ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Downvote (Single version)]

I can't tell if you're going with a blackmetal aesthetic. But some comments on mix. Drums are buried. Take down those guitars by however many dB it takes for them to become clear, and cut the 250 hz and below on everything that isn't drums or bass. I might even cut up to 28 hz on the bass just in case, to make room for drums to cut through.

Your guitars could use some cleaning with a multiband compressor. I think it's ChernobylStudios, or maybe FakeSmileRevolution that does a great few tutorials on just getting an aggressive guitar tone. Works magic on vst guitars.

Now speaking of your everything, the velocity and expression values are there for a reason! No one wants to hear a double bass roll like Skyrim freezing in the morning. Okay, maybe some crazy people do, but I am not one of them. I for one don't want to hear that. It means I have to go and edit values. I hate editing values.

Anyway Misha Mansoor does a great tutorial on youtube for that. Writing drums.

The velocity on your lead sounded the same throughout. I would change the chord thresh value some, turn on a humanizer. I actually can't tell if that sounds like RealEight or Shreddage II. With Shreddage II you're more likely to have that dead on sound of being locked into the beat just because the way they snap into the DAW, but RealEight is just as bad about sounding shitty if you don't use the keyswitches. Take note, use the keyswitches, set up some funky velocity crap. Figure it out so that it doesn't sound like pitching up and down the same articulation of a different note. Been there, lol.

Otherwise, hardpan your left and right rhythm guitars 100% L and R respectively. Leads I would pan anywhere between 13 and 33 percent L and R, with a pingpong delay between the instances to play into the other channel. Make sure to humanize all of these separately and randomly so that they don't sound the same. Use different amps and cabs for the L and R so they don't sound like you just copied the same track, etc. The lead can be made more compelling by playing with 3rds and 5ths every so often.

Beyond that, not really a whole lot of critique. The song isn't overly long, it's not poorly written. I feel the leads may have been lazy, but maybe you just aren't very familiar with the software like I was when I first started mixing E guitars. Personally, I like to do e guitars and synth leads. But this isn't bad at all. Learn your instruments a little more and see where it takes you! :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

413X1NKP responds:

Thank you! I'll try to be better next time :)

[Cataclysm (NGUAC 2020, Outrcy EP)]

Sounds like nice, classically inspired chord progressions here.

Some notes, I know there is a sine bass under what's going on before 38 seconds, but I doubt anyone would be able to hear it. There are a lot of muddy chord intervals -- when you have chords that are down low and the notes spaced closer together, they don't work the same way they do up high. In fact I generally caution against chords where they notes are all spaced together, or using a ton of notes on the same instrument in a chord. For electronic music, it leaves the tendency to copy and paste and throw everything on there.

Also, whatever carillon bell synth you have clanging throughout on the bottom, the reverb on that is completely covering up the melodies you've written. I really feel like by 2:46 we've heard the same melody and chords almost the whole time, and we're going all the way back through for another bout of the same. You've got a chord progression you're in love with, I know, but it sounds like the same 4 chords over and over, for 4 minutes, with almost no melodic development because we move the same melodies into different instruments.

This tells me there is a weakness in structuring songs, not necessarily lead writing. We've just got the 4 chords, and we don't really know where to go with them other than the same big section we built to start off that inspired us to write the song to begin with. So I would recommend some youtube research on structuring music.

Also, throughout there is so much added reverb, more than is necessary -- because really you'll never have enough reverb to convince a human ear that that charang guitar or the piano or the bells are real bells. So cut that reverb down to about half of what you have, and low cut to 250 hz on reverb wet FX sends.

Back to the structure, the way the percussion is laid out tells me we didn't really know where we were going and sort of added it last to hopefully bandaid some naked sections -- I've been there. I still do it sometimes tbh. Finding a song structure you like of say, intro, verse, chorus, verse chorus times two, bridge or solo section, chorus three to four times, fade out or stinger note will help you write more concisely.

