Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - ¡WAMYCCIÓN!]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DancarMar responds:

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

[Snow Girl's Adventure [AIM]]

Czyscy, Snow Girl's Adventure
Composition/Structure:10 Production:5 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:7

Give me a second to clarify my scores, I went low on production. It sounded like this could have been written in Sibelius, a program known more for notation than production. The melodies and rhythms are wonderfully inspired but the instruments all have a mechanical/digital MIDI sound that's not always easy to fix. Could have been the mostly static dynamics, the relatively low-fi unchanging drum samples, no discernable panning... I switched to my headphones and the sound got even more flat. The production is the easiest thing to nitpick but I regret saying it because the composition from a notation point of view is phenomenal. 2:32 reminded me of the kind of prog stuff my friends and I wrote in highschool, it's a very exciting section.

We can't all afford top tier plug-ins, I've never bought anything other than core software but for your own sake and style I'd recommend looking into better instrument plug-ins so you don't have to compensate with better production techniques. Some people vehemently bemoan loudness but you're over limiting and the track sounds flat. Comparing what you've written to some pros I gave Rush, Tom Sawyer a quick listen to compare the drums. Maybe you're listening to a lot of 1970s rock but drums have gotten so much more important in the mix in the last 50 years. Would love to hear this song with some phatter drum samples and more dynamic range. When I don't feel like going back into MIDI and reworking velocity values I just automate a volume lane and quickly draw up some peaks and valleys, it's an ok technique that saves some time and headache.

2:55 is supposed to come across as dramatic but those little drums are like mosquito bites. I'd have automated in some momentary drum reverb for color. I'm not a fan of washing out drums with reverb but introducing it sparingly can help add depth, space. I have a lot of work in front of me right now, I've gotta keep moving but I've been impressed enough by your work in the past to know that you have a lot of talent. You're writing some great material but I feel like you're starting to box yourself in. Everyone hits plateaus and I think you're on one right now. Focus on fidelity, sample quality, and loudness for one solid year. You'll come out the other side sounding like David Maxim Micic <3

(EDIT: 420, nice.)

Czyszy responds:

I can't argue with this review except for this bit:

"Maybe you're listening to a lot of 1970s rock but drums have gotten so much more important in the mix in the last 50 years. Would love to hear this song with some phatter drum samples and more dynamic range. "

I'm obsessed with the boxy late 70s style drum sound/vibe for a long long time so that's a 100% creative decision. A bit eccentric? Marmite even? Sure. But I'd have note that I'm fully aware of it and doing it on purpose.

[AIM - Catching Coelacanths]

Catching Coelacanths, SoulSecure
Composition/Structure:9 Production:7 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:10

I was getting burnt out from writing reviews but I just wanted to say that I took points from production because nothing was particularly impressive or revolutionary about the mix elements but it still managed a "less-is-more" perspective. I couldn't stop smiling, it's a very feel-good song. The lyrics are sung kind of lazy but it works incredibly well with the vibe you created. This song has the magic of being 100% relevant to the art, performing to the spirit of the competition beautifully. I wanted to dislike the drum kit, I'm owning up to my bass music bias though. The minimal back track really helped the vocals shine. From a composition perspective I have to admit I was craving all sorts of percussion. The snaps were nice but I'm always hearing space for chimes, tambs, guerro, drum fills, drum rolls, swells, crescendos, decrescendos. I'm very demanding like that. It's not easy to nab a high score with something so minimal but I think you deserve every point you earned, maybe more. Good work SoulSecure!

Edit: I love Cake.

SoulSecure responds:

My mixing and production skills are pretty basic as far as I know, so any advice on that front is welcome.

I was still recovering from destroying my vocal chords when I sang this song, I only more recently regained my full range. Regardless, the vocal style here is influence by jazz singing, crooners, and actually John McCrea of CAKE is another influence here.

I don't think I'd add a ton of percussion to this but dude I can totally hear the guiro in here, like I think that needs to happen at least! Maybe not cymbal crescendos but a jawbone into the instrumental section? I held back a lot to keep it minimal and was concerned about doing too much but outside of that I might add to this...

