Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Trinitron]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
CorruptModule, Trinitron: 8,8,6,9 (31/40)

Well, you may have lucked out with a judge that spends a lot of time with breakcore and hardstyle genres but I'm good at checking my bias. I can give you massive credit for finding illustrations that suit your apparent strengths. There's an honor system we have to acknowledge that the musicians are truly finding works of art that inspired them. The image you found could suit any number of "club" genres and styles, honestly breakcore doesn't bring in the crowd the way two-step does in my experience. Totally unrelated to your music, I saw Evol Intent in NYC ages ago. They have a lot of breakcore, IDM, and glitch in their catalog but the DJ set that they played had a lot of "jump up" two-step DNB breaks. It was a funny surprise, the simplistic high energy drum breaks really got the audience grooving but I was hoping they'd play more of that "Era Of Diversion" and "Human Resource" material I grew up on. Two step drum patterns in the streets, breakcore and glitch in the sheets.

Actually, you consistently used that high energy "two step" DNB jump-up pattern I'm talking about. Nice switch up towards the two minute mark, I love that nasty break section. This track is like an agreement between jump-up and hardstyle breakcore: a handshake to coexist. I'm a huge fan of progressive ideas and genres, find what you love about music and make it your own. I'll bring up a minor issue of taste, those grimy synth lines are a little boring. Over 15 years ago, a critic of my music once told me "DNB synths just sound like fart noises." It's been my goal ever since to avoid that boring low energy sawtooth tone. The drums are high energy but you're kind of relying on those "farty" tones and textures from the synths. I love what I'm hearing but I'd have dropped a filter on top of the lead synths and automated freq/res knobs to create more interesting tones and textures to get "wetter" contemporary sounds. I can hear you playing with tones and textures, I love that but the tones and textures from that grating low reese synth overpowers things a fair bit. Using a filter and some automation lanes you can draw peaks and valleys to create rhythmic accents. Boost and cut frequencies over time to bring more life to those monster synths. I never let a reese "fart" unless it's only momentary. Sorry to use that word, fart. It's a trigger word for me and I'll always squirm a little when someone uses it to describe a synth.

The song is all energy. I like to hear DNB that can deliver that max energy but also tells a little story. You have great atmospheric tricks, you could of used more atmosphere and less drums at times. Noisia made the statement very early in their DNB career that they wanted to make music that could fit in with the dance floor or a DJ set but they also wanted their songs to sound good enough to be listened to casually on their own. This track really feels like it fits in with an hour long DJ set but it doesn't really make me want to come back and listen to it in my free time. I've been listening to DNB for a fairly long time, go give "Moonway Renegade" by Noisia a listen, it's a personal favorite of mine (low quality on youtube, try to find a high resolution versions of songs when looking up Noisia). Powerful synths for 2006 but the filter modulations they programmed contributed to a really unique groove. They built a synth in that which sounds very similar to yours but the modulations they programmed have remained interesting and powerful over 15 years later. "Monster" by Noisia also uses "farty" tones but they clearly have a filter on top giving a slight wobble to the texture. Those cats programmed some masterclass grooves.

I'm sorry if this comes across as overly critical but I love what I'm hearing and only wish for you to keep pounding out some solid work. Everyone needs a hard critique from time to time but I know you can do more and I know you can do a little better. One final footnote, thank you for posting so much data, I griped on people for not writing enough about their creative process. It's a tough contest to judge and you can influence things a little by showing that extra attention to detail. Music doesn't always speak for itself but you went ahead and said everything you could. I got to keep moving forwards but have a good day Currupt! Salud and salutations :D

(Final statement, I almost didn't catch that the illustration was animated. By putting the illustration on the same page as the music I almost missed that element. I've mentioned to a few other users that the animated images seem to lend the music some energy. A moving picture is almost essential for those DNB genres in that DNB is a style that should make you want to get up and move. I added an extra point to "relevance," because that motion is a really powerful tool. I'm curious if next year will feature only moving images after I've pointed this out so often...)

CorruptModule responds:

Thank you for the criticism! I was a little bit bummed that this one didn’t make it for the finale 20 songs but that’s alright. This is probably close to a second or thirdish time I messed with this genre. I am glad tho to get this criticism from someone who has really enjoy the genre for awhile now. I myself started around 2020 just listening to it. At first I was unsure a bit but I truly love this genre now. I think what I worry the most about when I try making music for a genre I’m not to familiar with or I haven’t been part of for 10 years is people criticizing me on that but you haven’t. It’s really nice to now that a new person in the genre can still flourish in it. I also produce many other genres I can’t satisfy my self with just one genre. So thank you for this criticism I don’t really get it to often ,especially one this detailed, but thank you for it I really do appreciate it.

