SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC031 March 2020 - Winners announced

[becsei_gyorgy]

ollyaudio - Glass Birds Outro
Nice piano sound, nice bass and ethereal pads: good instrument choices for chill-out music. Which i really miss: the development of the song. The same intensity, dynamism from the beginning to the end. I can't grab the song anywhere. It flows randomly. There is no beginning or end.
But: Overall nice background music, I liked the sounds, the instrument choices, the vibe, just missing a real structure.

TrojakEW: Alone Together
Good vocal (and whispers) intro. In the song I like best is the set of rhythmic elements.
Overall create nice eastern ambient. Like an age of empires style video game music.
Good development, the guitar enter very effectively. Nice mix, very elegant stylish music.

Green-Dog: Margarita Tells Gossip
Nice intro, nice guitar sound and drums, good start.
I waited for a change around 1:00 but "only" some plucks entered. Maybe a lead guitar melody or some stronger elements missing. (After the 3:00 starts the part what I have waited for around 1:00).
After the very impressive beginning there were high expectations, but unfortunately they were only partially fulfilled.
Maybe the structure could be more impressive, but I really enjoyed the song.

gruskada: Relaxed problem
Nice reversed sound in the beginning. It is a pity that soon it disappears and as I heard it does not return. Good sound.
The whole song is a very good relaxing song and nice guitar play.
But I think bass is too moving and too dominant. I often just listen to how the bass goes up and down. Although a very nice lead guitar comes in at 1:21 but I can't pay attention to it. The bass completely dominates this part of the song.
2:00-2:30 With the viola my favourite part of the song .
Overall great job.

Leonard Bowman: Moonlight
Nice start, nice elements in the beginning. Maybe I would choose a little different bass.
1:20- Nice vocal sound, jazzy chords, interesting. But over time it becomes a bit monotonous.
Maybe another drastic change (rhythmically or in tone) would do well.
Overall interesting, very unique song with nice sounds.

Doc John: Back to Bird
Wow, I was pretty in trouble with this song.
First of all the song is a professionally made song, nice arrangement, perfect structure. Good vocals.
But the mix is too clear for the song I think: it's extremely loud, and the whole thing has an Audiojungle feel that I don't really like.
I played with a little and put in on some plugins: Vinyl (1960's style) and Reelbus - it was very fun and more authentic (like a 60's beach song) .)
This song no chill-out music at all, but is a very good song. Maybe in another month would have been a winner.

SimaGT: Bad Chick
I think this song is a month late
Nice simple guitar loop. Good vocal sample, great effects.
After the beginning I waited for a Marilyn Manson-style voice to sing, but the lady's not bad either
Nice effects: today's standard tape stop , tape flanger, lo-fi elements, eq, nice stutter at 3:20, etc.
The 2-line vocal refrain is a bit common and cheesy (musically). The verse parts are better. Absolutely perfect pop song. I liked very much.

erictracks: Walk Like a King
Nice, balanced track. Nice playing, nice changes.
Overall, good chill jazzy song, good mixing, I liked it.
The start has a "let's get into the middle" feeling. And the fading end also indicates that there is no really beginning and end of the song.
It feels like I'm listening to the jamming of a jazz band. As if we were suddenly knocking on the door of a music studio where a band - during the break of recording two tracks - was jamming. We listened for a while and then walked away... like a King

ontrackp: ChillOut
Good chill-out song. Nice instruments.
The mixing would be better: Sometimes sounds like the musicians don't play in one place.
I can't add more to it, I think what the author wanted to do, did well.

Olli H: Once I Knew What I Was Searching For
That is exactly what a song written for a songwriting competition should look like
I liked the whole song very much. Good arrangement, good vocals, absolutely fits the song.
Good guitar play.

VCA-089: Carried Away
Nice synth intro. Nice sounds, nice pads.
But there is little change in the song. No changes in rhythm, in sounds.
More like a good ambient song, but it create a very good ambient.

MarkS: Late Night
The song gives what the title promises: a late night ambient (with crickets ).
Nice drums, good instrument choices.
It might be a good song, just a little bit empty yet.
I would add more night sounds, tasteful effects with panning, etc. Would make it a little more interesting.
At 0:31 why the pads stop so suddenly? A lush reverb, mysterious pads always fits well to the theme of the night.

TJ Shredder: Holy Metal Music
Ooops. Veeeery long ambient song.
Great sounds, but mostly an ambient background without a melody line, or any development.
It's perfect for a movie soundtrack. I enjoyed the whole song, just doesn't fit into this chill-out songwriting competition.

