SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC032 April 2020 - Winners announced

[TrojakEW]

But, if I am to vote and give honest comments to others, I have no other choice than to use my limited ”song”-perspective.

And I really appreciate that. This is how it should be.

I'm not here for votes and I really do not care about them. I'm here to learn new things and to understand different view from different people that may improve my work. What I miss here are more comments and discussion especially when voting ends. This is way I tell you my point of view. Not to prove something but to show what is in my head. This is simply conversation that help us to learn something new.

Like I said, I don’t have a needed competence for modern productions. Even less I pretend to understand classical compositions.

There is no need to understand any of this. You do not need to study anything in order to say if you liked it or not. You pointed your opinion about melody and that is great and important for me.

[becsei_gyorgy]

First of all, since I am here on the forum this is the highest quality and most balanced competition.
It’s great to see that every song is of a high standard. And it is good to listen to each song several times

At the same time, I'm a little disappointed.
Based on the announcement („abundance of synthesizer”), I was expecting more synthwave or synth-based songs to be made. But unfortunately in many songs the synths are not the main elenments, only a background pad or an additional effect.

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GmfSongs - Shadow to Stone
Nice intro, good bass and guitar sounds.
I don't think the linn kit is a good choice for this vibe. (And I didn't like the machine gun effects.)
I like very much the guitar parts: not too intrusive, just as much as they need. Good job overall, has very good and interesting vibe.

Jilliam - Deprivator
Good sounds, nice intro. But...Hard to hear the vocal.
The rhythm is nice, the filters used well. Just a little short but what we heard is good.

TrojakEW - Brand_New_World
As last time, I still feel the percussion elements the strongest. Perfect, central element of the work.
Maybe too dominant also. Maybe I would have allowed more space for the synthesizers now.
It's great, inspirational work. Perfect soundtrack piece.

gruskada - ParallelFor
Nice bass intro, great intro part. The first munute is great (It reminds me of the Top Gun Anthem ). just without guitar? . But from 1:04 I feel the song is a bit empty.
Built from good elements, but not yet complete. As if there was a big hole in the middle that needed to be filled.
Overall very nice idea, real synth song. I loved hearing it again and again... Especially the first part. Absolute Top Gun feeling and I liked it.

OlliH - Red-Haired-Stranger
When I first listened I thought it's a Perfect song for the „Natural Born Killers (1994)” soundtrack
A song like a lovechild of Leonard Cohen and Chris Rea
But is also true of its quality. Good sounds and arrangement, the best vocal I've heard from you (it's great!), nice mood overall.
For very first listen I felt the lyrics a bit forced and its rhythm doesn’t fit the song perfectly.
Good job.

DocJon - EverythingWillBeAlright
Good start. Nice elments put together well. A real eighties song.
But overall too clean, everything is perfect but this perfection produces a bit robotic feel.
Because of this, I can’t really experience myself in the song, I feel the song is very - I don't know better word: robotic.
Maybe the Little Alter Boy reinforces this robot feel? That's what you wrote about the vocal artifacts?

CaughtWithCandy - MissingPieces
Nice "in the middle" start, nice vocal. The rhodes plays well.
Nice guitar riffs. Just the song lacks a catchy chorus part.
Overall I liked much. Maybe another month the song could be a winner, but I really missed the more definite synth elements.
Typically a song for this contest ... just not this month

Green-Dog - trap_and_trigger
The song was good, I enjoyed. The chorus part is very interesting, I liked.
I liked the mix less.
Maybe too many reverbs, I don't know - some sounds are very distant and echoing, the vocals are sometimes few.
The song wants to be a 80's (gothic?) wild song, but it restrains itself too much.
Missing the 'in the face' vocal, the more crunchy guitar.
Only my personal opinion and does not deduct from the value of the song: Maybe the main guitar sound is too clean for this song. I would definitely replace that clean guitar sound. Or add a lot of distortion.
But overall is a very good song.

► Show Spoiler

8 pt - gruskada - ParallelFor
7 pt - TrojakEW - Brand_New_World
6 pt - DocJon - EverythingWillBeAlright
5 pt - OlliH - Red-Haired-Stranger
4 pt - Green-Dog - trap_and_trigger
3 pt - GmfSongs - Shadow to Stone
2 pt - Jilliam - Deprivator
1 pt - CauivatoghtWithCandy - MissingPieces

[becsei_gyorgy]

„nice and very well done ideas, but somehow they don't make up together a solid one song”

Thank you for your feedback. Is useful as always.
I'm sorry it didn't live up to your expectations.
I tried to make the arrangement understandable. You don’t think it really worked, but I admit I really don’t understand why and what I should do.
At least I can't give a clearer arrangement to the song yet. Maybe in the future.

