How do you put together your votes?

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How do you put together your votes?

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m View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:10 PM Post #1
I asked for my account to be banned Joined: 26 September 2008 Posts: 14,631 User: 7,132	I'm doing the final listening of BJSC 81 at the moment and just wondering about this. I've used different methods in putting together my votes throughout my time in the contest. What about you? Do you always do it the same way? I've recently gone back to my original method - making a ranking of all the songs. I'll listen to a song and put it somewhere between other songs. When I've gone through all the songs, I will re-listen to some of them (even just a few seconds) to remind myself of them and to make sure I know what points to give to it, if any, and to maybe give certain songs a chance to move up higher in the ranking. When I'm finished the listening, normally the top few songs don't change in terms of their position in the ranking, and I kind of disregard the bottom ones then because I know they won't be getting points anyway. It's the middle ones that tend to be tricky. In the last semi it was quite difficult trying to figure out which song to give one point to and I hate the thought of sending my votes unless I'm absolutely confident in them. So I listened to some parts of the "middle" songs in my ranking again, and ended up giving one point to a song that wasn't even originally "next in line" in my ranking! So it's not a very rigid method, the rankings tend to change around. My previous method that I've stopped using was the following. I used to make a table with the headings "excellent", "good", "okay" and "bad". Pretty self-explanatory. Then when all the songs were organized into the table in this way, I would just sort of figure out the votes as I went. Obviously the ones in "excellent" would get top points, but then usually after that it was a bit of a pain trying to figure out which ones from "good" to give points to. Again, I had to keep re-listening. Sometimes it would happen that a song would go from "good" to "excellent" ('I've Been Secretly Falling Apart' from Terra Avium, for example) and so on. I used to do at least two full listens of each song, but now I feel quite confident only doing one full one if I feel like it. As I said, I do re-listen to some of the songs just to make sure. I've never done the 8.5/10 thing that I think a lot of you do. I just feel more comfortable ranking etc. Hope that makes sense. #votedeandria


m View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:17 PM Post #2
I asked for my account to be banned Joined: 26 September 2008 Posts: 14,631 User: 7,132	Blake's answer: I don't.


jakewild View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:18 PM Post #3
not 152chris (☻‿☻) Joined: 2 February 2007 Posts: 12,892 User: 2,790	basically just listen to them and put the ones I like in an order and if there are more than 10 the bottom ones go. I'm very thorough.


gooddelta View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:25 PM Post #4
Hello? Joined: 8 March 2006 Posts: 83,047 User: 116	I mark them all out of 10. Songs with the same score (sometimes I have four or five 9/10s for example) are then separated by how inspired I feel each entry with that score is, or how different/standout it is. A generic pop 9/10 would almost always be ranked underneath a theatrical pop 9/10 for example, as I like to give points for doing something a bit different if I like songs the same amount. But a 10/10 is a 10/10, regardless of whether it's generic or uninspired, if it's my favourite song it will get my top points.


Klumzee View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:25 PM Post #5
#TeamAnneMarie Joined: 3 July 2010 Posts: 18,273 User: 11,421	I generally have the songs on a playlist which I listen to throughout the week, making sure I'm familiar with all the songs by the end and can remember what I think about them. Then I pick out the songs I consider could make the top 10/15 and generally I've got my favourites which I know I must give points to so that takes up most my votes. The low points are usually the hardest but then again the difference between 3/4 points and 0 isn't that much overall so I go with whatever I'm feeling there and then. And then I adjust the songs a bit before sending them off!


m View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:28 PM Post #6
I asked for my account to be banned Joined: 26 September 2008 Posts: 14,631 User: 7,132	QUOTE(🌚🌚🌚 @ Jan 29 2016, 12:18 PM) basically just listen to them and put the ones I like in an order and if there are more than 10 the bottom ones go. I'm very thorough. Yeah that's basically condensing my essay into one line, but like, I sometimes have to re-listen to some of the bottom ones (not the bottom bottom, but the bottom good ones lol) again, even just for a bit, just to make sure. That's kinda my thoroughness. I have to be absolutely sure before I send. The top ones I'm much more confident about.


