SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC057 May 2022 - Winners announced

[Koekepan]

Becsei Gyorgy, I like your tune. It has bounce and energy. Parts are almost as if you're channeling Bodzin. While your mix is on the darker side, it's not to the point of being muffled, so it's quite workable in the sense of conveying that moody club feeling.

I feel as if I should be finding a sketchy-looking dude in a corner and making a purchase.

[KukoBass]

Hello everybody,

this is my first try to finish and upload a piece of my work. It seems a little presumptuous to call it a song yet.
I'm aware that it still needs a lot of work: Variation in the drum part, a "B"-Part with a chord change and so on.
It is not properly mixed but on the other hand I hope that it's good for a mixing challenge later on.

Excuses aside, this is what I used:

DAW: Ableton Live
Vocoded Strings in the intro: Cherry Audio Polymode Synthesizer "String Machine 2"
Drums: Ableton Live 505 Core kit (just because it's May)
Bass: Karanyi Sounds Analog Tales "AA Fender Bass" + Cherry Audio Polymode Synthesizer "Big Sub"
Bells: AAS Multiphonics CV-1 "Bleepy Dreams"
Chords: IK Multimedia Syntronic 2 "Lake Hamana Sweep"
Bleepy chords at 1:45: Ableton Live "Uplift Strings Arp"

Edit
Most instruments are used "out of the box" without effects.
Drums and the bass synthesizers are sent to a bass group for saturation and summing everything under 120 hz to mono (via Unfiltered Audio Bass Mint plugin) and are sent through a brainworx Ampeg B15N-Amp for flavour.
On the master bus I used HoRNet ThirtyOne MK2 on Auto EQ and HoRNet TheNormalizer for loudness control
/Edit

It should be downloadable as a WAV here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UkUyHp ... sp=sharing

This is the soundcloud version:


Thank you for organizing the challenge: I really had fun playing around with some of the more exotic synths in my G.A.S.-collection.

[GamaGama]

Good evening everyone,
it is the first time that I participate in this contest and I hope that the song I propose will be appreciated.
It is a very old work that I accidentally found and I think it is suitable for the contest: it is a useful basis for allowing a solo.
The song is based on 7 mono and 1 stereo tracks (at the time I wanted to record it on an 8 track but I never did), the instruments are an 808 (stereo) 5 Minimoog and a Prophet 5. Naturally everything is emulated. No particular effects, just some delay and a few reverb. The sounds are typical from the 70s with the feel of the time: nostalgia operation. Maybe you guess I'm not very young anymore?

Hope you like it, here is MP3_320 version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6Sm9k ... sp=sharing

and here the wave_44k24bit version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16sBZ3k ... sp=sharing

Thank you to everyone and have a good evening.

G.

[Olli H]

My submission
Olli H: Daisy Darling
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hXN8eV ... sp=sharing

This one is Electro swing. In Wikipedia it's categorised as a subgenre of House Music. Electronic Music > House Music > Electro Swing.

In electro swing the essential part is mixing of 40's style retro sounds and melody lines with modern electronic sounds. An interesting part of Electro Swing is constant transitions from one sonic realm to another. From my perspective the challenge was to make those totally different sonic spheres to blend naturally as one song.

So, to make Electro Swing, I first had to make a 40's style song with 40's sound and swing. As a basis I used one of my old 50's style songs that I had made some 25 ago. I changed a bit the melody lines by adding some jazzy chord progressions to it with constant key modulations from Em to Emaj and back Em.

Lyrics were written by my wife a long time ago, and they were meant to be sung from the perspective of man. As Electro Swing is constantly changing the sonic mood, I felt it was natural to add woman's perspective to lyrics. So the end result is a discussion between a pair that lives their relationship by separating and parting each and every day. Some sort of "Groundhog Day."

In my first version I used horns, but just for the sake of the game to add more electronic sounds, I changed them to synth based sounds.

RETRO SOUNDS
Retro Drums: SSD
Retro Piano: NI
Retro Bass: Trilian
Retro Guitars: real
Percussive retro samples: home made
Marimba: NI

ELECTRO SOUNDS
EDM Kick Sample: SD EDM Sample Pack
EDM Snare Sample: SD EDM Sample Pack
Synth Hi-Hats: Saurus
Synth "kick with bass note": Massive
Synth Basses: Trilian, Iris2, Massive
Synth "piano": massive
Synth "guitar": massive
Synth Pad: Cherry Red Voltage Modular

I used in the song the less known variant of English: "Finnish Rally Driver English." I guess it's the third official language in Finland. All the Finnish formula and rally driving heroes use it in their hilarious interviews. Also, the Finnish politicians tend to use it in important situations when they want to enhance their nationality.

