1. Climb Your Mountain
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. Early Day Run
   nukage
3. enjoy the journey
   coloradoweeks

DarkShadow: Nice sounds - things this week were actually quite melodic and had me bouncing a bit in my chair. Good work with the emphasis of the strong beats despite the frantic backing percussion and sounds.

Wassup Thunder: Really nice core loop - the industrial sound here was catchy and gritty and had a good feeling to it. If you work on it more it would be great to see a bit of a change-up in the loop or the drums before the end.

nukage: Really solid - great break and drop, and the melody of the guitar was predictable, yet satisfying. Dynamics in this one were excellent, being able to maintain both that intensity during the verses and really keeping things seriously quiet at the breaks.

DDRKirby: Really great work for this one. Good chords and melodic and there's an interesting contrast that you gave us between the relatively upbeat backing track but the melancholy melody and lead instrument. That contrast gave me that reflective and emotional feeling and made me think a bit more about the song than I might have otherwise.

turbo: The cute synth melody changed the mood of this one fast! I thought that was kind of a nice choice, and giving some hints at the beginning that we might have a "happy" song might help set expectations that we're actually kind of in a celebratory place.

coloradoweeks: Really nice 80s feel with a strong vocal, nice fx, and interesting lyrics! Overall it was a bit quiet, you could probably bring it up a bit but the mix seemed pretty good.

TVG: Nice work on this, there are so many changes and variations throughout and it keeps up interest. I felt that the drum doubling was too intense in too parts that led to some clipping or clipping-like sounds, but other than that I enjoyed this piece because there was a lot of changing up. The quieter parts helped bring out the intensity of the louder and busier sections.

Arcana: My own track I struggled a bit with this week as I couldn't make decisions early on. I wasn't sure what chords I wanted to use and then I didn't have the drum processing I wanted by the time I got to the time limit, so I sang really quick vocals and played random piano on top of it! I think a bit more care to the harmony early on would have helped this one shine a bit more. The piano part, despite being a last-second addition, actually sounded better than I expected.

cryref: This was a nice journey! The drums are a bit dry but the arrangement starting with the quiet melody and then adding in the fast arp and taking elements in the break right before the drop built up a lot of excitement. This feels like a step forward for you in songwriting and I look forward to hearing more from you.

1. Cardiovascular Conniptions
   Wassup Thunder
2. Climb Your Mountain
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
3. Early Day Run
   nukage

There were a lot of great entries!

This time, there were some shorter songs that I really liked, but I wished they were longer. I really liked how upbeat most of the tracks were.

1. Climb Your Mountain
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. enjoy the journey
   coloradoweeks
3. Early Day Run
   nukage

I joined, so onto the voting!

TheVideoGamer - This track is best described as being in 2 halves. It's all the same style, but the melodic ideas are different, as is the approach. The first half is more traditional, and features some keyboard synth sounds, a sub like bass, and a square melody, that is the main lead melody. This is all complimented by a string section, all in Bb Major. The drums are done in 3 layers, with two of them being breaks, one being kick and snare, and then lastly, we have a hi-hat perc loop to finish it off. The middle part is where it gets crazy, as it's a bunch of 9th chords played at fast sucession, whilst also being gross beat to death. This results in a crazy rave stab experience, that contrasts the first part. We then finish as we started, before the final breakdown. It's not my favourite mix, i do have a habit to make things louder than it needs to be, but the overal track idea is really great. Oh well, glad you liked it!

DarkShadow - This is probably the first time where you've just made straight up gabber. No weird rhythmical changes, no dubstep parts, it's all straight up hardcore. I dig it, especially with the distorted laser kicks, that really makes it go hard. The middle bit was quite loud, not gonna lie. We go from kicks and chords, to this massive FM section that eats up a lot of the mix, but it was cool. Interesting idea, good job!

Wassup Thunder - This one has a very strong NIN vibe, i love it. The synth choices are great, and the melodies were very catchy, especially that lead. The drums are also really nice, but personally a little bit one note. I feel like a bit of variation could go a long way into the drums, however it doesn't make it bad, just again one note. The melodies though are great, and i like how throughout the 4 minutes, there is changes to the melody to keep it interesting. Despite my critiques, i feel like giving you this one, well done!

Nukage - This is some solid metal right here, the mix overall is great. I really like how there is some strong EDM sections in this track, it makes it hard to tell where it's gonna go, but whatever style it may be, it always hit's hard. The 2nd drop wasn't as impact as i thought it was gonna be, it felt mildly underwhelming. Still insanely hard hitting though, and still a great mix, it's more in regards to dynamics. Still though, none of this diminishes how good it is, and i will still give you this one, it was enough for the third spot, amazing work!

DDRKirby(ISQ) - That is such a Mac Miller chord progression, i don't know what it is, but i am just reminded of that artist (RIP). The whole track really showcases how you can do so much with only 4 chords. There was a solid anchor of very upbeat techno kicks, combined with that sweet melody, that sort of crested throughout it's runtime, yet i never felt bored or tired. On top of that the mix was really polished, i loved the mild 8-bit elements in the overal melody, and there was dynamics to boot. All in all, nothing else to say, it was just awesome. More than enough for the top spot, incredible work!

Turbo852 - I like how the beat is very much a Techno track, that belongs to a Underground club, but the melody is kind of whimsical and borderline cute, it's such an interesting contrast. The mix is really fire, definately got the sidechain nailed, although i feel it could do with a little bit of variation towards the end, it's gets a tad bit repetitive for my liking. Weirdly the track feels faster than 150bpm, which is something that happens to my track sometimes. All in all, this one has a lot of potential, it was great. Good job!

Coloradoweeks - This is so 80's it hurts, right down to the linndrum. The overal mix is on the quiet side, but the melodies here are awesome. I love the chords, and the singing is absolutely killer. The augmented chords at the end, really suprised me, i love those kinds of chords in these kinds of progressions. The track has a lot of great chords overall, and a lovely vocal performance, even with one set of dynamics on the mix. Track was still amazing, even with the quiet mix, it was enough for the 2nd spot, amazing work!

Arcana - Channeling your inner Kraftwerk i see. You say there's parts muted, and i can hear that, because in the middle, there is a lot of borderline silence, with mostly 1-2 instruments playing, before we get a sudden crescendo of a loud climatic finish, with intense chords and a cool Kraftwerk kind of voice, but Autotuned, not vocodered like Kraftwerk does. The track honestly is fine especially in regards to mix, there is just a lot of dead space in the middle, and some mild timing issues at the end, but the mix is really good, i dig it. Good job!

Cryef22 - I really like the melodies here, it has that sort of movie montage effect going on. The track is quite the high energy tune, with a style that resembles 90's trance, even if the drums are more suited for trap. I love the middle part, where we switch from a minor key to a major key. I still think the drums don't fit this style, i would have gone for a stronger kick and clap to really drive the point home. I was also a little sad that as i got into probably the most melodic/best bit, you chose to end the piece. This is where i advocate for copying and pasting. Still though it was a really cool idea all things considered, a lot of fun. Good job!

Top 3 - DDRKirby(ISQ), Coloradoweeks, Nukage.

Awesome - Wassup Thunder, Nukage, DDRKirby(ISQ), Coloradoweeks.

Needs Work - DarkShadow, Turbo852, Arcana, Cryef22.

1. Climb Your Mountain
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. enjoy the journey
   coloradoweeks
3. I Can Do It
   TheVideoGamer

I thought most of this week's entry was great, it was hard to vote

Some low-quality scattered feedback: