SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC05 January 2018 - Winners announced

[donkey tugger]

Enough arseing about with it - them orchestral drums are just bastards and I'm fed up messing. Some slightly morose shambolic overblown pop;

http://www.bennyleeds7.myfreeola.uk/swc ... llapse.mp3

[erictracks]

'Catching On'

WAV:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nyrqijmxfso1c ... n.wav?dl=0

MP3:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/873n2ggxwwf8i ... n.mp3?dl=0

Out of time and didn't record vocals, so this month's entry is an instrumental.

I put it through tape emulation and compressor hell, just to get some interesting sounds, since it has the potential to get boring where there were supposed to be lyrics. I probably fried it.

Addictive Drums
Arturia Matrix 12
Tele -> Memory Man ->Bassdude & S-Gear
Jazz Bass -> Bassdude

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 24 hours left to submit your production

[Mister Fox]

It is the 26th January 2018, 1:05am GMT+1/CET - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended

Thank you so much for your participation. We had 5 participants, 2 more entries compared to last month (3 entries). No add-on rule (Staff adding "balancing vote") does apply.



How do we go from there?

Over the course of the next (hopefully) 24-48 hours, I'll gather all links into one post and hot-link to that from the first post of the thread. So please, check your links again. Mistakes and hiccups do happen on the internet. We then perform with the "public vote" system.


We have 5 participants, those being: erictracks, donkey tugger, Tbase2000, MOA22 and Nige.
That means that each participant can vote for 4 tracks, the staff will not vote

The Top 10 list (or Top 4 per participant rather) can look something like this:

01 (10 pts) - Mr Moon
02 (9 pts) - Mr Sun
03 (8 pts) - Mrs Venus
04 (7 pts) - Mr Mars and his companions

Please also take note of the Rules and Guidelines on giving feedback

Feedback from non-participants is highly encouraged (voting not needed!). Musicians and Engineers are always after constructive criticism. This is what this forum is about.




If you want to start on next month's Songwriting Competition already, take a look at the Upcoming Challenges announcement thread
http://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122




Please have an eye on this thread!

[Mister Fox]

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Thursday, 01-FEB-2018 11:59pm GMT+1/CET latest


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)



Here is the collection of productions from all participants:

"Exemplar"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ishfvg2672xcr ... e.mp3?dl=0

The song is named "Press it"

PRESS IT
wav

<no name given>

MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qM6Gj_ ... sp=sharing
Wave: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iYWmVK ... sp=sharing

"The point of collapse"

http://www.bennyleeds7.myfreeola.uk/swc ... llapse.mp3

"Catching On"

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nyrqijmxfso1c ... n.wav?dl=0
MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/873n2ggxwwf8i ... n.mp3?dl=0

Please consult this post of how your vote could look like.

Good luck to all participants!

[Tbase2000]

I'd like to kick of by thanking Mr Fox for keeping me around an in the game. Truth be known this is my favorite competition and I just love hearing new projects. It fulfills me to be able to have a listen and a voice as well as a critique.

#1(10) Moa22. This track was AMAZING! The guitars are so sexy and smooth. You killed me on the vocals. I love that you went French on and you owned it. Your delivery and the way is was perceived is so much more real and comfortable than anything I have heard you sing. This was just beautiful. The bass and kick combo stood out to me. I like em. If I have any complaint it would be the single keyboard track. That could be much bigger but who knows when they are laying out a song. It could be orchestral. I didn't even listen for drums. Are there drums on this track, I don't know, I just got lost in the music. Nice work bro!