[patrlord]

Hello everyone,

Great to see more entries from the last round participants and some new ones too !!

Here is my entry. UVI had a sale recently, so I got their Synth Anthology 3 and used it a lot in this track.

I don't know what genre to call it, but apart from some chiptune type sounds and some vintage synths in there it's not a 'modular' style or synthwave. I added in an Output Substance bass guitar instrument that I love for its similarity to the New Order electric bass plus some piano for a bit of extra character. And I had fun structuring it in 4 parts and giving it lots of energy.



Here's the rundown of instruments and FX:

Drums - UJAM BM Nemesis + Turnado applying a low probability random reverse effect
Risers/FX - UVI Whoosh (for noise) + bounced and reversed samples of instruments in lead-up to their appearance in the track.
Pumping filler bass - UVI Synth Anthology 3 (SE-ATC synth)
Low Ahh Formant Pad - Serum, heavily filtered
Shimmer Pad - Kontakt Play Series '25' synth combines vintage and modern synth sounds + Soundtoys Crystallizer effect
Echo signals arp - DS Thorn
Chiptune synth - UVI Synth Anthology 3 (Korg Prologue synth)
Naughty robot (raspy rhythm at intro and throughout) - Bitcrushed UVI Synth Anthology 3 (Novation Bass Station)
1/4 note stutter chords - 2 UVI Synth Anthology synths in parallel: Yamaha CS-20M + RSF Blackbox
Piano - Kontakt (the Giant)
Synth lead at the end - Phase Plant (some future bass preset) + Decapitator saturation
New Order style (less pronounced though) electric bass - Output Substance 'Spring eBass'

Liberal use of Ableton stock plugins for EQ, compression, wash, filtering, reverb, delay, Shaperbox for pumping.

Mastering chain: Ableton glue compressor, Gulfoss, bx_limiter true peak, izotope tonal balance, Max for Live Swiss Army Meter for LUFS & True Peak

[Arelem]

Hello Everyone,

If this gets in before the cutoff it will have been just barely. I wasn't sure where to take 'electronic' so I just started working on something. I'm not sure of the specific genre but it's definitely a dance track. Hope you all like it and good luck to everyone.



Produced using FL Studio

Instruments
Pads were made using layers of Etherial Earth, Sakura, Sytrus, and Harmor.
The synth is a couple instances of Massive.
The bass is a preset in Flex.
The drums, vocals, risers, falls, and crashes are all just various samples.

Effects
Saturation Knob was used on the kick to make it more punchy and VLA-3A was used on the drum bus.
The bass has Guitar Rig 6 and True Iron to fatten it up and Smooth Operator and Fruity EQ2 to tame/cut some of the low frequencies.
The plucky synth has Spaced Out for some delay/reverb effect and MDynamic EQ to sculpt the middle freqs. Raum was used on some of the layers for a more different reverb.
2B Shaped was used on the pads for a sidechain effect.
Nectar 3, BC Chorus 4, and Tape Mello-Fi were used on the vocals.
Vocodex was used to modulate the downlifter in the break with some white noise.

[Mister Fox]

It is the 25th May 2022, 2:05 UTC+2/CEST - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended


STATISTICS:

• If I didn't miscount, we have 9 submissions this month (0 entries more/less than last month, and also 3 less than May 2021)
• We have 1 submissions after the deadline (as of 25-MAY-2022 2:05 UTC+1/CET), technically -- however, since this entry also pushes us to 9 participants and therefore a larger winners podium, I consider this a... er... "technical glitch" (that I might or might not penalize with -2pts on the final score chart)
• 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)
• "Sole Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than eight participants results in a single winner) does not apply (3-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 9 participants. That means that each participant can vote for 8 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).

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:

SWC056 - Song Collection and follow-up
SWC055 - 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 provide that here:
Songwriting Competition - General Gossip Thread, or on Discord.



Please have an eye on this thread!

[Mister Fox]

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Wednesday, 01-JUN-2022 23:59 UTC+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 (in hope that I didn't forget anyone). As usual, if you click on the small upwards-arrow right beside the quoted name, you can jump to the original post and read up on the documentation for this production.


.

