SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC086 October 2024 - Winners announced

[crispy]

Hello all,
just a few days left till the end of SWC086. Ive actually completed 5 of these and have never uploaded and submitted my ideas. Why, Im not sure, lol. Ive also completed this one and have been tweaking for over a week now. Guess im just a little scared of the comments or the issues I may be overlooking. But hey, thats how we get better right? Ill toss it around a day or two more and make a decision to upload.
I just wanted to throw this out there and see if Id get a, Just post the song or whats to loose, or Its just a song idea, go ahead and post it. lol.... Have a good one composers.

yo don't worry about comments man, this is a very friendly community!

Just submit and then in case you can do some changes after some feedback

[OlliH]

My submission:
"My life from seed to vegetable"
New mixed version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Ennga ... sp=sharing


In my submission I try to tell the life story of a vegetable. It is also possible that it's a story about me. Hard to say. The original plan was to make this song much longer, but due to time constraints, I had to keep it short. It ended up to be some sort of speed run of the life of vegetable.

In any case, musically, this is an ever-changing story. The verses I use to describe the inner life of a plant don't repeat themselves. So obviously one of the challenges for me was to maintain the feeling that the end result is one cohesive piece and not just a bag of improvisational melody lines. I tried to solve this problem by gluing things together with a strong chord progression. (Expressed in key of Am: Am E7/G# A7/G Fm Edim B7/D# E7/D Am). It has a pretty strong natural color, it's a little lonely and sad, and it's sophisticated but still natural. So perfect for describing the inner life of a cabbage.

On those parts where I try to describe the surrounding world I switch to different chord progression. (Expressed in the key of F: Bb Am, Gm7 C7/G F). In this song I use these progressions in a couple of different keys.

I typically don't want to add explanations to the music because it should be able to do the work on its own. However, I found out pretty quickly that - unlike Vivaldi - I can't paint clear pictures of the seasons with notes of music. So, due to my musical shortcomings, I decided to add explanations. Here is what I tried to convey in the different parts of the song:

► Show Spoiler

Starting from
0:0
External forces are working: the seed is planted.

0:12
The seed wakes up, it begins to germinate

0:28
The shoot starts to grow and develop.

0:50
The sprout grows and looks like it has many possible paths to choose from.

1:17
Life is precise and determined, and seems to follow a larger plan.

1:40
Also the surrounding world is present in plant's life. It's beautiful and nice place to live in.

2:00
Phase of rapid growth: the young plant wants to be a "rebel without a cause" and tries to create something new and own. But it doesn't understand that vegetables don't have ability to create abything new, so it is just repeating simplified ideas from it's youth.

2:17
Maturity: the plant becomes an adult, mainly maturing, but no longer growing. The plant doesn't try to be so creative anymore. Although it shames the stuff it created as youngster, it doesn't recognize it doesn't have anything more to offer. Most of the time it just repeatsthose old ideas, maybe more easily and skillfully than before - but still - the same old stuff.

2:28
Old age: the surrounding world is relaxed and beautiful place again. The mature vegetable feels happy by just watching the wheels go round. Momentary winds and storms of the life don't affect it at all. At times, he is even proud of what he created as a teenager.

2:40
Harvest time: external forces participate again to the outcome of plant's life.

PRODUCTION TOOLS

► Show Spoiler

DAW: Reaper
Drums: SSD
Bass: three instances of Massive Synth + Modo2 + Trilian
MusicBox: Kontakt
Electric guitar: Real electric guitar
scratching of the strings: Real electric guitar
Pedal Steel: Impact Soundworks
Saw like synth: CherryAudio
Key Board with wah-wah: Kontakt Clavinet
Vocal: Real

Reaper statistics
Peak: -2.3
LUFS-I: -14.5

What I learned: When an idea comes, you should be quick to produce not the ultimate version but just a good enough version of it. If you start thinking too much about small secondary details, the song will starve to death. I wonder how many good songs have died in vain? But if you have nailed a good quick version, then you can concentrate on details, because you can check and compare the new ideas to a quick but good enough version. In this case, luckily I run out of time, and I just had to post it before I managed to spoil the original idea by overthinking it.

[Elcubano]

A good deal of the 'twangy/edge' sound in your guitar is probably sitting around the 2.5kHz to 4kHz region. If you're still battling with this unwanted twang, then I suggest a multiband compressor that just works on this region to bring down those notes when they occur (vs a regular EQ that will potentially dull the entire guitar track with a reduction in this region). But hey, try both and see what works.
If you can tame this region, I think your track will sound A LOT more pleasant and minimise ear fatigue.

I ALWAYS struggle with this frequency range on many mix elements. 3.1 kHz is my most common frequency to reduce (in addition to the 200 - 300 Hz region).

BTW, you have a real talent for bringing out emotion in your music. That's what's really important here. Listening back to your track, those fast guitar arpeggios remind me of rain, but also the excitement of spring/summer with sunny days and vibrant bird life. So cool!

thanks for the tips, i tried to apply a multiband compressor on the frequency range, but i don't know if it's better or worse
I share a sample, the first is with the multiband compressor and the 2nd is without.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D5GPVX ... drive_link

[Ike H-mope]

I composed an instrumental song on acoustic guitar in three parts to describe the cycle of the seasons, starting with nature's awakening,
followed by the period when nature reaches full maturity with the harvest of its fruits, and ending with its death.

Listening on a laptop speaker so can't comment on the production.

Really nice piece of music, and even without the "story", the feel of autumn and seasons is there musically. Hearing some 70s prog-rock vibes? And I think you're doing something with a lydian mode? Whatever it is, definitely adds to the pastoral feeling.

[Elcubano]

Listening on a laptop speaker so can't comment on the production.

Really nice piece of music, and even without the "story", the feel of autumn and seasons is there musically. Hearing some 70s prog-rock vibes? And I think you're doing something with a lydian mode? Whatever it is, definitely adds to the pastoral feeling.

Thank you!
I haven't analyzed what I've done
but I think it's true, in the second part I've alternated Lydian with major, it gives feelings to move from mystical and back to earth.

[ryanc]

Hello, all. Here is my submission: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Bouys ... p=drive_fs

It's called "Law of the Harvest"
I really enjoyed this theme - I wasn't sure if it would lead me anywhere but as I thought about this concept of "harvest" all kinds of ideas came to mind. I thought of the law of the harvest, that "you reap what you sow" but it occurred to me that that maxim doesn't address the fact that the harvest doesn't immediately follow the planting, and so may be misleading. In my experience, any meaningful endeavor - be it trying to get in shape, succeeding in business, harboring intimate relationships, etc - requires prolonged, consistent effort and the fruit doesn't usually come immediately, but on a delay - sometimes a very long delay. Not being aware of this fact can lead to discouragement and despair when we resolve to meet a goal and don't see immediate results. What's required is faith & trust that our current efforts will cause favorable outcomes in the future if we keep at it.

tools used:
DAW: Presonus Studio One
VST Instruments:
• MT Drummer
• Ample Bass P Lite
Mitchell Acoustic Guitar
Harley Benton Tele-Style Guitar
Blue Spark Condenser Microphone

I performed all the instruments and the vocals

Lyrics:
There was snow,
It was cold, cold
But we stooped down
And scattered sleeping green into the ground

Now it's been weeks
Still, all I see, see
Is barren ground
Instead of green, brown

Chorus:
And they say you reap what you sow
But no one ever warned me it would take so long to grow
And they say, "wait, it's just a matter of time." Ooh
"Have some faith, there's change in the air."
So I'll hose it down again and send up a prayer.

(Chorus)
Bridge:
"And have faith," they say
But can I get the fruit without the work and wait?
"Have faith," they say
Is that the price I have to pay?

It's still cold
But I see gold, gold
peek through the clouds
and, looking close, there's green emerging from the ground.

[Ike H-mope]

*FINAL SUBMISSION*

Very pleasant, fun music to listen to. It's been a pretty interesting few decades of electronic/studio music -- I can hear some 70s bass lines, 00's drum machine fills, 80's guitars... Nice stuff.

[OlliH]

Hello, all. Here is my submission:

You have a really beautiful and sympathetic song here. The melody line is absolutely top notch, and you sing it very sensitively. The guitar riff is absolutely perfect, simple but effective and supports the song. Very good potential to be this month's winner!

So, the songwriting part is superb, but I think you should do something to those drums. It feels like the drummer is playing without listening to the song. The drums don't have the same emotional sensitivity that you bring to this song. Is it too cold and he tries to warm himself by playing too loud? It's hard to tell what the problem is with a quick listen. Maybe if you lower the velocity levels quite a bit, it might give way to more sensitive drum sounds. Or is the problem in the groove of the drum. I'd definitely try some drum groove with ghost notes or something. Listen for example this one: Eels - That Look You Give That Guy. That a simple drum groove and sound that goes well with sophisticated vocals and lyrics. Something like that might work for this song also.

[OlliH]

Hello all,
just a few days left till the end of SWC086. Ive actually completed 5 of these and have never uploaded and submitted my ideas. Why, Im not sure, lol. Ive also completed this one and have been tweaking for over a week now. Guess im just a little scared of the comments or the issues I may be overlooking.

Been there, done that. I know exactly what you're talking about. On that basis, I have a feeling that there is a genuine artist inside of you that you are protecting too much. Don't starve him/her, just set him free and let him fly. Allow him to hear genuine comments from his peer group. He is sure to receive praise, criticism, encouragement and ideas for next steps. I'm sure the artist within you will later reward you handsomely if you allow him that vital nourishment.

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit your production.



Please get your production ready and submitted (through the forum) today.

To make it easier for me to create the collection post, please update your initial post with the appropriate links (final version), or explicitly mark your entry as "final entry". Please also don't forget to make your files accessible to download. Thank you.

If I didn't miscount, we have 07 very interesting entries so far.
Can we exceed 15 entries this month?