Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
Jinz, I Am But Myself: 10,6,8,10 (34/40)

"You think I wanted this body," are you intentionally trying to trigger my dysphoria with this illustration? I legit feel like the monstrous figure in the drawing by FrosstyArt 99% of the time. Excuse me for a moment, I have tentacles that need moisturizing. Great stuff with those reverse lyrics :D

Great illustration to convey body horror. The industrial sounds and mechanical synths fit the mood well. It looks like you made use of the full sound spectrum via that visualization but things are sounding a little thin despite that subby bass. I know that if I switch headphones, the AudioTechnicas are going to make this mix sound like sand paper (at the time of uploading this review I honored that statement by giving the AudioTechnicas a listen and sure enough, ear-bleedingly harsh high frequencies). I gave you really good scores on Battle Of Ships but my gripes as a fellow EDM producer will continue along to this work as well. I think you could have given this more umpf by boosting mid frequencies, all I'm hearing are subby basses and painfully aggressive highs. I'm just not as impressed this time as I was with your other tune.

I think you can focus on improving some of your mixing and mastering skills to get a more powerful sound. That's always a painful critique to get or give out because I know how hard composers struggle to unlock the skills necessary to max out their fidelity tools, often learning via experimentation because they don't get professional feedback or criticism. You wrote very strong music but I try to inspire hardstyle producers to challenge themselves by comparing their work to the mix quality that the pros in that genre are putting out. I'm always comparing my songs to the mix downs that impress me the most. I spent years trying to emulate artists like Noisia, Evol Intent, and Excision. Never be afraid to listen to the pros and compare that stuff to your own. It can really help illuminate the finer fidelity details in the mix that people have trouble identifying in their own work. YouTube diminishes playback quality but apps like SoundCloud lets artists upload music at maximum fidelity. I'm taking points off emotion as well because that thin mix is taking some power out of the delivery of that climax. A perfectly mixed tune can deliver emotions in a way that a thinner sound cannot. I wish I could focus a little more time on this review to really pin-point mixing and mastering issues but I got to keep moving forwards today. If you want, feel free to bother me later and I'll give this tune another listen to relay mixing ideas via private messages. Good luck with the other judges Jinz. Despite my criticisms I love what I'm hearing :3

I really like how you musically interpreted the character in the art. The way the piece builds up to the large climax at the end evokes the character's internal conflict, and I like how the lyrics transform the text in the art that feels like a villain doing an inner monologue (although I have to admit, without the lyrics I would have never known what was being said - even with the forward words).

The piece is structured well - I enjoyed the use of those downward arps and gentler tones with that underlying buzzing synth leading into those sixteenth notes at 0:40. What I loved the most about this whole buildup section was the way the whispering was synchronized with the snares to the point where I'm not really sure if there were snares involved or if it was all vocal samples being used like a softer snare? It added a lot to the idea of an inner monologue being portrayed, like multiple voices whispering in one's head.

While I loved the way the buildup was composed, I think the impact of it was most effective at the end - the harsher sounds hit just right. Although the intro is good composition-wise, I feel like it would have had more of an impact if we didn't hear that bell-like sound doing the downwards arps (0:05) right away, I would have loved to hear the overall phrase have more shape to it rather than just entering right away, especially given how this entry's structure as a whole is this gradual buildup to that super intensive climax. The same could also be said for the lower, faster repeated notes at 0:21. Consider how layers can be introduced without sounding like they're just being dropped in right on the strong beat.

This entry is super cool and there's a lot of neat stuff in the sound design. Compositionally, the buildup is amazing and the way the sections pull away just before giving its intense moments is its strength.