# Spitfire Audio x DC - Scoring Competition



## Angora

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/stargirl

Create your own score to an exclusive clip for a chance to win every Spitfire Audio library, a signed score manuscript and a mentoring session with top composer, Pinar Toprak!

Spitfire Audio is delighted to have teamed up with A-list composer Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel, Fortnite, DC’s Krypton), Mad Ghost Productions and DC Entertainment on a brand new competition. Having secured an exclusive clip from season one of the DC Universe series Stargirl, we’re offering you the opportunity to reimagine it with your own original score, work with top of the line visual material (+ dialogue & FX) and win some amazing prizes!

• The deadline to enter the competition is 23:59 BST on the 12th August 2021

• The winner and four runners-up will be announced on the 23rd September 2021

PRIZES
The winner of the competition will receive:
Spitfire Audio Everything Collection - every Spitfire Audio library on two external SSDs, worth over $20,000 if bought separately
A virtual mentoring session with series composer, Pinar Toprak
A manuscript of the Stargirl Theme, signed by Pinar Toprak


The four runners-up will receive:

Spitfire Audio Albion Collection
A manuscript of the Stargirl Theme, signed by Pinar Toprak


Good composition for everyone !


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## sidis

over/under on the submissions featuring 8 bit chiptune tracks forced in somewhere?

opening line at 80%...


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## Alex Fraser

Wow. I really didn’t think they’d go for this again after the grief of last time. Fair play to them. Can’t wait to hear the entries. Might even have a crack myself.


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## Leslie Fuller

Also, see @Spitfire Team own thread here: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/stargirl-scoring-competition.112070/


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## Aldunate

Spitfire has gone so much for the film composers that anything FFFFF brass should win.


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## reutunes

I've already won...


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## Jordan D Smith

In before the wave of "chiptune" jokes...


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## Soundbed

reutunes said:


> I've already won...



Brilliant. My two 6 year olds ran over to watch with me. We’ve now seen it three times.


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## reutunes

Soundbed said:


> Brilliant. My two 6 year olds ran over to watch with me. We’ve now seen it three times.


Amazing!!!


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## Zedcars

I know exactly which library will be perfect for this… 









Super Audio Cart Complete - Retro Game Samples (VST, AU, AAX)


The most complete virtual instrument for retro video game samples ever, with over 2,500 classic & modern sounds, 7 game consoles and 8 home computers!




impactsoundworks.com


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## Zedcars

reutunes said:


> I've already won...



Oh great, now everything I try to write sounds like this.


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## Angora

reutunes said:


> I've already won...



Give this men the full Spitfire Collection Please !


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## reutunes

Angora said:


> Give this men the full Spitfire Collection Please !


Oh, go on then. Yes please.


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## Toecutter

Other than the expected 8bit jokes on the Spitfire page, there are some very unpleasant individuals questioning the legitimacy of the competition. Just have some sportsmanship for goodness sake. No surprise those guys have no career at all


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## Pappaus

reutunes said:


> Amazing!!!


Retunes. You have just made my weekend!!! And cleverly thinned out the competition for your actual submission as it will take me (and many others to be sure) three weeks to get that song out of my head whenever I watch the clip! Well played sir


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## pranic

My motivation will be to submit a score that I worked diligently on, and regardless of the outcome of the contest, I will (like last year) be proud of the effort I put forth. That said, any opportunity to improve my skills or try new things is greatly appreciated! 

I have to admit, the Power Rangers theme was brilliant! Good luck to everyone taking part in the competition. Have fun!


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## SteveC

Is this a film by Ingmar Bergman? What a work of art.


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## chrisr

I really hope Fightin' Mooses enters again. When I saw that SF were running another comp I immediately just sang "Magic Bike will saaaave youuuuu". That says it all really.


edit - oh, hang on.... is that the entire clip above? If so then I guess they've gone for something much more 'straight' this year. Perhaps as a result of someone pointing out the naked emperor last time.


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## LOU

It's probably only me and I don't mean to disrespect the show, but I feel like the real difficulty with this clip is to manage to deliver proper tension and drama while the cgi and the girl look goofy and comical. 
It's challenging to bring this clashing elements together.


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## Zedcars

LOU said:


> It's probably only me and I don't mean to disrespect the show, but I feel like the real difficulty with this clip is to manage to deliver proper tension and drama while the cgi and the girl look goofy and comical.
> It's challenging to bring this clashing elements together.


Quite often music in comedy films is composed as if the film/cue is serious and the comedy will just come naturally anyway from the dialogue or situation. Ghostbusters comes to mind. Many others I'm sure.


