SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC026 October 2019 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 26 - October 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

[Mister Fox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Tuesday, 01st October 2019 to Thursday, 24th October 2019 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-10-2019, 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: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoons

GENRE: free to select


Image Source: Pixabay, photo by mojzagrebinfo, released under Creative Commons CC0


A few word about this month's theme:

Ah, the good old days of getting up early on a Saturday morning, to catch the cartoon block. Only to realize "wait, they've changed the program again", and you were lucky to see this one series in one go. Or at all (because it only ran once. The excitement as a kid, then sharing the experience with classmates the next Monday on the school-ground. These days, we have VOD (Video on Demand) and can watch even old TV shows at will. Or we've collected them on DVD/Blu-Ray.

We've had the request to do "TV show intros" for quite a while, and I think "Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoon" would fit quite well for this task - with a little twist (read below). I can't really give you a bigger premise, other than maybe try to create an intro or outro for a blend of a Drama/Comedy series. This can be Fantasy, Slice of Life or Sci-Fi - it doesn't matter. The idea here is to create a regular song, which would not only fit a TV show that you would highly enjoy watching, but could also work as also work as a regular single release. (see some examples below, especially from Anime shows).



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

This month, you can create a production in any genre you feel like.

The twist however will be, creating two versions of your production. A "TV edit" that is not longer(!) than 1:30min (90 seconds), and an "Album Edit" (anything between 2:40min and 10:00 minutes). You will not be punished if your edit is shorter, but it shouldn't be sorter than 0:45min (45 seconds)

What I'd like to see here, is if you can edit down your own track to create something that would fit an Intro or Outro of a song. Paying attention to detail is key here as well. Imagine having a TV show producer in front of you that says "the song part can only be 90s long, here is my edit". If you exceed that by just 1 second, you run into trouble a re-edits to accommodate your mix usually don't happen. It's mostly the other way around.

What I do not want to see here, is additional voice over and/or sound effects. Just focus on the music.


Please have fun - I'm looking forward to your entries.

Songwriting Add-On Rules:

• Create a production in any genre you feel like
• 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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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:


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



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



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/



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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

[Mister Fox]

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

Random hand selected videos (Youtube)
The Flintstones (Opening 1960s)
The Jetsons (Opening, 1962)
Galaxy Rangers (Opening, 1986)
Galaxy Rangers (Alternative Ending, "Rangers are Forever", 1986)
Ring Raiders (Opening, 1989)
Batman: The Animated Series (Opening, 1992)
The Pinky and the Brain (Opening, 1995)
The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (Opening, 1996)
Batman Beyond (Intro, 1999)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Ending, 2005)
Dreamworks Dragons - Defenders of Berk (Ending, 2013 - similar to the movie OST)
Critical Role - The Mighty Nein (Opening for RPG Campaign 2 of YT Series "Critical Role", 2018)
Gen:Lock (Opening, 2019)

Anime:
Cowboy Bebop (Opening, 1998)
Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (Opening, 1998)
One Piece (Opening 3, 2003)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GiG (Opening 1, 2005)
Orban Star-Racers (Japanese/French Intro, 2006)
Dennou Coil (Opening, 2007)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (Opening, 2011)

More to come...

[Richard Watashi]

Hello everyone. I made this on an old laptop, with cheap headphones - as both my speakers and my normal headphones have died. It was kinda fun, but a lot of forcing to work on it further due to the crackling. I have my PC in a pawnshop. It's not an excuse, though. Check and have fun. Good luck to all.
_____________________________________


J I L L I A M - Hawk

>>> DAW: FL Studio

>>> Genre: Darkwave/Electronic/Minimal

>>> Drums:
All stock

>>> Instruments:
really, i just used these three:
Fruity Piano (mostly distorted with Hardcore)
Harmless
Sakura

>>> Effects:
Fruity Compressor
Fruity Limiter
Maximus
Parametric EQ2
Parametric EQ
Fruity Reverb
Fruity Delay
Fruity Bloody Overdrive
Hardcore
Phaser
Chorus
Gross Beat

Others:
A free sample of a Crash-Cymbal that i chopped and, made the white noise with it
___

I guess it's all.
___

[Mister Fox]

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

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your production

[gruskada]

Here's my entry, "Oli The Cat", a fictional cartoon based on my in-laws cat, who is constantly finding new ways of getting into trouble.

I was way out of my comfort zone for this one, but it was really fun to put together. My son and daughter joined in on the last verse/chorus, and my daughter played saxophone on some parts as well.

I threw in a few nods (no copyright infringements) to some famous songs about cats as well.

Genre: Swing

Technical Details:
Vocals - my terrible voice :-), octave doubled w/ extra recordings in some parts, band-passed for a more old-time feel
Alto Sax - Yamaha YAS-280, recorded w/ Blue Snowball, close-miked, -10dB filter on
Upright Bass, Muted Trumpet, Alto Sax - NI Kontakt Factory Library
Pianos - NI "The Gentleman" (upright)
Trumpet - Realitone Screaming Trumpet
Horn section - NI Session Horns, doubled w/ real sax in some parts
Drums - Free "Jazz Funk Kit" from Orange Tree Samples
Guitar - MIDI-tracked w/ Orange Tree Dracus
Finger Snaps - recorded w/ Blue Snowball, close-miked

Psuedo-mastering w/ Izotope Ozone.

EDIT: removed sound effects (re-post approved by Mr. Fox)

[Richard Watashi]

hey guys, i apologize but, i wanted to quit the production and the first step was to delete my account. bye

[Mister Fox]

That is a pity that you decided to withdraw from the game. But it's your call.


We have a bit more than 3 days left on the counter, and the entries have been reduced to 1.
Can we still exceed 10 this month?

[ryanc]

Hello everybody,

My song for this month is called, "Let You Down Easy"
Here's the full song: https://www.dropbox.com/s/maum6v8erwb4k ... y.wav?dl=0
Here's the TV intro edit (1:16): https://www.dropbox.com/s/gdjr3fbluyu6n ... 9.wav?dl=0

Recorded and mixed in Studio One. I used Organ & Bass plugins by Arturia, MT-Drummer VSt for the drums, and Studio Grand Piano VSt. Everything else was recorded with my Blue Spark & MXL Ribbon mics.

I ran out of time on mixing again - spent most of the time on the actual writing and recording, so very minimal producing is done on this song - just some gain staging, basic eq & compression, & some reverb on the vocals, guitar & piano.


Here are the lyrics (they're meant to be ironic):

I said I'd be there
But how long will you wait?
Will you give up on me,
Or think I'm just running late?

No, you can't complain, is it really a crime
If, once again, I've lost track of the time?

Of course you matter,
I deeply care how you feel
Another joke at your expense
To help you see I'm sincere

How many times will you let me in
'Til you recognize the kind of friend that I've been?

Chorus:
That I'm never gonna let you down
Never let you down easy
Oh, I'm always gonna be around
Be around to displease you
Doo doo doo doo doo doo

High expectations
Only lead to dispair
You say I can't be counted on
Now, I say that's unfair

Well sure I know I've lied to you
But you have my word, cross my heart, I speak true

(Chorus 2x)

How many times will you let me in
'Til you recognize the kind of friend that I've been?

(Chorus 2x)