SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC086 October 2024 - Winners announced

[crispy]

Dear fellow challengers and Mister Fox.

This month I present to you a soundtrack for some images of autumn fruits. As you will see, I continue to present you a theme of my style: Without a conventional structure (that's why it's a soundtrack), very calm, with orchestral instruments, percussive elements that accompany but do not mark the rhythm, without a bass that carries the rhythm (here the low notes are played by elements of the orchestra)...

Well, I hope you like it and give me ideas to make it better or highlight what you would have done differently.

Thank you colleagues.

(translated with google)



Equipment:
DAW:
Reason 13.0.3d1

Reason Instruments:
Scenic Hybrid Instrument

Reason Effects:
Reason Equalizer
RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb
Stereo Tool
CF-101 Chorus/Flanger

Reason Players:
Scales & Chords

Reason Utilities:
Pulsar Dual LFO
Gain Tool

Reason Rack Extension:
ProjectSAM Orchestral Sampler Filmscore Instrument
Rob Papen PredatorRE Instrument

Other instruments outside of Reason:
Crow Hill Vaults BETA v1.0.2
UVI Workstation
SONiVOX EightyEight 2
Native Instruments Kontakt 7

Kontakt/UVI Library:
KONTAKT Heavyocity Foundations Nylon Guitar
UVI Virharmonic Bohemian Cello

Samples:
Reason samples

Other tools:
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet HarmoniQ
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet Sleek
iZotope Ozone 9 Standard
Plugin Alliance SPL HawkEye
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet VHS

Nice soundtrack I would like to hear more movement and variety, some drums or percussion, some rhythm.
Also to me it would need a more clear direction in terms of melody/chord rift.

BTW it's still interesting that's just my feelings while I listen to it

[crispy]

Hey there,

here is my entry for this month:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19GyEk4 ... sp=sharing

More info will follow later!

EDIT: Information added!

„Mary“ is a happy little funky seed making its way through the soil, experiencing all kinds of adventures, growing into a healthy blooming plant and finally becomes a mature lady. She really likes the sun and a warm environment were she can develop to her full potential. The different sections represent each stage of a plant, and it’s like in nature, everything is just a repeating cycle with slight variations.

Tools I used:

► Show Spoiler

VST Instruments

Logic Drum Machine Designer
Drum Kit > Toms and Crashes
KickDrum Beta 8.1
MODO BASS 2
Serato Sample
Arturia Wurli V2 x2
Stage-73
Pigments
B-3 organ
Farfisa > amp for guitar like sound
Musiclab RealStrat
RealLPC
Orchestral Companion Strings
Orchestral Companion Brass

Tools:
Amplitube for Bass
TONEX for Musiclab Guitars

PanCake2
TDR Kotelnikov
TDR Nova
Fix Double
Black Box
StandardClip
SSL E Channel
LA-2A
Api 2500
Ampeg SVT-VR Classic
LoudMax
Little IBP
Duck
Vinyl
Delay TAPE 201
TENSjr
Fairchild 660 & 670
Linear EQ
SSL G Comp
smartLimit

My approach:

► Show Spoiler

I used a sample from DJ Pain1 which he sent to his subscribers a while ago and I made this funky Neo Soul beat. I first loaded the sample into Serato Sample. It is a nice tool for manipulating samples or even isolate/extract certain elements, but the best thing is how it handles time stretching and manipulation. I chopped the sample into different parts and pitched them as needed and tweaked the timing settings. I began with the first loop section I created as main theme and made a drum beat to give it a bouncy hip hop vibe. Next thing was to create a funky base line with some ghost notes and harmonic picks etc.
I then created two more loop sections with the chopped sample to create a B and C part for some variations.
Once the idea was clear I created the other instruments around the loop sections and I tried to be versatile as possible with most instruments or added more keys/wurlis etc., but my skills are limited when it comes to writing midi guitar parts. Some key switch automation is happening in the guitars, I was looking some tutorials and tried a few things for this challenge.

Really cool track, I like the modern vibe, nothing really to say here, good arrangement, good mix, cool vibes maybe I would like a bit more variety like some parts where you swapped to another chords rift/ a break without drums or something but in general you did a great job and I really like it, good job man!

