Random-storykeeper's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM Dance Of Seduction]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

The sound design in this entry is entrancing in of itself. From a Western perspective, Middle Eastern instruments are generally associated with being desert-like, but I think it's cool that they're being used for this beautiful, haunting mermaid track. The vocal instruments are used to great effect - there's a lot of great phrasing and dynamics that help to make the melody more emotionally impactful. I can definitely picture this mermaid rising out of the water and singing, grabbing an unsuspecting man and returning underwater with her new catch.

I think the production could have played around more with that idea of being immersed underwater. The water sounds at the beginning and the end are great, but the instruments could have also had some higher frequencies cut off to depict the underwater moments more effectively. I would have loved to see some shifts with the filtering as it would better illustrate this mermaid rising out of the water and then sinking back in.

You really show a lot of prowess when it comes to crafting a narrative surrounding the art you're inspired by. Not gonna lie, I was surprised by the use of male vocals towards the end of the track. They worked relatively well, composition-wise, but I was confused what they how they were supposed to contribute to the narrative. Are these the men that are going down with her?

Overall, I think this track does a great job at creating a distinct atmosphere that is gripping as it is alluring. I love that final section and the way it culminates around that descending scale pattern with that plucked string instrument. It was a fantastic decision to lead up to the conclusion.

[AIM - Boombox]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

What I really like about this track is that it's easy to tell that it was completely made with the art in mind just by listening to it. Not only because the BPM was matched to the swaying of the characters, but the sound effects from retro video games and soundfonts perfectly complement the art style. Most of all, I think this piece gets the energy of the art just right. It moves enough to make you bop your head, but not so energetic that it makes you want to full-on dance. And I think that was the best part of all.

If I had to nitpick one thing, it would be that I think the second half of this track doesn't really offer that much. The track is pretty laid back with one guitar layer coming and going at different points in the track, but I think there was room to have at least one other layer that complements the main baseline while not feeling identical to what was previously heard. I don't think this track needs like a major chord change or anything, but I did feel like it wear out from overplay.

Aside from that, I really like this track overall. Like I said earlier, it goes for the elements in the art and gets the sound, energy and beat down to a pat. The guitar plays well against the bassline and is a good way to add some changes to the layers while still maintaining the general groove. For a while, this track did get stuck in my head and earlier in the judging period, I did go back just to listen to it for the guitar line.

[Matei - Corridors (AIM CONTEST 2023)]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

It was surprising to see an artwork featuring what seems to be an empty, dark room be interpreted in such an abrasive and aggressively uncomfortable way. That's not to say this entry is bad - in fact, it's because of its harsher tones that I think you are able to effectively portray the liminal concept. Typically, empty rooms would lend to a quieter sound, but this track feels like an amplified version of what one would normally perceive as quietness. Sometimes the "silence" is simply the stuff we cannot hear at face value and I think this track captures the essence of that effectively.

I also found it interesting that the sounds are quite noisy and distorted, but the track remains at a constant, even tempo with a standard drum beat. These two elements play into the idea of liminality really well. The atypical sounds overlapping with that 4/4 time signature exudes that feeling of being stuck in between two places - a normal percussion with intangible instruments, musically. I would love to hear more playing around with time signatures or familiar drum beats, perhaps having some parts where there is no sense of time or where the beats are to enhance the disorientating atmosphere.

I'll admit that I respect this entry more than I enjoy it, but I think there's a lot to be intrigued and impressed by. I love the sense of distance in the texture; some sounds are very much in-your-face while others creep around the edges. There's a strong sense of distance and boundaries that sonically shape the room scene. It doesn't feel explicitly horror, but it is very much unsettling.

[AIM - Snow Angels]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

The piano does a good job at capturing both the emotion and the snowy landscape from the art inspiration. The four-note pattern it plays gives off strong wintery, quiet vibes. I think all the instrument choices and composition fit wonderfully with the art's setting. Despite this entry being described as B flat major, the entire piece seems more rooted in the relative G minor, which seems more fitting for the emotions related to the composition. that I'm curious why you thought B flat major specifically was a good choice for the scene. Not saying it is or it isn't, but why that key over any other key?

The string melodies have a lovely composition, though I wish they were phrased to add shape and inflection that would help with the emotional impact. While I really like what the piano is doing with those alternating chords, overlaying an additional piano line on top of them at 1:23 almost completely buries them among all the other instruments and there's no room for it to be a part of the texture. I also love the use of bells towards the end of the piece, but I think there was room for them to appear a lot earlier - they feel underutilized in the soundscape.

