SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC049 September 2021 - Winners announced

[celiodie]

Not sure why people are joining SWC but I know now it is not about exchanging experience. Just look at the activity after you post the final score. It is sad. So this lead me to stand back for a while

Dear TrojakEW, I believe you are misinterpreting what many are telling you. We are not telling you not to do what you do but simply to do it less and do it better. I really appreciate the care you put into analyzing tracks and giving directions on sound and mixing, I really appreciate that. But I want to point out that there are simple but useful observations and others that are of no use. If someone tells me that I have compressed a sound too much I have that the volumes are not well balanced this is a simple but very very useful comment. Knowing that the LUFS of my piece is 0.1 higher or lower than a certain value honestly is of no use to me and maybe someone even gets a little nervous thinking that you are doing a job that would eventually belong to the jury and not to a participant. With this I want to renew my appreciation for your commitment and I am among those who think that the exchange of ideas and observations is a way to grow. Personally I'm just asking you to do it better by avoiding annotations that are ultimately useless.

[fjansenson]

Thanks Everyone for your good vibes and votes!!!
This is my first time competition so it is an honor to be part of the podium. I can´t believe!!!
Thanks Mr. Fox for your welcome and words.
I´m choosing MODO BASS as my prize.
Thanks!!!

Fjansenson

[Johnny_Fingers]

Thank you Mr Fox for all your hard work you put into this and other challenges. I'm sorry this one took a difficult turn.

Big congratulations to the winners!

Since people have been asking, I thought it might be useful for me to share my perspective on the issues that have come up. From my point of view, it's very difficult to write the sort of music I write and play in a few weeks, and that's one reason I rebel against the focus on technical aspects of the recording. It usually takes me more than 3 weeks just to write the lyrics of a song, never mind writing and arranging the music itself. Recording multiple instruments, multiple vocalists, and putting it all together in that amount of time is almost impossible. So, of course things like perfect pitch, perfect timing, perfect mixing, and so on are going to get lost. (In a studio, this typically all takes months if not years.) I think that may be why the types of music that are entered into the contest are mostly of a specific type. That's also why I hoped that the contest would focus on the song itself, not the recording or mix. In a songwriting contest I personally hope for feedback on the song content... is the structure of the song good, is the melody good, are the harmonies among the instruments solid, are the lead lines appropriate, are there places the lyrics clunk and could be tweaked, and so on. I don't really care if my LUFS are off by a point or two, if the mix is bad, or if the single take I had time to get from a vocalist was a bit out of tune. I think of it like watching a live show... nothing sounds perfect but you still know a great song when you hear it. I say this not as a criticism but simply as an explanation. This is just my opinion of course.

[canese]

Thank you all for your kind words. I'll take your feedback in consideration and try to improve the song. For the prize, I'll take the Voltage Modular Ignite plus the Year one collection. Thank you and see you in the next month.

[Mister Fox]

Let me quickly chime in and say the following:

I can't force people to participate outside of the given rule set. Of course everyone is entitled to take a step back and take a time out. However, doing so because of wrong understood criticism, is IMHO not the way to go.

Bottom line is this... if everyone steps away and waits for "something better to arrive", then the Songwriting Competition is pretty much obsolete. And we're already struggling for participants.




On the topic of license selection.

I appreciate the initiative, @fjansenson, but the selection is in order of the Winners podium. So first @canese (who apparently just selected Cherry Audio as company), then you (@fjansenson, you selected IK Multimedia), then @celiodie (can select something from the remaining companies).

Looks like I need to rephrase this (see license selection paragraph), as this seems to happen every single month.

[celiodie]

Many thanks to you all and to Mr Fox for the great committment! I'm very happy to be on the podium.
Seems that the First two winners have done their choice.
If so... I'd like to choose the Tone2 Saurus3.

[Mister Fox]

Can we please get the license selection topic sorted out first with @canese and @fjansenson?

It is not "first come, first serve", it has always been "in order of winners podium". So if @canese wants to select something else, he's entitled to.

I'd like to get an update on this within the next 24 hours. Thank you.

[canese]

I'm happy with my choice, @Mr.Fox. @Fjansenson should have the modo bass and @celodie the Sauruus3

[EsteveCorbera]

Congratulations to the winners !!
And thank you so much for the comments.
And especially, in the final comments of Mister Fox.
Certainly, Vangelis has marked my life for me. I’ve been listening to it for over 40 years and its music helps me improve my ‘Mental Health’.
If I’m here trying to make music it’s thanks to him.
But my problem is that I haven’t studied music, and that’s noticeable with what I compose and with the comments I make to the other participants, which are a bit simple. That’s why I want to take advantage of this challenge to learn from them every day.

[Mister Fox]

A short update:

I just addressed all license requests via PM. @canese was okay with his selection, sadly @fjansenson didn't comment any further (so I assume the selection remains), and I just answered @celiodie's PM.

Please enjoy your licenses.



More feedback to the entries are welcome.
See you on the flipside.