Another Music Challenge

Posted by pounce4evur on Dec. 27, 2012, 4:38 a.m.

Hey guys. I just wanted to throw this out there, and see who's interested in, or has time for a music composition competition. Of course, this one would (hopefully) be a lot more organized than the last one, and I'll actually have time to sit down and judge this one, because I don't need to do Wintermester, seeing as I passed all my classes.

GIMME SOME IDEAS.

Participating

-JuurianChi

-Juju

-Mega

-MMORPGguy

-Charlie Carlo

-Kamira

-Iasper

-Taizen Chisou

-Colseed

-hel

-MahFreenAmeh

-aeron

-sirxemic

-eagly

-mr8bit

-Gordy

-Nehemek

-The Avatrol

-Rez

-anthonyloprimo

Judging

-pounce4evur

-Stevenup7002

(don't anger the gods–these are PIECES.)

Deadlines

-January 5th (Start Date)

-January 22nd (Deadline)

Time Cap

Don't intentionally try to kill us with a 20-minute piece. If your piece runs a little long, that's fine, but please be aware of the fact that we've got to sit through and analyze every bit of your composition.

Theme

The theme is now Mystery!

**Decided to change this to a challenge, because coming up with a ranking system for music is really difficult and could prove to be unfair. Each piece will receive individual feedback, but will not be ranked or compared.

**********************************

EDIT:

Here's a list of the entries that have been posted thus far. I am posting ALL of the links that you guys have given us. If you want to scrap a piece, update/edit it, or don't want it to be critiqued, let me know.

mr8bit

Who Did Iddit?

Charlie Carlo

Infrasound

Dead Frequency

Juju

Music for the Tip of your Tongue

Music for Fossils

Music for a Crime of Passion

Music for an Abduction

You were with me all along, weren't you.

JuurianChi

Mystery Music Challenge 2

Mystery Music Challenge 3

Taizen Chisou

Mysterious Mysteries of Mystery

Another!

Iasper

WIP Mystery

Steven's Going to Kill Me

Mega

Tower of Illusion

The Avatrol

MZX-Troventh Angle Stop 64C

hel

Luxury

Nehemek

9 Seconds of Inspiration

Kamira

sirxemic

http://sirxemic.com/stuff/wtaam.mp3

Comments

pounce4evur 11 years, 11 months ago

The time is now 12:56, and I dun goofed. I left my headphones at home, so I can't listen right now.

You boogers bought yourself some extra time. :P Anyway! Today's deadline day so really judging shouldn't start until tomorrow…Yeah no, I messed up. Plus I'm on ~1 hour of sleep, so my feedback wouldn't be very good anyway…

Charlie Carlo 11 years, 11 months ago
Kamira 11 years, 11 months ago

Here's my composition:

I know it's hardly mysterious, but I don't like restrictions/guidelines :P Also sorry for the bad quality but I worked with what I had, and I kind of had only an hour to record stuff so that's why parts of it aren't perfect. That's my friend playing piano, in the future I'll record the piano on a different track so I can balance the audio because I am wayyyy louder than it. Eventually I'll make a better quality version, but that'll be a while from now. If you want to look at the score, message me.

Rez 11 years, 11 months ago

i think it sounds mysterious in a pulp magazine detective kind of way.

Juju 11 years, 11 months ago
Toast 11 years, 11 months ago

Dammit I like all of your musics

Juju 11 years, 11 months ago

Does Mr. Toast want to be a judge too?

Toast 11 years, 11 months ago

I think I'm the least qualified for that position.

But good job everyone

pounce4evur 11 years, 11 months ago

Anyone's qualified. Steven especially, but technically I have no experience with the methods a lot you guys use to create this music, so I'm not too qualified myself. Besides, we're just giving feedback, and our favorites. Natural responses to music.