Despite my issues, I think this piece has a great choice of instruments. The parts they play when they come into the texture was well done and I never felt like anything was out of place, only that some parts be brought out more to hear better how they interact with each other. I'm not really sure if the characters in the art were taken into account when creating this entry, however, the track does have a sense of "fleeting moments" and I could make the connection that this entry puts me in the perspective of these characters in the snow, staring up at the falling snowflakes in the sky.

NativeNiles responds:

Thx for the review. I just choose B flat major randomly.

[AIM - ACID RAIN]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

The composition does a great job at drawing inspiration from the art. It just has this perfect sort of melancholy mood that complements the lone figure in the rainfall while the bright guitars outline the bright colours from the art inspiration. The guitar and drums sound very clean and I love the subtle panning effects in the melody. There is a sparkly sensation that I get when focusing on the melodic line and I felt like that provided an immersive experience, as if I am that person in the art, sitting under the pouring rain.

Honestly, I would have loved to hear more of the groove from the syncopated chords stand on their own without the melody. I know the beginning and the end do this, but I think there could have been some more sections where the groove plays out a bit more with some additional layers as ornamentation. The bulk of this track involves the melody constantly playing and repeating ideas and while I love the composition of said melody, I think the laid back nature of the track allows for the chance to have the melody drop out within one of the middle sections and then return later for more emotional impact.

Overall, this entry is simple but well executed. It took me a while to realize that rain-like ambience bookends the track and I think this entry does a wonderful job at making you feel the rain in its music without it constantly being there in the background. I could lie down and chill to this for a long while.

[AIM - Shuffle!]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

Electric guitar seems like a strange choice for an intimate sex jam, but I think it works here. There's a looseness to the energetic nature of the chords and that plays well into the sketched style of the inspiration. I like how the composition is playful without being overly cheesy, which is fitting for the anime appearance of the two women in the art.

I don't normally like recorded or sampled sound effects being added to the music, but here it seemed like it was needed to get the concept across. Without the sound effects, it would have been easy to think of this entry as being like a surfer piece, but hearing the voices and the kissing at the end makes it explicit (no pun intended, haha) that this is about sexual curiosity and romance. The choice of using an electric guitar provides a grungier sound that actually makes the sexual tension seem more experienced than innocent. I feel like this piece is more convincing as a sex jam about two women who are familiar with each other letting loose in the bedroom and this isn't their first time in this kind of intimacy.

Overall, I enjoyed the guitar playing and the chord progression is fun. The sections flow pretty well into one another and I like the faster chords at 2:57 leading up to the recurrence of the main melody from the first section. I fear I might be too oblivious to understand some of the themes portrayed here, but I hope I got the general gist of it.

[A Land Home to Dreams - AIM]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

You've done a great job conveying the dreaminess and lushness from the art. The main idea throughout is catchy and draws me into this world. The sound design is nice; the instruments are mainly soft and floaty and I like how the percussion has some punch to it but still manages to mix well with the instrument choice. It enhances, but it doesn't overwhelm the track. There are also some cool ambient choices that sound spacey at 0:53 and it enhances the strange, light atmosphere.

The soundtrack angle is a good fit, considering the ground and tree look like they could be platforms in a 2D game. This entry is categorized as a loop, but it doesn't seem to loop all that well. I know Newgrounds doesn't do completely seamless looping (especially given that it's mp3), but I think the track ends too definitively and starts too energetically and these points don't connect with each other. If this were actually implemented in a game, the loop would be very distracting.

Overall, I think this entry captures the world as depicted in the art from a macroscopic perspective. I enjoyed the way the sections flow - the middle section with those off-beat chords was a good break from the main idea while still maintaining its atmosphere. This makes the recurring idea from the beginning all the more satisfying when it returns at the end with that higher melody line as the counterpoint.

[AIM 2023 - I'm Naut Dreaming]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

What I really love about this piece is that it manages to capture this sense of being in outer space without sounding desolate or mysterious. Don't get me wrong; there are many space tracks that pull that off, but I feel like every once in a while, it's nice to hear a depiction of space as being beautiful, wondrous and chill. I think this approach was the perfect choice to reflect this image of these lovers looking at a heart-shaped nebula.

There's so much prettiness in the sound design and chord progression. I absolutely love the section from 1:35 to 2:03. The call-and-response with the horns and the strings against those ascending arps is breathtaking, especially with how floaty and pleasant the arps are. The melodies also have a tenderness to them that works really well to portray the romanticness of the art inspiration.

I think there are a couple of sections with the melody that could have used some more phrasing, particularly at 0:41. Since the higher voices are more prominent, giving them more of an arc to their velocity rather than being uniform would help to add some shape and really bring out the emotion in the melody. A similar thing could be said about the piano chords when they first enter - they're a bit on the forceful side in relation to the rest of the accompaniment.