Thanks!

[AIM - Apocalyptic]

Apocalyptic, MU53
Composition/Structure:9 Production:6 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:6

Hell yeah, fun melodies and ideas! Had a lot of respect for what you had to say about your work, people forget judges are their peers and we love to know what's up sometimes. Providing data shows a technical knowledge that signals authenticity to the community. I'm always saddened when people have nothing to say about their creations.

I feel compelled to disagree with your statement "this is my first go at something like this." At 16 years old every new song must feel like it's something totally novel but I'm going through your catalogue hearing dance kits, dance rhythms, familiar EDM genres, triplets, clap snares... your building a music language as you go but you're still in the forest of youth. The more you learn about music the more it all ties together. In music there is constant evolution, there's always another instrument to learn, another genre to try out, another rhythm to arrange; eventually the very idea of music means something completely different than when you started. It's an honor to get to hear promising new talent, your arrangement is fun and exciting. The track reminds me of a lot of the stuff that my friends made here a long time ago.

The orchestral elements are well woven, the industrial noises were inspired. The mix kept getting me down but I'm looking at your age and looking at the mix like "it makes sense." With a perfect mix a lot of the weirdest ideas will get a hall pass. That kick drum is the focus in this mix, would have loved to hear some dynamics from it. Creating a difference in velocity between the notes on the pulse and the ghost notes, velocity diversity on your drums can really help out a groove. I've been playing the drums for 20 years, dynamics is one of the few ways a percussion instrument can be emotive. A 32nd note drum crescendo or a decrescendo is a drummers way of saying "I have feelings." The kit samples are good but I want to introduce you to some drum modeling techniques...

I love hearing goofy new snare sounds, contemporary EDM producers will make the strangest tones work. Pitching the snare sample all the way up usually gets a snappy trap/nuero sound. I layer snares and play with their levels/pitch/resonance until they mesh together. I'll usually have three or four snares working together in any song. Eventually I merge all the snare signals to EQ and compress, then the new sound gets sent to a digital mixer (my DAW is Reason). I do the same with my kick drums, two or three work together to make a new sound. From the sequencer you can layer the sounds or use the samples individually to create fake dynamics. (You can also layer synths to get cool new tones.)

Learning how to master automation lanes lets you make interesting changes to everything as the song evolves. Panning data, pitch, volume, BPM, envelopes, almost anything you can automate you should try at least once. Opening up the release on an instrument with an automation lane sustains the sound in a way reverb just can't.

I haven't touched on why relevance got a short score but it may have been because there were visual cues leading to obvious foley choices, why not sample some nuclear bomb stuff? It's literally a cliche beyond a cliche, every one has sampled those old timey duck-and-cover videos but I wouldn't have cared. Gotta be careful nabbing samples but at your age and your situation I don't expect you to buy thousands of stock sounds. I nab video game sound folders from google searches and pitch bend them to feel better about myself and my naughty sampling habit. I'd have dropped some bomb sound samples, tanks rolling around, swords clanging, guys stabbing each other, babies crying, dogs barking... the word I used earlier was "foley," you can build a soundscape with these ideas and transport the listener into the image.

Since the artist used classic paint techniques I'd have orchestrated the fuck out of some sections and tied the ideas together claiming it to be some kind of 19th century romanticism. In truth I just like hearing orchestral sounds in my EDM genres. That intro could have had an entire section of bass drum swells, cymbal swells, French horn brams, chimes, gongs, timpani, waterphones... the art invited so many excuses to use classical techniques but you might not have those ideas available to you yet, AGE STRIKES AGAIN! FOILED BY THE THINGS WE HAVE YET TO EXPERIENCE.

I wish I could sit here all day and share ideas with you because your age is interesting. I do hope you spend some time checking out the other contestants! The winners always have some pretty inspiring stuff, I'm in love with this years batch of virtuosos. Good luck MU53!

MU53 responds:

Holy long review. Sorry it took me so long to respond to this, but better late than never. I'll respond paragraph by paragraph.

