Mix Challenge

It is the 25th August 2019, 0:20am GMT+2/CEST - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended

Hello and welcome to all new contestants.

We had 10 participants, which is 3 entries more compared to last month (7 entries), and also 3 more compared to last year (7 entries).
The "staff balancing vote" add-on rule does not apply
"Sole Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than seven participants results in a single winner) does not apply. (3-position Winners Podium)

There were no productions submitted after the deadline.
No (number: 0) entry has been redacted.



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 10 participants. That means that each participant can vote for 9 tracks, the staff will notcast a balance vote.

Keep in mind of the overhaul of the Rules and Guidelines. As long as we're not exceeding 20 participants, let's give feedback to all participants and(!) cast your vote for all of them.

The Top 20 list (or in this case, your top 9) can look something like this:

01 (10 pts) - Mr Moon
02 (9 pts) - Mr Sun
03 (8 pts) - Mrs Venus
04 (7 pts) - Mr Mars and his companions
05 (6 pts) - Mr Hale-Bopp
06 (5 pts) - The Rings of Saturn
07 (4 pts) - ...

How your voting could look like, please take a look at these posts (sans the technical information):
viewtopic.php?p=2311#p2311
viewtopic.php?p=2478#p2478
viewtopic.php?p=2819#p2819
viewtopic.php?p=3522#p3522

It is also recommended to cast your vote in collective form through the "Spoiler" tag: Please use the forum username of the participant to make it easier during the score collection to address what vote belongs to whom.



Please also take note of the Rules and Guidelines (on giving feedback (mandatory for all participants, failing to do so results in a disqualification).

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 have an idea for a theme/genre or want to see a specific theme tackled in the future, please voice your opinion here:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=168

Have some general feedback? Please voice your feedback/opinion/concerns here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97



Please have an eye on this thread!

Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Sunday, 01-SEP-2019 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 (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.


.

EatMe wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 18, 2019 23:44 CEST

"Woopi"



flac of Woopi by EatMe.
mp3 of Woopi by EatMe.

DoctorBob wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 20, 2019 21:37 CEST

"Elevating the Waltz"



WAV file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b5yx3gixjvz2p ... z.wav?dl=1
320k mp3 file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/69glsowa0y1rb ... z.mp3?dl=1

Olli H wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:40 CEST

"Lift me up"

WAV: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sHjOl ... yLLBcy4z3Z
MP3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T97H- ... dPfWZR6KKm

ryanc wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 23, 2019 15:20 CEST

"A Good Man"

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjgcp4mzhdrei ... n.wav?dl=0

erictracks wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 05:17 CEST

"Otis Forever"

WAV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7t1razhse9g78 ... r.wav?dl=0
MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iix8op7v2054q ... r.mp3?dl=0

Leonard Bowman wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 16:29 CEST

"Revolving Door Rondo"



Bonus content:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YDe9m ... HGnwIGXrLz
includes the score, a .wav download, a 15 minute looped version, and a version of the song spliced with a recording of an elevator ride to show off it's potential as elevator music.

ontrackp wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 17:56 CEST

"Who Cut the Cheese?"



wav file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/98qh3zrjpnovy ... L.wav?dl=0

VCA-089 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 20:28 CEST

"Love in the Elevator"



FLAC: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JMtJ9 ... JGRK2drioN
MP3: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pX-6D ... g8OPULxXu1
WAV: see SoundCloud

Clueless wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 23:33 CEST

"Mainmall"

canese wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 24, 2019 23:59 CEST

"Mis"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h9j9gkq3ivfaw ... s.wav?dl=0

Information: Songwriter got permission to fix the Saxophone. File has been updated

.


Please consult the last post of how your vote could look like (which links to more sources). And to make it simple for me for counting the votes - please use the forum usernames in your listing. Thank you!

To make it easier on yourself, and more helpful for each participant, maybe focus on the overall production value. What you really liked with the song, what you'd like to see improved, etc.

SWC024 participants giving feedback to each other (to every participant) and casting your Top 9 vote is mandatory, else you will be disqualified.


