I like the percussion at the beginning. The theremin at :34 was a nice touch, although it sounds very loud in the mix compared to the percussion. The brass samples at :56 were a bit inauthentic, and overall this piece has a bit of a meandering progression, with a number of distinct riffs that don’t feel very inter-connected thematically. The melodies are pretty, and I especially like the echo-y mallets at 1:50. I’m also enjoying the dissonance in the texture at around 2:30. The elevated sense of urgency at 2:40 or so is nice, but the texture still feels rather minimal, but I enjoy the production quality and balance of frequencies here. The piece still feels like it needs some sort of section towards the end to hit it home and resolve some of the pent-up tension, and the ending itself comes on a bit abruptly. That said, the sound design, mastering, atmosphere, and harmonic content are all enjoyable here. Keep at it, VictorLincolnPine! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
7.5/10

I actually don't think this is half bad for 3 days left, distracted by life and school. Your choice to make your own bird noises actually turned out pretty cool!

The shift at 2:44 is a nice stylistic choice that ties the rest of the piece together.

I confess I loathe synth brass and think the velocities could have been better managed there, but your treatment of the other instruments was great. I just would have taken down those repeated stabs and I think it would have been fine.

Great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!