SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC067 March 2023 - Winners announced

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

The songwriting challenge realy helps in thinking outside of the box. This month even more. I had to download a random chord generator because I never used one. At first it took me a while to play something that I could use but when I let go of the direction I wanted it to go and just went with the flow and started creating…just anything. The ideas started to come. I am happy with the result because I had lots of fun making it. The guitarparts made it a catchy song, otherwise the chords would just be boring weird chords. But thanks to those chords i came up with the rest of the song.

Feedback
I am aware of the fact that music is a personal piece of art. So first of all I want to give respect to all participants of the contest. Everybody put effort in creating something unique.
Here is my feedback:

► Show Spoiler

Aralem “Apathetic”
Dreamy, full sounding sound landscape. Very relaxing vibe. The bass gives a solid foundation without overshadowing the kick. So the mix is very good. The song itself feels like one riff on repeat but funny enough it doesn’t get boring. I like the guitarchords in the arrangement. Maybe a slight variation at the end as a sort of a climax would be cool.

Canese “Untitled”
The instrument sounds are well choosen. The song has got a low fi feel to it and I think that is realy nice. This is definitely one of my favorite songs this month. It is weird but very listenable at the same time. The build up in the middle of the song keeps things interesting. Only thing I am missing is a strong bass line….I think if you feel the bass in this arrangement it would be twice as powerful. But I still like it.

Madmax “quadrophenias Dreams”
That is some wide stereofield. There is a lot going on. I am missing some structure in the song but that is not a bad thing,, it is just that I need something to hold on to when I listen to a song. It sounds a bit chaotic in my ears. I do like what you’ve been doing, it is very creative and different from any mainstream production.

Mellow Browne “DeLorean”
There is some powerful energy in this song. This makes a good foundation to build up on. But I feel it is not complete yet. It sounds good but I’m still missing a theme, hook that realy stands out, that makes you want to stand up, throw your hands in the air and wave ‘m like….. you know?

OrpheusXL “the day when my heart broke”
The song is good, the sounds are lacking some energy. Maybe the sounds themself or could be the mix. Sounds a bit muffled. Like I wrote before…..with a raggea guitar playing over this….would make it very interesting. You made some very cool music and I like the different styles I’m hearing. There is definitely a structure in this song that makes it easy to listen to. It feels like it is telling a story.

KukoBass “Wonders”
Reminds me of a Nick Cave song. With a better mix (where the vocal would sit a bit better in the mix) this is realy nice to listen to. It is a sad sounding but also catchy song. The xylophone is a bit harsh in my ears. But that is just details. Good work!

EsteveCorbera “AI-Clickedu’
It starts realy relaxing. But when the drum kicks in at 0.49 minutes I feel like they don’t fit the sound of the piano well. To much of an eighties rock feel. But the song is nice, you’ve created a flow from beginning to end where lots of things are happening. The build up to the end is also good. I am missing a strong bass line….

Juhu “Mirror Image”
I like the weird combination of electrodrums and jazz…. it works in this arrangement. You could play this in a loungebar anytime. It is an interesting chordprogression but there is around those chords and trumpet not much happening. That gives it a bit of an empty feel.

Jorgeelalto “NotQuite”
Another jazzy song I thought. I understand why. When I played some chords in RipChord it instantly felt jazzy but then the beat comes in. Very cool combination. No jazz, just jungle. I like it very much. It would have been cool if you layered the music some more. It is a bit of a sparse arangement.

Becsei_gyorgy “something to happen”
That is catchy dance hit. This is one of my favorite songs this month, maybe even my favorite. The only thing that distracts me is the fact that the female vocal sits very nice in the mix but the male vocal is very dry and floats on top of it. Apart from that. My compliments!

A Future in Noise “TaDigSamman-1”
Very original recording. The piano and strings make this a beautiful song. The singing is not my thing (I’m sorry) mostly because of the higher parts. The lower parts (verses) sound good. But the guitar…well, you already mentioned the guitar….The ending is hilarious.

