SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC059 July 2022 - Winners announced

[Mister Fox]

The overall "loop" part was, that the whole song need to be able to be looped. Think of games where you play for hours on end and never notice any cut-outs or something, but you still have intros and outros regardless (if you'd listen to each song individually).

Working from looped sections while producing is a different thing.

[Arelem]

Hello,

Here is my track with the changes I've made. I moved some panning and adjusted the guitars to be more sustained and clear. I also changed the arrangement. I stretched the solo guitar parts out because I didn't feel like the faster playing fit with the rest of the track. I removed some instruments and EQ'd others to make more space in the track. I changed the bass drum for something more impactful and also change it out for a more standard kick when the track gets busier. I also added a mysterious section as was requested. The song will now loop however, because of the way SoundCloud works, I left some empty space at the start of the track. I hope that these changes have improved the track and it is now closer to what the 'client' is looking for. (I wasn't sure if I am meant to leave both versions up so I will for now)

https://soundcloud.com/user-57712292/sw ... al_sharing

-Arelem

[Mister Fox]

The following post will mark the second and final "client feedback" per entry.

Hi @Arelem,

thank you for your re-submission. This entry does sound more like what we're looking for. We'll discuss your proposal internally and get back to you.

- dev team

Technical Feedback (by Mister Fox)

I'm personally still not a fan of this particular snare (I'd use a deeper one, as in pitched own, and less "snare buzz" now). Music is a subjective however, so all I can give you on the way, is how I would tackle a mix based upon your provided material. Production wise, you can still experiment with the sustain of your chord/chug guitars. They do do cut off too quick still. But I don't know what instrument you're using, and what options you have in terms of sound. Things are better sounding for sure. What I'm talking about now is fine tuning. Lead guitar wise, the first solo is a bit quiet compared to the second one (subtle, but noticeable). And I'd actually pull back on the reverb and use a bit more delay (again - personal preference).

For the instrumentation in the background (Strings and Brass), I would maybe try a different reverb still. one that is more "warm" or "dull" than "bright" and "chorus-y" (so to speak). I'd also add a bit of subtle distortion to take away the "synth" flavor. But this is a matter of preference as well, just offering you a different viewpoint. Experiment a bit in your own time. Take a day off, listen again and see what might work better. You've got some time now until the deadline has been reached.

Overall, this is a drastic improvement to the last mix, and also an improvement arrangement wise. You definitely made due with the equipment you have at your disposal. Now your next task is a final production, and proper documentation of course.






Still waiting for more entries by other participants.
You all got 15 days, but only 10 more days for initial feedback from the "clients".

[EsteveCorbera]

Hi, I present you my first version:

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

[Mister Fox]

Thanks for participating!

Hi @EsteveCorbera,

thank you for your interesting proposal. This has a nice mysterious sci-fi feel to it, which we like. But we're a bit unsure about the overall vapor-wave feeling, and the production feels a bit repetitive. Otherwise, we really like it-

- dev team

Technical Feedback (by Mister Fox)

Where to start... Initial listen on small speakers revealed that the lead synth is sticking out a bit too much. Also, I don't know what it is (probably some over-saturation), but there is an overall "vapor-wave"/sound degradation feeling going on that feels like a bit too much. Here I would maybe pull this particular effect back a bit. But to still get that "oldschool, yet warm" feeling... maybe try tape saturation or subtle low-pass for one or the other instrument (think 6dB/Oct Low Pass to tame the harshness of sounds).

Balance wise, I'd raise the pulsing bass just a bit more (to make it more prominent), or push back the lead synth / lead elements (piano and swooshes) just a bit to gel things together a bit more. This is tricky however, as the bass and percussion section actually works quite nicely.

Overall, you got that feeling of "oldschool video games" across, which also works nicely with this month's theme. The production is a bit repetitive, and it doesn't loop that well, but it gets the message across. Please keep it up.

[VCA-089]

My final submission:

WAV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dgFk3x ... sp=sharing
FLAC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Gw0I- ... sp=sharing
MP3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rhbcfI ... sp=sharing

When I read through an initial post, I got an idea of possible game in a dark fantasy/steampunk setting with a Lovecraftian horror influences.

This entry consist of two parts. The first one is a 70's heavy rock inspired tune that supposed to be a main theme of the game. The second part is an ambient piece that can be used during the main menu browsing or in some "quiet" stages of gameplay. Both pieces could be looped in theory (consecutively or independently).

Instrument & Techniques:

1. The drums are stock FL Studio samples.
2. The rhythm and solo guitars are Musiclab "RealLPC".
3. The bass guitar is Ample Sound "ABP Lite II"
4. The keyboards (strings and choirs) are Audiolatry "MEL-Lofi" Mellotron inspired instrument.
5. The resonant synth sweep is u-He "Repro-1".
6. The cymbal roll sound used for transitions is from "Percussia Toolbox" pack by 99Sounds.
7. The ghostly choral atmosphere in the ambient section is a stock drum beat passed through Walhalla "FreqEcho" dealy and Audiority "Xenoverb" reverb with formant filtered mode.
8. The socond layer of the atmosphere is actually my own voice. Just speaking gibberish. It is processed with a chorus and sent to a reverb.
9. The string spiccato lines are from VSCO2 Romler. It has two layeres of cello and violin sections.
10. The percussion is also from VSCO2. I used tambourine, congas, thunder tube and cymbal SFX.

