SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC087 November 2024 - Submissions until 24-NOV-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

#1

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 087 - November 2024

BEFORE WE GET STARTED:

Please consult the official and very simple "Rules and Guidelines" (TL;DR version) for the Songwriting Competition regarding principles of the game, it's engaging game mechanics (allowed editing/re-submission of your entry until the deadline has been reached) and upload/submission guidelines.
The general idea of this game is to "...just make music", to also challenge yourself by stepping a bit out of your comfort zone, and take a dip at realms you've never worked in before. Instrumentals are just as welcome as productions with vocals.
The Genre, "Premise" and Rules Summary for this months challenge can always be found in in post #002

Read more about this month's competition further down below. And if you got any question, please also reach out on Discord.

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SONGWRITING COMPETITION THREAD INDEX

Post #001 -- Introduction post and index for the various stages of the Songwriting Competition. Will be updated as we progress
Post #002 -- Submission Period: General Information, Source Material, Sponsors
Post #003 -- Cheat Sheet: A couple of examples / audio demos for this month's challenge (limited if genre is "free to select")
Post #000 -- Voting: Summarized entries and start of voting process
Post #000 -- Results: Results of the Songwriting Competition

#2

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Friday, 01st November 2024 to Sunday, 24th November 2024 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-NOV-2024, 23:59 UTC+1/CET (Germany) - until further notice.

The current game deadlines can be found on the Global Countdown page and on the landing site. Short reminders will also be sent out via the newsletter, social media and Discord. Does the game time frame feel too long? Why not set yourself a personal shorter one of 5-7 days. Push yourself to focus on the essentials, then use the rest of the time to ask for feedback and possible refinements.

SONGWRITING THEME: "Strings attached"
GENRE: free to select (with a focus on guitars)

Image Source: Pexels, photo by cottonbro studio

A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: Throughout the last years, I always tried to have a certain guideline for "Rocktober" / "Metal November" songwriting games. This month, I would like to try something new.

Instead of focusing on a specific genre of rock or metal music and perhaps setting the entry threshold a little too high, why not simplify? There is one common denominator - and that is the guitar. Have you always wanted to experiment with this instrument? This month you have the opportunity to do so.
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Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create a production in any music genre you feel like. However, you are kindly asked to build something around at least one or more guitars. Be it an acoustic or an electric guitar.

The genre is not important. It can be a singer/songwriter style song (minimalistic, just guitar and voice, or a small arrangement with 4-6 instruments), chamber music, guitar ambient music, pop, rock, metal. Whatever you would like to try this month, or feel comfortable with. You set the entry level yourself - as long as you have a focus on guitars.

As usual, and I seem to have to emphasize this every month, you are not required to add vocals. Although I do notice that some of you fancy vocal synths as of late. Instrumental content is more than welcome with every game. Experiment, have fun. Ideally, the song runtime should be between 2:00 minutes and 8:00 minutes.

Looking forward to your creations.

Songwriting Rule Summary:

► Show Spoiler

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LICENSE SPONSORS (Bonus Prizes):

A huge thank you goes to our very generous License Sponsors for this month's game. Those being (in alphabetical order):

Cherry Audio, Ghostwave Audio, Hollow Sun, Hornet Plugins, IK Multimedia, JRR Sounds, kv331 audio, Luftrum, Musiclab, Rekkerd Sounds, satyatunes - Sound / Graphic Design, and Tone2.

A detailed list of offerings can be found in the following information block.

► Show Spoiler

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

#3

AUDIO EXAMPLES:
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Articles and Info Pages:

A great starting point is the "Addendum"/Supplementary thread for the Songwriting Competition
Songwriting Competition - Addendum: Music Maps and BPM Charts

Since the genre this month is "free to select", there are no clear pointers

Music examples (selection for inspiration, 00 videos):

No music examples available this month. However, I can always recommend to enter random genre search words either on YouTube, Spotify or other music streaming services you prefer using.
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If you're new to songwriting, or you are in need for new helper tools, instruments, samples or presets -- please check out the following:

Songwriting Competition - Addendum: Tools to help with songwriting (outsourced megathread)

This mega thread also mentions companies that offer either free versions or demo versions of guitars, bass and drum instruments. Please have a closer look.

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UPDATED: 31-OCT-2024 12:30 UTC+1, updated 00-OCT-2024 00:00 UTC+1

#4

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	License Sponsors Musiclab are kind enough to offer an extension / renewal of their instrument demo period. This is a special offer for SWC087 / November 2024. If you've already used up your demo time (14 days), and want to take another look at the Musiclab guitars, or if you are in the middle of testing the software/songwriting for SWC087, but the demo timer is about to run out, you can kindly request a trial extension. This is how it works: Please reach out to Musiclab via their support request form as subject, please use "Requesting trial period prolongation" as text, please write "I am kindly requesting a trial period extension for <your full name> as part of the Mix Challenge audio community collaboration (SWC087 / November 2024).", please also copy this game thread link and paste it into the text message Musiclab need the following information from you full name and email address of the person requesting the extension (as in: you) computer model, OS and DAW version Real instrument model and version (e.g. RealStrat, version 6.1.0.7549) The turnaround should be within 24 hours on workdays. Please be patient, and please check your spam filters.

If you want to get more out of your Musiclab instruments, I highly recommend taking a closer look a the available video tutorials.

