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Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 19:49 CET
by StoryGirlOz
Interesting track! I like the way it transitions from a Faltermeyer-style 80's pop bop A section (yes, I caught the quote) into a more traditional synthwave B-section. The evolution of the bass patch and the filtering on the arp in the B-section is classic synthwave. This track wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack of the "Labyrinth" film.

Nice work.
APi_ZZ wrote:
Sun Mar 10, 2024 20:28 CET
This challenge is different. At least on my side of it.
First: Considering myself more of a proghead (uh? synthwave, what's up?), I realised (by a serious look on my HD) that I own tons of albums considered (somehow) related to synthwave. Well, then that ain't bad at all.
Next, another look on my HD (now the DAW samples dept.) revealed some batches of suited -eh- samples, apparently well representing sounds from the 80s synthwave phase.
Then, The notorious lazy side of me decides to work with those samples, nothing fancy (so to say) -- this is my result.

So there are samples from these departments: drums, bass, synths (kinda obvious), sequences, pads, mallet (bells), FX and voices.
Carefully mixed and aligned and (partly) processed.

As I said, nothing fancy. And -oh!- track title first was considered to be Ship Ahoi (dissed for being too cheap).
So now: Wynth seems to be a star system in the Wyloff sector (according to jedipadia); I singlehandedly decided this system to be saved. More cool, I think ... :wink:


Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 20:01 CET
by StoryGirlOz
Lovely track - well mixed, with some great sound design. I especially liked the lead/flavour patch that kind of had a whalesong vibe to it.

My only constructive note is that it seemed to lack a harmonic B section. I might have missed it if you had one. But It was kind of easy to just slide into the vibe of the repetitive dream-like two-step, so maybe not a problem.

Great job!
becsei_gyorgy wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2024 20:45 CET
Hi

I haven't listened to much synthwave so far, but now I've tried to join the nostalgia month.
I experimented with the synthesizers until I finally managed to get almost every track to be played by a different synthesizer. It may not be very elegant, but that's how it was done. :)
I stuck to the traditional synthwave basics. Simple A minor scale, simple 1-6-4-5 chord progression, if I remember correctly.
Nothing too complicated, which I tried to be authentic with :)



phpBB [media]

► Show Spoiler

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 20:34 CET
by StoryGirlOz
Interesting track! The lyrics were certainly aligned with my own special interests... listen to my track and you'll see what I mean.

I liked the sound design. Having three different forms of lyrical content was surprising, but it worked. The drums were more in line with the early-80s electric drums that I used, rather than the boomy Phil Collins/LinnDrum patches used by others, so thank you for helping me feel that I'm not some sort of three-headed monster!

In terms of constructive notes, I think the bass patch could have used a bit more loudness (probably compression + makeup gain) to give the whole track wider shoulders to hang off, but all up, really good. I liked it a lot.
Doc Jon wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2024 16:50 CET


I have tried to create a synthwave track incorporating some classic sounds of the 70s and 80s including vintage drum machine samples, string machines, Vox Humana, various simple polysynth patches and an assortment of chiptune percussion/sound Fx. All heavily quantized and with no velocity variation, all served up at 120bpm :grin:
I also took inspiration from those songs in the early years of sampling when news speech was a popular addition to synth tracks, and as Greenpeace came into the public eye at around the same time I decided to go with the perhaps slightly more modern topic of climate change

**Please be aware there are a couple of F-bombs in the lyrics :uhuhuh:

Lyrics
► Show Spoiler
Tech specs
► Show Spoiler

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 20:41 CET
by StoryGirlOz
Very chip-tuney! I was wondering if someone would post something along these lines!

I love the conceit of the level structure. It's a nice creative approach to this challenge.

If I have any kind of technical note, I think that the reverb/release tails might have been a tad overcooked on some of the melodic patches. For pads, verb it up! But for lead lines, excessive reverb tails lessens the impact, somewhat and leaves the mix a little muddy.

Other than that, great job!
EsteveCorbera wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2024 00:32 CET
Dear fellow challengers and Mister Fox.

This is my track of the month

Description.
It's a tribute to the computer games of the 80s. With a sound that starts out drier and older, and evolves into a more modern sound as the game progresses.

Game and track structure:
  • Loading the game
  • Start of the game
  • First level
  • Second level
  • Bonus screen
  • Third level
  • Fourth level
  • End
In the end, I was left with something nice, with no more pretensions than to make a reminder of my teenage years.

Thank you colleagues.