Overall, this is such a well-crafted track in its composition, section flow and the instrument choices. I must say, the melody at 3:26 reminded me of the Adam Young track "Earth" from the Voyager 1 orchestral score and that is what really sold me on the whole lovely spacey vibes. The ending sounds a bit like a logo jingle which is kind of goofy but it's a pleasant enough conclusion.

[AIM - And Then the Storm]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

When I first heard this piece, my initial impressions were that this was depicting a city floating high above the clouds. The repeating, even-rhythm bassline feels like a slow motor running and the synths overall had this airiness to them that gave an elevated perspective that also made it sound futuristic. It was quite surprising to hear these elements being used to portray what appears to be a downtown city and a coming thunderstorm - not a bad thing, just unexpected for me.

I admit that it took a long time of constant listening for me to come around on this entry. I thought it moved too slowly and the composition felt like it was building up to something than it led on. Thankfully, this compo provides that luxury of time to do so. Eventually, that repeating bassline and the synth line doing the D F# D G pattern got to me and I found myself appreciating the layers and the texture as a whole.

Originally, I thought the piece would build up to some headbanging rock intro and although that didn't happen, I like the way the electric guitar is used to pad out the lower drones towards the end. It was also an interesting choice holding off on changing up the chord progression until the end, where it resolves to the major key before transitioning back to the two chord pattern. Personally I found it to be satisfying, as if the thunder has finally run its course and exits, allowing just the rain to remain.

Overall, I like this entry's atmosphere and sound design quite a bit. The repetition of the two-chord progression works well to set the cityscape scene and in the end, I think the synths do complement the pixel art style of the art inspiration effectively. It really captures the emotional core of experiencing the gradual arrival and leaving of a heavy rainfall with rolling thunder.

LuckyDee responds:

@Random-storykeeper and @damifortune thanks for your kind words. I was aiming to create a very spartan piece, which I ended up adding more keys to because it turned out a little too empty to my taste - it's not the touch I wanted to add, but under time pressure I couldn't afford to spend any more fiddling about with the composition. The relative monotony is a conscious choice too - rain with the promise of a storm that ends up not coming in is itself very monotonous, but in a transfixing rather than boring way, and that is the vibe I wanted to capture. And I love how competitions like this help me branch out creatively like that - although there's probably dozens of contestants how delivered a more exciting piece than I did, I consider myself a winner once again.

Thanks for your efforts!

[AIM- Come Home]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

Whenever I see an entry from you, I immediately think of compelling, emotionally-drive works and of the two entries you submitted, this was the one that tugged my heartstrings the most. It was mainly because of the vocals; it's great that you found a vocal instrument that manages to have some control over the diction of words and breaths so that it feels more organic and less computerized. I was especially a fan of the vocal runs at 1:04 and how they are slightly delayed coming in on the strong beat. The way the vocal runs hit the higher notes at 3:20 was absolutely heart-wrenching.

The only prevalent issues for me come from a few production decisions I'm not sure work. That two-beat kick drum pattern seems like it was trying to mimic a heartbeat and while I like the idea, I think its presence in the mix is a bit too distracting, especially during the beautiful vocal runs. The string instrument in the final vocal run section at 3:04 also seems too loud and prominent. I'm not too production-savvy but I feel like some of the higher frequencies from it could have been cut or suppressed to make it complement the vocals more. I love the string and vocal counterpoint compositionally, so it's more about making these two parts seem like they're working with each other rather than against each other.

I appreciate you sharing your interpretation of the art and how you chose to express that in your music. It surprised me to read that this track was meant to be a little more optimistic and hopeful, like these two people in the artwork went through all these devastating troubles, but in the end, they reunite. Personally, I feel like this track comes off as more tragic than touching. The heaviness of the piano chords paired with the words "come home" come across as the girl calling out for her father, willing him to make it out of his peril alive. The vocal runs especially suggest this idea of a voice calling out and metaphorically travelling throughout the scene, trying to find the father, but in the end, he never returns. This interpretation is what made the piece so heart-wrenching, but I can definitely see that you put a lot of thought into the art and whether this tragic perception was your original intention or not, this entry was thoroughly impactful in its emotional resonance.

DigitalProdigy responds:

Thank you for that detail review. I agree with everything you said, the art interpretation could have went either way, so I appreciate your way you viewed the art work. The heart beat was a production choice and I had trouble in the beginning deciding if I should keep it or remove it, I decided to keep it. Overall I'm satisfied with what I came up with and also your review of the song. Thank you for taking your time to review it.