ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[MRИ - Illusion]

Like that bass going on here. I'm not sure what's happening with that stabbing synth -- I could probably do without it. Your lead sounds good on its own and doesn't need a plucky stab to ring announce for it.

0:46 section was a bit flat with those naked, dry synths. 1:05 mix is a little muddy on that sub, and we seem to be going from buildup to build up there which is a no-no. If you wanted to use that sub riser, don't have it sit there and just stop! I was getting excited, lol.

Other than that, structuring on this was pretty alright, other than some other reappearances of the sub bass riser which got really muddy and clashed with your bass. I'm not sure what was happening there.

There are some really nice melodies going in here, with a lot of potential. Structure is kind of inhibiting you here, though. I recommend looking up some tutorials on the subject. This could have been a real banger!

RobinvanDommelen responds:

Mixing and mastering aren't really my strong suits. I'll do what I can to improve as much as possible :)

[Should Have Stayed Home, Should Have Stayed Out Of Trouble]

Smooth in all the right ways. Have added it to synthwave genre as this is where it belongs. The only thing I don't like is that flat snare. Tape saturate it or something?

I'm with Kwing here. It does drone on for a long time without many changes to texture. Overall, mix is fairly clear and well thought out, though. 1:57 rhode thing is just a bit too loud in that mid range, but that's about the only thing I really noticed.

This is very easy to just chill to and forget the world.

[The Church In The Forest]

Like the dark SFX in the intro. Church bells sound almost haunting. I was not expecting them to go away. Definitely think they should have lead up to the section at 0:26 with cacophony.

I'm not sure this is glitchhop. Sounds more industrial. A bit slow to develop and seems to lose intensity before 1:00. I think part of this is the drums are totally buried in the mix under that beautiful bass.

Also not understanding some of the volume fluctuations here. Careful around 1:35. I heard some clipping, and not the good kind.

Really wish the song had a more constant level of energy, something going on even in those quiet parts to tell our brains that yes, even though we can see the waveform and know the song is not ending, no, this is not a poorly planned fadeout we're hearing.

Also swooshy transitions please. I need them in my life. Maybe even delay hang-over perc at the end of each phrase just to make those transitions less... weird.

Nice track though. Fun little bass line and church bell samples. Enjoyed it despite its quirks.

Red65 responds:

I usually don't get these kinds of comments, it's good that you specifically tell me what's good and what's not. Thanks for criticism that I can work with. I'll look into these things next time I make this. Thanks

[Lock]

Not really liking that wobbly stringy synth there. It's a little too wishy washy for me. Needs a stronger attack.

0:49, ooh, transformers noises. If this were not mixed so loudly -- I can hear some saturation/clipping. That, or you could probably stand to notch out some high frequencies. It does just sound throughout like it was mixed a little too loudly and a limiter put on.

Protip, before you apply FX to the master channel, make sure your track peaks no higher than about -6 dB. If your mix sounds good here, it's ready to be mastered. It's hard to squeeze a track under -6 dB when you're used to mixing everything all the way up, but it's worth it.

Stuff like your vocal sample, that pre-drop wubby business that delays out of the picture, all that is mixed way too loud and is contributing to the slightly unbalanced sound of this mix, eventually even drowning out your drums. That's not to say it sounds bad -- actually love the driving rhythm of that bass and the synths you've used. May just want to take some time to study some mixing/mastering tutorials. You've got the basics of good dubstep writing under your belt. Can't wait to hear you grow as an artist. :)

[Akasha]

Oh such texture. I'm not sure what's going on, but those chords at 0:32 got me like <3 Definitely couldn't dance to this since I can't dance, awkwardly wiggling will do. I have no critique other than wishing rhythm were slightly more constant and consistent. In that area I think you may have actually gone too far for maintaining a groove. This has ceased being electronic dance music and moved into the territory of avante garde art piece.

[Return]

Watch out for those machine gun attacks on your snare rolls. I'm also not sure why the march is swung, and those rimshots could probably go as far as I'm concerned. The track is missing some... je ne sais quoi.

Writing wise, this is not a bad piece. It's got a definite theme -- could probably use a little overarching melody. I'm not sure how to critique really, as my only other critique would center on your midi instruments. I recommend Black Noh Snare for a more natural synth snare. Probably synful orchestra for natural, low CPU strings and winds.

That's really all I can say.

Novent-Music responds:

Thank you for your review and critique.

I looked back at the song and the snare does sound choppy, so I have taken that into consideration for the future.

Also thank you for the recommendations ill be sure to try them out.

[Lost]

Nice lead writing here, but your low mids and bass are heavy, muddy, and cluttered (chord wise)

I will say I REALLY don't like your guitar synth but that's just because it's machine-gun attacking. I would recommend something like RealEight, Ample Sound AGG, Shreddage... Or if you need a free library, Ample Sound AGML. The attacks on all of those instruments will not disappoint you.

This out of the way, 1:38, that lead has been waaaaay too loud for a bit and actually distracting me from what I was typing. It's a consistent problem throughout. It's glaring enough I think it could actually be your headphones not presenting to you in that frequency range. If you really can't hear it on any of your gear, I recommend Audio Technica M40x, used, if you can afford them. They are indispensable to me in identifying problem parts in the mix. Failing that, you can always look at a spectrum analyzer and/or sweep your track for frequencies that are sticking out in the mix with ReaEQ. If interested, PM me and I'll find the tutorial where I learned to do that.

You've structured your song well. However it does sound like it's been mixed way too loud before mastering FX were applied. Protip, before you apply FX to the master channel, make sure your track peaks no higher than about -6 dB. If your mix sounds good here, it's ready to be mastered. It's hard to squeeze a track under -6 dB when you're used to mixing everything all the way up, but it's worth it. Mixing loud will not make everything sound better unless it already sounds good.

4:01 I can tell this track is compressed way too hard with how loud that lead is. Headache territory.

I definitely recommend some tutorials on mixing, mastering, voice leading, and writing melody/chords. For the first two, you'll want to try to stay genre specific, but the last two, Ben Levin does some great instructionals on YT. As someone who's been reading music and studying theory for years, it helped get me out of a box.

I do see potential in you to be great. Can't wait to see how you grow over the years. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC! :)

NoobGameYT responds:

Thank you so much for the advise, this is really helpful :) I will definitely check out some tutorials on YouTube to make sure I get my mixing better. Again, thanks for the advise and for seeing potential in me :D

[Say my name]

I agree with Kwing here. I was really enjoying your instrumentation until the chip portion came around. The chip synth at 0:52 that vanishes as abruptly as it appeared was a bit loud. It's not so bad at the loud section at 1:39 -- until 1:45, and that lead is also super loud -- but I find myself missing something...

Traditional percussion probably.

That said, your chord progression does not get old over the course of 3 minutes or so, which is an accomplishment. Ritard was a nice touch, and your piano stinger at the very end was tasteful. Wish ritard were slower. Didn't feel like we'd ground to a complete halt yet.

Mixing on this piece could use a touchup, especially on that piano. It feels like the piano samples were recorded with three socks and a towel over the mic, if you catch my drift. Let it sing out, all breathy and sibilant like. Your chippy synths are super gritty by contrast, which makes their sudden entry a little more jarring than it ordinarily would be.