Random-storykeeper's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Blinded w/samuraiowl]

Per your request, here are the rough notes I took for your AIM 2024 entry:

I wish the guitar section at 0:29-0:42 were repeated/extended to at least double its length.

Lots of great moments, love the idea of the metal screams juxtaposed with the beautiful sung parts.

The vocals during the normal sung parts are off-key in a way that is quite distracting. They also sound like the throat is closed, making it difficult to hear the lyrics that are being sung.

Great flow of sections, especially towards the end. Just wish there was more sense of the bassline there to balance out those square arps.

COMPOSITION: I think the structure works well for the most part, and the incorporation of sung vocals with metal screaming is a good approach to the theme and a great connection between sections. Again, I think I got similar feelings to your entry from last year in that the melodic ideas feel underexplored here - there's a lot of great sections and transitions between them, but I feel like we don't really spend a lot of time hearing the sections develop to their full potential, which makes the entire track feel very rushed - especially given that the track is not even 3 minutes long but there's so many ideas packed into it.

PRODUCTION: The vocals are quite loud and I wish we heard more of the bass in the last section to balance out the square arps. I also think there should have been some pitch correction for the sung parts - it sounds awkward when the notes are off-key and the enunciation isn't that well-performed.

EMOTION: The song has a dark, cathartic feeling to it that I do get a sense of.

ART RELEVANCE: I think this song does a great job at conveying the tone and expression from the character and their inner turmoil, especially the switching between normally sung vocals and the metal screaming.

veryfakeguest responds:

Thank you so much for the review! And yeah... it seems like there's still issues in this that were present in my previous AIM submission. We kinda had to rush it but I'll be sure to rectify these mistakes next time.

[Snikio - Sound of Death (AIM 2024)]

Per your request, here are the rough notes I took for your AIM 2024 entry:

The mixing in this is fantastic - love the drums and the clean breaks for impact

I love the development of that main sort of melody and the elements that flow around it and get stacked up in the texture.

Satisfying and engaging listen, and a great take on the art.

COMPOSITION: The best example of a track that develops a couple of repeating ideas in a way that is dynamic and engaging.

PRODUCTION: Honestly the best produced track in AIM 2024. The drums are so crisp in this and the breaks of silence are clean and impactful. Even the harsher elements add so much to the texture and are used for developing the main hook.

EMOTION: It is unsettling, especially in the sound design, but it's also unsettling in a way that manages to be intriguing because of the structure and the production.

ART RELEVANCE: (Okay I didn't really elaborate in my notes on why I felt like this was an interesting take so I'm adding this in post. What I got most out of this track was a sense of imminence. Your main theme sets an idea with that disturbing sort of undertone - that string-like instrument sliding down and slowly bending back up. By having this idea repeat at key points throughout the track with more intensity, it reinforces this death figure getting even closer. What I got out of this track was the inevitability of dying, and that's the connection I got out of this entry.)

Snikio responds:

To reply to this, I'm going to use the translator unusually. This is because my English is at the level of a toddler (I imagine my usual chatting demeanor is ridiculous to others). This time I want to express more precisely what I want to say.

You caught the points I was trying to emphasize and that I was very careful to make. For me, it's a confirmation that my musical attempt was somewhat successful. Thank you. Critical reviews are nice, but this is actually my favorite. To be recognized for what I focus on.

I honestly wasn't very confident in this song and my abilities after the fan vote, but this review of yours encourages me.

By the way, I thought you wouldn't write more than a few words, but it's pretty long haha. And thank you for hosting AIM again. I want to do it again but unfortunately won't be able to participate next year due to my military enlistment. Keep up tho!

[Lost Experiences (AIM 2024)]

Per your request, here are the rough notes I took for your AIM 2024 entry:

Lovely counterpoint and melodic lines. Simple, but it works.

Could have played a lot more with the texture towards the end to up the replay value.

The production is difficult to listen to - a lot of instruments choke up the mix and leave little room to play around with the texture or make it enjoyable to listen to the way the composition is presented.

COMPOSITION: The counterpoint and melodic lines are nice in of themself. I can imagine this piece working a lot better with a polished sound design and production. Could have played more with the counterpoint and various layers towards the end.

PRODUCTION: The sawtooth chords are overbearing, as are the repeating notes in the quieter section. The mix is overloaded with very thick instruments that choke out the soundscape and leave little room to play around with texture. It becomes painful to listen to after the first minute.

EMOTION: The melodies and chord progression have a nice pleasant feeling as does the sine wave line, but most of the track's production brings any sort of emotional value down.

ART RELEVANCE: I think the composition works for the art inspiration generally, but the sound design and production work against the inspiration thus the lowered score.

Urielthepro responds:

No wonder I got bottom 10 lol

Hopefully I'll get out of the bottom quarter next year.

Thanks for the feedback tho! I really appreciate it.

