                          _____  _________   ____   ____
                         /     \ \_   ___ \  \   \ /   /
                        /  \ /  \/    \  \/   \   Y   /
                       /    Y    \     \____   \     /
                       \____|__  /\______  /    \___/
                               \/        \/

 Music Contest 5 - 1997                                  Entries to Date : 388

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents --

         Foreword by Necros
         Introduction
         Entering
         Judging
         Contest Rules
         Prizes
         Schedule
         Changes Since MC4
         Frequently Asked Questions
         Closing
           Contact Information
           How to Subscribe to "MC5 Updates"

>-------------------------------------------------------- Foreword by Necros --

 "I don't suppose I could convince you to write the Music Contest Rules
 Foreword again this year?  :)" - Snowman / Hornet

 _____Introduction

 Yet again it's time for that wild and crazy Music Contest mania to begin.
 Since this is the fifth episode of the torrid mini-series, I thought it would
 be best to skip the flowery introduction and get right to the point.  People
 keep mailing me and asking me how to track cool tunes, so I figured this year
 I could come up with a 5-step program which is guaranteed to put you in the
 top rankings.  It won't help you win, though; I haven't figured that out yet
 (hey but you can at least get second place over and over again!).

 _____Top-Secret Clandestine Tips To Writing a Good MC5 Song

 5. Find songs you like on the Mods Anthology, and rename them to something
    else.  Then change a few notes here and there, and replace one of the
    samples with something off your hard drive.  This way you can get a brand
    new song, without actually having to compose!  Oh, and also make sure to
    erase the original guy's name and put on your own name.  Make sure your
    name uses mixed caps and lots of 'el3eT' capitalization.  Judges love
    that.

 4. Judges like it if you keep the song interesting.  Try to change motifs
    every other pattern or so.  Sometimes you'll also want to experiment with
    lots of random key changes and chord progressions.  One of my favorites is
    going from F minor to C# major, over and over again.  If you're really
    daring, you can also try the opposite approach, which is to make the song
    really catchy and ingrain it into the listener's mind.  Try repeating the
    same pattern, 8 or 9 times in a row.  Good patterns are like fine wine,
    you can't ever get enough of them.

 3. Make sure the song is long enough.  Nobody wants to download a 800k tune
    and then only get 45 seconds of tune!  Try making it as long as you
    possibly can.  I usually try to get it to about 15 minutes in length or
    so.  Making a song that long is pretty tough work too, you know.  Here's a
    trick, though... re-use those patterns!  In fact, you only need about 5
    patterns for a really good song, just experiment with putting them in
    different orders.

 2. Judges like nothing more than hearing original samples.  So here's some
    places you can get those fresh new sounds which will make your friends go,
    "Hey is that a new WAVE song?"

      - Take your pets, squeeze soft parts of their anatomy, and record the
        unique sounds they make.  You can get great leads this way!

      - Tape your car's exhaust, loop it, and use it as a drum sample!
        Heck, use it as a bass sample too!

      - Borrow a friend's 1985 Portasound and get lots of samples of that
        Harmonica patch.  It's really groovy if you play it an octave or two
        above what you sampled it at.

      - Sample at 44khz, 16bit, and resample in CoolEdit down to 4khz to save
        space.  This also gets rid of that annoying high end on your samples.

 1. Write orchestral.  Everyone loves orchestral.  In fact, try to emulate
    every Danny Elfman score you've ever heard.  Some people also like to
    sprinkle in some samples from UNREAL.S3M, but that's strong stuff and I'd
    be careful.

 _____Conclusion

 If you follow these tips, you are guaranteed to make a song that will be
 remembered for years!  Well, I have to start working on my tune.   This year
 I had a new idea (secret!) that involves Arabic chanting and some
 Doug-E-Fresh ghetto beats!

 Until next time,

 Necros / Five Musicians - necros@fm.org
 16 May 1997

>-------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction --

 Hello all, and welcome to Music Contest 5.

 Music Contest is an annual competition.  It is like a demo-party music compo,
 but you do not need to travel anywhere to compete.  Entries are collected on
 the internet at our archive, hornet.org.

 There are three MC5 entry divisions: rookie, intermediate, and veteran.
 These skill divisions exist so that people of any skill level can compete.
 The distribution of entries in MC4 was uneven, so the "intermediate"
 division has been created.

 Entries are judged in five different categories: originality, form,
 technique, sample quality, and overall appeal.  Scores given for a song's
 "overall appeal" will have three times the weight of scores for the other
 categories.

 A special section is included at the bottom of this document outlining the
 changes that have been made with MC5.

 The same listserver used for DemoNews is being used to distribute a "MC5
 Updates" newsletter.  This newsletter will be used during the contest to
 keep you posted on current happenings and changes.

 MC5 is organized by Hornet.  GD handles the MC5 email and newsletters.
 I (Snowman) handle the entry verification/registration and web pages.

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org
 25 Apr 1997

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Entering --

 An "MC5 entry" is an IT/MOD/S3M/XM music module with pattern and uncompressed
 sample data, playable in Cubic Player v1.7 or Impulse Tracker v2.12.  The
 only text allowed in an MC5 entry is "Song Title."  This contest is
 anonymous; no one will know who entered which song until the contest is over.
 Your name or handle may not appear anywhere.

 You must register to enter MC5.  You may do this one of two ways.  If you
 have access to a web browser, fill out the online form at
 http://www.hornet.org/music/contests/mc5.  If you have email but no web
 access, complete the application mc5enter.txt (included).  You must have a
 valid email address to enter Music Contest 5.  Only one entry per email
 address is allowed.

