SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC065 January 2023 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

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

So far, we have 4 entries -- with some great 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.

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" - set yourself a shorter private 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.

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

I thought, why not. Just started working in Renoise and that is excellent for the samplebased chaos I had in mind. The samples are....hm, interesting, so yeah, thinking outside the box is applied here. Anyway. I started with finding a suitable kick for the beat. I used the Cardboard Box for that. I just tried different sounds to see what I could do with them. Most of the time with lots of distortion, some delay and weird stuff to make it sound like I could fit it in the track. I started yesterday evening and I wanted to let you listen to my first draft. I've still got lots of idea's. Hope I have the time to work on it next couple of days so I can mix it properly. It is an overdriven-jungle-breakbeat-chiptune-meets-rock-fusion-on-speed track. I might dial back the distortion a bit....it is a bit heavy on the ears. working on it.... :-)

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ahp8xH6KRIfbgTLwdJ- ... A?e=dW3IUh

Enjoy!

Jeroen

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

I just uploaded a new version....actually a total new song. Wasn't happy with it. This one gives me energy :-) The link in my post above should open the newest version.

Cheers,
Jeroen

[Mellow Browne]

Hey there,

I had a track already finished but I was not satisfied, so I tried to get out of my comfort zone. It was challenging so I used a combo of sampling and sound design.

Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-Ixmz ... sp=sharing

Here are the sounds I used and how:

► Show Spoiler

Drums (Kick, Snare, Hihat): drum loop 90 bpm > sliced in Logics Drum Machine Designer for individual drum programming, adjusted envelopes

Drum Fill and percussion groove: Shane TSC Break01 + Mrs Taylor teaching marching drums 03 > sliced in Logics Q-Sampler, adjusted timing

Ambience Sample: Astral Arp Bb maj 110bpm > loaded in Serato Sample, lowered the key by 8 semitones, chopped first 2 bars in 4 slices and reversed the 3rd beat of it, adjusted timing to get that hypnotic ambient sound

Sub: sin_55Hz_6dfFS > loaded in FAW Sublab and added lots of saturation, adjusted high and low cut for taming resonances

Short Bass Buzz: Snare Bass Comp.54 > loaded in FAW Sublab and added lots of saturation and high cut for taming resonances

Noise Arpp: Hollow > loaded in Arturia CMI V, lowered it one octave and adjusted loop start, added some vibrato for movement

UFO Organ Sound: Lazer Pluck C > loaded in Arturia CMI V, raised it an octave and lowered it by 3 semitones, adjusted loop, start and sample length + backward/forward loop function, added vibrato for movement

Flute: voice_semi_falsetto_keyE > Arturia CMI V with loop function on, adjusted loop part, fine tuned envelope and vibrato for motion

Quirky Synth: Lazer Pluck C > loaded in Arturia CMI V with loop function + backward/forward motion on, adjusted loop points, fine tuned envelope and vibrato

Quirky Synth Layer: 2 C-Flute Natural C > loaded in Logics Alchemy, played with the formant, spectral and additive layer, but I'm not sure what I really did there, I like the result because it sounds pretty much like the first Quirky Synth I made before

Wobble: Lazer Pluck C > loaded in Arturia CMI V, reversed the sample, adjusted loop cues + converted it in "time synth" mode

Sword Fight: Metal_Lid_Noises_and_Scrapes + swoosh higher > added delay in reverse chaos mode

Rise FX: white_-6dbFS_3s: added Logic AutoFilter for Rise effect

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

Hey there,

I had a track already finished but I was not satisfied, so I tried to get out of my comfort zone. It was challenging so I used a combo of sampling and sound design.

Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-Ixmz ... sp=sharing

[/spoil]

Nice track! I like the relaxed vibe. It has got an underground feel to it......is a good thing.

[EsteveCorbera]

Challenge companions and Mister Fox, Good night!!

I present to you my theme for this month.

As always I tend to make music in the style that I would like to learn.
Could you say I'm into New Age music this month?
As always, I take advantage of the challenge to experiment.
The main melody is an improvisation I made with the MIDI keyboard. From here the chords have been built in the form of pads. These are the ones that bring the melody to the theme. Saying these pads look amazing with the Grain Sample Manipulator (a grain Reason synth).
And this succession of notes serves as the bottom for the rest.
There are bells that are an arpeggio of the note that marks the melody.
There is a sequence of notes that are repeated and vary subtly, which have also been built from the same sequence of notes.
For this repeating sequence I have used three reason players chained one after the other. A Euclidean sequencer that varies the density of notes with an LFO synchronized to 8/4, that sends the notes to the Note Echo that plays 4 notes in a row, and that sends it to a sequencer (Retouch Control Phrase Key Triggered Sequencer) that draws the sequence main.
I also vary this sequence with an automated delay that is only activated on certain notes plus others.
And, in the final part of the theme, the same constant repetition of the sequence played by the Retouch Control Phrase Key Triggered Sequencer player is also added to the other previous sequence.

Mr. Fox, thanks for the challenge of this one more. It is very encouraging. Having to create the songs from the given samples is always a great challenge.

Thank you colleagues.

(translated with google)




Equipment:
DAW:
Reason 12.5

Instruments:
Grain Sample Manipulator (Guitar Tuning E-String.wav)
Mimic Creative Sampler (C-Flute Natural C.wav)
Mimic Creative Sampler (Glockenspiel High C mono up until 6k.wav)
Mimic Creative Sampler (oven-door_locking-mechanism.wav)
Mimic Creative Sampler (Swoosh Higher.wav)
Mimic Creative Sampler (Hit Metal Barrel.wav)

Effects:
RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb
The Echo
Polar Dual Pitch Shifter

Players:
Scales & Chords
Note Echo

Utilities:
RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator
Pulsar Dual LFO

Reason Rack Extension:
Lectric Panda Fritz (Effect)
Lectric Panda CV Player Tap (Player)
Retouch Control Phrase Key Trigged Sequencer (Player)
RoboticBean Euclidean Rhythms (Player)

Other instruments outside of Reason:
Glitchmachines PALINDROME (ShaneSerumLab01(95).wav)

Othet effects outside of Reason:
2B Played Music Warble
2B Played Music 2B Filtered
Analog Obsession BUSTERse
Arturia Dist COLDFIRE
Bedroom Producers Blog BPB Saturator
Cableguys ShaperBox3
Plugin-alliance Vertigo VSM-3
Waves Brauer Motion

Other tools:
IrcamLab The Snail
iZotope Ozone 9
Plugin Alliance SPL HawEye

Samples:
Guitar Tuning E-String.wav (Played by Grain Sample Manipulator)
C-Flute Natural C.wav (Played by Mimic Creative Sampler) (Effects: Lectric Panda Frit & 2B Played Music Warble)
Astral Arp Bb maj 110bpm.wav (Effect: Polar Dual Pitch Shifter, Bedroom Producers Blog BPB Saturator, Plugin-alliance Vertigo VSM-3)
Glockenspiel High C mono up until 6k.wav (Played by Mimic Creative Sampler) (Effect: Polar Dual Pitch Shifter, Waves Brauer Motion, RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb)
oven-door_locking-mechanism.wav (Played by Mimic Creative Sampler) (Players: Scales & Chords,
Note Echo, Retouch Control Phrase Key Trigged Sequencer + Pulsar Dual LFO)
ShaneTSCBreak02(120bpm).wav (Effects: 2B Played Music 2B Filtered, Arturia Dist COLDFIRE, Plugin-alliance Vertigo VSM-3)
Swoosh Higher.wav (Played by Mimic Creative Sampler) (Effect: Bedroom Producers Blog BPB Saturator, Plugin-alliance Vertigo VSM-3)
Hit Metal Barrel.wav (Played by Mimic Creative Sampler)
Metal_Lid_Noises_Hits_and_Scrapes.wav
05_Pitchshifter_Feedback.wav

[OrpheusXL]

Well, finally I made it.
Here's my contribution to the contest SWC065.

https://soundcloud.com/orpheusxl/le-roi-cest-moi

Some infos about the samples I used and how I tweaked them:

