SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Winners announced

#1

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 064 - December 2022

BEFORE WE GET STARTED:

Please consult the official and very simple "Rules and Guidelines" (TL;DR version) 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.
The general idea of this game is to "...just make music", and to also challenge yourself by stepping a bit out of your comfort zone, and take a dip at realms you've never worked in before. Instrumentals are just as welcome as productions with vocals.
The Genre and "Premise" months challenge can be found in in post #2
Filename Template: SWC000_ArtistName_TrackName.wav and/or .mp3

Read more about this month's competition further down below. And if you got any question, please also reach out on Discord.

This introduction post acts as an index for the various stages of the Songwriting Competition. It will be updated with the corresponding links and suitable thread headlines as we progress. 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

#2

CURRENT CHALLENGE - GENERAL INFORMATION

Time Frame: Thursday, 01st December 2022 to Saturday, 24th December 2022 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-DEC-2022, 23:59 UTC+1/CET (Germany) - until further notice.

Want to find out if you're still within the deadline, please either consult the Global Countdown (dedicated page), or the countdown on the landing site. There will also be short reminders on Social Media and on Discord. 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: "Out the window" (Picture Theme)
GENRE: free to select

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

A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: Please take a look at the provided image, let your mind wander a bit, see what happens.

Maybe also get inspired by the following words / phrases:
tired, exhausted, mind running blank, wandering thoughts, window, distant destinations, (feeling) safe, warm / cold, ...
.

Your task for this Songwriting Competition:
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This month, you can create a production in any music genre you feel like.

You set your own parameters and limitations, e.g. style and genre, questions and counter arguments. As long as you don't exceed 10 minutes of runtime, neither have endless padded out repetition. Please keep us listeners engaged. Instrumentals are just as welcome, as are productions with self recorded vocals.

Have fun this month, looking forward to your creations.

Songwriting Rule Summary / Add-On Rules:

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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

Musiclab is kind enough to donate any 1 guitar of your choice to the winner
License will turn into NFR
More info on Musiclab: https://www.musiclab.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 2, a license of Bioscape, or any two sound sets of winner's choice
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.

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

#3

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

Since the genre this month is "free to select", there are no clear pointers

Music examples (selection for inspiration, 00 videos):

No music examples available this month. But I can always recommend to enter random genre search words either into Youtube, Spotify or whatever music streaming services you prefer using.
.

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
Xfer Records - Cthulhu
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 ("Max4Life" is needed, Ableton Live bound)

More tools of the trade

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UPDATED: 30-NOV-2022 12:00 UTC+1, updated 01-DEC-2022 00:00 UTC+1

#4

hi everyone! excited to finally be able carve out enough time to do my first SWC.

this is a track called "out the window":

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i leaned heavily into the idiomatic interpretation of "out the window" (i.e. altered drastically as a result of situational change) and got some inspiration from somewhere that's totally not whatever's going on at twitter right now.
*cough*

vsts/fx/instruments:

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lyrics:

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edit 1: added some guitar and funky stuff
edit 2: re-recorded some vocals, added saxophone solo
edit 3: re-re-recorded vocals
edit 4 (the final one): re-recorded bass chorus, added some drums and piano

#5

Hello and welcome to the "Songwriting Competition", @colorado weeks.

Let me be the first to give you some feedback. Right of the bat, you are definitely "theme-appropriate", since this month's theme is "image based" and genre is "free to select", there is plenty of room for interpretation. Else, this is a really strong start already. I really like the bass groove here.

As music production is a highly subjective topic, I can (once more) only talk about what I would do if I were to mix this. My focus would be on the vocals. They are about perfect in the verse parts volume wise (especially the first verse), but drown a bit in the chorus (small speakers and also on studio headphones). Reverb is always a matter of taste, of course.

Another thing that sticks out a bit on small speakers (and probably also earbuds), are the doubled vocals. They feel a bit offset (although: things being super perfect and "quantized" is not always a good thing) and "too loud" in places. On large speakers/headphones, that is not a concern. Actually, you do hear another ear candy that you might not hear otherwise: a lower octave voice. Very nice touch.

But I do notice, especially in the chorus vocals, that there are some volume fluctuations. I wouldn't drastically tame this with a compressor, but I would address the one or another word volume wise before it hits the FX chain. Especially if you want to play with a more up-close and intimate feel for the lyrics (chorus and bridge).

