Such a good song, how did I forget about it :0

NGADM 2021 review upon request:

The intro has a very solid opening. I like the orchestral and house/dance blend and I think you have a very good feel for what you wanted to come across. Leading to the build felt well progressed and nothing too crazy stands out. Pretty pleased with what I got to hear from you. As I went through the first listen, I noticed a couple of things that definitely hold back the song's potential. The first thing I noticed was the balance of the mix especially at the drop. It's not clean, and I mean in the sense that the overall mix sounds a little crowded. The balance is well done because I don't hear things in the foreground that should be in the background, and vice versa, but there isn't room for the background elements because it seems like it's all squished to the front. Which is also interesting because it's not like you're quite reaching loudness war waveforms either in the waveforms I can see. I even questioned how loud my headphones were because it seemed like it should be louder than what it is. My guess is you're using a compressor on the main mix, but either you didn't leave much headroom before using the compressor, or you boosted the gain up after balancing but also into the compressor as well. Even then though you didn't fill up the volume either, you let it peak just shy of where it could have gone (not to say it's necessarily to push the loudness, just surprised you didn't).

The other thing I noticed in the first listen is that by the second half of the song it felt a smidge stagnant. I think the reason why is that what I heard the most is the lead and the chords for the most part, and the energy felt more of the same especially closer to the end. While the lead is a good sound, and I like that you have melodic motif happening, but I think it's only used by the lead in the chorus's and the chords you use are only doing the same chord progression during the whole thing. What I think could help achieve a bit more potential is possibly changing up a few of the chords especially in the second chorus. You could have achieved that maybe by changing which octave the notes from the chords to have a different feel to the chords (I was going to say make them sound bigger but these already feel big and warm), but also changing up the chord progression really helps differentiate the drops/chorus's from the other sections.

Unfortunately as a critic it's much easier to pick on what I think is wrong than what I think is right with the song lol. While it was easy to nitpick those two bigger issues, the song is well made as a whole. Aside from the first issue I mentioned I probably wouldn't have distinguished it as being different that even what's rotating in my main Spotify playlist. This very much fits in the house genre in the way I would think of it, but just a tad bit cookie cutter too at the drops lol. Overall, definitely something I'd be proud to have made as well, and even seeing the number of listens you already have, something that you could show other people and they would enjoy as well.

Composition - 9
Production - 7.5
Sound Design - 8
Structure - 7
Uniqueness - 9

Well there aren't many Future Bass genre songs on NGADM and I hope this card plays well for you, it's a very well mixed piece with several parts, so it never gets old. I wish you good luck :)

Like your mixing, sounds r powerful and bright. Good 4 techno House! Brillant effects! Good luck on NGADM21!

this song is epic, the melody is so catchy and the rhythm is hard and strong!!! the synths sounds is amazing. you did an excellent job on this song!! we all need to step up our game!!
good luck to you as well!!!