ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Foreseeing Melody]

Official AIM Review!

Other judges have mentioned, so I won't make a huge deal out of it, but mix on this is hasty enough that it's clipping. Probably could have been avoided by just clipping a limiter on the master if you're really pressed for time -- although I try not to recommend this as it's like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound. Clipping is almost always a sign of huge underlying problems in your mixing process, not that one or two things is too loud. Before mastering, actually, you'll probably want between 3 and 6 dB of headroom.

Protip, if your mix sounds great with the volume turned down to say, 3-15%, it's gonna sound good as a rule. Try that little trick when you find yourself getting too ear strained.

Also, my sympathies with constant mood swings and RL getting in the way of your music. Wish you all the best, man.

Onto the composition.

Reverse intro is actually kind of interesting, as is the ducking bass. Piece is actually composed fairly well. Were it not clipping so badly, I'd have given an extra star. The section at 46 secs is probably the level where I would have my mix sit before mastering. Lately I mix all my pieces turned down to about this volume.

It's a shame time got in the way of mixing this properly. I'm actually really enjoying what you've done here. Wonderful chords and chord voicings. Thanks for turning out for this year's competition!

[AIM - From The Sands]

Official AIM2018 Review!

Super quiet intro (compared to the rest of our track). Enjoyed the dark, dead, sinister, mysterious atmosphere you crafted in the hollows between those somewhat distant hits, complete with that dissonant stab. I like that rather than using the dissonance to draw us away from the spooky i chord or even defining it with a third, you move us toward i.

SFX and transition was done tastefully into our riff at 00:11. I would have preferred our percussion was just a bit louder. The melody overwhelms it a little. Also sounds a bit boxy in those low mids. You might touch on them with a multiband compressor if you want to keep the low mids strong but under control. Sibilance is fine as there is really nothing else in this range.

By 00:21 the mix is starting to sound a little cluttered and mid heavy, with snare coming out a bit too hard and dry in the mix. Might apply tape saturation to it. Hats are super sibilant and are hiding in your mix a bit. Recommend either a lower sample or a bit more compression on them.

At 00:51 we seem to be approaching the limits of how much bass/sub the track can handle without distorting. I would hi-pass your bass up to about 20-30 Hz if you're going to sustain it just as a hard rule, especially with any FX such as reverb. You'll want to check it out on a spectrum analyzer (fabfilter has this built into its plugins such as EQ and multiband compressors but there are many freeware analyzers as well and ReaEQ is just as good).

Transition at 00:55 starts out strong then devolves into 1:04 with that unsupported back-beat snare. I'd have liked a little switch-up, maybe some other percussion instruments like chimes, crashes, china cymbals, or even toms to make that bit a little more natural.

Swooshy transition probably should have lasted a bit longer into the string build to give those 16th notes some more energy. They're very lonely out there.

Now, to our drop. 01:15, this drop is face-meltingly in loud, in our face, and if I had my volume all the way up I would be tempted to turn it down right about here; kinda wish the rest of the track were this loud and compressed just so I'd be prepared. It's very well written, and I like what you've done rhythmically in particular. Those over the top loud drums, snare included, fit perfectly in with the soundscape. Good choice.

What I don't like is the sibilance. It's so fizzy I actually did have to turn it down to better enjoy it. Sounds like your leads and growls were mixed too loud, so much that going back into our opening riff at 2:19 is almost an anachronism by comparison. Sounds like your sub may have been overly loud and thus everything else was mixed loud to compensate.

That said, you've done a great job keeping a consistent theme -- and by 3:00, we're ready for another face-melting drop. I actually like this one better, drumstep fan myself. Extra half-star for combining two styles in the same piece cohesively.

Your structure is strong here, consistent with the genre, and you show great knowledge of texture and rhythm. Tribal elements complement the art well. Nice work!

Thanks for turning out to this year's AIM!

[AIM - Nostalgia goggles]

Oh snap! Super nostalgic from the first note.

My only real complaint other than a few mix issues is that pesky crash cymbal. It sounds just too tinny for some reason.

I've really got to complement your arrangement here. Aside from some elements of the mix pumping out between sections, a lot more headroom than is probably necessary, and drums hiding in the mix a bit, this song is everything I could ask for in a peppy videogame themed rock track. Fits the art to a T.

Onto criticisms, I can't tell if the bass is too loud or the guitar and drums are hiding. Snare drum could probably use some tape saturation to give it some stage presence. Right now, it's kinda flat. Kick sounds like it needs a little bit of mid and a low cut right around 38 hz. I also can't hear your hats very well closed. I didn't even notice them on first listen.

Chorus also gets super loud compared to the rest of this song, almost to the point of overwhelming your leads -- which is crazy since videogame leads are very hard to cover up with rock instrumentation. This section actually is what has me suspecting the bass is a bit too loud. Guitars are kind of inaudible at points until chorus, especially on those soft chugs. Recommend compressing them with something like GComp2.