Canese: Filow
Contemporary lo-fi track.
A bit monotous, but has great effects and sounds, good ideas.
Very chill mood. Would be a great song, just little bit short and need to develop more.

JIlliam ??

► Show Spoiler

15 TrojakEW: Alone Together
14 Green-Dog: Margarita Tells Gossip
13 Doc John: Back to Bird
12 Olli H: Once I Knew What I Was Searching For
11 gruskada: Relaxed problem
10 SimaGT: Bad Chick
9 Leonard Bowman: Moonlight
8 Canese: Filow
7 erictracks: Walk Like a King
6 VCA-089: Carried Away
5 ontrackp: ChillOut
4 TJ Shredder: Holy Metal Music
3 MarkS: Late Night
2 ollyaudio - Glass Birds Outro
1 Jilliam

[Green-Dog]

# Tj-Shredder

I like the mood of the track. I love listening this kind of music live and I'm big fan of experimental music generally. In my opinion there is not enough depth in the mix.. The resonance somewhere around 250 hz is a bit annoying.

# YuriyKolosov

Cool sounding pad in the intro. Rhythm section sounds a bit strange in context. I miss some lead instrument in the track. All instruments, except percussions, are on the same depth in track.

# ontrackp

I like relaxing mood of the track. Slightly lacking variations in arrangement. Low synth in the last part sound a little strange in context. In general, the track is overcompressed.


# VCA-089

Intro of the track is promising but then comes disappointment. Song sound like good unfinished idia. In the second half of the track, the 3rd chord knocks out off the mood.

# SimaGT

Cool instrumental development in the intro. I like how transitions have made. Music and vocal good passt thogether but overall still sounds more like a remix. In my opinion, the track does not quite correspond to the theme of this month.

# Canese

Cool relaxing groove. I like stop-tape effects. Little bit too much low's on the mix overall.

# gruskada

everything trying play solo part at the same time and it sounds like a mess. I want to hear bass reef more simpler and overall foundation off the track more clear.

# MarkS

I like idea of the track, but percussion and others instrument appear and dissapear so suddenly that I can't relax. Overall sounds like sketch.

# becsei_gyorgy

Good, atmospheric track overall. Maybe drums not in a right place on the mix? I like bass synth and I want to hear it better.

# DocJon

Good reggae track but it not fit with challenge theme.

# OlliH

I like this song but it not fit with challenge theme.

# LeonardBowman

The track have great mood but needs to be mixed a little bit better. Synth in the middle part sounds a bit too much out of tune.

# erictracks

Relaxing chill out groove. Sounds very classical for this genre. I miss some lead solo instrument or maybe just you need balance mix different?

# TrojakEW

Overall good atmospheric track. I don't like vocal sound, especially in the intro. Guitar solo sound amazing.

# ollyaudio

Melody of the track is too complicated to let me relax. Also some sounds do not fit into the general mood. Sometimes I start to hear a beautiful melody but it broken down by false notes.

► Show Spoiler

01 (15p) Leonard Bowman
02 (14p) Canese
03 (13p) Becsei Gyorgy
04 (12p) Tj-Shredder
05 (11p) SimaGT
06 (10p) erictracks
07 (09p) TrojakEW
08 (08p) OlliH
09 (07p) DocJon
10 (06p) VCA-089
11 (05p) ontrackp
12 (04p) gruskada
13 (03p) ollyaudio
14 (02p) MarkS
15 (01p) JIllian

[YuriyKolosov]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! Really appreciate it. After all, feedback and getting stuff done are what this challenge is all about in my opinion.

You have some problems regarding phase. Many sounds, instruments sounds really different in mono and some of them are almost lost. Also missing some air or rather said sparkle in mid and high frequencies.

Thanks for detailed info! To be honest, I never really paid much attention to phasing issues unless I was working with kicks and bass. I did some research and tried to find ways to fix it. I found a cool free plugin "MSED" by Voxengo which I used for monitoring and fixing the issue later on.

Since the culprits are the pad and arp sounds the easiest way would be to reduce spread on the OSCs a little bit. But I also wanted to try fixing it in some other ways in case I'd have to deal with bounced tracks with the same issue in the future and also because I was curious.

First I tried tweaking channel delay on left/right channel, which obviously didn't work, since the sounds are very dynamic.

