Mix Challenge

Challenge companions and Mister Fox, Good night!!

I present to you my theme for this month.
I wanted to continue exploring quiet music, playing with a rather catchy melody.
The thing is quite simple.
I have little else to say.


Thank you colleagues.

(translated with google)



Equipment:
DAW:
Reason 12.5

Instruments:
Monotone Bass Synthesizer
ID8 Songwriter's Toolbox
Rack Extension ProjectSAM Orchestral Sampler
Thor Polysonic Synthesizer

Effects:
RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb
The Echo

Players:
Scales & Chords
Chord Sequencer
Quad Note Generator

Other instruments outside of Reason:
Arturia CS-80 V
Native Instruments KONTAKT
UJAM Groovemate ONE

Othet effects outside of Reason:
Arturia Dist COLDFIRE
Cableguys ShaperBox3
Bedroom Producers Blog BPB Saturator
Eventide Blackhole

Other tools:
iZotope Ozone 9
Plugin Alliance SPL HawEye

Kontakt libraries:
Kontakt Factory Library

Samples:
Reason samples

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

So far we have 8 entries, I'm curious if we can exceed 15 this month.



Please get your production ready and submitted (through the forum) today.

And to make it easier for me to create the collection post, please update your initial post with the appropriate links, or explicitly mark your entry as "final entry". Thank you.

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Equipment (no one complained 'bout the e-guitar being fake!)
Kontakt Player (rock guitar, jazz organ), Sample Tank 2 (flute), ZynAddSubFx (synth bass), a Cort steel string guitar that I, many years ago, sampled myself; TX16Wx is used as sampler here, various free drum samples from the Internet imported into Shortcircuit soft sampler. FX: Reverbs: different IR files made from the Bricasti M7 inside Reverberate LE. Independende FX (delay). EQ: ReaEQ (Cockos REAPER). And most of all: the famous LE 456 amp sim from LePou and NadIR speaker simulator from Ignite Amps (IR-files (different cabinets and microphones) from Kalthallen IRs).

Optional:
I often concentrate a lot on the lyrics. But in this case, I just couldn't bring any order to this mess. I honestly don't know what this lyrics is about. Therefore, it will only be half a song. (Be glad you won't have to hear the unfinished bridge.)

For me, this song is a song with strong nostalgia. I wrote it at least 15 years ago - then it had a completely different lyrics. So I can't guarantee it's a high quality song. For me, it's good in the same way as the song you heard when you danced close to a girl for the first time.

I just wanted to mention, more or less for fun, how I go about writing my lyrics. The melody is central. It comes first. And then I more or less try to force words in, where the notes are already there. Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't. But the emphases (the emphases on the right syllables) should ideally be in the right places - that is: on emphasized beats, rhythmically. So even though Paul Simon is a fairly decent lyricist, I would have not approved of "... in a deep and dark DecembEr..."

It is the 25th December 2022, 3:00 UTC+1/CET - 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, but also 5 more than December 2021)
• We have 0 submissions after the deadline (as of 25-DEC-2022 3:00 UTC+1/CET, I left the door open for 3 hours)
• 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
• "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. We are adapting the overhauled vote mechanic, as talked about in the following news blog:

Songwriting Competition - game mechanic changes: Voting Process (October 2022 Update)
(Info: I am aware that the Rule Book has not been properly updated yet. Time constraints, apologies for the inconvenience)


Summarized:
Participants can (and must) vote for their Top 5 entries. You're furthermore asked to please reflect on your experience this month (2-3 paragraphs max), what you have learned, what you would like to do different in the future, etc. However, you are also asked give feedback to
least three (number: 3) entries that either stood out to you and you would like to provide some additional final thoughts, or where you could provide constructive feedback for possible improvements. These entries can be outside of your personal "top entry" voting. Of course, you can also opt to provide feedback to as many participants as you would like - interaction in this game is highly encouraged.

The "Voting Process" mechanic is mandatory for all participants, and the only criteria to drop out of the game by not partaking. Please cast your vote (not the feedback) 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.

