Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Charon]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
AlbeGian, Charon: 10,10,10,9 (39/40)

I was looking forward to getting around to this one. I decided to write a review for everyone in the competition and it's been a real pleasure to absorb everyone's tunes. It can feel that some users in this contest tried to shoehorn their strengths into song when the illustrations called for less, I just got off a review where my main criticism was a drum kit not fitting in with the peaceful bedtime scenery. Your decision to go with minimal orchestral percussion suited the scenery nicely. It's a very relaxing tune and manages to stay interesting the whole time, inventive sound design.

A missed opportunity I noticed would have been some train station ambience samples like some warning bells, a chugging smoke stack plowing away in the distance, some footsteps, maybe the cooing of pigeons. It's a celestial train station so maybe some chimes to echo twinkling stars? Atmospheric cues and samples like that suit the AIM competition nicely. I doubt any of the judges are going to get angry with atmospheric samples. Regardless, you have such a beautiful style that stands on it's own that the only thing a sample could bring to the table is "relevance to artwork" points and some noise. I took off a point for that one little thing because someone with such professional sound design and strong composing skills should have caught onto that element in the visual. We have a train station and no audible cue to signal that. HOW DO YOU EVER EXPECT TO GET A JOB MAKING MUSIC FOR DISNEY OR PIXAR IF YOU CAN'T SAMPLE A TRAIN ALBE? HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GET THE SEX EYES FROM HANS ZIMMER??? j/k, it's such a minor crit.

I wish you had written more about the process and how you gained inspiration from the art. Just because I think the music suit the image nicely I'm operating on the honor system that the image inspired anything at all. The image is an otherworldly celestial train station with a wonderfully inventive soundscape but I'd have loved to know your inspirations a little more. Never be ashamed to write a manifesto, only an ass would get mad at it.

gg AlbeG, salutations and all that :3

[AIM 2022 - Night Rain]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
CattyxOwOriginals, Night Rain: 8,8,8,6 (30/40)

I'm not entirely sure I'm feeling the connection to the art but I can still respect the music. Some of that melodic work was inspired, that scratch plug-in was fun. I'm pretty sure I have the same scratch samples in a sample folder originally downloaded in 2008. They can be plugged into a sampler and scratched with the mod wheels. I used to love throwing down that scratch patch but I'm getting distracted by old-person nostalgia. I guess I should focus on why I'm not feeling the hip-hop bed time vibes...

The lights are out, the dog is asleep, and we got thug drum beats. As a drummer myself I almost never play my drums into the night, I'd wake up my fiance. Neighbors can also be a huge problem when playing drums into the wee hours of the morning. It's unfortunate that I happened to disagree with your drums because drums are my favorite instrument to play. The rhythms are well written and inspired but percussion instruments don't exactly scream "bedtime lullaby." You got chops with your writing skills but I've learned over the years that you don't always have to lean into what your good at if the competition is asking for something simpler or different. My favorite part was the very end when the track really calms down and the drums completely disappear, sorry about that.

Worth noting is that the human in this scene appears to be awake and out of bed, perhaps having a cup of water or just away sleep walking. Footstep samples might have helped build an atmosphere. The rainfall outside the window could have been brought into the song with stormy rainfall samples. I'm not going to encourage you to do anything illegal but you can always download a free program like Audacity, and just rip sounds straight from any old youtube video. Judges and mods would be none the wiser for it but you can always claim "fair use" in a pinch by simply pitch bending the sample a semitone up or down. I've never had a situation where a content creator was sampled then sent out cease-and-desist letters for atonal instruments like waterphones, vibraslaps, or chimes. There are many videos that are an hour or so long, uploaded for sleep or meditation. Worth knowing is that many courts have ruled short audio samples are "de minimus" or not worth the court's time to litigate. I'm not a lawyer, only a very interested party in regards to the history and legality of sampling. As long as you're not uploading someone else's music and claiming it to be your own, many of the judges can accept that a certain amount of sampling takes place and we will look the other way. Just don't go overboard and forget to engineer your own sounds, melodies, and rhythms. Fun toys if a little expensive, field recorders will allow you to slowly develop sample libraries via sounds you come across yourself.