"Una Tarda De Festa"

"The Heartbeat Remains"

ZIP (MP3 inside): https://files.catbox.moe/umf8cw.zip

"Cosmic Generation"



FLAC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mAqHBg ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O4U1sA ... sp=sharing

BONUS VIDEO

► Show Spoiler

phpBB [media]

"Trapped Mind"



BONUS VIDEO:

► Show Spoiler

phpBB [media]

"LMLIAWCS"



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

"Naissummer"

MP3_320 version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6Sm9k ... sp=sharing
WAV_44k24bit version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16sBZ3k ... sp=sharing

"Daisy Darling"

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hXN8eV ... sp=sharing

"Bad Bot"

"Feel It"

.



BONUS ENTRIES (submitted after the deadline - feel free to give feedback, but you sadly can not vote for these entries)


<no bonus entries>
.


Please consult the Rules and Guidelines (see post #7) on how your vote could look like. And to make it simple for me for counting the votes - please use the forum usernames in your listing. Thank you!

SWC057 participants giving feedback to each other (to every participant) is mandatory. If you've collaborated with somebody, then only the one doing the main entry needs to give feedback and vote (everything else is bonus). Ideally, please focus on the "overall experience", and what you think could be improved in a future release of this production (technical or even instrumentation), maybe even provide the occasional tip for mixing. Please be open minded, objective and constructive.


INFORMATION: If you've submitted your entry in multiple file formats, the statistic sheet (posted alongside the results) will focus on the uncompressed material first (WAV), then FLAC, then MP3. The higher the quality, the less possible loss on bonus points for "Loudness Specs" due to offsets introduced by a used CODEC.


Good luck to all participants!




If you have an idea for a future Songwriting Competition, please post about this in the theme/genre request page.

[Koekepan]

Ranking

► Show Spoiler

1 (10pts) VCA-089 aka Infravolt
2 (9pts) becsei_gyorgy aka György Becsei
3 (8pts) patrlord aka Digital Genes
4 (7pts) GamaGama
5 (6 pts) KukoBass
6 (5 pts) Arelem
7 (4 pts) EsteveCorbera
8 (3 pts) OlliH

Feedback

► Show Spoiler

I start by considering the basic theme, and everything has to somehow reflect SONGWRITING THEME: "Synth Racks, Patches and Cables"
GENRE: Electronic (any sub-genre)

To me this means that there has to be a reflection of the big changes that synths wrought, callbacks to iconic artists, signature sounds, or explicit lyrical references. The better that the sound or content reflects this idea, the higher my assessment will be. For the record I chose to exemplify this by emphasising the link to the Kosmische Musik scene and the way that it made synthesised music a point of contrast with the guitar-rock driven sound of the anglosphere (although there was some overlap).

Infravolt's entry is a work of art. It is relevant, harking back to the pioneers of the sound as well as the arrangement of the people who put synthesis on the map. I have no complaints. The mix is credible, the melodic motifs are clean and sound, the harmonies are not trying to be self-consciously clever, it's very true to its origins. Well done!

György Becsei did an entry that feels a lot more modern, with a sonic suggestion of the Bremen sound, where the top entry was more Berlin. It was very well executed, but with less iconic representation of the theme as I understand it.

Digital Genes gave us a track that reminded me more of early '90s videogames, such as System Shock. This isn't a bad thing at all, and I enjoyed it a lot, but it did feel slightly beside the point. It felt more true to a homage to computer music than the origins of the scene, and that meant that it came third in my personal ranking.

GamaGama gave us a track that felt very much like a companion piece to the previous one. I liked the style, and the sort of disjointed treatment of space in the different instruments that somehow felt as if they'd been recorded in different studios. On the other hand, was that an intentional mixing choice or a mismatch? My doubt here led me to question the mix a bit, and the soundstage's disjoint made it feel less coherent. Thus, fourth place.

KukoBass had good sound and a workable mix, but somehow it felt more like a 1980s lounge mix than an homage to the theme. This is a pity; chops are good, but relevance to the brief is key.

Arelem gave us a solid dance track. Lights out, glowsticks up! ... but that's where it ends. I'm sorry, and maybe this is my fault, but I just don't really see the link with the theme beyond the electronic nature of the music. Am I missing something?

EsteveCorbera suffers from the same problem as Arelem, but with something about the mix that bothers me. I'm not totally sure, but I feel as if there's a spike somewhere in the high midrange that shouldn't be there. Also, alas, the arrangement isn't very exciting and the kick lacks beef so I think that the effort to turn the song into an audiosausage lost dynamic range. I may be wrong about my diagnosis, but this is what I hear.

