Mix Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 57 - May 2022


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding basics (theme and premise, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process.

Before you get started, please consult the official and very simple "Rules and Guidelines" (Rule Book - post #6) for the Songwriting Competition regarding principles of the game, it's engaging game mechanics (allowed editing/re-submission of your entry until the deadline has been reached) and upload/submission guidelines.

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




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 (limited 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: Sunday, 01st May 2022 to Tuesday, 24th May 2022 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-05-2022, 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. There will also be short reminders on Social Media.

Does the game time frame feel too long? Why not set a personal shorter one of 5-7 days absolute max to push yourself to focus on the essentials, then use the rest of the time to ask for feedback and possible refinements.



SONGWRITING THEME: "Synth Racks, Patches and Cables"
GENRE: Electronic (any sub-genre)



Image Source: Pexels, photo by TStudio, released under Creative Commons CC0



A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: Once more, I do not really know what to write. It's Spring on the Northern Hemisphere, event season has started, there will be the Superbooth in mid May, we'll be celebrating International Synthesizer Day on Dr. Bob Moog's birthday (23-MAY-1934) as well.

But we're celebrating making music all year round. And this May, the focus is once more on synthesizers and/or weird synthesis devices.
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Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, the rules are simple. You can create a production in any sub-genre of "Electronic Music". Doesn't matter if it's Techno, Trance, Electronica, Chiptunes, Synthwave, Drum and Bass, Electro-Industrial / Electronic Body Music, etc. As long as you make music, and have a great time while doing so.


What I'd like to see/hear this month:
Got a new device that you recently acquired but didn't dive deep into yet? Always wanted to experiment with modular synthesizers? Maybe you want to dust off that old synthesizer or random strange device that has been stored in the attic and give it another spin? Now is your chance to do so. Experiment, mash together whatever comes to mind, mix genres. Use a minimal setup, or go all out on what you have at your disposal (or maybe streamline your setup).

"Electronic Music" is a very broad term, and genres blending into each other are a thing. Please do have a focus on more "electronic instruments". Doesn't mean that you can't drag out your E-Guitar and go to town, or use an acoustic drum set in a breakdown, or some chopped up choir vocals for added effect.

The sky is the limit - and you set that threshold yourself.


Have fun!

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
• for newcomers: no finished 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 -- please only showcase your own content
• do not go higher than -14,0 LUFS ILk/-1,00 dBTP in terms of perceived loudness (mastering). Music doesn't have to be squashed to bits in order to be impactful
• name your files properly prior to uploading and make the production downloadable. If you opt to present your entry through SoundCloud, 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)
• ADD-ON RULES:
  • Filename Template: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav and/or .mp3 (please use it!)
  • <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 (most notably Rule Book - post #6)

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 the project

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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:


Cherry Audio is kind enough to give away one license of Voltage Modular Ignite, plus either a license of "Year One Collection" or "Year Two Collection"
License will turn into NFR
More info on Cherry Audio: https://cherryaudio.com



IK Multimedia is kind enough to give away one license of MODO BASS 2 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 Saurus3 to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



kv331 audio is kind enough to 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 to 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 to 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 to 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 to 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 "Addendum"/Supplementary thread for the Songwriting Competition
Songwriting Competition - Addendum: Music Maps and BPM Charts

Additional Articles on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... sic_genres




Music examples (selection for inspiration, 22 videos):


Modular Synth focused music examples (8 videos):


Other Channels and videos to check out:

Gershon Kingsley - Popcorn | The Story Behind The Song (2011)
Alex Ball -- Daft Punk - Rollin' & Scratchin' Synth Tutorial (2019, channel is full of amazing tutorials!)
Alex Ball - Flat Beat Synth Tutorial (Korg MS-20) (2019)
Alex Ball - How to produce music that sounds like Justice (2019)
Analog Kitchen - This Is How You Make Awesome Techno Beats (tutorials with an all-hardware setup, 2021 -- this channel is a goldmine IMHO!)
Andrew Huang - Making a track with the ARP 2600 M (2021)
Futurephonic Education - Properly Tweaking Psytrance Kicks with Scorb and Divination (2022)
Futurephonic Education - The Key to WAIO's SUPER Tight Sound (2022)

Please also check out Hainbach, Ah! Kosmos (Basak Günak), Venus Theory (Cameron Gorham), Espen Kraft, Alex "Hyper EZ" Banks, Mick Gordon, David Levy, Bjulin (former license provider "Bjulin" / Bjulin Waves), Jan Koekepan and Emerald Arcana (Irwin Kwan), just to name a couple more very talented musicians and sound wizards.
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Please also check in with the following threads in the the Gear Talk sub-forum, if you're on the look-out for new tools:
Places to fuel your GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) (the starting point if you're in need of audio tools -- from free to affordable)

Also recommended to check out the following tools, if you're new to/need help with songwriting:
Plugin Boutique - Scaler 2 (highly recommended tool!)
Xfer Records - Cthulhu (another highly recommended tool)
CodeFN42 - Chordz (Transition is also recommended, if you want more experimental/generative MIDI, Free, Windows only)
W.A. Production - InstaChord and InstaScale
Fabrizio Poce / J74 - Progressive (Progressive Standalone might not be available anymore, else the "Max4Life" version)


More tools of the trade (fitting to this month's theme/genre)


UPDATED: 31-APR-2022 23:35 UTC+2, updated 03-MAY-2022 09:55 UTC+2

Hola,

Here is a preliminary version of what I did for this month's challenge.
Still need to mix and adjust levels.
Let's see what you think and what I think I need to improve.
Thanks for your feedback

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XZXs0j ... sp=sharing

EsteveCorbera wrote: ↑

Sun May 08, 2022 23:01 CEST

Hola,

Here is a preliminary version of what I did for this month's challenge.
Still need to mix and adjust levels.
Let's see what you think and what I think I need to improve.
Thanks for your feedback

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XZXs0j ... sp=sharing

Just as a note, I listened to your track through my phone so I didn't get the full picture. That being said, there's a really solid foundation here. I like the drums and the off tempo shakers. There's some good use of folly and filter automation to help keep things interesting. I will say that it might be good to change up the transitions instead of the same riser and filter a bunch of times. For the synth chords, the instrument you chose is a bit cheesey in my opinion. Maybe try layering it with a piano, that's probably where I would start anyway. The lead is ok but feels really wooden. Maybe try changing up the timing of the notes a bit to throw in some variation. It could maybe use some light delay or some reverb too. Again that's just my opinion. Definitely some good ideas here, just needs a bit of tweaking.

-Arelem

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick note. I've been dealing with some health issues lately and haven't been up to producing. I probably won't have an entry this go around. I'll try and give y'all some feedback if you'd like, but I wanted to wish you all good luck.

-Arelem

Thanks Arelem for your comments, I'll see if I can make any changes to my theme. I hope you are in good health.

I agree with Arelem, although there are other opportunities that I see for adding interest - you could do quite a lot with different hits, stabs and vocal snippets. This would add a sort of narrative to the musical environment.

You could also use a bit more reverb and perhaps a phaser or similar to your lead to give it a bit more space. Towards the end, your chord synth seems to distort - was this deliberate?

Edited to add the final version: https://files.catbox.moe/umf8cw.zip

Here's my first draft. Still somewhat bare, but it's a quick render.


https://files.catbox.moe/uvdt0u.zip

Nothing fancy, just a little tribute to the Kosmische Musik scene.

Interesting production so far, @Koekepan. Let's see how much the production transforms until the deadline has been finished. I have no complaints overall, other than please do not post ZIP files for ease of accessibility.