01-08-2008 - 14-08-2008 August DJ Contest **CLOSED**

[JeffreySource]

Is there gonna be an announcement about the winning set, or is it a surprise till 15.00 CET September 3rd ?

 

[Vicky Wood]

Is there gonna be an announcement about the winning set, or is it a surprise till 15.00 CET September 3rd ?

at the end of the month as always or once all votes are in :grinning:

 

[JeffreySource]

Ok ok thnx
My first entry so... didn't had a clue.

 

[Rich Lake]

Good luck to you all, may the best win this time :grinning:

 

[Exortius]

Good luck to all

 

[albertus]

So as for Europe, the month is over now, last hours running for America
Curious about the winner's name, and even more curious about his set

 

[dfx]

Ladies and gentlemen, the jury has finished with their voting and we got a result!

Again, a big THANK YOU to all participants! For some reason the jury didn't seem very satisfied with most sets this month, so the winner was pretty clear this time.

And the winner is:
CdMan14 !!

Congratulations!

Your set will be played September 3rd (Wednesday) at 15:00 CET (calendar event link)! Good job mate!

Everyone remember that there is a new contest in September, this month again only hardware mixed sets, we are taking submissions from September 1st to 14th, therefore we are open for submissions again soon! Let's keep the sets coming!

 

[dfx]

and here's the jury's merciless comments...

as always, if you can't figure out which number you had from the comments, drop me a PM if you wanna know

01. 6.7/10 first 25 mins talk about boring YAWN.. rest of the set was good.
02. awful mixing, terrible tracks..
03. decent selection of track but awful flow.
04. first 30 mins awful pop music after that some good trance.
05. again first 30 mins awful, after that trance..
06. banging mix.
07. bpm WAY to slow!
08. nice mix
09. techy/psy mix, skipping all over the place when mixing in..
10. too much beep bloop crap.

01:
Set is pretty consistently emotive throughout. Vocals drive the first half, second half is more instrumental. I should've disliked it, but it was decent. Last two tracks were redeemers, as inspirational as they come, like the sun rising the morning after a terrible storm.

02:
Less noticeable than the first set. Mid-level energy, some vocals. Songless, The Legacy 2.0. Some odd track selection (Revolution) made it seem uneven, it didn't particularly appeal to me.

03:
Pretty melodic and enjoyable for first 20m. Same for last 10m. The bit in the middle lost its way a little, still decent but without the lift of the end pieces.

04:
Chill start, low key, with hints of groove. Gets pretty fun at the 24m point, lots of vibe and groove in the track. Shifts to melodic riffs in the second half with great success, until Riff kicks in right at the end. That track is so out of sorts from the rest that it really seems out of place. Discounting the last track, a quite well done set.

05:
Daydream to start, nice. 14m bad vocals, not nice. Not bad, not great halfway in. Last 20m pretty melodic, topped by Turn It On to close. Some quite nice tracks, some not. I want to like the set for overall track selection and ordering, but can't get attached to it.

06:
Set starts with a vocal bang and they continue for a while, but at the mid point it relies only on massive melody to keep you dancing. Second half is all melodies and lift, leaving you in a good mood with a smile on your face. Interesting dual-natured set (vocal vs melodic), I think it aimed for an overall inspirational tone. Nice set.

07:
First half is like a sampler, good variety in tracks while keeping it solidly mainstream trance. 30m track is wonderful. Somebody felt green near the end - love the message, but the vocals almost make me hope for the end of the world. The last track is good, but not enough to wash away the bad taste.

08:
Yikes, Miracle and Wasted both in the first 20m. That's a difficult track selection hole to climb out of. I liked the track at 10m, it's excessively melodic, and the one at 28m builds nicely. The set begins to pick some more drive after 30m. Other than the two vocal disasters, quite a good set, would be a winner without those two.

09:
Uneven start to this set also, with choral vocals transitioning into something vaguely reminiscent of Prodigy. At times very percussive, almost drum'n'bass. Makes me think of Swordfish soundtrack, never quite getting its melody-on. Techy, techy, not my thing at all.

