Mix Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Songwriting Competition 49 - September 2021


This is the introduction post, where we directly link to the challenge corresponding files (theme, submission information, sponsors) and start of the voting process. There will be no Round 2.

Before you get started, please consult the official "Rules and Guidelines" (most notably 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 (usually not available 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: Wednesday, 01st September 2021 to Friday, 24th September 2021 (24 days)

Challenge submission will end on 24-09-2021, 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. You can also consult the World Clock at the top of the forum or alternatively the following tool - in this case please select "Berlin (Germany)" as location 1, and your location as location 2: Time and Date - World Clock Meeting Planner. We do post reminders via our Twitter account and Facebook page.



SONGWRITING THEME: "Loss"
GENRE: free to select



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



A few word about this month's theme:

Staff (Mister Fox) wrote: You're used to me writing up a storm on the forum. Posting long and exhaustive texts. This month, My mind is kind of blank, I am honestly at a loss for words, what to say, what to convey. The last couple of months have not been easy (I might get to that in a separate blog post), and I'm pretty sure I am not the only one on our small community.

The pandemic situation is still holding us in a tight grip, with no end in sight. Aside from our planet being ravaged by something we've never seen before, our communities (human beings in general) be split into pieces, and personal lives still being turned upside down. Loss of jobs, loss of routine, loss of friends and family. There is only so much one can take. So much you can do to keep your mental health in balance.

Making/working on music kept me "sane" and balanced a lot throughout my short time on this planet, where nothing else helped. And this is why I'm running a Songwriting Competition with the topic "Mental Health Awareness" every year. Music can help us cope, understand, and heal.

This month is not as "refined" as usual, including providing audio examples. I can merely provide you with a broad theme.

The rest is up to you.



The genre doesn't matter.

It can be a piano tune, it can be an ambient soundtrack, it can be an electronic track, it can be EBM with distorted vocals, it can be a hard rock production, it can be chaotic Drum and Bass, it can be a Hip Hop tune. Just... tell a story. A story about yourself, about somebody you know, about somebody you lost. Process your emotions, channel it into art, and let it speak for itself.




I do want to spread awareness about the topic "Mental Health" as a whole - as I'm not a flawless human being either. We do need to get rid of the stigma that you shouldn't speak up and ask for help. To pretend that everything is all right, even if it isn't. Spreading some positivity in the process.

A lot of people simply cope with art. May it be artwork of any kind, writing poems, humor, or in our case... creating music. Everything of that, is telling a bigger tale. And this is exactly what I'd like to evoke (again) this month: telling a story.


This month (September) is about spreading awareness of Mental Health on the Mix Challenge audio community.

Feel free to share the word via social media with the following hashtags, to get more people involved:
#MentalHealth and #PositiveMentalAttitude




Important Footnote:

If you know of somebody that is suffering from depression, showing signs of self harm or having suicidal thoughts - don't look away, do not lock this person out. Reach out, offer help - and may it only be an ear that listens to a story. If you know of somebody that is suffering anxiety or is showing signs of severe introversion, don't pressure this person, give him/her space, be mindful and understanding.

Never ever treat this person with disrespect or shrug away a subliminal cry for help. It is hard to judge how a person's mind works, sometimes the person you try to help is locking you out or will brush you away. The walls could be thick, they could be paper thin. Every single word can be measured in gold without you knowing. Be patient, be kind, just... be there.

If in doubt, contact local aid agencies that are specialized in this field.

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 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
  • <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 us

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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 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 give away one license of MODO BASS 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 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 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 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 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 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

This month, there are no additional Wikipedia articles, as the genre is "free to select"




Music examples (selection):

<no audio examples as genre is "free to select">
.



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!)
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)



UPDATED: 31-AUG-2021 23:15 UTC+2 (sourcing content: nothing to source this month), updated 00-SEP-2021 00:00 UTC+2

Would it be according to the rules to reuse an old song? I have always liked the song I'm thinking of myself, but I do not think I managed to attract more than five people in the whole wide world to listen to it, when I published it on Soundcloud about a year ago. It has also been taken down since several months, now, because I wanted to redo the arrangement, and it has never been in any competition at all.

