SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC019 March 2019 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 19 - March 2019


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (theme, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process. There will be no Round 2



Please take note of the following

• IMPORTANT: please use the following naming convention for your productions: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav/mp3
• If you only post a SoundCloud link, please make your songs downloadable

Also please take note of the following

• If you have an idea for future Songwriting Competition themes and/or genres, please post them here.
• Social Media accounts can be found via the handles @MixChallenge (Twitter) and MixChallenge (Facebook). Please spread the word!
• if you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months, please consider supporting us.

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information and Sponsors
Cheat Sheet: A couple of examples / audio demos for this month's challenge (not available if genre is "Free to Select")
Voting: Summarized entries and start of voting process
Results of the Songwriting Competition: Results of the Songwriting Competition

[Mister Fox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Friday, 01st March 2019 to Sunday, 24th March 2019 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-03-2019, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (Germany) - until further notice.
IMPORTANT: we're back to the known 24 days deadline

Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please consult the following options:
The Global Countdown on it's dedicated page or the countdown on the home page. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



SONGWRITING THEME: Blackout

GENRE: "Epic Music" (Electronic / Orchestra)


Image Source: Glitched DV tape (background), released under Creative Commons CC0


A few word about this month's theme:

Imagine a world, where there is suddenly no global communication anymore. A world, where you're not allowed to talk to each other through any modern technical means. No BTX, no morse code, no internet, no mails or web contact. No sharing of information, no posting of silly cat memes or family pictures.

The "net" is on a "blackout".

Not because of a nuclear attack or a magnetic storm causing this. This is no terrorist attack - this is an intentional communication blackout. Your posts are analyzed, filtered and blocked. This is not the endtimes, this is happening now! For how long, we don't know.


Your task for this Songwriting Competition:

Create a music production that would fit into the so called "Epic Music" genre. Something that represents a more darker/brooding feeling to this so called "blackout". "Epic Music" is usually a blend of orchestra and modern electronic elements. Incl. but not limited to glitched beats/sounds, distorted guitars, etc

Let your creativity run wild. Maybe even add vocals if you want. As long as it's a slight blend of genres. Think of the plethora of so called "Epic Music Mix" streams on Youtube and what have you, but put your own spin on it.

Be creative and have fun!



A WARNING IN ADVANCE:
The Mix Challenge homepage will have it's own "blackout" on 23rd March in support to the protests against the so called "EU Copyright Directive" (better known as Article 11 and Article 13). Read more about this planned blackout in this forum post. That means, you won't be able to upload anything on this day. However, the submission deadline is not(!) extended until the 25th.

Songwriting Add-On Rules:

• You should try to blend genres to create an "epic feel", maybe do some unexpected sound design and glitching
• you can use any tool that is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
• It is recommended to not go higher than -14LUFS SLk (avg) or K-12v1 (avg) in terms of perceived loudness. Music doesn't have to be squashed to bits in order to be impactful
• for newcomers: no cover versions or remixes

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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Songwriting Competition - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Songwriting Competition - Gossip and Discussion

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for Songwriting Challenge participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of MODO BASS to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.com



Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of Saurus2 to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



kv331 audio is kind enough give away a bundle of either SynthMaster 1+2 Bundle, or a freely selectable set of 3 SynthMaster Expansions
License will not turn into NFR, you need to have a kv311 audio user account in order to pick up Expansions
More info on kv331 audio: https://www.kv331audio.com



Luftrum is kind enough give away either a license of Lunaris, or any 2 sound sets of winner's choice (exception: Bundles and Nano Electronics)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Luftrum: http://www.luftrum.com



Rekkerd Sounds is kind enough give away 1 sound set of winners choice (exception: Krezie EDM and Neurofunk Vol. 1)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Rekkerd Sounds: http://sounds.rekkerd.org/



Bjulin Waves (now known as audile.shop) is kind enough to donate 1 sound set of winners choice and one "Inspire Me" sound set of choice for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place (until April 2019)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Bjulin Waves / audile: https://audile.shop/



Ghostwave Audio (Vincent Bastiat) is kind enough to donate any 2 sound sets to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com



Hollow Sun is kind to donate one license of "Music Laboratory Machines - The Suite I" to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hollow Sun: http://www.hollowsun.com



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com



Sound / Graphic Designer, and honorary Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/





THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on instruments, samples and sound sets), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account or Facebook Page

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

[Mister Fox]

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[Mister Fox]

Let me point out what has been written on every first post on page 1:

⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	IMPORTANT: please use the following naming convention: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav/mp3 If you only post a SoundCloud link, please make your songs downloadable

I'm stating an official warning right now.

We had a lot of new participants with SWC018, so you're getting a free pass. However(!), if you've been with the Songwriting Competition for longer than two months, and still don't stick to what's written in both of the rule set and on the two initial posts, you're risking a straight up disqualification.


We do have rules for a reason. So please stick to them!

[DoctorBob]

On the rules page you say:

"properly name/tag your WAV/MP3 file (SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName_ContestanttName.wav/mp3)"

Do we need to put "ContestantName" on as well???

Thanks

dB

[Mister Fox]

Thanks for pointing out this oversight. ArtistName = ContestantName in this case. You only need to add one of those of course.

I fixed that in the Rules and Guidelines as well.

[DoctorBob]

That's OK.

Do you want the format …

SWC000-ArtistNAme etc

or

SWC000_-_Artistname etc

ie just a dash separator, or a dash with underlines each side?

dB

Thanks for the feedback - useful stuff. :-)

[Mister Fox]

Use the version as shown in the green info box and first post. So normal underline (as in SWC000_...)

[NERVA]

So now that we know what to submit, HOW and WHERE do we submit it?

[The Exponent]

So now that we know what to submit, HOW and WHERE do we submit it?

After you're done with your song, you render it as .mp3/.wav and name it according to the SWC rules. Then, upload it on SoundCloud and/or other file hosts like Google Drive, Dropbox etc. and then post the link here along with a brief description of how you made your production including but not limited to the plugins, virtual instruments, real instruments, hardware synth, samples, etc. used by you.

All this is described in incredible detail on the rules page viewtopic.php?f=11&t=96. I urge you to read it once. It would hardly take much time. Welcome to SWC!

Alternatively, you could also look at last month's SWC thread viewtopic.php?f=11&t=197 to see how the other contestants submitted their tracks. All it takes is a bit of searching on the forum.