I'd have given a better score for composition if there was less percussion and more calming ambiance. In regards to production, the track was a little quiet which is acceptable for the scenery but unfortunately it didn't impress me. This is going to sound paradoxical and crazy but you could have written a more relaxing tune with slightly bigger sounds, and deeper tones. That bass line might have better suit the night time atmosphere written legato, sparse, and powerful instead of staccato & constant funk. This is such a funky little ditty, I almost would have preferred you to have cut loose and gotten a lower relevancy-to-artwork score just to rock out with louder funk sounds but I can't ask you to shoot yourself in the foot like that. A different image might suit your strengths better.

Aside from raindrop samples you can also program fairly realistic water droplets with a sine wave synth, a quick pitch bend modulation, and a little reverb. That takes practice but it's a fun trick. Romantic era composers would often emulate nature when they wrote for piano, hands can flow about the piano like flowing water or rain. Chimes could emulate the spirit of rain. You have a strong composition for melody and rhythm but you can get so much out of your soundscape by learning how to take advantage of those ambient sounds. A favorite fluxist artist of mine has always been John Cage who was a man obsessed with soundscapes and abstract noises as music. He's worth looking into regardless of what kind of music you make because literally every genre can make use of musique concrète influences. Often a hip-hop album can feature atmosphere with tracks built off of conversations had outside busy city sidewalks or home life. A surf rock band could intro their album to the sound of waves crashing and people having fun. Country music can feature the sound of horses or car engines. Ambiance takes work but a scene like the one you choose says to me "minimal music, maximum ambiance."

I hope this review doesn't come across too harshly. We're all creative people on Newgrounds, you are surrounded by super talented peers! After high school, I spent four years at Alfred University earning a BFA and when you major in art, you get used to giving and receiving critiques. The process is meant to be helpful and I've watched so many users grow up over the years that I've been here. If you are honestly 15 (as your profile says) we are lucky to have you here. I'd love to hear you progress, develop, and carve out a unique sound or style that represents you. Take pride in your tune, despite my critical feedback it's a good one. Salud and salutations CattyxOwOriginals, excelsior!

[AIM - Fusion Energy]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Mikaiah, Fusion Energy: 10,8,9,10 (37/40)

A lot of artists that went chiptune didn't manage to amplify their tracks as well as yours, surprisingly big levels for a chiptune production but I think you could have pushed mids and lows a bit harder. At higher volumes those highs really overpower the surrounding tones and textures. A mixing pet peeve I've been sharing with other contestants is with static panning. Panning can create the illusion that a sound is louder than it actually is which will allow you to turn that element down a little and make room in the mix for other things. When you pan, you also create a little extra space on the other side or opposite field. There's a lot of space to play with panning on a tune like this. Your synth work was inspired, I loved how crazy everything was but you can emulate space and make the mix deeper by gently panning those high frequencies into interesting spaces. You can slap automation lanes on the panning knobs and get really nutty with where you put things, emphasizing glitchy aspects in your synth lines. You'd be surprised how much atmosphere you can unlock in a stereo field.

Panning can create the illusion of movement, slowly panning an element from left to right or vice versa which can trick the brain into following certain sounds. Eyes will move unconsciously with the direction people think a sound is coming from, directional data can really help bring music to life. There's no limit to how nutty you can get with panning data so experiment for a while. Skillful panning can takes years of toying and play but it's just another tool to be creative with.

I haven't yet addressed how the track relates to the image yet but I felt the tune was perfect for that videogame sci-fi scenery. Those crunchy drums takes me back to older Gameboy/SNES Games like Ninja Gaiden, Streets of Rage, and the likes. EDM genres tend to benefit when you put the drums up front. I'm not sure if sidechaining things using that drum kit would help make space for higher fidelity sounds but I tend to sidechain literally everything a little bit. These drums sounded fine without sidechaining stuff but it's a powerful technique and can always help you make extra space down the road. If you're not familiar with the technique, sidechaining lets you control the levels of an instrument using the signals from another instrument. It's worth learning about regardless of whatever genre you're writing for. I'm hearing some serious potential dubstep growls and glitch stylings in your song. Everything you learn can inform whatever you end up writing down the road and sidechaining is top tier regardless of how people feel about it. It's an overrated technique for a genre like chiptune but mandatory for genres like dubstep and drum & bass.

