Official AIM Review!

Bright piano in the beginning has a good timbre, but the velocity seems very machine gunned -- all 127. Needs humanization as well. Even simply selecting the notes and moving attack/release around 10-20 ms will help this. I'm also not liking that the low chords are so condensed. Try taking some of those notes you want in your chord tones and moving them up an octave. They're very muddy in that low register.

A lot of my critique has already been mentioned by TL. Mix is a bit dirty. Side-chaining seems not to be enhancing the mix any -- and I can't really find the bass all the way up to 1:16.

0:45 we have a fairly good chord progression, but your voicing is killing the victorious mood. Whatever bass line you had in mind, I'd take it out of the brass and move it an octave lower on some other kind of bass. Your brass is really heavy on the reverb too, which is part of the muddy mix issue.

I do like your use of SFX despite an abrupt end to the first movement. Unlike the first intro, the rain is mixed in fairly well.

Essentially, I like the structure of the song, but it comes off as half-finished, missing a bassline, no mastering, not compressed and radio ready.

However, I do see that you have a good sense of melody, and you've been pretty sensitive with your pacing. This is good. Keep doing that. Your outro at 4:05 is probably the strongest point of the song. I'd have liked to hear that on your second build up before a bombastic close.

Overall, despite some flaws, I enjoyed the piece. Focus on clarity of sound, not necessarily big-ness and power, and you'll come out stronger. And remember, the number one thing that makes or breaks a song is your bass. This is the foundation upon which everything else rests. A band with no bass, no matter how technically erudite, is just noise. People will often forgive other mixing mistakes if you just get two things right -- drums and bass. :)

Thanks for turning out for this year's AIM!

---Official AIM review---

I like the bright piano at the beginning and the vocals in the background. The vocals seemed a bit unpolished, though, and could use some more filtering and maybe flanging work to contribute to the atmosphere. The build-up into :44 was pretty good, although I think there were a few questionable instrument choices there. Those strings sound pretty fake, and that snare isn’t very strong and lacks sounds somewhat hollow. I like the victorious sound of the texture, but I also think the occasional high-pitched string interjections (like at :58) detract from the melody until you get to the somewhat more legato part at 1:01. The mix could use a bit of cleaning up in here, especially with regards to balance of different instruments and stricter equalizing. I like the low-energy section at 1:29 and the emotional appeal of the piano, but I think the transition there could’ve been foreshadowed better. The pause at 2:00 was a somewhat bold compositional choice, but I really like the result. Atmosphere at 2:20 is beautiful, and I like the violin riff at 2:35. The progression works well until 2:50, but I think you could’ve had a fade-in or some filtering there to make the transition a little smoother before the wall of sound at the refrain. I also would’ve liked to see you vary the piece a little more during the second half. The melody at 3:34 was a good start, though. Overall, I think where this piece falls short is in the mixing and the sound design. The refrains could sound a lot more distinct, and I think the melody needs some compression to stay foregrounded. A lot of the instruments sound pretty inauthentic, which is especially noticeable at :44 and 3:34. My favorite parts of the piece included the atmosphere at the beginning and at the breakdown AND the melodic content. Overall, you have a strong compositional foundation, but honing in on some of the production-related elements could really take this piece to the next level. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.25/10

Yeah, this is pretty good. Heads up: you have to state the art you based it on.
Do you use FL?