SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC03 November 2017 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 03 - November 2017


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (theme, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process. There will be no Round 2



Please take note of the following

• IMPORTANT: please use the following naming convention for your productions: SWC000_-_ArtistName_-_TrackName.wav/mp3

Also please take note of the following

• IMPORTANT: there has been a slight overhaul of the Rules & Guidelines. Please get acquainted with the changes
• If you have an idea for future Songwriting Competition themes, please post them in the Gossip Thread.
• our Twitter account can be found via the handle @MixChallenge - throw us a Tweet and we add you to the participant lists
• our Facebook account can also be found via the handle MixChallenge
• if you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months, please consider supporting us. For example with a voluntary monthly donation (this will mainly cover server and social media maintenance fees). Some interesting bonus perks await you through Patreon, and donors get a special rank on the forum.

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
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: Wednesday, 01st November 2017 to Friday, 24th November 2017 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-11-2017, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (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. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



SONGWRITING THEME: Cyberpunk (Sci-Fi Genre)

GENRE: no limitation


A few word about this month's theme:

It's the near future, 2020, 2030, 2040... technology saw a huge boost, humans have cybernetic implants, the world is overcrowded, humanity survived various wars and is now lead and controlled by giant corporations. We're talking "science fiction" - to be precise: the Cyberpunk genre.

In honor of the revival of Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (thanks to director Denis Villeneuve), two recent adaptations of one of the most known Cyberpunk stories out of Japan "Ghost in the Shell" (live action and "Arise: The New Movie"), the uprising of more and more Cyberpunk related games (CD Project RED with an official Cyberpunk RPG port, inbetweengames with "All Walls Must Fall", not to mention the upcoming "The Last Night" by
Odd Tales), this month is all about this Sci-Fi genre.

There is no genre limitation. The production can be Industrial, EDM, 80s Synthwave/2000s Retrowave, classic rock (think Bubblegum Crisis from 1987, one of the leading lights of animated Cyberpunk stories), Hip Hop, DnB. Or a blend of multiple genres (example: Alternative Metal), Orchestra with glitched electronic parts (think: "Remember Me" Soundtrack, and also "Beyond Good and Evil"). It can even be smooth Jazz (think Yoko Kanno with "Cowboy Bebop").

Whatever you think would fit into that era. Be creative!

Songwriting Add-On Rules:

• You can use whatever is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
• creating your own sounds is highly encouraged, but not mandatory
• It is recommended to not go higher than -14LUFS SLk (avg) or K-12v1 (avg) in terms of perceived loudness

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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

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

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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.



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/



Bjulin Waves is kind enough to donate 1 sound set of winners choice and one "Inspire Me" sound set of choice for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
License will turn into NFR
More info on Bjulin Waves: http://bjulin.de/



Impact Soundworks is kind enough give away a license of either Juggernaut, Super Audio Cart or Momentum to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Impact Soundworks: http://www.impactsoundworks.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 (donations until Spring 2018)
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



Luftrum is kind enough give away either a license of Lunaris, or any 2 sound sets of winner's choice (exception: Bundles and Nano Electronics)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Luftrum: http://www.luftrum.com



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





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]

I am happy to announce a new sponsor for the Songwriting Competition:



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


Ghostwave Audio previously donated MixRight for the Mix Challenge, and will continue to do so for November 2017. After that, the company moves on to the Songwriting Competition. A huge thank you goes to Ghostwave Audio for providing the licenses.

[Tbase2000]

This looks like a great opportunity to get heard. All of this group has amazing musical talent already proven. This will be a new venture for me but I have heard what the field can do. I think everyone needs to step it up this month and bring their production A game as if you were hired to produce a track. Put it out there. Let the Hunger Games Begin.

I'm coming for you Octopus.

[Mister Fox]

Since "Jazz" is an option this month, I'm definitely looking forward to your production, Tbase2000.