Popchartfreak View member profile	29th January 2016, 12:48 PM Post #7
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,829 User: 17,376	I play the videos and mark out of 100. Then I use that a rough order for the downloads and start playing in reverse, moving any down the list that don't improve on relistens. Once I'm down to 20 or so I'll play chunks of each to check on the order, then start playing from the best to the least and shift the order. Then I put the best candidates on a CD in the car in order, and see which sound fab on good quality sound systems and pick the final order based on that. Poorer quality MP3's can drop a little at this point. I'm very thorough!


Qween View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:17 PM Post #8
Schlagerdrottningen Joined: 23 August 2010 Posts: 31,877 User: 11,709	I listen through once, rating everything out of 10. I usually cull anything a 5/6 or below immediately, listen again, re-rate/rank and then usually end up with about 10/15 songs after the second cull.


jakewild View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:18 PM Post #9
not 152chris (☻‿☻) Joined: 2 February 2007 Posts: 12,892 User: 2,790	QUOTE(popchartfreak @ Jan 29 2016, 12:48 PM) I play the videos and mark out of 100. Then I use that a rough order for the downloads and start playing in reverse, moving any down the list that don't improve on relistens. Once I'm down to 20 or so I'll play chunks of each to check on the order, then start playing from the best to the least and shift the order. Then I put the best candidates on a CD in the car in order, and see which sound fab on good quality sound systems and pick the final order based on that. Poorer quality MP3's can drop a little at this point. I'm very thorough! yeh the vids are important for me, I never listen via MP3 I just use the video links in the first post ( which I'm always thankful for, )


Klaus View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:21 PM Post #10
❤️❤️➕🟦 Joined: 3 June 2012 Posts: 22,246 User: 17,160	Basically what you do Mattias I think. I listen to everything once and, as I do so, I try putting them in a rough order and immediatley get rid of songs that have no chance. I then listen through the remaining ones again to sort out the order, then roughly listen to a bit each one in the order I've put to make sure they're in the right order.


Spinning Adam View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:29 PM Post #11
Former iconic poster with no consistent posting style Pronouns: Don't take em seriously tbh Joined: 20 June 2014 Posts: 20,582 User: 21,005	Copy and paste the songs from the thread Listen to first one and if I like it at least a bit I separate it into a new section. Listen to the rest one by one adding it to the section i made, ranking in order of how much I like them. Although on occasion I might ignore this rule if I think a song I like will not do that well and I'll rank it higher so it hopefully doesn't DNQ If I don't like a song I put it in a second section #trashcan but I never know how strong the semi or final will be. I usually like to listen and rerank my votes twice as I can grow to songs on multiple listens I then do a commiserations section of songs I would have wanted to give points to but ran out of places


JosephBoone View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:30 PM Post #12
you never forget your first time... Pronouns: he/him Joined: 19 April 2011 Posts: 121,692 User: 13,530	I have five categories on a Word document: YES (songs I'd like to vote for) MAYBE (songs I wouldn't mind voting for in a weak contest) NO (songs I don't want to vote for) NEVER (dreadful songs, I don't use this that much) WHO KNOWS (songs that baffle me and can't really be ranked :') ) Everything is ranked from best to worst within those categories. It's very rare I have to vote for anything not in my YES category anyway.


Chez Wombat View member profile	29th January 2016, 01:35 PM Post #13
The owls are not what they seem Pronouns: He/him Joined: 11 July 2009 Posts: 37,127 User: 9,232	I don't rate the songs out of 10, but I rank them in a word document (called 'bjsc', started it in my first contest in 2012 and still use it to this day <3) and then eliminate all until like the top 15 or so, or include songs I feel I may need to listen to again, and then form a clear top 10. When it's in the semis, I do tend to favour songs which have uncertain chances of progressing rather than dead certs to qualify, and inspired entries always win over cheap ones (though I will vote for cheap ones, if they're great regardless). These days though, I use dubtrack a lot more but the same rules apply. I like to give songs my full attention, so I often allocate an hour or two to listening and use the YT links primarily as sometimes the video adds to it a lot. This post has been edited by Chez Wombat: 29th January 2016, 01:35 PM


danG View member profile	29th January 2016, 02:36 PM Post #14
🔥🚀🔥 Joined: 30 August 2010 Posts: 74,572 User: 11,746	I make a new excel spreadsheet for each contest and as I'm listening to the entries I move the song to where it would rank out of what I've listened to so far. Then at the end I do a bit of recapping and reshuffling.