Your melodies are bona fide endearing, you're correct to feel pride with them on this track. As a musician that loves to play with live instruments, I can confirm that playing anything like this would require a lot of skill, practice, and experience. A benefit of MIDI is the ability to write the juiciest melodies and chord progressions without the need to be able to play them and you're taking full advantage of that fact. I wish I could be this neurotic in my own melody programming but I usually record a quick loop, then copy & paste it so I can focus on other aspects of music. The longer it takes me to write something the less likely I get it done, so I have respect for the artists that really take the time to write endearing melodies. I took a point off emotion because those minor mixing issues can diminish the power of whatever ideas you're trying to get across to the listeners. You had powerful ideas but with that extra bit of panning data I mentioned you could take this digital symphony and make it a virtual kill room.

I have many more artists to move onto and spent a fair amount of time on this review but I wish you the best of luck with your endeavors! Salud and salutations Mikaiah :D

Mikaiah responds:

Wow, this was a really helpful coment, thank you so much! And ye, i think i still got a lot of way, and practice ahead, yet thank you for telling me those tips, i'll try to have them in mind x3

But yet, i'm so grateful that you enjoyed this piece, and i'll try to get better, and maybe try to use those techniques as well.. Or try to figure out the best way to do so x3, still thank you so much i really appreciate it! <3

[AIM . Requiem for an Astronaut]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
LexRodent, Requiem for an Astronaut: 10,4,8,10 (32/40)

(Disclaimer: I didn't feel that the two versions you posted were vastly different from each other and my issues with the mix persist for both renditions. To save time for myself, I'm giving both tracks the same review/score.)

Feeling some Guns and Roses from the illustration, the music echoes a classic rock sound that vibes well. The voice modulations are creative. While I tend to nit pick the EDM artists a little harsher than I do with other genres I'll have the bravery to say that the mix here could have been much better. The melodies and arrangement are top class but everything sounds like it's being recorded through a tin can. That's not a terrible conceptual disservice to the limitations of communicating sound in outer space but better fidelity will always benefit a tune more than a comparatively squashed conceptual mix down. I'm taking off a big chunk of points off for that mix quality. As I just pointed out in my previous review to Jinz, a thin mix can effect the potency of the delivery. A perfect mix down can really help you deliver powerful emotions. A few metal artists I like listening to that have wonderful mix downs are David Maxim Micic, Chimp Spanner, Chon, or Animals As Leaders. I don't spend all my time listening to progressive metal but these are a few artists that I admire for their technicality AND the fidelity of their mixes. I've written a lot about fidelity issues in this competition. Something that I think might help you get more powerful sounds is more panning data.

Panned sounds give off the illusion that they are louder than they actually are so you can pan an instrument and follow it up by turning it down a little. This helps make room in the mix but also creates the illusion of space. When everything comes from one direction all the time, a mix can get very boring. The bass frequencies (and a lot of mids) are best suited towards the middle but all those thin highs can get pushed to the side creatively. With percussion you want to keep bass drums and snares towards the middle but all the aux percussion like hi-hats, tambs, shakers, cymbals, or chimes can be experimentally shifted to the sides until they all balance each other. Pads and chord progressions can bias a little to the sides as well. You can always lightly sidechain things like leads and pads using the bass drum and snare drum signals. Sidechaining is one of those techniques many artists put off learning because it seems really extra, but once you start sidechaining things you'll find all sorts of creative uses for it.

Panning professionally can be a nutty exercise in splitting hairs. Don't be afraid to listen to the pros to try and better understand fidelity. I've often compared my work to that of the pros to try and get that extra bit of fidelity quality. A perfect mix down can deliver your material in powerful high-definition. With such strong melodic elements, I wish the mix down matched the energy. That's all I got to say, aside from the fidelity issues the track is wonderful Lex. Salud, and have a wonderful day!

