Mix Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 04 - December 2017


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (theme, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process. There will be no Round 2



Please take note of the following

• IMPORTANT: please use the following naming convention for your productions: SWC000_-_ArtistName_-_TrackName.wav/mp3

Also please take note of the following

• If you have an idea for future Songwriting Competition themes and/or genres, please post them in the Gossip Thread.
• Social Media accounts can be found via the handles @MixChallenge (Twitter) and MixChallenge (Facebook). Please spread the word!
• if you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months, please consider supporting us. For example with a voluntary monthly donation (this will mainly cover server and social media maintenance fees). Some interesting bonus perks await you through Patreon, and donors get a special rank on the forum.

This post will be updated with the corresponding links as we progress, and of course the suitable thread headlines. So please watch this spot:


Submission Period: General Information and Sponsors
Voting: Summarized entries and start of voting process
Results of the Songwriting Competition: Results of the Songwriting Competition

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Friday, 01st December 2017 to Sunday, 24th December 2017 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-12-2017, 11:59pm CET/GMT+1 (Germany) - until further notice.

Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please consult the following options:
The Global Countdown on it's dedicated page or the countdown on the home page. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



SONGWRITING THEME: Block Rocking Beats!

GENRE: Big Beat, Electronica


A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote:It's the mid 90ies. Suddenly the radio get's a strange stream of music that consists of interesting bass-lines, screeching synths and brutal, in-your-face drums. The source: the UK electronic scene. The genre: Big Beat. Slower than Jungle/Drum and Bass, a bit faster than Hip Hop, but still heavily influenced by both of them (especially the use of samples).

Suddenly heavy rotation on modern pop music radio channels - maybe even in your favorite video games (mostly, racing type. Think Wipeout, Need for Speed, Gran Tourismo, etc). You'll hear loud and obnoxious bands like "The Prodigy", but also more melodic ones like Crystal Method and Junkie XL, with the occasional laid back, chill-out type music by "Massive Attack". Then back to more upbeat / rolling type rhythms by Adam Freeland and Fatboy Slim, or vintage "chops" from bands like "The Avalanches" and "The Wiseguys". Later maybe even a rare overseas imports like "Boom Boom Satellites" (with the song "Spine", which went more into DnB territory).

Let's dive into the mid-to-late 90ies/early 2000s and show how big our beats can be.

Genre Examples
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... beat+music


Songwriting Add-On Rules:

• You can use whatever is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
• creating your own sounds is highly encouraged, but not mandatory
• It is recommended to not go higher than -14LUFS SLk (avg) or K-12v1 (avg) in terms of perceived loudness

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Please take note of the official rules - they can be found at the following thread:
Songwriting Competition - Official Rules and Guidelines

Please address any OT question in the official Gossip thread:
Songwriting Competition - Gossip and Discussion

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SPONSORS (Prizes):

Prizes for Songwriting Challenge participants:

Note: All licenses are NFR (Not-For-Resale), except where noted.
Changes to available prices on short notice may be possible and will be announced separately.



Rekkerd Sounds is kind enough give away 1 sound set of winners choice (exception: Krezie EDM and Neurofunk Vol. 1)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Rekkerd Sounds: http://sounds.rekkerd.org/



Bjulin Waves is kind enough to donate 1 sound set of winners choice and one "Inspire Me" sound set of choice for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
License will turn into NFR
More info on Bjulin Waves: http://bjulin.de/



Ghostwave Audio (Vincent Bastiat) is kind enough to donate any 2 sound sets to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com



Impact Soundworks is kind enough give away a license of either Juggernaut, Super Audio Cart or Momentum to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Impact Soundworks: http://www.impactsoundworks.com



kv331 audio is kind enough give away a bundle of either SynthMaster 1+2 Bundle, or a freely selectable set of 3 SynthMaster Expansions (donations until Spring 2018)
License will not turn into NFR, you need to have a kv311 audio user account in order to pick up Expansions
More info on kv331 audio: https://www.kv331audio.com



Luftrum is kind enough give away either a license of Lunaris, or any 2 sound sets of winner's choice (exception: Bundles and Nano Electronics)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Luftrum: http://www.luftrum.com



Sound / Graphic Designer, and honorary Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/





THANKS FOR THE DONATIONS!
And also a thank you to all former contributors as well.

If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on instruments, samples and sound sets), please get in touch with the Mix Challenge staff.

Please spread the word of the challenge on social media.
For example with our dedicated Twitter Account or Facebook Page

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Good luck to all participants.
And most importantly, have fun!

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 14 days left to create your production.



There is also a collaboration offering in the supplement thread:
http://www.mix-challenge.com/forum/view ... f=11&t=126

Hi

I´ll try and join this months competition, but can´t make any promises. Maybe I can put something together towards the last few days... but we all know how that turned out last time for me!

Anyway... although I don´t know much about the genre, reading about the references suggested... brought back some memories!


Ok.

I´ll try.

I promise.



bye!

I am happy to announce the following new sponsor for the Songwriting Competition:



Hornet Plugins is kind enough give away one license from the depicted tools (see image) to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hornet Plugins: http://www.hornetplugins.com


Hornet Plugins will be offering two different sets of tools. One for the Songwriting Competition and upcoming Remix Challenge, with a focus on "starting a project" and "creative editing". One for the Mix Challenge, with a focus on mixing and "warming up" signals.

A huge thank you goes to Hornet Plugins for providing the licenses.

It was fun to dive into my sample library and make something out of it. I'm pretty happy with my song for this month. I think it has vibe and character, and it's more than the sum of its parts. Working with samples can lead to a pretty lifeless Frankenstein's monster.

So for this one I used mostly samples, mostly from free packs I've been collecting. The whole spanish flavoured samples are taken from UVI's "World traditions" Instrument/Sample pack. I've also used some virtual instruments to create the bassline friom the beginning, the synth from the breakdown, the one-shots and the risers. For the drums, I combined Addictive drums with sampled drum loops.

I went for a laid-back vibe (115 bpm) with some spanish flavor. I also focused on letting the song flow from one part to the next, letting it breathe and not rushing it. The result was an almost 8 minute song that I hope doesn't feel dull or boring. Enjoy!


Octopus on Fire - [DREAMS IN SPANISH]

WAV: https://mega.nz/#!JXYkDI7R!A4JcLzQn6Z7N ... JIVUbYiTsM

MP3: https://mega.nz/#!5Gh1CbST!aBX_mfhm_rBa ... D83HOir6h8



Btw I'm glad to see Hornet plugins joining the prize list. They have some hits and misses, but overall they make pretty good, functional and innovative stuff. Their eq SW34EQ sounds pretty amazing in the mids and the track utility and metering plugins are quite useful and unexpensive. Plus, Saverio looks like a nice guy as well. A very welcome addition.

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



There is also a collaboration offering in the supplement thread:
http://www.mix-challenge.com/forum/view ... f=11&t=126

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 3 days left to create your production.

A friendly reminder:
Including today, 1 day left to create your production.

Hi

This is my entry.

It´s really rough... but... welll.


It´s kind of my interpretation of Massive Attack with Portishead... but turned out to be something like JMJ Zoolook instead... hehe...


link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0skiuenper31z ... h.wav?dl=0


It maybe still loading.


Merry Christmas to you all.


bye!!!