By first go, I think I meant genre-wise. But yeah. After going back through all of my older uploads, I see what you mean by me making a common "language" of sorts that I've sort of penned. A unique style if you will. In terms of genre-wise, the Industrial part was new for me, but I think I did alright. I will definitely improve this, and even fully overhaul it.

Yeah looking back at this now, my mixing was pretty horrendous. But credit to me, I wove in the industrial/electronic and orchestral elements in really well. I can probably do better in my remake, but it's a solid start. Also at the time, my inexperienced self had no idea about the nitty-gritty of mixing, like sidechain. I only knew soundgoodizer LOL. But seeing your input on this, maybe it's worth practicing. Definitely will take that into account.

Oh boy. It's just clicking for me how bad I done goofed by not including any sort of nuclear stuff. In my defense, I did NOT know how to sample stuff at all (still don't, but I'd like to think I have gotten a bit better). Since I'll be remaking this, I'll definitely go full on in the sampling department.

You bet I'm going to orchestrate the fuck out of the intro on my redo of this piece. I will also make it a bit faster in terms of pacing. Also, might be more melancholic.

I checked out some other entries, and I might take notes from those and implement it into my piece in someway.

Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for having me this year. Looking forward to the next!

[AIM - Darkness]

Darkness, satanicpotatoe
Composition/Structure:7 Production:5 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:8

Reminds me of an old Iron Maiden tribute album I used to bop. Big growl, guitar has a nice heavy sound, drums are alright. They're not very dynamic but they hit every blast beat in the book of 4/4. Kind of would have liked to hear that vocal growl go to different textures, you're hitting me with one static throat bass the entire time. Mix felt kind of flat too, I think there's some serious tonal deficiency and it might be the drums? I don't know if you could get more mid range from the guitar but maybe a second guitar would help? I mean, you start to go there with that solo but then it disappears almost as soon as it's introduced. It was also too loud for the two seconds it was there but I think that guitar tone would have worked nicely with the rhythm guitar you had, just got to find the space in the mix for them both.

I have no right to tell people "pick better art" but there is so much stuff on Newgrounds that it feels like a cop out that you choose some basic black and red textures. It came across like the art was chosen to suit a style you like making but then I looked at your catalogue and I don't believe that anymore. Would love to hear you producing more work, you have some very diverse sounds! This song comes completely out of left field in that context. When I look at the art again I'm left disappointed because it comes across like you were more inspired by the title of the art than the art itself. "It's subjective" is not a good enough argument, there is so much visual work that can convey conceptual ideas to the judges in a fair way. Expecting us all to have an art background is weird but I'm one of the few judges that verifiably has a BFA degree. If I wanted to I could say some things about the art you choose but it probably wouldn't be kind. I will have a much easier time saying nice things about the song because I genuinely liked it.

I gotta keep moving, lot of songs to review but this was a good one! Hope you have a fantastic day Mr. Potato!

Edit: production score was a little lower than you probably deserved but I didn't go back over every song to fix stuff up. It took so much time to judge this competition. I've gotten really detached from my computer so I'll apologize where I think it's due but at most I'd have only given you another one or two points. Hope this doesn't feel like an attempt to hurt your feelings, just pointing out what was probably the easiest quadrant to take points from. You wrote some killer melodies and rhythms but the production fidelity was missing power in a genre that's all about power. Sorry satanicpotatoe but I do hope you find all the fidelity techniques you need to hit the next plateau! Cheers.

satanicpotatoe responds:

Thanks Quarl!

I remember that Iron Maiden's tribute album with songs from Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, etc. That was a good one!

As for the art, I know it's a pretty crude piece of work, but when I was looking for inspiration I liked the vibe it gave off and immediately got ideas.

You got me, production in this genre isn't my greatest strength and for my own band we deal with a recording studio for our albums because mixing this genre requires a lot of skill and every element that isn't optimal shows up immediately.

Thanks for the review!
Cheers!