[AIM - Hazard Cult]

Per your request, here are the rough notes I took for your AIM 2024 entry:

THICK atmosphere

Great atmospheric sections / vibes

Could use some refined transitions leading up to melodic parts

Fits the machine-like intimidation in the art.

COMPOSITION: great atmospheric parts, just wish the transition to the melodic sections was stronger and it utilized more arps (like at the beginning around 1:15)

PRODUCTION: that's a THICK set of instruments but you handle it pretty well for the most part. Could use more clarity of arps, cleaner punches.

EMOTION: pretty good but quite overwhelming (I'm sure this was the intention haha)

ART RELEVANCE: does a good job capturing the intensity and machine-like intimidation from the art

Mechanical-Head responds:

lmaooo glad you liked the THICK atmosphere hehe. Thanks for the review!

[[AIM] Winter Wasteland]

Per your request, here are the rough notes I took for your AIM 2024 entry:

Good sound design - warm, desolate, vast

Has some good sections that come one after another, but the constant starting and stopping gets old real quick

Beautiful guitar, soft instruments with bell for the desert/former winter landscape.

COMPOSITION: I like a lot of the sections and I think the sound design is generally quite good. Not a huge fan of the transition between sections and I think there were more opportunities to play around with texture for a more effective atmosphere.

PRODUCTION: A bit on the soft side, could have used some more atmospheric timbre like pads

EMOTION: This goes through a lot of emotions, but I'm not quite sure if all of them really work for what this piece is trying to capture - particularly the "happier" parts at 4:46 came across a little too jovial

ART RELEVANCE: I like the idea of having vast, wandering melodies and using warm-sounding instruments with bells for the former winter, desert landscape. I just felt like it needed a little more atmosphere in the sound design to really get a more immersive experience that would allow the track to resonate more with its art inspiration.

bottledf0x responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I will keep all this in mind for the next time I produce a track like this.

[AIM24 - Event Horizon]

AIM 2024 Judge Review

What I really love about this entry is how the composition and sound design are strongly evocative of drifting through outer space. There's a quietness and vastness to the soft, solo melody that begins the piece. I like to think some of the layers are like the radiance and light cutting through the darkness, particularly with those brassy interludes.

I would have loved to hear these ideas extended to the 6 minute length. There's a lot of great ideas that feel like they don't have time to develop in that 3 minute duration of the track, such as the arp that fades in at 2:00. It works so well with that synth playing that main continuum from the beginning and I think more layers could have been built off that counterpoint instead of speeding up and changing keys 9 seconds later. I also feel like the drums could have been varied in sound. That rhythm they take on in the faster sections seems like it would be more effective if a noisier snare-like sound were used for beats 2 and 4 instead of that kick drum sample all the way. As of now, the rhythms in the percussion feel flat.

The atmosphere you bring to this piece is superb and I was quite impressed. I feel like space themes might be your jam - though I encourage you to continue branching out in your art inspirations and bringing elements of this work into those entries should you participate next year. Great job capturing that emptiness and wonder we've come to associate with the vast expanse of outer space.

Dynamic0 responds:

Thank you for all the nice words and for hosting AIM, it is my favorite contest-like event on Newgrounds.
When I was composing, I didn't consciously focus at the outer-space feeling as much as you, yet . I'm thinking about making sountrack for my game in a similar style, although I know I have a lot to learn with FL Studio first.
There aren't actually any drums, it's just low-pitched clicky sound, its high-pitched version starts playing at :49, so maybe that evokes the flatness feeling?
Once again, thanks for all and see you next year!

[AIM - Digital Demolition]

AIM 2024 Judge Review

That main synth that starts this entry is goofy and weird in a way that feels fitting for the character in the art. I can imagine this being a boss theme in an old Flash game; it has a very stacked sort of feeling that seems kind of random but I found it kind of pleasant. I really like the square wave melody at 0:32; it sits well against that thick bassline and I like the fast off-beat notes that accompany it as well.

The fade-in at the very start of this track makes it seem like the end of a loop leading into the start of this track. It would be nice to hear this track with an actual intro that then leads into that main silly-sounding synth where I assume this loop would normally start. I did like the slight slowdown at 0:30 before going into the first iteration of the melody, however I think an intro would have helped to add more of a hook into the main part of the piece rather than just feeling like I'm catching up to it.

The bassline is also quite intense from 0:30 onward and almost constantly hits the strong 1 & 3 beats of each measure, which feels too even and loses momentum when the square melody is not playing. Maybe every fourth measure, the bass note could play on the strong and weak beats subsequently like two quarter notes played together, walking back up to the first measure of its cycle. The off-beat notes almost help keep up the energy, but they are quite buried once the melody plays so it's hard to hear how all these sounds would come into play together.

I also think this piece could have benefitted from having a crunchier percussion. The snare is a bit on the tinny side and I wonder what it would sound like if it used more NES-styled percussion to complement the chiptune elements here. But overall, I think this entry was fun and I think the sounds were nice and nostalgic in a Flash game sort of manner.