#2(9) Donkey. Intro I would have liked another instrument to have held the high-end. When the strum comes in its a great guitar tone but a noticeable change in dynamics.
1 word: Authentic. Your vocals are real. When everything comes in are they all on the same verb? There are things like your bell sounding keys that don't really need it. Should be drier accents.
Wow: That high pitched mandolin sounding thing really melted me. I guess it had been there from the start but when it got soloed that was a great moment.
Vocally I think you made the most out of your sound production wise. This is me...make me sound good, and you do and you did. Your voice is organic and raw.
Your keyboard work was great. You picked good sounds and they hold it together giving it more flavor. This isn't just an acoustic track.
I do need to get to the bottom of What was that high pitch guitar sound? What was that? Bravo on a great track

#3(8.5) Nige. On any other day this would be a #1. A lot of my choice was how I felt after the song was over. Your song starts and I don't know what era I am in. The intro is strong. It all starts to make sense at :15 and then I settle in. :40 I'm ready for some vocals. If I had 10 different vocalists to pick from for this song, I would not pick yours. However, you layed that out perfectly for any one of the other 9 to come in and knock it out in 10 minutes. That's production! 1:15 I'm not feeling the chops and this is going to be my complaint, its to clean. There are so many beautiful parts to this song, but the lasting taste is that it feels clinical. Rubber glove at the office stuff. There it is.

#4(7) Eric. This is good bro. Really good just not finished and I totally get it. I like the solid clean picking. The bass is on point. 1:15 that hook is sexy! 1:42 works 2:15 progression 2:30 Non-resolved conflict and then my complaint. 2:50 - 3:27 is all the time this has to develop. It goes longer.
You come back late with the same hook from the beginning that I love but you only do it for a measure. I love that hook. Bring it back as a signature to the song at the end with the same beat and all. I think you have a great song here.


1-4 like it is. You guys killed it this contest.

[Tbase2000]

Probably a typo but for the record...when does voting end? Voting until 01-02-2018 . I'm going to assume that's a 02-01-2018 but I never assume anything. Hmm.

[Mister Fox]

Not a typo.

Germany (or Europe rather) writes dates in the form of DD-MM-YYYY rather than the US known form MM-DD-YYYY.
Which is why I note down the date in written form (e.g.: Thursday, 01-FEB-2018 11:59pm GMT+1/CET), and why there is the global timer existing.

So including today, you folks have 3 days left to submit your vote. (actually, right at this moment, 60 hours left).
Don't want to get disqualified, then please cast your vote.

[MOA22]

erictracks,

what a special and quite epic stuff. Could be a nice soundtrack. Love the atmosphere and the recording too.
Love the fatness of those drums. Guitars are beautiful, and synth just there to help some « real » instruments. Just a thing to say : there is some weird fills and a lack of unity on the drums programmation.
Creativity +++
Recording +++
I like ++++
10 +

donkey tugger,

Wow, totally catched by your song. The drums are awesome,
nevermind if they are not always realistic. The arrangement is
on the high level pop song’s side. The intensity is growing and growing again… The recording is quite good apart from the vocals that is too strong in the lo mid range, and i feel some hesitations in the beginning (that can be a artistic choice). Btw a real pleasure to listen to. Congrats !!!!
Creativity +++
Recording ++
I like ++++
9 +

TBase2000,

No drums, in this case no problem. I really love your vocals on that song, sounding good and really natural. I wish you would not « shout » too loud, a slight growl would have been better (for my taste). Once again, guitars are well played, maybe too much gain, nothing. Simple song, great effect. The creation process was fast, I thing it is the way you have to work.
Great job Tony, congrats !!
Creativity +++
Recording +++
I like ++++
10 +

Nige,

Pretty sure you started to work on it a long time ago. Amazed by the punch/creativity/quality of the music you created there. You have to be proud of your voice, it is pretty unique (but still some work on it, you are not far from what it should be for me)
A really good listening experience. Really high level !!!! Guitars sound good, just the appropriate doze of high mid. Drums are from a programmation god !
Just, i think you could mix it dirtier, more distorted, more punch on the kick… My taste.
Creativity +++
Recording +++
I like +++++
11 +

Shit, have to choose between 2 contestants…
The more cowbells wins… shit, no cowbell.