„happening too much all the time on the effect side”
„if you had clear vocal line here”

Yes, here the effects don’t hide in the background as an add-on, but are definitely in focus. The effects take the story forward. This is a concept, not a coincidence. Probably poorly implemented.

The song wanted to be a story about a (not serious) superhero which evokes the eighties. Like a cartoon or series hero (but clearly not in a serious sense).

Actually without a main vocal (without spoken words) the effects tells/guides the story:
1. a presentation (narrative) of a hero who travel deep space and helps the fallen (1st Verse, 1st Chorus),
2. our hero appears more closely on his horse(ship) ---> horseshoe pluck sounds
3. we can see the attack, somebody is in trouble --> alarm signs,
4. asking for help ---> the sos sign,
5. then the hero is coming (2nd, shorter verse with -- > laser pistol beams)
6. main, "heroic" battle,
7. explosion (win?, lose? - we don't know).

Maybe I couldn't explain well, I don't know.

Sorry for a detailed story, but I always think in pictures when making/listening to music.
This is also my daily job: desktop publishing and graphic design
I can't listen to music without associating pictures/movies with it.

Overall: a vocal line (or a more pronounced melody line) might be good for the song, but that was not the goal.

Thank you for your words again.

[Olli H]

Yes, here the effects don’t hide in the background as an add-on, but are definitely in focus. The effects take the story forward. This is a concept, not a coincidence. Probably poorly implemented.

Although my comments are honest, don’t take my words too seriously. My perspective to music is limited. I guess the main thing is to learn to follow your own instinct. And I'm sure you do already. More you listen it, more it guides you. If you make it in music business, it’s only because of your inner voice. (But still: are you using melody lines as add-on to sound effects ??)

Well reasoned forum comments may sometimes be dangerous, if they suffocate your inner voice. Maybe your inner voice was about to whisper you a new way to hit the big time, and then that stupid forum voice yells at you: ”remember melody lines…”

When synths came big to music business in 80’s, I was listening different kind of music with an attitude ”…I hate the disco, It's monkey music, keep it away from me”. So I manage to silence my inner voice. I learned nothing about synths. Needless to say it left me with a huge knowledge gap which I'm desperately or amused trying to catch up. But happily I’m again trying to listen my inner voice, but 35 years is a long way to run…

[gruskada]

This was a really tough one to judge, especially across genres, and just the criteria of using (but not necessarily featuring) two synths. The most interesting thing to me, based on the criteria, was how much the artist challenged themself. But this is impossible to really know without really knowing everyone's whole catalog of songs, and even then might be hard to pick out how people exactly challenged themselves. I like the contest concept, but it really makes it tough.

In any case, this contest got me going down a rabbit hole of really digging into synthesizers. I tried to learn a ton of 80's synth riffs as research, which was easy enough (for the most part), but then got frustrated that I couldn't get the sounds right because I don't really know how to tweak the knobs. So then I started taking the Syntorial lessons, which are amazingly good so far.

Anyway, to the judging:

GmfSongs - Shadow to a Stone
- drums too loud at the beginning, seem to get better as the song progresses
- I really like the guitars
- good voice, nice subtle echo
- the hook starting at 0:37 is great
- 1:11 - cool synth part
- 1:32 - you lose a lot of energy here. Maybe it's on purpose, but it was disappointing to me.
- 2:23 - this solo part is great
- good-sounding mix

Jilliam - Deprivator
- great intro
- not a fan of the voice sample
- interesting sounds, but no development

TrojakEW - Brand_New_World
- I like the intro
- percussion is awesome, and mixed really well
- main synth line seems meandering, like you are just improvising for fun over a scale/mode
- mix sounds awesome, as usual
- like the gated synth at 1:58
- not much development, though I guess this isn't the type of genre for development

becsei_gyorgy - Space Cowboy
- I love the intro - that's got to be the Wavestation making those sounds. I love that synth.
- the bouncing space sounds very 70s. Repeating bassline would sound much more like 80s, I think.
- main theme is great
- 0:33 a bit dissonant
- the RetroHit drums sound great.
- nice transition at 1:09
- cool vocal effect at 1:47. Almost sounds like it turns into a synth. This is awesome.
- the repeating theme is fine, though it would be cool if you modulated it to different keys.

