NGADM Round 3 Review

This sounds so nostalgic and blissful. The composition is sublime. The melodies, solos, counterlines, and bass lines are fantastic. I can sense a lot of passion written into each line. I like how the drums contribute to the composition rather than simply being a rhythmic bed. The track is very unique despite some resemblance to video game styles, and once again, you crafted a distinctive, memorable melody.

The structure is solid, and there’s a lot of excellent variation in instrumentation and melody, with some solos and melodic breaks. I do however feel that the track can get tiring after a few listens because of how centered it seems around a single theme. As far as I can tell, there isn’t a distinctive B theme to provide some contrast and break from the A theme. I believe a solid B theme that explores some different territory would make the track more engaging and replayable.

I know you’ve expressed some concern about your mixing in the past. I believe you made a lot of good decisions in this mix on an individual track level, but one problem I found is overall frequency buildup between 400hz to 1khz and some resonances around 2khz. By cutting or compressing these areas, and affecting the track’s tonal balance, some important elements of the mix, like the drums, should feel more prominent, like in the example I shared on Discord. I suggest using multiband compression on the bass to stabilize it, and a subtle instance on the master or drum bus to control the high end spikes from elements like cymbals. I also found a slight cut on the master around 150hz to improve clarity in the low end; you can use a narrow band to not affect the snare at 200hz.

It's always a delight to listen to your music. Good luck in the remaining rounds!

You really nailed that retro game aesthetic, this caught me by surprise :)

It's extremely well composed and doesn't feel cheap at all (which I find quite common with that type of song). Each element has a place and was expertly picked.

It's fresh, it's exciting, I love it !

Instantly loved the theme that the intro starts with. The feel has a big band jazz feel combined in a retro game style. Makes me think of Bomberman or some Mario Kart stuff. It also feels more like a background song instead of a standalone song, so I think putting this in the video game genre is fitting. It does feel like some vocals could work on top of this, make it kind of like an anime intro song.

I think the mixing is pretty decent, while it may not be the cleanest. I really enjoy the use of the simple and somewhat retro synths you got here. Combined with the use of some cleaner more modern sounds like the drums make it feel retro without being too simple or dry. The mix is pretty balanced too. I don't think I can point out anything that would improve it or not, and it already sounds like a professional song. So good work in my book! Structurally, this song does not feel repetitive, and it has some really good flow and dynamics, and the whole song is connected with that bassline synth. It's super playful and has a good driving beat. Good work, and probably the best background song I've heard made in an ADM contest!

This would go good in something like Mario kart. Thanks for the great work!

so many different vibes... but i love them all!!!!!!! great work!! :)