🎶 Open Mic Week 59 - My Top 5 Judges Selection 🎶
Another week another tortured Open Mic judge cowering in the corner, rocking back and forth whispering names and humming tunes - trying to analyse their choices for placements for yet another phenomenal week of open mic entries.
My choice no longer seem to be who I will place in the top five judges selection, but rather who I have to remove from placing - because honestly this week I had at least ten of you sitting there on my shortlist and in all honesty, any one of them could have been first place.
This week has been an exhausting roller coaster of emotion, there have been some epic highs and then of course as I mentioned my tortures of being a judge and having to make a choice.
I take this job very seriously, it is a huge responsibility to judge this contest as honestly and as fairly as possible and thanks to @luzcypher writing this post - everyone can see the amazing effects the open mic contest can have for its entrants, with great power comes great responsibility this is why I suffer over my selections each week!
On top of this mind blowing news from @luzcypher, @ausbitbank announced the launch of the new @openmic account funded it with 4500sp (all he had readily available) and set himself up to follow the votes from the account, what this means is that all valid entrants into the open mic contest will now receive at least something for their efforts in entering the contest.
The good news just kept coming this week when during @ausbitbanks pleas for support for our entrants the community answered, the support was overwhelming it didn't take long before both the delegations and the streemian follow pledges came rushing in - read all about the awesome steemians who delegated on @luzcyphers post!
Then there's a few words from our largest delegation to the @openmic account @fulltimegeek, a big shoutout and a massive thank you for your amazing support - I want to encourage everyone to head over and show him some love and appreciation for his generosity!
Then of course there's the announcement of the new Open Mic Songwriters Challenge, I will also be doubling as a judge for this new contest and I can't wait to start hearing some submissions when we get started - also a special shout out to @meno for getting this new challenge underway by not only inspiring the contest, but also by graciously donating the rather insanely awesome prize your a true legend mate!
On a slightly different note I'd like to invite you all along to hear, the third live radio Steemit Musicians show on MSP-Waves where I co host with the very talented @isaria - we play the previous weeks judges top five selections and reward one lucky Open Mic entrant an additional 20 SBD - best part it the live audience that gets to decide who wins each week!
Last week I am happy to announce that @onetruebrother was the lucky winner with his entry titled "Make Some Love", the audience spoke in full support of his entry and loved it so much they chose him as their winner!
A massive congratulations @onetruebrother I think you have some true fans of your original music over at MSP-Waves, I'm so happy to be able to award you the 20 SBD on your outstanding entry.
The show goes live in a few hours, I cannot wait to see the reactions and input we get this week (or if we can actually fit them all in - we may be needing a longer time slot) - come along and support your fellow musicians and make some friends in the process, the people over at Peace Abundance and Liberty are a super friendly lot.
Now lets get things moving with this week's top five selection.
Without further delay here is my selection for week 59:
This week's top 5:
1st Place - @addiesworld - Somwhere only we know
I knew it would happen sooner or later that one of our super talented entrants would get sick and not be able to sing for a while, Addie I love your voice please take care of it - this is coming to you from a singer with a damaged voice, I am stoked to hear you enter but if you notice any issues I beg you to rest it.
This is a completely selfish request as it's just so I can continue to hear you sing into the future, I'm sure you have noticed I am becoming somewhat of a fangirl of yours - please know it comes from a place of love and admiration of your music, your voice sounds faultless in this entry.
Now that I've had my mother moment down to the entry and holy shit you got some pipes there, I love the range you sing in - you have so much control and creativity with how you use your voice to enhance the song, I just love it.
You seem to be a natural talent pure and simple, the ease in which you perform these difficult notes is amazing - I love the texture and tone of your voice not to mention the faultless guitar accompaniment.
I hope to keep seeing you enter each week (as long as you're up to it), this week it was truly perfect keep up the brilliant music - if you haven't already head on over and check her out!
2nd Place - @the-vile-maxim - Winter
Wow I just love this entry, @the-vile-maxim you have a truly great voice - your control and vocal range are awesome and used to great effect in this entry.
A really polished performance that I honestly can't fault in any way and trust me I've been trying, being a judge is hard and I will look for any small detail to help discern who should place and who should get special mention each week - your entry is brilliant and has a professional polished finished sound.
I noticed that your new to steemit and have been entering the open mic contest pretty much since you joined, it is great to see someone dedicate their time to the contest and then have them hit us with a brilliant entry such as this - I love how this contest works and how it introduces us to such talents as yourself.