Then I tried simply reducing the SIDE component of the pad using aformentioned MSED by Voxengo. And it worked but sounded too narrow and I wanted to try something different. So I made a duplicate of the pad, used low pass filter on it and made it narrower reducing SIDE with MSED. Then on the second track I put a high pass filter cutting some of the lower frequencies of the pad and muted the MID altogether. To me the second option sounds better: it keeps phase corellation at bay and sounds pretty wide at the same time.

What are your thoughts? Could you share your approach to dealing with phase or maybe a good source of information on the topic?

[TrojakEW]

What are your thoughts? Could you share your approach to dealing with phase or maybe a good source of information on the topic?

I think most problematic are sampled/sample libraries and instruments regarding phase. If you are using synth you can always easily tweak the sound. Samples on other hand are baked with those problems.

What is to do is not just to look at correlation meter but more important is to listen in mono. Almost all mono makers using mid/side technique to put things in mono. In correlation meter they look good and it will fix problems regarding levels but there is something more important. You can hear kind of combing effect that don't sound very good. Especially it is audible on percussive instruments.

Inverting Left or Right channel may again look good on correlation meter but it usually not fix that combing issue.

Depend on material used you may switch to use left or right channel for lows when you hear the combing but sometimes it is not enough. Some instruments have audible combing on almost whole spectrum. If this happen I usually use then just L or R channel for whole instrument and recreate stage by panning and additional reverb. Some reverbs on some setting can also introduce some phasing problems. So also good idea is to check your fx chain and switch on and of one by one effect to see if it cause the problem if there is one.

Also sometimes rotate audio can help but it again depend on source but this also change the stage/panning of instrument. Delaying Left or Right channel can introduce more problems and I was never able use this approach successfully. Again it depend on material used.

So there is no universal way to solve this. It always depend what you use. You just need to check by ears how much levels changes when played in mono or if there any unusual unwanted effect. Listen to every instrument individually in mono but then also check whole mix for additional problems.

Using stereo enhancers usually add more problems especially when used on problematic material. Even new algorithm in ozone 9 is not safe if you overdo it.

Best what it can be done is not to use those magic tools to enhance the stereo of instruments but rather use simple panning instead.

[erictracks]

Nice work everyone I'm always amazed at skill and creativity of you all. Unreal. BTW I have no idea what chill out means. Chill out to me is like 'In a Silent Way' I guess.

ollyaudio
Short themes inside the main melody. I appreciate the chord movement - constant change benefits the two piano tracks. Some parts the piano timing is a bit off or that’s just a result of single piano notes i don’t know. i like the small rhythmic bits in the melody, where the piano and drum interplay. this is a relaxed song, maybe more easy listening than chill out (not that that’s a bad thing). I like the pad vocal sounds tying the other elements together, and especially when those textures take over at the end of the song. I can’t help but hear some pink floyd in certain changes, honestly that’s mostly the piano and strings feel with a straight drumbeat, and the consequential sound like something really impactful is happening.

J I L L I A M
So far chill out = piano. Which is fine obviously. That is a gigantic chilled out kick punching me in the face lol. Honestly this is making me feel really intense. It’s not a bad thing. Production sounds great. The descending chord movement gives this amazing tension. Those cascading bell sounds are giving this a strong Caribbean + cigarette boat crashing through the waves vibe. Okay so I’m not chilled out but there is something cool going on here.

TrojakEW
Okay chill out also means whispers. Which is fine obv. It’s super crispy maybe a bit too much high end somewhere. Was that vinyl noise? That aside, there is amazing depth on this. Like, sounds are floating in and out behind that main theme like audio apparitions, it’s very appealing. Dramatic chanting. More mournful than chill-out. Backwards guitar. That’s a big beat do you remember that group Enigma? This is like a spiritual descendant. I like that guitar reverb sounding like it’s playing in a galactic stadium that’s badass.

becsei_gyorgi
More of a mournful sound than chill-out. I really like that melody with the flashy acoustic guitar. Production is crispy like it’s over hyped way up high. The vocal is incredibly cool. This is one of the three sort of genre entries this month, and like the other composers this is skilled as hell.

Green-Dog
Insistent groove with piano hits - that’s intense sounding. Dramatic chord progression. This is giving me strong theme song vibes. Has a confident strut. Maybe not totally chill out, it has too much spine. Great composition.