[crispy]

Hello everybody,

this is my abandoned WIP for this month:


The .wav is here:
Hope will grow

I got a new job, so I had little time to work on this. I really wanted to write some lyrics for this and sing, but I ran out of time. The e-piano in the B and C part is meant to be the melody of the voice.

Tools used:

► Show Spoiler

DAW: Ableton Live 12

Sample at the beginning and the end:
Crows at Dawn 1 by silentseason -- https://freesound.org/s/335870/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Klevgrand Brusfri
Ableton Compressor
Ableton Utily for the blend in and fade out

Chords:
On the left: Melda Production Sound Factory "Power Strings"
On the right: W.A. Productions Babylon 2 "KY Alfred Plus"-preset

Melody and placeholder for the voice:
Applied Acoustic Systems Lounge Lizard EP4 "Growl 1"-preset

Viola (counter melody)
Native Instruments Session Strings Pro 2 "Violas - traditional"-preset

Drums:
IK Multimedia Modo Drum "Jazzy"-Preset and groves from "Try"

Shaker:
Puzzling Recon Shaker loop from Heavyocity Free Production Loops

Bass:
IK Multimedia Modo Bass 2 "Violin Bass"-preset

Reverb: IK Multimedia Sunset Studio Reverb "Live Room 3"-setting

Master Chain:
IK Multimedia TR5 Saturator
Hornet ThirtyOne MK2 Equalizer
brainworx bx_masterdeck True Peak to make the song louder and to make bass frequencies below 120 Hz mono
ADPTR Streamliner to make sure the loudness is below the target of -14 LUFS integrated -1 dB peak

Tools used for mixing:
AYAIC Mix Monolith
YouLean Loudness Meter 2 Free to check for loudness problems
Hornet VHS to calibrate the frequencies for my Beyerdynamic headphones for mixing

Nice track, I like that it has a solid structure, not really my favorite genre but it's a well executed production.

On the mix side the mix seems pretty balanced in terms of EQ and compression but it feels like everything is too spread on the stereo field and wet, I mean it seems like if you put a little bit of reverb on the mix bus also from what I hear I would try to make mono everything under 100hz on the mix bus and enhance the attack of the transients of the drums with a transient designer vst.

Also I read you use hornet VHS to calibrate your headphones, in my experience the best way to do it is to calibrate it yourself because I used to use sonar works but compared my self calibrated method is way better - actually it's not my method, I learned it from a guy who is specialized in headphones and calibrating headphones.

Basically you have to buy a microphone that emulated the human ears, the cheapest that I use it's called the miniDSP EARS, than you put your headphones on it and with a free software called roomEQwizard you make swipes and the software shows you the frequency response of your headphones.
Than you use an eq (best choice for me is to use my digital eq integrated in my audio interface but you can use any analog or digital eq you want) to calibrate your headphones freq response on the Harman curve (calibrating to a flat line sounds terrible, there are many opinions on which is the best curve but generally every one who calibrate headphones stay around the Harman curve, I calibrate my headphones the closest to the Harman curve I can and to me it works perfect)
The miniDSPears costs around 300 € but it's the cheapest headphone mic and to me was the best investment I could do for making music

Just wanted to share it with you, good job on the track again

[crispy]

Hey everyone!

Here's my entry! Sorry for the sub-par mix, I had about 30 minutes to mix it and less than a day to compose it, I'm new to this forum and I saw the songwriting challenge posts a bit late

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

Here are the lyrics of my track :

So many stories of the sky are written in the ground
Where the sunrays are always to be found
Some say its memories are flooded
The earth is such a vast page to fill in

We cannot forget, no we cannot forget
We cannot forget, no we canno tforget

If we took all the time we've left
Like a moment to harvest
To bale the straw and protect the nest
We'd feed the grown plants beating in our chest

Hope you'll like it!