Playback wise, there is not much to complain. Personally, I'd have a closer look at the drum reverb - however, this is my personal nit-picking as somebody that enjoys working on such mixes. Maybe pull the bass back by -1dB to "gel" it a bit more (at least in the less busy music parts). Then again, this production is a blend of 1970s "Disco" style and modern day "Indie Pop", so it's fine. Making music is always a matter of preference, and it's a great mix to start.

Amazing "icebreaker" so far...
Now I'm curious about the other entries.

#6

I am happy to announce the following sponsor for the Mix Challenge audio community:

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

Luftrum has been a kind recurring license sponsor for the Songwriting Competition since SWC003 / November 2017. They renew their partnership with an updated set of sounds. This offer is retroactive (starting with SWC064 / December 2022).

A huge thank you goes to Luftrum for providing the licenses.

becsei_gyorgy · #7

Interesting picture has become the theme of the month.
The first things that came to mind from the picture:
quite dark, gloomy style, desolation, winter, loneliness, longing, hope, nostalgia, sentimentalism...

I started to write lyrics in a similar style (first real attempt, I apologize for the simplicity and the inappropriate Englishness.)
From the beginning, I thought of an acoustic music and performance style as the musical basis. Just a few simple instruments, not even drums, just hand drumming and effects. I wanted a more intimate, direct performance as if the song was being played in a dark smoky club (or in a dark room looking out of the window, among sentimental memories

)
The vocal parts (and my lyrics

) are sung by synthesizer V pro.

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lyrics:

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VST's and FX's:

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#8

becsei_gyorgy wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 11, 2022 13:53 CET
Interesting picture has become the theme of the month.
The first things that came to mind from the picture:
quite dark, gloomy style, desolation, winter, loneliness, longing, hope, nostalgia, sentimentalism...

love the direction you've taken with this. it's sultry, it's intimate, it's heartbreaking. lyrics are hard enough to write as it is, so kudos for doing lyrics not in your native tongue. my hungarian is atrocious and i wouldn't come up with something half as nice if i had to write lyrics in it

can't really think of anything else that stuck out to me, but it felt like the ending is a bit abrupt. maybe a shaker flourish or another instrument holding a note would help round things out nicely. absolutely lovely work!

becsei_gyorgy · #9

colorado weeks wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 11, 2022 22:01 CET
... it felt like the ending is a bit abrupt.

Thank you for your feedback and kind words.
Yeah, i didn't really know what to do with the ending. It's a real unfinished song

But I can only congratulate you on your song.
I really like your vocals.

Very pleasant to listen to your song, the nostalgia factor is at ethereal heights

i love this music style and your song is a great example of it.

Dear David John · #10

Good Day SWC participant's and people in pants in general.

Firstly a massive welcome to @colorado weeks ! Shes just an amazing hooman and a super creative musician. Great to have you little lady!

So this picture theme just shoots right up alley in terms of music I "generally lean towards creating. As a piano and guitar ballad enthusiast this picture had a lot to say to me and it certainly didn't hold back.
This does however mean that you will be subjected to a category of my music that I do class as somewhat experimental in nature.

Song Title: This Window (My Demise)

The Journey behind the words:
When our insecurities, self-doubt and even guilt get the better of us, we tend to withdraw ourselves from everything around us. Even physically this is done in some cases. We then get stuck in our thoughts and engrossed by these feelings so much so that observing other people may even feel like your looking through the window of a small dark room, at what could be you, but is not you. That window now no longer holds hope, however the mere site of it reminds us yet again of what we have not become.
We should not ever get ourselves in a position where we feel like we just observing the world around us. Instead we should be active in it. If we don't like our surroundings, then change them. If we don't like the company we keep, then change them too.
Do what YOU need to do, to best do YOU.

Notes UPDATED:
This is a written song.
Instruments used:
Piano: PianoTeq (wide player)
Vocals: David John
Samples: None
Midi Packs: None
Complaints: None

//UPDATE: Downloadable File

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Mix Challenge

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Winners announced

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Winners announced

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC064 December 2022 - Submissions until 24-12-2022 23:59 UTC+1/CET