Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[As Screaming Shadows Consume Us]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
LD-W, As Screaming Shadows Consume Us: 9,9,10,10

Oh god, I skipped ahead a little to write this review when the judging was going on because the image and the song juxtaposed next to each other made me laugh and smile. It's like a Rorschach ink drawing, those demonic moans and noises at 2:11 made me quickly look around the room and say "mom is that you?" Listening to this song while looking at the image, I have no idea how you got these maximum sounds from that minimal illustration but it worked really well. I doubt you expected me to laugh though. Something about this juxtaposition was nostalgic and reminded me of an angsty childhood. I'm now a fan of linda-mota and I'm actually surprised you didn't choose one of their other illustrations with comic book text. You essentially went ultra hard mode with a queer illustration to convey music with. I was also very happy when I saw how much you chose to share in the authors comments. A major criticism I lobbied at people was how hard it was to judge music that doesn't speak for itself. If there aren't some concrete connections to the visual in the song than I'm working on scout's honor that the image inspired anything at all. Since I've already typed it almost 80 times, I was asked to judge "emotion" and sharing feelings can only benefit the cause and even lends itself to authenticity. At the very least words are posterity; a breadcrumb trail for others to pick up and chew on as time goes on.

You know what, I'm going to pretend this song and the image are the embodiment of that zero-bomber you mentioned. This cacophony could be a wonderful theme for the satanic zero-bomb suicide cult. When they show up to zero bomb your music it's their misanthropic way of saying that they love you! You just don't understand their gifts, HOW COULD YOU? You'll have to forgive me when I decided to take points off of the structure. It was very musique concrète. Powerful on a second play through but the first time I was a little weary because I wasn't certain what to expect. I know you can write some massively wonderful tunes but this one explores and wanders. It's terrifying but something must be wrong with me because I'm smiling manically and enjoying it. This song is like a massive nipple twist, your either gonna love it and beg for more or cry and feel emasculated. I fell into the first category, t'was a good ol' nipple twist. I'm sorry, this is the worst review I've written by far but I'm going to make up for it with massive "emotion" and "relevance" scores. To honor the production point taken off, I felt like the mix was a little thin. I just gave "Pico, Guns and Flesh" a listen to compare to, that track was mixed much better with more bass and mid presence from the climactic action. I don't always mix at my best and I think you're experiencing a little of that with this massive song. yOu'Re GeTtInG oLd LiCh, you just can't hear those finer frequencies anymore. It's time to retire and live off of your welfare, it was fun while it lasted. Honestly, I know I've lost some hearing over the years and it drives me nuts. If any children stumble upon this review: protect those ears, treat them like gold. Play music at safe levels 99% of the time, damage inducing rock and roll decibels 1% of the time. I recently got an e-drum and gained the ability to turn the volume down on my kit, power moves.

I think I said everything I needed to say and am just rambling, feel good about your work here LD. You have a wonderous sound which would go well in a Tim Burton Batman movie or BDSM dungeon. At this point I'm only finding stranger and stranger things to say. Good luck with all things in life, you're a gem <3

LD-W responds:

Thanks for the big review!

I would of liked to of dived further into the 'mentalstate' which helps me with generating ideas for sections/passages for these kind of projects, although it would potentially dive into some areas I'm probably not-so-keen of shouting about in public without significant context tbh. I could probably elaborate further in DM's at some point!

The production-handling of this project (and associated template) would look like pure agony for anyone looking at it from the outside due to these situations:
- Utilising different ensemble and solo libraries together which may have things recorded in different traditional positions
- Utilising solo libraries together which may have things recorded in a studio enviroment and would need manually repositioning on an X/Y plane instead of tilted panning
- Utilising different ensemble and solo libraries together which may have things recorded in different halls/chambers through different potential hardware and it's associated signal harmonics (and have them present in the signals, even when turning lib-reverb values to 0 to try and get it as dry as possible)

The coherency challenge here was enormous, since the ensembles adds up between libraries/players to an IRL emulation of just over 500 people being digitally crammed into a custom hall preset of my own design in Eventide UltraReverb, and then all of the solo sections repositioned in 2.1 Stereo (instead of Binaural) in dearVR MUSIC. Plus all of the mixer channels having SSL 4000 G console instances on with unique TMT values assigned and a 'small-to-moderate' amount of console harmonics/saturation baked in at different intensities dpending on what I think required boosting. At that size, it ends up being a very fine-balance of being 'enormous and squashed', or 'thinner and roomy', which is where this project ends up gravitating towards the latter. Perhaps I could of reduced the wet% on the reverb settings on each channel to potentially increase the fullness of many parts, although it's definitely a fine balancing act haha

Compositionally, I ended up sticking to a mixture of Atonality, but also going to the efforts of trying to create two of my own nonatonic modes. It turns out that one of the 'modes' that I thought I made up from scratch, was actually Messiaen's 3rd Mode of Limited Transposition after Colin poked me about it over in the NG Audio Pub haha. Otherwise I kept things in a mostly half-structured state, with the earlier and later parts having more conformity, while the entire middle sequence was the main course of freeflowing non-conformity, composing that section by 'gut feeling' and ignoring time signatures etc.

