2024-MAR-01 Info: Check out Songwriting Competition 079 if you're into "Synthwave" music making.

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Winners announced

Thematic Songwriting Competition - recurrence: monthly
alavault
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2020 15:00 CEST
Location: Dijon, France

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#11

Post by alavault »

Hello,
Song (title :: Scènes) : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c5iczE ... sp=sharing
As I don't know much about electronic music genres, I just went with what I heard "in my head". Which makes the transitions more than awkward.
Hopefully, I am not off-topic too for this competition...
Anyway, here's a little walk-through :

Mixing setup : the same as any of my mix challenge posts.

Basses : 2 leads, 1 sub
Sparkly thingies : Spire + Triton (Ice Rain)
Lead : GTR + hi gain.
Pads/Keys : Spire always, Piano on scenes 2&3, P8 on scene 1, strings on scene 3
Drums : DR-660 + Superior Drummer + custom sampels
Vox : Dannasko pack + Magical Princess Gigi
Rough mix with not automation
EsteveCorbera
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2020 23:53 CEST
Location: Catalunya

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#12

Post by EsteveCorbera »

Hello guys,

How about everything?
Are you in good health?

This month, I'm really excited about Mister Fox's proposal. I've always loved electronic music: synthesizers, sequencers and plugging and unplugging things :)
Of the myriad styles of electronic music, I stick with the part that Mister Fox commented on: Ambient> Synth / Electronica.
Based on that, I present my proposal for this month.
I work with DAW Reason. Unfortunately, I don't think people like it too much, but I love it . I took this month to continue discovering tools, instruments, effects, players and combinations between them that are really cool.
Reason Players are a great thing. They make it easier for people like me who are just starting out in this world of music. Players include sequencers, drum sequencers, scale and chord controllers, arpeggiators, and many other great utilities to make this month's proposal. (https://www.reasonstudios.com/en/reason ... ts-effects> PLAYER MIDI FX)
For example, I used the Beat Map Algorhythmic Drummer that allows you to create rhythms graphically, moving in X-Y coordinates.
Reason connects devices in a rack, allowing connections between devices that allow very interesting CV / Gate / Triggers-level controlled automation.
I used all this to make this month's theme.



(Text translated with Google)

I give you the list of what I used. I have used more than one instance of some of the instruments and effects.

DAW:
Reason +

Instruments within Reason:
Rhythmic Drum Machine
Malström
Thor Polysonic Synthesizer
NN-XT Advanced Sampler
Subtractor Analog Synthesizer
Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer

Effects within Reason:
RV7000
The Echo
MClass Compressor
PEQ-2 Two Band Parametric EQ
UN-16 Unison
PH-90 Phaser
RV-7 Digital Reverb
DDL-1 Digital Delay Line
Spray
Alligator Triple Filtered Gate
MClass Equalizer
Softube AMP
D-11 Foldback Distortion
ECF-42 Envelope Controlled Filter

Players and utilities within Reason:
Beat Map
Combinator
MicroMIX
Matrix
Scales & Chords
Dual Arpeggio
RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator

Other instruments:
Arminator2

Other effects:
2B Reverbed
2B Delayed

Other tools:
Ozone 9 Elements
SPL HawEye
Last edited by EsteveCorbera on Sun May 23, 2021 17:11 CEST, edited 1 time in total.
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Mister Fox
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#13

Post by Mister Fox »

:arrow: I am happy to announce the following sponsor for the Mix Challenge audio community


Image
Cherry Audio is kind enough give away one license of Voltage Modular Ignite, plus either a license of "Year One Collection" or "Year Two Collection"
License will turn into NFR
More info on Cherry Audio: https://cherryaudio.com




A huge thank you goes to Cherry Audio for providing the licenses. :tu:
EsteveCorbera
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2020 23:53 CEST
Location: Catalunya

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#14

Post by EsteveCorbera »

Oh, that good!!
Thank you so much
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SoundBeing
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 18:54 CEST
Location: Berlin
Contact:

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#15

Post by SoundBeing »

Wow. I just checked it out on their site. That is quite a bundle of toys. :hail:
gruskada
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2019 16:28 CEST
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#16

Post by gruskada »

Here's my submission. I had started a 45-second sketch of this a while ago for a free Berklee class, but I never finished it. I significantly beefed it up, adding new sections, additional synth lines, some guitars, choirs, and additional drum samples (the original drums were all made with the Strobe2 synth).

