Winter competition - All other entries!

Great fun, great prizes! Good luck!
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Kenni
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27 Dec 2017

Hi all,

Here's the rest of the entries for the Winter competition. Well done all!

saidnelson – The Seven Song


FrankJaeger – Frostbite


fieldframe – Garden Complex


tordh – Just Note Gone


AttenuationHz – Head Cold: -6°


strangers – Christmas Pickle


Iggster – When The Cold Winds Blow


Botramduuze – WINDY (ice cold mix)


Alencar Junior – Winter (Vampire Waltz)


Musicrace – MyWinter2017


Flavolous – Ominous Ocean Floors


TalosBrun – Winter Manifold


bronsoncox – Winterize


K.Markov – Winter 2017


gullum – Winter


demt – grid12


MikeC76 – Lexi’s Meltdown


Re8et – HYPER WINTER 2017


TIZIANO – Belly Ride


coding – Zeema


Frankworks – The viking winter


MarkTarlton – goblin05


kesterthedancer – Winter Comes


dariuskolba – Gingerbread Man on Cinnamon
https://clyp.it/tgdxamff?token=a51e28eb ... be0a62072e

miquielbanks – Lene Bean Theme


Bes – Reasontalk Winter Song Challenge Entry


pullpoti – Wintermares


Zac – The Longest Night


247 – winter ice dream


Seckin – Ode to Thunder


EpiGenetik – The Full Festive Experience
Kenni Andruszkow
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EpiGenetik
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27 Dec 2017

Any chance of individual feedback?

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Kenni
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27 Dec 2017

EpiGenetik wrote:
27 Dec 2017
Any chance of individual feedback?
We would actually like to do that, but as you might imagine that's a pretty hefty task, especially since we're that many judges! :D

In general I think there's very little to say about most of the entries in terms of production and creativity. All the hard choices were made based on thematic reference (regardless of the attached story), catchyness etc. You know, all the things that make different people react differently to the same music.

But since you're asking (personal opinion) your entry was very high quality and with a lot creative sugar coating. Especially when you know the attached story, it's quite brilliant in fact. I personally did go with other entries that had a more clear thematic reference in the song itself though.
Kenni Andruszkow
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EpiGenetik
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27 Dec 2017

Cool 😎 Thanks for getting back to me 😊 I did suspect that I just wasn’t winter enough. Probably something to do with being Scottish and doing my best to ignore the weather conditions (many days in July here could easily be mistaken for winter) 😂

All the best

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Kenni
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27 Dec 2017


EpiGenetik wrote:Cool [emoji41] Thanks for getting back to me [emoji4] I did suspect that I just wasn’t winter enough. Probably something to do with being Scottish and doing my best to ignore the weather conditions (many days in July here could easily be mistaken for winter) [emoji23]

All the best
Hah, not the first time I heard that about the Scottish weather! :)

Thanks for participating (to all of you). There'll definitely be more competitions in the future!
Kenni Andruszkow
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AttenuationHz
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27 Dec 2017

tordh – Just Note Gone. What a track man! Just beautiful.
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

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Re8et
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28 Dec 2017

torrdh! I was feeling the cold by the bones!!! I need to heat up a bit... sooooooo good!!
Epigenetik and Iggster also cranked down on mix! I was too in a hurry for too much stuff early dec.!!
Stranger maybe most funny

Bes
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29 Dec 2017

nice thanks everyone who entered i had a good time listening to all these tracks today
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Zac
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29 Dec 2017

I've now listened to all of these and feel very comfortable in this company. Some of these really build and develop in the latter stages. I hope the judges didn't skip anything.

I'm sure they didn’t ive yet to hear all of the top half. What a competition. Well done everyone.

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ravisoni
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02 Jan 2018

I haven't gone through all yet, but a really cool job done on the ones I have heard so far. I jotted down my thoughts as I went through the tracks. I'll try to do it for each one posted here, but it'll be in chunks. Apologies if I used words to describe what you wouldn't have yourself used for your creations -- just offering some unsolicited comments, and I hope they're taken in the right spirit.
Like zac mentioned above, though, it feels good to be in the company of such amazing and creative peers!