Gruskada
Emotive chords start this out, nicely done intro. I’m enjoying the hybrid sort of clean guitar with big electronic percussion. Transitions between chords could be smoother but they’re really nice transitions. This is a really great track. The timing could use some more work. Not like exactly quantized but tightened up. 1:42 I appreciate this guitar playing nice job. Another mournful tune.

Leonard Bowman
Lofi beats to relax/study to
Tight interplay with the bass/kick and bass melody. Voices are so soothing over top of the ambience. 1:19 organ is twisted. I’m a little seasick here. Chords sound sophisticated though. Sublime. This has elements of chill out of course but it's more complicated than that.

Doc Jon
Totally pro sounding. Great mix great vocals great hook. This is so tight and polished. Of course I can totally see a Caribbean theme as the ultimate in chill out (assuming we'll ever be able to travel again). This is one of the other sort of genre songs and it carries expectations that are all paid off. Not much to say this track tells me I have a lot to learn. Top 2.

Sima GT
Moody intro with a nice repeating guitar figure. Works well with the hip hop beat. It’s pretty laid back. Is it chillout? I don’t know what chill out is. Melodies are nicely weaving in and out of each other. Bluesy vocals with a little sass. Okay. That’s a cool hook. I really like this, wish it had a couple dynamic or tempo or key changes happening. Gets a bit monotone but overall a cool track.

VCA-089
Soothing intro with that big synth arpeggio. I feel like I’m going through some crazy self-actualization listening to this (or maybe it's just the ambient anxiety from quarantine who knows). This is awesome I love the fat sounds. Upping the intensity at 2:30 brings it home. A bit repetitive but it has many levels and it works in context. Overall sound is my favorite of the contest, what a soundscape.

MarkS
Kinda cliche intro with the crickets but I get it. Okay never mind the crickets sound amazing with the ambience that comes in. This is evoking nighttime beautifully ooh I like the piano what a great choice. Nice interesting rhythmic play going on. I’m disassociating here at 1:10 lol it’s like a heavy emotional transition. Man this is reminding me of something and I can’t quite put my finger on it nice job.

TJ Shredder
Heavy another track causing me to look deeply into myself - it’s like a trance. I’m pondering life and pandemics man this is an intense track. You’re leaving a lot of room for the brain to fill, this is a super interesting choice. Am I chilled out though? I’m feeling kind of panicky to be honest, like something bad is about to happen. Okay it starts feeling a bit more optimistic at 5:20 or so thank you. Wow intense and not chill out at all lol

canese
I’m with this beat timing it’s very cool. That treated piano sound is for some reason essential chill out (presumably?). Back with pianos. I’m appreciating the overall levels on this very relaxing. It has an introspective quality because of the melody and chord choices and that trumpet back there. 1:20 damn you guys love slowing and messing with the pitch lol.

ontrackp
This is super loud it’s going to fatigue very quickly. That said it’s a really nice groove and sound choice. Obviously a skilled composer. Honestly love the vibe on this, the 7th chords are absolutely a chill out necessity (you'd think). Guitar break sits in there perfectly that resolution at 1:43 reminds me of tame impala a lot. This has a skilled use of all the components. It’s just way too compressed and limited.

Olli H
Strong end of a movie or classic TV show vibes on this. Beautiful instrument choices. Wow great vocals olli and those lyrics…damn. Too good. This chorus is so good. Guitar work is perfect. You really kept a deft hand on this one it stays so restrained and kind of...sardonic with a lot of vulnerability in your voice. I’m so impressed. Winner.

Ranking

► Show Spoiler

01 Olli H
02 Doc Jon
03 VCA-089
04 MarkS
05 SimaGT
06 Gruskada
07 Green-Dog
08 ollyaudio
09 Leonard Bowman
10 TrojakEW
11 ontrackp
12 becsei_gyorgi
13 canese
14 J I L L I A M
15 TJ Shredder

[TrojakEW]

That’s a big beat do you remember that group Enigma? This is like a spiritual descendant.

Not just that. It was my goal in this round to make something like Michael Cretu but without Gregorian choir and flute. So this mean that my mission is successful.

[Leonard Bowman]

I'm throwing the genre out the window here as long as it's c h i l l.
The voting was an absolute mess, but I did like all of the tracks presented.

Doc Jon - "Back To Bird"
Nice tune! Almost too energetic, but really relaxing and pleasant in its own way. My only main complaint is that everything is very quantized, from the vocals to the rhythms. If you loosened that up, maybe gave it a little swing, it would definitely feel more "chill" to me.

