ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Creepy Manision]

Sounds more like a ringtone than a level theme. A bit ear piercing.

[good]

Hmm... I'm not sure what's going on here. The chords here seem to be all the same interval transposed. You'll want to check out something called voice leading -- it's a music concept that will help you immensely to get those tight chord progressions.

That said, your bass sounds really good. I just can't really hear anything else but it and the percussion.

Also, why choose a stock piano? Mix things up a little :)

Overall, this track is very quiet. Sounds uncompressed. Although before I would worry about compression, I would learn all you can about mixing the genres you want to make properly. Don't be afraid to copy what other people are doing in that regard. Learn by doing.

I do like what you've done with your lead, though. Interesting and funky melody over an unconventional house arrangement. The lead made your progression work much better than I thought it would.

[The Bëker x Jon1000 Split]

Music here is interesting, but I can't really hear the conversations going on. That could be mixed louder probably.

3:21 the FX on the vocals are interesting but probably be side-chained over the rest of the music. At points it would be ear-rapey if it were louder.

Century sounds almost like vaporwave, but faster, haha. Interesting!

9:39 I'd like something other than stock-y piano sounds. This theme kinda middles throughout, not really developing a lot but having a sort of interesting sound to it.

12:04, I'm wondering what you're going to do with that... clarinet synth? It's an interesting theme for sure, sounds super lo-fi, which may or may not be a plus. Over time I find myself wanting to hear less of those quarter notes. They sound all the same velocity. A hard-soft-hard-soft approach might help. Tune itself is pretty sweet, even if it feels like it progresses very slowly.

16:21 is actually pretty cool despite stuttering delivery. I'd sample it.

17:49, cool 80's inspired theme going on here. Wanna hear more of your vocals as opposed to the FX on the bass. Could maybe use a bit less keys. Genuinely interesting song. Vocals would sound great if they weren't so dry, as well.

22:44 Nicely written semi-free verse. I would also sample this. Delivery isn't too bad but needs a bit more attention to diction/intensity. Not bad!

[sad]

Interesting chord progression -- not to far out of the norm, but the secret sauce is in that 4th chord.

It looks like you've taken special care to monitor your levels at least in your opening. I feel like you could have cut your intro some and maintained more drive throughout. Those tom fills are pretty good, btw, just a bit too loud.

0:32 is where I would have put 0:39, and I probably would not have taken the piano down so much.

The sub in this is entirely too loud for the hats and perc to cover. If you ever want to test how balanced a mix is, just see if it still sounds good with your volume turned down to about 20%. If you can still hear everything clearly and you like it, it's sounding good.

It does sound like this track has a brick wall limiter over it. I can hear this at 1:04 where everything is kind of distorting in that high range. Listen carefully.

Overall, other than the super loud toms, which do sound good, just need to be a bit quieter, this is a pretty good piece -- and this is in July. Not bad. I would definitely start looking into some tutorials for your favorite genres. You're getting there, just need a little push :)

Also, trim that silence in your outro. There's a free program called audacity that can do it for you in a matter of seconds.

[f*ck]

I like the idea here but this sounds pretty unbalanced. Normally the problem with new dubstep makers is the percussion -- not being able to hear it specifically. What this sounds like is the percussion is too loud over the drop, no side-chain, and backing pads too reverbed up.

Turn that reverb send on your pads down, cut the low end on it, and bring them down a little.

Kick and snare are okay until 0:24 where you can see we have some peak distortion. If this is just an idea you're doing some light mixing on, you can clap an emergency limiter on it as a bandaid but I recommend just avoiding it at all costs.

I try to mix everything so that the entire track peaks at no more than -6 dB on the master channel before I even touch it. This approach totally avoids the peaking problem is why, mostly. That and when you do apply compression -- which it sounds like this piece has not had, you also avoid over-compressing, to some degree.

Now to side-chaining, if you haven't had any experience with this, I recommend plugins like fabfilter C2 or sidekick6, but you can do it by hand if absolutely need be. Basically, you have your bass line, and whenever your kick/snare hit, you duck your bass and sometimes other synths so the kick/snare don't have to push THROUGH the low frequency noise to get to your ears. It's so prevalent now that a lot of people use it, even in genres like metal.

