I like the ominous tone and vocal samples at the beginning. The beat itself is really catchy, although I think you overuse that riser effect (:50, other places) a bit. To keep me engaged, I would’ve liked to hear some more melodic content or other strong foregrounded elements (a rap, dynamic pad line, etc.). Right now, the harmonic aspects of the piece are seriously lacking, and otherwise the piece ends up sounding a tad repetitive and stale. The production quality, sound design, and rhythmic content are all great, but you didn’t quite do enough here to show me that you have the well-rounded compositional skills needed to thrive in this competition. Still, you’re a talented beatmaker. I’d encourage you to find a vocalist to work with. Keep at it, Bat-man187! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6/10

hits hard! really like the slight saturation on the top kick. loving how the background melodic elements play off the guitar sample. the 808 open hat and dub laser are too loud, but otherwise the mix/master is really solid. just seems very basic in terms of structure so i'd like to hear more cutaways and dropouts, maybe filter sweeps on the guitar sample here and there too. like if you just had the stems for this beat and a MC on it you'd drop stuff out for the important bars. but for a simple beat this still slaps!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

Missing a phat 808

its goood!!!!!!!!!