I thought this song had decent production, but the melody was somewhat contrived or improvised sounding.

I can see forever... (I'm running out of things to say!)

I found this song to be actually quite interesting, as it has no real discernible melody and sounds a lot more like a live improve you'd hear at an open stage bar or something. I also found it quite unique, it doesn't really sound like something you could listen to and say, "Hey, this sounds like...." Which I found to be a big plus.
I was quite fond of the slightly dirty guitar sound throughout, gave the song some character and overall carried on the theme of the song without devolving into technical wankery.
Also very easy to listen to.

Downside... this is very, very repetitive. The "drums" don't really change at all throughout the entire song and kind of amplifies the repetitiveness. I also think a little more could have been done with the pads in the background, from what I can tell, they don't really move beyond 2 notes the entire way through, which again, added to the repetitive nature. Honestly, after a while, it became quite boring to listen to.
I also take issue with the ending, it doesn't really build up to the end... the end just... Happens. It's like, I'm here one moment, gone the next. Feel like something more could have been done to make the ending feel a bit more natural and less abrupt.

Overall, cool to listen to the first 2-3 times, but after that, the repetitive nature makes it more of a chore. 7/10.

I like the atmosphere of this piece. It's chill, meditative, and relaxing. The mix is clean and your samples sound good.

My main concern, as noted by others, is that the piece meanders without a sense of direction. There is no melodic material to create a line, only improvised sounding guitar tones. I understand that ambient often evolves slowly and does not necessarily focus on melodic material, but this piece is still really stagnant. The chord progression is the same throughout and the sonic texture remains basically the same for nearly four minutes.

I think that if you took some steps to create more tension/release and development, this could be a much more interesting track. Shifting the harmonies, developing a melodic idea, working with motifs, morphing the underlying pad, changing registers more...Basically adding more variety and sense of building to a climax. Also, the ending seemed out of place.

Production is great, but the piece doesn't seem to reach its potential. I loved Shaolin, but you probably also spent more time working on that. I hope to hear more of your music in the future! :)

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Hm, while I like the atmosphere you've created, I'm afraid this really doesn't impress me much. It's pretty much a repetitive background with some seemingly improvised guitar notes over it. This feels rushed and not as intricate as it could've been. Your audition track is incredible; I even downloaded it, but this just sounds sub-par compared to it.

The aspects of this track that I like are the mixing, atmosphere and percussion, which I think were all done well. You haven't got many instruments so the mixing wasn't too hard, I presume, but still, I've got to credit you for making everything sound so clear. Atmosphere-wise, you've set a pretty dreamy mood with the long spaced-out guitar notes and distorted hat/shaker line. Speaking of the percussion, it was really good; probably one of my favourite aspects of the track. I think it could definitely do with more gradual layering of drum sounds, also 2:27's drum kit doesn't fit much and the percussion desperately needs variety, but it sounds very good and has a lot of potential.

Unfortunately, those are all the positive notes I can say about this track. A lot of this track is just repetition and the only thing that stops it from getting all-out boring is the varied nature of the guitar notes, which weren't anything awe-inspiring in terms of composition either. The track just doesn't feel like it has a clear direction and sounds pretty dull throughout.

To fix this, you'll need to vary the drums and pad a lot more, and add many more instruments in the mix. A more structured compositional approach would be appreciated too. Right now, like I said, the guitar almost sounds improvised and there aren't that many melodic phrases that stand out. The track needs more intricacy in both composition and instrumentation. Lastly, the ending is very disappointing. It just plays a crash cymbal and stops, rather than actually having a form of outro that leads up to a satisfying ending note.

Overall, this is a decent ambient track, but it just lacks in variation and intricacy. Composition-wise, it's not spectacular either. Sorry, I'm afraid it's a low score from me on this one.

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SCORE:
5.5/10

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-First, I love that percussion you have before the drumkit.
-Second, I love ambient guitar, so thanks for that.
-Don't really hear any mixing issues.

The Not-So-Good:
-The bass initially is really hard to hear, and stays difficult to hear, mainly due to the bassy element of the pad you have.
-I don't like the drumkit loop you used, it's fairly boring.
-There doesn't seem to be any real 'idea' in mind for this, and the chords stay the same throughout, so it's rather boring.

Overall: I'm really disappointed, to tell the truth. Your audition song was REALLY good. This is pretty meh in comparison. I'm giving it a 6.8/10 because the percussion and ambient guitar is good.