i have thought about several battle rules throughout my participation in the battles, and thought it would be nice to start a thread for a few reasons.
1. a person who wins may not be particularly inspired to actually create new rules and might want to draw from this thread for an idea, whether directly, or any combination of ideas from the multitude of creative minds here.
2. someone might not be into battles at all, but looking for a new way to think about starting song or project.
3. i have lots of ideas, and it would be hard for me to choose any one direction if i ever were to win the honor.
i’m sure there are other cool ideas out there that folks have that would be cool to hear about, for all reasons above.
additionally, although we may have already done one idea or another, it would be cool also to repeat a rule set, since at a different space or time, the outcome of the battle might be entirely new and different. i would love to do another “analogue battle” for example.
here are some that i’ve seen already on the forum:
kraftwerk battle
use a single classic album (sample as much as you want from any song on that album)
here are some other ideas i’ve had, which could be embellished, altered to the rule-makers taste and/or mashed up:
sample any of the songs from the previous battle - (also may use patches from those songs if the original creator is willing to provide them)
in & out battle - can bounce audio from tapes out to a computer and reprocess the audio using any SW or HW effects back in thru the line in
mad libs battle - finish the paragraph
"i used the (1 internal synth) for the lead. the (1 internal drum kit) provided all of the beats in the track. i used the (single patch) from my (single external instrument) to add some additional sounds to the mix. i sampled (single artist song from youtube)….and so on"
progressive battle - post your song every 1-2 days and replace it on soundcloud as you move closer to the deadline as it continues to evolve (the idea is to get a sense of how a track evolves)
time sensitive battle - give points for folks who turn their tracks in sooner, and have it influence the voting
mash-up battle - sample anything from at least 2-3 artists (like 2 Live Crew vs Astrud Gilberto vs Iron Maiden)
producer battle - sample any of the works of a single outstanding producer (David Axelrod, Brian Eno, Nigel Godrich)
tempo controlled battle - all songs must be at 110 bpm (would create a single tempo across a full playlist of submitted tracks)
other gear battle - only use external gear recording to sampler or to tape
vinyl battle - only can record from vinyl (or youtube videos where vinyl is the source for those without vinyl record collections)
a capella - everyone make a backing track to a vocal
Comments
I was really hoping the battle going on during the Elektron competition would use the "we're not talking about a simple looping device" sample to show some of those folks what the op1 can do.
those guys should listen to the oh-pee-battles soundcloud to get just glimpse of what can be done with an OP.
There's a massive mixed bag to choose from!
And thanks to you @Kln for your thoughts. Might be important for the next ones!
collaboration remix battle - anyone can make a drum kit and some stems and post for others to work from for their final entry
battle by committee - make one rule yourself, and then let the first 3-4 people who chime in on the thread make additional rules
animal battle - bird chirping, dog barking, whale song...must use an animal sound in your track
I used to be obsessed with that mix (used to DJ old dirty soul n funk) and have all the tracks on vinyl.