SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC019 March 2019 - Winners announced

[Richard Watashi]

thanks Trojak, i hope You are going to be allright soon -_^

[DoctorBob]

Get better soon Trojak, looking forward to your next musical offerings!

dB

[The Exponent]

Almost true. I got small accident I'm quite beat up. Can't properly walk, right leg damaged and even writing and using mouse is not painless (right hand palm). Standing up and going to my PC in my small room takes me 5 minutes. Hope treatment will go smooth so I can train again soon .

Get well soon bro! Wish you a very speedy recovery and hope you get back in fighting form very soon

[NERVA]

I’d like to formally apologize for my absence during the voting process and I humbly accept my disqualification. I am a coast to coast truck driver and do not always have time or access to the internet, I was also unaware that the votes had to come from we the contestants, I’ll remember that next time. I feel just awful that my participation lacked an online presence as I am very new to this forum and extremely green to creating electronic music period.. however, having a chance to read the various reactions to my track “NDE” I was thrilled to hear such fair and astute reviews, I found the constructive criticisms very agreeable and will carry them with me to my next project. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, all those who took the time to listen to my submission, and plan to do the same in return for next round. Although it’s too late, I would still like to go back and listen to the other submissions, and personally offer my praise to each contestant as I’m sure there is an insane amount of talent among you!

Sorry I’m late folks! Again, sincerest appologies for my absence during last months voting process. And although my vote no longer counts, here at least are my reviews for each of my fellow contestants. OVERALL... I hear Epic, and I hear Blackout, but vaguely the two themes together, (pardon my hypocrisy, my track didn’t exactly capture them either) Quite the challenge tho I’m sure to cram what seems like two opposites into one song. Like trying to connect two negative sides of a magnet together.




Mountainé - “Who New...?”

Peaked my curiosity from the get go, but with an intro like this I expected the song to be much longer. It had a very Mark Snow feel during the gradual change in volume, I very much enjoyed its mysterious ambiance.


TrojakEW - “Restart”

This one swings for the fences, right away I get a high dose of EPIC soundscape, there are many things about this track I find myself wondering, how did they do that? I love the vocal track, it was a nice touch.. gave the track a final shove in the right direction.


Doctor Bob - “Phone Freakin”

Almost immediately I hear this track going down the BLACKOUT trail, the harp after the intro sounded like it was pretty tough to piece together, unless an arpeggiator was running. Definitely started to hear EPIC toward the end. The vocals were a great match to the slower harp track. Outstanding work!


J I L L I A M - “A sad quiet age/only wind is howling”

I loved the haunting low bass buzz after the intro, and the variety of swirling effects had me at the edge of my seat. Cant tell what’s EPIC and what’s BLACKOUT but there’s definitely mysterious amount of both, intertwined like a weird dream that seems real enough to explain upon waking, but escapes me the moment I open my eyes.


The Exponent - “Desolation”

This track has pro written all over it, clearly the work of a veteran producer. They nailed the two standards, blending them together like a well written recipe. It left me wanting more, although it seems to gradually loses its appeal toward the end. Can’t wait to hear more from this artist.


Clueless - “Dark Days”

Not sure what to make of this one, definitely had somewhat of a scare factor attached to it, interesting ambiance paired with a curious B movie aesthetic. Creepy vibes, sounded like they had lots of fun creating this track.


UprightJoe - “A Call Unanswered”

A noble effort pointing this track in the EPIC direction, it was well written but the instrument tracks did seem a little dry. But as a guitar player myself, I could tell right away that the guitar track was authentic. Always good to hear an artist getting their hands dirty.. it didn’t quite match the mood of the song though.


Toadhjo - “Apocalypse Makes Perfect”

Is it wrong that I laughed during the intro? I love this track, but can’t tell if it’s supposed to be funny or not. I will most likely be listening to it more than once. The second emergency broadcast sample is hilarious the way it melts down at the end. Much like the sound of breaking glass tickled my funny bone as a kid.


Dr. Dendrite - “Symphonic Protestant”

Very interesting vibe right off the bat, EPIC but on another planet entirely. Although more soundscape than song, I always enjoy listening to a track that takes my mind on a journey. Would have been nice to hear a beat come in at some point.


Erictracks - “Maybe it’s a good thing”

This one almost sounded like a live band was playing, heard a few slip ups which was surprising. Cheers to doin it all in one take! Absolutely loved the arpeggiated synth that comes in at the mid point. Not the greatest mix I ever heard, but a very humbling variety of chord changes none the less.


Los_ady - “Lost Your Head”

A very chill track, a little quiet and obscure, but laid back. Nothing much to say about it. Didn’t hear any of the two theme standards.


MarkS - “Strange Things”

I hear a lot of experimenting in this track, experimenting is always good, not everything synced up but maybe that’s the way it was meant to sound. The automated message sounded risky, but in a comedic way.


Leonard Bowman - “Post”

I could easily hear this being part of a sci-fi cartoon or maybe even a retro toy commercial, I totally dig the other-worldly ambiance, interesting sound effect placement. The synth sounds very familiar, like from an actual antique organ one would find at grandma’s house.

[Mister Fox]

So if I can I want to try Luftrum Lunaris. I'm heavy kontakt user so lets see how it sounds.

If you drop me a PM with your full name and mail address, I'll get things sorted out for you. Thanks

[TrojakEW]

Sorry I’m late folks! Again, sincerest appologies for my absence during last months voting process. And although my vote no longer counts, here at least are my reviews for each of my fellow contestants. OVERALL... I hear Epic, and I hear Blackout, but vaguely the two themes together, (pardon my hypocrisy, my track didn’t exactly capture them either) Quite the challenge tho I’m sure to cram what seems like two opposites into one song. Like trying to connect two negative sides of a magnet together.

Looks like we do apologizing here too often . Thank you for feedback and hope you join next round.

Ohh and thank all for your concern. Hands are now little better but leg is still junk.

[Leonard Bowman]

Leonard Bowman - “Post”

I could easily hear this being part of a sci-fi cartoon or maybe even a retro toy commercial, I totally dig the other-worldly ambiance, interesting sound effect placement. The synth sounds very familiar, like from an actual antique organ one would find at grandma’s house.

If you're curious, the ambiance comes from dragging various sounds through TheThreshold impulse collection (then a couple sequenced glitching plugs). The stereo glitch sound is a Volca Keys on poly-ring mode through DFX Skidder.
The organ is a sample from the one I made for OSC a couple months ago. You can download the samples from it linked here.

[toadhjo]

Toadhjo - “Apocalypse Makes Perfect”

Is it wrong that I laughed during the intro? I love this track, but can’t tell if it’s supposed to be funny or not. I will most likely be listening to it more than once. The second emergency broadcast sample is hilarious the way it melts down at the end. Much like the sound of breaking glass tickled my funny bone as a kid.

I'm glad you got a laugh out of it! I kept wavering back and forth between goofy and serious while I was producing the track. I really should've chosen one direction or the other and stuck with it. At one point I thought about ending it with a cheesy folk guitar verse featuring a guy (me) singing "HE SAID IT WAS ONLY A TEST!" or some such nonsense, but in the end it didn't happen. Maybe next time!