SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC05 January 2018 - Winners announced

[Tbase2000]

I Object Your Honor! Why does Germany do their dates backwards? What side of the road to you drive on? My song is called "incomplete" but if you listen to the words it could be called "8th grade teacher", "friendly neighbor", whatever. Not a happy tune but I never thought about a title. Just an idea more than anything. Who cares. Let's continue.

[donkey tugger]

Apologies for the delay - damn you paid employment.

A few random thoughts, and my choices are in the order below;

MOA22 - Anything sung in French always sounds sophisticated and 'arty' to us ignorant, insular Brits! Great vocal take and lovely chord progressions. Would have liked a bit more building throughout the second verse; I know you've got the strings/pad sound introduced but a second guitar part might have been nice as well. Was thinking that a toppy strummed acoustic guitar low in the mix on the second chorus might propel and build it as well. It does end a bit suddenly. I'm not against it per se - but if you are going to end it so abruptly, might be an idea to emphasise this by a spot effect - delay or something on the last note so it echoes into nothing. Just an idea! Overall though lovely stuff. 10

Nige - You've definitely got those prog chops! Loving the vocal harmony bits near the start (getting a bit of 10cc) and the staccato guitar bits (Achilles Lst Stand - ver Zep!!) Drums seem just to lack a bit of bombast to fit the track (bit more overall compression 'snap' and perhaps a bit of sub low end eq?) but the programming is spot on mind. Not being a prog man I could have done with less of the long middle/end section, but that's personal preference - nothing wrong with the composition. Not a big fan of fade outs generally (just checked - no I didn't do one one my song, phew...) but it does work here. Still think there could be a more effective way to end it though..it'll come to me..9

Erictracks - As you'll remember from KVR I always rate your stuff Eric, and this is no exception. Trouble is here, I'm really missing the singing... The musical vision is excellent mind - some really clever key changes, and I'm always a sucker for a bit of a jangle and dissonance combo (being an old My Bloody Valentine fan). I know it's a songwriting competition, but I'll just say that I wasn't a fan of the drums sound - a bit flat for me in this context. I would have liked to hear a more 'ringy' kit on this rather than the dampened one you've got here, and there's no high end zip to them. Get some singing done now! 8

Tbase2000 - It's a pity you didn't get to finish this (or add drums etc) as I was really waiting for a big epic bit when it starts building up at about 1.50 (wasn't looking at the song timing so didn't realise it didn't go on for much longer..) That's a properly committed vocal - your neighbours must love you! I know mine love it so much when I start getting into the singing that they bang on the walls in accompaniment.. What is here is all good stuff - guitars are nicely raw sounding, as befits the song. I think if you were going to expand it at some point you could go for the big panned wide double tracked approach and it would be huge! 7

[donkey tugger]

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.

I do need to get to the bottom of What was that high pitch guitar sound? What was that? Bravo on a great track

I think the bit you mean is at 3.09? If so it's my 12 string acoustic part (played on MIDI guitar using Amplesound 12) transposed up an octave - impossible chords to play on an acoustic I'd think, but I don't have to do it live thank god!

[Tbase2000]

Tricky. Thanks man. Thankfully my neighbors are enough acres away as to not hear my violent screaming bloody sacrifice happening in the studio. I try not to track on Sunday though since their is a church across the street. If I can hear their band they can definitely hear my screams. Sometimes for fun I will hit the distortion on my bass and jam with them.

[donkey tugger]

Tricky. Thanks man. Thankfully my neighbors are enough acres away as to not hear my violent screaming bloody sacrifice happening in the studio. I try not to track on Sunday though since their is a church across the street. If I can hear their band they can definitely hear my screams. Sometimes for fun I will hit the distortion on my bass and jam with them.

Hehe, I live more or less next to a church too - evangelicals. They really give it some on the singing front, and the preacher is a very, very scary man - when they have the windows open in summer you can hear him laying into the congregation Biggest problem for me is the reggae lads downstairs; it seems every time I get set to record some acoustic guitar on comes the dub...