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## reutunes

Pappaus said:


> Retunes. You have just made my weekend!!! And cleverly thinned out the competition for your actual submission as it will take me (and many others to be sure) three weeks to get that song out of my head whenever I watch the clip! Well played sir


To clarify... I'm not entering. Maybe.


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## tristancappel

New to this community! Can someone explain to me the controversy with this contest, and all the chiptune references? Thank you!


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## Zedcars

tristancappel said:


> New to this community! Can someone explain to me the controversy with this contest, and all the chiptune references? Thank you!


The winner of the previous big Spitfire score-to-picture contest used a genre change into chiptune which a bunch of people seemed to dislike for various reasons. And some of them were not shy in stating this in a quite rude manner. Others were not rude but just very vocal. However, many more were supportive and believed he had done a fantastic job (which he had!)


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## Levon

tristancappel said:


> New to this community! Can someone explain to me the controversy with this contest, and all the chiptune references? Thank you!


I personally loved the winning track last year.

This will give you a good overview:


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## el-bo

LOU said:


> [...]I feel like the real difficulty with this clip is to manage to deliver proper tension and drama while the cgi and the girl look goofy and comical.
> It's challenging to bring this clashing elements together.


Like last time, y'mean? I'm sure i remember people saying they found it difficult due to the mismatch between the idea of a car chase, and the apparent slow-speed of the cars.

Like others, I'm surprised but glad they did it again. Don't let the bullies win


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## ism

tristancappel said:


> New to this community! Can someone explain to me the controversy with this contest, and all the chiptune references? Thank you!


It was more than rudeness. It an abusive, internet lynch mob, complete with grievance driven conspiracy theories, attacking and insulting the integrity of not only David, but Spitfire, JJ Abrams, Hans Zimmer. I accept that some people simply innocently believed what they read in the YouTube comments and get swept along with the mob. But there was a really malignant, entitled, grievance driven dynamic lurking beneath that was channeled into some entirely out of line abusiveness.

But yes, it was also quite rude.


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## ZosterX

I'm in, very interesting  Only "legal" samples allowed right ?


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## Peter Satera

LOU said:


> It's probably only me and I don't mean to disrespect the show, but I feel like the real difficulty with this clip is to manage to deliver proper tension and drama while the cgi and the girl look goofy and comical.
> It's challenging to bring this clashing elements together.


You're not scoring the quality of the TV budget CG. The turnaround time is insane for these shows. It's evident from the visual design, content and writing who it's targeted to, these are factors you can latch onto. 

What I find interesting is what has been said over on the spitfire FAQ for this. Last time, people were stating no views had been made on their videos, SA have listened and now have stated,

"Once your entry has been viewed on YouTube a comment will be left by our team."


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## Zedcars

ism said:


> It was more than rudeness. It an abusive, internet lynch mob, complete with grievance driven conspiracy theories, attacking and insulting the integrity of not only David, but Spitfire, JJ Abrams, Hans Zimmer. I accept that some people simply innocently believed what they read in the YouTube comments and get swept along with the mob. But there was a really malignant, entitled, grievance driven dynamic lurking beneath that was channeled into some entirely out of line abusiveness.
> 
> But yes, it was also quite rude.


Yeah, I guess I understated the negativity. Apologies.


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## ism

Zedcars said:


> Yeah, I guess I understated the negativity. Apologies.


I do appreciate your politeness though


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## AceAudioHQ

Good timing, Impact Soundworks Super Audio Cart is on -20% sale! :>


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## blaggins

It's blowing my mind how many entries there are already. I hadn't even had the chance to open the video in my DAW yet, but within like 24 hours there were completed scores (and some of them were actually quite good!) Never has there been a clearer sign that I am way out of my league!


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## Zedcars

tpoots said:


> It's blowing my mind how many entries there are already. I hadn't even had the chance to open the video in my DAW yet, but within like 24 hours there were completed scores (and some of them were actually quite good!) Never has there been a clearer sign that I am way out of my league!


I think you’re looking at it from the wrong angle. Think of it as a learning experience to improve your skills.


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## blaggins

Zedcars said:


> I think you’re looking at it from the wrong angle. Think of it as a learning experience to improve your skills.


Oh don't get me wrong, that's 100% how I'm looking at it. (And thankfully there are lots of possibilities to practice scoring to high quality cuts of interesting bits of cinema these days, so lots of opportunity to practice lots of different genres). I've done a few other contests recently, this one just surprised me with the turnaround and quality of the early submissions. Mind blowing.


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## J-M

tpoots said:


> Oh don't get me wrong, that's 100% how I'm looking at it. (And thankfully there are lots of possibilities to practice scoring to high quality cuts of interesting bits of cinema these days, so lots of opportunity to practice lots of different genres). I've done a few other contests recently, this one just surprised me with the turnaround and quality of the early submissions. Mind blowing.