GamaGama “SadMountain”
This feels like a Tom Waits concert (and that is a compliment). I realy like the atmosphere. It is realy convincing, couldn’t tell this is all computer. Just easy listening jazz….the sort that makes people wanna go listen to jazz….before they realise it is not all easy listening

And my top 5 (I found it difficult to pick a top 5, there where no bad songs……)

► Show Spoiler

1 Becsei_gyorgy “something to happen”
2 Canese “Untitled”
3 Aralem “Apathetic”
4 KukoBass “Wonders”
5 Jorgeelalto “NotQuite”

[madmax]

"Dissonance in Harmony"
Based on ostinato bass and four bars harmony that is dissonant, compared to a classical idea of dissonance.
The melodies move to create tension and relax, creating some dissonant chords, like b9, #11, even b13,
it's inline with the rules?
No collaboration, just sit and play.
I'm sorry, How I can upload a pictures?

Feedback:
I dont't heard any dissonance, just usual chord, major, minor, 7th and 6
that are, in complex harmony, simple chord, just for create a simple tension.I heard a good songs.

For me

JeroenZuiderwijk
Mellow Browne
Arelem
Jorgeelalto
becsei_gyorgy
Thanks guys, it is a geat school for me

[becsei_gyorgy]

Hi,
My experiences, what was good for studying this month:
• using Scaler to create basic chord progressions and I finally learned a bit more about Scaler's wider possibilities. I watched 1-2 videos about the suggestion mode and modulation mode of the program.
• I've also used Cthulhu very little so far, and now I've found it really useful for creating arpeggios. I will probably use it more in the future, even in other styles of music.
•And which gave me even more experience:
I wrote in the post of my submission that my song is very unbalanced and unmixed.
This is because - although I started making the song late - the melodic progression, midi parts for main instruments, etc. were ready relatively quickly, but afterwards I suffered a lot in the mixing and mastering phase.
When the sound seemed relatively acceptable on my DT 880 and DT 990 headphones, I listened to it on an AKG K72 and got a shock. Also on the phone, or the Sound ID Reference's various mix checks (Car, Laptop, Speaker emu's) etc. sounded terrible. I couldn't make a mix that would have sounded relatively acceptable on several devices. Terribly uneven sound image, bad reverbs, etc.
After that, I changed the reverb, took out pad instruments from the middle, added OTT to the kick, etc. Little by little, everything cleared up, but I had to realize that it could be improved, but the instrumentation itself and the choice of synth sounds didn't always go well, so I tried to do the best I could in the limited time (the evening of the last day).
Now listened to again, so that it is more or less listenable in hindsight, but it was the result of a long and painful process (like almost never before). But it involved a lot of research and thinking, which was great.

This month's feedback
Again, it was difficult to score, since it's like apples and oranges: songs of completely different genres were made.
Since overall every song has a lot of value, and this month there were high quality songs, I tried to write more about what I would do differently.
Which is, of course, a completely subjective matter, either someone finds something useful in them, or completely ignores them, because they do not fit with his artistic ideas - the latter is also completely understandable
I use a translator and this make my words a little simpler and less sophisticated, so please don't take it personally if I've packed something a little less than nice words
When reading my experiences please note that my main headphones are the Beyer DT 990 Pro with some SoundID Reference correction.

Feedbacks:

► Show Spoiler

Arelem - Apathetic
Nice, relaxed beat, good sound choices, acceptable mixing.
The background atmo vocal sounds are a bit repetitive and there are times I would prefer them to be restrained to be more in the background (rather just feel it's there but not dominate so much).
I'd also tone down the pumping reverb/delay effect sometimes to make a bit flatter vocal without the echo.
Otherwise nice atmosphere, good rhythm, good to listen to.

Canese - Untitled
Maybe the creator was preparing for a tropical vacation?
I like the rhythm, I like the simple repetitive melody (but overall the song need a little melodic variety), i like the lo-fi sound.
I really miss a bass in the 80-350 Hz range, even if only a short, rhythmic playing bass sound joins the song.
The rhythm changes are good, I like the percussive elements.
I don't really understand the sudden reverb effect at the very end (3:22), I don't think it's good there.
Overall nice, catchy tropical feeling, nice job.

