I like the melodic content at the beginning, but the percussion came across a bit too strong in my opinion. It’s a combination of the cheesy effects (like at :34) and overcompression that makes some of the drum samples sound a bit too harsh in my headphones. I’d suggest cleaning that up with a less stringent approach to mastering that emphasizes balance and blending among the instruments more so than loudness. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the climax into the drop at 1:00, although I found the drop to be a bit harmonically empty and repetitive. The post-chorus at 1:48 was a nice touch, but I found that the synths didn’t come through the mix very well compared with the drums, which have a lot of reverb and space in the frequency range of the piece until about 2:10. It’s also around this time that you really start to overuse the riff at 2:22. I do like the melodic content and progression of the piece, and despite my issues with your mixing approach you’ve largely achieved your goals of loudness and clarity. I appreciated the pitch-bending you added to the second drop at 3:17 for variety, but I might suggest adding more substantive harmonic changes to the drop in the future. Other strong elements of the piece include the melodic synths, which have this really sweet and victorious sound to them, and the transitions, which employ a satisfying build-up and drop paradigm. Overall, the piece feels a bit pasted-together, with a lot of riffs repeated throughout in predictable locations within a phrase, and the brick-wall limiting gives the texture a really harsh edge, even during the blissful parts. These are my two main complaints, but there’s real potential here in the sound design, melodic content, and clarity of the mix. Keep at it, AceTAD!
Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10