Official AIM2018 Review!

This is a pretty short piece. I'm afraid it doesn't meet the 3 minute requirement for the competition, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and give you a fair review! Actually, I'd like to hear this as a finished piece. I can see from the waveform that it appears unmastered and structurally incomplete. So, let's jump in.

0:00 Seriously cool lo-fi reverse-y vocals and instrumentation. I like it. Continues throughout. Like it.

0:06 Weird bass boop that doesn't seem to make much sense in concert with the rest of the track. Kinda throwaway note.

0:22 Interesting SFX transitions. Bass seems panned a bit far left. Vinyl fizz is just a bit too loud. Could seriously benefit from some panning on your drums. Sounds a bit overly reverbed.

0:40 Nice vibraslap, as mentioned by TL.

0:50-ish, this transition is a little weaker and could have benefited from a little less snare and perhaps some additional SFX or cymbals/chimes. Maybe even choking, breathing, coughing or vomiting noises, since the theme is a bulimia piece.

1:00 return to main theme, though slower, is pretty abrupt. However, the percussion is pleasantly varied.

1:21 effectively where all melodic content stops, and we're left with dead silence. Our bulimia trip has evidently ended in death, followed by 10 seconds of silence. This too feels abrupt. I had something else in mind to say, but I've got a five-year-old rushing into my room with a GBA blaring, so I think it's best to leave off here before I get super distracted.

Anyway, what this track needs, other than a little more melodic content, some length, etc., is mastering. At present, it's really interesting, but it's sitting in the demo phase. Anyway, thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

---Official AIM review---

Wow. Vocals really sound like they’re from an old-fashioned movie or something, but the beat really gives the piece a more modern feel. Nice job juxtaposing the two. The drum fills actually did a great job of smoothing over the transition into :56, but the transition at 1:21 was very sudden. Overall, this content is enjoyable, but there’s no escaping the fact that it isn’t really structurally complete. It also might’ve needed a little more shape and variety. For such a short piece, it has a really effective sense of progression and character. I also like many of the subtle details, like the wind FX at :22 and the vibraslap at :40. One detail that I don’t think worked quite as well is the bass bomb at :05. Still, solid work. I’d totally recommend extending this into a full-length track. Keep at it, Arbelamram!

7/10