SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC056 April 2022 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 56 - April 2022


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding basics (theme and premise, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process.

Before you get started, please consult the official and very simple "Rules and Guidelines" (Rule Book - post #6) for the Songwriting Competition regarding principles of the game, it's engaging game mechanics (allowed editing/re-submission of your entry until the deadline has been reached) and upload/submission guidelines.

Read more about this month's competition further down below.




This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information and Sponsors
Cheat Sheet: A couple of examples / audio demos for this month's challenge (limited if genre is "free to select")
Voting: Summarized entries and start of voting process
Results of the Songwriting Competition: Results of the Songwriting Competition

[Mister Fox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Friday, 01st April 2022 to Sunday, 24th April 2022 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-04-2022, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST (Germany) - until further notice.


Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please consult the following options:
The Global Countdown on it's dedicated page or the countdown on the home page. There will also be short reminders on Social Media.

Does the game time frame feel too long? Why not set a personal shorter one of 5-7 days absolute max to push yourself to focus on the essentials, then use the rest of the time to ask for feedback and possible refinements.



SONGWRITING THEME: "Gateway to another world" (Picture Theme)
GENRE: free to select



Image Source: Pixabay, photo by KELLEPICS, desaturated, released under Creative Commons CC0



A few word about this month's theme:

This month's game does not feature an extensive brief, with twists and turns. It is actually quite simple - a "Picture Theme". Take a look, get inspired by both the image and the theme, let your mind wander for a bit, then start writing.
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Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create a production in any music genre you feel like.

You set your own parameters and limitations. As long as you don't exceed 10 minutes of runtime, and it isn't just padded out repetitive droning sounds. Keep us listeners engaged.


Please have fun - I'm looking forward to your entries.


And please remember:
The more people join, the more interaction and feedback. If you think the 24 days time frame is too long, you can always set yourself a personal limit of 5-7 days absolute max, then post your entry, ask for feedback and use the rest of the time for possible refinements. Just by joining the game in the first place, you're already a winner in my book.

Songwriting Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:

• create a production fitting to the given theme, genre and general premise
• you can use any tool that is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
• IMPORTANT: if you use non-licensed material (as in: non royalty free material from sample CDs, etc), give full credit to the source material
• for newcomers: no finished productions that have already been released outside of the time frame of the current Songwriting Competition (Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, etc), no cover versions or remixes, no ripped acapella's -- please only showcase your own content
• do not go higher than -14,0 LUFS ILk/-1,00 dBTP in terms of perceived loudness (mastering). Music doesn't have to be squashed to bits in order to be impactful
• name your files properly prior to uploading and make the production downloadable. If you opt to present your entry through SoundCloud, the forum can also convert your links into a Soundcloud player through the [soundcloud] BBCode from the text editor (orange square with a white cloud in it)
• ADD-ON RULES:
  • Filename Template: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav and/or .mp3 (please use it!)
  • <no add-on rules specified>

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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Songwriting Competition - Official Rules and Guidelines (most notably Rule Book - post #6)

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Songwriting Competition - Gossip and Discussion

If you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months:
Please consider supporting the project

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for Songwriting Challenge participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.


RECURRING LICENSE SPONSORSHIP:


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



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of MODO BASS to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.com



Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of Saurus3 to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



kv331 audio is kind enough give away a bundle of either SynthMaster 1+2 Bundle, or a freely selectable set of 3 SynthMaster Expansions
License will not turn into NFR, you need to have a kv311 audio user account in order to pick up Expansions
More info on kv331 audio: https://www.kv331audio.com



JRR Sounds is kind enough give away any-1 sound sets or sample set of winner's choice (exception: Bundles)
More info on JRR Sounds: https://www.jrrshop.com/jrr-sounds



Luftrum is kind enough give away either a license of Lunaris, a license of Bioscape, or any two sound sets of winner's choice (exception: Bundles and Nano Electronics)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Luftrum: http://www.luftrum.com



Rekkerd Sounds is kind enough give away 1 sound set of winners choice (exception: Krezie EDM and Neurofunk Vol. 1)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Rekkerd Sounds: http://sounds.rekkerd.org/



Ghostwave Audio (Vincent Bastiat) is kind enough to donate any 2 sound sets to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com



Hollow Sun is kind to donate one license of "Music Laboratory Machines - The Suite I" to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hollow Sun: http://www.hollowsun.com



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com



Sound / Graphic Designer, and honorary Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/





THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on instruments, samples and sound sets), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account or Facebook Page

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

[Mister Fox]

AUDIO EXAMPLES:
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Articles and Info Pages:

A great starting point is the "Addendum"/Supplementary thread for the Songwriting Competition
Songwriting Competition - Addendum: Music Maps and BPM Charts

Since the genre this month is "free to select", there are no clear pointers




Music examples (selection):

No music examples available this month. But I can always recommend to enter random genre search words either into Youtube, Spotify or whatever music streaming services you prefer using.
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Please also check in with the following threads in the the Gear Talk sub-forum, if you're on the look-out for new tools:
Places to fuel your GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) (the starting point if you're in need of audio tools -- from free to affordable)

Also recommended to check out the following tools, if you're new to/need help with songwriting:
Plugin Boutique - Scaler 2 (highly recommended tool!)
Xfer Records - Cthulhu (another highly recommended tool)
CodeFN42 - Chordz (Transition is also recommended, if you want more experimental/generative MIDI, Free, Windows only)
W.A. Production - InstaChord and InstaScale
Fabrizio Poce / J74 - Progressive (Progressive Standalone might not be available anymore, else the "Max4Life" version)



UPDATED: 31-MAR-2022 21:30 UTC+2, updated 01-APR-2022 00:00 UTC+2

[Arelem]

Hello Everyone,

I had a few days off so I got this done pretty early. I feel like most of my entries are a little too much of one thing or not enough of another, so hopefully being so early I'll be able to get some feedback if there's anything that needs work. I'll post details later in case I make any changes. Thanks and good luck to everyone! (Edit) Link updated and details added.



