Win an exclusive Freddie Mercury original track!
(Adapted from an idea by ern2150)
In honour of Freddie's 60th birthday, (and as a rebellion against the Evil Empire's ‘Rank 1' remixes), I propose the first real Queenzone competition: 'The Queenzone Freddie's Birthday Challenge'.
Open equally to those who like to create their own music (anyone recall Freddie Mercury and Stuart Leathem’s: ‘Nobody Understands Me’) or unofficial hybrid or fanmix versions, as the idea is to create new versions or mixes to rival those on the latest official CD sets.
Tracks like ‘Let’s Turn It On (Acapella)’, ‘I Was Born To Love You (Vocal & Piano)’, or any of the isolated 5.1 Freddie vocal tracks are begging for newly scored or karaoke-sampled backings, while previous examples of great fan-mixes would have to include the Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson ‘There Must Be More To Life Than This’ hybrid, and the ‘New York At Last’ remix
Anyone can enter as many times as they like, using many different styles, or even their own arrangements and instrumentation - but at the end of the day, it has to be a Freddie (or Freddie based) track.
I hope to enlist the help of another few 'Queenzone regulars' as volunteer judges to share that responsibility, as all new material will be posted in the 'fan mixes' forum anyway, but at the end of the day, the collective decision of that panel shall be final.
The only stipulation is that all submitted tracks to the competition must be in FLAC or as high a bit-rate as possible, so that Queenzone readers can cut their own alternative Birthday CD of favourite alternative mixes.
To the overall winner, I shall donate a very special Freddie track. Unfortunately, I can not donate any runner-up prizes. A closing date will be confirmed for c12 weeks time.
PS: Please post all entries in the FAN MIXES:’ The Queenzone Freddie's Birthday Challenge competition' thread as it keeps them all in the one location!) link
Well, I'm posting this then - my virtually Monserrat free version of La Japonaise.
Folks - I've posted this already in the last 2 days, so no need to download it again if you already have done! link link
Dan: As I wrote elsewhere...
'as a self-confessed 'Unpaid Musician', think of the talent you can bring to all those available Freddie Acapella parts.
Remember these do not have to be fan mixes; these can be your own unique musical interpretations – overlaid with Freddie’s vocals.
And just to show you are in good company, in 1996 MCA Records released a CD called ‘Not Fade Away: Remembering Buddy Holly’, where musicians like Dave Edmunds, Mark Knopfler, Waylon Jennings, Marty Stuart, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Hollies, all did just that – but with Buddy’s vocals rather than Freddie’s!'
Somehow, I get the feeling, this effort of yours is going to be slightly better than decent!
Now that I've got myself a Burns and a lovely vintage sounding amp, I'm dying to make a better version or Let's Turn It On.
Just don't know if TAFE will leave me the time though... we'll see :P
about 11 / 12 weeks
"To the overall winner, I shall donate a very special Freddie track. Unfortunately, I can not donate any runner-up prizes. A closing date will be confirmed for c12 weeks time." see post John S Stuart.
Anyone have requests, y'know, in case someone is lacking in ideas?
I'll throw one out.
Make an acapella (even a small section) of a song that hasn't already been acapella'd.
It's harder than it seems. I've been trying for the past couple of days, following advice on here and other forums. Unfortunately, most of Freddie's (and Queen's) "instrumental" versions don't match the originals tempo-wise, volume-wise, or instrumentation-wise. Also, I don't know of ANY songs that have Freddie's vocal completely isolated in a "channel" -- either left or right or the difference or the center (except for the 5.1 mixes as Fickle has proven.)
If no-one takes me up on it, I might make it the subject of a later competition / podcast.
Whoops, bumped the wrong forum :)
Again, a reminder that the submissions so far (I can supply a list if you like) will feature in my september podcast.