Le Roi C’est Moi

Tempo: 90bpm - 4/4
Duration: 2:11 min
Key: C major

Drum loop 90bpm-24b
Guitar tuning E - - - MAutoPan
Audio 3 - - - recorded voice effect #1
Audio 10 - - - recorded voice effect #2
Sin 440 Hz - - - AASamplePlayer + DS Tantra 2
Bass (Oven door locking mechanism) - - - AASamplePlayer + BassAmp
Lazer Pluck C - - - AASamplePlayer + MAutopPan
Voice semi falsetto key E - - - +DS Tantra 2 (GL Terminal) + Gain +Clip distortion (--> this is what sounds a bit like a sax)
Voice semi falsetto key E - - - +DS Tantra 2 (FLT Aurora) +Gain
Lazer Pluck C - - - AASamplePlayer + echo
Spatula Sound (Imgur dC9OUYh) - - - reversed + chopped
Ruler
Sin 440 Hz 6dBFS_0.3s - - - + FKFX Obvious + Echo
Laser Pluck with delay - - - MAutoPan
Drum loop 90bpm-24b-2 (additional for the last part) - - -


Any suggestions or critics are appreciated!

[AlexHyper-EZBanks]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LGvStI ... share_link

Track - Abattoir

This was a lot of fun for me and I super enjoyed playing with the samples. I didn't start with any direction, I just played with the sounds to see what came out.

Most stuff was mangled in Logic's sampler and I used a lot of random LFO modulation sent to loop position and loop length. I set about making all the basic building blocks of music; bass, percussion, stabs and pads, and then slapped them in willy-nilly!

All in all, I spent about 6 hours on this track

Alex

[becsei_gyorgy]

Hi All,

Due to other commitments, I had not planned to participate in this month's competition.
Anyway, sound design is not my area of expertise either, I don't really like to spend a lot of time twiddling knobs on synthesizers
I didn't feel any real motivation, then I read Mr. Fox's friendly reminder:
„set yourself a shorter private deadline. Just make music ... See where this goes.”

And...Yesterday afternoon I was thinking that the tight deadline already makes the competition difficult, so how about looking for an even bigger challenge. Instead of the nearly 100 samples we received, I would have to create something from just one sample (like in the Andrew Huang videos).

Colorado weeks' adlibs-90bpm-bm.wav was the winner, because of the great vocal, the tone was perfect, it was quite inspiring for me.

Of course, this sample also had its challenges.

I used Serato Sampler for the vocal chops,
the "instruments" were made in the Phase Plant Sampler (I used just the Sampler, no wavetable synthesis, no wav slicing in DAW, always the full sample was put into the sampler.) I added effects to these (eq, amp, distortion, compressor etc. - see list).
The only exception was making a "high hat". After several rounds of EQ-Envolution-Compressor, I rendered the resulting sound and put it into the Hatz VST.

All in all, it was an interesting experiment, but I don't think this sample mangling will be my main field of songwriting in the future.


Used Sample: adlibs-90bpm-bm.wav (colorado weeks)

► Show Spoiler

VST:
Phase Plant
Hatz
Serato Sample

FX:
Pro-Q3
UA Triad
RBass
RVox
RCompressor
Acme Opticom XLA-3
Vertigo VSC-2
Gem Comp LA
OTT
Archetype Plini
CLA Guitars
Brauer Motion
PanMan
Echoboy
Oxford Envolution
Butch Vig Vocals
Tai Chi
Valhalla Shimmer
DS Tantra 2
A1 Trigger Gate
Reels

Master:
TDR Slick EQ M
bx_townhouse
Oxford Inflator
Gullfoss
Oxford Limiter
Correlometer
SPAN
Youlean LM

Used Sample: adlibs-90bpm-bm.wav (colorado weeks)

[Mellow Browne]

Nice track! I like the relaxed vibe. It has got an underground feel to it......is a good thing.

Hey @JeroenZuiderwijk, thanks for the feedback.

I just uploaded a more polished version, I fixed a few things in the mix. I also added some pictures of the arrangement and mixing window so you can see what tools I used. Feel free to ask for more information!

Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

@OrpheusXL, maybe this was intended, but I feel your drums could be louder in the mix and @ 01:28 they are panned all the way to the left. Accident or purpose?