Official AIM Review!

Like that intro. Riff is catchy. Don't particularly like how the perc comes in, but it does settle in nicely once all is said and done. Perplexed at 0:33 when it seemingly vanishes without explanation.

I'm noticing a lot of 4 on the floor drums. Would like at least the typical big room convention of the snare on beat 4 of every 4th measure or so to keep things fresh.

Your chord progression is fairly safe but good. Not sure why you wouldn't like the piece. It's simple but fairly effective. Again, drop is stellar, and this time around much better mixed. Another one that will be stuck in my head. Still impressed you were able to accomplish this on a mobile DAW.

I agree that this track probably would have done better much shorter, about a full minute, and perhaps some of those cheesy transitions beefed up with more perc, not to mention some sort of riser.

We hear a lot of the same melodic content over. I'd have probably liked a second repeat of that chorus at the end, or maybe even a key change to keep things fresh. I'm also noticing your tracks seem absent of any crashes or wooshy reverse cymbals. Unsure if that may be a DAW limitation.

Overall, cohesive piece, impressive considering you made it in Auxy. Nice work. Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

---Official AIM review---

Catchy piece. I think the rhythm is a bit hard to follow before the beat comes in, but despite still being a bit generic, I think you did a better job with the sound design here than in the last piece I reviewed. Those quirky pads are pretty cool, and I like the filtering work you did on them at around 1:09. Nice job leading into 1:21, although I thought the transition at :30 could’ve been a little smoother. The drums are stronger this time, too. The snare sounds fuller and better balanced. There were several parts of the piece that were pretty minimalistic, although I like the automations with the pads, and I thought it worked well when the build-up in the filtering effects “reset” itself, like at 2:38. The piece feels really repetitive by around 3:30, especially with the chord progression and the thin melody synth. I don’t think you added much new content during the second half at all. The texture might need more fill, and the drum pattern especially lacks creativity. Similar to your last piece, the track ends abruptly after the final refrain. I still admire your sense of melody and harmony, though, and I think the mixing and mastering were a fair bit stronger here. That may be partly due to the minimalism, but you also had a nice sub-bass to fill in the texture a bit for this piece. Overall solid work, but it didn’t need to be 5 minutes long and/or this structurally repetitive. Keep at it, Zophar!

7.5/10

P.S.: I made a mistake in scoring your first track. Should be an 8/10, not 7.5. :)

Why don't you like it?

Oh, BTW, for AIM, you have to give a link to the piece of art that it is based on. :)