10:
Uneven, starts tech before hitting full on trance, but the set wobbles back and forth. Some horrible vocal choices (eg Till The Sky Falls Down). Another tech-dominated set, and the unfamiliar tracks and style made it difficult to appreciate.

Set 1:
1st half was average, 2nd half was much much better


Set 2:
Yawn fest


Set 3:
Promising start, first 2 tracks seem totally out of place with the rest of the tracks in this set


Set 4:
some nice track selections, a set of 2 halves again


Set 5:
as set 4


Set 6:
best of the bunch


Set 7:
felt like i was listening to a tape recorder with low batteries


Set 8:
Very good mix, nice selections


Set 9:
Pretty cool even if some of the tracks are a little 'out there' enjoyable for the most part


Set 10:
average

 

[TranceOwnsLol]

congratulations to cdman 14!

However, no offense to judge#1 but I felt he handled the judging quite un-professionally. I don't wanna sound like sour grapes here because I lost, lol (I'm set 4, I think) but it would be nice if the judges could review like judge #2 just so we know where we can improve on. Judge 2's comments weren't even that long to do and would take around 5 - 10 mins and judge #1 and maybe judge # 3 a bit just kinda listened to the mix and typed in 1 - 3 words like 'nice mix' or 'awful mix' but if I'm a contestant, I don't know where I can improve on.

It also seems that judges just enjoy vocal trance and uplifting trance so if I submit a tech trance mix or a prog housey mix it's a sure lose as judges will call it 'boring' and 'crap'.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Toma]

congrats CdMan14

Maybe I'll get there next time round.....

 

[JeffreySource]

First of... Congratz CDMan14:grinning: Will definatly listen to your set wednesday...

Second..

congratulations to cdman 14!

However, no offense to judge#1 but I felt he handled the judging quite un-professionally. I don't wanna sound like sour grapes here because I lost, lol (I'm set 4, I think) but it would be nice if the judges could review like judge #2 just so we know where we can improve on. Judge 2's comments weren't even that long to do and would take around 5 - 10 mins and judge #1 and maybe judge # 3 a bit just kinda listened to the mix and typed in 1 - 3 words like 'nice mix' or 'awful mix' but if I'm a contestant, I don't know where I can improve on.

It also seems that judges just enjoy vocal trance and uplifting trance so if I submit a tech trance mix or a prog housey mix it's a sure lose as judges will call it 'boring' and 'crap'.

Just my 2 cents.

I have to agree with him...
I have just started mixing, so I didn't expect to win. Only hoped I would win. So a lil' feed back would be great like Judge#2...
Now ... need to know my number Waiting for dfx

 

[TranceOwnsLol]

Yeah, I mean...you could basically have the best technical mixing skills in the world like John Digweed or...Desyn Masiello. But if the judges score BASED on how they like the tracks and most importantly genre of your mix, then you will lose no matter what.

Why bother scoring on mixing for software contests anyway, any 14 year old could learn to mix with mixmeister / ableton in an hour and as long as he will pick and play vocal trance and uplifting trance, he will win. Why bother if you're a tech trance or progressive DJ?

It's hard to get objective in judging because most of the time, the judge will favor one genre over the other. A good judge would be one that is diverse and enjoys many sub genres of EDM like deep house/tech house/techno/trance/psy and maybe even some hard dance or drum n bass.

Overall, I just feel that judges in general should give more constructive criticism and not one liners such as "crap mix, awful tracks".

But congrats to CDMan 14 again and I will join again in October and submit a mix with tracks copied from GDJB or ASOT so I can get a 10/10.

Peace.

 

[Dean Hodgson]

What comments where my mix?

 

[Altered-Mind]

im not gonna even guess what # i am

i do however give a :grinning: to whoever made the good comment on my set in the third box.

congratulations cdman14

 

[Exortius]

Congrats cdman!