OlliH - Red-Haired-Stranger
- I love the intro guitar
- synth sounds very 70s
- I think it would sound better if you sang it an octave higher, or maybe just in a slightly higher key
- synth line that starts at 1:39 is great
- transition at 3:14 is a little rough
- Not a fan of the "up a note" modulation for the last chorus. Not going to ding you for it - most songs don't even modulate anymore...

DocJon - Everything Will Be Alright
- I love the arps at 0:08
- great singing. I like the octave-doubling with the female-sounding voice
- I really like the fake guitar sound. Reminds me a bit of Jan Hammer's signature synth sound, though it sounds real in parts as well. Actually, with the mood of the song and vocal treatment, it could almost fit in on Jan Hammer's "Beyond the Mind's Eye" album. You would need to add a lot more bends/portamentos, though :-)
- very well produced
- great song overall
- the only criticism I really ahve is the "so let's just do it" voice sounds a bit out of place, but it's funny.

CaughtWithCandy - Missing Pieces
- Has a Smashing Pumpkins "1979" vibe for a bit
- the vocals are great in parts, but the vibrato in parts is way too much for my tastes.
- 1:32 - fantastic. Great vocals at the start of this section as well
- nice-sounding mix
- I like the fade-out at the end
- good song overall

Green-Dog - trap_and_trigger
- interesting from the start
- amazing vocals, but are a little buried especially when listening at low volumes (esp at :31 when they come in)
- I like how the synth octave doubles the guitar
- aside from all the song has going for it, it starts to get boring for me after a while. I guess there's not enough going on, or maybe it should just be shorter. A synth hook might add some interest as well.

► Show Spoiler

01 DocJon - Everything Will Be Alright
02 becsei_gyorgy - Space Cowboy
03 Green-Dog - trap_and_trigger
04 GmfSongs - Shadow to a Stone
05 OlliH - Red-Haired-Stranger
06 CaughtWithCandy - Missing Pieces
07 TrojakEW - Brand_New_World
08 Jilliam - Deprivator

[gruskada]

Or trick what I use quite often: I sing the melody ("de-dee-dee"), convert it to midi, and then I use the timing and velocity from that (but I always have to make lots of pitch correction moves).

Interesting. I'll have to try that out. Sometimes I'll write something on guitar, then figure it on keyboard (or vice versa), but I've never tried singing and converting to MIDI. I'll have to look up how to do that.

Also, somehow those toms come from totally different world. Otherwise the drums are very organic, but toms are over-synthetic when compare to otherwise natural sound of drums.

I hear you - interesting that it's all very unnatural LinnDrum samples, though.

If you plan to develop this, listening Toto's "Africa" might give you some ideas.

I was actually thinking of Toto's Africa, and how interesting it was that they cut a measure short by two beats before jumping into the chorus, so I stole it for my song to add a sense of urgency (right when the first toms come in). My song really isn't my style, so I probably won't develop it further, but maybe I'll do a guitar version of it at some point.

[Mister Fox]

I know this is much too late. This happens much too often, that I don't have time to finish my entries.

So I don't participate in the competition. Maybe someone else still has some kind of opinion about this song (more than half finished). Or maybe not. Anyway, I have used four synths, and the PG-8X was a pleasant surprise.

I've added your entry to the "Bonus Entries". Sadly, you can't download the production without having a Kompoz account. Maybe you'll get some feedback.

The next Songwriting Competition starts on 1st May and will run for it's usual 24 days. Maybe your time management works out next time.

And also, I'm not sure if everybody is familiar with the site Kompoz. I don't think it's to be looked upon as a competitor with Mix-Challenge.

I am aware of Kompoz - it is a collaboration site - a couple of Mix Challenge "clients" actually came from Kompoz.

