2024-MAR-01 Info: Check out Songwriting Competition 079 if you're into "Synthwave" music making.

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Winners announced

Thematic Songwriting Competition - recurrence: monthly
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Mister Fox
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SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Winners announced

#1

Post by Mister Fox »

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 24 - August 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 (artist name should be the same as the forum username)
  • If you only post a SoundCloud link, please name the file properly before uploading and make your song 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
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Mister Fox
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#2

Post by Mister Fox »

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Thursday, 01st August 2019 to Saturday, 24th August 2019 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-08-2019, 11:59pm CEST/GMT+2 (Germany) - until further notice.

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: Elevator Pitch

GENRE: Muzak® or Elevator Music

Image
Image Source: greissdesign (via Pixabay), released under Creative Commons CC0/Public Domain


A few word about this month's theme:
Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: It is either too hot too move, you're trapped in a telephone hold line, or you're just plain downright stuck in an elevator while you're already over 10 minutes late to your appointment. And the only thing you hear is the "smooth rhythm of muzak", constantly repeating every 2,5 minutes. Only for you to just give in and tap your toe after the 10th loop, 20 or so minutes in.

There it is... the ultimate nightmare. :wink:



Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month, you can create anything in the so called "Muzak" or "Elevator Music" genre.

I'd love to see/hear productions that have a relaxed feel (easy listening), or is "background type" jazz music. The production should ideally be placed in the time frame that "muzak" was popular - so basically 1950s to 1970s - but you won't loose any points if you go a more modern route.

What I do not want to see/hear, are "Vaporwave" productions. Keep the tape warp/wobble and sound degradation in check. The production "can" sound like it's being archived from the 60s tape, but it shouldn't be super worn out and unnecessarily muffled.


If you want to read up on the history of this particular genre (as in: how it came to be), and how this sounded, you can find examples down below.


As usual - please have fun, find your own groove and create some outstanding music! :phones:

Songwriting Add-On Rules:
  • Create a production in the "Muzak" / Elevator Music genre (ideally!)
  • you can use any tool that is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
  • IMPORTANT: if you use non-licensed material (no material from sample CDs, etc), give full credit to the source material
  • 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 - and yes, EDM can be "impactful" at this loudness
  • 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.


RECURRING LICENSE SPONSORSHIP:

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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


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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


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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


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JRR Sounds is kind enough give away any-1 sound sets or sample set of winner's choice (exception: Bundles)
More info on JRR Sounds: https://www.jrrshop.com/jrr-sounds


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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


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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/


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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


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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


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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


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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!
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Mister Fox
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#3

Post by Mister Fox »

AUDIO EXAMPLES:
---------------------

General In formation about Genres:
A Wikipedia entry on Elevator Music
A Wikipedia entry on Muzak
A funny take on The History of Muzak - by FrankJavCee on Youtube
A slightly more serious take on The History of Muzak (Elevator Music) - by Ordinary Things on Youtube


Random Playlists (Youtube)
Elevator Music -- MUZAK -- Stimulus Progression
Mall Music Muzak - Mall Of 1974
Muzak Airline Tape 1 Side A
K Mart 1989 Muzak (a digitized version of an in-store cassette tape that was played within a Kmart store)
Attention K-Mart Shoppers (an archive of of various digitized K-mart tapes, mostly 1980s and 1990s, created by Mark Davis on archive.org)


Random hand selected videos (Youtube)
26 Genres of Music in Alphabetical Order #2 (A2Z) by BoyInABand and Andrew Huang (linked to Muzak snippet)


Technically more "Jazz", but this song is mostly associated with "Muzak" (Youtube)
Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema (1964) LIVE
The Girl from Ipanema - Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto (cover by Elise)
functionform

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#4

Post by functionform »

Doctor Bob, easy win!
SimaGT
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#5

Post by SimaGT »

I want to ask the winner :D since this is his territory , what instruments to use i hear lotz of strings and brass? .Jazz is big mystery to me.
mountaine

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#6

Post by mountaine »

Darn it, I was going to take a break from competitions for a little while, but this might bring me back for an SWC challenge this month!

Erm, can I just post this track that I did a couple of years ago?!!! (Kidding - I won't! :lol: )

phpBB [media]


Anyway - yeah, I might have to bring out the old wide-lapeled lounge suit again! Doctor, the competition is ON!
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#7

Post by Mister Fox »

Looks like this month is definitely right up some participants' alley. Looking forward to the various entries.
UprightJoe

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#8

Post by UprightJoe »

This one is definitely beyond my ability and out of my wheelhouse. I'm going to try to give it a shot though.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#9

Post by Mister Fox »

Struggling with Jazz? Maybe InstaChord might help in this case. Plugin Boutique still has a sale running on InstaChord (MIDI processing plugin that helps you play chords and chord progressions way more easily), with additional MIDI packs for Jazz and Blues.

Else... if you're on Windows, the next nearest tool that offers something similar, is CodeFN42's Cales. Or Insert Piz Here's midiChords (Multi-Platform). Both are free.
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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC024 August 2019 - Submissions until 24-08-2019 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST

#10

Post by Mister Fox »

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 14 days left to submit your production.


Please do spread the word on social media, chatrooms, newsletters, forums, etc. The more participants, the more feedback, the more fun during this game run.
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