I took some big risks going with a modern Avant Garde piece, and it seems to of mostly paid off at least! I'm planning on shoving into an album at the end of the year: this track, an updated version of last year's NGADM Finals Track with a mix update sorted out on it (The Tridecahedron Blood Summoning) and the *big project*, which will be the 25-30 min long planned avant-garde monstrocity large enough to make this track seem 'simple' by comparison. I am thinking about making a small community event for the *big project* for fun, as the later half of that will need a custom choir of screams, shouting, moaning and whisper swarms doing, which I think a fair bit of the audio community might find funny/cool enough to donate a few recordings to! If you're interested in contributing towards the cause, stay tuned for when I put the thread up around late-october ;)

[AIM - 3am Waltz]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Zechnition, 3am Waltz: 5,10,10,5 (30/40)

Very romantic concept right at the beginning Zech, I just wanted to take a second to express that I loved being able to hear the keyboard compressions on the instrument that begin to play 12 seconds into the track. It's probably not going to affect the score much as I continue my review but my initial impression was to ponder memorably on keyboards of my past. I currently play on a weighted electric piano but I totally remember that soft sound that a keyboard makes when you play with velocity. You're tearing me apart with that little audible Easter egg.

I can totally agree with Random-Story in her review (this is the first review I'm writing while seeing another judge's opinions) and it does sound like you had a little too much fun making unexpected choices. Some of the decisions seemed brilliant but I had trouble on subsequent playthroughs because I never knew what was going to happen. It was so jarringly structured that I couldn't fall in love with much before you changed things completely. Any of the sections would have made a fine motif for this character you've defined but all of it happening at once was "masturbatory" writing. It was an incredibly written song in some respects but at the same time, only a parent could unconditionally love it. Throw us a bone and give us a rest from all of the unpredictability. If this scene is actually meant to be contemplative, don't make such a distracting piece of music. Let us look at the moon and chill a little, some breathing room to meditate. Musicality is impressive when a band can come together and perform it as a unit but EDM actually benefits from a hook or anthem.

An old jazz adage goes "it's the notes you don't play that are just as important as the notes you do play." Though great artists like Mozart and Thelonious Monk are regarded for defending the notes they did play. Sometimes you have to buckle down and write something less manic to suit a commission or competition. You won't always be writing for yourself.

The night sky is often silent and frozen but your melodies and rhythms are on fire while seemingly belonging in some other scene or moment. If the entire song sounded like that part between 2:40 and 2:52 I'd have been a little more satisfied, THEN YOU SEGUE INTO A HAPPY MEAL JINGLE AT 2:53 THIS SONG IS SO RANDOM but don't worry Zechnition I still love you. There are elements to this song that I love a lot, you have some serious spirit and thank you for taking the time to mention how you felt. You didn't write much but you wrote enough to sway my feelings a little. Too many people failed to take advantage of the author's comments to bridge conceptual gaps, you nailed it using so few words. I have no problem handing you a perfect score for emotion and the production was actually surprisingly clean and well mixed. I have nothing to say about those elements but the other aspects that were brought up are too jarring.

I'm sorry if this review is a let down because you have some killer sounds. While you can continue doing you, I might recommend a "less is more" approach in future contests. You can always write the way you wish, you may do so to your heart's content but keep in mind that to stay competitive you might have to write something that you don't love as much. You have a good one Zechnition and I'll be looking out for you in the future :]

(An extra note added at the time I'm posting this review, with complex ideas it can take time to grow on a listener. I'm liking this track much more one month after initially hearing it. Being a performing artist, sometimes you have to learn the ins and outs of a complex song before it can grow on you. That's a risky maneuver for a competition where the goal involves sharing the spotlight with the illustrator. The illustration was gorgeous but very simple. You're music overshadows the art, maybe pick something with more complexity next time to better compliment the style you love to write? In any case, cheers and love!)

Zechnition responds:

Thanks for taking the time to write this review, it makes me very happy.

I'm also happy that you liked that deliberate little detail about the piano. I don't have easy access to pianos that aren't broken (yet), so I'm also a bit jealous of your experience :3

One of the main things I don't understand about music is patterns. When writing a piece, it feels like I'm trying to tame a beast. I wasn't satisfied with this piece after submitting it, mostly because I failed to tame the beast. And now I know why.

:: also, that was not meant to be the happy meal jingle but I totally hear it! I think the last interval is off by a bit though

[AIM - Raphonia Traditions]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Junesdale, Raphonia Traditions: 8,9,10,10

So this was a very interesting soundscape to take in. It was very well mixed if a little experimental at times. The panning was interesting and well done. There is a lot of character in tones and textures from a balanced but nuanced stereo field. This song never really got old or stale but there are certain elements that felt a little jarring. I did end up taking some points off for seemingly random decisions. While the structure of the song is a little wobbly and unpredictable akin to the illustration, songs can still benefit from a little more rigidity while still sounding bouncy and fun. The entire section from 00:45 to 2:05 had some great ideas, it's not like I massively disapproved of any of it but the transitions from time to time just felt disappointing. I loved the future hops at 1:03 but that instrumental rest until 1:07 missed an opportunity to climax proper. Up until about 1:17 when the cute radish folk start singing, the song felt a little empty. Those radish people were a great addition, and I loved them. Should have gone straight to the happy radish folk instead of trying to introduce that experimental section between 1:05 and 1:17.

