SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC014 October 2018 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

It is the 25th October 2018, 2:00am GMT+2/CEST - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended

Thank you so much for your participation - although I hoped to see more entries this month.

We had 4 participants, which is 3 entries less compared to last month (7 entries).
The "staff balancing vote" add-on rule does apply
"Sole Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than seven participants results in a single winner) does apply.

There were no productions submitted after the deadline




How do we go from there?

Over the course of the next (hopefully) 24-48 hours, I'll gather all links into one post and hot-link to that from the first post of the thread. So please, check your links again. Mistakes and hiccups do happen on the internet. We then perform with the "public vote" system.


We have 4 participants, those being: ryanc, MarkS, GIANCARLO and ollyaudio.
That means that each participant can vote for 3 tracks, the staff will cast a balance vote

The Top 10 list (or Top 3 per participant rather) can look something like this:

01 (10 pts) - Mr Moon
02 (9 pts) - Mr Sun
03 (8 pts) - Mrs Venus
04 (7 pts) - Mr Mars and his companions
...

How your voting could look like, please take a look at these posts (sans the technical information):
viewtopic.php?p=2311#p2311
viewtopic.php?p=2478#p2478
viewtopic.php?p=2819#p2819



Please also take note of the Rules and Guidelines on giving feedback (mandatory for participants)

Feedback from non-participants is highly encouraged (voting not needed!). Musicians and Engineers are always after constructive criticism. This is what this forum is about.



If you have an idea for a theme/genre or want to see a specific theme tackled in the future, please voice your opinion here:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=168

Please also take note of a future yearly recurring Songwriting Competition idea:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=175



Please have an eye on this thread!

[Mister Fox]

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Thursday, 01-NOV-2018 11:59pm GMT+1/CET latest


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)



Here is the collection of productions from all participants:

"Wind Blowing in Autumn"

WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uYDh7 ... w1zkkKe6ow

"Fallin' "

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8abn4axtbxm3i ... 4.wav?dl=0

"Morning Walk"

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tkukz6rr2glgr ... k.WAV?dl=0

"The Day October Comes Around"

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k8edwqu8j4x93 ... d.wav?dl=0

Please consult the last post of how your vote could look like (which links to more sources).

Keep in mind, this month's genre was "free to select". So comparing tracks to each other is no simple feat. To make it easier on yourself, and more helpful for each participant, maybe focus on the overall production value. What you really liked with the song, what you'd like to see improved, etc.

SWC014 participants giving feedback to each other and casting a vote is mandatory, else you will be disqualified


Good luck to all participants!

[ollyaudio]

01(10 pts) - MarkS " Morning Walh"

Interesting sound and autumn sounds.
I felt an experimental approach to building music.
02 (9 pts) - ryanc " The Day October Comes Around"
Classic sound. This music corresponds to the theme of the competition.
03 (8 pts) - GIANCARLO " Faltin

Autumn reminded autumn of its light nostalgia.

[MarkS]

The top of this contest :
1.Giancarlo-10 points
2.Olly Audio-9 points
3.Ryan Clawson-8 points

Giancarlo, your song sure expresses the autumn feeling, i have nothing else to add.

Olly Audio, the track reminds me a synthwave tune. i think you need to add a breakdown or break part
in your song, or the present part make it larger than that.the drums play too long maybe.

Ryan Clawson, a nice tune to listen, but i think you need to add some drums at the beginning and that is all.

[ryanc]

Thanks for these songs, guys! Great work! Here are my votes:

#3 (8 points) - MarkS: "Morning Walk"
I thought this song was super fun. I like the way the different sounds play out the story of going for a walk; a purring cat, or an owl - even the percussion suggests the rhythmic tapping of shoes on the pavement. Very neat idea.
What I think you could maybe improve on for this song is that there are some conflicting rhythms, specifically between the bass & the percussion that make it a little difficult for the song to sync up.
Thanks for posting - great work!

#2 (9 points) - OllyAudio: "Wind Blowing in Autumn"
This song features some really cool sound sets & interesting ideas. I enjoyed the creative & unique melodies that appeared in this song. I feel that the tone and feeling of this song suited the title, and this month's theme, very nicely.
As far as possible improvements go, I think that maybe this song could use a little more structure, repeating the more catchy melodies a little more often, indicating a hook to the song.
But I thought you did a great job - thank you for sharing this song!

#1 (10 points) - Giancarlo: "Fallin'"
Well there is a lot to praise about the song. Very solid performance of a very well-written & catchy song! Plus, I'm a sucker for saxophone... This track is well produced, & I especially enjoy the vocal harmonies in the chorus. Great work!
The only improvements I could possibly suggest are that I think I detected a moment or two where some of the instruments didn't quite line up rhythmically. This is more of a job for the audio engineer editing the recorded instrument tracks to tighten them up a little more. But it was very minimal.
Like I said, a very solid song - great work and thanks for sharing!

[GIANCARLO]

My top 3 are:

01. ryanc (10)
02. Ollyaudio (9)
03. MarkS (8)

My comments:

-The day october comes around: the song I like the most in terms of composition and production. I think it tells the story very well and the autumn mood/theme is clear. I like simple productions and in this case is the way to go. I can also relate to the lyrics. Perhaps something is missing in terms of energy near the end of the song (maybe a modulation, another acoustic guitar panned the opposite side, a cello?). Anyway, great song and thanks for sharing!
-Wind blowing in autumn: I like the intro. Very promissing. I don´t like the drum pattern and sound, especially the hihat pattern. But overall is a nice electro track.
-Morning walk: Very experimental track. I like the contrast between the smooth pads and the creepy atmospheric sounds. You can see that contrast in autumn too. Maybe it lacks a bit of development: a change in the melody or another chord sequence to complete the story.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions!
All the best,
Giancarlo

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
24 hours left to submit your feedback and vote.

[Mister Fox]

It is the 02nd November 2018, 12:10am GMT+1/CET - the voting and feedback period has officially ended

It looks like everyone has given feedback (albeit some of that is very scarce) and cast their vote.
I will be posting the official result ts later tonight, along with my feedback and vote.


In the meantime, SWC015 is in full swing - please spread the word:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=181

[ryanc]

Hello everybody,

Am I out of the loop here? I was under the impression that the results of this contest would be posted here on this thread at the beginning of the month. Am I mistaken? Are they posted somewhere else?

[Mister Fox]

The results will be posted in here. However, the system is not automated.

Keep in mind, I'm also adding a balance vote, therefore giving feedback to all entries. And you folks didn't make it easy this month. However, life also happened. I please ask for another day of patience.