DAW used is FL Studio

Intruments:
I used Kontakt Etherial Earth for the drone and arp.
For the bass, I used Vital and automated the cutoff of the filter.
The pluck was a Flex preset.
For the pads, I used The Grandeur Piano as well as Session Strings, Massive, a Nexus choir, and Lumina Choir
I EQ'd some white noise that comes in and out for ambiance. Also added some reverb and delay to it.

Effects:
This track used a lot of automation of levels, EQ, flanger, panning and some Patcher presets I've collected that also have EQ filters and reverb automation.
Saturation Knob was used to beef up kick and bass.
A flanger, patcher presets drowned, hype, and introduce were automated throughout to bring the drums in and out and provide some movement.
bx console SSL 9000 J was used to compress and EQ the snare.
The rim shot snare was EQ'd with Slice EQ and Fruity delay 3 and Reeverb 2 were added.
Fresh Air was added to the main pad to bring up some of the high end.
Raum reverb was added to the cymbals.
Gross beat was used on a cymbal for the riser gating effect in the intro.
The white noise was pitched up an octave and half-timed, then Spaced out and SmoothOperator were used to get a more ambient feel.
Patcher preset Multiband Sidechain was used on the pads to help the lead cut through a little better.
Finisher Micro was used with the shaker to get a subtle panning effect. SpacedOut and Slice EQ were also used on the shaker.
RC-20 was used on the clap build with some bit crush and slight high/low cut and tilt EQ as was Fruity Convolver for reverb.

Mastering:
Fruity Limiter was used to 'gain stage' followed by a patcher preset to low cut the side signal. Fruity EQ 2 was used to cut the highs and lows down. Then I used Solid EQ to EQ the track. bx Masterdesk was used to mono the low end and add some stereo separation and resonance filtering. Ozone 9 used for some more EQing and compression.

[Olli H]

I feel like most of my entries are a little too much of one thing or not enough of another, so hopefully being so early I'll be able to get some feedback if there's anything that needs work.

One could always think that if everyone likes the song, then there's something wrong with it
I wonder which one is better:
A) everyone says it's ok, or
B) 10% people love it deeply and it's important to them, and the rest 90% just hate it or don't get it.

About this new one. It's already magnificient!

Drum groove is great. As it has so prominent place you might try to give to it a little bit salt and pepper. For example a small dose of natural space. Or howabout an automated space. As if we were going through different game levels, and the space changes slightly from open air to cave to underwater, but the pulse stays same. Still, I don't mean big changes but some small changing nuances.

Now kick+snare melt together, and they sound like "kick that has snares" with it. Not like "kick and snare". Is it good or bad? Dunno. I wonder if you could find a trick to separate them a bit sonically. Howabout somewhat 10-30 ms delay to snare. Or stereo reverb to snare, and keep kick full mono. Or, if you happen to like it the way it is now, then definitely keep it that way.

If you wish to dive deeper into that melancolic mood, you might find some new nuances and ideas from these:

Leonard Cohen - Waiting for the Miracle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXvG0SMP7tw

Ice Breaker - Main Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WMxWlU6Vt4

[Arelem]

@Olli H
Wow, that's a lot to consider. Thank you for such thorough feedback. It's already given me at least one idea and some other things to look into.

(Edit) Original post was updated so the here no longer worked. It has been removed from here.

[Olli H]

(Edit) I made some changes. I'll leave both versions up so they can be compared. (I left the v2 private for now so the link is kind of broken but it seems to work more or less)

Off Topic

https://soundcloud.com/user-57712292/sw ... al_sharing

I didn't compare, but to me those drums work now very nicely.

Overall comment: Excellent!

I'm not in plausible position to give any new ideas how to improve. But I surely do have to "Wait for the Miracle" to find a decent way to compete with this one.

[Arelem]

(Edit) I made some changes. I'll leave both versions up so they can be compared. (I left the v2 private for now so the link is kind of broken but it seems to work more or less)

Off Topic

https://soundcloud.com/user-57712292/sw ... al_sharing

I didn't compare, but to me those drums work now very nicely.

Overall comment: Excellent!

I'm not in plausible position to give any new ideas how to improve. But I surely do have to "Wait for the Miracle" to find a decent way to compete with this one.

Well I definitely think the second version has a little more something. Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 14 days left to submit your production


If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within this week and to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

Our community is all about learning. So I highly encourage people listening in, to offer some insight and keep the conversation going.

[Haplos]

Hey everyone,
As we all can imagine, travelling through a space gate should be something that can be emotionaly hard...

Im entering this SW challenge with my song "Passenger", wich is a great name due to the theme

Here's my contribution , .wav and mp3.

Wav :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tU42SP ... sp=sharing

MP3 :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KsS-72 ... sp=sharing

I used Reaper, Drumkit, Synth1 , my 2003 Squier Showmaster (wich il love) with Jackson pickups, PRS amp plugin, ReeQ, Xcomp, Black box, Roughrider3, Deskmaster...

I'm an 80's man, so yeah, this theme means a lot to me, i also add some "Hard rock" Rythm guitars to give a strong base to the Synth themes.

Hope everyone enjoy this one

Chers,

Hap'