I still have some other things to add. I get the idea of “fart” synths. I prefer “shitting my pants” synths as a term instead. ( that was a joke don’t take it that seriously) but fr I understand that “fart” synth moment. I try and stay away from those and I really like growl sounding or kinda “electronic screaming? Thingy” sounding stuff. For some reason tho I really liked the idea of the drop being like this. When I was working on the synth I just loved how aggressive it’s was. It was mean it was nasty it I feel wanted to be put into a song that was breakcore/ dubstep/ riddim/ tear out. I feel if I didn’t make that song with this synth it would have not been the same vibe.
And being this proud I will defend my synth as tho it were my own child. Yes it was farting but with style. Yeah I’ll try and keep away from those type synths unless the song demands it of course.

I couple more things:
- I was kinda annoyed that the gif file I put on the description didn’t work. I was I bit mad but I couldn’t really find a way to fix that so thx for pointing it out. I didn’t know how it showed up on others, I really thought it was just my internet tweaking.
- I really could talk about all my songs with as much or more detail here. I try to keep it simple for the other ones. The great part about aim is that I can blabber about the song for a whole as essay and someone will ( unfortunately) have to read it.
- I’m a go check out the songs you recommended to me thank you for that.
- mfr’s love fart synths

Also once again thank you for the criticism. Thank you for taking your time with my song and evaluating it as unbiased as possible. I do feel like it can be necessary to have people on the judging team either have a lot experience in specific genres. So I guess I am lucky that I got you to judge my song. Thanks lad.

[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 (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 - 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

MauveDash 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♥

[AIM - Lost Fundamentals]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
arbelamram, Lost Fundamentals: 10,10,5,0 (25/40)

What's going on with all this top tier DNB in the AIM contest, so many users are getting creative with one of my favorite genres. I'm a little upset you didn't say anything about your work though. You're surrounded by peers on Newgrounds and we love to know more about each other. You could include inspirations, aspirations, feelings, ideas, anything that can help guide us into understanding your intentions because in regards to the theme of the contest music doesn't always speak for itself.

You choose Zelda fan art, and gave us high-class DNB. Having said nothing about your work, it comes across like you weren't inspired by the art much at all but instead wrote to your strengths. Since I'm being asked to judge "emotion" I'm taking into consideration that you didn't really prove you felt anything relative to the illustration. This painting was the perfect excuse to slip in that overused Navi "hey" or some Link grunts from Smash brothers (massive Nintendo sample libraries are easy to find via google. I use them all the time, other contests will punish you for copywritten sounds but we're a little more laid back with AIM.) It kind of sounds like some sword swipes @ 1:14 but those are so uncreatively sprinkled on top of the track, it feels like an after-thought. As a drum and bass artist you could have taken some token LOZ sfx and pitch bent them, reverbed them into the atmosphere, or just made melodies with the classic NES sounds. I'm so surprised because this is intensely good DNB but it just feels like it misses the point of the contest. Hopefully this doesn't come across too harshly, I do wish you the best. Have a nice day arbelamram, and salud!

(Edit: Check Moonway Renegade by Noisia for a good example of how to sprinkle samples like those I mentioned into a DNB track. It's an old favorite of mine...)

arbelamram responds:

ive just reread all the rules and didnt saw it was a requirement to add a description for your work, ive hoped my music will speak for i self.
throughout my year here on newgrounds no one ever referred any comment to my descreptions
i usally answer just when asked :)

as for the relativity for the Art piece,
the piece was originally based on the OST from breath of the wild on the song called "riding" which is played when u ride a horse.
after working on it i wanted to recompose the melody to fit the color tones of art piece.
yet my general direction of only to compliment the idea of the art
and not focusing on the fact its game.

and i really happy you enjoyed the production level itself♥
thank for your time to write this feedback ♥

[AIM - Skypunks]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
LordAndiso, Skypunks: 9,7,9,10 (35/40)

This comp has been getting some top quality DNB. It's unfortunately a genre I have to identify a bias for. I was waiting for a more potent snare drum to take over the hard hitting sections but the snare you gave us was comparably weak against the rest of the track. A lot of other DNB producers at the moment make use of a punchy pitched-up snare drum. I'll post a low-fidelity YouTube video you could sample for snare layers, most mods would be none the wiser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUUx3GeZa_g

Pitch-bent up and with a quicker cutoff, these might slap nicely in your tune. Building a layered, punchy snare drum can take a lot of practice but you have so many good elements in this song that I had to zone in on what I felt was the weakest element. When making drum and bass, you want to make sure the drums are perfect. The melodies are beautiful, the instruments are lush and colorful but that snare drum is uncooked kale. Fatten it up a little, it needs to slap >:]

Despite my massive issues with the snare drum the track still manages to compliment the art nicely. The art is bubbly and alive, the chibi characters are well echoed by those colorful melodies and "minion" background gibberish. Those fun chipmunk voices at 1:05 could have been reused within the track and pitch bent a little now and again for diversity. It was a really cute motif and you could have tied the structure together a little better with some more of it sprinkled about different parts of the track. All in all you wrote such a perfect little bop...