Sometimes these contests just pop up at the worst possible time and you still want to take part, hence the fast submissions. Has happened to me a few times and it can be annoying, but it's also a nice way to test how fast you can actually write a decent cue...especially considering that in the real world (especially in TV) deadlines can be brutal.


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## shadowsoflight

Well I've taken my crack at this. Basically all of the friends and family I showed this to mistook it for a professional score until I told them it was mine... That's a win in my books! Really cool to be able to try this out.


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## ALittleNightMusic

Peter Satera said:


> The turnaround time is insane for these shows.


In the latest video, Pinar mentioned she scored this scene in less than a day. 😳 And her mock-up is pretty fully orchestrated and of course sounds fantastic.

Trevor Morris has said many times 6-10 minutes of music PER DAY for a TV composer is normal.


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## Jotto

ALittleNightMusic said:


> In the latest video, Pinar mentioned she scored this scene in less than a day. 😳 And her mock-up is pretty fully orchestrated and of course sounds fantastic.
> 
> Trevor Morris has said many times 6-10 minutes of music PER DAY for a TV composer is normal.


But i guess it took her some time to crack the code for the series.


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## LOU

ALittleNightMusic said:


> Trevor Morris has said many times 6-10 minutes of music PER DAY for a TV composer is normal.


At some point in a production or even in a career you have so much material to recycle and custom hacks for shortcuts that it's probably not that much of a deal. (I don't say it's a walk in the park neither, just it's no longer a run in hell )


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## Baronvonheadless

ALittleNightMusic said:


> In the latest video, Pinar mentioned she scored this scene in less than a day. 😳 And her mock-up is pretty fully orchestrated and of course sounds fantastic.
> 
> Trevor Morris has said many times 6-10 minutes of music PER DAY for a TV composer is normal.


In turn, I did mine in about 5 hours as well. Trying not to get too caught up in over thinking and trusting my gut/challenging myself to work as the pros do on a tight deadline!


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## philh27

ALittleNightMusic said:


> In the latest video, Pinar mentioned she scored this scene in less than a day. 😳 And her mock-up is pretty fully orchestrated and of course sounds fantastic.
> 
> Trevor Morris has said many times 6-10 minutes of music PER DAY for a TV composer is normal.


Well it took me about 10 days. Maybe I need to up my game….😳


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## pranic

philh27 said:


> Well it took me about 10 days. Maybe I need to up my game….😳


I think we probably all feel the same way! In other news, has anyone else heard the kids yodeling when the bus gets put down on the bridge? It's definitely there (or I might be going crazy from having listened to that part too many times!)


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## philh27

pranic said:


> I think we probably all feel the same way! In other news, has anyone else heard the kids yodeling when the bus gets put down on the bridge? It's definitely there (or I might be going crazy from having listened to that part too many times!)


Ha! I hadn’t but now I can’t unhear it!


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## juliandoe

Baronvonheadless said:


> In turn, I did mine in about 5 hours as well. Trying not to get too caught up in over thinking and trusting my gut/challenging myself to work as the pros do on a tight deadline!


exactly my thought.


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## Zedcars

Can I ask for some help? It says I’m not allowed to alter or process the dialogue and FX. But how can I mix in my music if I can’t at least have a mild limiter on the output? If I don’t then it causes the signal to go into the red. I don’t see how I can do it without the limiter.


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## philh27

Zedcars said:


> Can I ask for some help? It says I’m not allowed to alter or process the dialogue and FX. But how can I mix in my music if I can’t at least have a mild limiter on the output? If I don’t then it causes the signal to go into the red. I don’t see how I can do it without the limiter.


I’ve put a mild limiter on mine for exactly the reasons you suggest. I’m sure the intention of that clause is to avoid anyone adding additional sound FX (or eliminating existing ones), or actively altering the volume of the audio to fit with your submission, rather than mixing your submission to fit with the existing audio. Obviously I’m not a judge or work for Spitfire, but I really wouldn’t worry about it if is simply to keep the entire output- soundtrack and music- in check. Good luck!


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## Zedcars

philh27 said:


> I’ve put a mild limiter on mine for exactly the reasons you suggest. I’m sure the intention of that clause is to avoid anyone adding additional sound FX (or eliminating existing ones), or actively altering the volume of the audio to fit with your submission, rather than mixing your submission to fit with the existing audio. Obviously I’m not a judge or work for Spitfire, but I really wouldn’t worry about it if is simply to keep the entire output- soundtrack and music- in check. Good luck!


Ok, thanks. Good luck to you too. I still have a bit of work left before mine is half-decent.


