ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Supernova [5/6]]

That bass is deceptively simple but applied extremely well. Everything is on point about this. Mix, master, panning, variety and transitions, chorus fx, intro, outro, bridge, application of genre tropes.

Minor bits of critique would be to more finely control amount and low frequency of reverb, watching for low and mid-mid frequencies overlapping in your quieter sections, and to ensure that your aux percussion does not get completely lost on your drop pre 2:20. I would have loved to her some of those metallic noises shimmer a bit more, and I think you could do that by either cutting freqs elsewhere, panning a bit harder, or just slightly turning them up under that hard compression.

Also the kick at 3:31 sounds a bit overcompressed to the point of clipping and could use some more crisp, and 3:46 it is slightly too loud. I might just change out the kick in that instance, as it doesn't sound like it's in the key or a related harmonic of the song. It could use to be turned down somewhat or wetted... something subtle.

But I only noticed this on passthrough 2 so it's not that big of an issue obviously ;)

94/100

[『The Final Destiny』]

The guitar and bass articulations in your intro are somewhat unnatural and overtly synthy, and I would recommend reducing pick noise if possible to compress and bring up your intro melody. The mix overall has a lot of low frequency noise from reverb wet signals leading into your build, and I think the vinyl noise could be tamed.

When we reach the drop, neither the sub bass, nor the side-chained color/pads are clear, and the bass is both quite busy and panned side to side every other note. Because we retain a lot of the same elements from the intro, it lacks a sense of progression/awe, despite none of the elements being very bad at all.

Your approach to panning the hihats and drums on the verse leaves the center feeling pretty empty, though it is unique.

The following build is where things get interesting, but again the reverb must be tamed, and I recommend subtle sidechain here.

The 2nd drop also suffers from the same issues as the first, but add to that that the drums are too far stereo spread, especially the snare, which is panned to the left. Only the braahms or saws maintain presence in the center, when I think it should be the other way around. I feel as if despite wearing headphones, I'm sitting across the room from a sound system because of this.

The track would have much more power if you were to put the kick and snare in the center, sidechain and otherwise cut down those reverbs, and bring the bass into mono below 200 hz.

Sound design wise nothing is bad at all. Your arrangement, drop cadence, structure, and melodies are all good! What harms this piece is being overly stereowidened. I can hear the characteristic phase all over the master. So despite being loud in terms of waveform, it sounds quiet and far away.

Drop 3 and 4 also suffer the same way as earlier.

Something else that is uniformly happening on all of your drops is, the color noise and rhythm synths are much louder than they should be, and verb is all over the place.

In order of loudness, you should have kick, bass, snare, rhythm synths, lead, cymbals, pads, and hihats. The difference between the kick, bass, and snare relative to the rest is going to shock you, as they should be the absolute loudest, and the rest differ slightly less in volume as you go down the list. I wish I could explain this better, but I would have to give you a reference. I'm sure there is something in my own work that I could think of off the top of my head, but you would be probably better off selecting your own genre reference, something you really enjoy.

Overall, this is a fantastically written and nicely varied piece which despite the mountains of critique and gripes with mix I had I certainly enjoyed listening to, especially that kick frenzy at the end which reminded me a bit of terrorcore lol. No matter what, keep making music, and don't let anyone's comments get to you. You're a star <3

71/100

paranoidkid2580 responds:

I forgot to reply this lol

but tyty

[Less is More (Cambio)]

The overall sound profile of this is pretty mid and low mid heavy, with lots of reverb noise that can be cut (low frequencies can distract from the finer details of your mix where you actually want the listeners' attention). I recommend some study of mixing and production through YT university if you catch my drift for your favorite genres.

The spacing of your percussion is also not what I'm used to hearing from cinematic tracks. It's certainly very wide and spacious, but I would generally not recommend spacing out toms what sounds to be 70-80% like it's the 50's-70's. This is a technique I only generally see in N64 soundtracks (occasionally) in modern years and can be a bit jarring.

Your track also ends somewhat abruptly.

The melodic elements however are well enough developed. I would suggest some study of song structures from your genre of choice for spacing, as I did not feel a strong sense of progression to a climax, or an ebb and flow of energy so to speak.

However I do laud you for the unique approach to every aspect of the song. This shows attention to detail and emotional attachment to what you're doing -- pride and a sense of care for your work!

Overall, 66/100

Good work!

DaxCamdaxian responds:

You seem to be a person who knows a lot about technique and music production, I have noticed that many musicians and people that know about how to mix and stuff tend to be very blunt with their comments towards songs that are mixed with experimentation and innovation in mind, your criticism is completely valid and I really appreciate that you have taken the time to analyze my song... but I think you criticize it from a very technical angle, very square, and I don't like that, i think we are missing a point here

[Wanna Be With You Dear]

Shreddage is one of my favorite E guitar synths.

Some things I would recommend, spreading out your guitars more -- double-tracking the rhythm with the A and B options in Shreddage, and panning them 100% L and R respectively with slightly different amps or cabs. This will help create an illusion of space.

The mix and arrangement somewhat harms the feeling of space, despite nothing being terribly wrong with your E guitars. Having used Shreddage for 10 years I can identify the single notes in the high octaves chugging along at slightly different velocities. I think more FX was needed there, more modulation. I can easily identify repeat notes, and it sounds a bit naked and clean. Sounds balanced slightly more to the left channel.