OlliH actually did a great job of what he did. It's some awesome electroswing, and I really liked it, but it almost feels perversely out of line with the theme by the inclusion of acoustic-oriented elements. I know that it's an electronic genre, and very well done, but it just seems wide of the mark to me.

[KukoBass]

Now to the tough part of the competition: Feedback and voting.


Voting

► Show Spoiler

01 (10 pts) - patrlord aka Digital Genes
02 (9 pts) - VCA-089 aka Infravolt
03 (8 pts) - becsei_gyorgy aka György Becsei
04 (7 pts) - Koekepan aka Jan Koekepan
05 (6 pts) - GamaGama
06 (5 pts) - EsteveCorbera
07 (4 pts) - OlliH
08 (3 pts) - Arelem

Feedback in alphabetical order of forum names:

When I read this month's theme, I thought of Doepfner Euroracks and Moog-esque Synthesizers, so the chosen sounds will count quite a bit for me in this competition. And as it is a songwriting competition, I will put emphasis on the song structure and the themes of the melody. As I am not an expert on mixing and production, those parts will only be mentioned if they get in the way of the overall impression of the song.


Arelem - Feel It
This one is definitely a banger, very danceable.
I like the filtered sounds in the intro and the sound starting at 0:44.
The main room for improvement is that to me, the harmonies don't seem to fit in quite a lot of parts. The scale of the vocals do not fit the chord progression: When the vocals start on the F-maj chord, they work, but when the chords change to D and Bb it sounds off. The same goes for the stabby melody and the bass note starting at 0:30.
I really like the song structure: Intro, riser, main part, variation, swooshes, repeated main part, outro - nothing too long, nothing feeling off.


becsei_gyorgy - Trapped Mind
This one has definitely the kind of selection of sounds I expected from the theme of the competition.
Song structure is good, but leaves room for improvement: After a clean intro, build up and break into a new part I feel there is too much going on at the same time from 2:25 and some sounds seem to be clashing against each other.
I really like the melody and memorable motives of this song.


EsteveCorbera - Una Tarda de Festa
I like the effects on the drums in the intro and the risers and falls.
It has a 80s pop feel, not what I was expecting from the theme, but a valid choice for a competition emphasizing synths.
The chord progressions leave room for improvement; they sound a little too random for me. The overall song structure is good, but I feel the outro does not fit the feeling of the song.
Uniqueness points for the latin bass motives.


GamaGama - Naissummer
This song has a strong gaming music factor going.
The flutelike sound in the intro irritates me as it does not feel "synthesized enough" for my taste, but it gets better around 0:55, when it is played in a lower octave and the chords set in.
The song structure leaves room for improvement: There is little variation except in the melody instrument. Little breaks and bridges could do a lot here.
Overall, I really liked the energy of the very vivid lead melodies and themes.


Koekepan - The Heartbeat Remains
The sounds take my imagination deep into space; this song would be excellent in a movie at the scene where the villain's space armada pulls in.
I feel like the vocals have been treated too much and remind me more of dark metal than synthesizer music, but that is only a question of personal preference.
The song structure gives the sounds a lot of space to breathe and evolve.
Overall, the song reminds me of the early experimental phase by the pioneers of synthesizer music.


OlliH - Daisy Darling
I really like the song and found myself humming the melody during the following day.
My main criticism with this song is that it is "too acoustic" and therefore not fitting the theme of the competition. It glows in the parts where synthesizers replace the acoustic instruments. I wished you had gone for an all-synthesizer version for this contest.
The structure of the song is really classy: Intro, call, response, B-part, solo parts - a very structured song.
Uniqueness points for the original vocals and lyrics.


patrlord - Bad Bot
This is pretty much exactly what I imagined when I read the theme of the competition. It would do great as a gaming soundtrack or as music in "Space Night" on Bayrischer Rundfunk TV.
The song structure is good, intro, bridge, b-part, breaks, outro, all sounding very professional. The only idea for improvement is the sound starting at 0:41, as I feel it does not really contribute to the song. It could have been left out or at least be quieter.
Sound at 0:41 does nothing to contribute - should be quieter
Uniqueness points: Arps done right and a very good lead melody.


VCA-089 - Cosmic Generation
This is the most professional sounding production and indeed a work of art. This too reminds me of the early stages of electronic music, Musique concrète or from the "Studio für elektronische Musik" in Köln (Cologne).
The structure of the song has something classical and reminds me of Carl Orff. There is little to be improved. Only the last part starting around 5:29 sounds a little random to me.
I love the slowly evolving, very Moog-esque sounds and the use of resonance.


All in all: