I like the dreamy arpeggios and minimal, plucking synth at the beginning. Very ‘80s somehow. The wetter, full-sounding melodic synth at :22 really adds a deeper layer of atmosphere too. At times, I thought you overdid the reverb, but there’s a great sense of climax into :54. The strings at :58 add to the texture as well, and the tempo automations are a nice touch. The part at 1:10 sounds blissful, but also a bit contained and broken up in terms of the phrasing. I liked the mellow and more melodic flair at 1:53, but I think the transition there could’ve been foreshadowed a bit better. I like the crisp drums and sound design elements of the piece. The dreamy piano riff and atmospheric outro at 2:41 work well too. The percussion at 3:16 was a nice detail. It was a bit risky to introduce such a novel and distinct element of the sound design so late in the piece, and I think it would’ve helped tie up the ambiguity of the end of the piece more if you had a stronger cadence or sense of direction there, not just a fade-out. There are a lot of creative compositional ideas here (notably the tempo changes and quirky arrangement), and I love the sound design and production quality. Sometimes, the progression is a bit choppy, and while parts of it have a narrative and dynamic quality, the piece is missing a point of arrival towards the end that unites some of the many individual motifs of the piece in a meaningful way. Still, I’m enjoying the tempo automations, atmosphere, mixing, instrumentation, and compositional details here. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to and reviewing your music throughout this competition, and I really hope I’ll hear more of you on Newgrounds soon. Congratulations on your effort and best of luck with your future projects, VocalOutburst! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9.25/10

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

This is an official Judge Review for the Final Round of the NGADM 2019.

The start of this piece is something I absolutely adore. It mixes the style of someone like 1f1n1ty with some orchestral stuff and makes for a really great intro. During the actual track, the percussion is also really great, too. I can tell from listening it's meant to be mainly DnB. From 2:20 onwards is what i also really enjoy here.
My main bit of advice comes from around 1:10 to 1:58. I feel the section is a bit empty in terms of sound, other than the percussion. There's plenty of room here to add a few powerful chords and fill it up a bit. Originally, I thought similar of then up until 2:20, but after listening to it a few times that section grew on me as alright with the chords it has.
Overall, though, this is a solid piece. I wish you good luck on the final round, and thank you again for coming to NGADM 2019!

This is an official NGADM '19 Review

Composition:
I enjoy dnb a bit, and this fits the bill pretty well. You developed the main theme in ways that always made it feel fresh throughout the whole song, and never felt that it was repeated too much (which some dnb artists have issues with for my tastes). Looking back at the title of the song it really fit that description too. I can feel what you were putting into the song, and made a nice narrative, which is also kinda neat since dnb is mostly based on a groove instead of telling a narrative. Props for that. The only issue I really had is that I really wanted the 1:58 section to sound more full and well rounded similar to like what happened in 2:20 ish. I tell you what though. The more I repeated this song the more I loved it.

Production and Sound Design:
Very clean work. Everything you picked balanced well with every other element you had, and there's some decent details you added in, like the panning in the chords at 1:17, the plucked synths in the sides around 1:37, it all sounded professional and polished. Especially the drums. My only complaint is that maybe it's a little too dry in spots. This is also a nice work of combining electric and organic elements like the square(?) wave with drums and strings in the back. Pretty neat.

Structure:
Great work especially in how you built it. Like I said in the composition, it's really cool that you were able to tell more of a narrative with a dnb song instead of finding a good groove and developing it. With the title I can really feel the emotions you were adding into the writing, and I really felt it at the outro. In spite of the fact that it's a fade out, the fade out actually works well with what you're doing. I usually see fade outs as lazy writing or a cop-out (see my last NGUAC song), but this was a well intentioned use that fit. I could also put your song on repeat and enjoy it just as much each time BTW.

Emotion / Conclusion:
Well done. It had me hooked in the intro and carried through the song on a groovy chill ride that I never got tired of repeating.

Composition: 9

Production: 9

Sound Design: 8.5

Structure: 9.5

Emotion: 9