You can find the whole collection via this link

phpBB [media]

Most notably the videos titled:

Tutorial. Strumming -- especially for the acoustic guitars and the just released RealGMS
Tutorial. Key Switches Solo Mode Walkthrough
Tutorial. Simulating Guitar Techniques with KeySwitch FXs
Tutorial. Creating Vibrato and Bend via MIDI CC#1 Automation (available for multiple DAWs)
MusicLab V6. Humanize (tipp as longtime user: either reduce the "Strength" to 75% to make things "more tight" - which affects all settings, or only reduce the timing parameters in half to add just "a touch" more randomness)

The examples work for all "Real Instrument" engine variants.

A Future in Noise · #5

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New edit made November 20th (but still WIP).

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[EDIT:] The entry has been modified (partially) in accordance with the comment below. [/EDIT]

Some minor edits done November 11th ten minutes past eight pm.

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Work In Progress

Although I have been working unusually intensively for the past week, the song is far from finished. Things probably need to be adjusted. But in terms of its form it is finished (intro, verse, chorus ... ... coda).

The thing is: When I just switched from headphones to monitors + sub, everything suddenly just sounded bad. I mean: as if the song was mastered completely wrong (it's not mastered at all). As if some frequencies are too high and others too low. But I don't know which ones.

It could also be that my ears have gotten so exhausted that I simply can't judge, at the moment, what sounds good and what doesn't.

I would be grateful for any comments on this, and also any other comments.

Ike H-mope · #6

A Future in Noise wrote: ↑
Thu Nov 07, 2024 15:26 CET

I would be grateful for any comments on this, and also any other comments.

For an in-progress mix, I don't hear anything specifically wrong other than balancing and maybe doing something so the vocals sit better (whether volume, compression, carving a panning/eq space for it in the mix, whatever approach works).

If I were mixing, I'd address:

I like buried vocals, so like that yours aren't too forward, but they can still sit better.

Drums seem too loud or too forward.

Mix and individual parts are too "clean" and "pristince" to my ears, but that's very subjective. Without going overboard, I'd add subtle saturation to the parts, whether a dedicated plugin or compressors or eqs with "color" to them.

Drums need their own "glue" reverb or compression, and so does the entire mix.

Of course all just one person's opinions.

A Future in Noise · #7

Ike H-mope wrote: ↑
Fri Nov 08, 2024 14:33 CET

A Future in Noise wrote: ↑
Thu Nov 07, 2024 15:26 CET

I would be grateful for any comments on this, and also any other comments.

Drums seem too loud or too forward.

That's certainly true.

I have reduced the volume for the snare and the kick by 2 dB, and toms by 1 dB. I also increased the vox by 1 dB (also the dub track) - as a test. Because honestly I thought the vocals were on a good level before, but I'm thinking I should listen through the song, again, with these changes made, in a while, and see what I think.

But in fact, it is actually the case that I "tricked" a lot with my voice. More saturation than this is hard for me to imagine. (Antares AVOX-Throat + Vocal Menace.) But of course it could be true that saturation is needed on other tracks.

So thank you, @Ike H-mope. I should have noticed those too loud drums myself. But sometimes you get "blind" (/deaf).

R0boooo · #8

A Future in Noise wrote: ↑
Thu Nov 07, 2024 15:26 CET
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Work In Progress

I would be grateful for any comments on this, and also any other comments.

==================================================================================================
Sir:
I think its a good sound, Im no perfectionist or close to an expert. I do know when I like something, And i think its a good start and a good idea.
I do seem to want the track and vocals to be--- as they say glued more. It kinda sounds like the Vocals are sitting on top and not in the mix. The drums, I do know we use what we have, The cymbal hits seem the same hit every time. Also the crunch distortion guitar... My attention kept going to it because of the mid EQ boost. And lastly i kept thinking that a stereo guitar would sound good, play it again, pan, and set a different distortion effect on one so it doesnt sound the same. I tend to always vision im the musician, how would I play if I was that person. And would I want my instrument to sound the same as the other guy thats playing with me. A little Contrast or difference I guess. But Good job Sir.....
R0boooo

A Future in Noise · #9

Thanks for feedback. It's difficult for a songwriter to liten to his mix without hearing the “idea” behind the song, at the same time, in his head. However, all other listeners are free of that idea, they just hear what they hear, and that makes them much better reviewers. So it might be a good idea to let someone else do the final mix, and that's probably what will happen in this case.

PonySho · #10

A Future in Noise wrote: ↑
Sat Nov 09, 2024 11:13 CET
Thanks for feedback. It's difficult for a songwriter to liten to his mix without hearing the “idea” behind the song, at the same time, in his head. However, all other listeners are free of that idea, they just hear what they hear, and that makes them much better reviewers. So it might be a good idea to let someone else do the final mix, and that's probably what will happen in this case.

Hi

Regarding feedback...my initial thoughts are that the song needs more contrast in the arrangement. I agree that the mix needs work, but I think that is secondary to the issue of arrangement.
To my ears, there's just too much of the same instrumentation. There's A LOT of guitar that is played in the same style, with little variation between the verse and chorus parts.,

I suggest:
1. strip back the arrangement to have a sparser combination of instruments in verses with more elements in choruses.
2. add a middle-8 and/or a solo part as a kind of 'pallete cleaser' for the listener.

Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work.

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