(translated with google)




Equipment:
DAW:

Reason 12.7.4d3

Reason Instruments:
NN-XT Advanced Sampler
Layers Waves Edition
Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer

Reason Effects:
RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb
The Echo
Quartet Chorus Ensemble
Sweeper Modulation Effect
Pulveriser Demolition Unit
MClass Stereo Imager
Channel EQ

Reason Players:
Scales & Chords
Dual Arpeggio

Reason Utilities:
Combinator
Mixer 14:2
Pulsar Dual LFO

Reason Packs (like Presets):
Expressive Arpeggios Vol 2
BV-X Game Voices

Reason Rack Extension:
Kilohearts AB kHs Frequency Shifter (Effect)
Kilohearts AB kHs Gain (Effect)

Other instruments outside of Reason:
UJAM Beatmaker VICE
Arturia CZ V
Arturia DX7 V
Arturia SQ80 V
PluginBoutique VirtualCZ
Bedroom Producers Blog BPB64
NilsSchneider NilsK1v

Other effects outside of Reason:
AIR Music Tech Creative FX Collection Diffuser Delay
Antares DUO Automatic Vocal Double
Denise Audio My Crush

Samples:
https://elevenlabs.io/text-to-speech (Male voices)
Blastwave FX Old School Video Games
Retro_FX Samples
Soundtrack Loops C64 Adventure

Other tools:
Plugin Boutique Scaler2
Evabeat Melody Sauce 2
iZotope Ozone 9
Plugin Alliance SPL HawkEye
HoRNet Plugins HoRNet VHS

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 20:47 CET
by StoryGirlOz
I really like this track! The A section having a sense of wonkiness with the timings of the chord change worked really well, and I love the metallic chime-like patch that's playing the dominant ostinato, although the delay/reverb on it got a bit tiring on my ears by the end of the piece. (That might just be a me thing though.) The B section beautiful and uplifting.

The backup singers at the end were a really nice touch!

Great job all said and done! A dreamy delight. :)
Chasey24 wrote:
Sat Mar 23, 2024 20:08 CET
Good Day Everyone!

Just to be clear, the artist name I go by is "Jerry Payne", but my forum name is "Chasey24".

Here's the final edited link to my submission:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mgsw2dkg ... 0zkpf&dl=0

I actually grew up listening to a lot of "Synthwave"(yes, I'm older than dirt). I'm sure it has had some influence on my composing style. I went through my usual routine of composing for this competition using Cubase 11. This consisted of researching, assembling a chord progression or two, expanding on the idea, melody writing, supporting parts, etc. I chose to structure with an intro, verse x 2, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus x2, outro. I then added some effects and "ear candy". Once I was happy with the overall mix, I mastered in Ozone 9.

Virtual Instruments:
Dexed
Retrowave
DR-84
DP-06
Retroverse light
Vital Synth
Resonate
Portal
Twenty-Five
Factory Library 2 Arcade kit
HW Backup Singers
Solaris Guitar
Retromania
Synthetic Materials

Vst FX:
Valhalla Supermassive
Neutron 4
S Doubler
Century tube Channel strip
Native Drumstrip
Native Flexverb
OTT
AutoPan
Brightness Panner
EC300
Trueverb
NA Doubler
Objeq Delay
Little Plate
Replika
Digital multiply

Also used some WAV SFX and voice files.

Had a lot of fun with this, and I look forward to your feedback!
Edit: Thanks to valuable feedback I received from Mister Fox, I was able to give my drums a little more presence in this mix, as well as tame some of the HF information.

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 22:23 CET
by BenjiRage
Hi all, long time no post!

Apologies for my recent absence, it's been a bit of a crazy and turbulent year so far and I haven't been able to find the time to enter any of the last few song or mix challenges. However, when I saw that this month's theme was Synthwave I just had to make some time and have a go as it's one of my favourite genres at the moment. There've been some really great entries so far too so this will be a tough one.

My track takes its inspiration from my childhood fantasies of going into space someday. I have always been fascinated by the moon, the stars, planets, space flight, and I used to build spaceship dens with my little sister when we were kids pretending we were going into space. I was also hugely into the Super Nintendo game "Starwing" at the time and I used to record the music onto cassette using a little ghetto blaster next to the TV to provide the soundtrack to our adventures.

Consequently I wanted to evoke that feeling of wistful nostalgia in the track, so I crafted a lot of the sounds with that in mind to try and achieve the digital "chippy/blippy" video-game feel with a fair bit of reverb to give it the feeling of space. I even fired up my SNES emulator and sampled a few of the voices direct from the game for some extra effect.

