SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC052 December 2021 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Monday, 03-JAN-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET latest
Info: due to the Winter Holiday season, the "feedback and voting period" has been extended by 2 more days.


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)



Here is the collection of productions from all participants (in hope that I didn't forget anyone). As usual, if you click on the small upwards-arrow right beside the quoted name, you can jump to the original post and read up on the documentation for this production.


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"Incandescence"

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtfLPr ... T1vcz/view

"Valse de nyår" (in collaboration with alavault)

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18hweGM ... sp=sharing

"Tots a Ballar"

"Letzte Nacht"





Bonus Video:

phpBB [media]

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BONUS ENTRIES (submitted after the deadline - feel free to give feedback, but you sadly can not vote for these entries)


<no bonus entries>
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Please consult the Rules and Guidelines (see post #7) on how your vote could look like. And to make it simple for me for counting the votes - please use the forum usernames in your listing. Thank you!

SWC052 participants giving feedback to each other (to every participant) is mandatory. If you've collaborated with somebody, then only the one doing the main entry needs to give feedback and vote (everything else is bonus). Ideally, please focus on the "overall experience", and what you think could be improved in a future release of this production (technical or even instrumentation), maybe even provide the occasional tip for mixing. Please be open minded, objective and constructive.


INFORMATION: If you've submitted your entry in multiple file formats, the statistic sheet (posted alongside the results) will focus on the uncompressed material first (WAV), then FLAC, then MP3. The higher the quality, the less possible loss on bonus points for "Loudness Specs" due to offsets introduced by a used CODEC.


Good luck to all participants!




If you have an idea for a future Songwriting Competition, please post about this in the theme/genre request page.

Also, please join the discussion on Songwriting Competition - Community Scramble - should we change the game concept?. Even if the voting has ended, your input is still valuable. Thank you.

[Arelem]

Hello,

Great job everyone! This is a tough one for me to provide feedback on because it's not a style that I would normally do, but I'll try my best.

A Future in Noise: The vocals sound great, as do the piano and guitar parts. The drums are also really nice and dynamic. I'm not sure if it's a synth or organ that is playing but it sounds a bit synthetic compared to everything else. It still sounds good overall but that sort of takes away from the rest of the song. I really have no other critiques.

Esteve Corbera: Everything sounds good. The only comment I can make would be that the jazzy solo brass doesn't fit super well. It kind of sounds like a sample that was just thrown on top of everything else. It doesn't work as well as it could in my opinion. I like that even though the song is keeping a constant rhythm you change things up enough to keep it interesting.

becsei_gyorgy: Great sound selection and melodies. My only note would be that some of the high end was a little shrill and made me want to turn down the volume about halfway through. Other than maybe some balancing or EQ it's a really nice song.

► Show Spoiler

01: A Future in Noise
02: becsei_gyorgy
03: EsteveCorbera

[A Future in Noise]

So here is my votes. This is feedback from me, alone. According to the rules, my collaborator isn't supposed to give his votes.

EsteveCorbera: It seems the musicians have fun when they are playing. Good. Above all, the coherent phrases that come from the clarinet sound good. I can not really identify what kind of bass you use, but it's a double bass, right? They often have a relatively short sustain, but I wish you could have somehow, at 0:48, been able to get to a base of a more legato nature. And the song lacks a clear division into different sections. I do not know anything about samba, when I think about it… It does not have to be verse, chorus and bridge, of course. But a slightly clearer division into different parts I think is needed. The song is a bit too long to repeat almost the same beats and chords.

becsei_gyorgy: These 3:23 minutes are divided into different sections in a good way. An elegant and slightly unexpected tempo raise at 0:56. At 2:52, the original theme comes back again, and here I might begin to feel it gets a little repetitative, after all? You could have made the waltz slightly shorter. So what more could have been done in a better way? Those who want to dance might expect a little happier song? On the other hand – Letzte Nacht means Last Night, and who knows what happened last night? (Someone drank too much?) Anyway, we start in an A # minor (I beleive), but maybe it's just me who perceives the tones as somewhat melancholic… almost plangent? Apart from that, you handle instrumentation and technical stuff in a good way, as usual. I have nothing to complain about there. (But maybe the combined violin/oboe (?) at 1:11 sounds a little strange?)

