Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dream of a Gondola]

Dream Of A Gondola, LucidShadowDreamer
Composition/Structure:9 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:9

You put those chimes in it for me, right? There are times when I recommend chimes to represent elements like twinkling stars or wind and it feels like you saw one of those reviews and was like "what happens if I take the lid off the proverbial salt shaker?" You chimed all the way from start to finish, hilarious. I noticed you didn't write as much as when I last judged this comp, was a little let down because I love reading about feelings and getting a better idea of how my music friends are doing. Sure, it can feel disheartening when that kind of stuff gets ignored or questioned but now I'm like "is LSD ok?" I'm reading into nothing but I had to take a break from my scoring just to say that you're an old favorite of mine, you're powerful <3

The art is kind of minimal, the sound reflects a minimalist approach. Since I have to really consider all sorts of things, you're going to hate me for this, I saw those square plateaus and was like "wish he used a square wave pad, cresendoing and decresendoing in the background." (Edit: post scoring, I'm hearing a lot of work on those background sounds I might not have noticed at the time. A pitch bend on the chimes... really wish you included some extra data.) Landscape implies that there might be wind blowing the tree branches and grass... the chimes could actually reflect that to a degree as well but I was already associating them with the stars. I've started using the phrase "low hanging fruit" to refer to foley sounds and atmospheric samples that could convey what's literally in the image. I'd have dropped some blowing wind in this here and there, maybe had some sections where it replaces the chimes entirely?

You have so much strength as a composer, I really hope you don't take too much offense to my scores but it felt a little too minimal for what I know you're capable of. The music was very restrained and hit me with one energy level the entire time. I suppose that arguably reflects the image but I've previously pointed out that some composers are not choosing work that challenges themselves. It's almost like the art is holding you back. I don't want to have to judge the art, the last thing I ever want to say is "pick better art" but it's a feeling I get sometimes in this comp and expressing it could be a little dangerous.

I do love your work and seeing your name pop up. I hope you find my crit reasonable and I wish you luck with the other judges LSD! Have a nice day :3

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hii!
It's been a while, so it's nice to hear from you :D

I feel a song description can sometimes be as meaningful as the song title. Therefore, depending on my intention, I will write more, or indeed, less. My approach has also changed across the years. Sometimes it's apt to explain exactly what lead to the creation of a piece (which I intend to do for my next one, which I will probably upload by the end of the week). At other times, less is more ;)

I'm okay, btw! Thank you for wondering <3
I hope you are good too!

I think your review is entirely fair. I didn't as much set out to pick a "simple" artwork, but I also didn't set out to win this year. As I wrote, I was on holiday at the time of composing this piece. I was in Portugal, which was super relaxing. So I wanted the artwork and my music to reflect that type of serenity! At the same time, I was certain that the relaxation is a fleeting feeling, and one doesn't know what lies beyond the horizon, so I definitely snuck a bit of ambiguity into the composition as well ;)

Some atmospheric sounds could've worked for sure, but I more or less felt that the harmonies and chimes already fulfilled a lot of those functions!

Thanks again for your review; I will look forward to future ones for sure, as they're always a pleasure to read :DDD
Have a lovely day, you too!

[[AIM] Vaarzuleth - Hekate]

Vaarzuleth - Hekate, V-Future
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:9.2

(Edit: art relevance score got rounded to 9)

Sick tune, just wanted to clarify that I mitigated a point from production because while the production is often perf, tip top, there are some sections where the drums sounded over compressed or too bright, too static or repetitive, etcetera. As someone that likes to introduce evolving drum kits I also run into this exact problem in my own songs. One minute the mix is perfect, then you change the pitch or a layer on the kit and it's a totally different tone. Going into each part of the kit and automating changes to treble, EQ, volume, pan... change whatever you need to change but it can sometimes become really easy to over-look what might sound grating on someone else's monitors or headphones. The bass drum around 1:50 in particular drives me so crazy that I kind of started to twitch. That two step pattern needed some bass drum fidelity automation love, the second kick in each pattern maybe less treble? You could probably get some faux dynamics by just automating that treble knob a tad :p