So here's my track, titled "Corneria Capcom" in homage:

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JTs0J6 ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11JLyFp ... sp=sharing

Production Notes:
► Show Spoiler

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Submissions until 24-MAR-2024 23:59 UTC+1/CET

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2024 23:56 CET
by Koekepan
Whew. Just under the wire.

URL for .wav file in a zip archive:

https://files.catbox.moe/08uv00.zip

I leaned more into the darker side of the neon soundscape. Lots of bright tones, gated reverb on kick and snare, all the sins of the '80s except for the cocaine, as far as you know, but a darker harmonic field.
► Show Spoiler

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - preparation phase

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2024 00:32 CET
by Mister Fox
It is the 25th March 2024, 00:25 UTC+1/CET - this month's Songwriting Competition has official ended


STATISTICS:
  • If I didn't miscount, we have 13 submissions this month (4 entries more than last month, and similar participation as March 2023)
  • We have 0 submissions after the deadline (as of 25-MAR-2024 00:25 UTC+1/CET)
  • We have 0 submissions that has been disqualified (production released outside of the game's timeframe)
  • We have 0 submissions that has been withdrawn (therefore it can't count to the overall participation)
  • The "staff balancing vote" add-on rule does not apply (special game mechanics do apply)
  • "Sole Winners Podium" rule (equal or less than eight participants results in a single winner) does not apply (3-position Winners Podium)


:arrow_right: How do we go from there?

Over the course of the next (hopefully) 24-48 hours (usually up to 6-12 hours maximum after the game has ended), I'll gather all links into one post and hot-link to that from the first post of the thread. Please, no more changes to your entries, but please do check your links that these entries are accessible and downloadable. We then perform with the final feedback and "public vote" system.


We have 13 official participants. We are adapting the overhauled vote mechanic, as talked about in the following news blog:

Songwriting Competition - game mechanic changes: Voting Process (October 2022 Update)
(Info: I am aware that the Rule Book has not been properly updated yet. Time constraints, apologies for the inconvenience)


Summarized:
 ! Bonus Info
  • Participants can (and must) vote for their Top 5 entries (tiered mechanic).
  • You're furthermore asked to please reflect on your experience this month (2-3 paragraphs max), what you have learned, what you would like to do different in the future, etc. (personal growth)
  • You are also asked to give feedback to at least five (number: 5) entries (tiered mechanic) -- things that stood out to you, providing some final thoughts and constructive feedback for possible improvements. This adds to the learning experience of our community. It is recommended that these entries are outside of your personal "top entry" voting.
  • Have the chance to get additional bonus points if you decide to invest the time to provide more constructive feedback than the requested minimum. It must be more than just "nice production, please keep up the good work" however. This is to boost more interaction and can balance out your overall points on the score sheet. (get 1 point if you give constructive feedback to 1-2 more participant, get 2 points if you give helpful feedback for everyone)
  • The "Voting Process" mechanic is mandatory for all participants, and the only criteria to drop out of the game by not partaking. Please don't just collect feedback, and not give back to the community.
  • The overall "Bonus Point" mechanic still applies. Please update your posts with proper production documentation, most notably regarding whom you have collaborated with (as in: proper credits -- not doing so will result in a 2pt deduction on the score sheet at the end of the game). Please also make your entries downloadable, or provide an additional download link if not existing already. You got until the voting period has ended.
Please cast your vote (not the feedback) in collective form through the "spoiler text" bbcode (button on the WYSIWYG editor that features the orange triangle with an exclamation mark in it). Please use the forum username of the participant to make it easier during the score collection to address what vote belongs to whom.
.

 ⚠ Moderation Message from Mister Fox  
For transparency:

The staff (Mister Fox) will not give feedback to all entries and/or cast a vote this month.

(unless there is a tie that can not be broken otherwise)

Feedback from non-participants and/or collaborators is highly encouraged (voting not needed!). The same goes for entries after the deadline, or those that sadly do not count for the current running game (even if you've exceeded the deadline, why not post your entry regardless?). Musicians and Engineers are always after constructive criticism. This is what this forum is about.





Have some general feedback? Please provide that here:
Songwriting Competition - General Gossip Thread, or on Discord.



