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