[AIM . Requiem for an Astronaut (Ft. Marie Ork)]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
LexRodent, Requiem for an Astronaut: 10,4,8,10 (32/40)

(Disclaimer: I didn't feel that the two versions you posted were vastly different from each other and my issues with the mix persist for both renditions. To save time for myself, I'm giving both tracks the same review/score.)

Feeling some Guns and Roses from the illustration, the music echoes a classic rock sound that vibes well. The voice modulations are creative. While I tend to nit pick the EDM artists a little harsher than I do with other genres I'll have the bravery to say that the mix here could have been much better. The melodies and arrangement are top class but everything sounds like it's being recorded through a tin can. That's not a terrible conceptual disservice to the limitations of communicating sound in outer space but better fidelity will always benefit a tune more than a comparatively squashed conceptual mix down. I'm taking off a big chunk of points off for that mix quality. As I just pointed out in my previous review to Jinz, a thin mix can effect the potency of the delivery. A perfect mix down can really help you deliver powerful emotions. A few metal artists I like listening to that have wonderful mix downs are David Maxim Micic, Chimp Spanner, Chon, or Animals As Leaders. I don't spend all my time listening to progressive metal but these are a few artists that I admire for their technicality AND the fidelity of their mixes. I've written a lot about fidelity issues in this competition. Something that I think might help you get more powerful sounds is more panning data.

Panned sounds give off the illusion that they are louder than they actually are so you can pan an instrument and follow it up by turning it down a little. This helps make room in the mix but also creates the illusion of space. When everything comes from one direction all the time, a mix can get very boring. The bass frequencies (and a lot of mids) are best suited towards the middle but all those thin highs can get pushed to the side creatively. With percussion you want to keep bass drums and snares towards the middle but all the aux percussion like hi-hats, tambs, shakers, cymbals, or chimes can be experimentally shifted to the sides until they all balance each other. Pads and chord progressions can bias a little to the sides as well. You can always lightly sidechain things like leads and pads using the bass drum and snare drum signals. Sidechaining is one of those techniques many artists put off learning because it seems really extra, but once you start sidechaining things you'll find all sorts of creative uses for it.

Panning professionally can be a nutty exercise in splitting hairs. Don't be afraid to listen to the pros to try and better understand fidelity. I've often compared my work to that of the pros to try and get that extra bit of fidelity quality. A perfect mix down can deliver your material in powerful high-definition. With such strong melodic elements, I wish the mix down matched the energy. That's all I got to say, aside from the fidelity issues the track is wonderful Lex. Salud, and have a wonderful day!

LexRodent responds:

Thanks a lot for the detailed review and improvement tips.
Production values have always been my weakest side , so all the things you pointed out make perfect sense. Still in the endless road of learning and not quitting any soon !

[AIM - I am but myself]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Jinz, I Am But Myself: 10,6,8,10 (34/40)

"You think I wanted this body," are you intentionally trying to trigger my dysphoria with this illustration? I legit feel like the monstrous figure in the drawing by FrosstyArt 99% of the time. Excuse me for a moment, I have tentacles that need moisturizing. Great stuff with those reverse lyrics :D

Great illustration to convey body horror. The industrial sounds and mechanical synths fit the mood well. It looks like you made use of the full sound spectrum via that visualization but things are sounding a little thin despite that subby bass. I know that if I switch headphones, the AudioTechnicas are going to make this mix sound like sand paper (at the time of uploading this review I honored that statement by giving the AudioTechnicas a listen and sure enough, ear-bleedingly harsh high frequencies). I gave you really good scores on Battle Of Ships but my gripes as a fellow EDM producer will continue along to this work as well. I think you could have given this more umpf by boosting mid frequencies, all I'm hearing are subby basses and painfully aggressive highs. I'm just not as impressed this time as I was with your other tune.