Please make sure your files are accessible, and please have an eye on this thread! :tu:




EDIT: 25-MAR-2024 0:30 - initial post

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Voting until 01-APR-2024 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2024 01:18 CET
by Mister Fox
Let us kick off the VOTING PROCESS, which will end on Monday, 01-APR-2024 23:59 UTC+2/CEST latest


There is a GLOBAL COUNTDOWN to check for deadlines.
Just follow this link: Global Countdown (on homepage)


Here is the collection of productions from all participants (in hope that I didn't forget anyone). As usual, if you click on the small upwards-arrow right beside the quoted name, you can jump to the original post and read up on the documentation for this production.


.
Arelem wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2024 10:08 CET
"Glass Alloy"

APi_ZZ wrote:
Sun Mar 10, 2024 20:28 CET
"Wynth Saved"

KukoBass wrote:
Tue Mar 12, 2024 14:05 CET
"Bit By Bit (Things are getting better)"



WAV: Google Drive playback and download
TrojakEW wrote:
Sun Mar 17, 2024 20:07 CET
"Move Forward"

becsei_gyorgy wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2024 20:45 CET
"Never Grow Up!"



BONUS VIDEO:
► Show Spoiler
Doc Jon wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2024 16:50 CET
"Death By Degrees"

EsteveCorbera wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2024 00:32 CET
"Homenatge Als Video Jocs"

Chasey24 wrote:
Sat Mar 23, 2024 20:08 CET
"Getting Chippy"

DropBox playback and download
StoryGirlOz wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2024 03:39 CET
"Thank You To The Warriors"

WAV: Google Drive playback and download
MP3: Google Drive playback and download
FixInTheMix wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:58 CET
"Virus"

WAV: Google Drive playback and download
VCA-089 wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2024 14:27 CET
"Inevitable Progress"

WAV: Google Drive playback and download
FLAC: Google Drive playback and download
MP3: Google Drive playback and download

BONUS VIDEO:
► Show Spoiler
BenjiRage wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2024 22:23 CET
"Corneria Capcom"

WAV: Google Drive playback and download
MP3: Google Drive playback and download
Koekepan wrote:
Sun Mar 24, 2024 23:56 CET
"I am not a Cyborg"

phpBB [media]

(MP3 Mirror on Mix Challenge for easier playback purposes -- and here is a direct download of the MP3)

WAV: Download as ZIP
.



WITHDRAWN (not participating - feel free to give feedback, but you sadly can not vote for these entries)


<no withdrawn entries>
.



BONUS ENTRIES (submitted after the deadline - feel free to give feedback, but you sadly can not vote for these entries)


<no bonus entries>
.



:arrow_right: GAME MECHANIC SUMMARY:
► Show Spoiler


Good luck to all participants! :tu:




If you have an idea for a future Songwriting Competition, please post about this in the theme/genre request page or on Discord.


Post updated: 25-MAR-2024 00:45 UTC+1/CET -- initial post

Re: SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC079 March 2024 - Voting until 01-APR-2024 23:59 UTC+2/CEST

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2024 14:21 CET
by BenjiRage
It's been great to get back in the action this month. I wasn't completely sure if I'd have my track finished in time as I was still frantically bouncing mixes and tweaking things yesterday evening. Even now I listen back and hear things I want to tweak further. So that's definitely a take away for me this month - leave yourself more time!

Here is my feedback for everyone; this was quite a tough one to call. There were two stand outs that I absolutely loved but so little in it between the others that choosing who to vote for was really hard.

APi_ZZ: Wynth Saved
I really like the analogue-ness of your synth sounds and there's lots of modulation that keeps things interesting. A nice nod there too to Axel-F. The production is very good, crisp, clean and polished. One area of improvement that I think would elevate the track even more is the drum sound - the kick to me feels overly dynamic with too big a variation between the soft and hard hits, such that the softer hits get lost, and the snare doesn't quite sit right somehow. I can't quite pinpoint it, maybe a little too snappy or lacking in the drum's fundamental or maybe just needs a little more compression.

Arelem: Glass Alloy
A very solid production, really well produced drums/percussion and bass that take the lead in the track. Perhaps a little bit overpowering for the Synthwave genre in general which tends to be more melodic and harmonically rather than rhythmically dominant. The synth line that comes in around 2:00 does redress this balance somewhat though.

becsei_gyorgy: We Will Never Grow Up
Lovely light and airy synth chords that kick off the track, in fact all your synth sounds have been well chosen here. The classic Synthwave kick pumping effect has been reproduced really well. The toms are a little dry, I think a bright-sounding reverb with a 2 to 3 sec decay would wet them up and fit them into the mix better. Otherwise, everything fits together really well and flows along nicely with good use of modulation. The 1-6-4-5 chord progression helps make the track instantly likeable and has that familiarity so the listener instinctively knows what's coming.