Produced in FL Studio 20.9.2.

Technical details:

► Show Spoiler

Generators:

x1 FPC
x6 VSCO2 Rompler
x1 Ample Sound "ABP II Lite"
x2 Musiclab "RealLPC"
x2 Audiolatry "MEL-Lofi"
x1 U-He "Repro-1"

Native Effects:

x3 Balance
x1 Stereo Enhancer
x2 Delay 3
x1 Flangus
x1 Wave Candy
x1 dB Meter

VST Effects:

x1 D16 "Frontier"
x13 AdHd "Leveling Tool"
x14 Thomas Mundt "LoudMax"
x1 TDR "Kotelnikov"
x2 TDR "Nova"
x19 TDR & VoS "Slick EQ GE"
x2 TAL-Chorus-LX
x1 U-He "ColourCopy"
x1 Walhalla "FreqEcho"
x3 Audiority "Xenoverb"
x3 ToneLib "GFX"

Master Chain:

TDR "Nova"
Limiter №6

Total:

x13 Generators
x70 Effects
x31 MIDI Patterns
x31 Mixer Tracks
x5 Audio Clips
x15 Automation Clips

phpBB [media]

[Olli H]

After several days of work, here is my first draft:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E6Yx4N ... sp=sharing

When I read through an initial post, I got an idea of possible game in a dark fantasy/steampunk setting with a Lovecraftian horror influences.

As a quick side comment from one ignoramus: now you're up to something new. You have combined great musical lines and structure with both cool synth and organic sounds.

I felt 1:30 - 2:00 was a too long waiting time. My mind lost attention, but maybe it could be just a perfect moment to check the cards and plan the game strategy during that time.

After that comes musically interesting change around 2:00.

I wonder if the drums/toms (and why not guitar also?) could have a drop (but not too much) of that interesting windy ghost cave reverb around 3:00? Something that blends them slightly together. Now they feel a bit separate elements.

[Arelem]

The following post will mark the second and final "client feedback" per entry.

Hi @Arelem,

thank you for your re-submission. This entry does sound more like what we're looking for. We'll discuss your proposal internally and get back to you.

- dev team

Technical Feedback (by Mister Fox)

I'm not personally still not a fan of this particular snare (I'd use a deeper one, as in pitched own, and less "snare buzz" now). Music is a subjective however, so all I can give you on the way, is how I would tackle a mix based upon your provided material. Production wise, you can still experiment with the sustain of your chord/chug guitars. They do do cut off too quick still. But I don't know what instrument you're using, and what options you have in terms of sound. Things are better sounding for sure. What I'm talking about now is fine tuning. Lead guitar wise, the first solo is a bit quiet compared to the second one (subtle, but noticeable). And I'd actually pull back on the reverb and use a bit more delay (again - personal preference).

For the instrumentation in the background (Strings and Brass), I would maybe try a different reverb still. one that is more "warm" or "dull" than "bright" and "chorus-y" (so to speak). I'd also add a bit of subtle distortion to take away the "synth" flavor. But this is a matter of preference as well, just offering you a different viewpoint. Experiment a bit in your own time. Take a day off, listen again and see what might work better. You've got some time now until the deadline has been reached.

Overall, this is a drastic improvement to the last mix, and also an improvement arrangement wise. You definitely made due with the equipment you have at your disposal. Now your next task is a final production, and proper documentation of course.






Still waiting for more entries by other participants.
You all got 15 days, but only 10 more days for initial feedback from the "clients".

Hello,

My original post has been updated to include the 'final' version of my track and track details were added. I made pretty much all of the changes you recommended and I have to say that I like it a lot better now, thank you. I think adding the delay to the solo guitar parts really made them pop!
I also want to say thank you for the time and energy you are putting into this month's challenge. It's been a lot of fun seeing a different side to producing music.

-Arelem

[Arelem]

The rhythm and solo guitars are Musiclab "RealLPC".

Dang, the pinch harmonics in RealLPC sound really good!

I'll throw in some quick feedback from what I heard, the lead and rhythm guitars are a bit on top of each other. There are plenty of ways to make space but since you use FL you might want to try using a patcher preset called multiband sidechain. It's basically a free version of TrackSpacer that is included with FL Studio. You have to link the sidechained signal manually in the map tab (it might do it automatically if the signal is sidechained before the plugin is added but I don't remember if that's the case).

-Arelem

[EsteveCorbera]

Hello I have updated my topic. Thanks

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