SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC061 September 2022 - Winners announced

[PocketSunlight]

Hi Mister Fox

Thanks for the welcome. Just reread the rules you mention. Just to clarify:

1) what is meant by 'also provide documentation' ? Happy to do so - just want to be sure I understand what you want!
2) Should 'top 20' list be alongside original song post submission, or in a separate post?

Many thanks

[Mister Fox]

Both questions can easily be answered if you (for example) look at the last two games without a special bonus mechanic (like SWC059, where I acted as a "virtual client", trying to find songwriters for a fictional video game in the making). The first post also links to the most important thread events as well.

Songwriting Competition 60 - August 2022 (theme: Water, genre: free to select)
Songwriting Competition 59 - July 2022 (theme: "Late Spring Cleaning", genre: jazz)


But to go a bit more into detail regarding your questions:

1) basically: who you collaborated with (full credits are only fair), what equipment you used, and/or maybe talk about a sound design signal chain (if you want to). A lot of people add lyrics now, including translation (vocals are not mandatory for any songwriting game - feel free to do whatever you want, fitting to the given premise).

2) that happens after the submission period has ended and is a separate post. See game threads above.

[GamaGama]

Thank you very much for the topic, and in particular for the attention that has been placed on the moment of extreme difficulty that we are all going through, with particular attention to the less strong people. I think I am lucky: despite some health ailments, due to the current serious situation it has not yet taken away my good mood and the will to live. I would like to communicate this, and try to make everyone participate in my state of mind.
To give my contribution, I thought it would be nice to reach the goal of generating a smile, through a little unusual and carefree music. I therefore oriented myself on a "zydeco-Caribbean" song that combines the Jamaican air with the Middle Eastern one, and with some country spray.

To achieve this there are:
- the cheerful melody is entrusted to a very linear and "boring" accordeon;
- 4 guitars: 2 guitars are entrusted with the rhythmic parts "Jamaica", a third guitar makes short interventions (also slides for the Country "color"), the last one supports the bass by doubling it with long notes and intervenes harmonizing in some points the introduction of the solo guitar parts.
- There is an oboe intro with a Middle Eastern flavor and the brass also move on pseudo-Middle Eastern melody.
- There are also strings that play bichords and in some places they take up the introductory melody of the oboe.
- I paid special attention to the drums to make it sound like a human being played and then attention was paid to the dynamics and the fact that a human has only 2 arms and 2 legs... it was then set up as if it were to be performed live one day. Obviously the breaks of timbales are meant to be played by another person, as well as the cabassa and shaker designs.
I forgot... there is also a hammond with the leslie that just puts down the chords, to support the "slide" guitar.

Maybe there are too many things, and the song is a bit complex; but overall it seems to me that it works and has a nice fun groove.
My ambition is to make you move your legs, make you smile and make you forget for 3 minutes the ugliness of the moments we go through. If I succeeded, that's ok for me.

Version 24/96 is here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M9FTF4 ... sp=sharing

and here is the MP3_320 version
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NB3aN1 ... sp=sharing

Good day!

GamaGama

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your production.

So far, we sadly have 6 entries -- with plenty of interaction.



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 the next 3 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

Please also remember:
Keep your submissions at a reasonable Sampling Rate/Bitrate and make your material downloadable by the end of the submission period.


And to those sitting on the fence - please don't feel scared off and think "the bar is set too high, I will never make it" - maybe set yourself a private, was shorter deadline. Just make music, submit your entry, join the conversation. See where this goes. By joining, you're already a winner. The rest is bonus.

[GamaGama]

https://soundcloud.com/olli-h-pajulintu ... al_sharing

My first version in mp3-format. After finals changes I'll submit it in wav-format with correct file name, and add the possibility to download it.

Olli it's GREAT! There are some original creative intuitions. It has a very nice and light knopfler's taste.
The only instrument that I can play on a stage is the bass and it's the only aspect of the song that I feel poor. May be that it's sufficient just a mix adjustment, but I think that the only thing that can be better on this song is the bass that doesn't "walk" as it would/could. I feel that it can be a little richer and that can run better together with drums.

By the way the song is a really good idea.