Instruments Used

► Show Spoiler

Drums :
- EZ Drummer 3 (played on electronic drum kit)

Elec Guitar :
- Telecaster Deluxe going through my Audient ID44 with Amplitube 5
- Amp used : Tube Vintage Combo with a bit of spring reverb

Acoustic Guitar
- Seagull going through the ID44 with a DPA mic
- Amek / Neve Channel In A Box Preamp

Lead & Backing Vocals
- Slate Digital ML1

Brass
- Fracture Sound Brass Band Soloists
- Spitfire Audio Studio Brass Professional

Strings
- Spitfire Audio Studio Strings Professional

Lap Steel Guitar & Banjo
- Ink Audio Nashville Toolkit

Mandolin
- Spitfire Audio Hearth & Hollow

Bass
- Ik Multimedia Modo Bass

Shaker, Tambourine & Claps
- UJAM Groovemate ONE

Mixing Plugins Used

► Show Spoiler

- SSL Native Channel Strip 2 across all the channels
- SSL Native Buss Compressor 2 on the mix buss
- UAD GEM LA3A Compressor on Acoustic Guitar
- SSL 4KB Channel Strip on Vocals
- UAD Pultec EQ on the Mix Buss
- Native Instruments RC 48 reverb as a send
- Arturia Rev Plate as a send on the vocals
- Nomad Factory Echoes on the lead vocal

More information about the song

► Show Spoiler

Time signature : 4/4
BPM : 102 BPM

I started writing the song by playing the acoustic riff that can be heard at the start. I wanted to have a traditional folk vibe to the main guitar riff.
I quickly added the brass section and that brass band tone worked very well at representing the kind of warm tone that I had in mind for the song.

If found the chorus melody while orchestrating the brass. The length of the notes of the intro brass section and the length of the notes in the vocal melody aren't the same, but the idea of the melody is similar. I like the fact that the melody is repeated multiple times while having variations in harmony, rhythm and instrumentation throughout the song.

The lapsteel guitar and the electric guitar in the track give (maybe?) a more American / country feel to the song.

Funnily enough, the lyrics paint the picture of the fragility of this world through the sun rays and the wealth of the earth. I looked at the picture a couple of times when entering the challenge and didn't think about it anymore while composing, but I was surprise to see that the sun rays, the earth and the bales of straw are all represented on the picture and I didn't really think about those anymore while writing. So I feel like the imagery may have had an impact on my writing on a subconscious level.

This song is also about not taking things for granted, about not forgetting the importance of the elements around us, and about how nature makes us truly feel.

My takeaway from this challenge

► Show Spoiler

- Composing in a very short time is beneficial to start something and finish an idea as far as I'm concerned
- Having too little time on the other end, doesn't allow you to mix properly and fine tune the details
- It may be easier to feel a strong emotion when the feeling is new, when the song has been rehearsed multiple times, you have to re-act the process of feeling the song
- Brass instruments can easily clash in the midrange with vocals, I did what I could with the little time I had, but it's the kind of thing where a good arrangement is the best mixing tool
- Adding rhythm variations (even small ones here and there) can add excitment to a song

Nice track!
Good arrangement, good mix good structure!
Really nothing to say here.
Good job

[Ike H-mope]

I edited my post with more information.

Nice track. Liked the feel, sounds, groove.

I like the drum programming, but I'd either really lean into the artificial drum thing by producing it in a way that makes it clear it's an intentional part of the sound, or if it's supposed to sound "real", then I think you need to find a better library or produce it in a more"live" manner.

Regardless, nice track.

Thanks for your feedback but I'm not sure if I understand you correctly.

Well, we all know this is just people with their opinions, and want to emphasize I like the drum programming/"playing". But, I find that sonically it's almost distracting from the track. If in my head I was writing this with "real acoustic" drums in my, I would at least eq them or something to make them support instead of stand out. Minimally tone-down the cymbals. If I wrote it with an electronic "drum machine" as my model, then I would choose one that has more of an obvious "this is a drum machine" vibe, something a little more obviously in the box.

Hope that makes sense?

[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.

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

Thank you for your feedback! Very kind and gracious of you.
I really appreciate your feedback on the mix. Of my many weak points, mixing may be my weakest. If you would like to mix it, I would love to hear your take on it. I listened to your track and I think it sounds great! Reminds me of that classic disco song, "Let's Groove." I'll have more feedback to share during voting after I've had a little more time to give it a couple more good listens, but the mix sounds very clean and easy on the ear, so your vastly superior mixing skills show through.