I also note the lack of a sub under your wobble synth, and the wobbles themselves aren't compressed. Something to work on.

That said, good dubstep standard composition going on. I'm excited to see you improve in the time to come. :)

TheVillagerPlayer responds:

Thank you very much for your advices :)

Dubstep is a music genre that iI haven't already tried it was my first time.
I made this in one hour because I was bored and I actually wasn't expecting anyone to listen to this. I'm ok on the point that the pads have too much reverb and low end .
I actually have experience with sidechain, I tried to do the compressor method, lfo tool, kickstart and gross beat, I also used automation clips on the volume (not in this) and I didn't think to add it so thank you vor the advice once again. I'm ok with the entire comment, you're right but I had two problems during the making of this music:

- I don't have a good computer and my cpu was dead at like 11 tracks on the playlist

- It was my first time experiencing the serum plugin and I didn't know how to create growls

btw I'm not english so if my response may have grammary problems (I mean It's still a problem) but I don't speak engliah fluently

Thank you very much for giving me good advice :)

[Endless Handbag Loop]

Most iconic sound in all of NG history right here. First discovered in that one NG rpg. My absolute favorite.

[MC fool vs. Peanutman]

omg that 909 kit... and that bass.

This ain't bad. I'm not sure I would call this a rap battle, and I can't understand most of the rapping due to weak mixing, but some of the end rhymes were pretty decent. Ending also was funny. For 2004, pretty alright.

I just finished reviewing your catalog. 6 songs. I wonder where you are now, and if you had stayed here on Newgrounds, how your music would be today. You seem to have a Monty Python-esque sense of humor about you, something I'd like to see more of these days.

[Degradation Of Race - Hit Toe]

Wow, opening sample sounds great. Synth guitar and distorted drums I can't really say. Writing is good though!

Screaming I can't understand at all because it's so distorted.

[Death Oil Zone]

Yo, this is crazy! Mix isn't super clean -- I think I hear reverb hangover getting caught in the compression -- but the overall composition is so varied, so catchy! I'd like to hear more of those background arps in the low-mids, but that's about all I can really say.

Great work!

[Supercell]

I nearly fainted when I thought I heard copyrighted Pendulum snare samples -- thank God I checked the reviews and it's just a sample pack.

This is crazy in a good way. My only complaint is slight sibilance, what sounds like really, really hard compression, and relatively no sub-bass to give those drums something to lock us into. I had to turn things down a bit to enjoy fully but still can't tell if that phantom pain in my left ear is from listening to this at 50% volume or not. These ATH-M40x's monitor headphones drive ridiculously hard and have a very flat response, no bass boost, so it's possible this may sound better on some commercial gear.

I'm actually listening on 8% volume right now and it's at the sweet spot between crisp and uncomfortably loud with that perc.

Compositionally, a great piece that keeps me guessing. I'm not a huge fan of the piano -- I could have gone for a more muted, foom-y lead with some delay, perhaps even an octave lower with higher octave doubled stab synths in places for effect. It would sound much more pensive and ominous. I do love the creative approach to sound design in general though.

That descending synth at 0:11 was pretty uncomfortably sibilant to me on my first listen. Maybe supplement it with a sine or ramp bass drop.

I think the piano leads may be a bit too loud, and perhaps that's why I'm not perceiving the bass as well. I took time for a second listen -- let's be honest, it still keeps me on my toes even after a third time through; you're very good with this, one reason of many I appreciate your genre switchups. Each time I noticed the piano leads, which don't really have an overarching melody, seemed even louder than the drums and bass combined. There's really nothing in that sonic space to compete with them either, so they seem doubly loud.

Other than that though, fantastic work. Congrats on the fp!

Quarl responds:

Woohoo, adr reviews!

Lol, 8% volume?? I must be deaf. I force myself to lower from max volume because my ears don't work that well and I dont want to make them worse. 8%, you ear saving person you.

It might be time I get some new cans. I've had the same AKGs for a number of years now. Id get some decent monitors but am currently living in an RV. The boyfriend and I will be getting a house soon though and 100 spare monitors will be the first things I buy.

Copy written Pendulum snares? They spam amen breaks, they dont own those fonts XD