You already have in mind what you want to say, just keep in mind as you go along that less is more, and I think that will help you the most. Would love to see what you could do with a nice desktop DAW. I'm amazed you got something like this out of LMMS :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

NolamiAmada responds:

thanks for all the feedback, though the excessive reverb to make it distinctly not real was intentional and since i started making this ive figured out how to actually write a melody, this one suffered from the "this is my 500th attempt at a good melody and it finally sounds nice so lets keep going with it" problem many of my songs have, in the 2 months since i started making this song ive learnt a fair bit on music theory but was too lazy to restart this song, hopefully my round 2 submission will have a better structure to it and thanks a ton for all of the feedback

~Lo7

[Haze]

Listening through the first time, this is well written, takes some adventurous sound choices, keeping things interesting. I find what it's lacking is clarity on sections aside from the drop.

1:40 section could be cut probably in half so that pause isn't so jarring.

Watch around 2:00 there's some clipping.

I feel the next drop is pretty short in length, and the bass isn't very present.

A lot of the clarity issues could be fixed just by cutting reverb send down some and low cutting to 250hz on the wet signals. On your drops, take care to compress and level things in such a way that the volume doesn't fluctuate in terms of loudest peak very much. I definitely noticed that some of your elements hit harder than others.

Other than that, pretty standard track, danceable, not too over the top but just daring enough to strike the right balance between loose and groovy. Good work :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Night [NGUAC Enter](Original Mix)]

The idea for this piece is interesting, but there are a lot of dissonant chords. It usually has to do with your bass completely clashing with another bassline on the bottom of the chord. The section from 0:42, the bassline doesn't go with both the secondary bassline, or ANY of the leads, the clarinet synth loop, the piano, or the chords on the side.

The 2:32 section is also dissonant as well. I'm not sure what chords you want us to hear, other than the clarinet. I think it may be a case of hearing the dissonance enough times that it becomes normal. By 5:32 it certainly isn't pleasant to me, but I've become accustomed to it.

I'm not really able to offer much critique beyond that. You have what sounds like two different songs or an A and B section put together. So the best recommendations I'd have are some music theory and lead writing. Good channels for that are Holistic Songwriting, Signals Music Studios, and Ben Levin.

When it comes to songs, remember to keep things simple. Two basslines is one too many. Keep it simple. The more you can pare down a section or simplify parts and still get across an idea, the better, at least in most cases.

As for mix, I did hear a lot of reverb, and at points the percussion were drowned out, but I'll be honest, I wasn't really able to listen for that very well. As a rule of thumb, turn down reverb sends to about 75% of what you first wanted to do with them, turn the low cut up to 250hz, and make sure the percussion is the loudest part of your track -- meaning turn everything else down until you can hear them clearly without focusing on them. Use a reference track if necessary to get the volume levels where you want them, listening to a song you want to sound like and your own track, back and forth, until it sounds right to you.

Don't worry if your music doesn't come out like you want it to at first, or even most of the time. The more work you put in, the more songs you're putting out, the better you will become. Never give up. :)

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[[DJKB] Into The Depths of The Lair]

Doesn't sound bad. Develops slowly at times and uses some more synthy real instruments. I would shy away from that actually. If you have Kontakt, Spitfire Labs has some nice alternatives to these, but I would honestly use a patch from something like SQ8L or dexed. Particularly on your choir and strings.

Mixing wise, watch out for burying your drums. It's hard to pick them out in places. I would turn everything else down until they are the loudest in the mix, then go from there. Naturally, that is what they should be, since the human brain isn't attuned to listen directly to percussion, as opposed to move with it.

Six minutes is pretty long for a track, but considering this is DnB, and you're usually writing to pitch up to a DJ, longer length makes sense.

Other than that, I would spend some time looking for some free VST libraries and samples. Spitfire LABS has a lot of stuff out for Kontakt, Native Instruments has a whole starter pack out of free and it seems mostly fully functional instruments, Ample Sounds has some good guitars and a cloud drum out for free, there's plenty of good stuff out there. Also Cymatics has some great percussion packs for free.

Try some of those and see what you come up with!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

AlmightyDJKB responds:

Thanks for the advice, and yeah I still have problems with mixing and equalizing all aspects of the audio so that it comes out perfectly nice.

