I like the dreamy synth arpeggios at the beginning and the rich atmosphere that’s quickly formed around it. The minimal drop at :47 was a nice choice, but some cool rhythmic content and sound design changes to keep things interesting. The production quality is really strong here, too. The section at 1:44 threw me off a bit, but at the end of the day it’s a clever transition into the ominous part at 2:05. The texture is still pretty minimal here, but I like the crisp beats and glitchy details by around 2:50. The transition at 3:10 kinda feels like I’m climbing out of whatever funk I was in for the last minute or so, only to realize I’ve landed in another sadistic hellworld. Sound design, atmosphere, mood, and production quality all get full credit from me here, but at the end of the day the composition is a tad underwhelming on the harmonic side. Still, I appreciate the storytelling element of the piece - there are a lot of fun “narrative” surprises in this track, not least of which is the riff at 4:21. Keep at it, WolfgangMiakoda! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
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
8.25/10

So far, I'm liking your intro. Somewhat abrupt introduction of elements, but this is what, super laid back future bass mixed with industrial?

Your piece as a whole is both relaxed and thin sounding up until your second drop which I appreciate. I think you may have too much sub on that actually. I might back it off and apply saturation to get the appearance of loudness you want. As is, it's making my left ear -- for some reason, hurt a bit on that low sustain of the tonic.

Throughout, I like your panning and the different movements. Each is quite pleasantly varied while feeling a part of the same whole. I especially love your last section. Although I feel that the piece could do from about a quarter to a half of the reverb that it currently has, being generous. Compressed, all that verb gets in the way of your delicious bass and also prevents you from compressing more consequently. Electronic genres lend themselves to such compression, and clean production itself will help you bring the emotions you want to the fore.

Last bit reminds me a lot of DOOM. There's a lot you bring to the table in this piece. Really enjoyed it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

The beginning leaves much to be desired: the different synths come in too abruptly, making difficult for the listener to adapt gradually to the atmosphere. From 0:45 onwards, the track becomes much better, evolving in a more complex and balanced sound. The best aspect of your song is that you’ve organized it in a pretty original way; every part is quite different from each other, making it more interesting as time passes. The section that begins at 3:18 is the most solid and appealing: powerful and decisive section with a lot of strong appealing synths, especially at 4:11 where I got quite some goosebumps. This track gets better while listening to it, making a sort of “journey” effect which I found really interesting. You did a really great job!

Originality: 2/2
Composition: 2/2
Structure: 1.9/2
Tecnicity: 1.5/2
Impact: 1.8/2
Total: 9.2/10