Madmax - Quadrophenias Dreams
Interesting sounds at the beginning, creating a very excited and mysterious atmosphere.
A bit dark instrumentation and mix, there is almost no high information in it (missing above <3-4K).
In contrast, the bass is too much. Do I feel that the stereo image isn't quite right either?
Despite the easily correctable mistakes in the mix, the composition is top quality in my opinion. Interesting playing in the melodies, the composition is good, the playing of the bass is good compared to the other instruments as well.
Nice creative work.

Mellow Browne - DeLorean
yazzoo-style 80s song start. I like the beginning of the song.
Nice composition, I like the start of the song but one small and little bigger thing that takes me away from the song:
1. small thing, but the click sound seemed right at the beginning, but later on it seemed a bit too clicky for the song (too much compression?) Just a tiny little, but I would either take back from higher frequency or overall volume. Apart from that the mix is good, it's the choice of instrument/composition described in the next point that is a bit more confusing for me:
2. Te pad (solina? jup?) sound, which starts at the 0:20 and and plays throughout the song, I would sometimes leave out completely, or at least take it back (e.g. from 1:27-). As this louder pad sound is a bit stronger than it should be, it completely dominates the song in my opinion. So, for example, the melody from 2:09 onwards doesn't prevail as much.
Or there could be a break in the song, it's a bit monotonous with the loud pad throughout the song.
The rhythmic synths and pluck elements would stand out more, because compositionally there are very good changes in the song. I like the solutions in terms of composition.
Overall I like the 80's style, it starts promising, but later on it's a bit monotonous and the soundscape (in terms of instruments, if that makes sense) is not so pleasant for me.

OrpheusXL - The Day When My Heart Broke
I really like the composition. I like the playfulness, the variations, it's fun to listen to.
Vibrant, good melodies. I really like the bass playing, for example.
I wonder what vocal melody is written for this.
Which are questions for me:
1. there are no high frequencies, nothing above 4-5K. You can hear in the drumming that there's high elements, there's some shaker-like stuff, but it's like a high-cut filter on it. So the song doesn't breathe, it doesn't open up, it's a bit muffled (if that's the right word).
2. from 1:40 onwards, the volume suddenly goes up by a couple of dB. My problem is that the dynamics are the same, the instruments sound the same dynamically, there is no extra element, simply the volume is turned up, which is not very lifelike (as if you suddenly turned up the radio knob - it takes away from the experience).
3. the lead from 0:58 sometimes seems artificial: inappropriate midi notes (at least not the way a live musician would play it), too perfect quantization: too mechanical for the style of the song. It would be nice if this part of the composition was played on the keyboard (or guitar?), it should be a bit more lively.
Despite all that it was very pleasant to listen to, I really enjoyed the song.

JeroenZuiderwijk - RockChord
Overall I like the continuous construction in the song, that it has an arc (which unfortunately breaks on the parts that don't fit), I like the main riff, I love the end of the song.
I would adjust the song a bit, and improve the break part.
Very good material, I wish I had a tenth as much talent/knowledge for writing guitar parts as you do
What would I improve?
1. Bass and kick are very dominant. I would definitely take them down.
2. Some instrument (esp. drums) maybe seems to have a different amount of reverb (not in a good way)
3. I really like the guitar riffs, the rhythm is also good. The composition is true to the title. They are really rock chords, but structurally they stand alone, they have such an instrument/sound and chord presentation character, (a bit of this, a bit of that), but they should be better merged into a song (maybe the song is a bit short, that's why this feeling is strong - I don't know).
1:10- in the break, the same drum rhythm and sound goes on as in the fast previous or next part - it could be varied a little.
1:33- Very good (perfect) ending, by far the best part
I really like the ending, this strong, rock sound: real "crushing" rock, in a good way.
I loved the solo, it's really great.
Overall it could be made into a very catchy, energetic, good rock song. Congratulations.

KukoBass - Wonders
I like the composition, I like the melody, the atmosphere.
You can always impress me with a good melancholic song.
And you don't have to apologize for your voice, it fits the mood perfectly. It has to be handled a bit with software to make it sound perfect, but there is nothing wrong with the raw material and the tone. I like it.
1. The opening vocal lines are a bit shy, you need reverb/delay and sidechain to be clearly heard/understood. On the other hand, later it suddenly becomes much louder (1:02-). A vocal rider, EQ, Dyn EQ (+Sidechain), DeEsser, Compressor - they should all help you with the song.
2. The music box has sharp frequencies that need to be suppressed (Dyn EQ, Soothe). They are too sharp and not good for the melancholic mood either. It is also a few decibels too loud in some parts, it should sound a bit more discreetly in the background (it would strengthen the melancholy better).
Overall I really like it, excellent song.

