I like the synth arpeggios and synth guitar at the beginning. The drums sound a bit weak in the mix, especially the snare, but I like the melodies a lot, and the stop-start transition at :50 works quite well. At times, I felt like the energy level and/or instrumental hierarchy could use some shaking up, but the brief bridge at 1:56 helps scratch that itch a bit. The rich texture and sound design in this piece are probably my favorite elements of it, but the rhythmic content is also rather creative, and besides the subordinate drums, the mix holds up rather well. Solid effort all around, TheUnnamedPlayer! Keep it up. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Absolutely fantastic writing. I would like more loud, and less reverb. Louder snare, maybe some transient shaping to bring it out. It's almost inauduble.

Your writing covers a lot of the finer mix points that are missed.

It sounds like the right channel rhythm guitar is louder than the left.

The drums in particular, and by that I mostly mean crashes, could use softer panning in each ear imo, as well as more modulation of velocity. The crashes are louder than the snare and toms, which I barely hear. Maybe it is on the part of compression. Make sure your composition sounds as good at a quiet volume as it does loud.

All that said, I think you've put together a wonderful piece. I really enjoyed it. It was varied, intense, interesting, had blazing solos. Great work.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

EDIT: I wanted to add I'm listening on professional monitor headphones, audio technica ATH m40x, and I've been doing metal for... 10 years? I can't remember.

How you do your mix is up to you, but just passing along the tips and tricks that I learned from others through the years. If it really does sound different to you than for me, might check out the frequency profile of your sound card and headphones. Mine came factory with a Realtek driver that automatically compressed any output that came through it. I had to switch to the default high definition audio driver. I haven't had any problems since. And theres always comparing your master to others you like from the same or comparative genre. Best of luck, and hope it helps. I know how it is trying to work your sound toward the lowest common denominator of speaker and someone comes along leaving you scratching your head about the sound!

Anyway, nothing personal. Let me know your hardware and drivers. If it really does sound different that's something I need to think about balancing my own mix!

Bruh, y'all are gonna destroy me in the UAC xD