[AIM - VIOLETSYSTEMx64]

VIOLETSYSTEMx64, AnxietySewer
Composition/Structure:8 Production:9 Emotion/Atmosphere:9 Art Relevance:6

Tough to judge, you've given me no catalogue to look into. I've developed a habit of listening to the other competitor's catalouges to try and weed out people that are just sticking to their polished genres without demonstrating any actual inspiration. The arguement that could always be made is "it's subjective." I'm so glad I majored in art though because it really isnt, there is always a conceptual way to tie a song to a visual work. Really wish I could hear some more of your work because your technique is polished but how do I know you didn't just pick a random work that kind of vibes with your music style?

I said this to another competitor that dropped awesome DNB: sounds fucking amazing. It's a really good mix, hits too hard in a few spots though and gets muddy. Samples are great, sometimes they're a little too random, that sporadic ending in particular might have benefit if you moved it to the beginning? The sliced up girl noises sort of ties the song to the art but I wish there was more than just a vauge connection to the girl. You're leaving it up to me to assume that the bold energy in your song conforms to the bold energy of the art but I could just as easily look at violet 4.0 and imagine house or electro. It's a very colorful piece of art, why did you choose dnb in particular? Is it just a genre you need to make? Don't be afraid to share your feelings or ideas, everyone here is your peer and we'll respect what you have to say about your work. It was very fun to listen to, one of my favorites but I'm only half convinced that it was written in the spirit of the contest. Thank you so much and please have a wonderful day!

AnxietySewer responds:

helloaa,thank you very much,I chose to do dnb because it is one of the genres that I really like,I don't know how to do many things in the house style to be honest,besides when I got into aim24 I was experimenting my style,I wanted to do something that was energetic and fast with a futuristic touch,I really appreciate the rating you gave me,I'm really happy and I will surely participate again next year,it was fun.

[AIM - Yeah, something like that.]

Yeah, something like that; Aalasteir
Composition/Structure:5 Production:4 Emotion/Atmosphere:5 Art Relevance:10

I won't lie, I had trouble listening to the song. There was a very creative, almost fluxist spirit to it. The work of art you choose was incredibly technical so I might have been anticipating something a little more technical? The lyrics very heavily allude to some of the elements from the drawing so I have to give you some massive relevance points.

Having spent a few days coming back to this song and not entirely certain what to say about it I finally gave your catalogue a check just for context into your style and habits. Question, do you run full speed at a different genre every day? I heard some incredible stuff in your catalogue. This song in comparison seems very lack luster, monotone, and droning. I think you managed to evoke the image while simultaneously doing it in a very unflattering way.

I wanted to take off a lot of emotion/atmosphere points for only hitting me with one droning energy the entire time but you used your voice which I have a lot of respect for. Voice is an instrument so many people overlook. Other's don't trust their voices enough to tune it up in the first place. This song kind of sounds like a tune up in that respect, not pro but moving in the right direction. I'm too wuss to consider using my own voice and I love singing, respect Aalasteir.

Production scored low, drums and pads were so retro it hurt. We skipped synthwave and went full Gregorian chant. This song definitely conforms to the spirit of the contest but I'm craving more from your skills. Listening to your other songs was the right move, you have incredible talent. I think you went a little too experimental with this one but thank you so much for genuinely going at the spirit of the contest. Have a nice one and goodluck Aalasteir <3

Aalasteir responds:

When I don’t have a workday, I sometimes create a lot of music—up to 7 songs. Speed is the primary focus of my workflow. I don’t make music every day, and I try do different genres. This particular song was different because I aimed to capture the sound of new wave songs, which I’ve listened to a lot and really enjoy.

I like Joy Division’s “Disorder” and The Cure; my favorite song is “Disintegration.”

The unusual side effect sounds were created using the Roli Seaboard Rise 2.

Thank you Quarl, I am grateful for your thoughtful review. I really appreciate you sharing your expectations, as well as your positivity and respect. Your great attention to detail is evident.

[AIM - Hope's Memory]

Hope's Memory, wobwobrob
Composition/Structure:8 Production:10 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:10

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from that wave shape. Loved those bass tones, they got a little muddy around 00:53 but that's where I'd have expected a crescendo. That spot would have been brighter with a cymbal swell into a vibraslap (I have a vibraslap fetish and literally no one takes advantage of that). I guess you used up your one cymbal swell at 1:44... never mind, 2:11. I pitch bend my swells to create something new out of them every so often, one cymbal suddenly becomes an army of cymbals with pitch automations.