I hope to keep hearing amazing entries from you each week, you really killed it with this one for me - if you haven't already head on over and check his work out.
3rd Place - @sallyswitchblade -Can't Be Loved
This is a killer song and sung so fricken well, I just love the passion coming through your voice - you have range and control but it's the passion I just swoon for.
I was singing along with you from the first moment, I love the effect you're using on your voice - I love the sliding style that eases from note to note, it creates a wave within the song itself and the voice is what moves it.
This is a perfect example of how to sing a song, I don't mean technically (though I couldn't fault you) but how it builds and has a flow of its own with the music as accompaniment - for me the vocals were just so on point I couldn't resist but to place you, your entry is just so deserving.
You have wowed me a few times now and I really can't wait to see what you have in store for us next time, I look forward to hearing your entry next week - if you haven't already do yourself a favor and check her out now!
4th Place - @joseacabrerav - Inefable
Well @joseacabrerav what can I say but wow, you have won me over with your sweet and sultry tunes - and your voice is just phenomenal, I can't get enough!
I love the calmness, ease and grace of your performances each and every week, so far you haven't failed to impress on a single entry - some people were meant to enjoy music and others were meant to make and my friend you are a master creator intended to make music for the masses.
With this level and caliber of entrant, it's easy to show viewers the sheer skill and talent we are presented with each and every week - you have some seriously amazing skills and I can't wait to hear more.
I also just loved the sudden round of applause from the crowd, I'm not sure where you were but it seems I'm not alone in my feelings of love and admiration of your skills as a musician - there was some background noise at first but as you progressed it died down and then at the end boom applause, you realise just how quiet it had gotten all focus was on you and rightly so.
I can't wait to hear what you have in store for us next week, keep up the brilliant work your creating some amazing music there - seriously people it's really worth checking him out now!
5th Place - @lisamalletart - Sunny Days
Sometimes in life it's just nice to think about the happy and positive side of life, unfortunately we often get caught up in all of the horror and sadness in the world - this was such a nice and refreshing song and performed with such epic skill, it really had me bopping along with you guys.
You two seem really in balance with not only each other, nature but also music, the harmonies you two produce each entry leave me speechless - it's a joy to see the happiness music bring both of you and for you to then share that with the world is awesomeness.
You bring a little ray of sunshine and happieness to this contest every week you guys enter, I really can't get enough of your faultless and entertaining entries - I hope you all drop by and check out their work!
Honourable Mentions:
@mogatiexperiment - Luchín
It has been another brilliant week as an open mic judge, I am truly honoured by this opportunity to share such amazing artists to the world each week - I am so grateful for everyone's kind words for one another within our little community, your all so lovely and positive it's refreshing.
This has been such a full on week, I had so many things I wanted to mention but as I am finishing this post up at 3:30am please forgive me for finally being brief - but I hope I got them all and if not sorry I will add them when I wake up.
It is so much fun to be here with you all enjoying such great music, you make this job a challenge but in a really good way - so thank you to all our entrants for week 59!
I'd also like to remind everyone again that all top five nominations from this week, will feature in next week's Steemit Musicians live radio show on MSP-Waves.
A massive congratulations to all of those to be featured in the new show, it is going to be great opportunity to get to further share the awesome entries we receive each week - I can't wait to hear the audience's feedback on our judges selections and your entries.
I hope you can all drop by and support those who made this week's lists, I'm sure they'd appreciate the support - not to mention if you join you get to help choose the weekly 20 SBD winning entry!
Please join us for Episode 3 of Steemit Musicians this Sunday 12-1 UTC!
You can listen on twitch-
You can join broadcast hosts in a special chat room on the MSP Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/kNxM7T6
You can check out http://mspwaves.com/ for more information
On the note of the community I thought I'd take a moment to mention that, over at the minnow support program on our discord chat room Peace Abundance and Liberty - the recently revitalised music room has been getting rather active lately.
As well as the recent burst of activity, we have also added a jukebox to the room - so now when you're chatting with people in the music room, you can choose and play music from youtube (this includes open mic entries, I may have already played a couple I really enjoyed).
So far I have seen a few open mic regulars hanging out and about on the PAL chat rooms, now we have a place where we can actively share music live with people were chatting with - this can help musicians in so many ways, not to mention it's just fun to hang out and chat over and about good tunes.
