ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Just break it.]

This reminds me of 90s breakbeats, videogame music. If that's where you were going, I'd check out the Archive's 90s sample CDs. You'll have a lot of fun with them if you have the patience to sort through the samples.

Nice, simple little theme. Looks unmastered from the peaks, but not bad at all

OPFX responds:

Whoa, Nice find!

[Paradigm (feat Burn7) - Single Version]

HOW DID I MISS THIS TAG

Your screams are gorgeous, I have to say. I'd love to hear the raw takes. I'm not entirely sold on the processing chain for the spoken/sung portions, but it suits the screams beautifully.

The only things I would do for this track is potentially carve away the reverb on the kick and toms and revisit the mix prior to the master. I can hear when the compressor kicks in, and it just sounds like the track is too hot prior, or the level of compression needs to be backed off a bit. It's hard enough that I can't make educated comment on the rest of the mix.

BUT, the track itself slams. Great work!

[Blocky Cola]

I usually hate the sound of people eating and drinking, but this is so unusual, I kinda dig it.

[<Dusk>]

Shocked this has no reviews after all this time, when it clearly deserves them. I often wonder where you are now in your musical journey. I have searched and cannot find you. If you at all can be found, I hope someone will reach out and @ me!

[Haunted Triplets (Wip)]

The swinging beats omg <3

Tapestoppa responds:

Thank you! We had the option to either do 6/8 or triplets, I figured triplets would be more bouncy and catchy so we went with it :)

[Anj_Pain Bodies (Gminor)]

Sounds great. Only thing it could use is a competitive (loud) master. I love your vocal delivery.

Anjovi responds:

My thanks!

[Toast]

This is odd, in a good way. It's hitting on several familiar points in my library of references, from corporate, to girly j-pop, to video-game EDM, and beyond. I don't quite know what to make of it, perhaps because it's so unfamiliar, but I do think it's well composed.

I also think that the level of snare and cymbal to lead, pad and so on, as well as master could be approached again some time in the future, while studying references in these similar genres (where you can find similar instrumentation in particular and have an idea of where to place them)

The jump in volume at 2:52 was unexpected, but again, I think you've written a satisfying progression, and the piece concludes in a pretty satisfactory way.

My favorite part overall was the guitar. I think it was wonderfully mixed and the picking style quite interesting to listen to. Great work and certainly an unexpected piece for me to stumble upon this round!

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you for the thorough review.

I was worried about the guitar. I haven't gotten the chance to mix real instruments so this was a challenge in many ways.

A lot of my influence do come from the genre you listed. (Snail's House, in the blue shirt, San Holo, etc). So it's really cool you were able to point those out.

One of the thing I should do more often is to use reference track when I am mixing. Honestly never really done that before. I was wondering if you can give me some tips or general information about doing that.

Thank you so much once again.

[Last in Line]

The chords on the vocal must have been quite hard to sing -- you rarely hear them in comtemporary alt rock, punk, ska, and indie.

I would appreciate a bit less distance from the mic, recording at a lower volume to eliminate room noise. I think I hear some but I can't be quite sure due to vocal treatment. There are a few good vocal plugins I recommend also, for dialing in a quick rock tone, Howard Benson vocals being number one for rock, and Xvox for smooth lead vocals. Some very cool things that can be done with both.

Your adlibs were mixed perfectly imo. I wish the leads were given just a bit more of an up-front, aggressive treatment (the singing will speak for itself, given the right edge to cut through!)

I also like your writing in general. That little G#3-A-G# is one of my favorite riffs, and the felt suspension of G# makes for nice moody dissonance. Overall, the feeling of being flippant and slightly unhinged brings me a nostalgia like you wouldn't believe. Well deserved frontpage.

Areas for improvement -- clarity especially in the lower registers and guitars and vocal balance. EQ in some places, again particularly guitars. Having a reference or 3 handy in this genre and comparing the overall sound profiles, both auditorily and with a spectrogram, will help in this area.

Otherwise, this is nearing on industry standard level mix and master. Keep doing what you're doing! I love it :)

Ajtastic responds:

Thanks so much for the awesome feedback and recommendations! I really appreciate it :)

[Alteria, The Fallen Dawn NGADM (Round 2)]

I would recommend a revisit to the instrument balance of this piece. The sound design is all great but the leads are really loud!

I also think the bass could be swapped out entirely for a hardstyle kick and better serve the piece. If not that, then something that approximates that overall sound profile. The bass is a bit spread out, dark, and muddy in comparison to the lead.

I can see something is going on with the master. It looks like there's quite a bit of reverb and low frequencies crowding out the bass, such that the falling synths/samples are also getting a bit lost. Try going at this later on down the line with a reference for the genre you're going for, and see if you can approximate those levels!

at 2:05 approx there is clipping going on before the master, perhaps on an instrument channel

Beyond that, the hook is quite catchy and I enjoyed the piece!

[Oh Brother [NGADM Round 2]]

I feel about this track essentially a mix between @creeperforce24's review and your own response to it. This has some truly exceptional moments which satisfy my ADHD brain. A revisit to instrument balance, clarity, and eq on some instruments and this would get close to a full ten from me though. I love the arrangement and colors chosen.

trixelbit responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed those high moments! I'll definitely be revisiting this to give her the proper TLC she needs to truly shine. Aside from mixing, there's ideas I want to further explore and refine here too.

I would also love to use this for a game, just need to find a good context for it.
A battle theme? Character theme? I'll need to ponder more 🤔