PM sent so i can see which is mine

 

[t4e]

@TranceOwnsLol...sets are absolutely not judged on personal preference of genre...instead the fact that this station is "Trance and Progressive" does have an influence, going off a bit from those two (like a track or two) is not going to disqualify the set...but heck Drum n Bass?

as for the mixing skills?... you are so very wrong in thinking that anyone can mix well with software....i have heard really bad mixing on Ableton, which if you know how to use it your sets should be perfect, unlike VDj with which you still have to get your beat matching manually on some tracks.

 

[dfx]

i don't think justifying the scores or comments is really necessary, but i'll give a reply anyway...

Yeah, I mean...you could basically have the best technical mixing skills in the world like John Digweed or...Desyn Masiello. But if the judges score BASED on how they like the tracks and most importantly genre of your mix, then you will lose no matter what.

a large part of the score for track selection is genre and personal experience. we're a trance radio, so a techno mix will get zero points, even if the tracks are otherwise amazing. same goes with the flow - if a set is able to move something in the listener (= judge) it is good, otherwise it's not so good. that's why we have several judges, to even out the differences in personal experience and get to a common average.

Why bother scoring on mixing for software contests anyway, any 14 year old could learn to mix with mixmeister / ableton in an hour and as long as he will pick and play vocal trance and uplifting trance, he will win. Why bother if you're a tech trance or progressive DJ?

wrong, mixing is much more than getting the beatmatching right, and this is the only part where the software can assist you in. if you do not understand this, then maybe that's the reason why you didn't win.

the judges know what software a set is mixed with, and by this they will know what to expect, and what is good and what isn't. a "great" ableton set will be a well done megamix - nothing like that could be expected from a vdj set.

that being said, the overall mixing quality (even the beatmatching) of the contest sets in software competition months seems to be much worse than in the hardware months. go figure.

I will join again in October and submit a mix with tracks copied from GDJB or ASOT so I can get a 10/10.

i honstely highly doubt that this would be the resulting score

 

[90degrees]

<snip>we're a trance radio... <snap>

...and progressive ! ! !

me still won't win...=(​

 

[dfx]

...and progressive ! ! !

of course

 

[TranceOwnsLol]

Justifying scores is necessary imo if you want to keep some credibility at least...

@TranceOwnsLol...sets are absolutely not judged on personal preference of genre...instead the fact that this station is "Trance and Progressive" does have an influence, going off a bit from those two (like a track or two) is not going to disqualify the set...but heck Drum n Bass?

Really?

"04. first 30 mins awful pop music"
"09. techy/psy mix, skipping all over the place when mixing in..
10. too much beep bloop crap. "

"Techy, techy, not my thing at all."
"Another tech-dominated set, and the unfamiliar tracks and style made it difficult to appreciate. "

Shouldn't originality in style and track selections (although I do notice that you people encourage this, a bit) be encouraged?

And c'mon...pop music? Seriously? Ever heard of prog house?

as for the mixing skills?... you are so very wrong in thinking that anyone can mix well with software....i have heard really bad mixing on Ableton, which if you know how to use it your sets should be perfect, unlike VDj with which you still have to get your beat matching manually on some tracks.

I don't know how you can mix bad at all in Ableton. I use it and I could probably teach my mom to warp tracks and beatmatch with Ableton in an hour.

wrong, mixing is much more than getting the beatmatching right, and this is the only part where the software can assist you in. if you do not understand this, then maybe that's the reason why you didn't win.

Ok...but you didn't tell me what's more to mixing.

I don't know if your last sentence is an ad hominem or not.

that being said, the overall mixing quality (even the beatmatching) of the contest sets in software competition months seems to be much worse than in the hardware months. go figure.

Exactly my point...anyone can download software from the internet and start mixing with it.

i honstely highly doubt that this would be the resulting score

I do hope you notice the sarcasm in that line I said.

Anyway, my effort is probably in vain, but I'm just asking for more comments than 'average' or 'yawn fest' or 'best of the bunch' because I can't take anything away from it as a contestant besides that some dudes on the internet didn't like my mix or thought it was bad.

In the end anyway, it's still the judges decision on how they score the mix but I hope that they take at least some of my points into consideration.

Thanks and I will definitely join again, this was a nice experience. I hope I didn't offend any of the judges.