by

Matej Blue Zone
(Blue Zone)

When I listened to this song the second time, I really respect the mind behind. Most of the songs that I have listened to did not have the qualities this one did. Like a half-way decent chord progression, a key change, there was not a terrible about of repetition, it had a good number of musical ideas, and overall, fairly good. The MAIN reason this song didn't sound as good as it could have, is that most of the instumens were playing at a very high register, or in other words... I didn't hear any bass. The part that was in tracks 1 and 2, was at the same pitch range as the melody, as was most of the parts in the song, and that same part was rather loud. One thing you might want to do in your next song, is fill up all the ranges (Bass, Mid, treble), so your song sounds full and professional, instead of... well... like one of those toys kids play with. That is really my only complaint, except that the "screaming" sample should not have been used. I will tell you one thing... you have more musicical knowledge that a lot of people in this competition. If you enjoy composing music, what ever you do DON'T STOP! I am a tracker too and I know you have some real potencial.

Catchy intro, some sort of fungle drumline. Sounds like chiptune but far better for a chiptune-non-lover. Awesome panning and fx. Ethereal, easy feel. Proper bassline. Enchanting theme. Mood breaks detected :) Veteran technique, but sounds too, ehm, loud for me. Little repetitive. Outro is ok. Good samples. Overally - nice idea and realisation.

I'm going to assume you're talking about the sugary carbonated kind of pop... :-) Manages to sound unapologetically synthetic, has interesting well-executed leads, good catchy harmonies, class tracking all around, and a huge helping of classical (Amiga, not Bach) style. And I keep liking it more each time I listen to it (and I can't stop listening to it)! Good key changes used at opportune times. Cute arpeggios at orders 9 and 10 that add to the chip feel of the song, and elaborate percussion keeping it from going too far in that direction. Idea-filled sketches off the end of the song, hidden in the order list like diamonds in the rough, were a most unusual but welcome peek into the mind of the musician (but I can't fairly give you points for that). The song managed to stay well under 32 virtual channels in use for the most part (maxing out at 36). I don't think I need to actually _say_ that this is very professional-sounding -- the music says it well enough. The only two things I take issue with in this song are the shrill space whistle (instr. 11), which _needs_ to be 16 bits, and the ending wasn't clearly an ending -- my ears wanted a change at that point and were quite excited and hopeful to hear more just as you pulled the song away from us with that (admittedly well-placed) whistle. Even with these minor faults, this is one of two of the first batch of entries that really knocked my socks off with its attention to detail -- subtle panbrello on the sawtooth lead starting at order 2, the intricate filtered bass line, the hi-hat rolls in the first few orders that seamlessly turn into snare rolls... this entry gets a "wow". This entry is an excellent example of how to fight the end of the scene (Andy, if this is you, you gotta quit blatantly hinting at your entry in the forewords to the contest :-) ). Rock on, soldier.

This is a very enjoyable, very cheesy piece of music. It has a nice structure and good progression, with a good melody, and it moves about very nicely. It is very simple indeed musically, but it doesn't need to be complex. It deserves quite a good form mark. Technically it's generally good, although it uses some arpeggios which don't work well at all. It sounds nice though, and it's been arranged well. Mixing is generally OK. The samples are not great - many of them sound like chipsamples, and the drum sounds are quite horrible. It would have benefited from sounds from a good analogue synth. Some of the more chippish sounds are a bit harsh - they need filtering and rounding off. I enjoyed this song. It's not that original, it's not got a huge depth of musical skill, it sounds very cheap and computerised in places - like it was being played through a little casio keyboard - but it has a good melody and arrangement, and moves about nicely. It's cute, it's catchy. Nice one.

Interesting idea. I don't particularly like the chords you use but at least you have a melody that follows them and is a little bit catchy. Second idea sounds better. Again, nice melody. The problem in general with your chord progressions seems to be that you repeat them in a very grouped fashion. They are quite Baroque sounding but in Baroque the chords don't usually appear to repeat (even if they do). Try using different inversions of chords the next time they come around. Perhaps you could have gradually raised the pitch of notes at each chord change building to a crescendo near the end of a long sequence. Also try not to end a chord progression on the chord you started it with. This tends to sound very cheesy (you do this in progression 33-36 and at the end of the song to quote two examples). Overal a nice idea but the chords need work. Samples are good. Very choral sounding at times. Different... Melody is cool but limited by medicore chord choices. Still a cool song.

there is just too much going on in the high end of this song. the various instruments all seem to be going too fast that when mixed together you get a chaotic cacophony of leads. your bass does fit in well though, so maybe what you need is some nice mids, and try mixing up things more, like giving the high leads a break to solo another piece.

Kind of like a giant chiptune on steroids, this tune really pushed my buttons! Beautiful melodies and harmonies, varied and interesting structure, I loved it!

HOLY CRUDMAXDELUXE! This track RUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! At first I thought, hey, nice intro, then it just got better and better... and each time I listen to it, it just gets better and better and... ARGH! I'm shitting my pants here, this track is *so* beautiful =) I just don't know where to begin. It reminds me of sooo many things, obviously of lots of c64 music (I'm a sucker for the c64 sound), especially from c64 games, in fact the intro reminded me a little bit of the title music in Head Over Heals, but... it's so much more than just that. A real nice feelgood upbeat track, it makes me feels so good just listening to it... maybe I should complain that it doesn't have enough bass to fully satisfy my perverted needs, but I won't. And I just *love* those bonus patterns which ain't played if you don't look at the pos.table, more fun+joy :) Look, I've been listening to this for over 1 hour now and I can't stop it. This is just too good to be true, now I can die a happy man knowing there was a good mc6 tune after all :] If you are a female I'd propose to you *grin*