SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC036 August 2020 - Winners announced

[Double Tap]

Hello everyone, wasn't sure if I'd have time to finish this and I've only done a balance mix so please forgive the mud, but... here's my first Mix Challenge entry:



DAW: Tracktion Waveform 11

Instruments:
The Amen break sample
Kontakt session strings
Spitfire BBC SO Discovery
Serum
XO
Waveform's Multi Sampler and Drum Sampler

FX
Shaperbox
Saturn 2
OTT
Valhalla Supermassive
Valhalla Vintage Verb
d16 Frontier limiter
Tracktion DAW Essentials: Autofilter, Compressor

Not sure how to measure Lufs yet!

[Mister Fox]

I only have time to respond to one track right now (as I'm working on something behind the scenes) - so I hope others will step in as well and give valuable hints/tips and tricks. This is what this overhauled "game mechanic" is all about.



Just really quick:

It is not just about changing tempo. There are some parts that I made with this tempo in mind (orchestral parts) and they will sound weird in high tempo so I will post only original 140bpm track without changing anything.

I now fully understand what you mean.

Then again, I've been curious and pulled your track into Cubase, just for the purpose to speed it up to 160bpm. And you're right... that would really push it. In fact... 150bpm is about the highest I would go. Here are short snippets to show you what I mean:

MIddle section with the original 140bpm

phpBB [media]

Sped up to 150bpm, what I would consider a good "middle ground"

phpBB [media]

Sped up to 160bpm, which is really pushing it

phpBB [media]

Your track is more reaching towards "Liquid Drum and Bass" with a hybrid of "Epicness". You took the "Soundtrack" premise quite literal.


If you would "speed it up" to 150bpm, I'd highly recommend you to maybe drop the strings or use different staccatos.

The track could also hear a bit more "growling". With all the sound layers, things tend to get a bit muddy. Which brings me to a bit of "fairy dust" (or veil lifting) - maybe add some high shelf boost around 10kHz and no more than 10dB. Maybe do this with a Mid/Side EQ, which would also boost the "wideness" a bit. In terms of drums, I also recommend you to take a look at sidechain compression, bar minimum the kick (maybe even the snare) to let it cut through as most important beat element. I would also boost it around 230Hz.

This is all I can give on the way in terms of feedback.


Interesting approach, I would not(!) push it away if it was offered to me. It is not bad, it could see some revisions (this is basically what the new game mechanic simulates). But in fairness to other participants... it didn't quite fit the bill this month.

[J.Ruegg]

Hi everyone, my entry:



I tried to blend neurofunk with some sci-fi elements, and also some little orchestral stuff... So, I think it would suit more a spaceship race-battle game, idk.
I consider it still an early concept, but I don't have much time to polish it so I am submitting it anyway.

Most of the sounds (main bass, main drums, pads, leads) where designed by myself.
The orchestral brass & mallets come from ableton live orchestral packs and collision.

Some tracks that inspired me :

!	Bonus Info
	https://soundcloud.com/nocidbusinessrec ... the-future https://soundcloud.com/nocidbusinessrec ... tive-space

Some pictures that inspired me :

!	Bonus Info
	https://wallhaven.cc/w/0qqo5r https://wallhaven.cc/w/mpz5pk https://wallhaven.cc/w/nry2v1 https://wallhaven.cc/w/zmrpxw https://wallhaven.cc/w/d55xxj

Ok, now, thechnical details.

DAW: Ableton live 10

Used synths (that I remember):
- NI Massive
- DS Diversion
- DS Thorn
- Cakewalk Rapture
- Live's Wavetable
- KHS One

Used effects (that I remember):
- KHS Disperser
- NI Raum
- SoundToys little plate
- Izotope Trash 2
- DS Tantra
- Live's Multiband compressor
- Izotope Ozone 9 elements

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 5 days left to submit your finished production.


Wait a second... Did I just write "5 days left"?

You've read right. Due to the recent heatwave that has haunted the northern hemisphere, and the new game mechanics, I've decided to prolong SWC036. Did you just join the forum? Did you run out of time and would love to continue working on your track? No problem this month. I want you folks to have fun, interact, and have suitable time to give feedback / get feedback / overhaul your mixes before the countdown has ended.



The new deadline is Friday, 28-AUG-2020 23:59 UTC+2/CEST
This gives you 5 more days to work on / revisit your material.



So please... spread the word about the Songwriting Competition, get more songwriters involved.
But most important - have fun!

[TrojakEW]

Not sure how to measure Lufs yet!

You can use free version of Youlean Loudness Meter

I now fully understand what you mean.

Your track is more reaching towards "Liquid Drum and Bass" with a hybrid of "Epicness". You took the "Soundtrack" premise quite literal.


If you would "speed it up" to 150bpm, I'd highly recommend you to maybe drop the strings or use different staccatos.