I wanted to take a full point away from art relevance because there were audible cues in the drawing that you just probably didn't think about. A percussion instrument could have emulated the rattling of bones, there are animals that could have been covered with samples of dogs howling or snakes hissing. I like to call that kind of audio "low hanging fruit" and it's crazy how many composers in AIM seemingly avoid the low hanging fruit. The choir patch kind of suited the eldritch vibe of the drawing but I only wish you took a few more moments to think of all the possible background sounds that would have fit, DNB is so awesome when you get cool atmospheric samples that tie the song up in a neat bow. That yelling at 00:15 is actually exactly what I'm talking about, that could be a spirit in the bones, credit where it's due. Nice reverb on it by the way: killer envelope. Couldn't find a different guy screaming sample at 2:07 though, ha. I pitch bend specific samples if I use them more than once to try and hide how lazy I am, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SEEN V-FUTURE? HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SEEN?? >:V

I'm probably kind of biased but this is bass music that hits all the categories of the contest just right. I love that you did your homework on Hekate, it shows that you had your heart in the right place and you didn't just pick something cool that vibes with your style. I went through your catalogue because sometimes I can get a better idea of an artist's breadth and whether or not they challenged themselves. You got "the heavy sound," you kind of went with a visual that suit your skills and that's totally ok. Was just letting you know that I went that much deeper while judging everyone's tunes. I love this one so very much. Great work V-Future and good luck!

(Came back to this to try and work the score a little bit. Someone else might think that the fidelity get's washed after a while, I'm not going to complain about over compression but the song really hits one energy level the entire time and that could be a problem on successive listens. I have a bias for this kind of music, other judges might consider what I'm bringing forwards. I think you earned a really good score though.)

V-Future responds:

Hey, thanks a lot for the in-depth feedback. I tweaked the drum gain staging a bit, so hopefully that fixed the problem. Could you give it another listen and see if the drums sound less squashed and overly bright now?

[[AIM] I Keep Daydreaming About An Island]

I Keep Daydreaming About An Island, carboluka
Composition/Structure:10 Production:10 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:10

I don't like giving out perfect scores when I'm judging a contest. That is all I'm going to say, good one carboluka.

*Awkwardly walks out of the room while squinting at you for getting a perfect score. Slams door. Doesn't elaborate.*

carboluka responds:

I'd like to know why if possible 💀

Still, thanks a lot, insane I managed to get one perfect 10!

[AIM - Promised Forever]

Promised Forever, NativeNiles
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:10

I had to pick and choose who to write reviews for this year but felt compelled to review yours in particular because you made a really conceptual choice to reflect the imagery that I appreciated. "I kind of figure the cello represents the male character, the violin represents the female character." I wouldn't have picked up on that without you saying so but I did something very similar in college over a decade back. I welded up two metal sculptures, painted one blue and one pink. With a speaker in either sculpture I made low frequencies come from the blue on the left and high frequencies come from the pink on the right. Simple panning to create whale songs essentially. Thank you for including your idea in the author's comments, it's the kind of thing I'm always trying to explain in so many reviews. A lot of people seem to write what they like writing with zero elaboration on how the art inspired the piece of work. Every choice down to chosen instrumentation can reflect something in an image.

I don't want to have to judge the art, some people chose some very lame imagery though. You at least picked a work that you could reflect in the genre that you wanted then took it a step further. If you're wondering why I took a couple points, some of the orchestral percussion elements could have been a little more dynamic or even experimental. A lot of classical writers are purists, refusing even to use reverb units to sustain a texture. I'd love to hear just a little bit more breadth, the characters are pure fantasy. I love it when classical people include a synth patch or play with delay/distortion/reverb/pitch bends and so on. From an aux percussion perspective I've learned to love glistening chimes, waterphones, vibraslaps, guiro... I'll pitch bend cymbal swells slightly each time so that it doesn't sound like the same texture over and over again. Each cymbal could have a pitch automations going slightly higher or lower to reflect the feelings and acoustics produced by the melody. Bass drums aren't any different as far as that's concerned, one drum sample can become many while only considering simple pitch automations.

Props on your panning, I'm not sure if it was always balanced perfectly and there were a few tones that kind of grated. Not sure if you use automation lanes to your benefit but when I get too unbalanced I like to drop an automation lane on the panning knobs to better fit different sections of the song, same with volume. We write our music in digital spaces that are seemingly limitless in some respects. I'm only bringing this up because I have considerable respect for you via this song, I would just love to hear you push your sound into directions you might not have considered. Expand your ideas to experiment with new genres and sounds, I checked out your catalogue very briefly. You're just as bad as the people that only stick to one or two EDM genres, integrity to a specific sound can really hold you back sometimes. You are a fanatic of classical sounds NN :p

Goodluck NativeNiles, I do hope for you the best! Keep being an incredibly creative force :]

NativeNiles responds:

Thx for the review!