You didn't say much about your work but I paid attention to that "isolated and alone... weight-of-tragedy" feeling. I suppose you don't want to over encumber the mix with too many harmonies or sounds but some more cymbal diversity could have helped along the orchestration. Some rattling percussion might of portrayed dry emptiness? I've developed a love affair with güiros, again you could vibraslap a rattle snake into the imagery. Chimes are great when you want to create some atmosphere and don't want to use one of your cymbal swells. The fidelity of your mix sounds pro but some more aux percussion would have helped the composition a little...

I'm focusing on the things I'd have done differently but you did a lot of great things with this piece. I'm only 11 songs into judging but this is so far my favorite. I really feel like the image and the song work perfectly together.

Since I say it to everyone, you could have spent a little more time talking about the art but this is one of the rare pieces that kind of speaks for itself (most don't). I gave your catalogue a quick check to see if you regurgitate one style over and over but you have a nice field of diversity and breadth. Your catalogue adds authenticity to the idea that you didn't just pick a random image. I wish more artists would explore outside their comfort zones to pad up their sounds, thank you for having a diverse catalogue.

I took one point off composition/structure because that intro kind of comes out of nowhere and another for just lack of percussive diversity. That intro is your space to "Foley" up a soundscape, "John Cage" some wind noises. Missed opportunity, you clearly have the skills for it! Sample a waterphone. Mood instrument, $300 on it's own without the recording apparatus and necessary skills... or just... cop a sample like a true 80's hip-hop enthusiast. I'm a relatively chaotic judge in that I encourage sampling but other competitors will sample stuff and we will have zero evidence they did it. I like to level the playing field a little. Pros in the music world sample all the time, why can't we? All the modding Newgrounds does around samples is to avoid getting slapped by copyright holders. I saw the other judges getting antsy because a song used a bunch of Microsoft sounds, meanwhile all these other subs with bird noises and running water sounds... how many people do you think have decent field recorders? How many people pay out the ass to have sample folders provided to them? I'm very lax on sampling because of all that, just thought I'd mention it. Sample a vibraslap TODAY :p

Great track wob, good luck!

wobwobrob responds:

Thanks for taking the time to leave such a great review, and thanks for noticing that this is very much out my comfort zone! That's the beauty of AIM, if you play correctly it pushes you to do something you wouldn't normally.

Also I have a waterphone in my library so I will play around with it on your recommendation!

Great judging, well done to you all :)

[Chocnoon - Falling Night ~AIM~ (DLVII)]

Falling Night, Chocnoon
Composition/Structure:10 Production:5 Emotion/Atmosphere:10 Art Relevance:4

Classic sound, pretty sure I heard that opening launch sample like 20 years ago on an old reg's song, couldn't find it after looking though. The trance melodies sound like they were written or inspired by a young BOUNC3 or Cornandbeans. Even the mix-down has a younger trance sound in that you really should focus on mixing and mastering techniques to get the sound quality up to snuff. This genre and style really sings when the fidelity starts sounding pro. You very clearly wanted the sound you were going for but I wish you said more about the art and how it inspired you. Way too many people get this idea that their work will speak for itself but I never know whether or not the work is truly being inspired or if it was a randomly chosen image. Anything said about the work helps alleviate that fear and leaves me without the ability to even claim something so preposterous.

...and people still get upset when I point that out like "just judge the music." I'M AN ART MAJOR, SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT THE ART D:<

The image is emulating a photography trick, an extra long exposure to create those trailing stars. Looking at a blue night sky, I might have stuck to a blues scale. You started the track out by referencing that night sky with the launch sample but what's next? Did you think to use glittering chimes to try and create an audible representation of those stars? Did you think to maybe include some arps panning across the spectrum to symbolically represent a meteor shower? Space theme: sine waves produce the same sound as a theremin, an instrument known to be a sci-fi classic. You could have used that to your advantage. This next crit might sound kind of lame but why sample a launch sequence when there isn't a single space ship in the image? If you had spent a few seconds to write HOW the work inspired you I'd have less trouble relating the art to your work but it sounds like you stuck to a genre you're comfortable with and picked an image that you thought would jive with that. I could just as easily look at the image and imagine any other genre though.

