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Hey everyone, this is the thread where you can ask questions or discuss anything about the AIM Contest in general! Looking for the submissions thread? It's going to be posted in a moment (and will be linked).
(apparently I have to wait before posting the submissions thread OOPS)
Okay I'm learning a lot about Newgrounds forums today, haha. I didn't realize there was a cooldown for editing posts.
Well in that case, the submissions thread has now been posted, so go here for submissions as well as the full info for the contest!
Good luck everybody. Let's bring our A game this time. And thank you for continuing this contest. We all improve greatly year after year from these contests on this site. It really helps us push ourselves to the limits of our knowledge because of the competition side of it.
Concerning the AIM 2019 album, will it be on some streaming service???
A rising star on the rise...
At 4/12/19 11:26 AM, FrenZeon wrote:Concerning the AIM 2019 album, will it be on some streaming service???
It’s going to be on Bandcamp.
Good luck, everybody! Looking forward to your amazing submissions.
~ Jessie
✨ENFP | 🎵 Epic Music Composer for: ACE/Old Chicago/OddTodd |🎬 Film Student | Status : Study Mode!
best of luck to everyone who enters!
I don't think I will be attempting to submit an entry, but on my profile I have uploaded an old A.I.M. inspired art inspired music thing that I failed to submit a couple years ago.
I'll probably be dropping reviews on some of the entries. Sorry if this seems like idle chit-chat and not better discussion, but I can't help but throw my two-cents in saying how great this event, this idea is. It brings people together - it's really cool. I hope it continues in future years too.
hi, i'm working on a couple of submissions and one of the pieces of art that i've selected to base my submission on is video game themed. i was curious about clearing up a quick discrepancy about ng's no sample rules, as i'd like to sample the game's music for a section in one of the submissions. it is a fully transformative work, with the sample reworked to create a unique harmony for the piece. i was curious if in this case, the rule could be waived? as it's akin to the submission piece's use of the characters from the game in the art but in an original fashion. the game is also freeware from an independent producer, so it seems to me that it's not likely any legal action proceedings would be realistic or practical. if needed, i'd love to discuss this more in depth thru pm if need be. look forward to hearing from someone, thanks for reading!
At 4/19/19 03:18 PM, fibr wrote:hi, i'm working on a couple of submissions and one of the pieces of art that i've selected to base my submission on is video game themed. i was curious about clearing up a quick discrepancy about ng's no sample rules, as i'd like to sample the game's music for a section in one of the submissions. it is a fully transformative work, with the sample reworked to create a unique harmony for the piece. i was curious if in this case, the rule could be waived? as it's akin to the submission piece's use of the characters from the game in the art but in an original fashion. the game is also freeware from an independent producer, so it seems to me that it's not likely any legal action proceedings would be realistic or practical. if needed, i'd love to discuss this more in depth thru pm if need be. look forward to hearing from someone, thanks for reading!
It seems like you're referring to the Newgrounds rules, which I don't have control over. From what I gather, it seems like if you're directly using the song in your song, then it is not allowed. That being said, I would think that "briefly" referencing the game's music should be fine so long as it is still clearly your own original work. To be safe, it's probably a good idea to also contact the indie dev (or whoever made the music), just in case you do get asked or checked. I can't imagine it being a huge deal so long as it is transformative, and you're not just straight-up using the actual track in your song.
For the sake of the compo, I would allow that, so long as it's not a direct sample and predominantly your own work, but the rule you're referring to is part of Newgrounds' Audio Portal rules. I don't really want to give you a definite answer other than "to be safe, don't do it unless you get permission", but who knows; maybe it is allowed for what you're trying to do. I would find an Audio Portal mod, maybe? Or someone who has authority over clarifying the actual rules/understands them better than I do. :P
Okay so I have read the rules and I wanted to make sure but I just need to BE SURE of it so; I can submit 2 songs and 2 songs only right? I just don't want to be at a loss of submitting 1 song and forgetting to submit another or submitting a second song and breaking the flow of rules lol :P
"People say my music tells a story, that it transports them into a new plain of reality. I'd like to tell that story and perhaps show you something wonderful" - Teckmo-X
At 4/27/19 04:42 PM, Teckmo-X wrote:Okay so I have read the rules and I wanted to make sure but I just need to BE SURE of it so; I can submit 2 songs and 2 songs only right? I just don't want to be at a loss of submitting 1 song and forgetting to submit another or submitting a second song and breaking the flow of rules lol :P
Correct; each participant can submit up to two entries only.