[Missing Mini Mushrooms! - AIM]

Missing Mini Mushrooms!, Irish-Soul
Composition/Structure:10 Production:9.5 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:10

Noticed that none of the other judges had reviewed this one yet. Having the chance to review this song felt like waking up on a Christmas morning when you know you're getting socks but you love socks because you need them. I adored this one the first time I heard it and I still adore it, absolute gem! As a judge I reward people for finding the low hanging fruit. I also reward people for doing "foley" work. That probably attributed to the point I took away on emotion/atmosphere, without obvious jungle noises and animal samples this could arguably represent some other imagery?

However I also noticed everything you had to write about the song and that made it arguably difficult to take any points away from "relevance" over some foley noises. Some people have complained to me in the past about taking the artists comments into account but we live in an era of AI tools, AI art, and AI taking jobs. I have always pushed the idea that we need to speak up if we are going to retain any power over our work, we need to identify. Sharing your ideas in that space added authenticity. Anyone that enters this contest is capable of using that space to "defend their thesis." A judge might not catch a march when they hear one, they might not understand the conceptual idea of using instruments to convey literal aspects of imagery. The judge panel can often become a mish-mash of people with different ideas so it's wise to proudly talk about our works so that we can identify who is authentic and who isn't. Thank you for spoon feeding it to us.

Last year I had used percussive instruments to emote an animal trot, so I'll give you that idea; it sounded like you were incorporating percussive instruments to emulate the pitter-patter of cute little feet. I also caught the themes a march. Feels like the mushrooms really are marching into all sorts of misadventures, the snare drum is doing the work of creating a "happy" military march tempo. Identifying a march is an easy thing to miss if a judge is having a weird day but I felt compelled to write this review just to let you know that you nailed an impressively reflective OST. If I were hiring a musician to write a song for a project and this comic had been the story board, your work landed you the pay check.

This is going to sound really weird but when there's supposed to be silence it sounds more like a room with unique acoustics. I found that really distracting but what can you do? Someone else might think it a novel addition, for all I know you incorporated an actual recording of an empty space so it's just nit-picking at that point. The panning was executed as if it were a real orchestra, which only got distracting around 3:18. I feel my EDM bias hitting so hard like "should have automated the pan knob to balance that section a little" but... I just admitted it was an EDM bias. I can also feel my EDM bias wanting juicier bass tones and frequencies, hit the bass boost button for the sex appeal D:

I ended up taking a half point away from production and I'll stick to the idea that it was weak bass tones, yeah. Regardless of how the other judges look at this song, pat yourself on the back. It's awesome, cheers!

Edit: You got first place, guess the other judges heard what I heard. Great OST work Irish <3

Irish-Soul responds:

WOW! This is an incredible review, thank you so much for the thorough assessment and your thoughts. I completely agree with your points on the production and foley. The panning in the last part is something that I especially agree with because my audio interface is currently broken (I'm working on fixing it) and only outputting a mono signal. So when I was mixing it is mostly guesswork.

Your comment "for all I know you incorporated an actual recording of an empty space" was really funny to me because that was actually one of the last additions to the song. I was mixing all the stems and told myself "dang, this doesn't sound like a real orchestra" so I added some room tone from ProjectSAM's Orchestral Essentials 2. I'm glad you noticed it (even if it wasn't your favorite part of the track).

Thanks for judging this track and the detailed feedback!

[AIM - Cosmic Beach]

Cosmic Beach, G2961
Composition/Structure:10 Production:8 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:7

Loved the song but I wanted to take this moment to point out that in regards to "inspiration" so many audio artists are missing the low hanging fruit. In the image you choose to reflect I can spot a lion, a Gundam, car traffic, moving water, an entire cityscape full of potential noises and sounds. The song is great but I would have loved some atmosphere that reflected the actual image. I did appreciate the vaporwave/synthwave relationship though so I still gave you an inspiration score I thought was fair.

Regardless it's still a great song and I loved listening to it. I know the genre subtly nods to late 20th century music culture but I would have loved hearing this with drums that hit a little more powerfully. There would have been very little risk to adding emphasis to those drums. Could have probably compressed them some more, not sure how much side chaining if any is happening but that's also an essential technique to get those drums shining and pounding at maximum EDM strength. The textures are all lovely though regardless of power. The patches all vibe hard and the melodies intertwine beautifully. This was a great song, despite any misgivings it might seem like I have. Ignore the competition scores if they bother you at all, you know you wrote something really cool. Thank you and good luck G2961!

