SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC015 November 2018 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 15 - November 2018


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 here.
• 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.

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
Cheat Sheet: A couple of examples / audio demos for this month's challenge (not available if genre is "Free to Select")
Voting: Summarized entries and start of voting process
Results of the Songwriting Competition: Results of the Songwriting Competition

[Mister Fox]

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Thursday, 01st November 2018 to Saturday, 24th November 2018 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-11-2018, 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: Test your Metal

GENRE: Heavy Metal


Image Source: Pixabay (via Pexels), released under Creative Commons CC0


A few word about this month's theme:

Is it coincidence that the Mix Challenge community is also celebrating #MetalNovember ? You decide!

This month is all about the "Metal" music genre:
80s Hair/Glam Metal, Classic, Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Power Metal, Symphonic Metal, Folk/Medieval Metal, SID Metal, Alternative Metal, Industrial Metal, Djent, etc.

You can write a "Bohemian Rhapsody", you can write a Metal Rondo, a Power Metal Anthem, get creative with your synths and combine that with down tuned guitars (Alternative Metal), or you can go super low dropped tuning with Djent. Pick up your favorite 6-string guitars, 7-string guitars, 8-string guitars, a Djent-Stick, a Chapman Bass. You can use samples or real instruments, ...

Just let your creative juices flow.

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
• for newcomers: no cover version or remixes

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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.



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of MODO BASS to the winner (until January 2019)
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.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



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



Hollow Sun is kind to donate one license of "Music Laboratory Machines - The Suite I" to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Hollow Sun: http://www.hollowsun.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



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!

[Mister Fox]

Here is a selection of songs to get an idea of what this challenge might be about.


First and foremost, the very informative "Map of Metal":
https://mapofmetal.com/

This interactive map is pretty much like the "Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music", only for Heavy Metal (I wish this would exist for more music genres). Starting in the 60s and reaching up until the early 2000s.

The Doom Slayer definitely approves:




A handful of hand-selected modern metal examples:
X-Japan - Dhalia (1996) - Speed Metal
Nine Inch Nails - We're in this together (1999) - Industrial Metal
Rammstein - Mutter (2002) - "Neue Deutsche Härte"
Slipknot - Before I forget (2004) - Alternative Metal
Coheed and Cambria - Welcome home (2005) - Alternative Metal
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score (from End of an Era, 2005) - Symphonic Metal
Apocalyptica feat Lauri Ylonen - Life Burns (2005) - "Cello Metal" / Symphonic Metal)
Apocalyptica ft. Corey Taylor - I'm Not Jesus (2007) - "Cello Metal" / Symphonic Metal)
Dethklok - Go forth and die (2007) - melodic death metal, "virtual metal band" created by Brandon Small for the adult TV show "Metalocalypse"
Machinae Supremacy - Force Feedback (2010) - the band that fused synthesizer sounds from the MOS Technology SID 6581 with metal, and therefore created the "SID Metal" genre in early 2000 (technically chiptune / metal)
Machinae Supremacy - Laser Speed Force (2012) - "SID Metal"
Devin Townsend Project - Kingdom (Live Version, 2012)) - Progressive Metal
EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT - Entropy (2014) - an all-bass Metalcore band (that is borderlne Djent)
DSME - Mirage (Feat. Nikki Simmons) (2015) - an interesting blend of various harder metal genres (Death Metal, Djent, Alternative Metal)
JINJER - Pisces (2016) - Metalcore
Mick Gordon - BFG Division (DOOM 2016 Soundtrack) - Industrial Metal
Unleash the Archers - Awakening (2017) - Power Metal
Kmac2021 - Telecasters can't Djent (2018) - recorded as a joke, but just to show that 6-strings can sound "Brutal"


....and of course, many, many more examples - especially in the pre mid-90s realm (Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, Alice Cooper, Manowar, Dio, Judas Priest, Metallica, Slayer, Dio, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, etc, etc, etc)

[SBV]

Hi all!
So since we're doing metal this month, I wanted to join in!
I've written a progressive instrumental where I wanted to challenge uneven beats.
I've also put some background synths on it to fill it out even more.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjivsziz9jdge ... g.wav?dl=0

Edit: adding some more info about the production.
Recorded in reaper with DI inputs.
Used toneforge menace and s-gear for guitar sounds,
Bass is pure DI.
Drums are programmed with steven slate drums4

[Mister Fox]

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



IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of MODO BASS to the winner (until January 2019)
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/


A huge thank you goes to IK Multimedia for providing the licenses.

[Mister Fox]

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



To all the new faces in here, welcome! I'm looking forward to hear your productions!

Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if you use real instruments or samples, if the drums and/or even guitars are programmed instead of played as 1-take. It also doesn't matter if it's 1980s Metal, or modern day metal. It only matters that you had fun creating the production, and it's in the "Heavy Metal" genre.

[Mister Fox]

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


So far, we have 1 entry. I would definitely love to see 10 this month.

[Mellow Browne]

Will upload mine the next few days but I have concerns if it matches the style. We will see...

[Mister Fox]

As long as it's any type of heavy metal, it should fit. The more participants, the better.

[Mellow Browne]

Hi,

so here is my production but like I said, I don´t know if it´s the right genre, I´m not familiar with metal. Maybe it is too cliche to think that some electric guitars would make a heavy metal production

As a Hip Hop and R&B beatmaker I thought this could be a chance to try out some rap metal beats, what I never did before. But maybe this is just simple rock music...
But hell yeah, this was awesome to produce, I had a lot of fun and I learned so many new things, I will definitely participate again in the future.

I had a clear vision of the production, a big main theme with heavy guitars and a "layed-back" verse part to spit some fire bars on and a smooth transition leading into the chorus. At the end I wanted the production to be more dramatic so I decided to change the theme in the 2nd part of the song, with the drums playing at double speed and a synth to give atmosphere.

The drums were created with Logic Pro X´s Drummer, I tweaked them to taste and arranged them as needed.
The guitars were made with the stock library of Logic Pro X EXS24 and also with AiR Xpand!2, I just added Guitar Rig 5 or Blue Cat´s Free Amp to give them a more realistic sound. Since I´m not a good keyboard player I had to quantize some parts of my performances to get the right "flow".

Excuse me if I am totally wrong with the genre, maybe I just mixed up a few things I hope you still can enjoy "New Borders"!

Take a look at the pictures for more details:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hoYGm ... guRKBxlTRr