Before I ask something I would like to apologize for mistakenly replying to the submissions thread rather than the discussion thread earlier. I really am sorry and I hope you all forgive me. Wasn't my intention :/
I got a question. So I have a song I'm working on for the A.I.M. Contest ( 6 actually lol. Anyways I want to release a demo of one of my work and was wondering if I uploaded it to youtube or anything else like (SoundCloud, Twitter, etc) would that mean I could use if for the A.I.M. still or would I have to use a different song I'm working on. Reason for asking is because I'm trying to get my music out there but I don't want to ruin my chances of using the particular piece for that matter. Please let me know :)
"People say my music tells a story, that it transports them into a new plain of reality. I'd like to tell that story and perhaps show you something wonderful" - Teckmo-X
Just had a question about the "no pre-recorded lyrics from vocal packs" rule. Does that also include short voice clips/chops that are from a pack? They aren't full on 'lyrics' per se but i'm just curious if you guys will allow that or not, or how 'transformative' they have to be then.
in a beautiful place out in the country...
At 5/2/19 02:42 AM, RealFaction wrote:At 5/1/19 09:33 PM, Hyenaedon wrote:Just had a question about the "no pre-recorded lyrics from vocal packs" rule. Does that also include short voice clips/chops that are from a pack? They aren't full on 'lyrics' per se but i'm just curious if you guys will allow that or not, or how 'transformative' they have to be then.
As long as you don't use the full words, and don't use them full on with singing lines, but just use them like samples like choppy glitchy stuff not pronouncing the whole words but just sound bites for the notes, you can do that, that's fine.
Alright sweet, thanks!
in a beautiful place out in the country...
Query: Does the piece of art have to have been done in 2019?
Query: How can I tell if I'm scouted or not?
At 5/6/19 11:33 AM, thenoodge wrote:Query: Does the piece of art have to have been done in 2019?
Query: How can I tell if I'm scouted or not?
The piece of art does not have to be done in 2019, only the music made for this contest (aka don’t submit old/previously made work).
As for the scouting, usually I see a module on an audio page for an unscouted user telling me they haven’t been scouted yet and asking if I want to scout them. I don’t see it for yours, although I am on mobile right now, so I’m not sure if it just doesn’t show up there. It’s usually pretty easy to get scouted, so long as you’re posting your own original stuff and not breaking the Audio Portal rules.
Hey there! Popping by with a quick question before I go ham on an idea. Are songs with lyrics/vocal songs allowed, or purely instrumental for the contest?
At 5/6/19 10:37 PM, Sami-Fire wrote:Hey there! Popping by with a quick question before I go ham on an idea. Are songs with lyrics/vocal songs allowed, or purely instrumental for the contest?
omg hi Sami long time no see!
Vocal songs are absolutely allowed, so long as they comply with the other rules of the contest and the Audio Portal. You can't just take a vocal sample and then straight-up put it into a song, but if someone or yourself records vocals/creates the lyrics within the submission period, then it should be fair game (again, so long as they are within the other rules of the contest).
I really like the concept of this contest (I think it brings art & music producers together in an awesome way)! So much so that I entered :D (when really I should be doing other things right now... grr... procrastination...). Please do leave me any feedback you have... and I'm going to be leaving some reviews on the other submissions when I get a chance.
My piece was inspired by "Fuck the world" by Zakuga.
Anyways, good luck to everyone who has entered or is entering the contest... I know the competition will be fierce... May the best song win!
Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
At 5/8/19 06:42 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
It's kind of a grey area given the ambiguity. Like, how much of each song is being sampled? Is it significant to the original track? I would kind of regard that as a bit of a remix if you're deriving directly from these other tracks and deliberately piecing a bunch of different riffs together. The majority of it has to be your own ideas. It's one thing to be inspired by another track, but if your track is simply going to reference a bunch of other people's tracks, then it would fall into the category of "covers and remixes" and would not be allowed.
This is only based off what you told me - a piece mostly comprised of your favourite riffs would not really be your own original composition, and this compo is for original work only.
At 5/11/19 04:08 PM, Random-storykeeper wrote:At 5/8/19 06:42 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
It's kind of a grey area given the ambiguity. Like, how much of each song is being sampled? Is it significant to the original track? I would kind of regard that as a bit of a remix if you're deriving directly from these other tracks and deliberately piecing a bunch of different riffs together. The majority of it has to be your own ideas. It's one thing to be inspired by another track, but if your track is simply going to reference a bunch of other people's tracks, then it would fall into the category of "covers and remixes" and would not be allowed.
This is only based off what you told me - a piece mostly comprised of your favourite riffs would not really be your own original composition, and this compo is for original work only.