[AIM2024 - Arrhythmia]

Arrhythmia, NahuPyrope
Composition/Structure:9 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:10

So I might be making my own conclusions but I saw the blue colors in the art and felt your prog style was appropriately "bluesy." My hubby has been learning blues guitar so I got Kingfish and John Mayer playing non-stop over here. Piano melodies gave me an inkling of twinkling stars, have personally played with that vibe for a piano OST once when the characters in the toon were star gazing. The lyrics help bridge any denial that there wasn't inspiration. Feels like you nailed that category and it's so incredibly well done in my opinion.

Since your song is so good I decided to take a minute to describe my issues on Composition/Structure and Production. I literally took off one point because that ending felt a little bonked, you had a little white noise sustained that just magically stops and it's very noticeable. If that was from a recording you could have automated the volume out as if it were a reverb or envelope effect. Same with the piano melody, it just kind of stops. A longer release would have been perfect, sustain peddle, automated decrescendo, reverb... it was kind of the one flaw I could note in that category and it's such a small nitpick. I almost gave that point back for beautifully working in those 7/8 meters. I love triple meters & I love time sig play but it almost felt like a personal bias to give that point back for creatively sustained meters while that ending kept hitting my ears... I'm so sorry Nahu. I just heard that ending again and it feels too noticeable to claw that point back. It's such a bad ending for such a great song imo xD

Prog genres usually have incredibly potent mix downs but felt like there was some power missing in the mix. Drums are just a little too dry and lacking some of the power I wanted to hear. I don't know how you did the drums tbh but some more compression would have pushed those bassy drum tones to a new height. Hi-hats sounded like they were coming from the middle. They're inoffensive as is but some notable pan bias on them aux perc could have made that mix a little more dynamic. Panning the hats to a side could easily have been offset by another instrument's stereo locations. The rhythms are so wonderfully written, I wish you had panned them up harder to give them more presence :p

Hopefully you get a perfect score from one of the other judges because this has been one of my favorites. Super groovy, very creative, hits the inspired category like a hurricane. I hope my crit doesn't come across too wild, you wrote something special and beautiful. Goodluck NahuPyrope!

Edit: Was feeling really down about something and came back around to this song. It picked my spirit back up, thank you. It's so wonderfully bouncy. Mix could still hit harder but the song still vibes really nice. The "vocaloid" part sounded ever so slightly uncanny but I found it really interesting none the less. I'm not sure what it is about that voice but I feel a slight discomfort from hearing her and I don't know why. The lyrics gave you some nice relevance points though so it's a weird critique, kind of contradictory. Maybe a nice choir or female voice patch, an "ahh" or an "ohh" elsewhere in the song would have tied her in a little better? If she were a real vocalist, you'd have her all over the song and not just boxed into that middle section, wait... DID I REALLY WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND START OFF ON THIS REVIEW AGAIN?? YOU'VE HYPNOTIZED ME PYROPE D:<

Edit 2: Hi.

NahuPyrope responds:

You're amazing Quarl, thank you so much!, I appreciate everything you've said and agree with most of your points!

[Snikio - Sound of Death (AIM 2024)]

Sound Of Death, ItsSnikio
Composition/Structure:9 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:5

Had to leave this one a review for the AIM because I felt compelled to explain that 5 under art relevance. Given that the subject matter seems to be death, did you think to include church bells? As far as bass music goes, the song is great but I can't discernably make any connection to the art aside from a general "creepy vibe." Church bells could have helped bridge that connection to death and seems like the right thematic direction to go into. Too many people in this contest don't seem to understand how to take an image and convey sounds in a way that reflects a larger narrative or idea, commissions often come from that skill set. Instead, the average contest entrant just picks some art that seems to suit their style without making an honest stab at reflecting the low hanging fruit provided in the images.

Along with church bells you often hear choirs associated with the narrative of death, I'd have accepted a simple choir patch to convey that realm. You have one patch that begins to convey sounds as if they are alive and in pain. I loved that but it just wasn't enough to get the inspiration score further along. Sometimes percussion instruments can be used to convey certain kinds of sounds, would have loved to hear some rattling bones or clattering teeth.

