ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[GODLIKE SPEED]

We making it out the Flash movie with this one, homies! Love the gating.

[Silver Phoenix]

Lapland... Finland? My geography is pretty American and it shows aha. I can feel the cold in this piece, in contrast to fiery :P

I always appreciate the dynamics and brooding air to your work. That's fire indeed. The balance of this piece is feeling spot on throughout. Perhaps I'd like a bit less long tail 1000 dB bass drum and a modern punctuated decay there. Bringing it up so it isn't hiding as much underneath may assist some, or perhaps more variation in velocity.

The only thing that holds me back from giving a higher score for this piece is that after a certain point I don't feel we progress much, until 3:09 which feels more like a build than an outro. I think some degree of this is the percussion remains at about the same intensity throughout the remainder of the track. The result is that we start strong and I feel sit at the same level. Perhaps the intro and first half can be made quieter to make it feel more as if we have room to grow.

Beyond that, I'm stunned with your ability to push out banger after banger thus far. Great work!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hii! Sorry for the super late reply. As you can imagine, life has been very busy. I really appreciate that you've taken the time to review so many tracks; thank you for that!

Yes, it was indeed Lapland in Finland (but Lapland is also covering parts of Sweden, Norway and Russia). I hear what you mean about hearing the cold, too! I appreciate your tips on the percussion; I'll certainly bear that in mind :)

I also hear your point about the progression. I was trying to go for something a little bit like Revelations, by Veigar Morgeirsson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNWTOsmnRcE, but I do feel like I fell a bit short. Naturally, I had many other inspirations as well!
As you mention, I think the energy is indeed a bit high early on in the piece, leaving less room for growth. I think I've pulled off the energy-balance a bit better in my last two compositions, thankfully ^____^

Thanks again! I hope you'll consider my last piece for this year's NGADM a banger as well; I've tried not to disappoint.

[Bewitched]

I love what you've done with that loop. I like to do it myself -- sentence mixing, changing the melody. I'm always wowed with the weirdness of your compositions. You're a real character in the DAW!

I think the mix of this could use some more refinement, but it has a very olskool chill vibe to it that I appreciate so much. Takes me back in time almost. I will sum up mix critique in short

The blips, bleeps and anything off majority in one channel could stand to come down in the mix a bit, while snare could use pushing up and perhaps some gated reverb feel to it. Your hihats could probably use a bit of transient shaping and stereo play. Sidechain more obvious than any that has been applied would help for big sections. I'd also like to see even more dynamic contrast between verse and drop. The build at 3 min is a perfect example of what I mean -- it's well done and brings us to a satisfying chorus.

I think a more aggressive, centered bass with more pronounced high mid and sub would really tie this together, as well as a kick with a bit of grit. By the end, this is well and truly stuck in my head. Beautiful work. Thank you!

LordAndiso responds:

I find this melody catchy aswell :D It got stuck in my head too!! Although when I listened to this on my earbuds.. I really heard the bleep in my right ear.. it was very annoying.. I have no idea how i didn't hear it in my headphone monitors.. I will probably invest in monitors soon.
As always, thank you soo much! I am very happy that you liked it :)

[Walking with Anxiety]

Interesting as hell! The mix is raw in a good way. I do think the hihat could come about 15 percent left

Guitars as always are well played and have a great tone. Contrast between loud and soft sections for these is well done. I find myself wanting the vocals to pop more on bigger sections. The dry aspect in the verses and builds really makes the track. On bigger sections, they could have FX added for more contrast.

Beyond that, you have a great voice when you sing out. Keep on doing what you're doing!

[Wonder Of Heavens]

I don't really know how to critique jazz despite having played in a jazz ensemble, but let me just say that I sincerely enjoyed this. There are some minor critiques -- mix related, as I think you've actually done an excellent job with articulations this time around. Woah.

I think the brass is actually a bit too loud to be sustained by the rest of the composition, and the low mids have been sucked out it seems from the piece. A more balanced, centered low brass section would fill this out. A bit more centered kick and snare would help as well. Strings also could be pushed a bit further into the back with the exception of 1st/2nd violin

I find I wanted this piece to go on forever. It's spicy

FJOB responds:

Thank you for the constructive criticism of the composition, I will take into account all the points you have specified to improve it soon

[Collapse (NGADM r. 3)]

Listening to this I was nervous to see the bricked out compression -- or rather I'm still listening so I am nervous. We will see what happens!

