I love this track, and quite honestly, you are one of my favorite musicians. Would you be able to recommend me some artists, songs, or game tracks similar to what you compose?

Hello ILG924!!

I have judged this piece as a tryout to the NGAUC and will be judging your next piece along will all of the others! Congrats on making it to the knockout round!

Your piece overall was pretty good! Well done!

I gave it a 4 for "general" due to it lacking a bit of overall depth. It seems to have the same chord progression throughout, and the more electronic style drums seemed not to fit due to your intro not having very many electronic flavors or voices at all. The drums are about the only thing. And they have the same pattern throughout the whole piece, with no variation.

I scored it a 5 for "composition" for multiple reasons. Within Composition, I included instrumentation, dynamics, melody, and form. (among others but these were the primary focus points) The instrumentation was good overall, save for the electronic drums. They had a high frequency cut-off the entire song with no variation. In my opinion, in order to "sell" the idea of those drums, you needed to include more electronic elements. This could have been executed very well if done right. On a dynamic front, there didnt seem to be much dynamic variation within each separate voice. You did well at layering many voices to simulate a climax, but there could have been more automation within seperate voices to create more emotion. Your melody was changed often and many times. You had very many variations on your melody within your chord structure, but your chord structure was almost always the same. Your form was a little weird as well. it was fine honestly, but each new section, was almost completely different. Your small clmix moment at around 2:04 was very good, and I loved how you brought it back down, then went back to it, introducing some tambourine-like percussion for more energy, however you ended the piece immediately after this small climax. You almost always want your climax around 2/3 into your piece, then simmer back down to a smooth ending, thinning out the amount of instruments you have.

I honestly don't know why I scored you a 5 in "mixing" as that would apply to the balance of voices in your song rather than more complicated mixing techniques used in an EDM song. I must have had a reason but for the life of me I cant think of why. I apologize for that. Listening back at it now I wouldve given you a 6 or 7 in that category. LUCKILY YOU MADE IT IN!!! (trying not to show me deep regret behind my sweaty clammy smile)

I gave you a 6 in "Originality" because I actually enjoyed your piece in that aspect. It had very well written melodies and great intent and great energy. I simply think it couldve stood out a bit more in the "video game music" genre.

Overall, I think you needed to focus more on changing up the pace and energy of your piece. It was very stoic with the constant and consistent drum pattern, and I really wouldve loved to hear a flute/oboe duet or something. All in all I enjoyed your piece, but I may have judged it a little too seriously being from a strong orchestral background. Dont be discouraged by your score. There were many "low" scores on my part but that was due to what I considered "just ok" or "great" or AMAZING or PERFECT. there were many a song that scored much lower than you.

All that being said you should be very proud of this piece. Especially your melodies which I must highlight again, they were spectacular. Just try to execute the changes a little better ;)

Good luck in the rest of the competition my friend! I look forward to hearing what you make for us!

I've been listening to a lot of piano music lately to wind my insane mind down. Nice treat! makes the visualizer look cool too.