Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Hooo, okay. So, this song doesn't have a theme outside of the chord progression. And... I don't like it. Primarily, I dislike it because of how it directly opposes conventional "tension -> release" harmonic ordering used in western european music theory. However, the sound design and arrangement DOES follow this convention, leading to some really weird opposing feelings. For example, your 2nd and 3rd chords are normally encountered in the opposite order due to the half-step difference in multiple voices. Normally, those half-step differences ascend rather than descend. This would also work if the fourth chord weren't quite as disconnected by comparison. This happens again with the 5th and 6th chords in your progression. Other things are slightly odd, but not as jarring as those changes. (Keep this "tension -> release" principle in mind in general, by the way. It also affects the drumbeat at 3:27, since the kick is a point of tension whereas the snare is a point of release. Think of the kick as 'pinching' the sound around it due to the sidechaining, whereas the snare is having it burst back open by comparison.)

- The second main point I'd like to make isn't about tension and release, but more general repetition. This entire track is based around the ONE chord progression. While it has dynamic variance, there's no melody outside of the top note in these chords, and the harmonies for that melody remain the same the entire time. Even in a lot of electronic music and pop, there's a secondary chord progression used to provide contrast and distinguish sections. It can also be used for narrative purposes, as this piece is composed in such a fashion (and has the sound effects at the end) implying an intentional story of some kind behind it. Countermelodies, harmonic lines, B sections with different tones, all of these will help tremendously with really crafting a finely tuned narrative arc to relay the emotional experience you intend.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Unironically, for all I've said, I love that you do have a theme and stick with it for so much of the song. Even if it could use some variation, the consistency is nice and the amount of variation you DO have is expressed very well through different sound design. The guitar coming in at 0:27 is extremely nice and provides some really good contrast with the regular strings as TL said before, with the reverse effect altering the texture in interesting ways as well. I really enjoy your percussion, especially the bit of 'ear candy' in the sound first heard at 2:05.

Final score: 7.3

I like the majestic string pads at the beginning and the thunder rolls in the background. The rhythm feels a little square, but the guitar at :27 helps add some variety. There's a lot of really interesting reversal of the instruments and other mixing effects starting around the 1-minute mark. It certainly makes the instruments sound less natural, but also helped create some variety during an otherwise pretty harmonically stagnant section. I like the more electronic bent the piece takes on after the 2nd minute or so, although the sidechaining was a bit heavy for my tastes at 2:20. The progression and shape of the piece overall is really nice, but the texture is often a little too empty to maximize the emotional effect that the progression has. I think the chord progression could've used some more variation, and some additional harmonies really would've helped too. The breakdown at 4:10 is another nice touch on the dynamic contrast/phrasing side, but it also doesn't introduce any new motifs into the piece. The more energetic section at 5:35 or so helps wrap the piece up nicely, but once again the compression is a bit much there. Overall, you've shown a lot of advanced methods of transitioning between different sections and channeling the energy here, but the piece could still be more engaging in terms of the harmonic framework. Still, I enjoyed the sound design, and overall the mixing was also solid despite my gripes at certain points. Keep at it, Naval76! ^_^

Good Job!