The title is a quote from a short film I worked on a long time ago (it's bad - no need to link it here :smile: ), and I imagined this song as a sort of soundtrack to the scene where the quote is said.

Apparently my MO at the time was to use every synth I had :smile:



Instruments:
- FXpansion Strobe2
- Air Vacuum Pro
- Korg Wavestation (VST)
- Green Oak Crystal
- u-He Hive2
- Newfangled Audio Pendulate
- Air Hybrid 3
- NI FM8
- NI The Giant
- ISW Shreddage
- OTS Dracus
- SoundIron Hyperion Strings Elements
- SoundIron Mimi Page Light & Shadow
- SoundIron Requiem Light Choir
- Embertone Joshua Bell Violin Essential
- NI Battery 4
- EastWest StormDrum 2
- NI Kinetic Metal

Effects:
- Polyverse Wider
- Eventide SP2016 reverb
- NI Guitar Rig 5
- ReaEQ

Post:
- Oeksound Soothe 2
- iZotope Ozone 8
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Mister Fox
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#17

Post by Mister Fox »

Glad you folks like our new License Sponsor... :phones:

...now I'm looking forward to the participation. There are slightly more than 2 days left.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#18

Post by Mister Fox »

Quick feedback to the entries.


@SoundBeing -- quirky production. I like it, very oldschool. However, it feels a bit "empty", since you barely hear the drums (mostly only the snare), especially on small speakers. Same goes for the bass. Please give this another look.

@alavault -- while this entry is good, it's reaching more towards "1980s synthwave/rock". Maybe have a bit more focus on more "pulsing synths" than the guitar being the sole lead.

@EsteveCorbera -- no shame on Reason. I've heard outstanding productions with it from Pop to hard hitting Dance music. I feel that the main melody is a bit too overpowering though, while the beat (kick) feels a bit "too soft" in places. You should take another look at that. Also... maybe some panning and putting certain instruments into their frequency range. Else... interesting blend of genres.

@gruskada -- while I do like overall concept of a soundtrack, something is really off here. Like the beat is offset and certain instruments all over the place. Things just feel slammed together, the instrument balance is also all over the place. Maybe revisit it again, check for timing, rebalance the instruments (more focus on electronic)



Since there has not been any feedback given to each other so far, I hope I could break the ice a bit. I hope you folks are aware that you can revisit your entries until the deadline has been reached (regular game mechanic) - so if possible, please do so. Push yourself, see where things can go.

I would also definitely love to hear some hard hitting Dance or Techno this month. But who knows what the next 48 hours still bring.



(I wish I could have joined myself this month, just for fun. But alas...)
becsei_gyorgy
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 19:55 CET
Location: Szeged, Hungary

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#19

Post by becsei_gyorgy »

This month's genre was quite broad, you were free to wander between styles and eras :)
For the first time, I thought I was heading for the safe 80s in the electronic genre.
But since I love learning new things, I headed for the melodic techno line branded by Nick Devon and Blancah.
The tutorials on Youtube helped a lot. Bound to Divide taught me how to make an acceptable full song from an 8 bar loop :), while Biskuwi’s sound design and instrumentation tips are quite fantastic.
(Of course the epic line can't be missed either, Clara Sorace's great voice from Sahara Voices is simply impressive to me.)

For storytelling, I made a quick clip from over 30 free stock videos, it was at least as much fun to cut the little pieces together as it was to make the music.

phpBB [media]


VST:
Reasamplomatic5000
Arturia Mini V3
Arturia Pigments
Diva
Kontakt (Ethera Sahara Voices)

FX:
Pro-Q3
Maag EQ4
ReaComp
Vertigo VSC-2
RVox
Crystallizer
Echoboy Jr.
Microshift
kHs Transient Shaper
kHs Multipass
MTremolo
H-Delay
CLA Vocals
Trackspacer
Endless Smile
Valhalla VintageVerb
bx_control V2
bx_boom
bx_tuner

Ozone9
Gullfoss
SSL Native Bus
Oxford Limiter
Youlean Loudness Meter
SPAN

Drum Samples (Kick, Hat, Clap), Noise

EsteveCorbera
Posts: 168
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2020 23:53 CEST
Location: Catalunya

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC045 May 2021 - Submissions until 24-05-2021 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

#20

Post by EsteveCorbera »

Hello,
I have updated my track following the directions of Mister Fox


Thanks for the comments
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