I'm more interested in which general direction this Competition will go though. This SciFi genre has all types of OSTs. Ghost in the Shell for example - mid 2000s TV series: electronic, funk and jazz, Movie: ambient (same goes for other Mamoru Oshii projects like "Avalon"), game - 90ies Techno. Bubblegum Crisis (again, to me the pinnacle of Cyberpunk in animated form) - old series: classic/synth rock, new series (which I found completely disappointing): modern rock/metal, electronic. Another "Cyberpunk" type animated show I really liked was "Dennou Coil", which used orchestra, pop music, etc. .hack (2002 series) a blend of electronic and folk music. Serial Experiments Lain - japanese Pop Rock and EDM.

In contrast, scifi shows with Androids and Robots that play between 2020 to 2050 (or in case of movies from late 80ies/early 90ies, then 1999 to 2010) mostly use ambient and orchestra stuff to be bombastic. Old movies like Johnny Mnemonic, Freejack, Lawnower Man, Escape from LA, etc... used Synthwave and Rock, The Matrix used a blend of Electronic (Trip Hop), Rock and Orchestra (the "score"). More modern SciFi/Cyberpunk stuff like Natural City, 13th Floor and Westwood (the TV show) used more Ambient and Orchestra. And then There is Tron and Tron Legacy...


So many possibilities - I'm really curious about the results.

No matter if "production A game" or "just for fun"... still 19 days left to be creative

[Tbase2000]

I'm gonna skip the jazz this round. I loved the Matrix movies! Not gonna steal their tracks though. I'm struggling on these keys to be quite honest. Last keyboard which I still own is a Roland JV80. Still looks pretty.

[Mister Fox]

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

[Tbase2000]

Here we go!

MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BwF9x9 ... sp=sharing

Wave: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12N85xW ... sp=sharing

Documentation:
Well...this has been a big QBase9 experiment. Cubase is so production oriented and I have been
mixing mostly and not learning it. I took this project as a learning opportunity of it's Mystic synth. I wanted each
16 measures to be different, originally wanting to be a cut and paste and rearrange type track so it
would be easy to cut and copy what you liked. I didn't do that really but what I did was use most of
the sounds in that Mystic library. I felt it would create movement to have changes based on sounds
and music. I haven't played a video game since Nintendo Blades of Steal and Techmo Bowl, so
I'm kinda out of the loop. I've also been wanting to work on my vocal delivery and recording
techniques so I ended up blending a contrast of rock vocal with a driving video game inspired track.

I tried to keep it lite and fun and enjoyed putting it together.

-Cubase9 Mystic Keys. Bunch of tracks
-Drums are Cubase9 Production loops I put together. Different styles come with different kits so
that was very challenging. Don't know if it works but I wanted different drum genres for each part.
-I did bass and vocals but I ran with an open SM58 in my hand this round for my vocals instead of a
mic stand. Felt better than standing up perfect posture to a mic stand
-Not much in the way of verbs and effects. There's so many layers.
-YouTube copyright free samples:

SFX2 Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMB2o08vbVg

Future Sound FX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wZxFECPZE2A&list=PLxMlN5cwtmhRwCthQbga8uplq97pVWLLR

In the production samples of Cubase there are even better ones than I used for the future
sound...just took me a while to find them.

Mastering: Here's the deal. All of my mixes usually come off flat and dull because I'm just not
comfortable with the high-end. Landr gives me a nice polished finish, cranks it up, and makes it
sound better. I don't know how to master so putting anything in my output would just be guess work.
I like them even if they return a snickers bar for a product. Landr Low master so hopefully there's
still some dynamic range. I didn't want much though since its video game and all.
I wanted to go more machine guns and battle stuff but I didn't have the samples and I didn't really
want to go that dark this time. Halloween is over. This one is all it will ever be so time to push it out
of the studio. Thanks for the audience and the opportunity.

[OctopusOnFire]

This looks like a great opportunity to get heard. All of this group has amazing musical talent already proven. This will be a new venture for me but I have heard what the field can do. I think everyone needs to step it up this month and bring their production A game as if you were hired to produce a track. Put it out there. Let the Hunger Games Begin.

I'm coming for you Octopus.

Oh man, this just got personal/animal

That's it, I'm adding lyrics and foley to this one.


If I make it on time, that is.

[Tbase2000]

That's awesome. Bring it Octopus.