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:
- This is peculiar. I think the first thing that I'd recommend is to do some limiting on this track. The volume is quiet enough, you could literally slap a limiter on with a threshold of -1.1dB to bring it up to the same volume as typical music at its peaks, and it would expand the amount of audible detail by quite a bit, allowing quieter details to be loud enough they're audible. There are so many neat little noises in this that really deserve some extra space to breathe in this track.
- As cool as this track sounds, it really focuses on the one rhythm introduced at the beginning, without much variation or contrast to it. Tragically, I don't have a piece of music (...one that's online at least) which I can use as a point of comparison here. However, switching to a more conventional "contrast" rhythm can provide a point of comparison to really enjoy the syncopation you're using in the bass for this track, and show how the melodic and harmonic instrumentation fits into that framework as well by recontextualizing it. You could also simply drop the rhythm and provide some enjoyment of those funky interesting chords you're using for a bit, just letting the listener rest for a moment from the constant industrial beat.
Compliments to the Composer:
- God, this is funky. And syncopated. And has a weird sound palette. And it GROOVES with some really cool chords. Honestly, while variation would be nice, just getting to hear the sounds limited to normal volume to let all their smaller details breathe would be phenomenal. This track is REALLY cool, and I want to hear more of this stuff for absolute, 100% sure, rather than just keeping it on loop for twenty minutes. Please for the love of the Fulp make more like this.
Final score: 9