EsteveCorbera - AI-Clickedu
A real commercial, uplifting song, congratulations, it can easily be sold at Audiojungle-type places.
It is very difficult for me to write such uplifting chord progressions and atmosphere (I always turn to minor chords, which makes the song melancholic ), I congratulate you.
I also like the changes in the composition, as different instruments enter, the changes in rhythm.
I would take the piano back a bit, especially after 0:58- there are sharp frequencies.
And I would also hold back a bit in the middle (piano and pad). (Note that e.g. if it will have a normal voice of a female narration on it, it is not good if you have a lot of elements at 200 Hz and in the range between 400-800 Hz.)

juhu - Mirror Image
A real jamming song, I like the arrangement, the chords, it's all very cohesive.
Are you saying that this is Logic's stock "Studio Trumpet" sound we're hearing and that you played from a keyboard?
Impressive composition and I really like the sound of it.
The mix is also very tasty.
I should write something that I would do differently, but I can't. Maybe sometimes I would take it back from the holding synthetic bass note (e.g. 1:35-), it jumps out and resonate a little. (but this is just for write something )

Jorgeelalto - Not Quite
Nice DnB.
The wobble bass sound was a bit muffled for me, I missed a little top, a bit more contoured vibration, if that's understandable.
You wrote that you are planning vocal parts, yes, I really miss some catchy melody (or just subtly e.g. atmospheric background).
The main elements, the drums are a bit repetitive so far, it lacks a bit of interest, effects, variation, especially at transitions.
To tell you the truth, I'm not really familiar with the DnB style (I can't really advise you on this), it sounds very professional so far what's done, congratulations.

a Future In Noise - Ta Dig Samman
The parts between 0:20-0:40 and between 1:02-1:43 are a pleasant song, good instrument choices and nice vocal.
In the beginning and in the middle, the high vocal and the piano part together are not really good in my opinion.
They disturb each other in sound, they don't match in timing, and they are completely different to the chorus parts in a bad way.
But the chorus parts mentioned above are very good. They seem like fully finished songs, in terms of instrumentation and sound.
And, yes, electric guitars need a bit of refinement.

--------------------------------
GamaGama - Sad Mountain
Nice, jazzy song.
I especially like the trumpet playing. Pleasant, soothing music.

Top 5:

► Show Spoiler

juhu - Mirror Image
OrpheusXL - The Day When My Heart Broke
KukoBass - Wonders
Madmax - Quadrophenias Dreams
Jorgeelalto - Not Quite

[juhu]

juhu - Mirror Image
Are you saying that this is Logic's stock "Studio Trumpet" sound we're hearing and that you played from a keyboard?

Correct - I used my left hand to trigger different Articulations on the "Studio Trumpet" patch while playing melody with my right hand at the same time, that's why it sounds so organic for MIDI. I'm sure it wouldn't fool any real trumpet players out there into thinking it's a real instrument, but it would probably fool me if I didn't already know it was MIDI

The mix is also very tasty.

Glad to hear this mix turned out OK! You see, I always struggle with my mixing phase a lot, and I tend to spend about 70% of my time and effort on mixing and only 30% of my time and effort on composition, arrangement and recording phases. I really want to learn to mix faster so that I can put more attention on composition and arrangement. I also tend to be unable to clearly separate my mixing phase from other phases, meaning that I record a section, then I'm unhappy with the clarity, so I mix and polish that section to get max clarity, and then resume recording. I know this is the wrong order of doing things, but I keep repeating this rookie mistake over and over again

CONCLUSION: my tracks tend to turn out like the top horse because I tend to use the top workflow, so I need to learn to work using the bottom workflow instead:


Just to

[A Future in Noise]

[Mister Fox]

Feedback:
I dont't heard any dissonance, just usual chord, major, minor, 7th and 6
that are, in complex harmony, simple chord, just for create a simple tension.I heard a good songs.

