SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC07 March 2018 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 24 hours left to submit your production.


So far we have 2 entries. The new proposed rule will apply until we exceed 7 participants.

[FixInTheMix]

hey, I got a song ready but want to keep mixing it a little bit more althought the current situation with the challenge makes me consider to save it for next month and hope other people join in, 3 people is just too low. I want to know if anyone else feels this way so please I discuss.

[Mister Fox]

Just an FYI:
Next Songwriting Competition will have the topic "Spring" with the genre "Free for all" (aka: no set genre), not just "free for all" and no particular topic.

See: http://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=119

[Nige]

3 people is just too low.

Yeah, and 2 is even lower.

[kc23]

Hey

I was trying to post on the way home, website kept asking me to sing in although at the bottom I appeared as already signed in!

Anyway, just got here and have something rendering, gonna post it as soon as its done. Hope to make it on time!

[kc23]

So, here it is:


https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7frmtwbrxo3j ... g.wav?dl=0

I´ll update this post shortly with a translation and mp3 link.



Maybe we´ll make it to four?

[FixInTheMix]

Well here it is:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r-e2X ... R3KCFVnpqI

Originally I was going for a bossa nova style track with a constant jumping around from one tonality to another but ended up in this weird crossover between that and I guess psychedelic rock? The fx processing was influenced by Tame Impala. I honestly don`t know what made me do this in 7/8.
Also the lyrics don´t make sense and I´ve already decided to change them in the future but for now here they are:


daría lo que fuera (I`ll give all I could)
para volverte a ver (to see you again )
y cuando vos quisieras (And whenever you wanted)
me quitare....la piel (I`ll take my skin off)

de tu mirada falsa (I wont forget )
no me voy a olvidar (your fake stare)
tal vez no haga falta (maybe I won´t need)
sentarse y respirar (to sit and breathe again)

No importa la distancia (No matter the distance)
Yo te volveré a soñar (I´ll dream of you again)
aunque sea un instante (even if it´s for a moment)
yo se que nos vamos a encontrar (I know we will find eachother)

No hay mas tiempo (There´s no time left)
el cielo parece decir (the sky seems to say)
cuanta soledad (how much loneliness)
vive en mi corazón (lives in my heart)

[Mister Fox]

It is the 25th March 2018, 6:20am GMT+1/CEST - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended

Thank you so much for your participation. We had 4 participants, 1 more entry compared to last month (3 entries).
The "staff balancing vote" add-on rule does not apply.
The new "Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than seven participants results in a single winner) does apply.

Technically, FixInTheMix submitted his production after the deadline (after his announcement that he's done), and that would result in a disqualification. I am however ignoring this for this month - reason being that this will also lever out the sub-4 submissions rule (feedback/vote by the staff). I will be more strict with the April competition.





How do we go from there?

Over the course of the next (hopefully) 24-48 hours, I'll gather all links into one post and hot-link to that from the first post of the thread. So please, check your links again. Mistakes and hiccups do happen on the internet. We then perform with the "public vote" system.


We have 4 participants, those being: nige, donkey tugger, kc23 and FixInTheMix
That means that each participant can vote for 3 tracks, the staff will not cast a vote

The Top 10 list (or Top 2 per participant rather) can look something like this:

01 (10 pts) - Mr Moon
02 (9 pts) - Mr Sun
03 (8 pts) - Mrs Venus

Please also take note of the Rules and Guidelines on giving feedback

Feedback from non-participants is highly encouraged (voting not needed!). Musicians and Engineers are always after constructive criticism. This is what this forum is about.




If you want to start on next month's Songwriting Competition already, take a look at the Upcoming Challenges announcement thread
http://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122

I'd love to still gather feedback on why the participation of this game is so low - please join the conversation in the General Gossip Thread
http://mix-challenge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97



Please have an eye on this thread!

[Mister Fox]

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Sunday, 01-APR-2018 11:59pm GMT+2/CEST latest


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)



Here is the collection of productions from all participants:

"Summer Soul/Winter Mind"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3k7yco4jctig ... d.mp3?dl=0

"Oncoming Traffic"

http://www.bennyleeds7.myfreeola.uk/swc ... raffic.mp3

"Coffee.Nothing"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7frmtwbrxo3j ... g.wav?dl=0
(mp3 link will be provided later)

"Contra Tiempos"

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r-e2X ... R3KCFVnpqI

Please consult this post of how your vote could look like.

Good luck to all participants!

[FixInTheMix]

kc23 - Coffee.Nothing

production:
nice arrengment, good instrumentation, bass is very repetitive, gets boring over time, like the overall intensity of the track specially during the end, don´t like the sudden ending

technical:
bass too loud, vocals too quiet, could use more fx during chorus to make them bigger
didn´t like the conversation sound effects, could have used more effects to make them more interesting, kick gets lost in the mix during loud sections, would have gone with a more distorted guitar sound in general, needs more agresiveness

subjective commentary:
I specially liked the organ melodies and how it moved in panning, I like your voice, it sounds similar to the singer of La Ley are you from Chile too? also glad to not be the only one posting a song in Spanish.

donkey tugger - Oncoming Traffic

production:
I enjoyed the quick change from the intro to the chorus, nice interesting drumbeat too

technical:
everything sounds clear in the mix although I would´ve gone with a less bright acoustic guitar for the strumed parts, letting a little bit more of mids through, I like the reverse reverb and sounds used, also the glitch fx, I think the use of the filter and/or distortion for the vocals is clever but I would´ve used a more extreme setting, in here it sounds like it´s only been recorded with a bad microphone.

subjective commentary:
I can definetly hear the british influence in here, the ascending and decending guitar melodies almost sound like a sitar so a bit of Indian influences aswell, I like the contradiction with those mostly minor chord progressions and the upbeat rhythm, like a happy nostalgic song maybe.


Nige - Summer Soul/Winter Mind

production:
I really like the rhythm variation used at the beginning, it gives the riff an interesting twist, at 0:55 the "never see" goes quite out of tune and it´s a bit too much distracting.

technical:
the distortion/overdrive on the vocals just ruins it for me it just sounds bad and it´s a damn shame because everything else sound great, like digital clipping, maybe this is a rendering issue, a limiter running too hot maybe? It doesn´t sound pleasing at all, I have no problem with using distortion on vocals but as I said this sounds like a mistake and not an actual aesthetic decision. Besides that I would´ve lowered the shakers a bit.
After analizing the loudness of the track it´s around -4.7LUFS integrated, the waveform is just extremely crushed so I think it comes from the limiter you used.

subjective commentary:
Love the agresiveness on those guitar sounds, very 70´s sounding

Final score:

1st (10pts): donkey tugger
2nd (9pts): kc23
3rd (8pts): Nige