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SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Winners announced

Thematic Songwriting Competition - recurrence: monthly
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KukoBass
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Re: WIP SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#21

Post by KukoBass »

JeroenZuiderwijk wrote:
Sat Dec 16, 2023 23:53 CET
... with lots of distorion, delay/echo....as if the sound is clipping...that is intentional, I like that weird broken-down sound. The rest (piano / beat) evolved around it. This is a W.I.P. ....needs some more work.
My two cents: It starts beautifully, but I'm not a fan neither of the trap beat nor the drum sounds. I'd go more in a Chillout or Trip-Hop direction with the song (slower, more natural sounding drums), but it's just a personal preference.

You might want to double-check the filename. The template has changed and uses two underscores between SWC, Artist and the name of the song now (it should be "SWC076__JeroenZuiderwijk__LightsDancingInTheNightSky.wav" instead of "SWC076_JeroenZuiderwijk_LightsDancingInTheNightSky.wav").
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#22

Post by KukoBass »

colorado weeks wrote:
Sun Dec 17, 2023 05:10 CET
here's my (WIP) track for this month's SWC. it's a little ditty called "LEDs." nothing like a little heartbreak for the holidays!
I like the mood of the song. The bell-like sounds in the first verse (starting around 01:09) seem a bit too loud compared to the vocals. It works better in the chorus, where the sound is more in the background.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#23

Post by KukoBass »

merci ferdi wrote:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 13:31 CET
hello everyone, I'm new here!
Hello and welcome!
Your drums hit really hard, but I'd dial them back a little in favour of the vocals. They deserve to get more attention and therefore a spot more in the foreground of the mix.
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Re: WIP SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#24

Post by JeroenZuiderwijk »

KukoBass wrote:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 22:46 CET
JeroenZuiderwijk wrote:
Sat Dec 16, 2023 23:53 CET
... with lots of distorion, delay/echo....as if the sound is clipping...that is intentional, I like that weird broken-down sound. The rest (piano / beat) evolved around it. This is a W.I.P. ....needs some more work.
My two cents: It starts beautifully, but I'm not a fan neither of the trap beat nor the drum sounds. I'd go more in a Chillout or Trip-Hop direction with the song (slower, more natural sounding drums), but it's just a personal preference.

You might want to double-check the filename. The template has changed and uses two underscores between SWC, Artist and the name of the song now (it should be "SWC076__JeroenZuiderwijk__LightsDancingInTheNightSky.wav" instead of "SWC076_JeroenZuiderwijk_LightsDancingInTheNightSky.wav").
Thanks for your feedback. I think the trapbeat is a bit over the top. I might replace it with a more low fi jungle beat a little less prominent in the mix.
Cheers, Jeroen
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#25

Post by Doc Jon »

What a great selection of tracks so far, the bar has already been set high for this month!!
Here are some more thoughts on the more recent tracks posted, I have no real expertise here so it is just my personal preference:
KukoBass wrote:
Thu Dec 14, 2023 09:20 CET
Hello fellow contestants,
this is my entry for this month's competition:
I would agree with the previous comments and your changes have certainly improved the track. I think the clarinet lead sound could still benefit from a bit more expression, even more vibrato and a small amount of delay would make it sound a little less synthetic :)

VCA-089 wrote:
Sat Dec 16, 2023 10:27 CET
One of my recent experiments in making lo-fi chillout music is now put in the right context. I still experiment with those sounds, so you may tell me if there is too much processing.
I think the degree of processing is an integral part of the feel of this track so it's all a question of personal preference. Would I dial the reverb back a bit? Maybe, but then again that might affect the overall psychedelic feel if pulled back too much so I'm not sure. Love the glitchy bits! :tu:

JeroenZuiderwijk wrote:
Sat Dec 16, 2023 23:53 CET
I was writing a lot of music lately and the theme this month gave me inspiration for a new track. I wrote this song totally in SunVox
This is great, to be honest I don't think there is anything I would change here (apart from the filename as previously mentioned). Great tune and great mix, this is what would happen if Kraftwerk wrote a Christmas track!
I've checked out SunVox, looks interesting and tricky in equal measure! :hmmm:

colorado weeks wrote:
Sun Dec 17, 2023 05:10 CET
hi everyone!
here's my (WIP) track for this month's SWC. it's a little ditty called "LEDs." nothing like a little heartbreak for the holidays!
Ah, someone else going down the same route as myself! Nothing like a sad song at Christmas!! This is a really great song, the arrangement is perfect but I would suggest a few small changes to the mix. I would probably add either a little more reverb or a very subtle delay to the vocal. The drums need to cut through the mix a bit more, particularly the snare, either a different choice of snare sound or add some compression/saturation to the drum track as well as raising the level slightly. There also seems to be a certain lack of definition in the lower frequencies of the mix, I don't know whether that is the MP3 conversion or whether there needs to be some highpass filtering applied to some of the tracks to clean things up a little in that area :tu:

merci ferdi wrote:
Mon Dec 18, 2023 13:31 CET
hello everyone, I'm new here!
here's what I've done so far
Hello and welcome! This is a nice production, I like the arrangement and would not suggest any changes to the mix The lights theme is there for me, 'lumiere' comes through well in the lyrics. If in doubt you can always add some twinkling synth bells to the music!! :smile:
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#26

Post by Doc Jon »



A short and sweet piano based ballad this month to bring a tear to the eye :smile:

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Brandon740
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#27

Post by Brandon740 »

KukoBass wrote:
Thu Dec 14, 2023 09:20 CET
Hello fellow contestants,

this is my entry for this month's competition:


This give so many happy vibes.. mainly cause it reminds me of red 13 in final fantasy 7.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#28

Post by msgsaltsweet »

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Last edited by msgsaltsweet on Mon Feb 12, 2024 08:53 CET, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#29

Post by Arelem »

Hello All,

For my entry I just started thinking 'lights' and that led me to think of spotlights and fame. I ended up going towards a trap-metal or Phonk track in the vein of Skarlxrd or IC3PEAK but in my own way.



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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC076 December 2023 - Submissions until 24-DEC-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#30

Post by Brandon740 »

Hi


Here is my audio representation of the theme given.


phpBB [media]




Very simple G major.

VSTs:

Neural DSP - Nolly/Mesa
LABS by spitfire
WAVES master chain
BOD(TSE Audio)
Monster DRUMS
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