You obviously have skill for translating a very bubbly image but perhaps picking such a challenging image was the start of the problems? I'm so happy you wrote about your process and how you felt. You have very powerfully conceptual ideas, and I loved reading all of that. It was easy to hand you perfect scores on "emotion" and "relevance." You might have gotten a little too focused on that conceptual aspect though and forgot that this still a song writing contest and we tried to judge this as fairly as possible. Though the positive elements made me smile on the first listen, it was the more jarring aspects on subsequent listens that made me frown a little. You wrote a very unique piece of work, and I have a lot of respect for the choices you made. There's not much more I could say about this, you nailed almost every single aspect I hammered everyone else for but you also made unique mistakes. You wrote something that is special and unique but not necessarily perfect and great. I hope these scores don't bother you too much and you can take in the critique without due stress. Have a wonderful day June :]

[AIM - Escape!]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
NativeNiles, Escape!: 9,7,9,8

An awesome orchestration, loved the classic sound. I got a few suggestions and they're gonna focus on maxing out that stereo field to your advantage. The mix itself is needlessly quiet. Though it might sound nice and full on a PA system, I maxed out my headphones momentarily to get a better idea of what everything sounded like. I don't like being able to max out my headphones for the sake of ear damage but even at full volume, I'm hearing more space available. Sounds can be very deceptive, you can boost your instruments much more before you get anywhere near bricking. Maybe you have a limiter on the master out you could bypass? It's such a nuance of an opinion, I could forgive it but I'm going to also suggest automation lanes for instrument volumes. Though I can hear you playing with dynamics I feel like you could have turned the contrast up more with deeper crescendos and decrescendos. Automation lanes give you complete control over your orchestra. You can dip and tremolo like a live virtuoso, instruments can arrive on the scene via panning automations as if running onto a stage. There is a human element missing from the dynamics and I'd love to hear something like this hit harder AND softer. There is something robotic about the way everything hits.

I can hear you playing with panning data but I think you could have entertained us more with something to balance every panned force. There was a long section starting at 2:12 where I'm constantly assaulted on the left, a bell rhythm or glistening chime of some kind could have counter balanced that but after a while that volume coming from the left got unbearable. At a slightly louder volume, my left ear got fatigued. I'd have automated the following string instrument to the right just to put it somewhere more interesting. There could have been an entire heated conversation from left to right in the orchestra as strings battled each other but the mix stayed lukewarm. Though it would not have been more "realistic," I'd have personally panned the violin jabs at 00:19, 00:21, and 00:22 strobed against each other via automation to give off a sense of conflict. I like my action music to be a little jumpy and surprising. Doesn't have to be too crazy but I can admire a little bit of daring panning.

More bass please. I'm not sure how many people can make out sub sonic frequencies with their equipment but do yourself a huge favor and find an apparatus or means to get some more bass. While you play with pan data finding a location for every texture, those bass tones can really gloat in the middle. I'm not sure if you've heard this before but panning a sound can create the illusion that something is louder than it actually is allowing you to turn down the volume on that instrument a little. A benefit of that is making room on the opposite side for something to contrast it with.

Though the orchestration wonderfully conveys suspense, I think you could have masterfully delivered us into the scene with some sound effects, sampled or engineered. There are laser beams, glass is crashing, we got a wolf looking lady that could be howling or panting, there might be footsteps running at full speed, an alarm could be going off... you get the picture. There are a lot of orchestral artists in this contest but the best have learned a thing or two about building cinematic atmosphere from dubstep and hip hop artists. I'm not sure when this idea became common place but hip-hop groups like NWA would incorporate entire tracks of just soundscapes divorced from music. It turned a music album into something cinematic. John Cage is a popular reference when talking about soundscapes as he popularized making atmospheric sound tracks with found objects and improvisation. You went full orchestra but missed an opportunity to have a conceptual laser fight back and forth. If you don't have the ability to program some wild synth patches, I'll direct you to another classic hip-hop technique called "sampling."

Many artists are afraid to sample sounds for fear of breaking community rules and guidelines but most the mods here will turn a blind eye to it situationally. You just have to be aware of what your doing and why, meter risk vs reward. So long as a sample doesn't become the primary focus of the song they can usually act to pad things a little. I doubt anyone is going to chase you down over sampling some fighting game footsteps or a "1 hour beach meditation" video. Not everyone on Newgrounds has access to top quality field recorders or can travel to the ocean to nab waves crashing. I usually link back to things I've sampled in the author's comments as a means to look the mods in the eyes while saying "this is my dirty laundry." So long as the sound comes across as substantially altered, short enough, and your not financially harming someone else's investment you can claim fair use. The main thing they are looking for is copywritten music that belongs to someone else or music that was made entirely from loop packages. Sampling is a massive grey area and if it really bothers you, synthesize some lasers. I'm tiny mad that you missed an opportunity to make use of atonal atmospheric sounds and instruments, hit me with a waterphone.

I'm not sure I could find more to say at the moment but I do hope your proud of your work. I got on a lot of people's cases for not wanting to say more about their music. I think you could have said more, but you wrote the bare minimum I was looking for. I have to take everything into account if I want to judge a contest fairly, even the possibility that artists are being "unauthentic." Tagging your gear was a very smart choice, but don't be afraid to gush some more! The judges have to shuffle through many works and writing a little extra will never hurt your cause. I was asked to judge competitors for "emotion" and as a fellow artist I like knowing I'm giving high scores out to the people that really care about authenticity. Unless a song unquestionably takes us to a scene, you can't expect the song to speak for itself. I could picture this song going with the imagery but I could also imagine it going with many other genres or locations. The soundtrack you wrote would make sense alongside Indiana Jones, Conan The Barbarian, Adventure Time, the list goes on forever and having an artist's statement will always make it harder for us to deny the composer's intentions. My ability to remove your song from the illustration and put it somewhere else in combination with that lack of atmosphere is why I justified taking off two relevancy points. It all comes together in this contest and one issue can affect the next. Those atmospheric soundscapes can benefit composition/structure, production, emotion, and relevancy all at the same time.

