CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION
Time Frame: Saturday, 01st August 2020 to Monday, 24th August 2020 (24 days)
Challenge submission will end on 24-08-2020, 23:59 UTC+2/CEST (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
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SONGWRITING THEME: Video Game Soundtrack - Race to the top
GENRE: Drum and Bass
Image Source: Pexels, photo by Pixabay, released under Creative Commons CC0
A few word about this month's theme:
Staff (Mister Fox) wrote:Despite not having that much time throughout the week, I am quite fond of of sci-fi racing video games, and still do enjoy the occasional quick race ever so often to unwind. Throughout the years, I've played a lot of them: Hi-Octane, Slipstream 5000, Mega Race, the whole WipEout series, Extreme-G, F-Zero, Rollcage... nowadays games like "GRIP: Combat Racing", REDOUT, BallisticNG and even Formula Fusion/PACER. Although I have to admit, I've yet to play "Fast Racing" and all it's iterations (did you know that former license sponsor "Bjulin Waves" created the OSTs for that?).
One thing all of these games have in common, is an electronic soundtrack, often drifting more into Drum and Bass of various sub-genres. My fingers have been itching to tackle this genre for many months now, and I always tried to find the right spot. Why not this August?
Imagine the following: (Premise)
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"An independent video game company is reaching out to electronic music songwriters all over the world.
This (fictional) company is currently in the process of creating a sci-fi racing game. It is (and will be) heavily inspired by racing games of old, has anti-gravity elements. The developers are still undecided on "battle" mechanics, but they want the game to be more on the more intense side of things, albeit not downright desolate and dystopian. The fictional time frame is the second half of the 21st Century (so 2050 to 2099) to early/mid 22nd Century (so 2100 until 2150) - with a definitely more grounded approach than "alternative universe high-end technology". The races are planned to play all over the world: on upgraded old race tracks and or specific test grounds, in metro cities, in the stratosphere (hovering cities), underground, cutting through dense forests, underwater canals, etc. Off-world is an idea, but the developers don't want to turn this into a space racing game. At least not yet. Each race should last about 3-4 minutes on default (5 laps), but can be set up to 100 laps.
The company is currently looking for songwriters for a high intensity, pumping soundtrack rooted in the Drum and Bass genre. They do not want to hear straight up "Dubstep" though, neither super intricate melodic Drum and Bass. The preference is to go more towards Hardstep, Darkstep and Neurofunk - but the devs have no problem with the occasional ambient/melodic mid-section, and maybe even some voice/vocal chops ever so often. A song length of 5-7 minutes is no problem for them to integrate, in fact, they even look forward to that.
Are you up to this challenge?"
Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create
a production in the Drum & Bass genre.
Most notably in the sub-genres: Techstep/Hardstep/Darkstep and Neurofunk
You can blend in some more melodic elements from Atmospheric Jungle and Jazzstep.
But the focus should be on an aggressive bass,
at bar minimum a hard hitting beat, less of a constantly "relaxed"/rolling ambient feeling. Don't fear the "Reese Bass" and occasional "Growls", don't fear the drums.
Heard of Goldie (especially his more hard hitting stuff)? Noisia (the Dutch trio that basically pushed "Neurofunk")? Dom & Roland? E-Z Rollers? Ed Rush & Optical? Erb N Dub? Spor? Full Kontakt? Yeah... just... don't turn this into "Anthem Drum and Bass" (Pendulum style "Remixes"), Ragga or "Laid Back" Drum & Bass (half time beats)
I'm looking forward to listening to your entries.
Songwriting Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:
- create a production fitting to the given theme, genre and general premise
- you can use any tool that is at your disposal (samples, virtual instruments and/or real instruments)
- IMPORTANT: if you use non-licensed material (no royalty free material from sample CDs, etc), give full credit to the source material
- do not go higher than -14LUFS ILk/-1dBTP in terms of perceived loudness (mastering). Music doesn't have to be squashed to bits in order to be impactful
- for newcomers: no cover versions or remixes, no ripped acapella's
- ADD-ON RULES:
- <no add-on rules specified>
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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
If you like what the Mix Challenge (community) has been doing in recent months:
Please consider supporting us
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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.
RECURRING LICENSE SPONSORSHIP:
IK Multimedia is kind enough give away one license of MODO BASS to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on IK Multimedia:
https://www.ikmultimedia.com
Tone2 is kind enough to donate a license of
Saurus2 to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2:
https://tone2.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
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
JRR Sounds is kind enough give away any-1 sound sets or sample set of winner's choice (
exception: Bundles)
More info on JRR Sounds:
https://www.jrrshop.com/jrr-sounds
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/
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!