The task of this month's game was to create something with the help of a harmony theory/chord generation tool. The "theme" was basically a play on words, not a definite "you have to".


Also, please provide more feedback as mentioned in the "TL;DR Rules". Please see previous posts of how this could look, and use the edit button on your post to update your feedback. Not participating in the feedback and voting process is the only criteria to be disqualified from the game.

Thank you.

[becsei_gyorgy]

Correct - I used my left hand to trigger different Articulations on the "Studio Trumpet" patch while playing melody with my right hand at the same time

Thanks for the reply. So you changed articulations during your performance. Congratulations, it sounds great. And I didn't know it before, but it looks like Logic's stock trumpet is quite good.

You see, I always struggle with my mixing phase a lot, and I tend to spend about 70% of my time and effort on mixing and only 30% of my time and effort on composition, arrangement and recording phases.

A very good image with the horses , sometimes producers run into this, fiddling with sound more than they should unnecessarily early on.

Anyway, I don't like this method because a nice mix usually requires high quality and/or system resource intensive plugins (and e.g. 7-8 good softsynths is already CPU intensive enough), which increases latency, which makes it harder and harder to record new tracks live, etc. (usually I play everything from the keyboard, very rarely I write midi notes in the DAW (e.g. some arpeggios))
And constantly freezing the tracks is quite cumbersome because I'm tweaking the composition several times later in the creation process.
So that's why i don't often make the mistake of making perfect mixes of the first 8 bars
And telling the truth I don't like fiddling with FX plugins much anyway, I'm more interested in the composition.
That's why electronic music is hard for me, where a kick-bass setup can take some producers days to mess around with

[juhu]

I didn't know it before, but it looks like Logic's stock trumpet is quite good.

Just found this Youtube clip that explains how to trigger Articulations from your keyboard in real-time, check it out:
https://youtu.be/-PCyKAGD2uI?t=201

...a nice mix usually requires high quality and/or system resource intensive plugins (and e.g. 7-8 good softsynths is already CPU intensive enough), which increases latency, which makes it harder and harder to record new tracks live, etc. (usually I play everything from the keyboard, very rarely I write midi notes in the DAW (e.g. some arpeggios))
And constantly freezing the tracks is quite cumbersome because I'm tweaking the composition several times later in the creation process.

Apple Silicon can help alleviate that particular problem substantially, e.g. 16" M1 Pro with 32GB RAM will run complex DAW sessions while remaining cool, quiet and pretty stable at low latency. Scarlett 18i20 (1st Gen) at 128 samples buffer size reports 4.5ms output latency (relevant for virtual instruments) and 9.2ms round-trip latency (relevant for virtual guitar amps) and doesn't glitch provided that you close your web browsers and other intensive apps (and even if you do keep web browsers open it glitches super rarely). I literally do not know what kind of noise the fans make because the fans have never turned on yet, ever. I can't comment on M1 Max or any of the M2 chips though, these may or may not thermal-throttle more easily.

[becsei_gyorgy]

Just found this Youtube clip that explains how to trigger Articulations from your keyboard in real-time, check it out:
https://youtu.be/-PCyKAGD2uI?t=201

Thank you for the video
I was wondering about the sound of the Stock Trumpet because I use Windows and I haven't heard any other work on the internet using the Logic Stock Trumpet as a trumpet track. But with skillful use and a good mix you can get a good sound out of it, your work is an example.

[Jorgeelalto]

Hi all,

First of all, my feedback to all entries:

► Show Spoiler

Arelem - Apathetic: I really like this track. Obviously it'd work better with a vocal and/or a rapper to do its work as a beat but it doesn't get too boring. I feel a bit of a lack of groove, which might be solved by making the chord not always change with a drum hit (syncopated maybe). It feels a bit too rigid, is that caused by how the tool you chose generates the progression?

