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:
- You know, I can't say I expected to experience something I would describe as "progressive synthwave", but if anything, this would be it. In that light, however, I think we can actually take one of the conventions of progressive house and work with it. As a reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdDpMYS7sA This piece is actually more repetitive than yours in a lot of ways. While synthwave doesn't really tend to have lyrics as a point of variation, you instead have multiple concepts that you introduce over time. However, the speed at which you introduce and vary these concepts is slow enough that progressive principles apply - that being development of the SOUND DESIGN. You have some filter sweeps, but they don't progress that steadily, and there isn't too much in the way of atmosphere surrounding your track. It might also help out to introduce some of your later piano concepts in the background earlier so that people will think back to the earlier portion of the piece and have that small dopamine hit from familiarity. That said, a lot of this ties into my second piece of criticism which is about...
- The mix. Your mix is pretty well-balanced (with the exception of the small spikes in your first 'climax' visible on the waveform, and those same drums hitting right at the end of the piece - they stick out a bit too far). However, it's a little quiet and not as full as it could be. Compare to this: https://soundcloud.com/pong-man/gravitation In contrast, this piece has a steady bass that's sidechained to the kick, and quite a bit of higher end reverb enveloping the piece but also sidechained to the kick to make sure it doesn't interrupt the mixing too much. Try exploring reverb and more sound effects in the higher end, and keeping a steadier bass. You can also limit your track to -1.0dB to make sure everything is consistent in volume compared to other music. Two last smaller mixing points: You don't have to sidechain your cymbals to your kicks, it actually reduces their impact quite a bit and makes them sound off. Additionally, the bass starting around 2:40 seems to be panned between the center and right? This is a really weird effect and feels off-putting. Bass tends to be best used in the center with minimal panning as it's somewhat the "foundation" for the track and makes the overall sound feel unbalanced when panned like this.
Compliments to the Composer:
- Hooo, I love those pads and vocals, your bassline is lovely, your piano melodies are lovely... I really really dig the feel of this track and would absolutely love to see its positive aspects brought out more and made into a more engaging and fulfilling work. I'd gladly listen to it on loop for a long time, because even now I was perfectly happy to leave your track on loop while writing all the content of this review!
Final score: 8.7
Pandaguru 