Good luck to all participants!

Tough competition, here is my top 9 voting:

EatMe wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 25, 2019 12:59 CEST

Tough competition, here is my top 9 voting:

Please check in with the Rules and Guidelines again.

You have two rule violations at this point

• Your song is not directly downloadable (only if one goes through your homepage)
• you did not give feedback to other participants, only cast a vote. Giving feedback and casting a vote is mandatory for every participant

Mister Fox wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 25, 2019 15:37 CEST

Please check in with the Rules and Guidelines again.

You have two rule violations at this point

• Your song is not directly downloadable (only if one goes through your homepage)
• you did not give feedback to other participants, only cast a vote. Giving feedback and casting a vote is mandatory for every participant

I have checked the Rules and Guidelines. It says I can use a soundcloud page. The file is downloadable from Soundcloud and can be downloaded from my webpage easily. I have added a new file download page link with the correct SWC024_-_EatMe_-_Woopi.flac and .mp3 format in the filename.

I will contribute my reviews / feedback for the other participants. Please wait and do something else there..

The following line is intentionally left blank.



I played all songs through a very soft big venue reverb to get the idea of a shopping mall.

Top 9 and reviews PS I absolutely hated/loved the last placed song, because it is so off that it makes me wonder
whether people know how to distinct music from music anymore okthanksbai.

Bye for now, I will return later.

I prepared myself to this competiton competition by having long walks and listening several hours of muzak. I noticed that actually there’s quite many styles and most of the old muzak tracks were done very professionaly.

This voting is a tough part. One is forced to rank apples and oranges. My comments are quite spontaneous, some other day they might be quite different.

=====

1 Clueless

This one is superb meditational atmoshpheric song. I didn’t get bored at all although I didn’t find any melody line or stucture to this song. So I guess you’ve managed to add some magic into it.

It would be perfect to some movie, or to radio documentary. It’s certainly not classic muzak, but it could be very well a background music to some new age shop. So I guess you’ve ”gone the modern route”, and in that sense perfectly in the genre of this competition.

Mixing is also very coherent. That bass sound is fun, but here and there it disappears into space. Heart beat kick on the right works fine to me.


=====

2 ontrackp
Sounds great and ready, … and muzak. I would call this background pop.
Song has nicely development. Instruments articulate the melody very nicely. So I have nothing to add. It feels to me you that you set your artistic standard high, even though you were to do muzak.

Also mix is very good for this competition’s genre. Smooth and beautiful.
Maybe kick is a bit loose. It’s not a good pair with snare now, somehow they don’t walk together properly. As if kick is stereo and snare mono, or something like that. Also snare hit 2/4 feels much weaker than 4/4.

======


3 EricTracks

Excellent! I like how you introduce new melodic element conversational way.
Arrangement is at the same static but has all the time nice changes and ear candies. Sounds like a perfect Muzak.

Guitar playing is very good. I like also keyboard parts. Actually it creates almost disturbing contrast with a drummer who doesn’t notice that other players have professional attitude even though they’re forced to play muzak in this session. Also the way the drummer adds some fills feels as if there are a timing problems, although I’m sure they are perfectly in grid. Maybe they are velocity problems.

Also mixing sounds good, very muzak. I think the amount of space is just right. As there are all the time widely panned instruments in stereo field, it might sound more focused if the drums were almost mono in the center. It might suit this style that drums are one instrument, not many separate instruments.

======

4 DoctorBob
Excellent pastiche! That is if your plan was to make an authentic old time muzak. Sounds exactly as if I’m walking early in the morning in an empty shopping mall

Melody works very nicely as a muzak, but it lacks maybe artistic ambition. Chorus and verse are maybe a bit too similar. Or maybe it’s that muzak sound that somehow masks the nuances of your melody. Maybe sax could be couple of dbs higher.

