Alright, here we go again.

mr8bit: I stand by what I said! All I have to add is that I like your bass line. I don't like when bass just sits there underneath all the other voices. I'm glad you changed it up a bit. Very nice!

Charlie Carlo I still stand by what I said about Infrasound, because I'd heard it before so I could pick up those little details easier. Alright, now that I'm able to hear bass, I like Dead Frequency a little better. I still wish it wasn't so steady, but now I can tell that it's kind of your main voice, so that's better. I'm kind of convinced that it's just lacking a melodic line, though.

Juju

Music for the Tip of your Tongue

Daaaamn. I like this SO much better now that I can hear your powerful bass and heavy percussion. Ohhh man, this is a cool piece. You chose all the right voices, and a great rhythm. I'm still agreeing with past Bree, this definitely doesn't fit the mystery theme. But I love it so much. Definitely my favorite piece so far. I love that it builds so steadily, but once you get to the middle of the piece, it's just loud and awesome the way it needs to be. YES.

Music for Fossils

This one fits the theme best, but I'll stand by all the things I said about it. Very good to hear string bass. It sounds good!

Music for a Crime of Passion

Ooh, I hadn't heard this one yet. Starting out pretty mysterious, with the jungle-like theme and the low, ominous strings. I can definitely imagine being lost in some kind of old abandoned temple in the middle of the jungle with this playing in the background. Fuck, I don't even know what that creepy string instrument is plucking away with those bells in the background. This is pretty cool. Flute! Yess. I was wondering when I'd hear a real melodic voice come in. Whoa. It started out pretty, simple, and happy, and suddenly there's an off note and the low voices come back into the picture. Very nicely done. That's the moment the hero sees whatever the booby-trapped treasure is. Aw, I thought it'd escalate from there. We just kind of went back to square one. Wow! Very nicely done. I really wish it had gone somewhere melodically, but this would be a great background for a movie or a game or anything like that. Really captures your imagination.

Music for an Abduction

Interesting. I think this is the first of your pieces to start so abruptly. This feels kind of Western, almost. Oooh yeah, I heard that whistle. This is a Western mystery theme right here. I wish you had picked a different percussion instrument. This piece would just sound great with a harder bass drum, or a snare. It'd just bring it right out. I love that there's synth stuff still going on. I love your choice of synth for all the pieces I've heard by you so far. Hm. You know, for once, I'm kind of wishing for less of this repetitive beat, or at least some kind of volume change. It gets pretty stagnant after a while. Overall, another good one. I just wish you'd go somewhere with these great intros!

You were with me all along, weren't you

Oooh, mysterious name. Alright, I'll listen now. Hm, that croaking brassy noise is interesting. Oooh, all of these voices are interesting. I was pretty interested in this ringing voice, but now it's been a full minute and nothing major has happened. It's just the ringing voice. These are great backgrounds, but you're just lacking that melody. The melodic line is the most important part of any piece. It's the tune that people whistle as they walk down the street. Sure, they like the harmonies and the background noises, but I need something to hold on to! I'm an American! I have a short attention span! Give me a musical line that'll move me. Ooh, that robotic sound at the 3 minute mark was cool. Great choice of synth. I love the way it fits together, and your choice of voice is very good.

JuurianChi

Mystery Music Challenge2

Very slow and chill, but keeps my attention. Nice intro. Ooh, voices! Nice. That always adds a hint of imagination, and gives it a bit of a story. Awesome. I like your percussion, but it feels very stop-and-go. There's nothing carrying over, it's just a stuttering little background beat. I'd love for there to be a nice easy splash cymbal somewhere in there. Great bass line. Whoa, robot noises! Hm, that was sudden. Pretty cool. Hey, more voices! Nice way to end it. Overall, cool piece. I liked it a lot. I can definitely hear the elements of mystery in there, I'm guessing from that nice middle voice piano. Cool cool cool.

well i did randomly throw it together at the last minute, so that's more or less the reaction i was expecting. yeah i knew there was something wrong with the piano but i never bothered to pick out the key or whatever. so that would be my fault. thanks for pointing that out. and yeah the vocal sample clashes with the feel of the rest of the song honestly. i just threw it in for the mystery factor, otherwise i might not have used it.

since i have no good speakers and can't even listen to things loud, i'm probably gonna give up on mixing/finishing music for a while now. it's physically beyond me at this point.

@Stevenup: No, it's not too harsh. I am trying to move out of my comfort zone. I'm writing a piece with 3/3 timing (Hard as heck in a tracker), and also experimenting with other trackers/sequencers, and by extension, sound-fonts and VST packages.

But I'll be honest: I didn't really try as hard as I should've with this piece. I really couldn't put a finger on Mystery. Kinda drew a blank.

Thanks for the critique.

Playability was an issue. I don't know anyone here who actually plays piano, so I had my friend who's had 1 semester of piano class play it. Had to make it simple, and with as simple as it is, there are still plenty of mistakes. Time was an issue too, and I didn't feel too motivated to make it something complex.