Please forgive me for writing a review so long but everyone has been awesome and I want to give every competitor something to think about. Even the top-tier winners I see as peers and I have no problem telling them what I think is wrong with their tunes. There is always room for improvement but a perfect soundtrack should always be the end goal. You could be god-tier, I hear the potential. NativeNiles, enjoy your day! I wish you the best :D

NativeNiles responds:

Thank you for the review. As always, I have trouble with the editing/mixing process. Its one of those quirks where "it sounds good on paper, but...".

[AIM - Shining Lights]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
xZiriusX, Shining Lights: 10,8,10,10 (38/40)

Woah, hello big mix down. The wave shape actually echoed the illustration as far as I'm concerned. The image was claustrophobic, and that 1980's hard rock sound mixed big was a perfect fit. This is top tier. Not wasting anytime, first critique: despite the throw back to romantic 80's synthpop, I feel like these retro genres can benefit massively from better fidelity techniques. Either there's very little pan data in this mix or I'm a little deaf in one ear (I am) but some more aggressive stereo/panning data would help this old sound pop into the year 2022. I love hearing throw-backs to old genres but I don't like hearing throw-backs to flat old mix-downs. The electronic music scene in recent decades has really pushed sound quality to new heights and going back in time can be a double edged sword.

When mixing you want lower frequency bass tones towards the middle but thin auxiliary percussion can be thrown around a little more aggressively and used to counter balance other elements. Kick drums and snares belong to the middle but toss hi-hats to one side, counter with tambourines, bells, shakers, and what have you on opposite sides of the stereo field. That percussion section at 2:42 would have been a great time to have auxiliary percussion battling across the stereo field. I love playing with an aggressive ride cymbal the way you did during that section.

Panning creates the illusion that sounds are louder than they actually are so after you pan a sound you can turn it's levels down a little and you've now made room on the opposite channel to find something to balance it with. Automation lanes are totally fair game to find new locations for things in the mix if things get boring. Panning is a tool to emulate space. A drum fill can start on one side then bias to the other as if you're right on top of the drums and you're following the drummer's motion across the kit. You don't have to be accurate to a live drummer, you can get super experimental with how you pan drums but I find it's one of the instruments in a mix that can really make the stereo field more interesting. Panning is something so many people over look but good panning is the mark of a professional. You might have played with panning in this but I really can't tell and that's not a good thing. I got very bored with that constant bombardment of texture that never really evolved. You could say that constant bombardment emulates the drawing but a poor mix only distracts from the musicality without offering anything positive.

The melodies were awesome, solid chord progressions. Everything was great aside from that static pan data and an underwhelming bass tone. Though you pushed the field to it's max the song came across a little flat. With those mid to thin sounds panned more expertly the bass has more room in the middle to just rock solid and groove. These are the reasons I took points off in production but I had a hard time justifying taking anything else off. I got on people's case for saying next to nothing about their music but you said just enough to add a human element that I often took points off for. I was asked to judge for "emotion" and people having the bravery to talk about their creative process or what inspired them makes it easier for me to sense "authenticity." It's so easy to just nab a random image for this contest and write some uninspired track, I often have no clue if someone was truly inspired or if they faked it. I have to sit here and draw conclusions from opinion but taking the time to write some lyrics, or a poem, or just saying anything at all is a deceptively powerful tool for a music contest. Newgrounds is by and large made up of a community of peers. Learning how to communicate with that audience is essential. So many users assumed the music spoke for itself and often it didn't. One user in particular wrote nothing at all. I'm over here writing reviews for everyone in the contest because I felt like challenging myself and you all deserve some solid feedback. Often I pointed out though, to all the people that wrote one or two sentences: how is it that I can say so much about your music but you cannot? I have a feeling there will be more contestants next year taking advantage of stronger writing but many of the older regulars understand who their audience is.

You've been around since 2016 (I looked) and I think I've seen you around before. You shared just enough information and wrote a good enough track to get perfect "emotion" points from me but with a slightly more nuanced mix-down you could have stood out and remained more memorable. The only time I noticed any panning were those crashes at the 5 minute mark (yay, I noticed some pan data) but everything was so balanced towards the center that there was no surprise. Every sound colorlessly hit me with the same energy and although colorlessness reflects the image well, "relevance" was only one category. You could have pushed this mix down to god-tier with just a little more experience juicing out masterful fidelity. Retro sounds honestly benefit from contemporary mix quality. If you can pull it off you'll become so powerful. I'm grateful you included all your equipment tags. Have a wonderful day Zirius. Ever upwards!

Mechanical-Head responds:

this is exactly the kind of feedback i needed, thank for taking the time!