The "Bonus Point" mechanic still applies. Please update your posts with proper production documentation, most notably regarding whom you have collaborated with (as in: proper credits -- not doing so will result in a 2pt deduction on the score sheet at the end of the game).
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⚠	Moderation Message from Mister Fox
	For transparency: The staff (Mister Fox) will not give feedback to all entries and/or cast a vote this month.

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!

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Tuesday, 03-JAN-2023 23:59 UTC+1/CET latest
Info: due to the Winter Holiday season, the "feedback and voting period" has been extended by 2 more days.


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.


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colorado weeks wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 07, 2022 19:12 CET

"Out The Window"

phpBB [media]

MP3: direct download (only "save link as" might work)

becsei_gyorgy wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 11, 2022 13:53 CET

"One Last Dance"



BONUS VIDEO:

► Show Spoiler

phpBB [media]

Dear David John wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:15 CET

"This_Window_(My_demise)"

phpBB [media]

WAV: direct download

KukoBass wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 19, 2022 15:09 CET

"Stay Inside"



WAV: Google Drive playback and download

Arelem wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 21, 2022 03:29 CET

"Stormy Walk"

Olli H wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 22, 2022 13:10 CET

"Täällä on koleaa (It's Chilly in Here)"

EKVelika wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 23, 2022 16:44 CET

"Comfy Winter Socks"



WAV: Google Drive playback and download

EsteveCorbera wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 24, 2022 00:06 CET

" La Tassa A La Finestra"

A Future in Noise wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 24, 2022 14:25 CET

"ToSeeOrNotToSee"

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


<no bonus entries>
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GAME MECHANIC SUMMARY:

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 or on Discord.

Swc064 vote + kommentit

VOTING: I like the fact that nowadays one doesn’t have to invent pinpoint who is last and who is second last. I felt it was was cruel process.

COMMENTING: But after a couple of months with these new rules I’m a bit worried that the main allurement of this competition has slightly vanished. That is to say, the commenting part. Previously, if you were willing to write 10 comments, it was guaranteed that you’ll receive 10 comments. Now it’s easy not to comment those submissions that probably would benefit most of the comments.

Some of the comments I already posted before, but I collected them all into this post, so that they are all in the same place.


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Arelem: Stormy Walk

You start this song with very promising with a nice melodic theme. But very soon theme begins to feel too short and starts to repeat itself too much. Maybe the melodic loop resolves too quickly back to the root. Is it only eight bar melodic loop?

Later you introduce nice variations but somehow they don’t take us to a new level, maybe because of that repeating back ground loop. The song sort of disappears there. Maybe it's the chord progression thats too short.

As the main theme is very nice and moody, I might try this kind of solution.
1: first eight bars with the main melody but ending with tension
2: same eight bars but now resolving to root
3: here some new chord(s) with the same or different mood and ending with tension
4: again the same eight bars but now resolving to root.


==============

colorado weeks

What a voice and what a songwriting skill. I think you should be now with your high-up producer making arrangements to your next hit, but instead you’re here reading comments to your music from a mediocre music hobbyist like me.

Then to comments.

Nice intro, I like sparse instrumentation. (Bass sound feels a bit hollow). I also dig that simple rhythm.

Then the verse starts, and those verses are just perfect. I like how you introduce new rhythmics to the melody on the second half of the verse. Very skillfully done.

But then comes the chorus. Well, it's good, but still, to me it doesn’t provide the super hook, which the verse demands and expects there to be. Maybe it’s not the melody that's the problem, maybe it’s the arrangement, as it continues with that same riff that’s almost all the time behind this song. Now your song is a bit imprisoned by that intro riff. I might break that already heard rhythm for example either with long tremolo chords on one, or some rapid eight note rhythms behind your long notes that you’re singing.

So my main point is, after those verses the beginnings of the choruses are not strong enough yet.

Very nice saxophone solo.

There’s also a C-part. Again, I might try to introduce new rhythmic elements in there, or take the drums away completely, or leave just hi-hats.

As I feel you’re super talented musically, but the arrangement doesn’t yet serve your music optimally, how about offering this song to arrangement competition. You might get twenty totally different versions, with different instrumentation from ultra modern to dead old 60's retro version (That's probably my version).


