I like the dreamy pads at the beginning. The piece is a little slow to progress at first, but I like the gentle woodwind instruments at :30. The transition into :58 could’ve been a tad smoother, and the kick sounds a bit heavy for a piece like this with fairly light and airy harmonies. Maybe some more mixing effects on the harmonies could help fill out the atmosphere a bit more. The bass at 1:27 also takes up a bit too much space in the mix. The texture comes together well at 1:58 - very upbeat and much more full-sounding. The rest of the piece has a solid progression of melodic and harmonic ideas, but they often sound a bit disjointed. Some more variety in the energy level, and perhaps a consolidation in the number of distinct synth patterns, could help keep this piece sounding both more cohesive and appropriately varied. Overall, I like the energy, sound design, and rhythmic aspects of this piece. The choppy arrangement is my main concern here. The transitions could be a lot smoother and more gradual, and I’d like to see you integrate some of the main melodic motifs across sections (as opposed to just having one idea after another in succession). The drum fill at 1:55 would help smooth transitions over in a couple more places, but sweeps, risers, or melodic transitions would also be appropriate. Still, I love the upbeat mood here and the instrumentation! Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC, CosmoSynth, and hope to see you back next year. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.75/10

You really nailed that 80's vibe hard with the instrumentation, the artistic theme, the overall mix levels, and driving arrangement.

It does take a WHILE to develop, and I have gripes with some of the levelling and panning, but I'm really enjoying from 2:00 on. Feels like a song that never ends, in a good way.

I do think you can cut the silence off the end, take your hihats down a notch, bring your kick up slightly, your snare by about 1 dB, and potentially change out that crash cymbal.

Master sounds pretty good! Great work

I'm a sucker for anything that feels 80s, like Speedo said. I think it's definitely your choice of instrumentation and I really like the synth that comes in at 1:30 and the way you mixed the percussion a bit later on. That riff at 02:40 is such a jam. Best of luck to you in the NGUAC!

Fun track! I can definitely see the inspiration from 1980s electronic pop music. Only criticism is that it kinda drags after a while, but it is still a fun listen!