So :
10 points to Nige
9 points to TBase2000
8 points to erictracks
7 points to donkey tugger

You killed me this month.
You all rock guys !!!!

[Nige]

I'd just like to express right off the bat how impressed I was with the

quality of the entries this month, really outstanding stuff.

1 - MOA22 "Press it"

Would someone just give this guy a record deal already;-)
But seriously, this is extremely competent songwriting and compositional skills from a musician that understands how to sculpt melody and arrangement into a cohesive, well thought out, and delivered track.
I was reeled in from the very first bars with the catchy guitar hook and clever little turn-around.
Composition-wise, I really can't find fault, the pacing and arrangement keep the listener engaged throughout with interesting guitars and strong vocal hooks, although the midi drums took me out of the illusion in certain places, e.g the flam at 0:47, and possibly a bit more spread on the hats.
From a mix standpoint, again I have to get really picky to find problems, but I felt the bass was a little too "ticky" (1k) and seemed to be competing with the kick slightly.
It would have been nice to get a bit more presence and overall level from the right-hand guitar to help compliment the main left-hand guitar.
A nice song with (dare I say it) tons of commercial appeal, two thumbs up, and a pat on the back.

2 - erictracks "Catching On"

For me personally, the lack of vocals on this track didn't detract from my listening experience in the slightest, and on the contrary, the wrong approach to the vocal composition my have possibly swayed me in the other direction.
To kick it off, the fact that we're not in 4/4 grabs my attention immediately, and then we get these sweeping textures of sound as the track unfolds.
For someone like myself, as a listener who craves a more unconventional approach to a composition coupled with interesting, well thought out layers and hook laden guitar melodies, 'Catching On' ticks all boxes for me, and had my attention from start to finish. I really love your bass sound in particular.
From a mix standpoint, there seemed to be a build up around 80Hz and overall the mix felt a little muddy and undefined in the lower mids. I would have possibly like a bit more overheads in the mix, the cymbals seems to get a little buried when things start getting busy.
A clear winner on any other day for me.

3 - donkey tugger "The Point of Collapse"

As with the last two entrants, I was litertally hooked in from the opening bar, and things just got better for me as the track progressed and the layers just kept building up, texture upon texture. I didn't think any of the elements felt out of place and the sparce vocal approach, with it's clever melodies really elevated this into a highly enjoyable listen, although they felt quite brittle and slightly boomy, but looking back within the context of the track, it didn't detract from my listening experience. I guess the only gripe I had with this as a complete composition was the fact that it ended where it did and left me craving more. A big outro half as long again (or more) wouldn't have worried me in the least.
As with erictacks, this for me, would have been a clear winner on any other day. I'd definitely be interested in hearing more along these same lines. Really nice work.

4 - Tbase2000 ">insert title here<"

As always, with Tbase's vocals a really strong performance and use of interesting melodies, not to mention the angst and emotion being conveyed is really powerful, although there was some quite audible level fluctuations that seemed to rob power from a lot of the vocal delivery.
I really liked the vocal treatment too, and the bass sounds great.
For me personally as a listener, who needs and craves an ever-evolving, interesting approach to the songwriting to keep me interested, I found myself more than a little bored by the time we reach the songs (rather short) conclusion.
I felt the music was in stark contrast to the heartfelt vocal delivery and dark tone of the lyrics, with the one and only riff feeling almost whimsical in nature, coming mainly from the B note being played and giving the whole track a Major/happy vibe which, as I mentioned above belied the darker tone of the vocals/lyrics.
As a complete composition (vocals aside) I felt like there was very little to engage the listener and the lack of rythym elements and interesting textures made it feel like a lazily and hastily slapped together rock track where someone had forgotton to unmute the drums before printing.
The 8 seconds of silence at the beginning, and lack of even a track name kind of summed up this whole song for me,and that's a lazily written piece of incomplete music.
Could be a great track with more effort, but fell short by a long way for me as it stands.