Otherwise, I just use FL Studio mobile to make these songs, but thank you for the pointers in these new samples, because I could really use them. Especially since making my own can be really hard. So I am very grateful for that.

I hope to advance further in NGUAC

[raw!]

Wooooow that lead is loud! I had to turn down really quick. How hard is your compression? I would recommend turning it way down. There's all kinds of distortion by 1:02.

I really like your drops. Mixing is just hard to appreciate the great phrasing and sample usage you had with Gordon Ramsay. I actually can barely hear him.

I would recommend going back through this song, taking off the compression on your master, turning your PC volume to 20, and adjusting the level of every instrument. There's so much distortion, even on quieter sections like before 3:00 that that is distorting. It's so much I really can't comment on anything else.

A good rule of thumb before applying mastering FX is to have -6 dB of headroom on your master channel to work with. So start by turning every instrument down until you're there, mix until you like the way it sounds there -- then apply mastering FX.

And don't worry, you're not alone. The human brain tends to think louder is gooder. And consequently sausage fatten the shit out of everything. Raw. For this track it's absolutely not a hard fix. Just turn it down, THEN fatten, lol.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC, Котик!

K0TiC responds:

yeahh i kinda went overkill in ozone lol, ill take it into account in my future songs, thanks

[Low Places]

Has a very modern hiphop vibe to it.

Some comments. Your tremelo chords are a nice choice. I would cut the low end off of them some to make room for that pulsing little bass.

I would also cut your reverb tail down. There's a technique called gated reverb that can get you that same sound without the muddy tail -- even when it's almost completely cut out, I can still hear that tail decaying through other instruments.

I feel the hihats are just a little too loud. Though the phenomenon of LEAD hihat seems to be going through hiphop these days.

It overall feels as if this song isn't really finished. We have sort of the same thing over and over until we end like we began.

Still, enjoyed the listen.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[AIM - Downpour]

Composition is nicely written, atmosphere well established. I would pull that whistling wind synth down some, also the high string swells, until the piano gets more established like at 1:30. I still feel it's quite loud there. As subtle as this piece is, it's very noticeable if anything is even slightly out of balance.

I may also clean up that reverb some. The low mids 250 hz and below are ringing out and resonating when you have low strings or other synths and not contributing to the space so much as making a little extra noticeable fuzz.

Otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Great work.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

JesseTikka responds:

Thanks so much!

[Lost]

Chord progression on this is nice. Sounds inspired by a mix of Marshmello and 21 Pilots.

Some more attention to mixing, cutting reverb sends and low cutting them to 250hz, and this would sound much cleaner and more concise. There are points where I feel the mix is overly sibilant.

I'm also not quite sure about the overall structure, where our drops are slated to begin, etc. Nothing sounds too out of place, but there seems to be a lack of dramatic builds or transitions that tell us, hey, we're heading toward a really satisfying drop -- until 3:27. That's what I feel we were lacking until this section.

I'm actually not able to hear most of that bass. Just the high end. Might see if something is going on with the mix there. How hard are we compressed, is there a sub under it, did you mean for those grating highs to sit on top, etc.

But otherwise, track slaps.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[My brother in a 2003 Ford Focus]

Nice heavy riffage here, but it's really hard to hear what's going on. I don't know if you're going for a lo-fi blackmetal aesthetic.

You've got a lot of frequencies sticking out on your guitars like sore thumbs, mostly just the distortion fuzz. I would recommend going through with something like ReaEQ and pinpointing them to bring down.

I can't hear if you have any reverb on anything, but if you do, bringing down the wet send and 250hz and below is a good move. I would actually cut your rhythm guitars off at 250 hz. The bass will take up this room nicely and it will sound better.

The drums here are struggling to cut through. Try turning everything else down until you can hear them clearly. That will help your aesthetic by miles, even excepting any guitar mixing issues.

But other than that, really enjoyed it. Super br00tal <3

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

jebuscrust9 responds:

I appreciate your feedback. I was absolutely going for a black/death metal type sound, so that may have influenced my decision making which in turn may have made things muddy.

I'll definitely try out some of the tips you gave, hopefully I'll have figured some of this stuff out by my next song. Glad you enjoyed it :)