Chasey24: Getting Chippy
Initial impressions were there is a slight lack of top end clarity in the mix, but I think this stems largely from the snare drum which needs an HF boost. It's just really overpowering in the mix for the first couple of minutes. Musically though, this track is really pleasant and would totally work as the soundtrack to a video game. There are lots of interesting synth sounds and variation, which keeps the interest high and I love the little ending touch with the FX :D

Doc Jon: Death By Degrees
Another very catchy production from the Doc! Initially I was thinking the drums were a little on the weak side, but actually they have a very "chippy" feel so in that respect you've done very well. Lots of great chippy synth sounds throughout too. The rap for me doesn't really work in the context of the genre, although it certainly does work for effective delivery of the message in the song. The spoken news speech definitely fits in, but perhaps takes up too much time in the song where extending the female vocals instead would help further establish the melodic themes.

EsteveCorbera: Homenatge Als Video Jocs
I think some of your melodies are too complex and jump around a lot - more repetition and simpler ideas would help make them more memorable. When creating them ask yourself how easy are they for a listener to memorably hum/sing along to? Production wise some of the melody notes also blur together quite discordantly due to the synth envelope release being too high for the quantity of notes played in quick succession. The overall idea of the track though is excellent and your production is a very fitting tribute to 80s computer games. The use of FX and voices help to punctuate the different levels nicely.

FixInTheMix: Virus
Oh yeah, classic Synthwave! The synth bass line and drum pattern are right in the pocket here. That funky slap bass that comes in at 1:34 is so good, punctuated with the chorusy stabs in between too, love it! And the synth electric guitar in the final section has been programmed to perfection. My only couple of suggestions would be I think you could increase the use of reverb (especially on the drums) as it's quite a dry mix and in certain places some kick drum hits seem to be getting muffled - for example, in the section from 2:53 to the end every second kick loses its impact, I'm not sure if this is intentional? Otherwise, top work.

Koekepan: I am not a Cyborg
Kudos to you for producing your track largely just with hardware, that's a great skill and a lost art these days. In places the drums are coming in a little bit behind the beat of the synths and the sidestick rhythm that starts around 3:40 feels a bit out of place. Musically it's quite simple but it's very effective with pleasing synth sounds that have been thoughtfully chosen. The mix is also pretty good to be fair, there are a few things like the harshness of the lead that starts at 5:00 that could do with a little polish but I've very impressed with what you've produced.

KukoBass: Bit by Bit
Being a drummer I always instinctively cue in to the drums in a track first and the "snare" of the your drums is very quiet, almost to the point of being inaudible, leaving just the kick and hi-hats carrying the rhythm - I think some level adjustments and EQ would definitely help here. The vocoder vocals sound very good though and fit in nicely with the track, but they aren't always quite in time. But everything you've created works well together, nothing feels out of place and the track makes for very easy listening.

StoryGirlOz: Thank You to the Warriors
First of all, welcome to the site and congrats on your first entry. It's an interesting track with some bold harmonic choices that certainly add interest to the production. I feel though that the vocals don't really sit in the mix very well and the lyrics are often hard to discern, but in other places they sound too loud and harsh/distorted eg: around 1:30. Also the timing wavers slightly - for example, the first couple of words come in just ahead of the beat. Fixing the little things like this will make the track sound a lot more professional. I think the drums and synths in general also need some more top end clarity in the mix.

TrojakEW: Moving Forward
This track has a lot of the classic elements of Synthwave. Well chosen drum sounds (snare maybe a little dry / snappy) and that kick definitely sounds like a LinnDrum :D. I really like the synth sounds you've chosen. The brassy lead reminds me of the music of Street Fighter and similar era video games, and weirdly the initial fade in sounds very like the end music of Starwing! You've made very good use of modulation and filters too, which make it a very pleasing and interesting song to listen to.

VCA-089: Inevitable Progress
This is such a great production, the whole thing is just bathed in spacious reverb. It's 80s through and through, you've absolutely nailed it in that respect and all that digital DX loveliness just pours out of the speakers. My only criticism would be on the musical front where the chord changes often feel quite unexpected and hard to follow leaving me unsure of where things are going. However, I can't fault your production skills, lush AF!

Voting
► Show Spoiler