Arrangement is truely 100% muzak. So you’ve done perfect job from that point of view. But still, it would be nice if there were also other instruments playing the solo part. Your saxophone is very well done, but even muzak has and needs some variations. Now the biggest variation in arrangement is the transition from the snare comping to ride comping that comes in during choruses. Maybe the keyboards could play some parts of melody.


I guess the mix is ready as such, it feels muzakially balanced to me, but from my personal point of view I think you have too much reverb in it now. It sounds as if you have printed the over-resonant listening environment in to your mix. (In some muzak lps in YouTube there was actually this huge space mixed in ) If this mix is listened in a big shopping mall, there would be double space and the result may end up to be too chaotic. On the other hand in a small lift it may just right solution; space of music might make the small cramped lift more spacios. Maybe if you can make reverb of drums a bit darker, shorter and a little bit less of it.
During the ride comp snare disappears


=====

5 EatMe Woopi
This would be perfect for Super Mario games. You could have a career in game music. Well Done!
I’ve never thought of it before but game music and muzak are quite close to each other.

The melody and rhythm works nicely all the spots, but I would like to also hear some sort of variations. Change of insturments? Maybe some long notes in some parts? Now the sound is very arpeggio all the time. Maybe also the snare could disappear for short moments, or alter that 2/4 groove a bit in some small spots/add some fills.

End fading feels odd, as everything else disappear except drums.




=====

6 Canese
NIce playing, it feels like I’m on some sort of love boat cruising.

Here and there it feels as if the melody line is missing and I’m hearing only accompaingment. It could be a problem with the mixing.

Around 1:20 and 2.10 band has difficulties keeping the playing together. And at the same time strings feel too mechanic.

I liked the drums very much, but probably they are mixed too high. Now the music stays too much in the background.



======

7 VCA-089
Nice opening, it feels very promising, but around 0.50 I’m starting lose the touch to this song. There’s lots of nice details and nuances, but still I’m having some difficulties to find the essence of this song.

I like the minimalistic attitude of drums, but I feel that groovewise the cymbals are too separate from kick and snare. As if there’s separate player for cymbals, and he doesn’t listen to the kick-snare player.
Drum sound is disturbing me a little. Maybe it’s a bit too boxy to be in so prominent role. Now it happens to me that I forget to listen the song, I end up listening the drums.

All in all, I feel you have a great sonic idea behind, but maybe you run out of time or something else, so you didn’t manage to refine it - yet.



=====

8 Leonard Bowman
Very cool intro. One of the best. It could be opening for some Paul Simon style song. But around 0.40 when song should start, something happens, and the song looses the focus.

I like that there’s those small variations all the time. Actually each part of your song is nice as such, but somehow those part don’t create together a unified song.

After one minute song starts to feel maybe a bit too sparse. That electric piano riff is very good, but still I waited drums or something else steady pulsing instrument to come to keep the rest of the song together. So rhythmically it’s lacking a bit.

(How about adding rhythm guitar? Maybe rhythm guitar, bass and that electric piano together could make a rhythmic foundation for this song. They could be the steadily ”revolving door” and all the other solo instruments could be the ”people passing by”.)

Main thing - although I feel that this one hasn’t got a finished touch - I like very much the creative attitude. If you could combine your playful attitude in solo parts with a solid foundation of rhythm group, you’ll have very nice own sound.


=====


9 Ryanc
Actually, I’ve heard one of your piano song in earlier competitions, and I liked it a lot. So I was expecting a little more focused song from you.

Melodic idea feels good but what disturbs me is that it sounds like that there’s tuning problems within band. Probably problems with some chord lines.


Groove
I think that the main problem with this song is with drums. Now drums lack real role in the band, and guitarist is trying to take drummer’s role. If you plan to develop this, you might first mute other tracks and listen in solo drums and bass, and check that they play together well. And when they establish jazzy groove alone, then start to add other instruments.

Maybe drums could play more basic beat with jazzy touch and guitar could add syncopation.


Arrangement
You could had introduced piano and solo guitar parts earlier. For example around 0:40. Now the arrangement feels a bit monotones. You have added nice nuances here and there, but they go a bit unnoticed, as the rhythm guitar steals the room by masking others with too dominant riff/sound.