That said the arrangement is great, it just sounds like a few of the guitars are out of balance, either hiding in the mix, not doubled, or just slightly too loud without having been panned strongly enough. Other than that I have no complaints.

Also, the master is very quiet for such an energetic and happy track!

Otherwise, great work!

78/100

ValerianWitch responds:

I only been doing rock and related music relatively recently so there's still stuff I have to learn about it. Thanks for the kinds words and feedback.

[Blessing of Nature]

Great arrangement, fantastic writing and chords. Mix and instrument choice is where this track stands to benefit the most.

For instance, the guitar sounds like it is only single-tracked instead of doubletracked with one instance left and one humanized similar instance right. You could also afford quite a bit more volume on it and the bass. The pads are burying it. That would also necessitate turning up the kick and snare, and possibly the cymbals as well.

On instances where you have horns, I can hear that they are single instrument patches, or if it's an ensemble, they just sound pretty thin. Are those Spitfire horns? I have a similar sounding patch in my own library.

3:16, that stringed pluck instrument is really far out to the front, really dry and naked in comparison to the rest of the instrumentation. Recommend either switching it out, wetting it with FX, pulling it back, or simply doubling up more layers of similar instruments with it.

You shock me again at 4:16 with another crazy section. Great composition.

All in all, given the strengths of your composition, some earsores like the meowsynth sound sticking out at 4:36 can be forgiven. I would revisit the mix and master of this, but it's otherwise great.

[One Btn Bosses: Revolution Resolution]

crazy good composition and olskool videogame feel, hampered only by percussion samples at points sounding weird, namely cymbals. They sound almost... flanged or chorused somehow. Really weird feeling.

Recommend bringing up kick and snare and reevaluating space in the mix versus your favorites out of this genre. Reference, reference, reference.

Wonderful composition though. Might be the best I've heard all day, and I've been judging for a while!

ComposerEvans responds:

Thank you very much for your constructive criticism! I'll take some of these points into consideration.

Glad to hear you liked it! :)

[Out of Place]

These are my shortnotes from NGADM judging -- and before you read them, I want to say besides that, this song is friggin fantastic! Great emotion, great vocal performance, atmosphere, and groove!

----

vocal could use more crisp
hihat needs to come down, it's the loudest aspect of the mix and sounds too clean relative to the rest of the mix
bass can come up a bit and have more presence
snare could use a bit crisp in the 5k-8k range
bridge has REALLY dirty mix with rhythm guitar suddenly way too heavy in left channel

----

Those are the entirety of my gripes. Besides that, perfect!

Ajtastic responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it! :)

[NGUAC2024 - Elimination]

That section around 3 minutes is crazy good writing -- what a lead riff!

With a more professional mix and master, this would make a solid 4.5 out of 5 for me. Since this is not my primary genre, I won't spend too long explaining, but essentially, what I'm hearing is a fantastic demo track. From the waveform, we see that it is not mastered, and the distrubution of volume is somewhat uneven.

In general, the drums are hard to hear throughout with the exception of the hihat which is a little too loud. The bassline could also benefit from more volume and presence. It sort of hides throughout as well. Leads and samples tend to be very pronounced to compensate for the loud hihats. Besides a few samples really jumping out in terms of volume, it otherwise isn't bad. It's just quiet.

Snare in particular really hides in the mix with few exceptions. It seems to be intentionally turned down at points like 2:20.

Great writing, great ideas. Was a real pleasure to listen to!

MutatedBacon responds:

Thank you for the feedback!
Yeah I was touching up this track when I was on vacation, which is probably why the mix is so sloppy. I'll use the points you made to revise it!

[Reclaimed Melodies: Voyage on Eerie Sea]

Approaches perfect, with the exception of some minor gripes about the growl tone of Monster Sax and a bit much reverb all round on the final chorus where you bring in a more lively instrumentation. Would appreciate a more upfront bass tone there and a little more volume on it. Writing is fantastic. Great work!

9.4

[By Default]

I like the base melody and chord progression of this track once it is developed. My problems with it would be best summed up as mix, followed by accompaniment.

The synth after the intro has very predictable stepwise movement, and the lead that comes in is too loud throughout. The track sounds as if harmonies were an afterthought or occasionally accidental, however, riffs are not bad at all.

Lots of mud in the low register. Amen is hard to make out due to lots of reverb on the track or other problems of levelling. Leads are consistently too loud for instance, and there is a lot of clutter.

2:16, the kick rhythm sounds almost out of time with itself/the track.

I like the modulation on the rhythm at 2:34 including the bit crush. However, I'm not able to determine, is this the bass? No, I hear a bass after that. The bass is hard to discern due to issues of levelling.

Rhythmically, your breaks are very interesting to listen to -- can never have enough breaks <3

4:34, the bass here is one of my favorite sounds, period. It's sounding very over-reverbed and spread out. I would place the bass squarely in the center and mono-ize it below 150 hz. It sounds like in order to achieve depth throughout, you're using reverb and delay, which is not a bad thing, but it's very easy to overdo.

If this were cleaned up a little, I would happily give my 5!

6.8