I like the upbeat mood at the beginning and the jazzy piano chords. The piece is a bit slow to progress at first, and the mix sounds a bit distorted at around :40, but there’s a good sense of build-up into :55. The lead synth at :55 sounds a bit harsh in the mix, and overcompression may be part of the problem. In fact, a significant portion of the sound design sounds a bit unpolished here. The arrangement, chord progression, and aspects of the sound design (especially the drums) are a bit generic, but the production quality holds up well overall. The bridge at 1:41 was good for some variety, and the bass line at the outro at 2:15 or so is really delicious. Overall, like you alluded to in the author’s description, I don’t think this is your best work, but you still got my foot tapping and showed off your production skills with this one. Pleasure having you in the NGUAC this year, entropicvoxels! Keep it up, and good luck with school. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.5/10

niice, you did well!

For 8 hours, this is a grand slam. I couldn't do something like this in 8 hours, no way.

At 46 the mix is muddy, as is to be expected with such a time restraint, but I encourage you to revisit this for certain.

1:06 the snare is actually a bit too loud, and the kick is a bit too distorted. I may drop the pitch on the kick or tune it differently. Same with snare. Could even change it out for one that's in the same or complementary key.

In terms of melody and driving beat, this is a smash!

The only thing holding it back is as mentioned, not a lot of time lead to mixing issues, such as the leads being somewhat too quiet. Perhaps this will improve by backing off on compression and adjusting levels somewhat? It's sounding almost like I have something between my ears and my monitor headphones, like a big fuzzy earmuff.

Either way, really enjoyed it!

Relax m8. You did an excellent job with the time you had.

It doesn't sound like poop. It sounds amazing, i really like the melody you came up with. Really inspiring for me, at least!

Keep up, m8. Don't give up on your newest fan :)