Mixing
In your mix the drums define the size of the room. Now rhythm guitar is roomless. You might add some early reflections to rhythm guitar, so that room experience would be more coherent. Guitar would still sound as a close instrument but in a room. Also consider panning the rhythm guitar away from the center. Now it has too big and thick role without giving any special nuances to song.

EatMe wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 27, 2019 02:16 CEST

I have checked the Rules and Guidelines. It says I can use a soundcloud page. The file is downloadable from Soundcloud and can be downloaded from my webpage easily. I have added a new file download page link with the correct SWC024_-_EatMe_-_Woopi.flac and .mp3 format in the filename.

Actually, the rules clearly state:

Rules for participants of the Songwriting Challenge wrote:
Rule set for participants

• ...
• Every submission has to be properly tagged/documented with: used instruments/sample sets, players' and singers' (especially collaborations!), name of the composer (please also add that info to the ID tag of the audio file!), etc
• ...

UPLOADING GUIDELINES:

• you can upload to wherever you like (DropBox, Google Drive, SoundCloud, etc)
• entries must be available for at least 40 days (the free accounts of WeTransfer and Hightail only allow accessibility up to 7 days)
• edits must be easily available to download without the need of any special login (SoundCloud especially), download tools (EXE installers) or various captcha requests
• the entries must be properly named and tagged (especially for SoundCloud entries). For example: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav/mp3, while (ideally) the Artist Name equals the Forum Username
• ...

You're made such a big fuzz during Mix Challenge 056, that even the song provider was confused with your in-depth commentary. This was way more than role-model behavior, yet in here, you seem to ignore that.

Your entry is not(!) downloadable from SoundCloud unless you log in. Some users don't have a log-in to SoundCloud, therefore they can not download the file directly. You've now edited in direct download links to your original entry post, and I can update the track collection post with that as well.


Now that we got that out of the door, and the rule violations are handled, have an eye on this for any future entries.

I can only give some very brief notes on the tracks as I am due in hospital this afternoon and may not be able to see for a few days! Apologies for not giving an in-depth review. Anyway, here goes

EatMe - Woopi

Quite a funky track, but I do miss a melody or a solo. Feels like a backing track to me. The sound also seems to lack the high frequency sparkle. Elevator muzak really should have that solo you keep humming, even though you hate it!

LiftMeUp - OlliH

This has that elevator "country feel". It sounds much fuller when that cheesy organ kicks in (great!). The percussion is well organised and there are some great "in genre" basslines in there. The guitar riffs on the left fit very well and have the right tone for this track. The spectrum is well balanced with plenty of energy in the 10k+ area which gives the track a nice sparkle. Nice guitar work, a slight hiccup around 2:37, but with live playing all is forgiven!

A Good Man - Ryanc

This has the right feel. The mix is a little muddy with the instruments seeming to be crowded in the centre. The sax lacks articulations and has that out of tune feel at times. The electric guitar lacks upper frequency. Looks like you have too much energy in the 20-400 Hz area and a quite sharp roll off after 10k (only the cymbals cut through at all here).

Otis Forever - Erictracks

Great track. The mix is a little odd to me - seems to be missing sound in the stereo stage around 20% L&R? Maybe the sounds panned to the extremes are just a bit too far and maybe could have been helped with some M/S processing? The guitarist is having a ball! I like his final flurry! Oh how many do that, brilliant touch!

Revolving Door Rondo - Leonard Bowman

The EP could do with a little more top end? The played instruments are fun. Some do lack a little room presence though and could perhaps be defined better in the image. Certainly a good muzak!

Who Cut the Cheese - Ontrackp

Perfect start, just right sax cheese. The guitar melody sticks in your head - a definite earworm. The sax articlations are very nice. Chords are right on track(!). I like the ride at 1:34 - spot on cheese. The sound stage is very good, mixing spot on with all instruments very clear throughout. A very well balanced spectrum and good loudness metering with your true peaks nicely limited to -2.2dB.