As I've told others, there is so much more that could be done to convince me of the inspiration. Since I have to sit here and listen to everything in the contest with sensitivity, I take the time to read what people post. There are conceptual ideas people share that I might not have caught onto and I'm always respectful when people have a lot to say about their work (I would love to know more about that spooky instrument patch). The fact that I can say more about your work than yourself demonstrates a missed opportunity. I love this contest, all the entries are beautiful. However, I don't want to be in a situation where I'm genuinely trying to discern "subjectivity" in a contest where the winners will objectively accomplish their reflective themes.

I checked your catalogue to get an idea of what kind of breadth you might be capable of demonstrating. I upped art relevance from 1 to 5 because you clearly are capable of demonstrating inspiration in many forms. You don't just have one dissonant sound, you have many feelings and techniques to pull from and your catalogue demonstrated that. I doubt I'll judge again next year for all the time it consumes but I hope you enter again next year, and you genuinely spend just a little bit more time trying to convince the judges that you were 100% inspired. Subjectivity is my least favorite part of a competition to judge but that's why I look for songs that are undeniably inspired by the art. I want songs to objectively convey all the ideas and feelings presented in the art. In a way you choose a tough image to convey but I took all of one minute to come to the church bell idea and why it was necessary. You could have used the author's comments section to "defend your thesis." I can't argue with someone when they spill their feelings and ideas. I can only better understand their perspective when they share and it will probably never hurt to include more in that section. The judges are your peers, we've all competed, and we respect the community. Don't be afraid to share your thoughts with us <3

That's about all I wanted to share other than that you wrote a really cool song and it vibes hard. Don't let this review get to you too much, I had 127 songs to go through but this was one of my favorites from an "Emotion/Atmosphere" perspective. That shrill instrument patch, goosebumps. Stay strong and I wish you the best with the other judges of the contest! Good luck Snikio!!

Snikio responds:

thank you!!!

I have to admit, YOU GOT ME. You definitely have a discerning eye. yes.. In the process of choosing the art and making the song match it, I didn't put much serious thought into it. I agree with you but you rated 1 firstly??? thats cruel haha

thank you for your constructive reviews!! I will listen to you and come back with a better tune!

[AIM - Nadejda]

Nadejda, H20Silnava
Composition/Structure:7 Production:10 Emotion/Atmosphere:5 Art Relevance:1

I gave adamisiah the same score for the same reasons. Since I reviewed his song early my review went on for paragraphs about why I wasn't convinced by the supposed "inspiration." As a fellow bass music enthusiast I kind of hate it when I have to sit here and ponder if the submission is an honest stab at the spirit of this competition.

From spoken word to background samples, you could have done so much with your skill set to reference the art. As an avid fan of DNB it hurts to sit here and force myself to hear subjectivity where there is none. I can't realistically say that this song references the art you choose. Is it good music? Hell yeah, the music is great but what does that have to do with cyber dragons? Looking at the art the obvious thing to reference are the words "danger" and "caution." You could have recorded yourself saying those words and put an effect on it, a cinematic intro with some sirens and alarms screaming would have been perfect. Sometimes judges get weird about samples but I'd have killed for a dragon roaring in the background. There is a figure of a person, any vocal stabs would have signaled that you may have considered the human figure fighting the dragon.

Given that the obvious is missing from your composition, you're banking on subjectivity and I HATE THAT. This is not a contest for subjectivity, give me objective cues that signal the imagery. Adopt cliches so I'm that not totally in the dark, go after the low hanging fruit. I love the art, I love the song, but how am I supposed to tie this work to the spirit of the contest? I always tell people to at least say how the visual work inspired the decisions they were making. I don't need people to write essays but every word you write takes away my ability to steal points from "inspiration."

Give some of the other subs a listen, there's always an impressive breadth of talent in this contest. You have some impressive skills, I gave your catalogue a quick check to see if you were challenging yourself. You have a lot of DNB. Even a lot of your "Jazz" has that bass music/trip hop spirit and an overall sound that reminds me of sample culture. It's all good, I love the sound you're making! I just don't think this is an honest representation of "art inspired music." Composition/structure scores resemble the tone and energy levels that stayed relatively static through-out the entirely of the song. With a little more time put into creating an atmospheric intro/outro that echoes potential sounds in the art I'd have gotten that up to a ten. Emotion/atmosphere scores kept getting lower as I kept getting angrier that the obvious low hanging fruit was missing from your song. I don't like getting angry when I listen to DNB, I want to feel inspired. Normally I wouldn't have come across your music, so I'm grateful you entered. I followed you so I can keep hearing the sounds you make but consider what it means to make music that is truly inspired by imagery and isn't just an excuse to make another roller. Every choice you make could reflect the art from the choices of instrumentation to samples. Convince me next time!

