Mix Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 44 - April 2021


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.

Read more about this month's competition further down below.




Please take note of the following

• Please consult the official "Rules and Guidelines" for the Songwriting Competition regarding principles of the game, it's engaging game mechanics (allowed editing/resubmission of your entry until the deadline has been reached) and upload/submission guidelines.
• IMPORTANT: please use the following naming convention for your productions (artist name = forum username):
  • SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav and/or .mp3
• IMPORTANT: if you only submit your production through Soundcloud, name your files properly prior to uploading and make the production downloadable. The forum can also convert your links into a Soundcloud player through the [soundcloud] BBCode from the text editor (orange square with a white cloud in it)

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 (usually 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

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Thursday, 01st April 2021 to Saturday, 24th April 2021 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-04-2021, 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 Twitter account and Facebook page.



SONGWRITING THEME: The place that sends you mad
GENRE: Jazz / Fusion



Image Source: Pixabay, photo by Mariann Szőke, released under Creative Commons CC0


A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: I have been quite literally swamped with a lot of paperwork (private) in recent weeks. It felt like floods of text, endless production of copies, triple the usual email and letter amount. And no matter what I did, it felt like it's not going to stop anytime soon. In fact, I'm still kind of overrun with certain things. But my desk is looking less and less chaotic. The question is... for how long

All this kept reminding me of an old scene out of the "Asterix the Gaul" movie "Les Douze travaux d'Astérix" (The Twelve Tasks of Asterix), where the main characters are tasked to pick up one specific permit document from a multi-storey bureaucratic building. But instead of it being an easy assignment, they were constantly running into dead-ends. In the movie, they called this area, "The place that sends you mad".

And there we have our theme for this month.
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Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create a production in the "Fusion" genre. "Jazz / Fusion" is also known as "Jazz rock", which is also recognized for it's more modern take on the genre due to the infusion of Rock, Funk, Rhythm and Blues. Yet it can still be as chaotic and improvised as "Jazz". As usual, I recommend to read more about this further down below in the Cheat Sheet, and the linked-to Music Map (see Songwriting Competition - Addendum)


What I'd like to see/hear this month:
I would honestly like to hear how you interpret "your" personal chaos. Imagine having a constant back and forth on a certain topic, think you can relax ever so often, then you scramble like mad again to get things out of the door as fast as possible. Here, a mashup of genres is actually not far off (see examples down below), you might even reach for glitching and stuttering effects. The choice is yours.


What I do not want to hear:
Actually... there is no limit this time, as "Jazz" is an open and very interpretive genre. Experimentation and going against the norm is even a thing.


I'm curious with what you come up with..

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 (as in: non 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 productions that have already been released outside of the time frame of the current Songwriting Competition (Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, etc), 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, a license of Bioscape, or any two 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!

AUDIO EXAMPLES:
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Articles and Info Pages:

A great starting point is the (new) "Addendum"/Supplementary thread for the Songwriting Competition
Songwriting Competition - Addendum: Music Maps and BPM Charts

Additional Articles on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_fusion




Music examples (selection, Youtube):

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Meeting of the Spirits (1971)
Jimmy Smith - Root Down (And Get It) (1972)
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix - The place that sends you mad (scene) (1976, listen to the music)
Chick Corea - Dance Of Chance (1982)
Snarky Puppy - Lingus (We Like It Here) (2013, live)
Kristofer Maddigan - The King's Court (Cuphead OST) (2017)
Rob Scallon - Djazz (2018)
Jesús Molina - #5 Jazz Fusion "Mass Ave Blues" / "Grace" (2019, from the Nord Live Sessions)

I apologize for the lack of "example content" this month - this is just a taster. Once you dip your toe into this genre, you find a lot of cross-references.
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Please also check in with the following thread in the the Gear Talk sub-forum, if you're on the look-out for new tools:
Free Tools, Samples and deals (collection thread)

Also recommended to check out:
GG Audio - Blue 3 and Spin (E-Organ and Vintage Rotary Speaker)
MusicLab - RealGuitar series
MuTools - MUX Modular (for creative sound design purposes)
Fable-Sounds - Broadway Gig (needs Kontakt)
WavesFactory - not only some of their plugins, but also Legacy Drums (most notably: Tea Towel)


If you need more drum samples, maybe check out the following two sources:
Bedroom Producers Blog - Acoustic Drums full kits (some links might be outdated)
Drumwerks - free acoustic drum samples



UPDATED: 31-MAR-2021 23:50 UTC+2 (sourcing content: a couple of hours), updated 00-APR-2021 00:00 UTC+2

Mister Fox wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:08 CEST

This month, you can create a production in the "Fusion" genre. "Jazz / Fusion" is also known as "Jazz rock", which is also recognized for it's more modern take on the genre due to the infusion of Rock, Funk, Rhythm and Blues.

I think Steely Dan is regarded as a jazz rock band. But it seems chaos is the main ingredient this month? I've never heard Steely Dan getting really chaotic, but would it be wrong getting inspired a little bit by them?

Sure, you can get inspired by anything that might fall into this area (check in with the MusicMap, linked above -- or specific search terms on your preferred streaming platform).

The focus is indeed to introduce a bit of "chaos" ever so often, showing the underlining ensuing madness rather than having more more "chilled out" feeling of Jazz. Take note of the video scene from "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" that I've posted as example. This should give you a general idea.

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


If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within the next 7 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.

.... nobody run this contest!?

I mix but i compose music too i can try it. (jazz is not my style but it can be fun)

The entries will come in the next days - pretty sure of that. There are still over 12 days left.

Hi All,

I'm giving a try at the SW this month. My song is not exactly Jazz. More bluesy, but should fit the Fusion category (if that makes any sense ! lol).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nhvp_J ... sp=sharing

This one was done in the collab style. I recorded it first in my home studio, with midi instruments and then I sent it over to some friend to record real instruments at their own homes.

The song has real guitars, bass and keyboard. The drums were recorded using an eDrum kit and Addictive Drums.

This Mix was done mainly with Brainworx SSL Console and some room reverbs.

I look forward to any feedback !

Cheers,
dadomachado

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


If you want to access the extended game mechanics of the Songwriting Competition (asking for feedback during production), please try to release your first edits within the next 3 days to have enough time to get possible feedback (if needed/wanted) and continue to work on your song.