[Doc Jon]

Very difficult month to judge, all the tracks were really good and very little separating them all. Bonus points for a good vocal which ended up determining my top 3, would happily have paid money to download any of these

GmfSongs
Shadow To A Stone
A well written song. Authentic 80s drum sounds and an early Cure type vibe with great guitar and vocal. I think you could have gone even stronger on the reverb and delay processing on the vocal and brought it a bit more up front in the mix. This was an excellent track

JILLIAM
Deprivator
Nice sidechain pad intro, by 1.00 I was expecting it to open up into a massive club banger of a track, but we got a drop which was fine, further build until 1:32 by which time I really was hoping for some new elements to be introduced. Nice filtering throughout the track and the piano motif worked well but it did need to develop more to hold my attention. Abrupt ending

TrojakEW
Brand New World
Lovely field recordings . Nice ambient vocal and pads, always nice to hear some tribal percussion. The synth when it came in didn’t quite fit the feel of the rest of the track and I wonder whether a slightly different ethnic style patch might have worked better. I liked the orchestration in the middle section, and again the percussion was great. Really good mix and production, an enjoyable listen

gruskada
Parallel For
Nice vintage drum sounds, good choice of synth patches, authentic pad sounds and nice synth tom toms. A little bit Vangelis, a little bit Genesis, would have liked an accompanying vocal, I could imagine a nice Peter Gabriel style vocal line working well with the track. That cheesy piano patch is so 80s, great choice!

becsei_gyorgy
SOS Space Cowboy
Synths, synths and more synths! Classic sounds in this: great drums and percussion, octave bass and sound Fx all excellent. Every single one of your sound choices sounded authentically vintage. The background vocals fitted perfectly. Nice mix and production, transported me right back to the 80s

Olli H
Red Haired Stranger
Great track but I think the synth sounds seemed a little out of place as it sounded more like a proper acoustic song to me, but a great acoustic song at that. Great lyrics too, you clearly have a skill there

CaughtWithCandy
Missing Pieces
Great intro then straight into a nice vocal – a proper song! I liked the general laid back vibe. Good structure and nice arrangement, love the transition from vocal to instrumental section around 2:00. The synths were there but it did sound much more a conventional guitar based track - still loved it though. Nice fuzz guitar. Really great mix and production, very very good indeed. Easy to listen to all the way through, wasn’t tempted to skip any of it

Green-Dog
Trap And Trigger
Well this is good, what a great song! Confident vocal performance and a nice clean mix. A really well written song and very good arrangement, loved the chorus and the abrupt ending worked particularly well here. My only slight reservation was that the synths were buried quite far back in the arrangement, I can just hear them in the background, and vocal could have been a little more ‘up front’ in the mix. Anyway, I don’t care, this track is just great and I would happily pay money for it!

► Show Spoiler

01 Green-Dog (8 points)
02 Caught With Candy (7 points)
03 GmfSongs (6 points)
04 TrojakEW (5 points)
05 becsei gyorgy (4 points)
06 gruskada (3 points)
07 Olli H (2 points)
08 JILLIAM (1 point)

[Green-Dog]

Hi everyone!

All this month submissions were on very good level and without any limitation was a special hard to judge.
In such a situation, personal taste are the main judge.

#GmfSongs

I like the atmosphere of the song. Bass and drums a little bit too loud. Good arrangement and sounds choice.

#J I L L I A M

nice chord progression. Reminded me of Thom Yorke Click from kick a bit annoying. Track sound like a good sketch. The song is missing development and some main part with strong rhythm section and some solo or vocal part.

#TrojakEW

I like de tune on main synth. Nice balanced mix but I miss instruments separation a bit. Speaking about the form of the song: I would like to hear a slight decline before the finale. Now the song sounds pretty evenly throughout the entire length. if it was a soundtrack to the video, it would be another matter

#gruskada

Nice intro and overall sound selection. Bass have too much reverb on it. so when the rest of the synthesizers come in, the groove disappears. Don't like delay on hi hat. The song lacks some Part-C. If it’s a soundtrack to the video, then maybe it was worked. I am not a big expert on this genre. But overall nice retro mood.

#Becsei Gyorgy

Good synth sounds choice. When I listened for the first time it seemed that somewhere I heard these melodies The melody seems to be developing but the tension in the song remains at the same level.

#Olli H

I like the song but I don't like the arrangement and mix. Panning is the easiest way to avoid conflicts between instruments, but in my opinion in this case it’s not the best choice of tool. I don't like how distorted guitar fits in the chorus.

#Doc Jon

Catchy melody and good arrangement. It seems to me that there are some problems with the back-vocal phase. He disappears a little in mono. Hey-vocal are too loud.

#Caught with Candy

I like how guitar sounds it this track, especially solo. Good balanced mix. The only thing in mix lack some high frequency. Vocal are great and past to the mood of the song. Don't like vibrato on it but the rest is perfect.