At 30 seconds I think the compression is blowing out your cinematic perc. I may back it off by a bit and increase their volume. Your chip speech like sample is quite nicely blended however. I'd like to hear a bit more as we are heading toward the end of the build.

The drop is quite nicely written and reminds me of more olskool, chilled out dubstep. Nice. I think the falling arpeggio could come down by a dB or two and the mids of the bass be emphasized more. The combing and filtering of the bass, as well as stereo play is excellently done, however. I still have yet to be completely wowed yet, perhaps as I have listened to dubstep to the point of ear death. That's more my issue than yours!

The build at 2:55 is nicely structured with elements coming and going in a nice contemporary manner. Second drop is a very nice change from the first, slow, steady and brutal. I still think the overcompression is doing no favors and is giving a muffled vibe. I can hear your hats but they sound like a murmur in the back end. They are quite high so I would actually like to hear more treble sparkle on your synths across the board. Perhaps some emphasis of high mid.

Other than that, this is a steady track, sure of where it's going, and a masterful composition. Great work! I would love to hear it revisited for the minor mix critiques I mentioned.

DenPelm responds:

Thanks for the review! I will continue working on this track and will try to take into account all the comments, since I myself do not like the current result.
Спасибо.

[Rediscovery (NGADM '23 R3)]

This is a great composition. I feel like the slow strings in the intro could use a bit more attention to their articulations as they swell in. It gets better at 50 or so seconds. Volume leveling could use a bit more sensitive touch prior to that swell also.

Still, for rushed work, this is a masterpiece.

I would like less work on the ascending 1:28 cello/violin. I think it's violin. It's sticking out just a bit hard in the right channel. When panning like that it's hard to keep a solid balanced sound.

The forte section at 2:53 sounds pretty balanced by comparison. I would like just a bit more clarity of moving parts there, perhaps move french horn into the left channel a bit more, and reduce low mid reverb resonance.

I also think the small piano outro could have been cut and replaced with a final stinger of either the piano in octaves or the entire ensemble.

[Lordant - Rain Elegy]

Lovely cinematic piece with very tasteful composition. I think my only gripes are that one, it's fairly short, some of the dynamic contrast is just slightly too loud here, or not loud enough there. At 1:20 I was sincerely hoping for a further development of the themes at 37 seconds, or a big blasting chorus. It really felt as if that was where we were going.

at 1:01, I felt there could have been a more dramatic swell into this moment, as well as dynamic contrast after, to follow into the build at 1:28

Overall, lovely composition, just wanted more punch! I always have the greatest expectations from you. Keep on doing what you do!

Lordant responds:

Thank you! The compositional aspects were a bit rushed, and I'm personally not totally satisfied with them, but I'm glad you liked the piece overall :)

[A New Discovery]

I'm loving this. Only a very few complaints. I would love to hear actually just a tad less sub throughout and more bright mids on guitar and bass. There is also a really, really high pitched squeal that I think is intentional, but could be reduced in volume.

As far as chord progression, the harmonic minor section works fantastically. Here I think that rhythm guitar needs to come out some more. Throughout, crashes and china could come down by as much as .4 dB, or be treated with an EQ to reduce just a bit of the mids and supra treble frequencies.

2:25 there is that sparkly chime with the high resonant squeal I was talking about.

Some of my mixing critique may be related to the level of compression used over or under emphasizing certain frequencies.

The gated chucka SFX in the outro/breakdown I think could use doubling, a bit more lo-mid, or perhaps even some stereo play. Overall though I think you've done a beautiful contemporary metal track. It djents!

BeyondOurEyes responds:

Greatly appreciate the love and feedback as always man! I've still got some tweaking I wanted to do on this one so I'll keep all this in mind when I revisit! \m/

[New World Order]

This reminds me of the good old days on NG. I think there could be more melodies sprinkled throughout, pads, and so forth. However, this is definitely a track to revisit at some point. Those drum fills you peppered in really keep the track going.

Also, the bass could use centering from 320 hz and below. It sounds quite wide in the stereo field and a bit pushed back by FX.

Other than that, nice work! You're quite a variety pack of styles. Kudos

WolfSystemStudio responds:

Yeah, it was a bit of a labour of love this one. Not really my bag usually but I like to try and branch out.

I kind of went for a Payday 2 sorta soundtrack since thats my only point of reference.