In addition to the new music room Peace Abundance and Liberty chat rooms have a lot to offer, you can access bots to vote on your posts, you can also meet and interact with over 5000 steemians in the channel - this can be a very useful resource to new steemians, but is also a fantastic place to meet and interact with like minded individuals on many different topics.
Again a big thanks to @soundlegion, @jessamynorchard, @verbal-d and @passion-ground for all they do as judges, please remember to go and check out their top five selections each week and to @luzcypher and @pfunk thank you so much for making all of this possible - until next week.
Which was your favourite entry this week?
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Please consider voting @ausbitbank for witness here
Wow! Thank you so much @krystle! I am so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for the kind words!
No worries at all it was a brilliant entry that I thoroughly enjoyed, I look forward to hearing more - cheers :)
OMG @krystle thank you so much for such kind words <3
No worries, you two are brilliant and it is an absolute pleasure anytime I come across your entries, you are both extraordinary performers with some extreme talents - we love having you as part of the open mic family.
I look forward to hearing more entries from you in the future - cheers :)
Thanks for judging. So I can improve and catch your attention, is there anything a drummer can do? I'm sensing that I've got quite an uphill battle with only percussion as my skill, and would love to learn how to succeed in your eyes. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Hey there sorry for the wait on the reply but things are crazy lately and i really wanted to take my time and answer you properly.
Firstly i think most solo instrument entries probably feel the same way, so my advice will be specific to you but others should be able to get something out of it too.
With percussion drums in particular i think the greatest struggle would be, finding a song where the drums are used as an instrument rather than a time keeping piece - this is not directed at you but bands in general a lot dont use percussion to its full extent.
My biggest advice for any solo instrument ( I mean without vocals) is you want your instrument to shine it has to fill the sound especially if playing with a backing track - ensure the drums can be easily heard over the music or even create a beat that is full on its own so we hear just what you're doing without anything to lose focus on you.
If you have access to other percussive instruments try incorporating them into your performances, show your range and versatility how the combination of different beats can come together to create a great sound on its own.
I actually really like percussion and drumming in particular, i gave it a go for a while but im a bit to unco to manage any complexities.
A few drummers to offer you some inspiration of what im thinking when i say this, Phil Collins uses his drums as a way to build a song - he can create a mood by how he drums in a song, what drum used when and how it should be used (its nit always about thrashing it out).
Another one of my favorite drummers is Danny Carey from tool (also one of my fav bands) I mean im sure you know but yeah just insane drum skills, he uses it as an instrument and its what makes their music whole.
Anyways I've probably rambled on a bit much, I hope this helps a bit - I think you have a real chance just take a chance and show us what you can do, you never know you could place were not against percussion :)
Cheers and thanks for the question, good luck!
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I understand your point about making the drums stand out as more than a time keeping piece. Good idea on making the drums be more pronounced, versus level with or under the music. I went with a solo in my second entry so there isn't anything but me to hear this time. I'm new to self-recording/video taking, so I'll keep tweaking until I find a good balance of everything, while keeping it mixed up.
I do feel partial to playing one take through without adding punches/audio edits, or video production work for now, so it feels more natural and like a true open mic with music performance as the raw focus. I may have to evolve and layer other percussion if that doesn't keep up with the pack, but it's a great experience altogether. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for your support!!!!! I am overwhelmed with the awesomeness that is open mic let alone to be in the top five for nominations from an amazing judge. This is so cool!!!
Lol no worries hun I really enjoyed your performance, you showed some impressive vocals and you really performed the song - totally deserved. Cheers :)
Yassssssss!!!!!!! long live the Open Mic Family!!
So much yassssss!!!!
Love it buddy everyone that enters becomes a part of our rapidly growing family, you are all treasured members - keep it up mate!
Awesome picks, write-ups and mentions, @krystle! All that, plus all the great news and announcements surrounding your dedication to music, and the Steemit platform is just way cool. You rock, girl!
Thanks mate Im just trying to keep up with everything lol, so many entrants and so many new projects its hard to keep them all straight - keep on keeping on and catch you soon :)
Thank's for mention me ;)
No worries I truly enjoyed your performance, you have a great voice - and I really loved that you got up and moved around, an original entry and style loved it.
I look forward to hearing more from you soon.
Cheers :)
Hey thanks for the shout out and for all you do ! I found the openmic just by chance when I signed up on Steemit, and it has been very inspiring and encouraging for me to share some of my songs; most of them have been my little "secrets" until now...peace to you
No worries at all, you had an amazing song and the people spoke lol - have a good one looking forward to watching your entry in my open mic judge binge session - cheers :)