[AIM - Skyocean]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
TebyTheCat, Skyocean: 9,8,10,9

So I totally recall coming across you in the last AIM that I helped judge ten years ago and from time to time I notice your name amongst the community. I'm glad I judged this AIM, I get to see names new and old alike! This was a very nice track Teby. To note your profile page "making stuff I like, improving little by little," I do believe that you are in fact doing these two things, we all should. There's always room for improvement, never stop improving! One of the last things I remember my mom telling me was "I'm still trying to figure out what to be when I grow up," and it was inspiring. Obviously "dead" is a fucked up punchline but I live by that notion that there is always time to figure yourself out a little more and become something better than you were the day prior. Words to live by.

One criticism I levied at many other users is a simple one remedied with a little experimentation via sampling. This is a laid back contest, none of the judges will take off points for atmospheric samples like animal noises or rainfall, especially if you left a link in the authors comments to the sample location. We're not mods, we're judges. Not that your illustration specifically had rainfall, I just wanted to highlight the fact that there are hour long videos on YouTube that feature things like "1-hour rainfall meditation" or "one hour of nature noises to calm your cats." If your ever worried a sample breaks community rules or standards you can ask a mod but they know the struggle too. Most people on Newgrounds don't own or can't afford a field recorder and the free time necessary to record ambience at a location. Sampling is part of the hustle, so long as the samples are not the key focus of the track. For the art you choose, I see oceanic animals amongst the sky. Though you can emulate dolphin and whale calls with simple sine synth patches and a little engineering, literally no one would have cared if they heard a literal whale call from a nature documentary (I noticed a little bit of sinewave play at 2:46 but you can do so much more with your automation lanes). Many programs allow you to record sounds straight off your hard drive or sound card and a free program like Audacity is a great alternative. I like to grab samples with it, then quickly export things to sample folders. Not a lot of judges will talk about this kind of stuff but you can safely approach samples without "breaking the law" or infuriating mods. Just have to be conscious of the process and situation, meter your risks and rewards.

Peroneal choices, I'd have slipped some submarine radar blips into this and some glittering chimes to represent twinkling stars. Percussion instruments like vibraslaps, waterphones, and chimes are easy to find via YouTube. Orchestral sounds like cymbal swells and bass drums would have been well used. Some large booming bass drums could have filled out the sound spectrum just a little more. The mix is decent but there is totally room for some deeper sub sonic bass textures. A lot of users can't afford the kind of monitors necessary to get a good grip on those tough to hear sub sonic sounds but even a genre like chiptune benefits from sensitivity to that extra range. There was a very thin lead at the two minute mark, it over powered the surrounding instruments so much that I had to turn down my volume a little. The melodies were triumphant but the mix at that exact spot was noticeably unbalanced, those booming orchestral bass drums I mentioned... counter that thin lead with those orchestral bass drums or warn the audience of rising action with a cymbal swell that leads into that part :3

I will take a moment to thank you for writing what you did in the authors comments. Many users fail to understand that the people judging the contest are their peers. I love getting deeper insight into how people think and why they make the choices they do. Having visible feelings will help sway my "emotion" score that I was asked to judge for while promoting your authenticity. People don't realize how powerful a tool an artist's statement or manifesto can be. A ten page thesis won't win the contest but it's not like it hurts either. Such a thing might make you more memorable. One user opted to say nothing at all, I guess under the assumption that they thought the music spoke for itself. Or maybe they thought that saying too much was a waste of time? Very few users wrote songs that spoke for themselves, I'm usually stuck over here trying to make conceptual connections with zero guidance. I like to know that artists are authentic so that I can justify my scores. I've witnessed too many users on Newgrounds cozy into the community with stolen music but having the bravery to tag your equipment is a sign that you know a thing or two. I noticed you didn't tag equipment but I really didn't mind too much after reading your commentary. You covered your ass with detailed commentary & decent music and for that I awarded you a perfect score in "emotion." I have a feeling next year will see competitors posting more commentary...

I got a lot of great vibes from this song Teby. The points I justified taking off usually cycle back to everything I already mentioned. Composition and structure can lead back to affecting production. Relevance to artwork could have been remedied with samples or lyrics which is also a production footnote. This was a tough competition to judge despite it being fairly laid back. There is always a small group of artists that go 110% which leads to pulling my hair out. You could easily fall into that top tier list with a little more experience. I feel you've made great progress over the years and I look forward to seeing you maximize your skill set. This was a pleasure to listen to Teby, salutations!

[AIM - Earliest Memories]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
DarkHorseOrchestra, Earliest Memories: 9,8,8,7

Full stop, I've written a massive review for almost everyone in the contest by now. A common critique I levied is that not enough users are taking advantage of the authors comments to toy with our feelings. I'm being asked to judge "emotion" in a contest about "inspiration." To make sure I'm treating everyone fairly I have to take EVERYTHING into consideration, even the possibility that composers aren't being honest. You can share a few quick sentences to really drive home an idea or emotion you wanted to express while simultaneously providing the community with a sense of authenticity. Some composers wrote poems, others reached out to the artists and asked for permission. That actually used to be a rule of the contest back in 2013, composers needed to reach out to illustrators in an attempt to gain permissions which helped build bonds in the community across portals. The spirit of that rule was exciting but I'm not sure it always worked out as intended. In the spirit of that rule however, I gained a lot of respect for musicians that shared their feelings, inspirations, and emotions. I usually took off one or two points in this contest if the artist tried letting tracks speak for themselves because often their work didn't. This is a hard contest to judge, toy with us some. Leave a poignant statement, thesis, or poem. It helps us relate to you and makes you memorable.

