SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC085 September 2024 - Winners announced

[Elcubano]

Hi Elcubano. This track starts off beautifully. I like how the intensity builds but I think the drums need to kick arse when they come in to give the track more energy. I suggest you turn up the kick and snare, and add a longer reverb on the snare to make the snare tone fuller and longer. It's a common and useful technique to lengthen the snare tone for slower tempo songs. For me, the guitars are all balanced pretty well. Would love to hear the rest of the track once you're done. Great start!

Thanks for the tips! I'll give it a try but I'm still having trouble getting the snare reverb to come out in the mix. It's not easy to find the right resonance.

I completed the music and tried to improve the mix, balancing the guitars and increasing the kick and snare + snare reverb and reviewed the EQs.
Hard to see if it's better than the first version.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZQg9C- ... drive_link

[PonySho]

Thanks for the tips! I'll give it a try but I'm still having trouble getting the snare reverb to come out in the mix. It's not easy to find the right resonance.

I completed the music and tried to improve the mix, balancing the guitars and increasing the kick and snare + snare reverb and reviewed the EQs.
Hard to see if it's better than the first version.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZQg9C- ... drive_link

I think this mix is an improvement.
The first time the distorted guitars come in I feel they could drop slightly in level while raising the kick and snare a little.
The second time the distorted gats come in the balance between kick, snare and distorted guitars sounds pretty good to me.
One easy way to increase the kick and snare is to simply duplicate the tracks, i.e. duplicate the exact kick track so there are two kick tracks playing simultaneously. One of the tracks could have an EQ peak at around 5khz to bring out the click of the kick. Do the same with the snare track but add a little extra EQ at 200hz. This adds a fatness to the snare. Try it and it'll give you a ton more level.
But anyways, nice work. Is that you playing the guitar? If so, great playing. I hope that's useful.

[Elcubano]

I think this mix is an improvement.
The first time the distorted guitars come in I feel they could drop slightly in level while raising the kick and snare a little.
The second time the distorted gats come in the balance between kick, snare and distorted guitars sounds pretty good to me.
One easy way to increase the kick and snare is to simply duplicate the tracks, i.e. duplicate the exact kick track so there are two kick tracks playing simultaneously. One of the tracks could have an EQ peak at around 5khz to bring out the click of the kick. Do the same with the snare track but add a little extra EQ at 200hz. This adds a fatness to the snare. Try it and it'll give you a ton more level.
But anyways, nice work. Is that you playing the guitar? If so, great playing. I hope that's useful.

Thank you very much for the tips, I'll try to apply it.
The drums are from the addictive drums 2 plugin, I'll see if I can evolve the kick and snare settings according to the parts.
Yes I play all the guitars and basses, Thank you!

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your production.

So far, we have 03 entries -- with moderate user interaction.



Now is the perfect time to post your entry!

If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within the next 3 to 4 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

And to those sitting on the fence - please don't feel scared off and think "the bar is set too high, I will never make it" - set yourself a shorter private deadline. Just make music, submit your entry, join the conversation. See where this goes.

By joining, you're already a winner. The rest is bonus.


Please do not forget to update your posts with what tools you've used, with whom you've collaborated, and which is the final version. We do need 9 participants for a full podium, and 16 or more for an extended podium.

[APi_ZZ]

Music is said to have a supportive effect in cases of mental health issues. My contribution tries to do so with this softly chiming, meditative track.
I aligned several bells, a meandering flute and choir overlays. No AI was harmed in this endeavour ...

UPDATED



I took the suggestions from @Mister Fox and @PonySho and remixed/replaced the track.

Tech data

► Show Spoiler

DAW: Magix Music Maker, set to 105 bpm

12 tracks
# 01-08 bowls from samples, samples (when needed) finetuned via Audacity
# 09+10 MIDI choirs
# 11 pad (floating strings) from MM repertoire
# 12 bass (pure bass) from MM repertoire

# 03-05 are regulated with long stretched volume curves

as FX (on some /not all tracks) are used: NI's Raum and NUGEN Audio's Stereoizer

[Mister Fox]

I'd like to give some quick feedback, to keep the conversation going.


@APi_ZZ
Interesting interpretation of the theme... although I do find the bells and droning of them a bit too much. In cases, they are really loud. I would turn them down to be more subtle and supporting to the flute, chorus and sitar melodies... maybe even replace some of the droning with pads.

As additional inspiration maybe: take a listen to Kenji Kawai (Floating Museum from the "Ghost in the Shell" soundtrack), or various "meditation" streams on Youtube and co. To give you an idea how this balance between bells, droning and your other instruments could work out.

Please don't forget your documentation!



@burakxmusic
I would also like to give feedback to our new community member. Especially since nobody else did this so far. Interesting song, albeit a bit short.

The biggest things that stands out here, is the mix. It feels... as if it is outside of the speakers or headphones. Think a somewhat phases shifted mix. It's also very upper mid-end heavy (especially on small speakers). It has a similar distracting feeling on headphones. In fact, here it is very apparent that the mix is mostly coming from the right speaker, with certain elements bleeding into the left speaker (reverb and pads). Could this be a render error? While listening to my old Beyerdynamic headphones, the low-end is way more pronounced here.

Additionally, your mix is exceeding the limits of the game. While this is not a criteria to be disqualified (unlike the Mixing Challenge), you will definitely loose out on 4 bonus points at the end of the game (the loudness of your entry is currently -11,7 LUFS ILk, and the maximum signal strength is +1,3dBTP). You should address this as well (see TL;DR Rules).

Additionally... I would love to hear at least 1 more minute of content, a bit of a bridge or similar. Definitely a more refined ending. Although this is just a subjective opinion what I would like to hear. If you say this song is otherwise finished - then please at least address the mix and the loudness.


I would also love to know more about your production.

You only mentioned " Logic Pro 20.7.5" (I assume this is a typo, since we're currently on Logic Pro 11). Please provide a bit more information, as in used instruments, please tell us more about your vocalist, tell us more why you decided to mix the way you did, etc. This is adding to the learning experience of the community.

Please don't just post and then never interact anymore. Active feedback is highly encouraged.

[PonySho]

Music is said to have a supportive effect in cases of mental health issues. My contribution tries to do so with this softly chiming, meditative track.
I aligned several bells, a meandering flute and choir overlays. No AI was harmed in this endeavour ...

Hi APi_ZZ. Thanks for sharing your song. It sure does have that relaxing vibe, so well done. My 2 cents is on the same lines as Mr Fox, as in, I did find myself wanting to hear a little relief from the constant flute or voice. I feel that the track could 'breathe' a little by stripping back the instrumentation or altering the arrangement just to give a textural change for the listener and keep it more interesting. Anyways, just my opinion and thanks for providing something new for everyone here.

[APi_ZZ]

@Mister Fox / @PonySho

I picked up your valuable suggestions and updated the track -- see original post.

Regards, Andreas

[burakxmusic]

@Mister Fox Thank you for your valuable feedback. I updated the song and explained why I mixed it this way. I hope you will support and support my innovative approach.see original post.
Kind regards

[Dasein]

Hi, I just randomly discovered this forum, so I will just randomly upload this song. When it comes to Mental Health Awareness, I think it is the most appropiate. It came in a terrible moment in terms of mental health (2022) and it's just the story of how everything started calmly and relaxed, but things were changing over the course the year... becaming harsher and harsher in june..july...august at the point of complete madness in september, finishing in a black sunset.
(Final entry)



Instruments used:

► Show Spoiler

Made using Reaper v7.18

Leading Instrument: KONTAKT 7 Lythic Piano (From the beginning)
Background from 3:36: Also KONTAKT 7 Lythic Piano
Strings: Spitfire Audio; Strings-Long (From 1:24 and also from 2:40), String 2- Swell Ensemble ( From 1:30)
Additional Instruments: Piano Pads- Glass 1 (From 0:46); KONTAKT 7 Piano Atmospheric (From 2:03)