Love in the Elevator - VCA-089

Nice start with the percussion leading the way. Maybe the chord progression gets a little lost around 1:00? Not sure that cheesy elevator track would have a break. The section from 2:48 could do with some variation or a different solo perhaps. Overall, I like the percussion on this track - BUT ... I do feel for the genre it's maybe too upfront.

Maninmall - Clueless

Fun start. The bass sound is good. Percussion is quite "pink panther"-ish. The change in feel at 2:00 is very nice. But, I am still wanting a solo over the top so I can keep humming it when I get out of the elevator! More of an "ambient" track to me, scene setting and the like - not really elevator muzak. Nicely played though - kudos. Plenty of energy in the higher frequencies, but maybe the 2-4khz is a bit lacking at times?

Mis - Canese

Nice laid back basslines. The solo and its instrument is spot on cheese! Not sure if the change at 1:10 is right with the plucky piano taking over the lead? The percussion there is also a bit too loud. The change back at 1:34 is how it should be! Sadly I think you pushed the sax too far back in the mix.

dB

Thank you for your feedback! Here are mine respectively:

EatMe - Woopi
It would be excellent for a Videogame, it's energetic, it has flow and it's easy to listen to. I like the bass melody and the keyboard counterpoint, very well done. It's well structured and it doesn't get boring. But, I don't get the end, it gets lower in volume and it suddenly cuts right off. Mix is good also. Only remark maybe will be sound desing, and making it more organic just by adding real instruments layers.

DoctorBob - Elevating The Waltz
I love the ambience of the track. Feels like I'm in a dream flying in 3/4. What tracks did inspire you?
Great harmony and the melodies from the sax are awsome, they stick in your head for ever. I was only expecting more variation from the snares and the bass. It feels that the snare it's always on the beat repeating itself.
Mix is perfect, I can hear everything in the right place.
Very well done!

OlliH - LiftMeUp
I got a country feel here, it's nice. Very unique.
I like very much the song structure, it keeps the energy always flowing. Only remark is that it sounds like it's perfectly in grid with the tempo and it cuts the flow and the groove.
Mixing also it's very well done, paning everything in the right place.
Good job!

ryanc - A Good Man
Good bossa track. THe song structure is not carrying the tention as the song develops. All the song has the same elements from the begining and it doesn't add ear candy sometimes. Maybe by silencing one instrument some bars and then adding it again would do the job, or more drum fills also could help.
Sometimes it seems that the band it's not glue togheter I would recomend slowing it down a couple of BPM so it doesn't feel it's rushing.
I also the Sax is little bit to high in the mix.

erictracks - OtisForever
Nothing I can add here. This is a perfect song from begining to end.

Benjamin_D - Revolving Door Rondo
Awsome caribean vibes! I feel like I'm in a Legend of Zelda game passing by a little town. It's very melodic, and your ears are always following a melody. All song I was hoping to hear the drums dropping but they never came.

OnTrackP - Who CutThe Cheese?
Nice elevator song. Harmonies are very jazzy and the drums rythm is very good also but it's too straight, it lacks some swing, just to make it more suitable to the style. The song structure also is very accurate, It flows nicely. THe only thing I would have added is an intro and an outro.
I hear to much bass and low frecuencies, and the brass instruments are very deep in the mix, maybe adding a couple of dBs more would help.

VCA-089 - Love in the Elevator
I like the harmony very much, it sets up a melancolic mood that puts me happy. LIke a rainy day. Melodies maybe need for development, they seem that are appart from each other, they are not "asking" neither "answering". Like the sound desing of the synth pad and the keyboards. Mixing and mastering is also very nicely done.

Clueless - Mainmall
Awsome track for shopping under some illicit sustances. I love the mystery and the intriguing ambience. Very good sound design and overall structure of the song. I would love to hear an album in this style, it's very calm and interesting. Good work, man!

Votes:

though i didn't participate - i would like to rank!

And, see you in next round