here is mysteria's submission in case anyone was curious:
mysteria wrote:
About 15 years ago, a little girl asked Santa for a Game Boy Color. I remember turning it on and leaving it on the menu screen on Link's Awakening just to listen to the music while I watched TV. By the time second grade rolled around, everyone was listening to N*Sync, while I had an obsession with Zelda and The Beach Boys. As I got older, I realized that these games weren't revolutionary and there were many like them, with even better music. My older sister had an NES (that she never told me about! *ugh*), that I discovered in the attic. I began playing her games and I was infatuated with them.
Quite a few years later I looked up where to find the music I loved as a child, I then found the realm of chip music. People still make this? I obviously wasn't around to see the glory days, but who knew that there was a community out there that enjoyed the stuff I enjoyed. I began exploring 8bitpeoples, and found that there was a documentary on all of this. So, I watched Reformat The Planet and almost cried from excitement! I had no idea that there were *others* out there. I guess living in Macon (nowherenearanythingexciting) Georgia didn't help either. I heard about this festival, Blip Festival, in NYC. Unfortunately I never made it up there, but I'm hoping one day it'll happen again. There isn't that big of a chiptune scene here in Georgia. So having this online community was so exciting.
When I started exploring, I first found Smiletron, Nullsleep, Covox, Bit Shifter, and you. I grabbed up 2 Le Chip 2 Quit, and a handful of singles from other artists. They reminded me of the excitement and clarity of being a child. They brought me back to a place in life where nothing else mattered except begin able to come home from school and crank up the Game Boy. Now, I've come to a deeper appreciation for the music and those who write it. Over the years, I have begun to write music, with chiptunes as my foundation.
I began making music on Ableton (I guess as most "producers" do nowadays). I had no idea what i was doing and I spent most of my time with my head buried in the Ableton Live x Power, and my face glued to YouTube tutorials. 3 years later decided I wanted to DJ. Nowhere in Atlanta would book me if I played chiptunes, so I pulled a not-so-fast one and played dubstep (the only thing Atlanta could enjoy at the time) while integrating chiptunes into my sets. But then DJing got lame and I felt empty inside from playing out other people's music. It wasn't fair how I could be having all of the fun on stage while these other people were busy making the music and I knew how much work went into it. So now, I'm back to square one and producing again.
/*My apologies, I totally went over on words, so I'll wrap it up.*/
If I were to receive this prize, it would help me to expand my horizons with producing music. This is a technology I have longed to learn for years, but I have never gotten the chance to simply because I have no idea where to start. If I were to learn this, I believe I could have an opportunity to bring the joy of chiptunes to a part of the United States it hasn't quite reached yet. I want future generations to have the opportunity to experience and enjoy this music as I did. I want this music to live on.
Long live Lo-Fi.
Long live MS-DOS.
Long live the OPL3.
