we seem to share a similar liking for diverse music and styles.

Here we go..
Fade To Grey
This track was built around the drum track from Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster". This was sampled into Cubase and looped. I added Bass (Peavey 5-string) and 2 guitars - one either side (Fender Telecaster). I added an organ and clavinet to match the arrangement of Master Blaster, then added the synths to bring more of the Fade To Grey feel. The synth was a Korg Wavestation heavily treated with delays and other effects, and also a breathy sound from the EMU Classic Keys module that you can hear "laughing" toward the end. The cheesy brass sound was from the Wavestation.
At this point I transferred the stereo master to a hardware digital recorder since my poor old iMac was starting to struggle with the amount of audio tracks and effects I was running simultaneously.
Here I recorded the three vocals - the "aaah-aaah we fade to grey" was treated with delay, reverb and compression, as was the lead vocal. The french "female" vocal was my voice treated with a TC Helicon VoiceLive module which I use for Monument gigs for delay effects. This clever little unit has a "Gender" setting which alters the pitch and thickness of the voice (among many other useful tricks). There is no truth in the rumour that I dressed for the part . Again I added compression, reverb and delay to this. The master track was treated with some soft compression.

(This Means) Everything To Me
The intro is a CP70 preset from the EMU Classic Keys. This piano reappears in the "Vienna" homage (rip-off) later in the track. The Bass is again my trusty Peavey 5-string and the chord guitar is a Telecaster. The solo is played on an Ibanez RS125 since the Tele doesn't have a whammy, so I couldn't "dive bomb" without ripping the neck off.
The drums are from the Korg Wavestation and played by hand (I left it really late to do this track, in fact it was the last day of the competition) so if it sounds like the drums are out of time it's because they are. The SS30 sound is an ARP preset also from the Classic Keys. The lead keyboard sound is from the Korg Wavestation, but treated with distortion, flange and 2 delays. The first is a short delay to give a bit of thickness, the second is a much longer delay which repeats the melody slightly quieter every couple of bars - you can hear it best on the outro, but it adds a bit more interest into the verses as it plays over the slightly different chord sequence.
Again I transferred the stereo master to a hardware digital recorder to avoid problems with the iMac going into apoplexy because of the number of audio tracks and effects it was trying to run simultaneously.
That left the two vocal tracks - lead and harmony. The biggest problem with these two tracks was that I had to record them on a warm sunny afternoon and my neighbours had decided they were all going to cut their grass at the same time. So it was nearly myself and a massed choir of Flymo lawn mowers. I had to take my mic into the quietest place in my house (upstairs in the hall) closed all the doors and stood as still as possible to prevent the floorboards from squeaking. I bet they don't have these problems in Abbey Road.
Again, some soft compression to the finished master and what you hear is what you get.

I look forward to hearing other people's recollections and techniques of recording.

Darren, your files have been removed, you have been unsubscribed from the mailing list and your Forum account has been deleted. Please note though that the latter does not remove your previous posts. Take care, m'dear.

Cheers,
Cerise.

Before I forget - ULTIMA BLEEP, could you please send me an address, so that we can send your 'Overall Winner' prize of a copy of each of the Vienna and Rage in Eden CDs when they come out next month?

Cheers!
Cerise.

ROFLMAO..... I know what you mean, I was similar...... I did mine at about 2:30am and it was really really warm, had all the windows open and John and the kids in bed. I was trying to sing as QUIETLY as possible (difficult, I have a really loud voice) didn't want to wake the neighbours or me family and when Jesper tried to turn it up a bit, he heard a high pitched noise in the background.... the laptop I was recording onto!!!!

I'm meant to be building a studio in the garden (for me artwork etc) but it couldn't possibly used for music purposes (I wanted it as duel purpose) as we have trains going past every 15/20mins! :rolleyes:

Very interesting everybody!

In general:
Logic 5.51 sequenser (PC) and RME Fireface 400
firewire soundcard and Soundcraft M12 mixer. During the mix I worked
with all tracks as audio files - including
the midi tracks which were recorded as audio too
To me it was a heavy experiment on how good I would be able to do it with software mostly - and how to get the best results with the combination I got of software and hardware.
To me it many times turned out to be rather
difficult, because I´m used to do it hardware only. Especially doing the mixing these problems
became obvious to me - and my little conclusion
(too me) was, that either you mix entirely in the box (computer) or you do it hardware only.
A combination can be very difficult - to me!
When I say mix I also mean the use of compresssors, EQ`s and effects. I made many many
mistakes on the way - but I certainly did learn a lot!!!

Drums: Native Instruments Battery 1 with samples
from Linn Drum and others with reverb from Lexicon MPX-1.
Compression and EQ etc:
Sonnox Dynamics + Inflator and Eiosis AirEQ
I borrowed the snare sample from
Warren on "Heart Of The Country" I think

Bass guitar: Fender Precision (mex) recorded
using a Radial JDI MK4 Duplex DI-box and
Focusrite Compounder compressor. I doubled the track - I re-amped one of them through the
AdrenaLinn 3 box using one af the amp models
(I don`t remember which one). Then I mixed the two bass tracks down to one final track.
Later I used some AirEQ and Sonnox compression I think. Because I´m not a perfect bass player I
used the Celemony Melodyne plugIn a little bit -
a big disappointment really. My advice: DON`T DO IT - it ruined the sound!!!

When I mixed I tried to route the drums and bass
to the same bus in the mixer adding some compression with the Sonnox Dynamics - to see
if it glued better together - it did I think.

Piano: Yamaha P-50M piano module with Lexicon MPX-1 effects and AirEQ.

Strings: Native Instruments Kontakt 3 with Yamaha SS-30 samples. I doubled the tracks
- one without effects and one with Lexicon MPX-1 effects. Then mixed down to one final track.
I think the strings was probably some of the best I did on MOTW.

Synths - melody lines etc: Minimoog Voyager and Yamaha AN1x with some additional effects from
the Lexicon MPX-1 I think.

Synth solo: GForce impOSCar - heavily inspired by one of Billy`s sounds from his outstanding
signature set. I also used an old hardware Aphex Exciter (probably not a good thing) and DBX 242 parametric hardware EQ. DubStation software delay from Audio Damage + some AirEQ in the mix I think.

Add synths: Minimoog Voyager - for some bottom
in the chorus.

Guitar: Blade Stratocaster with really shitty old strings through AdrenaLinn 3
amp model (I live in flat - and Vox I think). Doubled the tracks with some additional effects on one of them. Didn`t turn out so great!!! AirEQ - and mixed too low!!!

Vocal: As Helen said and FMR Audio RNLA,
(compression), DBX 242 parametric EQ and Lexicon MPX-1 reverb and delay (hardware). AirEQ software in the mix, I think.

My brother then mastered it in his studio
- he used the Sintefex FX8000 Replicator
with a Fairchild compressor and a Neve EQ
I think.

I probably forgot something...

Jesper, you just reminded me, the guitars were played through a Roland VGA3 amp using the VOX amp model for (This Means) Everything To Me (this was before I bought the VOX AC50 amp). I added reverb and distortion to the preset sound. Fade To Grey just used a generic amp sound with some chorus and reverb. All sounds were made with the amplifier, nothing was added later other than compression on the overall mastering.

The EMP (Paul Boddy) remixes this year (and last year) were made using Logic Pro 7 on an Apple iBook. Audio was ripped from the original audio CDs then eq'd so as to allow other elements (drums/synths) to be added. Other softsynths that were used included ReFX Vanguard and ImpOscar.

My 2 pennies worth on the rating system: I think it's unnecessary, particularly as it plays no part in the judging process and can give a casual listener a false impression of a track before they hear it.

The only other thing which might be worth changing (sorry Cerise!), would be how the Remix section is described -"Best Re-Mix
Covers with a completely new arrangement and/or sound", would probably be better re-worded as "New version which contains sampled elements from an Ultravox-related track" as this is essentially what a remix is :)This will help differentiate this category from the Covers one.

Really pleased with my runners-up positions this year + will deffo be back next time for another go! Paul [emp]

Melodyne is fantastic for vocals which are out of pitch and you want to correct them without it sounding too obvious (a la Autotune). Haven't tried it on bass, but as a producer for vocals it's totally essential

A bit wordy isn't it. Or it could just stay as 'Best Re-Mix', with a full stop and space between the word 'Mix' and the capital C of the first word of the following sentence...

I think you are completely right Paul (EMP)!
To me it also seems that Melodyne works much
better on vocals - there are some outstanding
examples on the Celemony website.
I don`t know if I did something wrong (I don`t think so), but to me it didn`t work very well on bass guitar - it sounded so dull and lifeless.

...the fortcomming update...it`s very very exciting....

Wow this one went a bit t**s up didn't it???
I'd like to add my congratulations to all those who entered. I thought the standard was very high personally. Good idea to get rid of the ratings button (Hindsight being a wonderful thing and all) big up to Cerise & Rob for finding the time to run the comp, it exactly the kind of thing that keeps this forum alive and well.

Cheers all

G

Hi Everybody,

Cannonball & I joined this year's Covers Competition (with "Why He Why Me", in the "Best Original Submissions" category) mainly to promote our track and album, which was released last November in Indonesia.

Actually I wanted to take advantage of this competition for making you have a glance at Asian musicians in general, as I believe some of them, especially Indonesians, are very talented... and can even be fond of Ultravox music...

Well, I've read all the previous posts in this topic, and I agree with you: This year's competition was very tough, and I therefore can understand that some of the participants (including myself, honestly)felt a bit disappointed as they spent lots of time, energy and (sometimes) money to try being praised by the Ultravox community...

But I believe the most important in that competition is that participants are allowed to share their passion for Ultravox music (which is very tough to imitate or reproduce, like someone mentioned) and their talent as musicians. And I would particularly like to congratulate SMPJ with their "Allt är klart" song, which I like a lot. I'm happy they're among the winners in the "Best Original" category. "Bravo" to all the other participants too...

Next year, I'll try to convince Cannonball to work on a Re-mix of "We Stand Alone" or "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes". I'll keep you posted.

For the time being, please have a glance at my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/video/video.php?v=34552638141), where I've just posted the "Why He Why Me" video-clip, that will come out as Cannonball's third single next month. Once again, I'd be grateful to receive your comments on it.

Cheers for now.

Dominic

Hi
The Covers Competition is great fun both for participants and just interested parties. I've hung round this website for more years than I can care to remember and always enjoyed listening to the entries to previous competitions.

This year was the first time I've entered so I'm rather chuffed Cerise and Rob enjoyed my track enough to give it a gong.

Hardware involved: Sonar 4, EMU 404 + Emulator X2, Supernova 2 Kbd, Ensoniq SQR, Yamaha MU10, Alesis D4, Yamaha CS6R and a Behringer UB2222FX-Pro desk. The track was recorded straight on to the computer using Sonar 4 as it was also running the sequences, etc. No post production occurred. The track mixes a number of my influences including Ultravox, industrial and even a bit of psy-trance!

Seeing I actually got a gong I guess I better start thinking about firing up the beasts to see if anything comes out!
Cheers

Rob