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Reviews for "AIM - The Search"

This was an utmost relaxing listen. Although I usually prefer tracks with grandiose climaxes, I had no desire for that in this case because your execution of portraying certain imagery and vibes was excellent, and it was done in a somewhat novel manner. My only gripe is that the piano playing in the very beginning sounded a little inelegant.

Wow this is so well done. I love the background atmosphere with voices and pops or whatever that sound is, sounds like running water lol.
Super chill and fits the theme of the art very well!
Love it!

Official AIM Review!

Loving the occasional breathy water droplet. Piece starts otherwise fairly minimalistic with that e-piano, gradually growing to include a cello synth and later breathy violin. I'd have appreciated a stronger attack, faster, on that synth, speaking of, however, it's not a huge gripe.

Progression is very slow and mix is super quiet, but writing is very strong. I was a little disoriented by the ASMR-esque SFX around 2:38. Occasionally I felt as if the sfx may have been as loud or louder than the instruments themselves. No real issue but due to the relative quiet of the piece, it did draw my attention away from the melody. (ps, thank you for not using any eating noises haha) This may have actually worked in your favor a bit though, considering the pace of the composition. I do love the varied texture.

Piece is so soothing, I almost totally lost track of time until the drums came in. At this point, while I was pleasantly surprised to hear another element come in, I do think that kick was a bit too subby for the mix to sustain. You've been very sensitive with your drum writing though, and it feels very natural. Huge improvement. I dig it.

Your outro is quite strong. I wish that went on longer. I could handle an 8 minute version of this song, tbh. Bold move this year, and strong finish.

And now, unless I somehow missed a piece, this concludes my judging for AIM2018. Thanks for turning out for the competition. It's been a blast!

Oh wow!

The way in which those intro textures lead into that clean melody is beautiful. As is the melody.
The strings make the moment that more heartfelt and dramatic.
The whispers are eerie and make a nice flavor variance.
The buildup is great and moody.

Also, while this review is unrelated to the AIM, the track fits the inspiration art amazingly well.

Great job!
Good luck in the NGADM!

---Official AIM review---

I like the airy sound effects at the beginning and the smooth E-piano. The mix is pretty quiet, albeit clear. I’m guessing you had trouble getting enough sound out of those crackling effects to balance the other instruments, but regardless I think some more volume level manipulation may have been in order. The piece is very calming, and the melodic content at 1:32 is beautiful despite a relatively inauthentic instrument. I like how the texture thickens at 1:58. The crackling effects get slightly busier at 2:38 or so, which I thought was a really nice touch. The slight variations on the melody at 3:37 are also quite welcome. I feel as though there’s little to complain about for the first 5 minutes or so of the piece besides the quiet mix and slow progression. The atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous, and the well-balanced texture is both thick and engaging. When the drums enter at 4:43, they succeed in adding more energy and drive, but they also take over the mix a bit too much imo. The busy kick felt a little too sub-bassy for the piece, and the transition at 5:22 was very sudden. You have several sudden transitions in the piece, but 5:22 stuck out to me as the starkest one. The sudden change in 5:27 with the addition of the synths was also a bit jarring. I think it was certainly a bold compositional choice to introduce such a contrasting sound design element this late in the piece, and after the second listen it still sounds a bit off to me. Overall, you’ve clearly displayed a strong sense of melody, harmony, phrasing, and atmosphere construction. The arrangement of the piece is not a plus for me, and the pacing feels a bit wonky between the drone-like 5 minutes and the one-two punch of the drum-heavy and synth sections later on. Production quality is strong overall, and the instrumentation was quite tasteful despite the arguably out-of-place synth. Keep it up, Ectisity!

8.75/10