SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC082 June 2024 - Winners announced

[APi_ZZ]

Sorry folks.
I am not in this time ... due to whatever (and other lousy excusions).
So have a great time without my contribs.

BTW TMy track was totally made by UDIO. I just stripped the voices (via SpectraLayers), added some stuff, and that's it.

Eventually see/hear y'all next time. Have a good time.

[Mister Fox]

It's the 02nd July 2024, 10:25 (UTC+2/CEST) - the Voting Period has officially ended.

Sadly, not all participants have submitted final feedback (@APi_ZZ has withdrawn by own decision), we therefore have 1 disqualification.


Please no more changes to your feedback from this point forward.
I will post the results within 2-3 workdays. (this is not an automated process)


Please have an eye on this thread

[Mister Fox]

Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the results of Songwriting Competition 081

The winners podium consists of:

1. @BenjiRage (47 pts)
2. @TrojakEW (45 pts)
3. @VCA-089 (31 pts)

Apologies for the waiting time, this is not an automated process.

<4 participant rule is not in use (staff comments and votes, my vote would count as bonus)
We have 1 disqualification (due to lack of feedback / a final vote)
We have 0 withdrawn entries (but counts as submission within the deadline, yet couldn't be voted for)
We have several users still in the game that tied

• no (more) users that tied

"Sole (License) Winner" rule does not apply - 3-position Winners Podium (>= 9 participants prior to the deadline)


STATISTICS SHEET:
Overview of Submissions (PDF - updated: 02-JUL-2024, full sheet)

!

Bonus Info

Short info: I am using Wavelab 10 for batch analysis, then I manually port the CSV export to a Microsoft Excel/Open Office Calc sheet with custom layout (this is not an automated process). As pointed out in this post from SWC047 / July 2021, Wavelab has different tolerances for dBTP max analysis compared to tools like iZotope RX, Youlean Loudness Meter, NUGEN Audio VisLM, etc. To find a common ground, I've implemented "allowed tolerances" (just like with the Mix Challenge). These are based upon allowed offsets mentioned in the white papers for EBU R128 and ITU-R BS.1770-4. Since no measurement tool is the same, to be on the save side, please export at -14,1 LUFS ILk max, and -1,1 dBTP max. As usual, I did list/analyze alternative releases (MP3s and FLAC). If you've submitted your entry in multiple file formats, the statistic sheet will focus on the uncompressed material first (WAV), then FLAC, then MP3. The higher the quality, the less possible loss on bonus points for "Loudness Specs" due to offsets introduced by a used CODEC. In this case, FLAC and MP3 are merely for information purposes.

Here are the results as chart in image form:



Thank you so much for your participation.

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	INFORMATION: As of January 2023, I am adapting the same voting mechanic as most other International Songwriting Competitions utilize. Nearly all of these games use(d) a 01 to 05 points system (top 5 entries) in some shape or form. The main difference to our game: these ones don't offer bonus points or penalty points, neither are they tiered (depending on the participant amount). I hope to get that properly sorted out in form of an extensive Rule Book update in the foreseeable future (serious apologies for the waiting time). Breaking up a tie: There was no unbreakable tie that needed to be addressed. An explanation on the bonus points and penalty points: Due to exceeding the loudness specs, the following users could not acquire all 4pts bonus -- only @Arelem exceeded the loudness limits this month (-14,0 LUFS ILk). I sadly had to withdraw 2pts bonus from @Miha from the 5pts max for "Documentation", due to the fact that there was no technical documentation (instrument usage would have sufficed). I also could not award the full 2pts bonus to @Miha, due to the fact that feedback was only given to 8 participants (personal choice). lastly, @APi_ZZ decided to withdraw from the feedback and voting process, which sadly results in a disqualification. It's great to see more than 10 participants again. I hope you all had fun and learned something new in the process. See you folks in the next game.

License selection:

We will now perform with the usual. Selecting of licenses is handled in public. In order of the winners podium, and only if you want to, please select one license/company out of the pool and mention it in this thread, then (important) please get in touch with me (via PM) with your full name, email address and your license selection.

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 (if there is a spot existing / not available for "sole winner" mechanic). Just let all participants/winners/the staff know in a timely manner (within 5 days of this post). Once one company has been selected, it's out of the pool for the next person on the podium.

!	Bonus Info
	As part of a new collaboration with Hornet Plugins, you are allowed to select either 2 plugins at a maximum value of 20 EUR MSRP for both, or one individual plugin of choice from the whole available plugin range (bundles are exempt). Due to time constraints, I could not make a bigger announcement about this yet. Apologies for the inconvenience.

I re-open the field for talking some more about each others' productions. If things drift a bit too off-topic, please use the General Gossip thread, or Discord.



See you in in the next challenge!


Songwriting Competition 083 (July 2024) has just started. And it features a special twist this month!

See you there as well.

[JeroenZuiderwijk]

Sorry folks.
I am not in this time ... due to whatever (and other lousy excusions).
So have a great time without my contribs.

BTW TMy track was totally made by UDIO. I just stripped the voices (via SpectraLayers), added some stuff, and that's it.

Eventually see/hear y'all next time. Have a good time.

Hi ApiZZ
I hope it is not because your song got a lot of critisism about being AI generated. It did raise some eyebrows but it was also a interesting experiment I guess and it got the conversation going about the question if this is acceptable or not for the challenge. So don’t take it personal. You were totaly honest about it after all.
Cheers,
Jeroen

[EsteveCorbera]

Congratulations to the three winners and congratulations to the other participants for competing!!!

[BenjiRage]

Wow, very stoked to have won, thank you! A close one again this month, congratulations to @TrojakEW and @VCA-089 for making the podium also, and to everybody for participating

There quite are a few plugins that take my fancy, but I just can't say no to a good synth so I think I'll choose the Synthmaster 1+2 bundle if I could, please

Hopefully see you all in the next one!

[Mellow Browne]

Congratulations to the podium!

Thanks for the feedback!

[APi_ZZ]

Hi ApiZZ
I hope it is not because your song got a lot of critisism about being AI generated. It did raise some eyebrows but it was also a interesting experiment I guess and it got the conversation going about the question if this is acceptable or not for the challenge. So don’t take it personal. You were totaly honest about it after all.
Cheers,
Jeroen

No, I don't mind any critisism about the AI idea.
And I don't take any comments personal -- this is a somehow music oriented site, and thus I regard comments as related to music (and not the person behind) ...
The AI topic is so hot nowadays ... all discussions to&fro are very engaged.
I (personally) go with what Rick Beato says and -- frankly -- to what my experiments deliver. It is fun. It is weird. It is.

Yes -- just that: It is --

So, what now? What to do with those knob-fiddlin' producition inheritage? What about decades of experience?
I don't know. And -- frankly -- I don't really care.

I just do my stuff, I like it. Some other folks seem to like it too, and -eh- that's it. Nussin else.

Conclusion: Have a good, an excellent time doing whatever you love.

Andreas (APi_ZZ)

[AuderMarr]

Sorry for being late, finally I can give my congratulations to the winners!

My second-to-last place was well deserved, I'll never submit my entries so late again, especially if produced that lousily.

Since the June competition is over, as I anticipated, I can leave you the link to the more polished version of "Lucid Sweltering Dreams". It's still not perfect but meh, this ship has sailed and gone away. Time to get on with another project!

[VCA-089]

Congrats to @BenjiRage and @TrojakEW. I'll pass on prize selection...