It's a really cool piece of art you choose, full screen is awesome. I can really pick out the fine details on the art but in comparison your mix sounds flat and muddy. That snare sounds like a washed out tin foil pan hiding behind all the bass tones, I'd have liked more presence from the snare. I think I've heard some trance forgo the snare all together but I suppose that's a creative decision. A trance snare hitting the high frequencies should be able to fly over the mix, why such a washed out sound? Are you sidechaining? It's hard to tell, that bass drum is so much of the mix but if it's doing any side chaining it doesn't necessarily sound like it. I always sidechain my leads, if a lead is getting stereo panned and split into two signals most won't notice the sidechain controlling stuff. The sub bass instrument sounds like it's hitting the up beats, a sidechain signal usually creates that illusion well enough that you don't need to worry about it and you can just place all your data on the whole notes. Pads are also a good thing to sidechain... again I can't tell if your sidechaining or just relying on the instrument's inherent qualities to mix well together on their own but I suspect your fidelity would sound a tad better if you nailed some profesional techniques. Sometimes I sidechain an instrument really hard, other times just a little but it's one of those game changing techniques that just leads into a better understanding of signal flow and fidelity.

That hi-hat goes harder than that snare, just saying. In what genre does the hi-hat get so much mix real estate? Sounds like it's coming from the center too, aux percussion is one of my favorite things to pan off. You can counter those panned hi-hats with a tamb rhythm in the opposite ear, you can play with their note velocities to get more dynamic range out of them. Shakers could help fill up that rhythm a little too. It's not easy to get creative with drums, it's a very straight forward instrument but given how important the drums are to dance genres you need to master every fidelity trick you can to polish up. You have those bass tones perfect, now crisp up your mix a little. Maybe a clap snare layered on top would have been helpful? Do you layer your drums much or at all? Good samples are just the beginning to a good dance track but good drum modeling takes work and practice. Layer drum samples, change pitch, send the sounds to each their own fidelity units to polish, EQ, compress, filter, and whatever else you may do to get the end result: drums that sound full and unique. It might have been Nav that told me ages ago, drums are the most important element in any dance genre and I totally agree with his feelings. Your bass drum sounds nice but the highs help make the mix snap.

Got a lot of AIM stuff to move on to, I didn't listen to your song as much as I could have. Takes me about an hour to write these reviews but I felt like I've listened to you song a thousand times already because it sounds just like my childhood on Newgrounds. As I was writing this review I'd pause the music because it was getting distracting. The song doesn't really do the image justice, it sounds more like an ode to Paradise on E than the image itself. The genre can be amazing to listen to when it's pro so just to clarify, it's probably the static mix that had me so bored. I'm not taking any points from Composition/Structure or Emotion/Atmosphere because I'm hitting the other two categories with fury. I felt like you nailed those other categories. You could spend some more time fixating on how to convey imagery via sound, you could spend ANY TIME AT ALL describing your work, as I just did. The community revolves around itself, peers will listen to your work and we know what it all feels like. Don't be afraid to say something about your work, especially in a contest when the judges are paying attention.

Seriously, what was your old alt? Is that Ocon? Sorry, bad guess from rearranging the letters in Chocnoon. I swear you're an old reg with this 2000's high school trance style...

name responds:

I'm actually Ocon lol (nah jk)

But seriously, I'm glad you liked the song!

[AIM - Rampage of The Dark Paladin]

Scorched Rain, Rampage Of The Dark Paladin
Composition/Structure:7 Production:2 Emotion/Atmosphere:8 Art Relevance:9

Right off the bat I feel like this is undeniably inspired by the art. Inspiration can be very subjective so I focus on it to try and bridge whether or not the musician is legitimately inspired by the work. I like to do a little extra footwork to check out the musician's catalog to see if they're just competing to their own strengths but you have a very diverse albeit brief catalog. Wish there was more of your music I could dig into but I understand, Newgrounds is always inspiring new talent and you're competing with everything you currently got. Without getting into too much detail about the competition, AIM always delivers top tier music. I'll beg that you spend some time listening to and checking out some of the winning competitors for inspiration, there's always a higher plateau to aim for.

