SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC086 October 2024 - Winners announced

[PonySho]

So far just 2 ideas and I'm not sure which one to use and if it will lead to anything.
An acoustic guitar instrumental or an instrumental in the style of the Cure (following the 2 new singles ...)

They both sound like great ideas. I'm keen to hear both but I don't know how that fits with the rule book.
Maybe toss a coin,. Use one for this round and the other song for the next round?

[Mister Fox]

The rule is, that there are no rules in terms of what music you make. Just make music in the first place.


Well, there is one rule still -- and I forgot to add this

Sure, this would be a collaboration, not a "ripped a capella".
Just please properly credit your singer, confirm once more that you got permission to use her vocals, and you're good to go.

It is also important that this should be an original production (not a cover version of somebody else), although you can always rework an old creation of yours. Thank you for understanding.



Friendly reminder:
Including today, 11 days left to create something. So far we have 0 entries still.

[Elcubano]

I composed an instrumental song on acoustic guitar in three parts to describe the cycle of the seasons, starting with nature's awakening,
followed by the period when nature reaches full maturity with the harvest of its fruits, and ending with its death.

► Show Spoiler

daw: fl studio
guitar: recording with an old unbranded electro-acoustic directly connected to the audio interface.... not the best way
plugins : EQ / reverb / delay
samples: I used some ambient samples
mastering : ozone

[Mister Fox]

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 7 days left to submit your production.

So far, we have 01 entry.



Now is the perfect time to post your entry!

If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within the next 3 to 4 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

And to those sitting on the fence - please don't feel scared off and think "the bar is set too high, I will never make it" - set yourself a shorter private deadline. Just make music, submit your entry, join the conversation. See where this goes.

By joining, you're already a winner. The rest is bonus.


Please do not forget to update your posts with what tools you've used, with whom you've collaborated, and which is the final version. We do need 9 participants for a full podium, and 16 or more for an extended podium.

[PonySho]

*FINAL SUBMISSION*

Overview
I gave some thought to the different aspects of harvesting. My thinking was about the process, the preparation, sowing, and environmental challenges that can affect the crop. I repurposed the harvest concept with respect to a snapshot of a period in somebody's life; the beginnings, the
challenges, and the rewards reaped from hard work. I settled on the idea of 'growing pains'. Hopefully, the track parallels this idea with the dissonant chords and tension in the verses, which then develop into a sweet (but slightly melancholy) melody in the choruses.

I wanted to compose a purely instrumental piece for this challenge, as I often write with vocals in mind. I was, again, under time constraints, which limited the production embellishments I like to create (ear candy, short riffs, textural elements).
This track follows a fairly common ABABCB pop structure that has proved its worth for decades because it takes the listener through a logical transition of sections.
The verses purposely have dissonant elements (guitar chords) to create tension, leading to the melodical release in the chorus. The chorus melody is mostly in a major key but finishes with a minor flavour. The middle-8 has a slightly darker melodic line with more influence of the minor scale mixed in with the major.
The chorus melody changes texture and colour every time it plays. I did this by layering in the guitar and harmonising synth parts in different ways to add more interest to the repetitive nature of the chorus melody.
My coda (outro) is lazy...I ran out of time as I'm about to start a big work project today.

Reflection
Being under time constraints always leaves me feeling like I need more time, as it did with this production. I could never officially release this track as it is, but for now, it has the main parts.
It was fun creating an instrumental piece - I haven't done this for soooo long!
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome and it was very satisfying to, again, finish a piece of music.
But the best part is...my wife likes it! So I'm all good

Instrumentation

► Show Spoiler

+ I wrote and played all the instrumentation.
+ No vocals were used in this production.
+ Drums were a single loop I found on my hard drive. I intended to add percussion to build the song but my Ujam percussion plugin crapped its pants and I didn't have time to get it working The loop made it a little difficult to get the drum flavour that I could easily achieve with a set of multi-tracked drums.
+ All synth sounds, including bass, use the plugin alliance DS Thorn vst synth. I love this thing! I only own two plugin synths.
+ The tempo-synced arpeggio's are also done with Thorn.
+ Gritty sfx also by Thorn.
+ The guitar is a Fender Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster played by me. These comprise both the chords and doubles to the synth melodies.

Again, thanks to Mr Fox for creating and maintaining this challenge and its friendly environment.
Looking forward to others' creations.

[Chasey24]

Greetings fellow composers, songwriters, beatmakers. I ran out of time last month, but I made a commitment to write something this month that I could put together in the time allotted. Autumn is my absolute favorite season of the year, and I tried to capture the feeling of harvest time as the sun begins to set on the horizon with this instrumental piece. As such, it had to be in a major key. All virtual instruments: acoustic guitars, bass guitar, drums, strings, a pad, and an electric guitar for the lead. I used the following construction: Intro-A-B-A-B-C-A-B-D-A-B-Outro. It's a bit repetitive, but I attempted to vary the instrumentation and melody slightly between sections.