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EsteveCorbera: La tassa a la finestra
Melody is actually very beautiful. I’m glad you have decided to explore more that area in your musical endeavors. But I don’t know what happened, for I think that your bass destroys the listening experience. As if it’s out of tune or something. Or maybe the bass plays correct notes, but the chord progression under the melody line is wrong.


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KukoBass: StayInside

You have some magic here. I love it!

The starting feels musically a bit insecure, but after that song finds itself and rapidly turns me into a listener. Your fragile and honest voice and tone serve this song perfectly. I end up listening to you, not so much the music.

You have shown in your previous submissions, that you have ear to make simple but fascinating grooves. This time also. I like those subtle changes and nuances that give variations without escaping from the songs mood.

What comes to those pads, you might try some passing notes here and there.

Maybe in the last meters the song starts to fade away, but I'm sure you can easily solve that problem, if you have time fore it.

Those grooves — and now also your singing — bring into my mind J.J. Cale’s first album ”Naturally”, especially the slow tunes in there. I'm surprised if you haven’t listened to it. Furthermore, J.J. Cale is not a singer and has quite narrow register and no dynamic at all in his voice, but still he has managed to do extremely convincing vocal performances in hundreds of songs, and many huge hits. He’s one of my all-time favorites, especially his first recordings. That said, I sincerely hope that you continue your musical trip by challenging yourself more to use your own voice.

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EKVelika: Comfy winter socks

Very cool melody line. I love it. But it’s a pity you didn’t develop this further. After 30 seconds the whole song is actually heard. Well, there's also a nice counter melody line. Also there the main line keeps looping the same line. But having said that, still I like this very much.

So, everything you introduce in this song is superb as such, but as a song it doesn’t have any kind of development or progression. It could be just very small minor variations and added elements that would turn this from a demo to a masterpiece.

All instruments seem to have a pitch modulation. It creates a feeling that something is out of tune. As if a cassette player is not capable of keeping the speed of tape constant. If the long chords behind were without that effect, it might emphasize nicely and give room for the modulation in the lead instrument without having that out of tune feeling.


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aFutureInNoise: ToSeeOrNotToSee

Interesting opening. I like that guitar, both the playing and sound of it. It has something different in it. Maybe you could adjust the sound of the other instruments and vocal to support that interesting direction where the guitar could take us. Now it feels to me, that the interesting dimension introduced by the guitar is suffocated by other ”normal” stuff.

Also, I like the main melody in verses, but maybe later, you could introduce a bit different rhythms to melody line to create a contrast.

As this is clearly a work in progress, and it fades away quite quickly, it’s very difficult for me to analyze it more thoroughly.



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becsei_gyorgy: OneLastDance

First there is this instrumental part, and then the vocal part. I didn’t find the connection between them. So, to me this feels like two separate songs.

That intro part felt to me like finger practice where you test a new guitar plugin. It’s actually quite good, but maybe a bit sterile.

Then the real song starts. I like it very much. Melody works nicely, arrangement is very good, and the performance is nice. I like the fact that this time you didn’t go too big, but decided to create a small beautiful song. That said, I was actually shocked that I liked the vocal part so much. You said that it was not real voice. Really? I wouldn’t have noticed that. To me it is very convincing, haunting, and it conveys emotions to me. (It makes me wonder that maybe I’m a bit robotic person, as I can relate to those feelings created by a machine.)

So you really managed to fool me, and it makes me wonder what is the future of making the music. Maybe soon I can ask my mobile phone to create a new song for me, based on the events of the day.

But I wont give any extra points nor reduce any because of that vocal performance. You’re at the top of my votes because of the song you have written. The amount of variation is just perfect for this song. Not too much to distract from the mood, but enough to keep the attention in it. Very well done!


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David_John: This_Window_(My_demise)

This starts promisingly. Your performance is again at the top level. Nice use of effects and delays as background texture. But for some reason this doesn’t evolve properly but ends up staying in the starting pits.

Maybe you meant it to be a stagnant image of some mental state. In that case the main problem to me is that — based on your previous submissions — I was expecting the song to be again something extraordinary with more levels. This time I felt that this song is missing the hook or the main point. But it’s still well done. Each and every part is good as such, but I was expecting something magic to come.