I think you can focus on improving some of your mixing and mastering skills to get a more powerful sound. That's always a painful critique to get or give out because I know how hard composers struggle to unlock the skills necessary to max out their fidelity tools, often learning via experimentation because they don't get professional feedback or criticism. You wrote very strong music but I try to inspire hardstyle producers to challenge themselves by comparing their work to the mix quality that the pros in that genre are putting out. I'm always comparing my songs to the mix downs that impress me the most. I spent years trying to emulate artists like Noisia, Evol Intent, and Excision. Never be afraid to listen to the pros and compare that stuff to your own. It can really help illuminate the finer fidelity details in the mix that people have trouble identifying in their own work. YouTube diminishes playback quality but apps like SoundCloud lets artists upload music at maximum fidelity. I'm taking points off emotion as well because that thin mix is taking some power out of the delivery of that climax. A perfectly mixed tune can deliver emotions in a way that a thinner sound cannot. I wish I could focus a little more time on this review to really pin-point mixing and mastering issues but I got to keep moving forwards today. If you want, feel free to bother me later and I'll give this tune another listen to relay mixing ideas via private messages. Good luck with the other judges Jinz. Despite my criticisms I love what I'm hearing :3

[AIM - 4fh6gji84]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
CorruptModule, 4fh6gji84: 9,8,10,9 (36/40)

At first I was mad at you for forcing me to copy/paste that nutty title but I'm sure you were only referencing the original art, GOOD JOB! I can't get upset over that, so many musicians are naming their tracks after the art out of respect to the illustrations and I love it. Naming your work 4fh6gji84 is a power move, as if you're looking the audience in the eye and saying "you can't pronounce this shit. Fuck you, try."

I've been pumped by all the hot hardstep genres this competition has been getting, Drum & Bass in particular. The only problem I have with the style is that I write a ton of it and will potentially come down harder on people for things like poor panning data, drum programming, or how the style reflects the art. You made good choices in regards to finding some nutty art that obviously plays into your strengths. The illustration is both a throwback to medieval European gothic Christianity and a look forwards to dystopian capitalistic cyberpunk. You really couldn't have done a better job in picking an interesting design to work alongside. I'll point out a missed opportunity, given the ancient time periods this biblical nightmare of an illustration reflects, you could have taken advantage of Baroque era influences. A choir plug-in could have padded the intro nicely, I personally enjoy phat-female choirs. Put a square gate on the choir's envelope and you can turn an organic choir sound into some techy glitch. It's actually really cool to get synthetic rhythms and envelopes out of human voices. I suck at incorporating harpsichord and won't recommend it but some romantic era piano could have fit this sound nicely. Hell, sparse but bright piano notes with heavy reverb could have easily fit on top of this. I'm very progressive when it comes to blending styles and genres and would have respected this a little more if you leaked in some classical influences.

You found the upper limits of the stereo field, many users fail to realize how much space they have to amplify things and as a result produce very quiet tunes that can only be amplified on a PA system. I love that you made a connection to the sidechaining and the illustration. This sounds more like a convenient side effect of your production technique than an intentional concept but I can still respect how much you wrote about the music. My biggest critique this year has been on users unwilling to express their inspirations and ideas. Some users wrote nothing at all. This competition is so impressively influenced by opinion and subjectivity that I just can't give top marks to those unwilling to get a little personal. I'd even respect language barriers if someone wrote a paragraph or two in a language I'd have to google translate. Thank you so much for that essay Corrupt. I only took off one point to "relevance" because I do feel you missed an opportunity to echo historically Christian music by going 100% grime and glitch. I'm not religious myself but I do have an art history background. Those Christian peeps wrote some serious bangers. You ever feel face melted by something like "Hallelujah" from Messiah by Handel? Woof, that song slaps.