► Show Spoiler

01 (8p) Caught with Candy
02 (7p) GmfSongs
03 (6p) Becsei Gyorgy
04 (5p) TrojakEW
05 (4p) Doc Jon
06 (3p) Olli H
07 (2p) gruskada
08 (1p) J I L L I A M

Regards
Andrejs

[Caught with Candy]

First up this a great forum. Great comments and all very constructive.
Secondly the final rating was super hard to do as each track has its own thing and much of it I agree is down to taste and opinion.


Shadow to a stone
Great walking groove. Vocals and overall feel reminds me of billy corgan in his vampire persona. Very nice synth work at around 1.20 mixed with the awesome airy vocal effect. The snare is punchy but perhaps a couple of dB too loud as it’s a little distracting, especially in the drum fills. Other than that, very well mixed. Really nice textures at 2.30. Very well arranged and instrumentation is very fluid. Very fitting to the theme.

Deprivation
Nice fade in with the foot tapping glitch. Creepy vocals fit well as it builds slowly. Very interesting soundscape which gives a feeling of contemplation mixed with impatience, but I felt a little unsatisfied when it didn’t build into something bigger. But perhaps for the theme, that is perfect. Very well mixed with a wide and deep soundstage. Leaves a haunting feeling.

Brand new world
Oooh I’m on an island. Great positive mystery intro that opens the soundscape from the start. Great melodies throughout that play against each other while the rythm keeps up the intensity. As things build and intensify, I would have loved it to reach for a climax at a higher level but appreciate where it stays. Instrumentation, arrangement are very pro and the mix is bright, airy and well balanced. Very fitting to the theme. I want to watch the movie that this goes with.

Parallel For
Super 80’s ...great start with the bass that keeps this solid with momentum. The chords and melodies are fitting for the era and I appreciate the efforts made to follow the theme. The synth solo in the middle is wild and has some great texture. Some of the chord playing a little fumbled or staccato, perhaps this is a mix thing with a little high mids poking out. But overall the mix is good and balanced. The arrangements build and fall away well with the melodic theme.

SOS space cowboy
How can you go wrong with a title like that. Awesome. Great sounding synths intro. Instant head bobbing groove followed by some great synth work over the top. Awesome vocal line at around 1.10 and appears at all the right times throughout. It has me intrigued throughout with the mix of textures and sounds that interplay melodies. The mix is well balanced and solid. With a bit of tweaking is it possible to get a bit more width / depth out of it?
Definitely fits the theme and I had a story in my head the whole time, right up until the perfect explosion ending

Red haired stranger
Intrigued from the start with the western feel. A great rhythm which rightly stays true throughout. A nice mix of guitars, keys and synths. Lyrics and great and had me giggling at the beginning and deeper thoughts as it went on. The mix of instruments is good, the vocals seem to struggle to find their pocket and the intro synth playing the melody pokes out but overall good. The structure and arrangement is nice with a great hooky chorus . Perhaps a change of texture at some point would have helped it along overall. An interesting interpretation of the theme for what is typically a acoustic instrument genre.

Everything will be alright
Great paced intro and super awesome mix of 80’s synths, guitar over that solid beat. Brings strong memories of new order and pet shop boys. The vocals fit perfectly into the soundscape and theme. Super catchy verse lines ....I’m singing it with you in the second verse. Lyrics tell our story of now. Positive and reflective lyrics. Really great instrumentation and play of melodies are only helped by the pro mix. Arrangement is solid. No surprises but doesn’t let the song down at all. Great song and perfect for the theme.

Trap and Trigger
Intro latches on to me and feeds into you nice vocal verse. Chorus change makes it super interesting and adds a lot of tension. Nice selection of instrumentation and texture. The arrangement is interesting however I found the guitar instrumentals between the vocals were a little too long - as a listener I lost the story of the lyrics and continuities of the vocal melody structures.
The mix was good. The drums are solid, vocals sound good and the verb on the guitar is great. A little more impact in the chorus could have really amped this up. I think some of it got lost in reverb.
Overall the vocals ooze with personality, the strong point of the arrangement. Not as synthy as other tracks but I feel it fits the theme well.

► Show Spoiler

1 Doc Jon - everything will be alright
2 Becsei Gyorgy - SOS space cowboy
3 Green-Dog - Trap and Trigger
4 TrojackEW - brand new world
5 Endicott Dread - shadow to a stone
6 Richard Watashi - Deprivator
7 Olli H - Redhead stranger
8 Gruskada - parallell for