Ciao!
GamaGama

[GamaGama]

Hope I'm posting the link in the right place!

https://soundcloud.com/pocket-sunlight/ ... al_sharing

Hi PocketSun,
I think that your song is very good. It sound like a classical old rock-pop hit. That's excellent! But I think that it's too dirty: too much distortion, to much saturation on the voice... it's a bit confused. I think that if you "clean" it a few and find a small idea (a phrase with a particular sound - may be a classic minimoog - may be on a particular scale) to make it "modern" and with an original hook, it can be a classA song. I listened also some caos on drums (may be the toms) that make confusion on low frequencies and seems to be out of sync.

Surely it's a good song!

GamaGama

[GamaGama]

Hi, here is my first entry in a contest, this one struck home for me. Title: "All Empty."
...

Hi Rich,
I don't have much experience on the "Cowpunk or Americana or alt something and a little tongue in cheek" genre.
I really liked the guitar parts especially the "Fake pedal steel" which is very effective. It seems to me that there are synchronization problems between the various instruments, and in particular the voice, as if perhaps the delays of the plug-ins have not been compensated.
I recommend you to work on the vocals and check the sync, if you fix-it it is definitely a very nice song!

Bye!
GamaGama

[Olli H]

Verse + chorus + verse - and then nothing, so far. Maybe someone has an opinion? As to: can you have both organ and strings in the same song? Any other comments? (WIP = work in progress)

You have two nice totally different parts. One with an accented guitar riff and another smoothly flowing part.
Both of them work well as such, but I wonder if they could be tight together better to form a one coherent song. For example a trick with drums.
Listen Neil Young’s ”Heart of Gold”. It has very similar idea where playing goes from staccato rhythm to smoothly flowing part. But notice: the drum riff remains the same in nth parts. Listen how that simple drum riff (one-and-TWO—three-and FOUR) unifies those parts together.

[Olli H]

and here is the MP3_320 version
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NB3aN1 ... sp=sharing

All the elements are there, lots of different parts, everything is working as such, lots of skillfully created nuances. You’re surely master in those small details. But despite all that, it still feels that the song is repeating itself all the time. I wonder if you dwell too long in each idea. And for that reason one get’s a feeling that it’s not progressing.

There could be a simple solution to that problem. That transition to guitar part bring into my mind Buddy Holly’s ”Blue Days, Black Nights”. It’s extremely simple song, but it just works. And there’s something for you to take. It’s based on just two short ideas, let’s call them A and B.

”Blue Days, Black Nights” repeats this pattern all through the song
1. idea A (starts with I, ends to V)
2. idea A (starts with I, ends to I)
3. idea B (starts with IV, ends to V)
4. idea A (starts with I, ends to I)

That idea B comes just in perfect place to give the needed movement.

Now you go like this (hopefully I heard correctly)
1. idea A (starts with I, ends to V)
2. idea A (starts with I, ends to I)
3. idea A (starts with I, ends to V)
4. idea A (starts with I, ends to I)
5. idea B (starts with IV, ends to V, the guitar part)

So, we have to wait for the row 5 for the change to come. How about trying similar approach with Buddy Holly. Put the guitar part to the third row and then end the circle with line 4. So, shorter circle with more movement. (It might work, or not. But it's very quick to test with that rendered stereo file. Just cut it to couple of parts and move them around and see what happens.)

Then you have that great part with interesting melody lines/chord progressions starting around 1.12. But you begin it with chord I. So it doesn’t give the change that it has a potential to do. How about starting it boldly with III-chord, or whatever surprising chord (v-minor?), and the find your way back to root.

Sorry for going to details, but I feel that you're about to give a birth to a great song, and I would like to hear it with the full potential of it.

[Olli H]

The only instrument that I can play on a stage is the bass and it's the only aspect of the song that I feel poor. May be that it's sufficient just a mix adjustment, but I think that the only thing that can be better on this song is the bass that doesn't "walk" as it would/could. I feel that it can be a little richer and that can run better together with drums.

Thanks, you surely have a point there. I've already a new version where the kick is lower, so that it gives more room to the bass. But now that you mention it, there may be also problems with the bass lines, especially in chorus. I must check it.