2:09 transition lives up to your username. Fantastic writing throughout. Also rare to hear a bass solo.

Really enjoyed this piece. Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

8-bitheroes responds:

Thanks for taking the time to give a solid review! You made some pretty good points. The reason the chorus is louder is because i automated the level on it to give it a bit more energy in contrast to the verse sections, however i may of overcooked it a little. Which crash do you mean... im using two different crashes so it may just be a case of swapping one out. When you listen to something so much you just accept it as normal lol.

[A.I.M. - Don't Look Down]

Official AIM Review!

Right away from the waveform, looks like an unmastered piece.

Compositionally, I like that opening melody. Bass is a little bit boxy for my tastes. Percussion comes in a tad too loud for the bass/melody to sustain. Recommend taking down about a dB. Also sounds very dry.

Bassline also seems never to change beyond a few warbles and monster noises, which are tasteful -- but kinda leaves the track feeling like a lot of copypaste with a very long series of transitions. Feels pretty empty by 2:50, and the novelty of the main theme has worn off.

As is the best thing that can be done for this song is give that percussion some reverb/delay -- something to give it life. I'm also noticing a distinct lack of cymbals/hats. Bass could use some modulation play, like formants, lfos, just anything to switch things up, frfr. Also would try writing some sort of counter-melody to our main theme because it does lose my attention after being repeated over and over. Sounds like a riff more than a melody imo.

Now, I absolutely love your deconstruction into lo-fi at the end. I was wondering where we began in the art before I realized things were slowly devolving -- maybe didn't pick up on the swingset scene because the music is ... well, depressing. But nevermind that. I'm trying to brag on ya. Great decisionmaking in the outro.

Also, did not even notice the song was in an odd meter until I re-read your descrip. Speaks for the composition itself. I'm also impressed you used no external plugins. Sounds like I need to check out Audiotool for myself!

Anyway, enjoyed the piece, despite technical issues and unmastered state. You might benefit from some YouTube time researching mixing and mastering for your preferred genres -- or online mastering sites, given the massive amount of headroom you've got going here and the time it takes to master a track by hand. PM me if the latter interests you. I have some resources you might dig.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition! Until next time!

JAXXN responds:

Thanks for the constructive criticism, it's really appreciated! The mastering is definitely weak on my part, I've never really been able to get a good grasp of it.
I do highly suggest you check out Audiotool, though! It's a free no-download online DAW, but it has no access to external plugins or samples. Despite that, it's still a great DAW.

[AIM - Jagged]

Official AIM Review!

Like that 808 in the beginning.

Mixing isn't great, but I've never heard rapping robots before. Extra star for that. Now if that vocal track were compressed more tightly, 808 were pulled down a bit so as not to drown them out...

I'm really liking the mix of what feels like R&B and synthwave. Unique in the extreme. I disagree with TL on one point -- composition. Your chord progression was memorable, strong, and far from most music theory safe-spaces. Bassline did what it was supposed to do, centering the piece. I don't think your writing is weak here, just weird, which was the point.

I used to experiment with TTS rap back in the day. It's a pain to make them musical. If you're looking to take them to the next level and can't or won't use Melodyne, I'd recommend iZotope Vocal Synth.

One thing I didn't like was the hard panning on the vocals. Combined with mix issues, they became somewhat hard to dial in on and pay enough attention to make sense of the lyrics.

Nailed the art, of course. If I hadn't known better, I'd think you'd been commissioned to make the piece. :)

Thanks for turning out to this year's AIM!

Kalviter responds:

Thanks very much for the feedback! I'll definitely look at something like Melodyne or iZotope (The method this time was to use balabolka and chop lmao)

[AIM - Serenity of the Forest]

Official AIM 2018 Review!

Mixing on your percussion is good. Perhaps somewhat boxy in the low mids but strong. As TL mentioned, the abrupt about-face from sinister sounding drums to jolly good fun absolutely knocked my preconceptions cold, more than once in fact. Very exciting tune.

Piece as a whole is well written. A bit bass heavy, lacking some clarity in the highs. Minus half a star for some tracks sounding mixed too loud/muddy low end.

Compositionally, I have no complaints. What a journey! Complements the art perfectly. I waited a few hours in between viewing and hearing your piece -- experienced an almost synesthesia -- the cat, the flowers, hummingbirds, big, soulful eyes. Instrumentation made the magic happen. Nice work!

Thanks for turning out to this year's AIM!

[See You]

Simple and effective. My only complaint, sub bass is just a bit too much. Sounds almost boxy in the mix. Try cutting the lo-mids on your lead and vocal SFX too. They're contributing to that boxy sound.

Takes me back to the 90's, yo.

[AIM - Waves of Life]

Official AIM2018 Review!

Atmospheric SFX in the beginning threw me off a bit. Sounds like distant girders knocking into one another, with enough reverb it was almost confusing when I realized they were drums. Perc almost sounds like it's in a really big can. Attacks are really muddy as a result.