I love the way producers these days use any random noise and say "this is a snare drum now." That snappy little thing for the first half of the track was inspired, truly wasn't expecting that hard dubstep snare for the second half. The track sounds a little too bright imo, I have a tendency to mix too bright as well. A fair warning, a lot of Newgrounds users use AudioTechnicas which I hate with a passion. Despite hating them, I have a pair of ATH-M50x's and put them on just to confirm a mastering issue. Often these headphones will take thin frequencies and make them painful, your track didn't give me pain but the track does still sound incredibly thin on them. When it comes to EDM producers I get really into switching up my headphones because EDM producers have a tendency to care about this kind of stuff. Mastering is something I talk about a lot because a cheap sound system can take your hardstyle bass frequencies and turn it into piss-style. Your track didn't translate well from my Sennheisers but since most people don't factor mastering into their work, it's something I only bring up to make you aware of. As you continue with your productions, try to get a diverse set of speakers and headphones so you can work towards making your sound as true to how you want it to sound on as many formats as possible! Car sound systems have unpredictable diaphragms, many people have lo-fi cheap headphones. I remember meeting a dubstep producer that showed me his work on a cell phone and it still sounded jaw-droppingly great. Mastering is obsessive compulsive but I have so much respect for people that attempt to understand the science of it. I have a lot of AIM tunes to listen to and just realized how much I wrote here. I love this track and hope the other judges can hear what I hear. This tune was exciting and fun to listen to but not without certain flaws. Have a wonderful day CorruptModule, keep glitching :3

CorruptModule responds:

you again! thanks for some more criticism lad. when I mix, I usually try and get an idea of whos listening to this. I have about 4 ways of testing it.

1 is the headphones that I use for daily use and Producing which are Skullcandy crushers with the subwoofer slider all the way down.

2 is a pair of Skullcandy indy fuel's which are just kinda airpod clones but they have somewhat a good balance to them.

3 is a dollar store headset. I use these to see how it sounds on the cheapest shit possible. also cus when I was a yee little lad I listened to music a bunch on headphones like those.

4 I listen in the car. I actually strive more for the song to sound good in the car cus that is one of my favorite places to listen to music.

those are usually the ways I listen to my songs before publishing them. mastering is an interesting topic. I believe it is the last hurdle to understanding music for me. I know if I can understand it my music will be top tier.

It really does make me happy to know that someone can study my tracks and tell me about them. I just don't receive feedback like this too often. thank you so much for this brilliant essay.
and to you as well have a wonderful day Qural.

[AIM - To Be Free]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
GlaceonDash, To Be Free: 10,10,10,8 (38/40)

Wonderfully inspired. When I saw the pixel art I was expecting some old-school NES chiptune in the style of Dragon Quest. The melodies could easily be exported to MIDI and slammed into some chiptune style synths to fit that niche nicely. You wrote wonderful melodies. I'm taking off a point because you could have slipped some basic synths into this to better suit the pixelated imagery while still adhering to your visionary orchestral sounds. This song could have managed the soft coo of a gentle arp in the background. Continuing with my minor gripe, using lazy envelopes synths could have padded the atmosphere. I respect the high-class romanticism you produced though, had a "Bitey of Brakenwood" echo. People are getting very inventive with how these illustrations are inspiring them. I feel like you could have wrote a little bit more to direct my attention but I'm grateful you wrote anything at all, too many users failed to understand how the authors comments are a chance to express intentions and inspirations. It's a tough contest to judge because people take their inspirations and go all over the place. I have a BFA degree and a background in art history so I over analyze how the music and the art is relative to one another. Even if you simply selected a work of art to try to compliment your strengths, I couldn't tell. The honor system is in full effect for this contest but I can't pick up on any dishonesty. The two points I'm taking off are entirely for my own disappointment in that you choose pixel art and didn't take advantage of that realm to any noteworthy degree. I'm a very progressive music maker and I love it when people bleed styles and techniques to make their own worlds and soundscapes. You made something wonderful but missed a small opportunity. Your music is high fidelity compared to the simplistic art you chose (please don't tell the artist I said that.)

I have to keep moving forwards today but please have an inspired day Glaceon, and keep pumping out amazing material :D

GlaceonDash responds:

100% Agree that I could have gone with a chiptune/synth sort of thing.

Most of my choice to not do that was because I had already done a lot of synth focused stuff earlier, and wanted to switch back into the less synth-y style.

Thank you for such a great review!