Iz 🌟 View member profile	29th January 2016, 03:47 PM Post #15
I'm a paragon so don't perceive me Joined: 3 February 2011 Posts: 37,420 User: 12,929	I listen once, through Youtube, sometimes paying attention to the videos, sometimes not, it doesn't really matter for me, then I get the mp3 packs, listen again. Only then do I start making my rank, on a notepad file. Along the way I'm throwing out (putting to the bottom) songs that I don't think will get points and don't sound like they'd grow on me and going back for growers. Something's never OUT out when I do this though, it can always climb back in, but I'm less likely to listen again to those already at the bottom. Over the week, with the mp3s I see which songs I get drawn back to more naturally and those tend to get an advantage. By the end of the week I have a rough order, I then break it down into sub-parts that are of a similar quality, normally something like 1-4, 5-7, 7-12, 13-20, listen to each section of those in order, to get a sub-order, normally favouring interesting and inspired entries over generic and 'heard it many times before' entries of the same quality, and it just depends which entries I'm feeling more sometimes. Then, after double-checking each part of my rank, I send in the votes. I really can't do one listen, I'd always feel like I'm not giving many tracks enough of a chance. Interesting seeing how different people do theirs, though, I will have to use this information to craft the perfect track for working with everyone's different methods.


Brer View member profile	29th January 2016, 03:50 PM Post #16
is my brain across your walls? Joined: 14 February 2009 Posts: 115,078 User: 8,300	I usually listen through all the songs in order and rank them as I go along, then I listen through a second time from my favourite to my least favourite from the first listen and make any adjustments based on that listen. Then if I have time to I'll repeat this for a third listen through. This time I only did the one listen and ranking as I went along as I didn't even have time for a second listen. Oops ~


*Tim View member profile	29th January 2016, 03:56 PM Post #17
Bitch of t seet Joined: 2 April 2012 Posts: 27,395 User: 16,660	I rate them out of 10 on half marks. Ties will then be split seperately


Linds. View member profile	29th January 2016, 03:57 PM Post #18
laugh 'til we cry Pronouns: she/her Joined: 29 August 2014 Posts: 13,706 User: 21,176	I start by copying the entries into a word document and I work my way through listening to them and do a sort of colour coding system, when isn't colour coding appropriate tbh?? Basically if I don't like a song/don't want to point it I change the text to red, if i sorta like it but its a bit meh I will make it orange and then the songs I like and want to point get turned to green. The oranges are really just songs that I will point if I don't have enough green songs to fill up my votes but most of the time I do have more than enough


m View member profile	29th January 2016, 04:40 PM Post #19
I asked for my account to be banned Joined: 26 September 2008 Posts: 14,631 User: 7,132	QUOTE(ℒ𝓲𝓷⻤ @ Jan 29 2016, 03:57 PM) I start by copying the entries into a word document and I work my way through listening to them and do a sort of colour coding system, when isn't colour coding appropriate tbh?? Basically if I don't like a song/don't want to point it I change the text to red, if i sorta like it but its a bit meh I will make it orange and then the songs I like and want to point get turned to green. The oranges are really just songs that I will point if I don't have enough green songs to fill up my votes but most of the time I do have more than enough Ooh, a somewhat creative method . Some people have mentioned how they rate songs lower if they feel they aren't inspired enough. For some reason, I don't think I would ever be able to put myself in the frame of mind to do that - I just go with whatever I like at that time, no matter what. Maybe it helps that I just tend to like "inspired" songs more a lot of the time (not always) I also have never rated a song higher if I think it might not have a good enough chance to qualify. I guess I just like the idea of getting as accurate of a representation as possible of what people actually like and how much they actually like it. But it's interesting to see different approaches!


Cowboy Cody View member profile	29th January 2016, 04:42 PM Post #20
new hair, new tee, new Levii’s Jeans Joined: 24 October 2014 Posts: 39,310 User: 21,308	It usually takes me a few listenthroughs and I do a ranking in my head, but that just comes to show that it's hard to remember just about every song if your also thinking about rankings. I am revealing this now: this contest will be the first that I will issue ratings.