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VOTES

My experience with this game this month:
It was easy to get inspired by the picture. The idea of the chords and melody were there early, but I had to get over my unease to sing because I felt this song would not work without some kind of vocals. I did not want to introduce another instrument to play the melody of the verse, and I felt that playing it with the e-piano would have been too much of the same. The result is more a mock up than a finished vocal take.

I did not listen to the other WIPs this month because I feared I might be too easily intimidated by the quality of the other entries, and in hindsight that was the right choice. I would have been very uncomfortable to enter my song after listening to your songs.

Feedback:

a Future in Noise - To See Or Not To See
This song has definitely a nostalgic touch, reminding me of the Beatles and other 60ies music.
To me, it sounds a little unfinished, even in the finished parts. I'd love to hear what a finished version would sound like.

Arelem - Stormy Walk
I like the foley sounds of rain and the thunderstorm, they give the song character. As the music is very minimalistic and has little variation, I would even mix it in louder. The music itself gives me the impression of minimal music and reminds me of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

becsei gyorgy - One Last Dance
Good lyrics, good song structure, good vocals.
Simply beautiful. My favourite song this month.

Colorado weeks - Out the window
I love this song. Very good structure, good lyrics and good vocals.
I'm especially happy that the bass is the basis for the verses. I might have used some effects to make it sound more synthetic, but that is a matter of personal preference. I also like the change of the bass from staccato in the verse to legato in the chorus.

David John - The Window (my demise)
A very atmospheric and sad song. Beautiful layered voices. Impressive work.
I feel that it might have profited from some percussion in the chorus, but I'm not really sure about that.

EKVelika aka Nikola Nicolic - Comfy Winter Socks
A very relaxed and chilled track. I'm not sure if the crackling in the background is meant to be a vinyl record or a campfire, but it is a little too loud for my taste. It's sad the song only has two chords; a B-Part or change of tonality would have been nice.

Esteve Corbera - La tassa a la finestra
This song reminds me of JS Bach because it is quite rigid in its repetition of the main elements, and of Carl Orff's "Camina Burana" because it takes a main theme and repeats it in multiple different instrumentations.

OlliH - It's Chilly In Here
The song is really fun to listen to and put a smile on my face. I don't know what else to say.

votes: my experience:
i come from a background of very strictly time limited songwriting composition competitions (as in “write a song in an hour,)” so having roughly 24 days to work on more than a verse and a chorus seems like an incredibly generous amount of time. with a generous amount of time, there’s also the time for a generous amount of polish. I’d often find myself sitting out SWC because the little voice inside my head would tell me variants of “colorado! look at all these great songwriters! you’re not ready or at their level yet!” this month, i thought about what i got out of the other competitions i’ve participated in. i’ve only got one year of actual songwriting under my belt, so i never entered any compeition with the expectation of winning. instead, i went in with the expectation of learning something new with every song, and seeing what of my work resonated with folks. if i’ve got 24 days to refine a song, i’ve got plenty of time to ask for feedback and plenty of time to learn. so that’s how i ended up here!
again, i’m extremely grateful for everyone who shared their feedback with me. all of your productions have been so inspiring. you’re all a bunch of talented songwriters, and picking a top five was no easy feat!
this month’s theme was “out the window,” and we were given a picture prompt to follow. i am notoriously terrible at picture prompts, and many things i’ve written end up being tangentially related at best, since my mind (and pen) tends to wander. as i’ve mentioned before, i was extremely inspired by the idiomatic phrase “out the window,” which means “altered drastically as a result of situational change.” seeing that it’s december, and we’re approaching the end of the fiscal quarter, i wanted to do something in that vein (i think the mug of coffee inspired me to go in that direction too.) i originally wrote this song about a steamy workplace romance between an uptight narrator and a smooth-talking, takes-the-workplace-coffee-with-bourbon sort of person, but didn’t feel terribly inspired by it. i eventually found inspiration from my colleagues in tech who were experiencing mass layoffs. while it’s upsetting to lose a steady stream of income, it may be potentially comforting to know that you have a bit of time to focus on yourself for a little bit.

here's my feedback/reasons why i picked my top 5:

First of all I want to give you my best wishes and wish you a happy new year.
Like last month I didn't have much time to devote to the challenge.
I also want to welcome the new participants.
Funny how we can interpret an image differently. We have each done something similar but different at the same time. Great job!!!

