SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC086 October 2024 - Winners announced

[crispy]

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.

Very nice track!
And you have a good voice too!
If I have to give some critics the mix could be improved, imo it could be more energetic like I would saturate a bit the bass to make it more audible even on devices like phones, vocals are a bit too dry I would give them some reverb and overall I feel the mix could be a lot better with some tweaks on eq, comp and transient design... But overall I think you did a great job! Damn man I really would like to mix the song now!
Would you mind to?
Also would be great to hear your thoughts on my track too if you want

[Ike H-mope]

Sorry, tried to delete this post, don't see how to do it.

Error with Dropbox, will repost.

[crispy]

FINAL SUBMISSION

This song's running time is only about 1:28 leaving out empty head/tail. Unless I slow it down or gratuitously add a couple of measures, the timing pretty much is what it is. I accept all penalties.

=======

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qmw46xce ... gl541&dl=0

Harvest Morning
By Ike H-Mope
Featuring the vocal stylings of Synthesizer V Asterian

The harvest morning feels like home to me
The autumn breeze rolling underneath the harvest sky

Like my favorite girl alway smiling at me
The harvest morning sets my spirit free

Cool dark earth that my hands have worked calls me back to see what I've grown
Endless rows of welcoming groves fill my heart with love I have sown

Where else could I be but the fields that have always known me
Where else could I be but underneath the harvest sky

The harvest morning sets my spirit freee
The harvest morning feels like home to me

=======

The theme made me think of early 60s technicolor musicals featuring forgettable music sung by forgotten stars

It's the opening scene after the overture. A prodigal son lazily returns home years later in his horse-drawn wagon, soon to learn the land of his youth is being threatened by wealthy outsiders. It's up to him to save the farms and families he loves.

The arrangement needs tweaking and it's a quick mix. Intentionally mono.

The song should be twice as long. It should repeat the entire form by going into a dance segment (guy jumps off his wagon to dance with a cow?), and then the chorus of his loved ones pointing and running towards him, joining him for the final verse.

I like the 2nd half part after 01:30 just kidding man!
Well what can I say I would never expect to hear a song like this in a competition!
It's pretty funny and although the genre choice is old on purpose the arrangement is pretty good!
good job!

[crispy]

*FINAL SUBMISSION*
....

I see you've added solos to your track, guitar and keyboard, super cool that brings more contrast, and also percussion at the end I think.
I'm always impressed by the level of detail in the mix and the panning and choice of sounds.
The mix of electric guitar with electronic sounds works very well.
The melodies are very catchy, simple and effective, accompanied by a groovy rhythm section.
I really like the chorus, which sticks in your head and sets a positive mood.
Great music!

Very nice track!

Nothing to say here good arrangement and good mix, well done!

[Ike H-mope]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!. Despite saying "Final Submission", there's something very wrong with my export. V2 on its way (with vocals...)

[Ike H-mope]

FINAL SUBMISSION (second try...)

This song's running time is only about 1:28. Unless I slow it down or gratuitously add a couple of measures, the timing pretty much is what it is. I accept all penalties.

=======

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tpzxf5tt ... mdknx&dl=0

Harvest Morning
Muisc, Lyrics and Arrangment by Ike H-Mope

Featuring the vocal stylings of Synthesizer V Asterian

And performed by the Chris Hein Ensemble Strings and Orchestral Brass

Mixed in mono by Mr. Ike H-Mope himself using

• FabFilter Saturn on String and Brass busses for gentle compression and killing transients for a slightly "older" feel

• Vocals treated with Lindell 902 and Curves Equator in tandem for de-essing, GEM Comp LA, and it's own inline Pro-R reverb

• Mix reverb -- FabFilter Pro-R reverb

• 2-Mix buss -- SPL Iron, FabFilter Pro-Q and Pro-L, and Oxford Inflator

=====

The harvest morning feels like home to me
The autumn breeze rolling underneath the harvest sky

Like my favorite girl alway smiling at me
The harvest morning sets my spirit free

Cool dark earth that my hands have worked calls me back to see what I've grown
Endless rows of welcoming groves fill my heart with love I have sown

Where else could I be but the fields that have always known me
Where else could I be but underneath the harvest sky

The harvest morning sets my spirit freee
The harvest morning feels like home to me

=======

The theme made me think of early 60s technicolor musicals featuring forgettable music sung by forgotten stars

It's the opening scene after the overture. A prodigal son lazily returns home years later in his horse-drawn wagon, soon to learn the land of his youth is being threatened by wealthy outsiders. It's up to him to save the farms and families he loves.

The arrangement needs tweaking and it's a quick mix. Yes, intentionally mono.

The song should be twice as long. It should repeat the entire form by going into a dance segment (guy jumps off his wagon to dance with a cow?), and then the chorus of his loved ones pointing and running towards him, joining him for the final verse.

[Ike H-mope]

I like the 2nd half part after 01:30 just kidding man!
Well what can I say I would never expect to hear a song like this in a competition!
It's pretty funny and although the genre choice is old on purpose the arrangement is pretty good!
good job!

I was saving the second half for when the mods have a John Cage songwriting challenge.

Sorry for the bad file, it's fixed now with a new link, and I think the other was missing the vocals.

I wasn't expecting to write a song like that, but I just couldn't shake the musical image I had in my head.

[crispy]

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.

Man I love the first minute and a half!
Honestly I don't really like how it evolves especially the vocals without lyrics... It's like until 01:30/02:00 the music give some very sad and profound vibes and than the vocals kick in saying "taradatarada" and kinda ruined my experience
It's like seeing a film scene with this very misterious and fascinating tall figure walking in the night and you think man this guy has to be super cool like a detective or spy or something and you think he has to have this face but suddenly the camera zoom in and he has this face
I hope I gave you the idea

But, again, the first 01:30 is so cool and maybe my favorite peace out of all the submissions so great job it's like that netflix series that you loved but you hope it would have ended in another way

[crispy]

I like the 2nd half part after 01:30 just kidding man!
Well what can I say I would never expect to hear a song like this in a competition!
It's pretty funny and although the genre choice is old on purpose the arrangement is pretty good!
good job!

I was saving the second half for when the mods have a John Cage songwriting challenge.

Sorry for the bad file, it's fixed now with a new link, and I think the other was missing the vocals.

I wasn't expecting to write a song like that, but I just couldn't shake the musical image I had in my head.

It's kinda "doing a song writing competition in 1600 be like "

Jokes aside you followed your creativity so it's always good!

Maybe you could have given an idea for a future challenge... Like compose a classic song like if you lived in Vivaldi or Mozart age...

[crispy]

This track is about Johnny.
Johnny is a farmer stuck in the 70's, after many years of hard work finally this year he got the biggest harvest of his life.
So he pick up his car, he put the track on the stereo at max volume and he goes in town to flex to his friends

I builded the drums with 70's one shots from my NI maschine drums library, guitar bass, violins, flute and guitars from - iriconally - FL STUDIO FLEX, a scarbee e-piano from NI and some synth made by me in serum and some FX.

Enjoy!

Cool. I love this track.
Punchy, simple, catchy. It's got Boney M written all over it! Awesome.
Bring back flares

Thanks man!
Happy to hear that!