The track could also hear a bit more "growling". With all the sound layers, things tend to get a bit muddy. Which brings me to a bit of "fairy dust" (or veil lifting) - maybe add some high shelf boost around 10kHz and no more than 10dB. Maybe do this with a Mid/Side EQ, which would also boost the "wideness" a bit. In terms of drums, I also recommend you to take a look at sidechain compression, bar minimum the kick (maybe even the snare) to let it cut through as most important beat element. I would also boost it around 230Hz.

This is all I can give on the way in terms of feedback.


Interesting approach, I would not(!) push it away if it was offered to me. It is not bad, it could see some revisions (this is basically what the new game mechanic simulates). But in fairness to other participants... it didn't quite fit the bill this month.

Will try to look at it but I do not have much free time during work week bacuse of .... work . I tend to layer too much sounds and it cause it to sound cluttered and it also create a lot of problems when mixing.I also mix track on headphones and do not have checked it on speakers so yes it may sound mud. There is some gentle sidechaining/volume ducking but no sidechain compression. Thank you for all the info and suggestion. Very helpfull .

[functionform]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you for the extension! As usual my time is hyper limited but I really want to produce something for this one. I have a track that's 70% done and with the extension I should just make it. I would be able to finish something by tomorrow but I have to go on a family vacation first so that just leaves me with just the final day.

Both this months songwriting and osc challenges are really interesting to me so I'm excited to have time to finish both!

[Olli H]

(EDIT2: the file replaced with a new one. It's a much different. New drums, New bass. Hopefully I managed to hide my retro roots)

”Gatekeeper”, Olli H
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m1fYsw ... sp=sharing

Momentary Max = -8.88 LUFS
Short Term Max = -10.30 LUFS
Integrated = -14.95 LUFS


Very hard for me to do anything without a melody line and "real" instruments. After having listened some of the submissions, I realized I'm doomed to be the last in this months game. But at least I tried.

EXPERIMENT PHASE
First I made a preliminary drum beat in 174 tempo. I added about 10 different Battery drum sets to explore feelings. I started mixing slow and fast grooves together with different drum sets.

After that I started experimenting with different bass riffs. I used about 6 different Massive sounds and blended them many ways.

When I had enough of ideas and something acceptable happening, I tried to find some sort of chord progressions with a guitar.

Later - to add some game feeling - I started to experiment with different library sounds. In this context I liked most the gate and the door sounds. That was the moment I started to get some sort of idea for this song.

SONG CREATIONS PHASE
After some tweaking and experiments I had in the timeline plenty of different 8 bar ideas. I rendered them to one stereo file. I tried to create some sort of structure for the song by moving quickly those 8 bar ideas into new order. And when that was done I did the same structure movements in my multitrack session and created all the transitions between parts.

As there's more time now, I might try to add sub-bass and mid-range synth, and to do a proper mixing. Especially I should work with the low end. I guess there's plenty of tricks within this genre that I should study. We'll see what happens.

DAW: Reaper
Drums: Battery
Bass: Massive
Synths: Massive
Door samples
Piano: Kontakt
Real Guitar

[Mister Fox]

"Hello and welcome" to all new faces to the Songwriting Competition.


Just a quick heads up:
I will try to give feedback to all entries later tonight. But please don't understand this as "only the host is giving feedback".

The overhauled game mechanics allow for everyone giving feedback to each other during the submission period, so that the person in question can address this (or not, totally up to you). I am trying to be a positive example of how this could go, just to spark more interaction. Maybe I'll be the only one this month - but I hope to see more back-and-forth with the next game in September.


I also hope to see @J.Ruegg and @Olli H overhaul their mixes until the end of the week. Interesting approaches so far. This is why you've got the extra days. Same goes for @functionform - hope to see you join again by the end of the week.

More from me later!

[Olli H]

Hi everyone, my entry:

I know nothing about this genre, but still I dare to comment something.

Interesting and promising opening. Very skillfully done package to my ears.
I like those parts around 0:35 when it feels like a build up just started but then comes ”beeb”. It sort of teases and gives an expectation that build up would come soon and energy level would go a level higher. But the build up never comes, and now the energy level stays pretty constant all through the song. I think that on that area you could do something. You clearly have great skills, so why not surprise the listener and give some wild and crazy moments?

[Olli H]

Hello everyone, wasn't sure if I'd have time to finish this and I've only done a balance mix so please forgive the mud, but... here's my first Mix Challenge entry:

Nice effects all through the song. Well done.

But I miss transitions. Maybe you could do more dramatic changes between parts, so that the listener would get a feeling of progress.

Drums feel a bit suffocated. You could bring them up. Or in some parts beef them up with samples or synth drums. At least in some parts pull them in front with a different energy level. It would make nice crack into the beautiful picture that you have painted.

About that drum riff. I’m not sure, but it probably belongs rhythmically to another genre than "Drum and Bass".

I was expecting to hear more bass lines. Now the kick and bass melt together. Maybe they could conversate more some how.