Here are the stems: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BqjnP ... p=drive_fs If anybody else wants to give it a go, I'm more than happy to be shown up.
Thanks again!

hey man!
here is my mix of your song:


Basically I EQ'd and compressed tracks, busses and mix bus, enanched the transient with a transient designer tool and some clipping added a bit of reverb on guitars and vocals, a delay on some parts of the vocals, saturated the bass and a bit of the sides on the mix bus and finished with a multiband compander on the mix bus to do the final balancing.
I also used a dynamic EQ to tame down some ringing frequencys and highs on vocals and guitars and I added an autotune to the last part of the vocals where you go high just to keep it nice in tone.

Let me know your thoughts man!

Really enjoyed mixing it really nice song and great vocals again!


PS: I used soundcloud just cuz I feel it's nicer than google drive, didn't mean to make it public but I can't share the link here if it's private, but don't worry nobody listens to my soundcloud

Let me know if it's a problem for you I'll take it down

You are awesome, my friend. I really like some of the things you did here - the delay and reverb on the vocals was a cool take. Did you add a pad or something in the back as well or was that just reverb from the guitar at the beginning? Either way I feel like having that kind of ambient sound really added something. Also, I feel like you really improved the tone of the electric guitar. The only thing I'm not sure about is the autotune on the vocals. I'll be the first to admit that singing on pitch is not something I'm known for, but the autotune makes it sound less natural so I'm not sure I'm a fan of that. But overall a solid job, man.
As far as it being on soundcloud, that's perfectly fine with me. Heaven knows that having too many people hearing my songs is not a problem I'm dealing with right now.

[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

Thank you for your feedback! Very kind and gracious of you.
I really appreciate your feedback on the mix. Of my many weak points, mixing may be my weakest. If you would like to mix it, I would love to hear your take on it. I listened to your track and I think it sounds great! Reminds me of that classic disco song, "Let's Groove." I'll have more feedback to share during voting after I've had a little more time to give it a couple more good listens, but the mix sounds very clean and easy on the ear, so your vastly superior mixing skills show through.

Here are the stems: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BqjnP ... p=drive_fs If anybody else wants to give it a go, I'm more than happy to be shown up.
Thanks again!

hey man!
here is my mix of your song:


Basically I EQ'd and compressed tracks, busses and mix bus, enanched the transient with a transient designer tool and some clipping added a bit of reverb on guitars and vocals, a delay on some parts of the vocals, saturated the bass and a bit of the sides on the mix bus and finished with a multiband compander on the mix bus to do the final balancing.
I also used a dynamic EQ to tame down some ringing frequencys and highs on vocals and guitars and I added an autotune to the last part of the vocals where you go high just to keep it nice in tone.

Let me know your thoughts man!

Really enjoyed mixing it really nice song and great vocals again!


PS: I used soundcloud just cuz I feel it's nicer than google drive, didn't mean to make it public but I can't share the link here if it's private, but don't worry nobody listens to my soundcloud

Let me know if it's a problem for you I'll take it down

You are awesome, my friend. I really like some of the things you did here - the delay and reverb on the vocals was a cool take. Did you add a pad or something in the back as well or was that just reverb from the guitar at the beginning? Either way I feel like having that kind of ambient sound really added something. Also, I feel like you really improved the tone of the electric guitar. The only thing I'm not sure about is the autotune on the vocals. I'll be the first to admit that singing on pitch is not something I'm known for, but the autotune makes it sound less natural so I'm not sure I'm a fan of that. But overall a solid job, man.
As far as it being on soundcloud, that's perfectly fine with me. Heaven knows that having too many people hearing my songs is not a problem I'm dealing with right now.

Happy to hear you like it!
No I didn't add any pad it's just the reverb of the vocals.
About the autotune honestly I can barely hear it tbh and I felt it just fixed a bit that high pitch part given that most of that part are single long notes but idk it would be interesting hear what others think about it.
Also maybe I cutted to much lows on the guitars...?
Another thing I didn't tell you is I would add a snap at the beginning and at the end to help filling the void and to give some rhythm but I didn't want to touch the arrangement

[ryanc]

hey man!
here is my mix of your song:


Basically I EQ'd and compressed tracks, busses and mix bus, enanched the transient with a transient designer tool and some clipping added a bit of reverb on guitars and vocals, a delay on some parts of the vocals, saturated the bass and a bit of the sides on the mix bus and finished with a multiband compander on the mix bus to do the final balancing.
I also used a dynamic EQ to tame down some ringing frequencys and highs on vocals and guitars and I added an autotune to the last part of the vocals where you go high just to keep it nice in tone.