I'll point out a useful thing to know, tagging your equipment is a stamp of authenticity. I used to mod audio on Newgrounds back in 2009 and back then there was a pending list where new musicians would wait until an audio mod could get around to vetting them. We were encouraged to ask pointed questions about the creative process for their music in an attempt to sort out the people that were uploading stolen or copywritten content. The process was terrible and I got burnt out quick but that need to vet my peers has never dissipated. Other judges might not be as honest as I try to be but I'm willing to say these things because it can help you in the future. This is a really strong song with some solid emotions at play and your hard work is audible, please tell us a little bit more about your baby. We are a community of peers, a dysfunctional family at times. You can reach out to your listeners and fit into that community better by expressing yourself with a little more than the music itself. This kind of goes for everything in life, never be afraid to have a voice DarkHorse. I've said nothing about the actual song to this point. This is why judging Newgrounds competitions takes so long.

It looks like the drums are taking up most the room in the mix during that climax but you could have "compressed" forward other tones earlier in the track such as those pads and instruments. For the climax, sidechaining would help balance all those bigger tones and textures. I'm not looking for a brick necessarily but this entire track could have benefit from some foreboding orchestral perc like booming bass drums, bass drum & cymbal swells, chimes, bells, cowbell, vibraslap, waterphone... I've been sharing some of my sampling techniques with others in this contest. Being a "younger" member of the community can lead to an unease with sampling because at it's core the legal issues are somewhat mysterious but the people that mod often know the struggles. Not everyone can afford a field recorder and the lifestyle to record every atmospheric sound we come across. As long as a sample doesn't become the primary focus of a song most mods will turn a blind eye. A free program like Audacity is great for just nabbing certain materials from YouTube videos or elsewhere as it can rip right off the soundcard/hard drive. Many programs let you do it, I just find Audacity faster in it's simplicity. If you ever nab a sound and feel like it breaks community guidelines just mention it in the comments and ask "is this ok?" I used to mod back in 2009, the people combing through flagged subs are honestly looking for the easy stuff like copy written music uploaded for Geometry Dash or songs made entirely from sample packs. Tagging your equipment is a newer feature that I love because it gives artists a stamp of authenticity. Don't be afraid to share your equipment so others can research techniques they like or comment on gear. I like to see headphones tagged personally because many headphone brands have variable results on quality of sound. If someone is mixing on Audio Technicas I can actually switch my gear and hear what they're hearing. The judges for an informal contest like AIM are probably not that crazy (but I am).

I loved that sensitive hi-hat programming. Given how techy the illustration was I was surprised there wasn't some more synth engineering. A sinewave synth is the classic synth for portraying sci-fi UFOs and aliens, the classic theremin produces the same sfx. A few 1950's cinema classics to use that sound are Forbidden Planet (1956), the Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing From Another World (1951)... you missed an opportunity to echo classic sci-fi sounds and atmosphere. These sinewave sounds still get used today to comedic effect in cartoons like Spongebob and Adventure Time. You can do so much with synthesis, one competitor in this contest managed to make wonderful racecar engine noises using what sounded like simple sawtooth waves.

You must be using automation lanes on the pitch of those hi-hats, see if you can slap automation lanes on your synths to invent new tones and textures. Those sinewave synths I was talking about in particular can bend, stretch, echo, and communicate with listeners like underwater creatures. Ghostly cries from deeper sinewave modulations may embody the sad cries of an interplanetary species that swim across the void of space like whales. For the imagery you chose, I felt like there was a lot of techy experimentation you could have explored. I have to keep pounding away at these reviews but I hope I was able to express some of the reasons I was able to whittle points off your scores. Always upwards and have a wonderful day DarkHorse :3

DarkHorseOrchestra responds:

Thank you for not only reviewing my piece, but also the advice and suggestions relating to the information about the uploaded track and not just the track itself. That last sentence came off horrible in my head while typing it but I really do appreciate it. Like you said, this is a community and I really did feel a hand extending out and encouraging me to join in more. So thank you again for that! I've also now tagged my software and hardware used for this piece.

The drums...well what you said about making use of the author's comment comes into play here lol. I mixed them that way to represent the crazy lines cutting throughout the picture heading towards the craziness in the middle of it, and also my lifestyle during my late teens to mid 20s(Not that anyone would know that or make that guess cause yeah lol). The hi-hats was actually a pattern for the keys, I randomized velocity(alt + R in FL) then edited it a bit.

I agree I could've done so much more and I do regret not doing so, I'm with all of you there 100%. The score I received from you is far better than I expeced, so thank you! There's a lot more I could and should respond to in your review but I'm not going too, just know Ive taken it all in and will definitely keep them in mind and try to implement them more in my future work.

Thanks again and have a great day!

