ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[The One and Only]

Like the move with panning that synth in the intro around. I feel like the mix as a whole is pretty muffled though. Sounds like the bass has been boosted and the top has been lopped off. 1:14 it's opened up a lot more. It may just be the bass. That's a lot of low and low mid. I'd recommend something that at least changes in texture somewhat opposed.

Overall, not a lot of critique, other than I would bring out your snare a lot more. As is it sounds like really loud kick, some bass, atmospheric synths in the stratosphere, and lead hi-hat, hehe. I think if it drug on for too very long I'd probably get a headache. I feel it starting. It's just the really heavy low mids on that bass. Leads to a head crushing feeling.

But other than that, great piece. Enjoyed it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[On to a Shining Season]

Enjoying the chord changes here. Nice usage of cleaner instruments. Bass sounds good. I probably would take the bass down about 1 to 2 dB. Brave choice panning it back and forth like that. It gets distracting after a while.

Your writing is great, everything is, even that synth trumpet. Everything passes really nicely, super musical. Your synth drums on drops are just hiding in the mix until about 4:20. That may be even my ears getting fatigued and interpreting that as normal volume levels. This a very long song that keeps you guessing.

I would probably recommend just a bit touchier velocity on that ride cymbal. The hits still sound a little... not natural. And I would take it down some in the mids.

Otherwise, absolutely loved this piece. I was not ready for it to be over. Would have liked to end on a i chord after your last note there, probably 2 beats after that attack.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC! That was a journey :)

[Incise ~ Uncertainty]

Something is going on with chord 3. I think you could try a different inversion or change the bass note and it'll work better.

Mix wise, I would sidechain any elements that are sustaining in your intro. Drop's chords on the sides sound great but I feel they may be overly sidechained.

The percussion is throughout pretty muffled sounding in the 13khz+ plus range. Some of that may have to do with sections of percussion being bitcrushed. Overall I think it has to do with trying to get a spacious sound with loads and loads of reverb. You really don't need that much reverb. Instrumentation and arranging, transition noises, and cymbals accomplish a lot of that. I would turn all your reverb wet signals down by a LOT and low cut up to 250 hz on each of them. By the end, I can hear the reverb wash higher than even some of your auxiliary accompaniment. It covers up a lot of your writing and makes it hard to pick out finer elements of your piece. And in electronic music clarity is key.

Not to mention, reverb grabs freqs on your sustained instruments and pushes them all out of balance. That throws off compression and a lot of other things.

Mix wise your chords on the side are riding all over your bass and perc and I can barely hear them during drops at all. So just turn everything down until you hear the bass and the percussion clearly in those instances. And always mix with your master FX off. It's impossible to make good decisions with them on.

Anyways thanks for coming out to NGUAC!