...but that snare drum. Most the points you lost in production will be focused on the simple fact that the snare drum is failing to tie the whole thing together. It's not a bad snare drum during the lighter sections but it lacks the drive and power I anticipate from a DNB kit. Even gentler subgenres like liquid benefit from a solid snare drum. I need to move along and judge a ton of other tunes but realize that you almost wrote a perfect song. I'd have come back to this tune several times more with the right snare drum because of how much life you put into everything else but the one issue stands out so much that I'm not certain I'll come back and listen to this later. That's a huge issue, disappointment is a bad reason to remember a tune for. Good luck with the other judges Andiso, I do wish you well!

LordAndiso responds:

Woah! thats really cool. I've got alot of stuff to learn.. thanks for pointing it out.. helps me a ton. :)

[AIM - Psalm Palms]

Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
BusanBlack, Psalm Palms: 9,7,9,7 (32/40)

Before having listened to the track, I'll make sure to point out that you can always gush a little more about your music when you're writing about it. The people on this website are your peers and we love to share ideas and inspire each other. We have a lot of global artists so sometimes conveying ideas in English is impossible but I also understand when a user sticks to their native language and I can manage Google translate. Never be afraid to express yourself, our work can give us a sense of existence, accomplishment, and meaning. I like to know more about the people I bump into here. Other users also helped connect the illustrations to their music by writing small stories, which is a little overboard but it only helped them defend the idea that the illustration and the music were somehow related to each other. Everyone has a different style or approach but I'm left to interpret what yours was. Guilt the judges into recognizing your intentions with a small manifesto.

The song itself is very chill and written with love. I noticed that you played with panning data,
a lot of other users failed to make use of that stereo element. Panning has all sorts of advantages, disadvantages, and functions but typically the bass gets mixed into the center to give structure to the sound field. Thinner frequencies and textures are better served with a panning bias. Another artist uploaded chiptune and I was very forgiving with production issues on them because that genre lent itself to being a little thin. You have a progressive mix of styles and sounds so it's a little hard to pinpoint my production criticism. On one hand, I can respect your creative integrity in sticking to that hip-hop drum kit and funky bass line but maybe the entire track could have benefit from the same level of energy? It's like the track wanted to be half chiptune and half RNB but even chiptune sounds can convey high fidelity.

The image is nice to look at and the music is comfortable to listen to but you definitely could have taken advantage of the authors bio to better direct us with some more words or ideas. I'm not 100% convinced that the image and the music belong together. There are birds in the image and you could have used chiptune blips and bleeps to convey bird song, or literal bird song samples. Sinewaves in particular are very flexible for that kind of thing. Some digital distortion on the drum kit might have better tied the jazz kit into the pixel setting of the image. The melodies are very peaceful but the drum kit comes across a little amateurish and stylistically at odds with the rest of the track, and 8-bit drum kit would have played into this track nicely. Given that the drum samples have a live drum vibe I'm torn in how robotically they were presented. A drum kit benefits from dynamic changes to volume, as a drummer myself I can point out how a drummer conveys control with volume. Velocity is one of the few tools a drum kit can use to convey emotions. Again, by making the drum kit digital you might have better fit the chiptune vibe while needing to think less about things like dynamics. It's a great song but it sounds a little at odds with itself and the illustration.

I'm going to point out that there were some great artists and musicians in this competition, worth giving your peers some listens if you haven't yet. You have a wonderful day Busan, keep writing great stuff :]

BusanBlack responds:

Thank you for the insight. I honestly feel foolish for not putting in a description of how the music and art were related. That's completely my bad. I was going for the hip hop chiptune type sound but it still needs work. I originally never listened to chip tune music until recently and so only just got into the mix of chemistry. There is always room for improvement and I'm glad you were able to provide me with such detailed input. I honestly only know a small amount of what you are saying as I am still learning about music production but will nonetheless look it up and continue improving. Again, thank you for taking the time to write me an amazing critique!