ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chill sad acoustic.]

Coincidentally all my favorite chords. I'd like to see you revisit this with a bit more consistency after having played a while. Last section of single picking fingerstyle grabbed my attention. :)

JimmyBiscuit responds:

I love those chords I play them all the time. Most of this is just improvised and I choked in the middle of it a little if my memory serves me well. I've been playing for almost 2 years and yeah, I need to get a little more consistent with my stuff lol.

[I Wrote]

Wow that was not where I was expecting you to go with that intro chord progression. Interesting choice.

Your mixing on your vocals is flawless.

My only gripe, I think would be the piano tone itself. I might have chosen a different instrument there, like a high bassline with a sub bass or something similar on the lower octave.

Lyrics themselves are pensive and sensitive without being overly so. Pretty great, especially for the genre, which normally isn't my cup of tea. You've got the voice of someone I imagine to be photogenic, in a guy next door kind of way. Not sure how else to put that, but it's a compliment haha.

Would love to see a process on how you manage your vocals

floorboardofficial responds:

Thanks so much for the thoughtful review! I agree I could've done something better with the bass end. I think a piano could work, but maybe a bit harder of a piano tone with better EQ, but my ears still aren't that great at perceiving these things, especially with mixing the low-end. But glad you liked it! And it's nice hearing some affirmation about the lyrics because I'm not all too confident with them.

Thanks again for the thoughtful review! I'll definitly consider putting something together to show how I appraoch my vocals if people would find that valuable.

[Prototype X9]

One of if not the best dnb tracks I've heard in recent memory. I'm practically without any point of critique. Although I do think it may benefit from just a bit more distortion and possibly compression on the eight string, maybe a bit of sub under it to help it cut through as aggressively as its synth bass complement. Could just bump it up .3 dB and see what happens. Otherwise, flawless victory. Really surprised me. Frontpage in my humble opinion well deserved!

[Devils Lament]

Amazing what can happen in seven years time. What choir is this? It sounds freaking great

The abrupt entrance at 50 or so seconds works really well. I think there could be a bit more velocity tampering on your lead just to get all the attacks sounding differentiated from one another.

1:39, those strings sound great alongside the guitar, and 1:58 sounds smooth as hell. I almost can't distinguish that from an actual guitar with how great the grungier picks sound. Fantastic and dynamic use of that synth. 2:55 similarly sounds great.

3:13 organ brings back fond memories of your earlier work. It's still surreal listening to this now and recalling you as one of the inspirations for my preteen self to start making music, to later use even some of the same software after a good decade and a half in the future. Excited to see what you come up with next :)

Lashmush responds:

This is the Dominus Choir for Kontakt. You have keyswitch syllabes/phrases of your own making and modwheel control of power, etc. You can also midi-learn a bunch of the other stuff for physical or virtual midi controllers in your DAW.

Thanks for the appreciation! c:

[Mater Infinitum - Part I]

This is a whopper of a composition, wow. I'm sitting around the two minute mark before 35 seconds and already awed with your use of that choir. It sounds quite organic for a synth, and of course beautiful chugs. Your composition surpasses the limitations of those violin leads -- long my least favorite synth, and your writing is pensive and pleasing to the ear.

The proceeding section is thoughtful and full of soul. Loving the progression.

4:22 sounds great, I think some of the best guitar writing I've heard from you. Some of the articulations on the guitars could use more modulation on the velocity, but it's a synth with probably less round robins than we want, who cares. The piece is so far wonderfully varied, yet remains in the same character.

5:51 is brilliantly transitioned into and gives a sense of awe. I'm amazed I haven't gotten bored. I generally see such a long track, eyeballs widen, and I question whether I have the attention span to finish.

6:50 is another nice shift in tonality. I think it may be my favorite so far. I'm amazed this song has received so little attention relative to its quality. I'm curious as to your flute library, bass amp, and what you used to get that gorgeous clean chorused tone.

Actually, I wanna know how much RAM you think you had stacked on back in 2013.

8:46 sounds like a breakdown from a song all its own. Is that Emissary amp? Sounds familiar.

Leads are really nicely written through 9:32. Could have probably used either a legato through the runs or keyswitched some double pick noises so the attacks sound less machine gunny, but I'm really just nitpicking here.

10:28, the strings sound pretty synthy, but as with everything throughout, your writing really triumphs over the limitation of the software.

Through 11:08, I really love your chugging. Shredding to hell. The cutoff is a bit abrupt therefrom, could use a mute noise to complement the cymbal choke, but again, nitpicking. The composition flows naturally from that moment and had I not been writing this as I listen, I would have totally forgotten about it.

12:43, the deathmarch is in full swing, and I recognize where I've heard this melody before. Guitars coming in sound pristine. Some of the higher powerchords don't sound quite as intense -- I think that's just the samplebank itself being quite mid-heavy and chunky.

So far so good as we move on into the next marching snare section. Your cinematic percussion here carries very well, and I enjoy the dissonant locrian and harmonic minor elements going on here. If I used a wrong word -- oh well it's been years since I took theory and myself compose largely by ear. Can't wait to see what else we have in store.

15:53, my anime face is uwu at that entrance. Blazing fast, and low tuned baritone guitar on the rhythm. I always feel like you're pushing the envelope for what synths will and won't do under pressure. A swell finale.

Aaaand now I've finished and can solidly say thanks for the recommendation. Remind me to snag some more of your albums :3

[Bleed For Me (Instrumental)]

Super smooth. Still love the original's phrasing, but this breathes new life into it, getting a glimpse of your original vision. That could be my inner twelve year old speaking, but I just don't think this song ever gets old. I gotta head off to work for a bit but I'll be sure to take a gander at the tracks you mentioned in your thread when I get back

\m/

[Melancholy in G-minor]

Nice relaxing house beat. I particularly like the wistful vibe around 2:40. I might tame those higher frequencies just a little bit past 20khz, but otherwise this is everything I could have asked for it to be. Loving the shift at 3:26.

By any chance are you using Nexus 2? Oh no, I see Serum in the software notes. Insanely similar sound. Wicked cool.

Crazy to think you do house. I have a ton of your metal tracks on an old mp3 player, over a decade old now. Hearing this has me thinking about my own journey through music, for better or worse, listening to those old tunes, clawing through a trial version of the same software I use today. Really enjoyed the listen. Surprised me :)

[Repetitive Distortion]

I'd be more likely to call this synth or darkwave, with industrial flavors, but this is a nice driving little piece. Kinda cyberpunky to me. Great work, and nice to see you outside of genres I would typically expect <3

[LABS]

Is this made using actual spitfire LABS instruments? If so, wicked cool. It develops a little bit slower for me than I'd prefer, and some of the instruments and choir seem a bit sharp or flat relative to one another. That's not a hard fix.

I would bring your flute in the left channel up a little, or tame the reverb on the instruments with whole notes. Otherwise, pretty freaking cool.

yagru responds:

YES DUDE! user buggagumpus (below) suggested them to me! love it. i agree about the flute tho...just created this randomly last night and needed to upload so i could listen in the car lol