ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Majesty]

Pretty great for stock FL only. Wow how the DAW has improved over the years.

I would say the bass has a bit too much mids. Like truenotfals mentioned, it's filling up my ears and I'm wanting to hear at least a break in it from sidechain. Maybe sidechain heavier. As we go on, the bass gets seemingly louder and louder -- but clearer as the instruments on the sides back off. Remember, your percussion, namely kick and snare, should be the loudest instrument in your track, even if sidechain is used, they should still be able to cut through without it. I would turn your bass down by up to a dB but not over that.

Otherwise, my comments would run close to trunotfals, with the exception of liking your piano lick and wanting to hear more of it. I also am enjoying your structure. Final gripe would be -- let me hear a nice long sustained i chord at the end! :P

Anyway, nice work. Enjoyed the listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

ArramEggleston responds:

Thank you for the review! Yeah, looking back on the track the bass is a bit loud. I'll remember that for the future.

[SoFtBOILeD-Try Again]

Really interesting choice of sounds in your intro.

I would personally take down your reverb sends and low cut up to 250 hz or so on any instrument that does have verb applied.

1:50 I was really expecting that section to go full speed into a drop, not a drum solo. The chording synth after that seems to distort. Unless that's vinyl fx.

Overall I like the song but it seems to do a lot of the same thing without really going anywhere -- aforementioned drum solo. The second time this repeats it doesn't bother me because I know it's coming.

Then we have an outro.

Enjoyed the listen though. Wish I had more critique to offer aside from maybe some structuring gripes

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Guardian Angel]

Percussion sounds good throughout, solid, sits where it should in the mix. My issue throughout would come from choice of instrument in places and a little bit of over-reverbing. Not by much. The majority of the mix is nice and clear.

2:21 is probably the strongest part of the song by far. I'm still wanting more snare throughout.

I think in your 20 or so second section you could stand to use more than just piano.

Other than that the song is pretty straightforward and driving. Nice lead writing and no offensive clipping. I dig it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Fading Memories]

The chord progression of this reminds me of Wayfarer by Nightwish in the beginning (I'm sure it's just me -- no other reasonable person may hear it -- but it's certainly nostalgic)

I really find myself wanting maybe a different or more varied synth for that piano. Maybe even just modding velocity will help it some.

Nice work with the transitions here. I'm not sure I like the stuttering glitches on that guitar synth. It could just be that I have a low tolerance for synthy guitars.

You could definitely replace that choir with any low passed synth -- I hear Nexus. I know it has a lot of them!

Solid progression. I find myself wanting the percussion to cut through a little more and having a hard time hearing the sine bass at times. That could be my headphones. I prefer to write with squares or saws for that reason.

All instances of strings I feel could be done better with just synths, especially the orchestral stabs.

But don't despair. I can hear your frustration in the track, but it really isn't as bad as you think. Don't be so hard on yourself! I enjoyed the piece :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Dead planet]

You know, you're right, I don't hear a lot of dubstep these days. Or what I hear is so samey as to be bland.

I'm liking our intro so far. Maybe it's that I love bells in general. My only complaint by 0:50 is it sounds like your track may have been mixed very loudly and with a lot of reverb, so without a heavy sidechain, that boom sample gets a little crunchy in the low mids -- a little distortion sounds like.

1:30 is a nice little refrain. I think I've heard that transition somewhere before. Please tell me what's the name of the sample if any lol.

I'm not sure I would necessarily call this dubstep actually, coming through. Maybe euro style. It's something else. Between synthwave and dubstep maybe. I dunno. But it's good, and that's what matters.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Divulge]

Interesting choice panning out your percussion elements in the intro left and right.

This piece has a catchy little hook. My complaints would be largely reserved for mix. Your snare and kick are buried in the mix. I would turn down any saws on the sides and cut down on your reverbs. Beyond that, the piece itself holds together nice and solid. Key change works well. We keep a lot of the same elements and nexus keys, etc, but they're not offensive at all.

By cut the reverb, I mean cut the wet signal down and try low cutting up to say 250 hz. You can also take reverb down on the larger, louder sections. When compressed these signals will cloud up your mix and make it hard to make out percussion and other instruments.

Overall, good piece. Enjoyed the listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Release]

I'm quite literally without any meaningful critique, maybe beyond preferring a little less reverb, no thanks to absolutely flawless libraries. I had to look that one up.

I do find myself wanting a more spacious string sound. They're pretty thin throughout.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

potato-stick responds:

Thank you for the feedback! I wanted the brass to be the main element of this song, which is why I didn't end up using a full string section. That might have brought out the more spacious feel you were looking for, so thank you for the feedback in that regard! Reverb and mixing is something I've been working on striking the proper balance in and I agree that I used a bit too much in this mix, so thanks for pointing that out as well :)

[Gunslinger's Waltz [NGUAC 2020]]

Pretty interesting piece, building upon itself. Sounds pretty tight. I'm noticing a tendency to prioritize higher frequencies in the mix over low frequencies. Part of that could be the bass you chose -- but most of the time I can hardly hear it over sibilants. And I'm on headphones that are known for not really having the tinniest highs -- AT m40x.

There's not a lot of mid range in the piece. Part of this could come from the bandlab mastering. Try some other free masters and see how they suit your fancy.

The interplay between instruments keeps things interesting more so than would be otherwise, but there's still not a lot of thirds or harmony to go on. The bass is on the same note as the lead, meaning. Those chords on the side are panning up and down the exact same chord. I would strive to avoid that. It gets a little cheesy, no offense intended.

Other than that, not bad at all.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Kingdom of Justice]

Liking the tune so far up to 30 seconds in. One thing I'm noticing, trying to mask the synthy sound of the strings with lots and lots of reverb. Sounds like you might be using Nexus as well which is known for putting reverb on everything.

I'm not sure what that guitar synth chug was doing there. Didn't sound bad. Actually a lot of things I'm noticing with transitions, it seems to be just one instrument moving in a different way than we're used to. I would recommend taking a look at some structuring techniques on YT, and a video I'm fond of, Kush After Hours "rule of pairs" for good transitioning practice. It's only about as long as your song last I recall. The basic concept is to add 2 new elements and remove two elements for every transition. Keeps things fresh.

Throughout the reverb gets pretty intense. Cutting the wet signal down, shortening it, and low cutting it up to 250 and sometimes 400 hz helps keep it from getting overbearing.

3:04 has a wrong note. There are several instances like that where we just have clashing. Not 3:12. That's fine. I mean intervals of 13 semitones.

Other than that, the piece has a lot to offer. sometimes feels like two or three different songs put together, but when it works, it works together well.

Enjoyed the listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

LtFS responds:

Well, sad, but fixable. Thank you

[Lone Space Invader - XL]

I like our intro. By 0:40 I want to hear a lot more modulation on that synth you drop out at 1:07. It's really loud and does a lot of the same thing for a long time. I'd like less of that synth, or some new FX, maybe turn it down a bit, etc.

I wish we had less of the intro section -- the dragging on at least, and more of 1:21. It would have been pretty simple to get a nice fast paced dnb drop after that build, and I think that would have sounded better than what we have here. Maybe you ran out of ideas? Who knows. I wish there were more to go on so I could see what you had in mind. You could easily also use that section you have, just with a verse section and a build before it. As is, it feels like a buildup straight into the outro.

But your sound design capability is great. You clearly know your way around your instruments. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

LoneSpaceInvader responds:

thank you for the feedback! I have been working on the track a little bit more and i might post an updated version a little later, but yeah thanks for the feedback!