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AIM - War Rats

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Author Comments

Shortened due to the contest*

Stereo recommended


This song tells a story, but I won't explain it. Feel free to understand it as you want. I will only say that the ending segment of the song was purely inspired by the scene that the art (https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/stopsignal/war-rats) by @stopsignal represents.


Also thanks to freesound.org and the following users:

Karma-ron (cymbal)

taira-komori (drum)

hykenfreak (ringing of the ears)

samulis (second cymbal)

dean-raul-diarchangeli (cymbalchatter)

joao-janz (radio knob)

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Hats off to you for leaving the interpretation of your musical story up to the listener. Often times, it feels like people sometimes overexplain a lot of their musical interpretations of their own pieces, and that actually can ruin the listening experience.

I like the introduction with the thin radio sound, but it felt a bit weird when the marches were not in sync with the tempo of the music in the part that follows. The march sounds could have been integrated with the percussion, but they instead have to fade out while the actual timed percussion takes over. The main melody that is heard for the majority of the piece is good; it has this sadness mixed with this drive to keep moving forward, and I think the choice to use a more nasally instrument suits the rat character in question. Most of the track, to me, felt like it took inspiration from events that led up to the artwork.

What was missing for me in this piece, was the depths of dynamics. I felt like there were sections where the instruments could have felt less hard-hitting or softer, especially given the repetition of the melody. A lot of the parts feel like they have the same impact and I think that messes with the narrative suggested in the piece.

I do enjoy the section at 4:36 where the explosion feels soft, but the ringing of the ears sound is much louder in comparison. The sparseness of the notes and the more bell-like tones that come in feel like they complement that ear ringing sound.

Overall, I think the sound design is nice, as well as the melody. I like the interpretation of the image in a more narrative sort of way.

Credits & Info

Artist
Inspiration

Listens
497
Faves:
3
Downloads
1
Votes
13
Score
4.26 / 5.00

Uploaded
May 22, 2021
2:56 PM EDT
File Info
Song
8.7 MB
6 min 20 sec
Software
  • FL Studio
  • Xpand!2
Misc. Kit
  • Others

Licensing Terms

Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.

* Contains third-party samples.
Excercise caution when using it, refer to author comments / contact the author for details.