It turns out I am your NGADM reviewer – it must have been switched since my last review.
I love the atmosphere from the very beginning. The sound design gives me a fantasy feeling, almost like the Divinity Original Sin II soundtrack. I like the use of the plucky instruments. The mix has good depth and use of delay, reverb, and panning, and the drums are mixed excellently.
The structure is conceptually solid and the transitions are all smooth. As I understand it, there’s an intro that sets the scene, an A section that feels like it’s building up to a climax until it settles down and transitions to a darker B section, then there’s a transitional section that builds into a climax based on the A theme. This could have worked very well, but I feel that the climax is not reaching its full potential. The main problem I hear is that the melody doesn’t have ideal projection and breathing room; it’s not prominent enough in the mix, while the plucks and hi hats demand a lot of attention. It also feels a little too similar to the first A section, but with a little more intensity. Modulating to another key could have been a nice idea here to enhance the emotional impact and freshen the sound.
While the mix is solid, I have some minor feedback:
- The plucks seem to have a delay with a lot of high frequencies, which gets fatiguing and can make the room feel smaller.
- The orchestral instruments feel a little thin and small-room-sounding. A plugin like SP2016 or simply changing the mic positions can fix this quickly.
- I think you did a good job with EQing overall, but I think some more mud can be removed from the mids of some of the orchestral instruments for greater clarity, and some highs can be cut from the plucks.
Your track took my mind to a lively fantasy world that seems to have a deep story behind it. I enjoyed this a lot!
Lordant 
![Mind Paradise [Purplerized]](https://aicon.ngfiles.com/1381/1381808_medium.webp?f1733695308)