No actual samples at all, its all my own playing blended into one track, an example would be Joe Bonamassa's just got paid where he uses riffs and influences from songs he loves to create one piece realisticly making it an original piece because the parts of the song dont follow the structure of any of the riffs used, in my honest opinion it cant be classed as a cover,,,,i play all the guitar and made all the beats baselines bar 1, that was used that i guy made who i will give credit to who is not the original artist, its 4 riffs blended into 1 peice, which hasnt been done with these riffs before surely that makes it a personal original?
At 5/11/19 04:08 PM, Random-storykeeper wrote:At 5/8/19 06:42 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
It's kind of a grey area given the ambiguity. Like, how much of each song is being sampled? Is it significant to the original track? I would kind of regard that as a bit of a remix if you're deriving directly from these other tracks and deliberately piecing a bunch of different riffs together. The majority of it has to be your own ideas. It's one thing to be inspired by another track, but if your track is simply going to reference a bunch of other people's tracks, then it would fall into the category of "covers and remixes" and would not be allowed.
This is only based off what you told me - a piece mostly comprised of your favourite riffs would not really be your own original composition, and this compo is for original work only.
I wont argue the point its ok if its not allowed, i just found a nice peice of art i thought would go well with it, im cool either way.
At 5/11/19 11:04 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:At 5/11/19 04:08 PM, Random-storykeeper wrote:At 5/8/19 06:42 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
It's kind of a grey area given the ambiguity. Like, how much of each song is being sampled? Is it significant to the original track? I would kind of regard that as a bit of a remix if you're deriving directly from these other tracks and deliberately piecing a bunch of different riffs together. The majority of it has to be your own ideas. It's one thing to be inspired by another track, but if your track is simply going to reference a bunch of other people's tracks, then it would fall into the category of "covers and remixes" and would not be allowed.
This is only based off what you told me - a piece mostly comprised of your favourite riffs would not really be your own original composition, and this compo is for original work only.
No actual samples at all, its all my own playing blended into one track, an example would be Joe Bonamassa's just got paid where he uses riffs and influences from songs he loves to create one piece realisticly making it an original piece because the parts of the song dont follow the structure of any of the riffs used, in my honest opinion it cant be classed as a cover,,,,i play all the guitar and made all the beats baselines bar 1, that was used that i guy made who i will give credit to who is not the original artist, its 4 riffs blended into 1 peice, which hasnt been done with these riffs before surely that makes it a personal original?
That's why this is more of a "grey" area. The reason I'm erring more on the side of caution is because of how the piece is conceived - it's being derived from a combination of other people's works. It wouldn't be a cover, yes, but it could still fall into being a "remix" or "mashup" in the sense that the piece is just comprised of other people's riffs mashed together. The rules of the compo state that only original compositions are allowed, remixes, covers, you name it.
I can't really give you a straightforward definition of how much you'd have to change in order for what you want to do (all your favourite riffs blended in one piece) to make it become "original", but if this is what your piece is going to be based off or mostly comprised of, then it doesn't seem like it would be an original composition at all. It's one thing to be inspired by another piece of music, but if you're directly referencing it and making that the basis of your piece, then it seems like it would be more of a remix or something of the like.
Even if you're recreating the piece by playing the guitar yourself, it's still someone else's ideas you're playing. Even if these four riffs you're talking about are blended together, it's still based off of someone else's work. And because of that basis, I personally would not consider to be an original composition, at all.
At 5/12/19 11:57 PM, Random-storykeeper wrote:At 5/11/19 11:04 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:At 5/11/19 04:08 PM, Random-storykeeper wrote:At 5/8/19 06:42 PM, ambivalentinquire wrote:Ok im making a piece that has my favorite riffs innit all blended into one piece,,that doesnt count as a cover does it? its completely different?
It's kind of a grey area given the ambiguity. Like, how much of each song is being sampled? Is it significant to the original track? I would kind of regard that as a bit of a remix if you're deriving directly from these other tracks and deliberately piecing a bunch of different riffs together. The majority of it has to be your own ideas. It's one thing to be inspired by another track, but if your track is simply going to reference a bunch of other people's tracks, then it would fall into the category of "covers and remixes" and would not be allowed.
This is only based off what you told me - a piece mostly comprised of your favourite riffs would not really be your own original composition, and this compo is for original work only.
No actual samples at all, its all my own playing blended into one track, an example would be Joe Bonamassa's just got paid where he uses riffs and influences from songs he loves to create one piece realisticly making it an original piece because the parts of the song dont follow the structure of any of the riffs used, in my honest opinion it cant be classed as a cover,,,,i play all the guitar and made all the beats baselines bar 1, that was used that i guy made who i will give credit to who is not the original artist, its 4 riffs blended into 1 peice, which hasnt been done with these riffs before surely that makes it a personal original?
