banger

The guitars at :26 are great. The choir sounds a bit inauthentic, though, and the pacing of the chords at the beginning is a bit fast for my tastes. The mix sounds a bit overwhelmed at :51 - the harmonies aren’t very distinct from each other, and the drums could’ve been a tad more up-front in the texture. There are also a couple of abrupt transitions in close succession at 1:40 and 1:43. The individual guitar riffs are really nice, and I also like the atmospheric parts like at 2:05. The mix just feels pretty strained when the atmosphere is playing together with the drums and guitar. I really like the string breakdown at 2:36 and the rich texture at 3:00. The pause that followed at 3:24 was a bit awkward, but I enjoyed it when the guitar came back in. The solo at 3:55 is especially good, but also deserves to be more prominent in the mix.

Much of the rest of the piece follows the same pattern: really good guitar riffs and compelling atmospheric content, but a relatively loose mix and some abrupt transitions. I’d suggest looking into some stereo widening or other mixing techniques that could temper the muddiness caused by the atmospheric instruments. Anything that would keep the melodies more front-and-center in the mix would help. Adding some more compression on the drums could also help.

Still, you did a lot of ambitious work here with the composition, and it shows. The sound design and melodies are fantastic overall. Tighten up the mix and make the arrangement a bit less choppy (more gradual transitions, drum fills, sweeps and drum fills in choice places, etc.), and this piece would be truly top-notch. Regardless, thanks for coming out to the NGUAC this year, FourTHat3! Been an absolute pleasure. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
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
8/10

The concept of this song is fantastic, as is a lot of the writing. What could be better is mix. The kick and snare are cutting through well enough, but it sounds like volume of bass and other elements are all over the place. Bass is too loud. Synths sound centered and not loud enough. Reverb wet is too high and too long, with not enough low cut to maintain balance.

I also am not a major fan of the glock at 4:50 ish

The transitions make this piece well worth listening to, and the melodies presented are interesting. I think it is more than a sum of its parts, but quite a lot could be done to clean it up!

awesome ^_^

good job