 Verification for web registrations will be done instantly.  Verification for
 email registrations will typically take less than 3 days.  This verification
 will also include information on how to upload your entry.

 The final results will list all author/song associations.

>------------------------------------------------------------------- Judging --

 An "MC5 judge" is responsible for listening to and assigning scores to MC5
 entries using Cubic Player v1.7 or Impulse Tracker v2.12.

 You must register to judge in MC5 online at
 http://www.hornet.org/music/contests/mc5 .  A valid email address and regular
 access to the web is required.

 Your application will be verified instantly, and you will be sent a
 confirmation email.  This email will also include information on how to vote.

 Voting is done in two rounds.

 The first round selects the top 20 veteran, 15 intermediate, and 10 rookie
 songs.  Only one category is voted on: overall quality.

 The second round ranks the songs which advanced from the first round.  Five
 categories will be judged: originality, form, technical, samples, and overall
 quality.  Overall quality will count three times as much as the other
 categories.

 A core group of experienced judges will also vote in the second round.  These
 scene veterans will have three times the normal voting strength to help
 balance out lesser-experienced judges' votes.  They will also resolve ties.
 Core judges will not vote on their own MC5 entry.  These judges are selected
 by the MC5 organizers.

>------------------------------------------------------------- Contest Rules --

 _____Song Rules

 1. Must play in Cubic Player v1.7 for MOD/S3M/XM, or Impulse Tracker v2.12
    for IT
 2. Must be original (no remixes or remakes of other songs, including your own)
 3. The only text allowed in the song file is your verified song title
 4. Uncompressed entry size must not exceed 1,000,000 bytes
 5. Playing time may not exceed 4 minutes
 6. To be properly entered, your song must follow the specifications provided
    in your entry verification
 7. Entry must be uploaded and verified before 15 Jul 1997, 00:00 GMT
 8. Only one song may be entered per person
 9. Entry may not be publicly released until final results are posted

 Changes to rules or deadlines of the contest (posted in the MC5 newsletter)
 become the responsibility of all participants.  Failure to observe such
 changes is not the burden of the MC5 organizers.

 _____Reasons for Disqualification

 1. The entry or author violates any of the rules above
 2. The author's name or handle appears anywhere in the song file
 3. An entrant votes on his/her own song
 4. The song is ripped

 If you are disqualified you can not re-enter.

 The organizers of MC5 reserve the right to disqualify a song due to
 unforeseen circumstances.

>-------------------------------------------------------------------- Prizes --

 Information about prizes will be announced after the entry deadline.

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Schedule --

 Date       Time       Event
 ---------  ---------  -------------------------------------------------------
 31 May 97  00:00 GMT  Contest starts
 14 Jul 97  00:00 GMT  Entry application deadline
 15 Jul 97  00:00 GMT  Entry deadline
 18 Jul 97  00:00 GMT  Voting round 1 begins
 28 Jul 97  00:00 GMT  Voting round 1 ends
 01 Aug 97  00:00 GMT  Voting round 2 begins
 11 Aug 97  00:00 GMT  Voting round 2 ends
 17 Aug 97  00:00 GMT  Contest ends, results released, organizers go home

>--------------------------------------------------------- Changes Since MC4 --

 + Three entry divisions (rookie, intermediate, and veteran)
 + Web-based registration for entrants and voters
 + Less waiting time for entry verification
 + Better song distribution among judges

>------------------------------------------------ Frequently Asked Questions --

 Q: Why is Cubic Player used for judging?
 |
 A: In Music Contest 3, each entrant was allowed to specify which program
    should be used to judge their song.  This created an organizational
    nightmare, not to mention the fact that many judges ignored the entrants'
    requests.  We felt confident enough about CP's acceptance in the scene to
    use it as our official judging player.

 Q: What's used to judge .it entries?
 |
 A: Cubic Player does not support the .it format sufficiently.  Impulse
    Tracker will be used instead.

 Q: Which division should I enter: rookie, intermediate, or veteran?
 |
 A: This is up for you to decide.  Here are some tips:

    If you're new to the scene (been in for less than a year), enter rookie
    unless everyone in #trax is constantly raving about your music.  If you
    just learned (or don't know at all) why using more than 14 channels is bad
    on a GUS, you should probably enter rookie.

    If you've been in the scene for more than a year, you may wish to consider
    entering intermediate.  In fact, this is probably going to be the largest
    entered division in MC5.

    If you've been in the scene for more than two years, you should
    probably enter veteran.

 Q: Why shouldn't my entry have more than 32 channels?
 |
 A: A GUS soundcard can not play more than 32 channels at once.  A large
    number of judges for MC5 will probably use a GUS.  If your song has more
    than 32 channels, it will not sound the same on a GUS.  There is no rule
    against using more than 32 channels, but assume that all judges will only
    hear the first 32.

>------------------------------------------------------------------- Closing --

 _____Contact Information

 Send general questions and comments to GD (Brett Neely), gd@hornet.org

 Questions and comments regarding the webpages, online registration, or entry
 verification should be mailed to Snowman (Christopher G. Mann),
 r3cgm@hornet.org

 The MC5 homepage is at http://www.hornet.org/music/contests/mc5

 _____How to Subscribe to "MC5 Updates"

 MC5 updates will be available starting 15 Jun 1997.

 Mail to : listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za
 Body    : subscribe mc5-updates first_name last_name

 The listserver will send the MC5 Newsletter to your e-mail's return address.

EOMC5R
