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Aalasteir - MR. 100 (AIM CONTEST 2023) | Game Music | Royalty Free Instrumental + MIDI |

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Author Comments

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(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

altogether i appreciated the loose, unquantized feel of this song, although there are some moments where it feels noticeably off, like in the rushed snare drum fills that lead into new phrases. if they were recorded live, just a bit of adjustment by cutting up the waveform might help, or re-recording just that bar until it feels right. in any case, in this respect the slipperiness of the music pairs well with the surreal, psychedelic perspective of the artwork inspiration. i would've expected to hear a lot more electronic sounds evocative of sci-fi here, but it's an interesting, trope-defying take still!

i like your very free sense of harmony here too, which is similarly slippery. i feel like the music could've developed more though, either in the form of adding new, related music or just taking some of those ideas and giving them new lives, new contexts, more or less energy, changes in the speed of harmonic motion, etc -- this could make the 'free sense of harmony' bedazzle the listener instead of bordering on wandering around without an aim. the building blocks are all here for something really cool and unique though :o)

AIM 2023 Judge Review

I like how this entry manages to be both chill but have this sort of hardworking vibe to it. The entire piece is basically just jamming out to the same idea for 3 minutes and I think the repetition is what draws this piece to be relaxing in a way that you can just sort of put it in the background and do other things without getting distracted. But at the same time, the repeating pattern itself is not your typical sort of setup for chill music. It's very plunky and uses some nasally-sounding synths to riff on its main melody, which places the mood in a very sort of structured, methodical environment. This is a long-winded way to say I can make that connection between the music and the art.

The percussion choice works well when all the instruments are playing, but I feel like the kick pattern from 1:51 - 1:56 hit way more beats than I think it should have to match the quieter part of this section. I did like the softer pads and I got the sense that they were being panned while holding their notes, which was quite nice.

Overall, I think this track is pretty good - I see it's meant to be royalty-free game music and I believe it serves this purpose well. Personally I hear this theme as being more suited to a cutscene in a lab where two characters are having a back-and-forth chat through a scrolling text box. Nice job!

I agree with BusanBlack, I think the jazziness and dreaminess compliment the artwork very well.

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you for your kind message!

Hey this is wicked. Im digging the sounds you used. Very jazzy and dreamy with some funk.

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much! I'm extremely grateful for your generous and kind comment, I appreciate your encouraging message.

You help me keep going.

Sounds pretty good!

Aalasteir responds:

I'm happy you wanted to listen to my song. That always makes me really happy and it means a tremendous amount.

Credits & Info

Listens
394
Faves:
1
Downloads
2
Votes
15
Score
3.83 / 5.00

Uploaded
Apr 22, 2023
11:30 AM EDT
Genre
Video Game
File Info
Song
3 MB
3 min 17 sec
Software
  • Live 10
Misc. Kit
  • Casio CDP-130
  • Scaler 2
  • Captain Epic
  • Odesi Music Composition
  • Liquid Rhythm

Licensing Terms

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