SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC037 September 2020 - Winners announced

[Olli H]

to download the track :https://www.dropbox.com/s/huvq0bovustt6 ... e.wav?dl=0

I like that guitar sound and melody line. I like it so much that I would try to give it a slightly bigger role maybe by giving more room for the reverb of the guitar. I feel that those background synths eat away the best part of guitar instrumental, ie. the moment when one is dwelling in the vibrating tail of the guitar’s reverby sound and waiting the the next line to come. Maybe with some automation to synth you could create more space for the tasty tail of guitar’s reverb. Or pan the synths to sides and leave the center to guitar.

[Olli H]

Mix is muffled and you have phasing problems on piano.

Thanks for comments, I actualy agree with you 100%. At the same time I think you also managed to define the essence of Lo-Fi Hip Hop.

[Double Tap]

I've updated my first post, and here is some slightly late feedback - still a few days to go though.

Really like the guitar and the overall upbeat ambience you've created. There's a slightly distracting hiss but that's quite LoFi anyway really. Could you afford to take anything out? Not sure - it's not really crammed but it doesn't feel like there's a lot of room either. Perhaps there could be more of a sense of progression within the track, although I don't think that's totally necessary for this genre anyway.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l4kY9z ... sp=sharing

I love me a bit of dub, so I really enjoyed the change up. I don't know if you've got time to do any more tweaks, but I feel that slithery, tambouriney thing that almost makes an entrance around 1min could be emphasised a bit more, to emphasise the way the track develops.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SL5PWn ... sp=sharing

The atmosphere you created was really nice, quite intense in places - sparse but not empty. The reverse [piano?] sounds and the wobble create a nice mood. The melodic elements work really well together. It feels a little bit spy-ish. I could imagine hearing this in Killing Eve or maybe something trying to create a George Smiley kind of feel. I can't think of anything specific, other than perhaps you could add a touch of something to warm it up slightly.

Feels more at the hip hop end of the genre, very nice. It develops a long way from the boxy piano through to the violin. It feels like there's a lot going on, the guitar then soprano, then the Bible verse, then violin. Every element works - could I hear it on Chilled Cow? Not sure, but it's good to listen to. I think the vinyl crackle is a little too loud for too long though - you could fade it out after we get the initial effect.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

I like the rusty drums, but the ride becomes a bit overpowering after the first 16 bars. Kudos for the vocals. The 'tell me everything...' bit could be up just slightly, maybe not all the time. Love the way you develop the sounds through the track. The change up to singing works really well, great harmonies - no problem with your voice.

[Olli H]

Ayo,
Peace.

Somehow I missed your post, Sorry for that
About your track: Very effective.
The first part’s ”tell me everything I need to know” with that skillful music, has something ominous in it. I immediately get the picture of the Taxi Driver Robert De Niro talking to mirror ”Are you talking to me?”. Not maybe something you had in your mind, but I love that part and how it gives me goose bumps.

From that point of you - with my inauspicious interpretation - the second part didn’t match the first part.

But if I just listen the second part without thinking the first part, I think it works musically very well. Your singing sounds very authentic autotune stuff.

So, I didn’t find anything to change or how to make it better. Very well done!

[Mellow Browne]

What I do not like is mix. Drums with bass are totally mono and also in some part kick is loosing power because of bass. Yes pure mono for drums can enhance some depth in some occasions but here it stick too much. Voice panning movement becomes bit annoying after while.

I like the rusty drums, but the ride becomes a bit overpowering after the first 16 bars.

Thanks for your feedback, I was not realizing the drums were totally mono, I was so deep "in the zone"
After a few days and fresh ears I adjusted some compressor settings and made the drums and bass a bit more stereo and tweaked a few things on the mastering chain. The pan movement of the vocal is not as wide as it was before, now it is less obvious.
I also tried to tame the ride, the ride is in the snare sample, I chopped a drum loop so I have to live with that.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Will give feedback asap!

