Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
TebyTheCat, Skyocean: 9,8,10,9

So I totally recall coming across you in the last AIM that I helped judge ten years ago and from time to time I notice your name amongst the community. I'm glad I judged this AIM, I get to see names new and old alike! This was a very nice track Teby. To note your profile page "making stuff I like, improving little by little," I do believe that you are in fact doing these two things, we all should. There's always room for improvement, never stop improving! One of the last things I remember my mom telling me was "I'm still trying to figure out what to be when I grow up," and it was inspiring. Obviously "dead" is a fucked up punchline but I live by that notion that there is always time to figure yourself out a little more and become something better than you were the day prior. Words to live by.

One criticism I levied at many other users is a simple one remedied with a little experimentation via sampling. This is a laid back contest, none of the judges will take off points for atmospheric samples like animal noises or rainfall, especially if you left a link in the authors comments to the sample location. We're not mods, we're judges. Not that your illustration specifically had rainfall, I just wanted to highlight the fact that there are hour long videos on YouTube that feature things like "1-hour rainfall meditation" or "one hour of nature noises to calm your cats." If your ever worried a sample breaks community rules or standards you can ask a mod but they know the struggle too. Most people on Newgrounds don't own or can't afford a field recorder and the free time necessary to record ambience at a location. Sampling is part of the hustle, so long as the samples are not the key focus of the track. For the art you choose, I see oceanic animals amongst the sky. Though you can emulate dolphin and whale calls with simple sine synth patches and a little engineering, literally no one would have cared if they heard a literal whale call from a nature documentary (I noticed a little bit of sinewave play at 2:46 but you can do so much more with your automation lanes). Many programs allow you to record sounds straight off your hard drive or sound card and a free program like Audacity is a great alternative. I like to grab samples with it, then quickly export things to sample folders. Not a lot of judges will talk about this kind of stuff but you can safely approach samples without "breaking the law" or infuriating mods. Just have to be conscious of the process and situation, meter your risks and rewards.

Peroneal choices, I'd have slipped some submarine radar blips into this and some glittering chimes to represent twinkling stars. Percussion instruments like vibraslaps, waterphones, and chimes are easy to find via YouTube. Orchestral sounds like cymbal swells and bass drums would have been well used. Some large booming bass drums could have filled out the sound spectrum just a little more. The mix is decent but there is totally room for some deeper sub sonic bass textures. A lot of users can't afford the kind of monitors necessary to get a good grip on those tough to hear sub sonic sounds but even a genre like chiptune benefits from sensitivity to that extra range. There was a very thin lead at the two minute mark, it over powered the surrounding instruments so much that I had to turn down my volume a little. The melodies were triumphant but the mix at that exact spot was noticeably unbalanced, those booming orchestral bass drums I mentioned... counter that thin lead with those orchestral bass drums or warn the audience of rising action with a cymbal swell that leads into that part :3

I will take a moment to thank you for writing what you did in the authors comments. Many users fail to understand that the people judging the contest are their peers. I love getting deeper insight into how people think and why they make the choices they do. Having visible feelings will help sway my "emotion" score that I was asked to judge for while promoting your authenticity. People don't realize how powerful a tool an artist's statement or manifesto can be. A ten page thesis won't win the contest but it's not like it hurts either. Such a thing might make you more memorable. One user opted to say nothing at all, I guess under the assumption that they thought the music spoke for itself. Or maybe they thought that saying too much was a waste of time? Very few users wrote songs that spoke for themselves, I'm usually stuck over here trying to make conceptual connections with zero guidance. I like to know that artists are authentic so that I can justify my scores. I've witnessed too many users on Newgrounds cozy into the community with stolen music but having the bravery to tag your equipment is a sign that you know a thing or two. I noticed you didn't tag equipment but I really didn't mind too much after reading your commentary. You covered your ass with detailed commentary & decent music and for that I awarded you a perfect score in "emotion." I have a feeling next year will see competitors posting more commentary...

I got a lot of great vibes from this song Teby. The points I justified taking off usually cycle back to everything I already mentioned. Composition and structure can lead back to affecting production. Relevance to artwork could have been remedied with samples or lyrics which is also a production footnote. This was a tough competition to judge despite it being fairly laid back. There is always a small group of artists that go 110% which leads to pulling my hair out. You could easily fall into that top tier list with a little more experience. I feel you've made great progress over the years and I look forward to seeing you maximize your skill set. This was a pleasure to listen to Teby, salutations!

The ocean-meets-space aesthetic is one that is interesting to convey musically, considering the connections these settings have in real life and how we perceive them (astronauts training in the ocean, ocean creatures of the deep are often described as being very "alien") and the differences in which they are conceptualized musically.

In this entry, I think that the underwater setting comes through quite clearly to me. There's this rocking motion I get from the rhythm at the intro that feels like waves rippling through the ocean's surface while the more constant three-note arp following it makes me think of dipping under the water's surface and seeing all the life flourishing around you. At around the 1:13 mark, there starts to become instances of a faint bubbling sound that gently enters and exits in the background. If separate from the art, I would have thought this to be an underwater piece.

Given the surreal nature of the art, I would have expected some of the "space" qualities to become intertwined with the underwater atmosphere, but I wasn't getting a lot of the outer space/sky aspect that was part of the art. I get that the synths are supposed to evoke those vibes, but they seemed so integral to the compositional base of the underwater part that it just seemed like it was a developing idea for the ocean concept. As a result, it ends up contributing to the ocean sound instead of being discernable as a space/sky sound.

The mixing overall seemed to be an issue, with synths sticking out and not being balanced with the accompaniment. The synth that enters at around the 1:10 mark and around the 2:00 is just a bit loud compared to the rest of the mix. However, I do think that the idea of the changing modes does elicit that sort of mysterious, otherworldly tone throughout the piece that hints at being spacey, though I do wish that space/sky atmosphere were more prevalent composition-wise. A lot of the piece is very low and grounded, so maybe some higher and softer synth tones up top would give the idea of a sky or space being present.

I do like that the melody is happy and cheesy in a way that complements the cute cartoon style and the bright colours of the artwork. Overall, there are some interesting ideas at play and I think you took a good approach in terms of using the art inspiration. I just think there was more of an opportunity to capture the sky element that I don't think was quite there.

Caught my attention by surprise, and connected with me. But then a little over half way there was this distasteful sawtooth wave that threw me off balance.