SimaGT - "BadChick"
Excellent use of your tools. Things fit together really well which speaks to both your composition and mixing skills. Atmosphere and effects are great.

gruskada - "Relaxed Problem"
Drum playing sounds a little too loose. I know that relaxed is the order of the hour but it's easier to relax as a listener when the rhythm is a little tighter. I like the overall development of the track, it keeps moving in a good way.

VCA-089 - "Carried Away"
Feels like almost too quick of a transition from the helicopter sweeps of the intro to the calm middle, but it's still a nice fade and the overall effect is still quite nice. The tension you keep with the 7th chord is very interesting, but isn't quite chill to me. Your production is nice but as a whole the song lacks a bit of purpose in my opinion.

canese - "Filow"
I love the A E S T H E T I C. You pulled off lo-fi really well. Really, I just want more of this so I can groove to it longer.

becsei_gyorgy - "Madre Tierra"
Really cool piece. Definitely took me a couple of listens to appreciate it but I really like the elements you have throughout it. There's a nice variety of sounds and feelings across the song.

Olli H - "Once I Knew What I Was Searching For"
Excellent songwriting, nice and calm. Your instrumentation is great and your playing works really nicely. Well done!

Green-Dog - "Margarita Tells Gossip"
This is the chill I've been looking for. A bit repetitive, sure, but that's the style and I don't mind. Sounds work well together, drums are fun, playing is great.

MarkS - "Late Night"
I really like the pads and crickets. The whole piece is really sparse, which seems intentional but it seems to lack something. It doesn't really go anywhere for me.

ontrackp - "Chillout"
original title! Your track has a nice flow to it, both in the short term rhythms and the overall structure of the piece. Works very well for me. I particularly love the ending section, I just wish there was more of that in the beginning of the song.

TJ Shredder - "Holy Metal Music"
lovely. beautiful singing bowls. It's long but that's the point, and I respect that. I like the harmonies across the piece.

ollyaudio - "Outro"
It's chill but starts to feel aimless without much of a melody until finally something big happens at 2:25. Your sound palette is really nice but as whole it doesn't work well for me until the very ending.

EricTracks - "Walk Like A King"
Good chill. really nice, laid back but fun to listen to. Well written, well done.

TrojakEW - "Alone Together"
I'm not a fan of the nonsense-lyric vocals in the beginning... give me something that's clearly wordless any day of the week. Drums are solid, and the mix puts everything together really well.

► Show Spoiler

14 pts: canese
13: Olli H
12: ontrackp
11: becsei_gyorgy
10: EricTracks
09: TJ Shredder
08: SimaGT
07: Green-Dog
06: TrojakEW
05: Doc Jon
04: VCA-089
03: ollyaudio
02: gruskada
01: MarkS

[Leonard Bowman]

In case anyone is interested: there were a wide variety of comments about my tune, so I'll put out some more details.

The beginning and ending "moonlight" sections are in 12edo, but my vocals aren't always in tune. I didn't want to clean out the relaxed feeling by autotuning it or trying to sing it perfectly.
For the middle "Poem To The Moon" section, the bass and keys are tuned to Orwell[22]. This is a lot closer to Just Intonation than most of us are used to, and also contains plenty of chords you can't find on a standard piano. I kinda like the feeling of it.

The bass was made with Surge; some people liked it and some didn't. Sometimes that's the way it goes. I still have plenty to learn.

I processed the poem by taking three different recordings, highpassing and panning two, and bitcrushing and isolating the mids from the third. Smash all of that through more bitcrush and delay, and you have a weird and messy product. I did it for the abstract feeling although i understand that it might have been a bit much.

All of the other "Moonlight" is my voice, with lots of formant shifting. I tend to double track lot of things, hence the wide stereo vocals. It might be uncomfortable but I like the style of it - it requests attention but is hard to focus on.

[ontrackp]

Canese “Flow”
The only thing I don’t love is the voice stuff.

Come on! you don't like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix???

Oh -- I didn't realize -- in that case it's just icing on the cake!

[Mister Fox]

It's the 02nd April 2020, 6:00 (UTC+2/CEST) - the Voting Period has officially ended.

All participants have submitted feedback and cast their vote, we therefore have zero disqualifications due to lack of participation. Although we have one due to redacting the entry.


I will post the results shortly (as in - within the next 48 hours), please have an eye on this thread.
(this is not an automated process)