[TrojakEW]

I know. I said I will not participate for some time. I was not planning but the track just happen. I put it together from few patterns I made during testing or rather said finalizing my plugin Arx One. I also testing my other beta version of new plugin named Vita. So if you with to know more about Arx One and download it go here: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/arx-one-by-vstzone

Now back to track. As I said it was not planned and I just somehow put few pattern together to make kind of short composition. So I went to check basic stuff needed to be in Lofi HipHop, and that is some emotions, hiphop beat and lofi sound to adjust what I already have.

Made simple beat from two different drumkits from Hybrid Tools Neo and Drum Lab. Added aditional pattern for vocals that was created using layering Ethera legato and Swing More women choir. I also added some effect to add additonal "story" to track. At the end I destroyed my mix with Calleum tape Cassete 2 used together with Fruity Squeeze to squeeze it bit more. Last was to create some quick artwork for soundcloud .


Made using FL Studio 20.6
Instruments used:
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1x ProjectSam Lumina
1x ProjectSam Swing More
2x Versilian Studio Chamber Orchestra Pro
2x 8Dio 1928 Piano
1x 8Dio Hybrid Tools Neo
1x 8Dio Adagio Basses
1x NI Drum Lab
1x NI Session Horns Pro
1x Orchestral Tools - Metropolis Ark 4
1x Ethera Soundscapes 2
5x sfx from free GameAudioGDC Bundle https://sonniss.com/ (wind ambience, steps, hawk, fly, slap)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Used Effects:
10x VSTzOne Arx One
2x VSTzOne Vita
3x NI Raum
1x Pro Audio DSM V3
1x Izotope Neutron 3 Equalizer
1x Izotope Ozone 9 Advanced
1x Fruity Filter
1x Caleum Tapecassette2
1x Fruity Squeeze
1x Izotope Neutron 3
1x Izotope Nectar 3
1x Brainworx bx_refinement
1x NI Replika XT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statistics:
Max momentary loudness -8.4 LUFS
Max short-tem loudness -11.9 LUFS
Integrated loudness -14.4 LUFS
Loudness range 8.4 LU
True peak L -1.06dB
True peak R -1.08dB
DC offset L 0% (-156.1dB)
DC offset R 0% (-140.7dB)

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
We're in the final 24 hours to submit / overhaul your production.

If you got some feedback to share, please do that now. Same goes for the changes you didn't get to so far.

[gruskada]

Just a simple song about being relaxed, but having some background mental tension as well. I tried not to overthink things, and just play what I was feeling. The name comes from the Internet term, TTL (Time To Live), which is a setting that governs how long data exists.



Instruments:
OTS Dracus w/ MIDI pickup
Arturia Pigments
LinPlug SaxLab2
NI The Gentleman piano
AIR Hybrid
IK MODO Bass
NI Battery 4

Record scratch samples from the now defunct freesound.org

Effects:
VallhallaRoom reverb
iZotope Vinyl
Audio Animals Status
Soundtoys PanMan

[Shea]

This was a nice motivating push to make my first lofi beat. I was looking to do as much myself. The samples I used were upright bass and some shaker samples.
Some things I used...
NI The Gentlemen
Battery 4
GuitarRig5
Exhale
Serum
Massive
EW Hollywood Strings

https://www.dropbox.com/s/56ulb5nzk1qxv ... y.wav?dl=0

[functionform]

My submission



Finally used something from Pianobook, don't want to ruin the surprise.
Recorded my own electric guitar, and the main sample is made from a loopcloud keyboard loop of about 2 bars I believe.
Crickets I just recorded off my Samsung Galaxy S8 after I brought the trash bin back to the house. They were really loud that day.

The inspiration was lofi for me, but I also wanted to pay homage to my areas (DC) 90s slow jam mixes and I think I got pretty close to what you would hear back then late nights. Funny how the overlap is pretty strong imo.

Reaper 6 latest
Serato Sample (key to getting that MPC vibe)
Pro-Q
LoudMax
Son-EQ Pro
Replika XT
RC 24
Permut8
Instant Flanger
Instant Phaser
TubeModulator
VLA-2A, VLA-3A
Tuco
Guitar Rig 5 (a little for my guitar recording) + VC 160 just because
Sonsig Rev-A here and there sprinkled