Here's tracks 1-9.
1. Saidnelson – The Seven Song: It’s a cool mix of a variety of styles. I like how it begins and ends on similar notes (tones). I would like the drums to be a bit heavier, and the piano piece (wonderful one, btw) to be volume matched with what’s before and after it. Good job!
2. FrankJaeger – Frostbite: Cool intro. While this is not my go-to genre when I feel like music, I found myself grooving a lot to the beat and the lyrics. I would’ve liked the vocals to be crisper (perhaps some distortion on a parallel vocal channel?) Love the timbre of that snare, though!
3. Fieldframe – Garden Complex: The bass reminded me of The Postal Service (and that’s a good thing). Very neatly done, very “sweet” sounding. Selection of sounds was intriguing, and the work with the hats and the choir-like note play towards the end is right up my alley!
4. Tordh – Just Note Gone: I love any creative percussive/rhythmic work, so this was great! That granular sound is mind boggling, wonder how that was achieved. What’s cool is the sound and track evolves over time (and some in your face reverb to match with it – some really nice work with bringing it closer to the listener and then pulling it back). The sine tones with the bell-like sounds and windchimes was VERY nice – were you playing with NNXT? Superb outro as well (and that entire granular/reverb work at that point, man…!)
5. AttenuationHz – Head Cold: -6°: I like how the intro piano leads into the rhythm and the melody. One thing I’d recommend is if the track’s gonna clock in at >5 mins, some variation in the middle (3:10 to 4:45ish) section would help keep the listener in the song. Somehow the track fits perfectly with the album cover you’ve chosen!
6. Strangers – Christmas Pickle: This one evokes a really different mood, and I love it! The strings sound faayn! I kept wanting the drums to sound a bit bassier, but keeping in mind the type of track it is, I think they probably sound better the way you’ve kept them – i.e. non-intrusive, just having their own fun, and keeping the track moving along. That trill-y thing with the hat gets me every time. Great stuff!
7. Iggster – When the Cold Winds Blow: Sets the tone right at the outset. Another song that brings about a very different, happy, uplifting kind of feel. Transitions are solid and the pads and the tone-deaf bass drum at the beginning gels well with the track. Nice breakdown in the middle; I like the overall mix. The song was “held together”, obviously in terms of the mix, but also in terms of the sound selection and melody progression, something I sorely lack in my tracks. Impressed!
8. Botramduuze – WINDY (ice cold mix): I don’t know if I’m biased because this was supposed to be a winter challenge, but the winds sounded like winter winds. It’s like… winter came.
9. Alencar Junior – Winter (Vampire Waltz): Who said winter had to be all chirpy and cherubic? Gotta say, it was a terrific track. I was imagining an actual Vampire Ball, each couple sneering and giving “the eye” to other dancing couples as they passed each other. Tons of exes, tons of broken relationships, tons of successful pairings, but who cares as long as the vampires gather, on this one momentous occasion at the grandest hall for Winter Vampire Waltz Ball?
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AttenuationHz
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02 Jan 2018

:thumbs_up:

Took like 8 hours start to finish. Was a rush job thanks for the feedback...
It is not too much of an ask for people or things to be the best version of itself!

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demt
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02 Jan 2018

carnt get over the n.o of tracks with the same foosteps in the snow effect!
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Noplan
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02 Jan 2018

demt wrote:
02 Jan 2018
carnt get over the n.o of tracks with the same foosteps in the snow effect!
My first song sketch had these footsteps too. :lol:

WongoTheSane
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02 Jan 2018

demt wrote:
02 Jan 2018
carnt get over the n.o of tracks with the same foosteps in the snow effect!
I said the same thing to Joey, who answered: "Google 'snow footsteps'..." Indeed, that's result #1 :lol:

strangers
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02 Jan 2018

ravisoni wrote:
02 Jan 2018
6. Strangers – Christmas Pickle: This one evokes a really different mood, and I love it! The strings sound faayn! I kept wanting the drums to sound a bit bassier, but keeping in mind the type of track it is, I think they probably sound better the way you’ve kept them – i.e. non-intrusive, just having their own fun, and keeping the track moving along. That trill-y thing with the hat gets me every time. Great stuff!
That was very thoughtful of you to take the time and post your thoughts on all of the finely crafted entries. A lot of your comments had me re-visiting entries to make sure I didn't miss hear anything people put time into. Must have been tough being a judge since there's a lot of tracks that didn't make it to the final stage that I'd have greenlighted to be in the running.

For anyone interested, I'll share some of the thought process I had going into this contest. I was lucky enough to have been influenced by snow in my area while I was beginning the writing process. During an awkwardly long moment staring out the window, an idea hit. When I was a kid my mom showed me a home video of her and her brother at a zoo with a light coating of snow on the ground. Unless I made it up in my head as a kid, I could have sworn I remembered there was this song playing in the background that was primarily a string section. Even for the light coating of snow barely being visible, the song really left a lasting winter impression on me.

With that little back story in mind, I knew I wanted to somehow take that memory and transform it into my own creation to yet again keep that memory alive. Once I came up with the chord progression for the piano, the rest snowballed fairly easily. I programmed drums to keep the beat next, then I chopped some vocals to have some fun with, fiddled with some synths until I had some sounds and lines I liked and strings surprisingly were the last element even though they were the focal part of the basis of my thought process. Strings were fun to write with but I had to make sure to stay simple with them to ballpark the music I'm not even sure I really heard as a kid.

Drums definitely could have been bassier but I wanted to go for a more old school sounding kit to sit nicely with the rest of the instruments. I left the low end for the bass. Glad you liked the little hat roll. I was worried I'd over-do it but once I played that part by mistake I knew I had to keep it. Even for not getting into the final round, this song challenge brought back memories and prompted me to create my own rendition of that same memory. So, I'm grateful for having taken part. Good luck to all!
ravisoni wrote:
02 Jan 2018
7. Iggster – When the Cold Winds Blow: Sets the tone right at the outset. Another song that brings about a very different, happy, uplifting kind of feel. Transitions are solid and the pads and the tone-deaf bass drum at the beginning gels well with the track. Nice breakdown in the middle; I like the overall mix. The song was “held together”, obviously in terms of the mix, but also in terms of the sound selection and melody progression, something I sorely lack in my tracks. Impressed!
I also agree with your thoughts on Iggster's song. The composition, mix and overal tone of the song really envoked a winter vibe. The sound quality is top notch. Wouldn't mind taking some mixing pointers from Iggster, in the event Iggster felt like sharing.

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