Arelem: Nice and uplifting sound from the string quartet (though plugin), when this begins. Also applies to double bass and piano. This makes you feel good – the sound itself. The violin that then starts to play is a bit too shrill, in my opinion. But apart from the sound: This is a thoughtful waltz, and there is nothing wrong with that. The melody fragments that exist are perhaps a little too vague for them to really be called melody. But you can definitely dance waltz listening to this, and 2:34 is probably a reasonable length. (To be completely honest: when the theme played by a violin at the beginning of the track comes back, and is performed by about three string instruments, then it gets a bit of a whiny character.) AND: At 0:32 (when bar/measure 17 begins) I think I would have let the solo violin be quit for a quarter note, and then let the violin player play some eighth notes, to create more variation.

► Show Spoiler

1. (10 pts) becsei_gyorgy
2. (9 pts) Arelem
3. (8 pts) EsteveCorbera

[becsei_gyorgy]

Arelem - Incandescence
Nice waltz theme, overall nice melody.
Session Strings is a very dry library. I think two reverbs should have been used for the song.
One for each instrument to create a common space and another separately for strings to get more wet sound. The string part is still very loud and sharp.
I like the piano at 0:50 as it enters the song.
In the end there should have been a little more variation, the melody was a bit repetitive.
Overall, I think your first attempt at waltz was good.

Alavault & A Future In Noise - ValseDeNyår
Interesting ballad start.
I don't have much criticism about the sound and structure of the song.
I especially like the guitar plays in it.
The vocal(s) are good, the melody is catchy, the mix is good too.

I may be strict, but my very objection, however, is the choice and elaboration of the genre.
Rather, I would have expected a song that better matches the monthly announcement.
On the other two songs, I felt like they were stretching beyond their comfort zone, but unfortunately not on this.
Of course it was possible to write a pop or rock ballad, but it would have been nice to mix it with Latin elements (e.g. Santana) or other styles (big band, jazz etc).
So many beautiful styles have been given in the examples (Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Jive, Tango, Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep etc.)
Can I imagine this song at a school ball? Of course. (Just as Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj sound there today, but I wouldn't call them a real Ballroom Dance.)

What’s true, though, is that it’s a well-put together, pleasant, very listenable song. Good teamwork, good implementation. It’s a very nice ballad-like song.
Just I can say, as I did last month, and of course, don't take these as an offense, but as advice. With your knowledge, you could experiment more boldly, you could put new elements into your song more courageously

Esteve Corbera - Tots a ballar
I like that someone dared to take on Latin (samba) music. The song has a very good mood. And Real danceable music. I also like jazzy trumpet solos.
Maybe because of the style, I would have put in a little percussive break when only the fast drums are playing.
But unfortunately the composition feels a bit like a "sample-game", by the end it runs out of ideas a bit.
However, it’s nice to listen, as a background music of a caribbean pc game (e.g. Tropico) I’d love to accept.
I also like the mix, quite balanced.

► Show Spoiler

10 pt Alavault & A Future In Noise - ValseDeNyår
09 pt Esteve Corbera - Tots a ballar
08 pt Arelem - Incandescence

[EsteveCorbera]

December is really a fateful month to spend time on hobbies.

Arelem - Incandescence
Very slow topic. Only the bass and piano give it rhythm. It's not the style I'd like to do for a dance, but after listening to it several times, it's really for a quiet dance. Very simple but effective melody. If I have to comment on something to improve, maybe add a little more reverberation to the main strings. Or maybe place the sound in a larger room. And add a little more presence to the high frequencies.

AFutureInNoise & Alavault - ValseDeNyår
I can't even imagine this theme for a ballroom. But it’s okay because you can follow it like a dance. Good song. A few things, the second part recited (1:02-1:30), is a bit out of tempo. It makes you lose track of the subject. To me, the sound of the accordion (?) Seems unreal.

Becsei Gyorgy - Letzte Nacht
Very different topic than you are used to. It exudes classicism. To dance in a room with the couple and do a show doing laps.
The strings that start at 0:42 lack a bit of realism. The same goes for the sound of 1:38 which are very sampled.
The main instruments would put them more reverberation to make the room feel bigger. However, when the whole orchestra plays, the situation inside the space seems more correct to me.

Thank you all (including Mr Fox)
See you in the following challenges. In the end we will still make friends. A very big musical hug.
Happy New Year !!
(translated with google)

► Show Spoiler

10p Arelem
9p Becsei Gyorgy
8p AFutureInNoise & Alavault

[becsei_gyorgy]

becsei_gyorgy: ... Those who want to dance might expect a little happier song? ... Anyway, we start in an A # minor (I beleive), but maybe it's just me who perceives the tones as somewhat melancholic…

Yes, you are absolutely right. Hans Zimmer once said, "I like writing in D." For me, however, the A# min absolute is my favorite. (Precisely because of the melancholy sound.) I'm sorry, I can't really write happy songs

The strings that start at 0:42 lack a bit of realism. The same goes for the sound of 1:38 which are very sampled.