Let me know your thoughts man!

Really enjoyed mixing it really nice song and great vocals again!


PS: I used soundcloud just cuz I feel it's nicer than google drive, didn't mean to make it public but I can't share the link here if it's private, but don't worry nobody listens to my soundcloud

Let me know if it's a problem for you I'll take it down

You are awesome, my friend. I really like some of the things you did here - the delay and reverb on the vocals was a cool take. Did you add a pad or something in the back as well or was that just reverb from the guitar at the beginning? Either way I feel like having that kind of ambient sound really added something. Also, I feel like you really improved the tone of the electric guitar. The only thing I'm not sure about is the autotune on the vocals. I'll be the first to admit that singing on pitch is not something I'm known for, but the autotune makes it sound less natural so I'm not sure I'm a fan of that. But overall a solid job, man.
As far as it being on soundcloud, that's perfectly fine with me. Heaven knows that having too many people hearing my songs is not a problem I'm dealing with right now.

Happy to hear you like it!
No I didn't add any pad it's just the reverb of the vocals.
About the autotune honestly I can barely hear it tbh and I felt it just fixed a bit that high pitch part given that most of that part are single long notes but idk it would be interesting hear what others think about it.
Also maybe I cutted to much lows on the guitars...?
Another thing I didn't tell you is I would add a snap at the beginning and at the end to help filling the void and to give some rhythm but I didn't want to touch the arrangement

No, I think the guitars sound good. What does that mean to "add a snap?"

[ThomC]

Hey everyone!

Here's my entry! Sorry for the sub-par mix, I had about 30 minutes to mix it and less than a day to compose it, I'm new to this forum and I saw the songwriting challenge posts a bit late

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

Here are the lyrics of my track :

So many stories of the sky are written in the ground
Where the sunrays are always to be found
Some say its memories are flooded
The earth is such a vast page to fill in

We cannot forget, no we cannot forget
We cannot forget, no we canno tforget

If we took all the time we've left
Like a moment to harvest
To bale the straw and protect the nest
We'd feed the grown plants beating in our chest

Hope you'll like it!

Instruments Used

► Show Spoiler

Drums :
- EZ Drummer 3 (played on electronic drum kit)

Elec Guitar :
- Telecaster Deluxe going through my Audient ID44 with Amplitube 5
- Amp used : Tube Vintage Combo with a bit of spring reverb

Acoustic Guitar
- Seagull going through the ID44 with a DPA mic
- Amek / Neve Channel In A Box Preamp

Lead & Backing Vocals
- Slate Digital ML1

Brass
- Fracture Sound Brass Band Soloists
- Spitfire Audio Studio Brass Professional

Strings
- Spitfire Audio Studio Strings Professional

Lap Steel Guitar & Banjo
- Ink Audio Nashville Toolkit

Mandolin
- Spitfire Audio Hearth & Hollow

Bass
- Ik Multimedia Modo Bass

Shaker, Tambourine & Claps
- UJAM Groovemate ONE

Mixing Plugins Used

► Show Spoiler

- SSL Native Channel Strip 2 across all the channels
- SSL Native Buss Compressor 2 on the mix buss
- UAD GEM LA3A Compressor on Acoustic Guitar
- SSL 4KB Channel Strip on Vocals
- UAD Pultec EQ on the Mix Buss
- Native Instruments RC 48 reverb as a send
- Arturia Rev Plate as a send on the vocals
- Nomad Factory Echoes on the lead vocal

More information about the song

► Show Spoiler

Time signature : 4/4
BPM : 102 BPM

I started writing the song by playing the acoustic riff that can be heard at the start. I wanted to have a traditional folk vibe to the main guitar riff.
I quickly added the brass section and that brass band tone worked very well at representing the kind of warm tone that I had in mind for the song.

If found the chorus melody while orchestrating the brass. The length of the notes of the intro brass section and the length of the notes in the vocal melody aren't the same, but the idea of the melody is similar. I like the fact that the melody is repeated multiple times while having variations in harmony, rhythm and instrumentation throughout the song.