Final Submission:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/28377umo ... 1tdo0&dl=0


Updated: Thanks for the feedback. I attempted to correct a few of the problem areas that were graciously mentioned by PonySho and Elcubano. Also remastered to the mandatory loudness level, and cleaned up some slop.

► Show Spoiler

Cubase 11 Elements
Scaler 2

VSTis:
David Forner Legato Ambient Guitar - Lead
NI Picked Acoustic Guitar
NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar
Modo Bass
EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Full Strings Patch
Embertone Blakus Cello
Spitfire Originals Epic Strings
Lunaris Pad
Hertz Drums
Project SAM The Free Orchestra 1 (Cymbal Swell)
Afflatus Minimalist Violins Free

Additional VSTs:
Mixroom and Bassroom
Levels
SPAN
SSL Native Drumstrip
80's Spaces(reverb)
Ozone 11

[PonySho]

Greetings fellow composers, songwriters, beatmakers. I ran out of time last month, but I made a commitment to write something this month that I could put together in the time allotted. Autumn is my absolute favorite season of the year, and I tried to capture the feeling of harvest time as the s...

Hi Chasey24. I've had a listen.

The mix is on the bright side to my ears. The only problem I see is listener fatigue. You might be able to improve it by a light shelving EQ reduction on the entire mix, or by darkening up some of the bright instruments at track level.

The bass guitar lacks a bottom end, but the mid-range growl is quite apparent. If you reduce the track level, you'll reduce the growl but lose the low end. I suggest you EQ a reduction in the midrange or use a multiband compressor to compress that region. Perhaps raise the low end slightly and try a hpf starting at 70 Hz and see how that interacts with the kick drum.

I think the kick drum is a little high in the mix. Try reducing the overall level, then adding a little EQ push at around 5kHZ to raise the click of the beater.

Lastly, I noticed a few stray snare hits...solo your snare track and listen through..sounds like some miss-triggering or if it's midi drums, then a few stray hits. If not that, it could be some percussion that's snuck in there.

The composition is great! I love how it builds.

[PonySho]

I composed an instrumental song on acoustic guitar in three parts to describe the cycle of the seasons, starting with nature's awakening,
followed by the period when nature reaches full maturity with the harvest of its fruits, and ending with its death...

Hi Elcubano, it's great to see the effort in composing and playing a piece on acoustic guitar... It clearly takes a LOT more work than knocking out MIDI notes like I did. The big drop in energy at 1.40s is great. It adds a real intimacy to the track. I found that some of the haunting synths notes up until 1.40 are a bit dissonant relative to the guitar.
The fast-playing arpeggio at 2.27 really lifts the composition.
I found the guitar a bit twangy...pretty common with piezo pickups in acoustics...they require a bit of taming, or a good IR pedal/plugin can settle this as I'm sure you know.
And the track was 'banquet' length - awesome.
Again, there was a lovely, intimate drop in energy at 4.12.
The track really has this bright vs dark vibe which perfectly parallels with the delight and misery of the seasons.
It gets crazy at the end...is this a mid-winter cyclone?
Awesome stuff, as usual, from you.

[Chasey24]

Greetings fellow composers, songwriters, beatmakers. I ran out of time last month, but I made a commitment to write something this month that I could put together in the time allotted. Autumn is my absolute favorite season of the year, and I tried to capture the feeling of harvest time as the s...

Hi Chasey24. I've had a listen.

The mix is on the bright side to my ears. The only problem I see is listener fatigue. You might be able to improve it by a light shelving EQ reduction on the entire mix, or by darkening up some of the bright instruments at track level...

Thanks for the great feedback, PonySho. I had originally added some saturation on the bass track, but may remove it as well as follow your suggestions. I may also try to "liven it up" or re-write because it's really boring...

I thought the entire track was a bit too bright, also. Will get to work on that.

I think what you're hearing on the snare are over-compressed ghost notes; so maybe I should tweak compression on the snare or perhaps remove the ghost notes altogether if I can't get it sounding better.

Excellent suggestion for the kick drum.

I always have a difficult time finishing these compositions, as I feel compelled to endlessly revise, tweak, etc. But these competitions, as well as others I have entered, have helped me to slowly streamline my workflow to the point where I may not be 100% satisfied with the end product-but at least I will have learned something to make my next production better.

I really appreciate you taking time to listen to my track.

[Elcubano]

Hi Elcubano, it's great to see the effort in composing and playing a piece on acoustic guitar...

Thank you for your comments, which are always very constructive and interesting.
For the first part, I applied sample layers in the background to bring a slightly supernatural side to the emergence of nature... I found the effect nice.
They're perhaps a little too loud, which can create dissonance with the guitar.

In this mix I applied a piece IR to give the electro acoustic guitar a more natural feel.
I hadn't thought of using acoustic guitar IR to apply to an electro acoustic.
Now I've found some free ones, but they don't work properly in IR1... I'll have to investigate further.

haha, I've gone a bit far into the dark side of winter