I like the idea of this track a lot, actually. Some elements are totally overshadowing others in the mix though -- like that bass. WAAAAAY too loud over top of your drums, which already sound far away thanks to the experimental FX throughout. 1:14+ for timestamp.

However, I do complement your writing. Mixed better, missing most of that reverb, and with a more obvious transition at 3:05, this could and would be a banger. You might even try having the reverb for kick and snare on a separate send channel and using a compressor to duck it out of the way of their respective attacks.

3:05 transition is very chopped to my ear. Where is the downbeat slam signaling the climax of our journey?! However the mixing is closer to what I think you were going for throughout. Good writing with the sudden departure from prior theme but I feel this should have been done earlier -- or more subtle parts of the track replaced with that face-melting bass-laden chorus.

Other issues like slight cheese on the choral or string synths have been mentioned. I don't feel like they're serious enough to merit more than a passing comment. What's killing this piece is a few iffy transitions and possibly compression issues, not your instrumentation. Keyboard choir and Lindsey Stirling 2.0 were fine on the other hand; they just needed a little more velocity modulation and EQ to sound more natural. I recommend cutting those boxy low mids some more and minding those airy highs too.

At some points, choir was so mid heavy I cringed a bit. May have used something more subtle. Either a different but still very vocal-ish instrument with formant shifting/wah-pedal or a different choir patch. Maybe even a low-pass filtered instance of the same patch. It's just kinda shrill at points.

Drums were not standing out very well in this piece and sounded in between muffled (kick, snare) and way too sibilant (crashes, hats). Steam chugging highs were a nice touch though. I also appreciate that you tried to do something with dubstep drums other than side-chain and pump.

Tasteful piano was A1.

I've probably said so already, but thanks for turning out to this year's competition. Times two, for that matter! Keep at it!

5TanLey responds:

alrightyyy, frankly, I had no idea what to do with this mixdown, never tried to make anything like this before, no excuses though, could've spent more time on this for sure

Thanks for your review!

[AIM - Sunken Streets]

Official AIM Review!

Last year someone selected this piece -- and wow have you taken it into a totally different direction. May be some of the finest olskool-y triphop I've heard in a while.

That said, I got some beefs. I need a little more of that snare, a little bit more crisp on that mix. Hi mids seem to have been cut down a bit, which leaves the bass standing out a little more than I'm quite comfortable with.

Extra points for sampling your hood. Indeed does sound like waves lapping at the shore.

Wanting a little more of that rim sound on the snare. Goes nice with your texture.

I also like the adventurous, avante-garde feel on that bass. You're not afraid to make things fit the way you want them to. Super jazzy.

Piece could have ended at 3:56 and I'd be happy. Might condense that down a bit or cut out a repeat or two from earlier sections.

I'd also tame that low sub a bit. It does take over the rest of the song a bit. Maybe cut 30 hz and under from everything but the kick.

SFX outro came out strong. Extra points for representing the artwork well.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

SroSocial responds:

Thanks my man, the snare is definitely something I've been told to give more love to; so right now I'm learning more about parallel compression. Looking back on it, I feel you on the sub being a bit too much. Could definitely condense it a bit, but some part of me just wanted to wallow in that vibe longer.

Thanks again for the detailed review and for having me, first time making music to reflect art. Also had no idea someone else used the same art piece, goes to show how different interpretations can be.

Your compliments really boosted my artistic confidence and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

[Forsaken Reality]

Official AIM Review!

Really not liking that violin synth. It's a bit sharp and almost out of character in comparison to that beautifully written piano riff. I might even recommend a saw synth instead, since ears seem to be much more forgiving of these.

Now, your percussion isn't mixed perfectly, but it sounds pretty good. I'd recommend chopping that loop instead of running it over and over.

Transition at 1:39 feels like it should have happened much earlier in the piece.

After that point, we've got a catchy chorus. Your string swells sound pretty good. Mix is a bit cluttered though. Feel that brass pulse should have been brought WAY up in the mix. This is the most vibrant part of your piece.

As mentioned, I feel most of this progression relies on the adding and subtracting of elements, rather than progressing the theme. You've got a good range of sounds together, but not a lot of variety.

Note, on your mix, that low end is so muddy, it's starting to distort. I'd recommend checking out johnfn's tutorial. Don't have a link here but you can PM him and he could probably find it for you in his newsposts. Basic idea is cutting low end aggressively in your solo instruments, harmonies, and even basses, not so much that it changes the timbre of the instrument, but so that unchained low frequencies are not interfering with one another in your mix when you have those big, bombastic sections. You would be surprised just how much low end is hiding in your pianos, strings, saws, etc., until you actually look at them on a spectrograph.

Anything else I have to say could probably best be summed up by TL's review.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

CrystaluxX responds:

Thank you so much for this nice review! I thought that a saw synth would'nt fit the mood. I wanted to put the focus on more classical instruments. And in my next tracks I will probably improve my mixing.