[Tbase2000]

Well you have heard some of my lyrics. Imagine tracking them 60 times to get it right plus harmony tracks. LOL. WTF is going on over there at his house? Probably why nobody comes to visit now that I think about it. No cops, no problems. Nothing freaky happening, just some music recording. Should put a red light out front to alert the neighbors and community. "Recording". Maybe a blue light since Nige uses a red light for his business and I don't need the unwanted traffic.

[erictracks]

10. donkey tugger “point of collapse”
Beautiful sounding progression. That turnaround chord at like :40 is killer. Ooh it’s even more beautiful at 1:00. The sound choices are all impressive. The line behind the chorus, that little plucked sounding thing. This is definitely the most atmospheric song this month. Man you are good at this. 3:10 was a really nice transition with that string sound tailing off. I’m feeling a gilmour pedal steel though I know it’s not there.

9. Nige “Exemplar”
Energetic - sounds amazing - reminds me of Achilles Last Stand. Breaks open at 2 minutes - extremely dig the moody instrumental break. Though a few weird notes in the guitar solo took me out of it. That sustain effect was okay, I'm not sure if I'm convinced. This kind of tails off, and doesn't exit with the same level of "holy shit" with which it entered. I'm in awe of how good these parts sound, and how clear this mix is.

8. MOA22 “Press It”
I dig that little rhythm at the end of each phrase. This composition has a journey and destination. The verses make sense, I like that buildup through verses and pre-chorus to hook. 2:44 is a welcome bridge break. Guitar part changes up a bit, and then back to the dramatic chorus. It’s good. Dig the guitar harmonies. Maybe add one of those (potentially corny/cliché) key modulations in an additional chorus, maybe as a way to resolve this moodiness.

7. Tbase2000 “untitled”
This is like the slow song in your band's set, I can see crowd giving it up for this. Like, if you had a video in the video era, it would be this song, live. Crowd singing along, knows all the words. Tone change at 1:50 is cool, it gets really intense. Nicely crafted bit of self contained intensity. I think it would benefit from a bridge and a break from the core progression, but I might be missing the point.

[Mister Fox]

Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the results of Songwriting Competition 05

The winners podium consists of:

1. MOA22
2. Nige
3. donkey tugger

Everyone voted, no ties, no <4 participant rule taking place
We have no disqualifications


Here are the results as chart in image form:




Thank you so much for your participation.



License selection:

We'll now perform with the usual. The top three spots can select from the available price pool. First place has the first pick, then second place from what is left, then the third place. Selecting licenses is handled in public, please. After that, please get in touch with me (via PM) with your contact data. In case of the "Bjulin Waves" sponsorship - the winners podium can additionally select one "Inspire Me" package on top of the license selection (please mention that in the PM).

As usual - you're not forced to pick up anything. You can pass and therefore offer more to select for the next person in line. Just let all participants/winners/the staff know in a timely manner.



Feedback about the "Songwriting Competition" is welcome (please do so here).

See you in in the next Challenge!

[erictracks]

I just wanted to thank you guys for the feedback. Your entries this month were killer.

Tbase2000: I was ecstatic you wrote 'bass is on point', since you mentioned it's your main instrument. Your comment about the time to develop themes was right on. I'm always working on balancing patience and boredom in those things.

MOA22: I nodded when I saw "lack of unity on the drums programming": this is so very true. My drum programming needs a lot of work. I'm very pleased you got an epic feel from my track!

Nige: Hell yes -- 80hz is where my room has a huge null in the mix position and its frustrating. Your mixes are rocking and pristine so thanks for the mix feedback. Very pleased you noticed the 6/8 verses and the layering.

donkey tugger - I've been listening to a lot of MBV and early Lush, so that was definitely an inspiration for the texture. I was almost to the deadline, and used an addictive drums midi preset called "shoegaze" on some parts which is ridiculous haha

[MOA22]

Thank you for you kind words,

really happy, because the writing/recording/mixing process of the song was pretty fast.
And that is what i want to improve...

Everybody has made some really good music !!!

This time, i will be happy with the Lunaris software from Luftrum.
Thx to Fox and MC