The rhythmic elements of the piece are appealing from the get-go, and I love that quirky synth lead at the beginning. The panning might’ve been a bit excessive, but it does keep the mix relatively clean. You have an excellent sense of progression and harmony, btw, and the smooth melodic content in the strings at around 1:10 is absolutely gorgeous. The texture is very rich, although I couldn’t help but feel it was missing some atmosphere at around 1:30. Some of your instruments are a bit too dry, while others have a lot of reverb that allows them to take over the mix a too much IMO. The structure is also very hard to follow, and there aren’t really any predominant melodies over the other ones - it’s just a continuous wave of successive melodies. I also thought the transition at 2:49 was a bit rough, perhaps a last-ditch effort to give the piece some coherence. The sound design here is absolutely amazing, but the composition feels very thrown-together and inconclusive. If you had given this piece a little more shape and direction, you might’ve won the competition IMO. Still, admirable work. ;)
Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.75/10