[AIM - Moonlight City]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Voltus, Moonlight City: 6,7,7,8

Oh wow, I genuinely smiled while bopping to that intro. I feel like things got a little too experimental at 00:52 though. Sometimes a song hits really nicely at first but aspects become jarring and out of place. Example: 2:23 was perfect and awesome then 2:58 comes around and stands out in a bad way. I paused the song to think about it. I can get really experimental with transitions so I totally understand the need to do something experimental but I'm not sure it helped this time. You mixed a fairly big sound, a lot of people fail to hit that volume never realizing that their songs can be bigger and still sound good. Listening to music on an apparatus that doesn't let you pass a certain decibel, a good mix will stand out immensely. A kid put me to shame once when he pulled out a cell phone and showed off some high fidelity dubstep and it still sounded awesome ON A CELLPHONE-WHAT. So you got the volume trick down but I I felt like that lead square synth was a bit too loud compared to surrounding elements. There were other sounds you could have surprised us with to help mix things up but that big square lead got old and grating after a while. It has some awesome energy but if you wanted to get some new amazing tones out of it I'd slap a filter on it and add automation lanes. Low-pass/high-pass whatever, just play with those freq & res knobs and automate a little battle between them. Instead of simply using MIDI to tell an instrument what notes to play, automations tell knobs to move autonomously over time. Automation lanes are essentially recordings of motion. It's such a powerful compositional tool, automation lanes can let you filter a synth line like it's a dubstep bass or dnb nuero. You can apply the same tricks in house, trance, synthwave, whatever. Just play around with more automation and make new tones! An automation lane on the BPM can let you emotively play with time and tempo, just sharing that idea for fun.

The next aspect of the review might feel awkward but I'll explain myself. Many people did not take advantage of the author's comments meaningfully. I'm going to try to inspire you to write more in the future and tag your equipment because these things can better your odds with peers by making you more authentic. This is a very hard contest to judge and I have to take EVERYTHING into account. I was asked to judge for "emotion" and if someone mentions how the art inspired them and what they wanted to accomplish they can develop a human element with me. Music doesn't always have to be good to be loved by people. Captain BeefHeart's Troutmask Replica album is the perfect example, an album too experimental for normal people but just terrible enough to be loved by many others. People fall in love with music for many odd reasons. Awkward segue, my video teacher at Alfred University used to try to inspire us to blog or publish books about what we were doing, an artist with a voice divorced from their work will stand out more memorably. Leave a bread crumb trail of information for posterity. It's fairly easy to say things about your own music, don't be afraid to gush or write a short manifesto.

The structure was torn asunder with transitions from sections I enjoyed into sections I enjoyed much less. The production was loud but loudness isn't always the most important aspect. There was very little dynamic information. Everything hits at one volume, you can bring a song to life with evolving velocity data. Drums are a great example as a drummer will often use volume as a means to convey emotions. I play louder to convey triumph and quieter to give off bashful playfulness, when juggling velocity data into my rhythms I can turn the drums into a much more enjoyable instrument. Every instrument can benefit from evolving dynamics. Crescendo and decrescendo volume. A neat trick that works for many instruments is an automation lane on the volume knob. I quickly draw out dips and peaks in volume automation as the song plays and this more or less fakes that human element.

The song did alright at evoking the art but you might have benefit from some atmospheric samples. There is what looks like an ocean or bay between us and the city. Some waves crashing would have fit this well. Would have sounded progressive and inspired mixing that synthwave sound with some high fidelity samples of waves crashing-

"BUT QUARL, I CAN'T RECORD WAVES CRASHING, I DON'T LIVE NEAR THE OCEAN," I don't want to hear it Voltus. This is a really laid back contest and we just like hearing things. You can use a free program like Audacity to rip samples from your hard drive as they play on your computer. Google "one hour waves crashing YouTube meditation video" or some garbage and just nab a wave. As a professional, this is a dirt tactic and a field recorder taken to the beach is far more legit, but here on Newgrounds we have kids learning the ropes and can excuse certain uses of samples. Always link back to one if you think it's questionable, meter the risk and the reward. There was a really nice synth patch at 2:22 that could have been used to emulate waves crashing, it would just take a little engineering work. Nothing crazy, just play with the synth patches some more :3

You know what would have been a really neat conceptual idea? Imagine we're on a boat looking at the blue city lit up at night. The music bumping on the sound system could be our date night jam. A sinewave synth patch could be a metaphorical dolphin or whale below the water singing ocean songs as they pan from one side of the stereo field to the other. Chimes could glisten across the field as well, as if evoking twinkling stars. A synth could zip across the stereo field very quickly as if it were a comet or shooting star in the night sky. You see, I'm writing all this conceptual nonsense up but it was unfair that I had to do this for like 90% of the contestants. Music doesn't always speak for itself, you're the parent of this music. Say some stuff about your baby! Why should I love your baby? I'm a complete stranger. Never miss an opportunity to communicate effectively with your peers, remember that authenticity matters to some of us.

Another secret reason to share ideas, I modded audio here back in 2009. The portal was different back then. Audio mods had to send personalized messages to people waiting on a list to submit their first song. We were encouraged to ask pointed questions about the music we listened to in an attempt to weed out people uploading stolen music. I grew to hate the process. I have a lot of respect for artists that tag their equipment and share their creative process because it makes it easier to tell if they're authentic or not. A benefit to this community is that you are surrounded by peers that have vetted each other. It can take time to understand this website enough to get the most out of it but anyone can become a big fish in this small pond. I have to keep peddling away at these reviews but I think I've shared enough of my thoughts with you and I hope this clears a few things up. I don't expect anyone to write an essay the way I do, a few sentences would have sufficed. Music doesn't always speak for itself, be brave and gush a little! Voltus, I wish you the best and have a wonderful day :3

[AIM - A Spirit's Thoughts]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
masterakuma99, A Spirit's Thoughts: 10,10,10,10 (40/40)

Funny story, I got on almost everyone's case this AIM about not providing feelings or information in the author's comments. I don't need an essay but you honestly wrote exactly what I wanted to see out of everyone. A few quick thoughts, feelings, aspirations, and inspirations. For a contest about inspiration, too many people assumed their work spoke for itself. This is a hard contest to judge because the theme levels the playing field a little bit. I was asked to judge for "emotion" and I take an artists statements into account because those can add authenticity to a contest about "inspiration." Composers need to have a voice divorced from their work to stand out. I was an audio mod back in 2009, the process was terrible. Back then we had to vet everyone before they could submit music. I'd send personalized messages out to new musicians asking pointed questions regarding how people made their music to try and weed out bad apples uploading copy written content for things like Geometry Dash. You wrote just enough data to win me over, including the equipment tags was very nice of you. Thank you for sharing your feelings and equipment. I respect that a lot.