[AIM-Death Dance]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
DigitalProdigy, Death Dance: 10,9,8,2 (29/40)

I'm going to preface this by saying that I love the song but I don't feel like you managed to convey the vibe of the illustration at all. The image you choose emulates a Daguerreotype which if you were not aware was the first publicly available photographic process widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. Honestly, it's a very cool piece of art. My 2011 Alfred University BFA degree and history of photography credit thanks you for putting this illustration in front of me. I also appreciate that you took the time to write some information as to why you felt the image and the music was relative, I've been harping on people to gush more about their creative process. You noted that you "went outside your comfort zone" of "traditional classical" but you might have been best suited to stay inside of that genre for this image. The time period of the Daguerreotype lends itself to romantic era composers like Debussy, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Shubert, or Beethoven. You could have written a somber classical nocturne but in the triple tempo of a waltz to reflect the dance element present. The waltz with it's triple count was considered dance music back in the day, don't ask why, everything "dance" is duple now a days. I'd have respected classical a little more than dubstep which lends itself to more colorful contemporary styles of design and illustration. I bet you weren't expecting an art major to be a judge for this contest, so I'll respect what you've written on the submission page and give you some "relevance to artwork" points entirely for that artist's commentary. Thank you for writing that up, it shows awareness. I'm still giving a you low score for relevance because I feel my critique is valid.

The production is great but there's still room in your field to compress forwards a little more for additional volume. Professional dubstep manages to find the limits to how much sound you can stuff into a PA system while still sounding crisp and perfectly mixed. You got a little more room in the mix but you still managed to convey amazing ideas wonderfully. I really do love this song, that intro was inspired. Musique concrète meets contemporary grime. Honestly, keep pumping out inspired music despite my gripes. You have serious talent and vision.

Always upwards DigitalProdigy.

DigitalProdigy responds:

Again Thank you so much for that professional review. An art major judge ouch!!! I didn't know what type of art piece it was or the time it was representing, I guess a little more research about the art work will be much needed going forward.
I am trying to work on the volume of my music, it seems to be on the low side, every time I try to push the volume up a notch it get distorted. That's probably because I am a musician after all and not a mixing engineer, even though I been mixing my own music since forever. Mastering is another art in its self, so as I might think I have the mixing down to a science, mastering is an art i am still tying to learn.
Again thank you so much for taking the time to review everyone's music and enjoy the rest of your day.

[AIM - Vacuum]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
arbelamram, 10,10,0,0 (20/40)

As mentioned in my review of Lost Fundamentals, I'm getting on the case of everyone that doesn't write enough about the creative process or their inspiration. It's a little unfair that I'm making myself write up essays for every contestant, genuinely listening to everything, and even throwing my own money into the prize pool. For a competition like this, the more you're willing to say about your work the better. By not saying anything about your work you've left it entirely up the the judges in how they interpret something. It's worth noting that music doesn't always speak for itself despite how "good" it is. I'm actually a little angry that your work is so beautiful and crisp but that you didn't have the awareness to realize that this contest is about "inspiration" in the artwork of others. Had you of just spent a minute more detailing the illustrations you selected I might have been convinced that you gained inspiration from it but I'm not even convinced you've looked at the illustrations. I have to accept the possibility that such an incredibly talented producer might have chosen art at random to try and nab a prize or internet traffic. Take a little more time to engage with the community via your author's comments.

You have a wonderful day arbelamram, salutations.

arbelamram responds:

yet again as i said before, i was hoping my music will speak for itself, not matter if its good or not.
i express my thought in sound and not words.

just for giving u the idea of what inspiration it made me, u can see the my main and signed work is lofi beats and chilllhop,
the relevance for to this piece was the vacuum air sound the rolling in your ears while driving super fast, taking the whole grimmie approch to dubstep riddim delivery to epxress "going to war" kind of vibe.

and again thank u for the perfect score on the production, mucho appricated♥

*Edit* rereading this comment, im still kinda shocked tbh...
"nab a prize or internet traffic","even throwing my own money into the prize".
i dont want your traffic or your money fam,
as u can see in my profile i take part in this competition for alot of years and enjoying this competition and creative space like anybody else here

seeing how materialistic all of this got(over 200$???).. ill be fine staying in my underdog spot♥