So you might know that I've been crashing the NG Awards party with my opinion on the result for best musician. I shouldn't have done that there - that thread was for congratulations and thank-yous. I said some pretty harsh things about the admins and Hania as well. For that, I apologize...I really did pull a Kanye.
However, I don't think I should've kept my opinion to myself. I hope to establish my position in a more concise manner here in this newspost.
Rucklo explained to me the reason Hania was chosen - she collaborated with a Flash animator and made the music for a couple of flashes, including the Flash Of The Year. Cool, I'll keep that in mind for next year. I just wish you had told us beforehand that the only criteria was "collaborate with a Flash artist," because at the moment this award doesn't seem to be for the "musician of the year" but rather the "soundtrack of the year."
I believe that a model NG musician not only works with flash artists, but submits plenty of songs and works with the community here. Hania submitted seven songs, made eleven blog posts and posted once last year, but otherwise steered clear of NG. No reviews at all in '09. She put little to no effort into the community here, except to remind her fans of her new merch and songs and stuff. In that regard and, coincidentally, my opinion, she's a very bad example of a Newgrounds Musician.
But wait, she wasn't chosen because of her involvement with the community! Well then, let's look at her music.
Production wise, she's above average for Newgrounds, but mostly because she sings and has access to some Very Professional Orchestral Samples. The mixing is amateurish, her abstractions and balancing need work, and whenever she strays from those Very Professional Orchestral Samples, her low production knowledge really shines through. The music in Tarboy especially screams "I HAS FL STUDIOS BUT I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW IT WORKS LOL." But hey, despite her deficiencies in the production department, she knows how to write a catchy tune.
And does that catchy tune work in the context of Tarboy? Yes, it does. The composition goes well with the animation. Which is why I think that Hania should've received an award for Soundtrack Of The Year and not Musician Of The Year. As a musician who's supposed to represent Newgrounds, she simply doesn't hold up to the likes of Maestrorage, who was both a great composer and a pillar of the community, and the most deserving recipient of the award so far.
Tom, you've done a great job with NG over the past decade, building it up from a little personal sideshow to a full-blown company with freaking award ceremonies. It's awesome - I've built up my audio skills and made all sorts of connections through this website. I honestly wouldn't be where I am today if I had never joined Newgrounds.
But really, your choice simply didn't make sense to me.
Maybe arguments like this are why the Oscars don't have a Best Composer award and stick to Best Original Score, Original Song, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. That makes sense. You KNOW that in order to win one of those awards, you'd better write something for a movie. The Grammies take care of the Best Musician award.. I suppose I was looking for more of a Grammies approach to your Best Musician award, and was surprised when it wasn't the case.
Oh well. I guess I know what to expect for next year.