“Please no (re)upload of one of your finished and already released productions. You can revisit an old production of yours, or remake/renew a several week-old work-in-progress”, is what the rule book says, and IMO this production fits this description. I will have to write new lyrics, for example, because the previous one doesn't make sense the year of 2021. The new arrangement does not exist yet, but it will definitely be very different from the old one.

Looks like you answered your own question, @A Future in Noise.

If this was not part of any previous Songwriting Competition(s), and you want to rewrite the song (need to in certain cases anyway), then go for it. Looking forward to see you join this month.

I'm new to the songwriting competition but very happy to have discovered it from posts on TGP. I'm planning to submit a song for this current competition, and have a few newbie questions. I'm sorry if these have been asked before... I looked on the gossip pages and rules couldn't find anything on this.

1. It sounds like we can post and get feedback on a work in progress up until the deadline. What does this mean? Is there a place I can post here on mix-challenge, or is the idea that I can post on other venues (Soundcloud, YouTube, etc) and get feedback there? Or would that constitute prior release and then make the song invalid for the contest? If I do post outside of the mix-challenge website, then is there a way to get feedback from others in the game? I'm trying to figure out where I can post and who can give me feedback.

2. The rules also suggest I can edit a submission up until the deadline. Again, related to the question above... what does that mean? Does it mean I can repost an updated version of a song on a site like Soundcloud, or does it mean I can send updated files directly to the contest to replace files I sent to the contest earlier? If the latter, I'm wondering why I would send files that aren't finished.

Thanks, looking forward to playing!

To answer both questions @Johnny_Fingers:

You basically do one post in the game-thread in question, talk about your production (also see rules) and ask if other people might hear something that is worth changing, or if you have a specific question to your edit that bothers you. The other forum members might then chime in and give valuable feedback. If you post outside of this forum, you might not get that.

"Editing submissions until the deadline has been reached" is also linked to that. Basically... you edit your initial post with an updated version, then do a mini post in the thread and mention "I've updated my post, please look out for ABC". You can do this as often as you feel comfortable, although please keep in mind... this is mainly for "almost finished productions", not for "I just laid down a beat, what should the melody be?".


You could take a dive into SWC047 / July 2021, which kind of supercharged this concept (with me being both the the host, and a "comissioner"), then this will make things a bit more clear I hope:

SONGWRITING COMPETITION - SWC047 July 2021


Welcome to the forum!

So the theme of the month, "Loss", comes surprisingly appropriate for me...

You see, a couple of months ago, I lost my dog in a tragic accident. As part of my grievance process, I wrote a song for her that I've been playing to myself over this time. This month contest has pushed me to finally produce it and share it with the world (or at least with you guys).

So, let me present to you:

Bon Voyage, Mon Amie


I'm one of those who, whenever I even participate, I submit my entry at the very last minute. So I'm surprised this time I have mine so early, and I look forward to take advantage of the contest feedback mechanics.

Now, the production details:

DAW
Recorded, mix and mastered in Presonus Studio One v5.0

Instruments:
Drums: Addictive Drums 2
Piano: A picked piano from the Augmented Pianos library for UVI Falcon.
Guitar: My PRS Singlecut S2, through a custom clean amp in BiasFX2
Bass: Ibanez SR655, also through a custom bass amp in BiasFX2
Synths: Output Analog Brass and Analog Strings

Effects
FabFilter ProQ 3 on virtually all tracks
FabFilter ProL Limiter
HOFA IQ Reverb
U-he Presswork and Satin

GMoneh wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 10, 2021 06:33 CEST

So, let me present to you:

Bon Voyage, Mon Amie


I'm one of those who, whenever I even participate, I submit my entry at the very last minute. So I'm surprised this time I have mine so early, and I look forward to take advantage of the contest feedback mechanics.

Just a quick note. You should upload wav to soundcloud instead of mp3 for the best quality. Now your uploaded file have problems with true peak.

True peak L +0.01dB
True peak R -0.18dB

and also your integrated loudness is -13.8 LUFS

So in order not to loose some points you should fix it.

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



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



Tone2 has been with the Mix Challenge since MC001 - June 2014. They renew their partnership for the Songwriting Competition with Saurus3.

A huge thank you goes to Tone2 for providing the licenses.

!	Bonus Info
	Saurus3 is a major update, that is available for free for all Saurus users.To those that already acquired a Saurus2 license through the Songwriting Competition - you can easily download the update through the Tone2 homepage.