CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION
Time Frame: Saturday, 01st February 2020 to Monday, 24th February 2020 (24 days)
Challenge submission will end on 24-02-2020, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (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: Spread the Love
GENRE: (Contemporary) Pop
Image Source: Pixabay, photo by Peggy_Marco, released under Creative Commons CC0
A few word about this month's theme:
Staff (Mister Fox) wrote:The month February is traditionally known as "the month of cleansing". And while May is usually considered to be the "month of love", and not February (although it does have "Valentine's Day"), that doesn't mean that we can't "spread the love" regardless. So why not clean our our palette of usually being more experimental with Rock and Electronic, and rather dabble into something we haven't tackled in the Songwriting Competition yet: Contemporary Pop Music.
By "contemporary", I don't mean R&B/Electronic heavy "pop music from the last 5 years", rather think "modern" or "wide appeal" in general (which is more classic rock/blues oriented). I'm thinking of productions between 1995 and 2015, which is a 20 year span, mind you.
And since pop music/pop ballads are usually connected to love stories or stories about relationships, why not write a song with this theme this month?
Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create a production in the "(Contemporary) Pop" genre.
What I'd like to see/hear this month, should not necessarily be a bog-standard typical cookie-cutter pop song with the typical
I–V–vi–IV progression (although I do not have a problem with that if the song has an interesting movement). But definitely something that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling while listening to the song, even though the lyrics might not necessarily be upbeat or they have a darker background than expected (I'm looking at you, Kelly Clarkson with "Because of You", 2004!). Virtual bonus points if it's really a love song (I mean - the theme is "Spread the Love" after all)
It would be nice to hear vocals in the production. I will try to promote the Songwriting Competition as much as I can on other music platforms and social media in hope for more participation and singer / songwriters. But if you're from the "old guard" of our small community,
if you can not sing or can't find a collaboration partner that would sing for you, this
will not put you at a disadvantage. You just have to do better with melody and chord progressions. If you do sing, or found a collaborating vocalist, you are not limited to the English language of course. But please do provide a lyric translation.
Your focus should be on interesting chord progressions and melody lines. Contemporary pop music has a certain distinct sound: sometimes simplistic, yet keeping you engaged. Usually having an acoustic drum kit (EQ'd and processed to fit for "modern pop", sometimes blended with electronic drum loops) and focusing on a guitar or piano. Finally, featuring a lead voice with it's own melody line on top of that. You can of course go "Pop Ballad" and add strings, and/or some synthesized percussion as additional layer. But please don't go too crazy, or too minimalistic. We have plenty of future songwriting games that can tackle these genres.
What I do not want to hear:
Electronic "anthems" / dance productions, minimalistic electronic drums or stand-alone beatboxing (think One Republic or Imagine Dragons). Choirs are a thing in (contemporary) pop productions, but they shouldn't be bombastic 120 voices. I'd love to hear more real instruments than synthesizers.
The cheat sheet is fairly smalll, and it focuses mainly on female vocalists (finding good examples is far from easy and really time consuming). Most of these productions are from mid 1990s to mid 2010s. But I hope these are good examples regardless. Also - I did add some links to possible tools to get you started.
Please have fun - I'm looking forward to your entries.
IMPORTANT BONUS INFORMATION:
Please check the
SWC Rules and Guidelines. The
new game mechanic for getting
additional bonus points has been implemented and explained as part of the voting process.
Songwriting Add-On Rules:
- Create a production in the "Singer / Songwriter" genre
- 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
- 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:
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
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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!