I tried to avoid handing out perfect scores this AIM but you were one of the few to do it and with such a unique soundscape. That panning data was inspired and swirled nicely. Every odd atmospheric synth or stab sounded like it could be a fantastic creature. You struck such a massive chord with me in such a simple manner. The song had an almost reverse "Explosions In The Sky" decrescendo to it. Very unique in that you basically hand us the meat of the song 30 seconds in then play around that shoegaze vibe for the rest of it.

What am I doing? I already gave you a perfect score and am just stroking your ego at this point. Thank you for this wonderful piece of sound Mr. Akuma Master, congrats on getting one of the shortest reviews :3

masterakuma99 responds:

Thanks a lot for the "short" review and the perfext score! I really appreciate it when judges give out detailed reviews for the entries.
Similar to what I said in storykeepers reply it is really encouraging to see people resonating with my songs the same way I resonate with songs from my favourite bands.
It´s good that you mentioned the whole author`s description part. I often forget/don`t think it is important to describe the idea of the song. The only time I try to give information about the track is during the AIM contests. Since I wanna do some different music in the near future it is propably a good idea to give some context for the tracks.
The equipment tags are something I use on pretty much every track I publish. Exactly like you said, I respect everyone who hands out information on how they made the track. It can give you some inside and especially inspiration. That`s why I always add those for the chance that it might help someone.

[AIM - Succubus]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Shifterhead, Succubus: 10,8,10,10

NIN energy, Marilyn Manson, Billy Idol. This song managed to get better after multiple listens and playthroughs. It has that 90s alt grunge, pre-emo stank. Can we call it Premo? No joke, historically the jazz that led up to bebop is known as prebop. Call everything written before The Cure pre-emo and see how fast people get angry. "The Beatles? The Doors? Jimi Hendrix? No, that stuff is premo now. As in pre-emo. It's a time period of classical rock music. Only a hipster like me would know that, I discovered Premo."

Guitar sounded a little boring to be honest, please hit me with some sassy pro pitch slides and more surprising riffs. Though the song may have some great nostalgic energy I felt like there was a lot of space left in the stereo field. I like telling people that they have to mix one or two bricks to know their limits. Not that a brick is some incredible goal or accomplishment but you'll notice on smaller sound systems songs that are mixed better sound louder and they don't lose fidelity. There's a point when a full mix does truly brick and you start losing fidelity via over compression but this is why I say "you have to mix a few bricks." There's still a fair bit of space in this but what you have still sounds very nice. The voice is actually doing most the work in this song.

You sang with a lot of soul despite having lost your soul to a succubus, performance enhancement drugs? I have a lot of respect for people that use their voices as a creative element, it can take bravery to find your voice. A low key criticism I tossed at a lot of people was to write more in the author's comments (only took off one to two points each depending on the situation and how well the music spoke for itself). Keep your secrets Shifterhead, your music spoke for itself but I would have loved to know how the inspiration came about. What did you like about the art? Did you have some personal feelings to get off of your chest or was the track just for funs? Anything is better than nothing. I used to mod audio here ages ago and seeing a deeper thought process and what gear you're using is always engaging data to share with peers. Adds authenticity and allows you to speak to the global community that Newgrounds has become. Write a manifesto. I fought with myself over whether or not to take a point off for emotion for not taking the time to just write more but your singing saved me from doing it. Modding in 2009 fucked with me a little, I'll never grow out of the feeling that I'm vetting people somehow. The community always gains from talented authentic users so I look for those that are aware enough to share some of their work process. There are a lot of young people on the site, at 35 you could be a reasonable role model (yes, I dropped by your main page and nabbed that age data.) For such inspired lyrics, you could have typed them up. Many users that wrote lyrics did exactly that, it doesn't hurt your cause. I like to read ahead to develop feelings for whether or not the song is really inspired by the illustration. You picked a really basic illustration and went hard into moody industrial synthwave, the lyrics are the only reason why it works so well. Without those wonderful vocals the entire thesis falls apart and I'm left with a track that doesn't do the art justice. That hurt to say, I'm sorry. Everything in a song works together to compliment each other, the back track was weak compared to your vocal chops.

I sat here and listened to Succubus like 500 times. It's a great, if challenging track to listen to. After a while I really wanted to hear the synths evolve and transform. You succeeded in romantic 70 & 80's synthpop but I love hearing people mix classic sounds with new age fidelity. The production on the instrumental is my greatest issue with this, it's a little boring and predictable. I'm only taking off two points because I loved this so much but do consider some of what I've shared with you Shift. Track is awesome and I wish you the best with the other judges. Have a good one Shifter :3