ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[My Personal Hell - Mental State (1/4)]

I feel like the waves in the beginning are really centered and separate from the beat itself.

Piano chords are nice, a little... also centered. Try some sort of spatializing doubler plugin, maybe.

You've got a nice little groove by 49. I like the atmosphere.

I would actually bring up your stabbing chords a bit. Although I think they're a little chunky and disjointed compared to the rest of the atmosphere.

I would probably also like a more audible bass than a sine for most portions here. I have pretty generous monitors and the 1:55 section, your glassy tinkles are very loud in comparision to both the bass and percussion. Percussion imo, at least kick and snare, have to do a lot to stand out in a mix.

By 2:28 we're really out of balance. The lead is standing out not because it's mixed in very well but because it's just very loud.

Also, not sure what's going on at the outro. It feels very abrupt.

Overall though I did enjoy listening to the piece. Here from review request.

Some recommendations you may enjoy looking at are the Reaper series of plugins which you can use to clean up a lot of the low end on your instruments and make them sit better in the mix. A lot of people don't realize how much the 250 hz and below bleed on their synths is covering up their basses and kicks. That may be part of the problem here in being able to hear that low sine.

NoStereo responds:

Thanks for the detailed review! It seems most of my issues are mix related and I can definitely hear a few things you pointed out. Looks like I am gonna need some monitor headphones though. I have tools but I am constantly trying to improve what I can do with them!

Ending is definitely abrupt, but by design. I'd very much love it if you listened to the rest of the EP if you'd like. No pressure of course, but I really value this type of review.

https://nostereo.newgrounds.com/audio

[OMO Presents - Octorok Talk - Formative Video Games Podcast 1]

Came here to drop a 5. The only thing I can say is at some points when you talk a bit more loudly the mic distorts.

There are plugins like ERA-R that can help you eliminate that reverb noise, and applying a compressor could help you get a cleaner sound without really having to put in a lot of effort. :)

oldmanorange responds:

Glad you dug the fun, and dialing in the audio levels will come in the next episodes. Thanks for the little tips.

[Phoenix Rising]

Your crash cymbals in the left channel are distorting noticably. I would pan them less harshly.

Hats are sizzling kind of endlessly. Like the reverb just hasn't been cut. Try a compressor and turn up the theshold and take the release down a bit.

I would bring the drums up more in the mix, as well as the vocals, and take the synths down a little. The snare especially needs to come up.

Vocals end up being a whisper compared to the rest of the mix.

Writing is wonderful. Beautiful solos. Very rhythmically concise and musically interesting. There's a ton of red line peaking going on and that really distracted me from an otherwise gorgeous piece.

DanJohansen responds:

I disagree with most of that, obviously. But glad you enjoyed the track man! This is an instrumental tune, the vocals are supposed to be low in volume, if the vox were too loud it would create an anticipation and take too much attention which wouldn't be a good choice considering how little of it it is.

[F-777 - A New Energy (Xtrullor Remix)]

Nice slow swagger on the drops. I find myself wanting a balance between the sausage case compression and the quieter parts though. Loving the liquid.

[-SellSellSell-]

Wow, you have been amazingly productive over the years. Really smooth progression here, good panning. I would probably bring the perc out but that's just my modern production sensibilities.

[[Vortex Muffin g-R]]

Last song -- wow, I wish I'd heard this when it was fresh out. And I wish there were more techno heads in the game like you. Miss ya!

[[Electric Buzzard g-R]]

12 years loving this song. Hope you're doing good; your work inspired me to start working on my own stuff. I used to have this as an alarm on a morning playlist :)

[[Quarl] Drum Sample Pack]

This pleases my brain meat. We will see what we can do.

Quarl responds:

Woohoo! Don't forget you can tweak the individual kit parts as you see fit. Symbolcymbal used the samples but I felt awkward telling him the samps were too loud in his mix. I felt so hypocritical I just was like "woohoo, thanks for using my samples!!"

Really, you can do anything you want with these few noises :)

[Quiting Music]

This is stressful, relaxing, disconcerting, and somehow dizzily cheerful at the same time. I don't understand, but that weird portamento shit going on with the piano is making my ears wiggle.

As always, your creative approach to sound design makes me feel like a wee babe. I feel your pain with the writer's block.

The only thing I don't like is that LFO around 2:00. And the final section, whiile immensely groovy, feels a bit unfinished. The drums miight be clipping. I can't tell. I'd like some wonky FX on the hats, maybe some stereo play. But now I'm just nit-picking.

Great work! :)

Quarl responds:

Thanks for the review Adr, you the best <3

[Evening Road (v2)]

Dude, you are making absolute fucking magic. No words. Genesis music with nice modern sounding compression applied. Leads could probably come down .1 dB but other than that, perfect.