Whatever fixed these computers, I don't even want to question it. But I can give everyone's pieces a listen right now. I don't feel like I'm hearing the best quality out of the headphones I brought, so I'll be sure to give all of your pieces another listen tonight and revise my feedback if it needs revising.

pounce4evur 11 years, 11 months ago

Here we go.

mr8bit: Who Did Iddit?

Ha, that wavy synth noise really gives it an over-the-top mystery feel. I'm definitely liking your choice of range for piano! Low and jazzy. This music feels faintly like it belongs in an old spy movie. Only complaint is that the two piano notes that are repeated over and over, are right next to each other and they're clashing a little, but I think you meant to do that. It throws off this easy jazz feel a little bit. I like the feel of it, and I definitely like the pattern–maybe you could give the two a little more space, or take off the reverb. Ooh, 3:05 is definitely my favorite section of this piece so far. Whatever string instrument you added in the background for a while was pretty cool. I feel like it went away too quickly, but that's alright. Ha, nice touch with those background percussion instruments. The rattling noise is my favorite. This piece was done in good taste. It's got a great feel. Great job!

Charlie Carlo: Infrasound

Oh right, I had given this one a listen a couple days ago. Man, I LOVE that intro. I love that there isn't a distinct rhythm–the two lines don't always come in at the same time. That's a great touch. This piece would have been so boring, had you lined them up. Grr, I wish my headphones were louder. The percussion beat is great, by the way. You introduce it perfectly, adding the bass first, then the snare later. The piano fits in very well, only adding chords, not changing the feel. Whoa, right between 1:05 and 1:06 there's a small in-between synth that pokes out by not fitting the chord. Not sure if that was on purpose, but it got my attention. Damn, those high piano notes! That's awesome. I love that this feels so much like a rock beat, with a classier version of a guitar solo going on. My only complaint is that is seems that your piano has only one sound, with the harsh front (like the pianist was slamming each key as hard as he could). It sounds great everywhere else, but inside the solo, it doesn't feel natural. You can hear the front in each note, and it almost sounds like a new percussion beat for a moment at 2:11–there's a distinct stutter in there somewhere. From 2:26 to 2:30, too. I think you just need a different voice for that part. Other than that man, that's a great piece. Ooh, the ending! I love that the reverb lasts so long on that last note. Good job!

Dead Frequency

Beginning faintly reminds me of Morse Code, making me think of some kind of lost spy or soldier or something. I think you put in a crescendo somewhere in here…these headphones are crap. I'll go back and listen to this one again and see. So far, it doesn't feel quite as smooth as your other piece. The stutter effect is cool, but it's a bit exaggerated–I don't have any particular melody to hold on to, other than maybe the bass line, which is really too simple to keep my attention for very long. If you gave this piece an interesting bass line, then we'd be in business. Aw man, you got my hopes up with that high synth. I thought it'd hold a place as the melody for a while, but it just kind of echoed in the background. Hm, and a quick ending. I dunno, man. I definitely liked Infrasound a lot more than this one, but I'm just being harsh. It's got some promise.

Juju: Music for the Tip of Your Tongue

So far, the intro is very mysterious. Reminds me faintly of clockwork, until that chugging rhythm starts up at 0:27. This sounds faintly more action-y than mysterious, but I'm not complaining. Ooh, very smooth introduction of that steady keyboard sound at 1:26. Very nice exit, too. I'm definitely enjoying the cool-down section, too–all the low synth noises together with that steady beat in the background sound very good together. I'm at 2:51 now, kind of wishing for a big point, but it seems like it's just kind of repeating that same pattern of notes with a small twist to it. I'm not one for fade outs but this one worked fairly well! Fading the lower notes before your melody was a good choice. Overall, wishing for that (don't snicker) big climax point in the music. I can't call it monotonous though, because you did change things up. Very nice!

edit: aw, Steven. Way to make me feel like a jerk for going through them so quickly. :P take your time! You'll probably be able to give them much more in-depth feedback about their actual composition than I will. I'm just nitpicking and voicing my opinions the way any average listener would.