Could you rather think of the brass section here?
In all the 2 places you mention the brass enters next to the strings, (mainly horn, trombone), so it sounds different.
But it’s absolutely true that the Brass is the weakest point of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Not really natural.

[A Future in Noise]

Yes, you are absolutely right. Hans Zimmer once said, "I like writing in D." For me, however, the A# min absolute is my favorite. (Precisely because of the melancholy sound.) I'm sorry, I can't really write happy songs

Out of sheer curiosity, I wonder: do you really think that a certain key differs in tone and feeling from a nearby key, or any key? On a guitar with a normal tuning, a D chord is played on four strings, while an E chord is played on six strings. So in that case, a change from E to D could lead to a different feeling – possibly. But if you transpose from A#m to Cm on a piano – does not everything sound very similar? Is it not in fact the chord progression, the design of the melody and the arrangement as a whole that is absolutely decisive for whether the work is perceived as melancholic or anything else? I ask because I know some people actually perceive the different keys as essentially different, even though I can not understand how one might think so.

[becsei_gyorgy]

Out of sheer curiosity, I wonder: do you really think that a certain key differs in tone and feeling from a nearby key, ...

I don't think i really understand what the question is exactly.
If i play a single chord on the guitar or hit a triad in the middle of the piano I wouldn't really call it music yet

If, on the other hand, the question is whether the tone in which I write a song matters, I don’t quite understand that.

Of course, the tone I choose also depends on the instrumentation (that's why epic music is good in D minor --> low strings and brass; a string adagio in Bb minor --> dark tone, very closed sound strings; or a melodic ethereal house/techno in f# minor --> perfect kick frequency and low-end).

...a certain key differs in tone and feeling from a nearby key, ...

is that the essence of music isn't it?

Although it may be that the whole thing is a translation misunderstanding, but I do not really understand the point.

[A Future in Noise]

I don't think i really understand what the question is exactly.

Well, if A4 is 440 Hz, B4 is 493.88 Hz, so they don't sound the same

If you have a musical piece where everything is midi, it's very easy to transpose everything... let's say one semi tone. If I listened to that peace once, and then went for a walk for half an hour, and if I got back and were asked the question: which key is this? Is it exactly what you heared before, or has it been transposed from E to F? Well, I would not know, since to me it would sound exactly the same.

[alavault]

So here is my votes. This is feedback from me, alone. According to the rules, my collaborator isn't supposed to give his votes.

EsteveCorbera: It seems the musicians have fun when they are playing. Good. Above all, the coherent phrases that come from the clarinet sound good. I can not really identify what kind of bass you use, but it's a double bass, right? They often have a relatively short sustain, but I wish you could have somehow, at 0:48, been able to get to a base of a more legato nature. And the song lacks a clear division into different sections. I do not know anything about samba, when I think about it… It does not have to be verse, chorus and bridge, of course. But a slightly clearer division into different parts I think is needed. The song is a bit too long to repeat almost the same beats and chords.

becsei_gyorgy: These 3:23 minutes are divided into different sections in a good way. An elegant and slightly unexpected tempo raise at 0:56. At 2:52, the original theme comes back again, and here I might begin to feel it gets a little repetitative, after all? You could have made the waltz slightly shorter. So what more could have been done in a better way? Those who want to dance might expect a little happier song? On the other hand – Letzte Nacht means Last Night, and who knows what happened last night? (Someone drank too much?) Anyway, we start in an A # minor (I beleive), but maybe it's just me who perceives the tones as somewhat melancholic… almost plangent? Apart from that, you handle instrumentation and technical stuff in a good way, as usual. I have nothing to complain about there. (But maybe the combined violin/oboe (?) at 1:11 sounds a little strange?)

Arelem: Nice and uplifting sound from the string quartet (though plugin), when this begins. Also applies to double bass and piano. This makes you feel good – the sound itself. The violin that then starts to play is a bit too shrill, in my opinion. But apart from the sound: This is a thoughtful waltz, and there is nothing wrong with that. The melody fragments that exist are perhaps a little too vague for them to really be called melody. But you can definitely dance waltz listening to this, and 2:34 is probably a reasonable length. (To be completely honest: when the theme played by a violin at the beginning of the track comes back, and is performed by about three string instruments, then it gets a bit of a whiny character.) AND: At 0:32 (when bar/measure 17 begins) I think I would have let the solo violin be quit for a quarter note, and then let the violin player play some eighth notes, to create more variation.

I don't have more feedback to give. Everything I wanted to say has been said by AFutureInNoise. Sorry

► Show Spoiler

Not concerned by the vote