Good luck in all your music pursuits H20Silnava, you clearly have some good technique and a sound that vibes hard. If this review bothers you at all, ignore it. Push your stuff towards labels, I'm sure there are people out in the world that would love to groove to your music. Peace and love <3

Silnava responds:

Actually, I think it's the other way around. I think my work fits well with this artwork. I actually get the feeling that the judges just didn't get the feeling I wanted to convey. It's kind of sad. I was making this track, parrallelly looking at this art and thought that it fits the vibe here. I tried to do a dnb vibe of desperation. A vibe that it's not going to work and it's the end. The lyrics in the song, which I sang in my native language, also roughly emphasize this vibe. Fire, blood and warnings. Also the extended vocal melodies were also made by me to emphasize that this is the end and these are the last seconds. I didn't want to make something like cinematic, just my favorite genre - DNB. I'm very proud of this track. And I was very surprised and even a bit upset by your opinion. But anyway all people have different views and I appreciate your opinion. Thanks for such a great comment and evaluation of this my favorite track. <3

[AIM - ¡WAMYCCIÓN!]

¡WAMYCCIÓN!, DancarMar
Composition/Structure:9 Production:7 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:5

"I hope that the judges of the event tell me that I have to improve..."

Those were you're words not mine! The song is very exciting, I loved it but at the same time I'm looking at "the pieno has nothing to do with the drawing" and wondering which if any decision was influenced by the imagery. I did a little homework on the beret thinking it would have come from French culture but realized the beret has been in fashion since the bronze age. Mass production began in the 19th century in the south of France and the north of Spain but in that instance, which culture should your sound potentially reflect? I thought that maybe the background colors would coincide with some kind of flag but I'm not seeing any connections to any flags and the artist is apparently Australian. I'm at a loss trying to connect the audio with the visual.

I thought I might be able to connect her clothing choices to the beatnik scene of the 1950's and 60's but that sound was completely different from this prog-swing-rock you've written. I gave your catalogue a quick look to make sure you were challenging yourself in the spirit of the contest and it's tough to say. I heard a fair amount of diversity and breadth in your catalogue but at the same time your sound is still growing, mostly informing itself. I appreciate that your profile was honest about being a high school student, I know your sound is going to be amazing in the coming years but you might want to consider how to improve conceptually tying your music to imagery. That might involve picking better imagery but I wanted to avoid judging the visual artists that got dragged into this, it's not fair if I have to start judging the art too!

Since inspiration is typically the category I take the most points from I'll start there. While people will make the argument that "the inspiration and the subsequent work is subjective" I feel that subjectivity is an excuse for poorly reflecting the source material. I want to hear objective sounds that reflect the visual faithfully which includes the instruments people choose to use, samples that can be tied to the themes in the art, some words from the artist that may direct my attention towards choices that were made to reflect the spirit of the contest. I'm actually very happy that you talked about your song because as a community we should be encouraging each other to share our feelings, everyone here is your peer. You have a passion for writing music and I completely understand that from what you wrote. Out of respect to subjectivity I start my baseline score for "Art Relevance" at 5 and I wasn't able to move the needle in any direction but down. Past a certain point the scores don't really matter, so I kept you at 5.

Took a point from composition for going right into the song, that outro might have better served you used as an intro. It would have helped introduce the motif instead of going right into the action. Sometimes I don't feel like writing intros, I focus on the hook instead and that's my own failing. Despite basically skipping the intro the song still managed to hit a number of different intensity levels, lasted a fair amount of time, and kept my interest. I can't take more points from composition/structure because you still did a great job!

Production happens to be one of the easiest categories for me to take points from, the only people getting a perfect score on production have three things going for them:

-They're seasoned professionals.
-They're better at mixing than me and I'm mad at them because of it.
-Their production was good enough that I couldn't justify nitpicking their scores.