It has a title you know :( (It is "With this Alien aside Me")

Also, the dashes make it unclickable ;_;

Wow! Thanks for the feedback, guys. Steven, I totally agree with the sparse and repetative nature of the track. Glock and I had a tough time getting together. We spent most of that time composing and were left with very little time to actually record and mix. And yeah, I have a hard time replicating the swing of my live drum tracks with a drum sequence. This is one of by biggest frustrations when it comes to recording. I try to compensate by adding layers of percussion that (hopefully) give my drum tracks a unique sound.

That rattling insrument? It's called a jawbone. And I fucking love it. You can hear it all over my tracks.

Alright, let's keep going before I pass out.

Mystery Music Challenge 3

Dude, that is a sweet percussion beat. The only thing bothering me is that echo…it seems to be louder on one ear than another, and out of tempo. Then again, I just got out of bagpipe practice, so my right ear may just be slightly deaf. That synth noise at 0:36 is pretty neat. Doesn't sound too mysterious, but the background voices that come in at 0:56 make up for that.

Heh, there's a slight echo in your beat starting at 1:13, and the way it's echoing reminds me of the Mine Shaft theme from Donkey Kong Country 2. Forgot the name of it. Alright, I've just hit the 2 minute mark, and I'm kind of wishing for some new voices, or for a distinct change. Ooh, 2:30. You gave me a change. Very nice! You may have dragged the first section on just a little bit, but at least there WAS a change. This definitely sounds pretty mysterious.

At 3:15, I don't really like what your lead voice is doing at this point. The percussion and other background synths sounded pretty cool, but the lead voice just sounds like it's run out of ideas and is trying to do whatever it can to stay afloat. Anyway, other than that, this is a solid piece. The choice of voices wasn't quite my taste, but I can say that they worked together well. Nice job!

Taizen Chisou

Mysterious Mysteries of Mystery

Whoa! I like that the bass and percussion jump in at the same time. Very cool. I think you're the only one to have done that so far. Hm…I really don't like the voice you picked. I'm not even sure what it is. It feels like it's out of tune, or maybe the sound is just flat.

Hey cool! At 0:42, you add in some string instruments. I like them. There's some kind of crackly static noise going on and I'm really not liking that. Oh! You fixed it. Dude, this clear sound is so much better. I wish you'd STARTED with that sweet bass and clear sound.

Overall, it was kind of short, and the crackly noise and flat synth didn't really grab my attention. But, it was put together pretty well! I didn't get bored of it. You have accomplished that. Nice work!

Another!

You really like starting with a bang, eh? Awesome. I love the complex background. I just kind of wish you'd lay off the cymbal in the percussion section–you're hitting it probably 4 times a second. I'm a drummer, so I'm getting tired just listening to that madness. You could probably get away with using cymbal only once or twice a second. Digging that low jet-turbine synth noise.

I love that it changes so dramatically at 0:16. Hooooooly Jesus the lead synth noise (I think it's a keyboard?) at 0:26 is WAY overpowering everything else. I can't hear any of the pretty background synth. Man! I couldn't hear the change in the percussion beat underneath the crazy loud synth.

I like that you stuck with the same pattern, but I kind of wish you'd change something./i] in one of the sections–add a different voice, or a different beat, or change one of the two. That'd be cool. I also hope you'll fix the volume on that crazy loud synth. I'd love to hear what else is going on behind it.

Overall, nicely done. You picked some cool voices this time around, and I appreciate your enthusiasm in the percussion section (although your poor imaginary synth drummer's wrists are going to fall off! :P )

Iasper:

WIP Mystery

Oooh, strings! And some kind of woodwind! Sounds like a bass clarinet or a bari sax. Very nice! Wow! This is clearly a mystery piece, and I really love it. I can imagine walking through a big Victorian mansion or tomb. Oh man, I missed classical instruments. No offense to anyone here, I just really love the way this sounds.

Alright, I'll quit geeking out and tell you what I think of it. I love the bell you added at 0:20, and that the voice at 0:30 is also accompanied by light bells. Oh man, that timpani roll at 0:41 is an attention-grabber for sure! I'm really nitpicking here, but there's a brass voice at 0:48 that seems to be overpowering the other voices by quite a bit. I'm not sure what it is, maybe a trombone or a french horn.

It feels like you're just trying to throw as many voices in here as you can. You only spend about 10 seconds on each section. This piece would be substantially longer (and quite a bit more enjoyable on my part) if you'd slow down and actually take a moment to play with the instruments before finally moving on.

With that said, shit. 0:54 is awesome. Clarinet/saxophone with those brassy punches. I wish that section in particular had lasted just a little bit longer. For a moment, I thought you'd gone in a circle, but man! This is cool. The strings add so much. 1:52! Aaah! So cool! My only complaint is that I feel that either you tried to put in an upbeat in there, or an instrument is just off.

Oooh! You've probably tied with Juju's Music for the Tip of Your Tongue as far as my favorite piece goes.

Lol.

I expended all of my composition abilities on Lunacy Star 2. I haven't written anything listenable in probably about five months now, so I'm sincerely apologizing if my rustiness assaulted your ears too badly.