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## mscp

Zedcars said:


> Can I ask for some help? It says I’m not allowed to alter or process the dialogue and FX. But how can I mix in my music if I can’t at least have a mild limiter on the output? If I don’t then it causes the signal to go into the red. I don’t see how I can do it without the limiter.


gain riding and submixes.


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## iwritemusic

Okay, starting right now.


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## Pooley

We did it! Congrats to everyone that attempted/completed their scores and uploaded! takes a lot of courage to submit something!
I know I am self conscious about mine ahaha

Best of luck to everyone!


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## davetbass

Is the video still available, I missed hearing about this but would like to practice anyways, thanks!


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## Baronvonheadless

Ok so great, I’ll probably be disqualified then? I saw all these messages too late regarding editing. I turned the sfx down/mixed it with the music and then put a limiter and master plugin on my stereo output for everything.
I thought when it said no editing the sound fx it meant no eq/comp/tweaking the actual sound effects but didn’t associate that with mastering everything.

I guess I should have just mastered the music to the sfx level but this is the first time I’ve done anything like this. I don’t think mine sounds any different than any other entries tho. Oh well.


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## mk-oh-one

ism said:


> It was more than rudeness. It an abusive, internet lynch mob, complete with grievance driven conspiracy theories, attacking and insulting the integrity of not only David, but Spitfire, JJ Abrams, Hans Zimmer. I accept that some people simply innocently believed what they read in the YouTube comments and get swept along with the mob. But there was a really malignant, entitled, grievance driven dynamic lurking beneath that was channeled into some entirely out of line abusiveness.
> 
> But yes, it was also quite rude.


Well yes there was rudeness etc. I did not enter. I also did not agree with the judge's decision and I still don't. I was not in the least surprised at the reaction at all.


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## ism

mk-oh-one said:


> Well yes there was rudeness etc. I did not enter. I also did not agree with the judge's decision and I still don't. I was not in the least surprised at the reaction at all.


Well, I wasn't surprised either.

The important thing to remember is that YouTube is the appropriate place on which inflict dehumanizing abuse of others with impunity, and *not* vi-c. 

The business model of vi-c is completely different.


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## Soundbed

ism said:


> YouTube is the appropriate place on which inflict dehumanizing abuse of others with impunity


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## Jotto

Peter Satera said:


> You're not scoring the quality of the TV budget CG. The turnaround time is insane for these shows. It's evident from the visual design, content and writing who it's targeted to, these are factors you can latch onto.
> 
> What I find interesting is what has been said over on the spitfire FAQ for this. Last time, people were stating no views had been made on their videos, SA have listened and now have stated,
> 
> "Once your entry has been viewed on YouTube a comment will be left by our team."


It does not look like anyone outside Norway listened to my music. I would really like to hear it from Spitfire. Do you really listen to every entry or not? Simple question


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## dcoscina

I got one comment on my submission that was well beyond the border of criticism of the entry itself. The person went off as they knew me and it seemed like a vendetta. Weird. I haven't said a nary negative thing about anyone in over a decade (except that Giacchino thread)... maybe it was him under an alias! LMAO. I deleted the video and all of the posts... didn't seem worth it to have that kind of thing on there. YT does seem to be a receptacle where anonymous keyboard warriors feel awfully brave in vomiting the most acidic bile capable out of a carbon-based lifeform.


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## Taron

Uh, dear goodness, this keeps going here, too?
I never even read through any ranting on YT, but saw a bit of it going on on SA's forum itself; some disgruntled participants, who felt cheated by the whole thing, tssss. I mean, it's merely a kind of interactive marketing campaign and a curious chance and reason to explore making a tiny score with some guidance (or without). I thought it was fun and wasn't expecting anything less than them picking a seasoned pro for the win, since they want their stuff in the right hands, of course.
The poor "kids", who thought they could go in for the win, haha, I mean, one never knows, I suppose. But then to lash out...hmmm... if anything, I'd almost say that it's brave of SA to do such a competition in the first place. We're living in a time when respect becomes a distant and fading memory and attitude a virtue. The best anyone of us can do is try to flip this again, keep our eyes on the real set of prices, which is to make music and loving it and to have a great community to share it with. To punish the trolls out there just somehow leads to nowhere. But every moment we get to show care is a meaningful example and everyone with the right potential will know it's the better choice.
...still don't know what went on there, haha, but well...

I actually did a little score using LABS only (Didn't know BBCSO Discover then), but I think I got like 14 views, or so and only a new friend cared to write a little comment. Would've loved to know what anyone thought about it, but by my assumption it was like: "meh". 

Why exactly am I writing here?  ...oh yes, was looking for some fun challenges and saw this thread here, tssss... hey, it was my first of this kind and totally got me back into orchestral composition, had me find Discover and make new friends and eh.... tons of great things! Thus, it was GREAT!


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