Tune Contest (February 4 - February 14): Love Song [winners announced]

[Viking]

Wow, thanks all for the fantastic turnout and the great entries!  This is going to be very difficult to decide.

I'm re-listening to all the entries now and will post my thoughts on each, along with the winners, shortly.

[Viking]

Thanks all for entering!  Here are my thoughts (pros and cons) for each entry.

Le Woltaire:

• + Great to see a non-Western-influenced entry (and yes, I see your entry lacks beats )
• + Wonderful instrumentation -- authentic-sounding and effective contrast
• + One of only two entries with genuine, bona fide singing!
• - Seems somewhat directionless except toward the end
• - Not sure that traditional Arabian music tends to meander modally as much as this entry

Haddas:

• + Driving beat
• + Neat post-processing/effects
• + Effective use of pause before the bass line comes in
• - Awfully short
• - Rather repetitive

Nihilyst:

• + Wonderful, nebulous tonality
• + Nice instrumentation
• + Great mood
• - Could have some more variation

Wretched:

• + Lovely, lyrical music with nice phrasing
• + You didn't shy away from the theme at all, but used it effectively; I liked the constant play between the C and C# at the top of the piano line
• + Good instrumentation
• - Seems like it should be longer
• - Some chord sequences seemed rather forced and/or awkward -- e.g. D major followed by a Bm chord with a C in it, resulting in a slight "lurch" in the lyrical music

Warmer:

• + A real song!  You clearly put a lot of work into this.
• + Great mixing and post-production (of course, I'm impressed by anyone's mixing and post-production because I'm pathetic at it)
• + Nice use of the theme -- again, you didn't shy away from it at all, but used it effectively
• + Nice buildup and decay
• - The string sample you are using has too much dynamic "swell" in it
• - Some chords in the introductory string section are awkward or incomplete
• - The ending doesn't seem to fit the rest of the piece (to me)

Something13:

• + Nice instrumentation and samples
• + Satisfying ending
• - Seems rather bare; in particular, the more complex harmony of the middle section cannot be adequately carried by only two instruments playing mostly long notes
• - The required theme seems rather "forced" into the middle section, resulting in some harmonies that do not fit the outer sections

And the winners are:

For his lyrical entry, Wretched gets the bronze.
For his dark entry, Nihilyst gets the silver.
For his song, Warmer gets the gold.

(Please forgive my woeful attempt at pixel art.)

Congratulations, Warmer!  Please start a new contest in this forum at your earliest convenience.