Ignore that second bullet, it's petty. The point I'm trying to make is that almost everyone can brush up on their production skills, myself included. It sounds and looks like you got compression figured out, you might be over compressing a bit but so many producers forego loudness as a goal that I'm happy for you because now you have to work backwards to fine-tune all the little things that separates a pro mix from a kid that can slap a compressor on everything. Dynamics were very static, simply put dynamics are the variations in loudness. As a life long drummer I can tell you that all I get to express emotion with is loudness. I can crescendo or decrescendo a drum roll to build or release intensity. I can accent the pulse with powerful drums or choose to playfully drop ghost drums about to create syncopations, playing with the upbeats. Dynamics go for all instruments, the guitar could use some dynamic life breathed into it. While you can play with note velocities in MIDI, I sometimes save time by just automating the volume lane on an instrument and drawing peaks and valleys, then copy/pasting the automation across the song. That technique takes like half a minute to pull off and doesn't always work out without finesse but it's reliable. For the majority of the song dynamics might not matter as much since all the other instruments can layer over minor mistakes but it becomes incredibly obvious around 2:04 when the guitar appears solo. You have a very digital guitar sound, I usually avoid using a guitar if it sounds too synthetic. That doesn't mean "don't use guitars," just saying that you can clean them up! You might need to use better VSTs. You might need to figure out how to emulate realistic guitar dynamics. Whatever research you might do in regards to programming guitars in the future, this is still a decent start.

The instrument that comes in around 00:17 is just another instrument that would benefit from the life that dynamics can breath into them. Every instrument hitting the same dynamic values comes across with a mechanical result, very MIDI. I also play piano so those piano tones were relatively easy to hear. One of my favorite things about the piano are the dynamics, the instrument is easy to play while switching from loud to quiet. Compared to a keyboard, even an amateur can instinctively play the piano with dynamic emotions. Spring loaded keyboards have less dynamic control but they still give you some sense of loud vs quiet. Unfortunately, your piano sound is just as digital as the guitar.

Since I couldn't do much to justify improving your relevance score I might have been a little lax on that production score. Given your age you still have a great sound, I'd love to hear what you sound like one or two years from now but it's most definitely a "young" sound. It can take years to improve, sometimes we plateau for a while but I feel like you already have an advantage over your peers in regards to loudness and composition. It was easy to justify giving you a 10 for Emotion/Atmosphere, this song jams hard! Relevance scores can be improved by thinking conceptually and talking about it. I imagine that the girl's ear rings might make a jingling sound when she walks, incorporating a rhythmic instrument to reflect that sound might have been wise. It's something most judges wouldn't have noticed but you can try to bridge that kind of conceptual idea by mentioning it in the author's comments. If there was more indicator that the girl was French that could have been reflected in choice of instruments. From accordions to the barrel organ, there are culturally important sounds I like to hear artists echo when it's an obvious choice. Again, it's hard to tie the girl in the image to a specific culture but had you of said "this girl is probably French so I sampled the sound of a baguette hitting a drum" I'd have been able to lend you another couple of relevance points. Not everyone judges a contest the same way but I hope I've given you enough to think about!

I really enjoyed your song and I hope you stick with the community as you progress. A review like this could potentially be misconstrued as an attack but it's not. I want my peers to write the best music they possibly can. Despite your age you are obviously my peer and I'll be rooting for you in the future! Goodluck DancarMar and keep rocking out <3

DancarMar responds:

Ok, I have a lot to talk about, first, thank you very much for everything you have told me, it helps me a lot since I am someone who started composing literally last year.
Second, I am aware that this song is not one of the best from this year's AIM, it is a song that is not one of my favorites due to its composition, its somewhat disordered structure & the instruments,I feel that this song could have been the best if I had looked for another image that matches the audio, that the instruments sound more realistic & that it is more dynamic when you listen to the song
& lastly, every day I am experimenting a lot with the sounds and instruments I have to make a decent song, because the majority of the songs What I do is, honestly, bad jobs, although I am improving.
This song serves as an example of what I should do & what I should not do when composing a complete song, I am sure that in the future I will have better equipment, but but I'm still young, so I have a lot to do and not waste the advice & recommendations you've given me to make a good song.
Having said all that, I don't take it as an attack or something like that, rather, I take it in the best way because this is gold for my mind & I learn from it, so I don't make the same mistakes I always make.
Without anything else to say, judge, I appreciate that you took the trouble to write about this song & I am also grateful for having this great opportunity to show my work,It is a very nice experience to participate in the AIM & I am excited to know who the winners will be & who will be the top 3 best!