Canese - Untitled: I like how upbeat this one is, sounds like a happy portable console game (Stardew Valley maybe). It has some unexpected drum developments at certain points, like 1:XX and 2:13, and I feel the change to a more "house" drum programming at around 2:40 doesn't suit the track. It really works well with a 2-step garagey thing like at the beginning (kick and snare sound separated, and no 4-on-the-floor pattern). Gets a bit repetitive near the end, it could have used some more instruments in the second chorus to elevate it to a new height -- the first part could sound more "grounded" like it sounds now, and then the second more "maginificent" (big).

madmax - Quadrophenias Dreams: This track sounds a bit videogamey but in a good way too, and definitely "jazzy" -- reminds me of Gunpoint. I might not be the target of chromatic scales because there are some notes that definitely sound weird/out of place, especially at 1:14 -- in other places it just sounds interesting. Still it doesn't get boring, I thought it was 2 min long but turns out it's 4 so congrats on keeping it going even though there's not much drum movement.

Mellow Browne - Delorean: Ohhh yess I need an 80's BMW 5 series right now to accompany this! Sounds really great, the chord progression is nothing crazy -- just what this genre needs, couldn't have done it better. The guitar solo enters the scene in time, the track is well balanced... Nothing but good things to say about it.

OrpheusXL: The Day When My Heart Broke: This sounds like a videogame too, but not necessarily in a good way -- it depends on whether you were aiming at that. It reminds me of Train Tycoon Deluxe music (which is really nice BTW). Still it's interesting and, melodically, it really works -- you have a lot of musical detail in there.

JeroenZuiderwijk - RockChord: It's a pity because the musical ideas are great, and the guitar parts sound really good, but I think this track is held back by its drums. They sound too much like MIDI module drums, maybe going the Addictive Drums route could help? I really like the guitar solo from 1:30, sounds very classic and I love it. The square synth sounds from the beginning and end are a bit cheesy for me but they could work too with the better drums.

KukoBass - Wonders: I think the only part I dislike of the track is the vocal part -- too much autotune? And it sounds a bit dry too, like it's in your face while the rest of the track is a bit further away. But I really like the drums, the structure of the track, and the melodies with the plucky synth. A really well balanced track I think, works really well.

(EsteveCorbera) AI - Clickedu: It works really well as a background theme, not so much maybe as a standalone tune -- there's a melodic theme with the piano but it could have used a vocal line to create a more powerful hook. Still I think it's good melodically, and well balanced in terms of the rest of the instruments and harmony. And it definitely works perfectly in the video you used it for!.

juhu - Mirror Image: Fun track, I like the laser-like kick. Love it harmonically, the trumpet/sax (sorry, not good at distinguishing some real instruments) is really good. Proper musical complexity I think, you know when to increase energy, decrease it, add complexity in some elements and remove it from others... Nothing but good words for you. Found myself moving my head to the rhythm of the tune, which doesn't happen often!

becsei_gyorgy - Something To Happen: Interesting vocal combo, really like the quickly plucked string instrument you use, in combination with the violin and the synths. Honestly, melodically and harmonically it's really good, works really well as a pop tune, I just feel like it's a bit held back by drums -- although they are not that bad, I'm just missing a bit more energy from them. I sense some Rammstein vibes too, I don't know why.

A Future in Noise - TaDigSamman-1: Impeccable use of the few elements you got in the track. Cannot overstate how much I liked your tune even though I don't really like the genre. Love the dynamics in the piano, the chord selection, the voicings; the vocals, the strings, how the bass accompanies without getting in the middle; how you introduce the guitar at around 0:50; how you handled the structure changes. You definitely know how to write music (and my envy is unmeasurable right now).

Now for my top 5:

1. A Future In Noise
2. juhu
3. Mellow Browne
4. KukoBass
5. Canese


Finally, reflecting on the experience: I'm not really a fan of using music theory tools for myself, but that's because the genres I usually make are not musically complex so I don't need them -- they would condition me to certain musical structures that we don't use. Still I got to be inspired by one, albeit a bit unconventional still (ChatGPT), so I will definitely take advantage of it in the future when I require something more musical. I appreciate simplicity though, and that's something most tools don't provide me -- lots of options, having to MIDI route stuff, etc. I'd very much prefer an in-DAW MIDI generation tool that prints it directly to my timeline, but well...

The best part of participating here though has been hearing other people's materials and admiring the great variety of ideas and musical styles that are out there. Sometimes it's great to get out of our own's musical bubble, and learn to appreciate other stuff. I'll try and participate more often, when I have to get out of my comfort zone.