Orenge1 responds:

I really appreciate your thoughts. This entry was kind of rough maybe since I admit it I kind of rushed it and that's also why it doesn't really have an intro or proper outro really even. I should've thought about the sound selection more. Also yeah I've realized now that being perfectly on measure all the time isn't ideal, variety is important to keep it interesting. Also about the buried melody, I'm still learning mixing and mastering songs properly.

But great detailed review I do appreciate it a lot, thanks! :)

[REFLECTIONS (ft. Staintocton) // AIM 2024]

AIM 2024 Judge Review

I was listening to the little WIPs you were posting in the NG Audio Pub Discord and was looking forward to listening to the final entry. Going for a jazzy piece with rain ambience is quite evocative of the art inspiration. That 5/4 pattern feels almost waltz-like and it does a great job at evoking the feeling of taking a walk down some quiet streets at night.

The mixing on most of the instruments seem fine to me for the most part. I particularly like the way the ambience sits as a pleasant background layer - noticeable but feeling like it works within the context of the piece. The one thing that bothered me was that the flugalhorn solo was quite loud compared to the rest of the instruments doing solos. It really took me by surprise the first time listening to it. Composition-wise, I love the atmosphere and chords especially from the piano, and I wish there were some more moments where the piano gets to shine or present some quieter moments, perhaps even some improv, during the middle portion of the piece. This entry is short (and I understand it was quite close to the deadline) and I think there are more opportunities here for some additional sections, particularly with the piano.

What really stood out to me in this entry was the use of an actual soloist for the flugalhorn. Was that solo mostly improv, and how many takes did the soloist do? (just curious) The horn itself sounds amazing, just too loud in the mix as mentioned before, and I really love the final section where it plays alongside the xylophone and guitar. There was something about it that felt a little more distinct over using a sax solo for a jazzy piece - I love sax solos too but I really love what was done here in terms of the instrument choice. Overall, this was a comforting and pleasant listen that does a great job at conveying the atmosphere of nighttime, in the rain while walking down a sidewalk.

Staintocton responds:

Hey! Thanks again for listening!

For the flugel, I ended up sending two different solo takes, in which the first one was primarily used, with occasional chops of the second. The ending bit of copying the melody before going into a bit of fiddling was my idea! :)

In total, it probably took me maybe 20-30 attempts to record everything, that last bit only took me one or two.

[AIM - Radiant]

AIM 2024 Judge Review

I like how you approached this inspiration - a pixel art landscape - with synths and a happy sort of hook. The little filter sweeps also play into the idea of a sunrise effectively and I like that you did go for something happier in sound for your composition. Although there's one main hook, you do progress it through the use of dynamics and having different synths take it on.

Unfortunately, my biggest issue with this piece is that the one hook is not that compelling to listen to for ~3 minutes. It's a little too buoyantly happy to the point where it comes across as saccharine and having these more intense sounding synths (with a super thick bass) and trance beats makes it feel more aggressively happy, which I'm not really sure is the intention nor is it something that seems inspired by the art. It doesn't help that every bar of that main hook primarily has a similar kind of downward contour, ending "perfectly" at each measure. I do think the joyous sort of tone is something that makes sense for the art, but this felt more like overshooting.

The setup is there - as mentioned earlier, the sound design and dynamically building upon a melodic idea are present in this entry. I really wish the one main melody it keeps repeating was something that was a bit more toned down and more warm and inviting. Personally I would think that a landscape with a sunrise, being generally associated with the start of the day, would be gradual and bright while not being explicitly just happy. Maybe it's my adult brain kicking in, but this entry sadly does not work for me at all, with or without the association with the art.

MusicBySpektral responds:

it's alright, I agree that it definitely has some rough spots. Thanks for the review :)

[AIM - Nekomimi Station]

AIM 2024 Judge Review

What I love most about this entry is how replayable it is. There's a lot of quick passing off of instruments and a rich sound design that it's fun to play it again to pick up extra bits in the texture that might have been missed on an earlier listen. It's surprisingly detailed given the simpler pixel art, and I think it adds this sense of chaos fitting for a piece about a train station. Amidst the somewhat frenzied composition is a throughline with instruments seamlessly flowing from one to another that puts me in this perspective of someone sitting at a busy train station, watching people pass around me and rushing to make the next train.

There are a lot of times when the piece will hit these syncopated beats or pulses, which I think helps to create that sense of the aforementioned throughline as the track develops. The piece has a great sense of when to put in the bass and take it out, when to be more melodic and when to be a little crazy. If there was one thing I could nitpick, I think the quick chords could have been a little snappier when hitting those "pulses", but it's only really the only thing I can think of after listening to this piece multiple times.

Overall, this track does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of this art with the business of a train station during peak hours, and that combined with its cuteness from the wildly moving sine wave shows a lot of inspiration was taken from this art to great effect. Admittedly, I didn't really get this track at first, but over time it just had me thinking about it a lot and significantly grew on me. Wonderful job!

H20ghost responds:

Thanks for the kind review storykeeper!