I like the spacey atmosphere at the beginning and the drums that start fading in at :20. The clap sample at :26 isn’t my favorite, although I enjoyed the build-up into :51. The drop was catchy, but could’ve been a tad punchier and more dynamic. The “double-dip” drop at 1:20 was pretty cool - it definitely filled out the atmosphere nicely. The piece could use a little more fill at times, and you start overusing the stop-start transitions after a while, but the energetic bridge at 2:09 sounds good. The last melodic phrase of the piece feels a bit dragged-out, and overall the arrangement of this piece is a bit cliche. In fact, the generic sound design and progression is probably my main problem with the piece. The composition is a tad underwhelming, but certainly not bad, and the production quality holds up quite well. Overall, the piece didn’t knock my socks off or anything, but you’re definitely being too hard on yourself when your author’s description is just “sorry for this.” :) Keep at it, Mockany! Hope to see you back in the NGADM next year. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

the intro is straight nostalgic NUT

at 29 I think your clappish sample could come down a bit, and bring up the break snare

I think your structure and transitions are great in terms of filtering. Maybe a bit off in terms of mix, as your sub is pretty loud, and growls are a bit down initially. At the drop prior to 1:30, I feel the basses and growls are spread a bit far in the stereo field. Yearning for more center and clipping/drive in the mids. Dropping a baby sub underneath them might help.

The transition at 2:11 was unexpected. Section is good there but would have liked a bit more obvious tip we were going to change genre for a sec!

I think the mix at 2:55 is suffering from over compression. It sounds pretty full in my ears with lots of verb that is muddying the clarity

At 3:18 the hihat is WAY loud

But otherwise, I think you've done a FANTASTIC job. Nice and varied piece with good themes and pretty solid structure. Great work! Don't be so hard on yourself <3

this is bad... bad-ass!! dunno why you downvote yourself... This is good stuff! I especially love the ending!