That's why this is more of a "grey" area. The reason I'm erring more on the side of caution is because of how the piece is conceived - it's being derived from a combination of other people's works. It wouldn't be a cover, yes, but it could still fall into being a "remix" or "mashup" in the sense that the piece is just comprised of other people's riffs mashed together. The rules of the compo state that only original compositions are allowed, remixes, covers, you name it.
I can't really give you a straightforward definition of how much you'd have to change in order for what you want to do (all your favourite riffs blended in one piece) to make it become "original", but if this is what your piece is going to be based off or mostly comprised of, then it doesn't seem like it would be an original composition at all. It's one thing to be inspired by another piece of music, but if you're directly referencing it and making that the basis of your piece, then it seems like it would be more of a remix or something of the like.
Even if you're recreating the piece by playing the guitar yourself, it's still someone else's ideas you're playing. Even if these four riffs you're talking about are blended together, it's still based off of someone else's work. And because of that basis, I personally would not consider to be an original composition, at all.
Understood, competition rules need to be strict to ensure fairness for all,,cheers for clearing that up.
Good Day! Can I have the Criteria for Judging so that I and the participants may know what to do? Thanks a lot! Goodluck to my fellow contenders!
At 5/13/19 07:46 AM, Uxvellda wrote:Good Day! Can I have the Criteria for Judging so that I and the participants may know what to do? Thanks a lot! Goodluck to my fellow contenders!
There isn't really a specific criteria for judging, so long as the rules are followed, but the guidelines right underneath the Rules section of the submissions thread might help give you an idea as to what is generally favoured. This isn't a strict rule, but it seems as though the Newgrounds Audio community usually prefers music that has a hook, structure and a general sense of tonality. Because the judges are people from the Newgrounds Audio community, they will most likely favour these things too. Plus, you'd want to be able to (clearly) and convey the inspiration of your chosen artwork driving the music.
I really can't give any specific characteristics past this. I can tag the judges, though, and if they want, they can give you an idea of the kinds of music they like or what they're hoping to see from this compo. For me, personally, I want to be able to make that clear connection to the art based on listening to the track inspired from that art, and - ideally - be able to hear the reasoning behind the musical choices that you make. But let's see if the other judges want to share what they're listening for.
At 5/15/19 03:24 AM, Random-storykeeper wrote:I really can't give any specific characteristics past this. I can tag the judges, though, and if they want, they can give you an idea of the kinds of music they like or what they're hoping to see from this compo. For me, personally, I want to be able to make that clear connection to the art based on listening to the track inspired from that art, and - ideally - be able to hear the reasoning behind the musical choices that you make. But let's see if the other judges want to share what they're listening for.
I would definitely mention that I'm going to be open for most genre of music, although I'm pretty more into listening for orchestral. And for me, personally, my criteria will be more stronger towards music itself, but music & selected art's relationship will be strong enough to change my final judging results.
~ Jessie
✨ENFP | 🎵 Epic Music Composer for: ACE/Old Chicago/OddTodd |🎬 Film Student | Status : Study Mode!
At 5/15/19 05:36 AM, JessieYun wrote:
I would definitely mention that I'm going to be open for most genre of music, although I'm pretty more into listening for orchestral.
If this orchestral bias upset any of you techno geeks, I'll be off setting that a tad. While I love romantic masters such as Chopin, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky... my personal influences range from noise rock, grindcore, math metal, Indy, industrial, bebop, Avant garde, dnb...
I'm a percussionist, fifteen years behind a drum kit, twelve years behind piano, and five years beat boxing. I don't give two cents about tonality so long as the rhythm kicks.
That doesn't mean I won't give an awesome rating to a down tempo bluegrass or a vocal quartet. It just means that you should focus on picking out a work of art that inspires you to make good music then follow up by making good music.
We are volunteer judges. I've participated in enough competitions here to know that judging doesn't always go your way or make sense. The process is not always fair or without bias. These comps are supposed to be fun, so have fun and make music. If you have an issue, discuss.
At 5/13/19 07:46 AM, Uxvellda wrote:Good Day! Can I have the Criteria for Judging so that I and the participants may know what to do? Thanks a lot! Goodluck to my fellow contenders!
Personally I don't have any strict criteria I look for when judging. I do place a huge emphasis on the point of the contest though, which is to make a music inspired by a piece of artwork. Just like RSK mentioned as well, I want there to be a clear connection between the art and the music. I would really advice people to use their song description to their advantage and properly explain the idea behind the song. Other than that, I look at the normal stuff like arrangement, composition, mixing and sound design..
Just a random idiot