I still think this challenge is a place to learn a lot, especially from the feedback we give each other.
When I read the comments you make I see that very little is still known, so I want to apologize for the shallowness of my contributions.
Comment on the new mechanic: As I have said before and I see that there are also people commenting the same, I miss everyone's comment. Thus, those of us who know less can learn more.


colorado weeks - out the window
very good song Good structure, good voice, good interpretation. One question about this: Did you tweak the vocals a lot? (I ask because it sounds super well tuned)
I like the bass. The final sax also sounds great.
Just a small detail, in the final part I think the bass (or the low frequency area) are a bit muddy.
The rest is very good.

becsei_gyorgy - OneLastDance
I've told you other times, you have your own and defined style. Over time I have learned to recognize it.
I see that you return to instrumentation that you have used before, especially the trumpet with sodina.
I'm freaking out how the voices sound, and they're synthetic!!! I really like the duet they do.
Some commentary, the marked rhythm that sounds with the accordion on the left, in the end it gets a little tired.
The rest is very good.

David_John - This_Window_(My_demise)
I like your ballads. The piano, your voice... very good work.
I also like the effects (delays, reverb, etc.) that accompany the song. They are a good addition that creates a very good atmosphere. It suits this month's theme (or image) very well.
Just a comment: The piano that closes the theme, for the best taste, is out of the atmosphere of the song.
The rest is very good.

KukoBass - StayInside
Congratulations on your first interpretation. Your voice suits the mood of your theme this month very well.
I encourage you to continue using your voice for your compositions. Maybe one day I'll get excited too, but I don't have a microphone or conditioning to do it.
In the final part your voice is missing, maybe it would have been good to add voice or end the song earlier.
At the mixing level I might have expanded the panorama of strings and pads more.
The rest is very good.

Arelem - Stormy Walk
Curious theme that melodically recalls Japanese music (?).
You create a good atmosphere, but it lacks a little variation in the melody (happens to me a lot too). You stay in the beautiful opening melody but it lacks a bit of development.
The rest is very good.

OlliH - Its-Chilly-In-Here
I really like the explanation of your topic, how you start with a vacation and end by reflecting on the couple's relationship.
Good work, as always. The song form theme is also perfectly recognizable.
The slightly reggae atmosphere, I don't quite like it, but you work it very well.

EKVelika - Comfy winter socks
Subject very appropriate to the proposed image of Mr. Fox. But, like other colleagues have commented, your topic needs more development.
The counter melody you add in the middle of the song would also be nice to develop more.

AfutureInNoise - ToSeeOrNotToSee
The song promises, but of course, it needs to be finished. We all need more time than we have.


(translated with google)

Thank you all

Hello All,

For this month I didn't really have much of a defined idea from the prompt, so I started out kind of just creating the atmosphere and branched out from there. That was a little different for me as I usually start with a melody or rhythm. It was definitely interesting for me to approach a song this way and I was pretty happy with the result. For my feedback, I wanted to focus on the songs that were not in my top 5.

Vote Feedback
Dear David John - The production and vocals sound really good. The melody is not very catchy to me though. Maybe it's just too slow to really pick up on much of a melody. In the world of piano ballads, this is not a bad track, but it's kind of just that, a decent piano ballad.

EKVelika - While the track itself is fine, it is essentially the same loop the entire time. The 2 repeating melodies in the bass, and the counter melody halfway through are not enough to keep me from losing interest. I know this is pretty normal for the genre, but for a songwriting contest, I don't feel there is enough substance here to justify it outranking the other songs entered.

Esteve Corbera - Everything sounds ok, but the song itself feels pretty stiff, especially the lead piano. I understand the aesthetic, but the song could probably have benefitted from variation in the way things were articulated. This is probably made even more apparent in the fact that there is so much accentuation placed at the top of each bar, and the lead is not too varied as far as timing (apart from some occasional flourishes).