The lapsteel guitar and the electric guitar in the track give (maybe?) a more American / country feel to the song.

Funnily enough, the lyrics paint the picture of the fragility of this world through the sun rays and the wealth of the earth. I looked at the picture a couple of times when entering the challenge and didn't think about it anymore while composing, but I was surprise to see that the sun rays, the earth and the bales of straw are all represented on the picture and I didn't really think about those anymore while writing. So I feel like the imagery may have had an impact on my writing on a subconscious level.

This song is also about not taking things for granted, about not forgetting the importance of the elements around us, and about how nature makes us truly feel.

My takeaway from this challenge

► Show Spoiler

- Composing in a very short time is beneficial to start something and finish an idea as far as I'm concerned
- Having too little time on the other end, doesn't allow you to mix properly and fine tune the details
- It may be easier to feel a strong emotion when the feeling is new, when the song has been rehearsed multiple times, you have to re-act the process of feeling the song
- Brass instruments can easily clash in the midrange with vocals, I did what I could with the little time I had, but it's the kind of thing where a good arrangement is the best mixing tool
- Adding rhythm variations (even small ones here and there) can add excitment to a song

Nice track!
Good arrangement, good mix good structure!
Really nothing to say here.
Good job

Thank you very much for your words, I really appreciate it! I could have done much better with the mix but didn't have much time to compose / write / mix the whole thing. But it was a fun thing to do, can't wait to see what's in store for the next one!

[crispy]

hey man!
here is my mix of your song:


Basically I EQ'd and compressed tracks, busses and mix bus, enanched the transient with a transient designer tool and some clipping added a bit of reverb on guitars and vocals, a delay on some parts of the vocals, saturated the bass and a bit of the sides on the mix bus and finished with a multiband compander on the mix bus to do the final balancing.
I also used a dynamic EQ to tame down some ringing frequencys and highs on vocals and guitars and I added an autotune to the last part of the vocals where you go high just to keep it nice in tone.

Let me know your thoughts man!

Really enjoyed mixing it really nice song and great vocals again!


PS: I used soundcloud just cuz I feel it's nicer than google drive, didn't mean to make it public but I can't share the link here if it's private, but don't worry nobody listens to my soundcloud

Let me know if it's a problem for you I'll take it down

You are awesome, my friend. I really like some of the things you did here - the delay and reverb on the vocals was a cool take. Did you add a pad or something in the back as well or was that just reverb from the guitar at the beginning? Either way I feel like having that kind of ambient sound really added something. Also, I feel like you really improved the tone of the electric guitar. The only thing I'm not sure about is the autotune on the vocals. I'll be the first to admit that singing on pitch is not something I'm known for, but the autotune makes it sound less natural so I'm not sure I'm a fan of that. But overall a solid job, man.
As far as it being on soundcloud, that's perfectly fine with me. Heaven knows that having too many people hearing my songs is not a problem I'm dealing with right now.

Happy to hear you like it!
No I didn't add any pad it's just the reverb of the vocals.
About the autotune honestly I can barely hear it tbh and I felt it just fixed a bit that high pitch part given that most of that part are single long notes but idk it would be interesting hear what others think about it.
Also maybe I cutted to much lows on the guitars...?
Another thing I didn't tell you is I would add a snap at the beginning and at the end to help filling the void and to give some rhythm but I didn't want to touch the arrangement

No, I think the guitars sound good. What does that mean to "add a snap?"

I mean snaps, the snap sound made with fingers here take a listen, I added the snaps to the intro and to the outro so you understand what I mean.



I also made some fixs: removed some reverb on the vocals delay and turned up the delay volume cuz it was too low, less saturation on the bass, it was too much, added some lows on the guitars, I felt I cutted too much lows before, removed the autotune, automated tail lenght of the vocals reverb so that its shorter in the intro and outro and longer in the full instruments parts, especially in the last part before the outro where I made it very long to enphasize the climax, I also add some saturation on the wet signal of the reverbered vocals and did some adjustments on guitars EQ.

btw I did sidechain compression on the wet reverbered vocals with the dry signal so that the vocals where not muffled by the reverb.