There is a Castlevania vibe to the work, I noticed the tower in the background of the art which helps you out for that Gothic feeling you were going for. Good choice of instrumentation. Drums go hard which arguably fits the intensity of... fighting monsters? The mix is driving me crazy though, too much reverb is making things kind of muddy. I'd ditch the reverb on the drum kit and study-up how to sidechain the melodic instruments using the kick drum or a combination of the kick drum and the snare drum. Sidechaining will allow you to control the levels of one instrument with the levels of another, in other words you can use the signal from a kick drum to momentarily push aside instruments like bass and strings to help clarify the mix. Sidechaining is easy when you learn how to, I just looked up BitWig tutorials on how to sidechain in that program. Learning how to use a compressor to sidechain will push you in the direction of learning to use your fidelity units to their fullest potential.

It feels like you fell asleep on the sustain peddle, that organ grates and doesn't relent. A feeling I've always agreed with is that good music builds up tension, then releases it, then builds it again, then releases it, as many times as necessary. Often it happens within a measure or two. That organ is just constantly overpowering in the wrong way. I'd have given it a rest every now and then to let other instruments breath. Between the organ and the drum kit there is no room. The art relies on a lot of negative space to create tension (via the black spaces), or contrast. I'm not hearing a whole lot of contrast so much as I'm hearing a constant drone. A harpsichord or a dulcimer might have punched through your mix, some of those organ melodies deserved to be transposed. That intro would have been far more inviting if the separate melodies stood out more...

...which leads me to panning and layering. I'm not certain there are two separate organs rather the first melody sounds like your just writing different parts on the same instrument. I'd take the different melodic zones and transpose the high melody to a string instrument I mentioned earlier (dulcimer/harpsichord), the low end would get it's own instrument (mixed towards the center but it can stay on an organ), then the highs and mids could offset each other with some nuanced panning. Mids might like a string section or choir. That melody deserves three different instruments but it all sounds like it's coming from one sustained organ and it's not beneficial. Splitting that melody up intro three instruments would create more contrast, give you more space to mix, hit new textures in different sonic spaces, and you could pan them to make room in the stereo field. Every instrument deserves it's own "space."

Compared to the organs, the drums are very contemporary. I would never take points off for choosing contemporary drum rhythms but where are the orchestral sounds? They'd have fit the mood of the art. You can build tension and release it with orchestral drum swells; crescendos and decrescendos. Cymbal swells and bass drum swells usually come with orchestral sample packs and since Bitwig seems to make a big deal of it's internal samples and instruments I'd spend some time getting to know all of your orchestral options that came with the program out of box. They also sell lots of extra goodies as far as that's concerned but I've been using Reason for 20 years without buying new instruments or tools. As a DAW that contends with all the best, it will come with proprietary orchestral sounds, find them and make use of them!

Hopefully this review doesn't hurt, you have a lot of potential and I'd love to hear you grow into that potential. I took a lot of points from production because your sound is "young" and seemingly uninformed. I'd recommend looking up classical composers such as Vivaldi or Bach to emulate or inspire a more authentic/classic gothic sound. I'd also recommend spending some time on Bitwig tutorials to learn all your fidelity and mix tools proper. Would also look up some information on panning so that you're not going too wild with it but instead are making informed decisions on where to put instruments in the stereo field. I'm giving a high score for art relevance because it's obvious to me that you put in the effort but took one point from it because I felt like there was more you could have done. That also kind-of offsets the production score which I went super critical on to drive my perspective home. You got some great potential scorch, let's live up to it next year! Good luck with the other judges, by the time I post this the competition will likely be over but I'm serious when I say "next year," AIM is consistently annual thanks to Annette. You can improve a lot in one year, time flies. Cheers ScorchedRain!

ScorchedRain responds:

Thanks for reviewing!!