SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC052 December 2021 - Winners announced

[Arelem]

I sadly do not have much time to give feedback this month. Just some quick pointers, maybe:


@Arelem
Your production is fairly dry. Unless you want that "in your face" pop feeling, you can definitely experiment a bit more with reverb to make things a bit more spacious. Hint from my side... a delay with about 2s decay, a bit of pre-delay (20ms - 25ms), adjust to taste to the point where things drown too much, then pull back by about 3dB. This should "gel" things together a bit better


@alavault and @A Future in Noise
I can't really comment on the dissoance. But I can at least tell you that the second guitar solo is a bit loud. Other than that, the vocals are cut "too high" (give them a bit more lowend, please), and try a more "warm" reverb for them. Volume balance is also a thing in the first half of the song. You're almost there IMHO.


@EsteveCorbera
A samba, nice... I would pull back the first trumpet a bit (volume wise), at least in the intro, for the rest it is fine. The reverb is a bit too much for the lead trumpets, and maybe the first drums. Just turn them down a bit. The rest can keep that reverb. An interesting bass-line would be the final touch. Oh wait, there actually is a bass, but I can't sadly hear one on small speakers (maybe copy it, add some saturation to the copy, then blend it in until it cuts through in the mix).



Please keep up the good work, everyone. Still a bit over 1,5 days left for your productions.

Thank you for the feedback. I routed everything through a Rooster Audio RO-SPR to various degrees and I do think it sounds a lot better/fuller.

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

[Mister Fox]

Everyone - to make it easier for me to find the most recent version of your entry, please always(!) update your original post and triple check that it's the correct link by the time the deadline has been reached.

Thank you

[becsei_gyorgy]

It was a surprise this month's announcement (ballroom dance). I was very happy to have something new.
At first I thought I was heading in the direction of my loved Latin music, but since I’ve been adventuring in that world for the past few months, I’ve been heading in the classical direction instead.
Especially that it is very rare for this genre to come into play in the competition so it was possible to discover another genre of music.
The song is a classic 3/4 rhythm dance and this is my first such attempt.
Unfortunately, there was very little time to have a well-crafted song, but I hope it’s acceptable.
Maybe December and July are the months when there is the least time to make hobby music, so I hope there will be a similar theme or genre even in the future.

Letzte Nacht

phpBB [media]

VST:
BBC Symphony
Kontakt
The Giant
Joshua Bell
Room Tone 2


FX:
Pro Q3
Waves NLS
Seventh Heaven
Waves SSL Comp
Oxford Limiter
TR5 Tape Machine 99
Youlean LM
SPAN

[EsteveCorbera]

Hello,

I have updated the original post following the instructions of Mr. Fox
Thanks

Esteve

[Mister Fox]

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



Please get your production ready and submitted today.

[Arelem]

My original post has been updated with the correct link.

Thank you

[A Future in Noise]

The track has been updated. It seems there is some kind of Internet problems in Europe right now. I had to try four or five times before I managed to upload the track to Soundcloud. I guess this will be the final version. So if you downloaded the track before half past ten a.m. Christmas Eve, please delete that version and download again.

[A Future in Noise]

@Mister Fox Before uploading, I checked very carefully that the limits regarding LUFS and True Peak was OK. But when I downloaded and let Youlean calculate the very same track once again, the result was True peak = - 1.0 (which is within the boundaries). But I wanted it to be not anything above - 1,2 so I created a new track, before anyone had downloaded the first one. But Soundcloud somehow transforms it, so once again: True peak = - 1.0. And I cannot make anymore changes, now.

[A Future in Noise]

@becsei_gyorgy @EsteveCorbera @Arelem @Mister Fox

I really have to apologize if I cause confusion here. Well, the thing is that I/we have a new version, and now it is my intention that this should really be the final one. Since I explicitly said, earlier, that that one was the final version, I thought that I should better "mention" (@ etcetera) all of you.

Firstly, there are some improvements here, and secondly, I have started to think that I do not really like that Soundcloud processes the sound without revealing, in detail, what they do. So delete old downloads again. The definitive final mix should now be downloadable from the original post.

REAPER shows True peak is -1.2. Youlean loudness meter shows -1.0. I really hope that some other kind of equipment won't show anything else.

[Mister Fox]

It is the 25th November 2021, 8:34 UTC+1/CET - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended

Apologies for the waiting time -- personal matters made it impossible for me to handle things as timely as usual, and I did need to seriously catch up on rest as well.


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 4 submissions this month (4 entries less than last month, 8 less than December 2020)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline (as of 25-DEC-2021 8:30 UTC+1/CET)
• We have 0 submissions that has been disqualified (production released outside of the game's timeframe)
• We have 0 submissions that have been withdrawn (but counts as entry within the deadline)
• The "staff balancing vote" add-on rule does not apply (I might add final words regardless / step in if there are ties, maybe use a random modifier to shake things up due to the fact that we only have 3 votes per song)
• "Sole Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than eight participants results in a single winner) does apply (1-position Winners Podium)

How do we go from there?

Over the course of the next (hopefully) 24-48 hours (usually up to 6-12 hours maximum after the game has ended), I'll gather all links into one post and hot-link to that from the first post of the thread. Please, no more changes to your entries, but please do check your links that these entries are downloadable. We then perform with the final feedback and "public vote" system.


We have 4 participants. That means that each participant can vote for 3 tracks, the staff will will not cast a balance vote, unless there is a tie that can't be broken (or if it would add a bit more spin to the game -- might happen this round).

Please take note of the Rules and Guidelines (see post #7) on giving feedback (mandatory for all participants). Even if you already gave feedback prior to the deadline, please offer some final encouraging words, and maybe give some additional tips for possible improvements on the way. The only main criteria to drop out of the game, is if you do not participate.

Please cast your vote in collective form through the "spoiler text" bbcode, Please use the forum username of the participant to make it easier during the score collection to address what vote belongs to whom. To get an idea how this usually works, please take a look at the last two Songwriting Competition for how your feedback and vote could look like:

SWC051 - Song Collection and follow-up
SWC050 - Song Collection and follow-up



Feedback from non-participants and/or collaborators is highly encouraged (voting not needed!). The same goes for entries after the deadline, or those that sadly do not count for the current running game (even if you've exceeded the deadline, why not post your entry regardless?). Musicians and Engineers are always after constructive criticism. This is what this forum is about.




Have some general feedback? Please voice your feedback/opinion/concerns here:
Songwriting Competition - General Gossip Thread



Please have an eye on this thread!