ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Woah dave!]

Interesting intro with those .. phased synths? I feel like you could have chosen a different drum pattern and gotten a much more groovable result. Those grid-locked snares sound flat until we get those offbeat hats at 1:00 or so. Maybe try a slower pattern before we hit our main attraction.

Also, this mix is suuuuuper sub-heavy, and your percussion is a tad tinny. If you've got any reverb on that sinewave bass, cut it out. It's very muddy. I would recommend hi-passing 28 hz on that bass before you applied any mastering FX.

2:06 section is a great variation, even if preceded by a strange vocal sample imo -- vocal samples are just a bit too quiet and lo-fi btw. Otherwise very surreal. I would recommend swapping to a hardstyle plong-plong bass rather than sub stabs for this section. Bass is pushing your mix out of balance.

It's here also that your perc pattern finally fits, btw. I still think you could prob use a tape saturator to give them some grit.

Abrupt cutoff at 3:50 made me sad. I was hoping for a nice fade on that last note.

Overall, butterscotch and then some! Recommend mixing and mastering tutorials. Your composition is fine, good structure and all. Keep at it!

ganon95 responds:

yea, this song was made on a computer that was dying on me and I feel like it caused the song to sound a little different than intended. I am aware of the bass being too strong but at the time of making it I did not realize because of the way the sound output worked on that computer.

the vocal sample is from the original game so it's not really unfitting to have here.

[Dark Void - D4RKPR0J3C7]

That bass is clicking and popping on attack. Really unpleasant sound. It could be a latency issue.

That said, for a super samey progression, you did pick your chords well.

Not liking the drum pattern at 1:10 at all. Does not really fit your progression.

Now, as long as that clicking bass attack is covered up, I can tolerate things a little better, and between 1:40 and 2:20 things liven up. 2:26 is a great riff. This is what I would have liked to hear more of throughout, and where it really shines.

As Kwing mentioned, this really didn't need to be 5 minutes long, as the melodic content remains mostly the same throughout.

Mixing is relatively good. I would just prefer a chord progression longer than two measures -- great for a chorus, but not for the whole song. Recommend studying chord progressions, song structure, and phrasing, as well as maybe a little theory. You're adventurous enough with your instrumentation I think you may particularly enjoy some Ben Levin instructionals.

First note of your outro was a refreshing change that I wish I had heard more of.

DarkProject16 responds:

Wow, thanks! I'll keep those things in mind

[[SkiT] Tears Rolling Up]

Opening chords are a little chunky sounding. I would probably do some inversions.

Opening melody around 20 secs in is pretty interesting and develops nicely as we progress. I'm not sure really where we're going, but I like it. Wishing you had picked a different lead at 1:40 or waited a while before leading up to that progression. We've already heard a lot of it already. In fact, the short bridge after this section was much needed, or I was gonna get a little bored.

Key change around 2:49 was unexpected and sounds like a copy-pasta with some extra harmonics on your lead. It's not until 3:14 we get a more natural sound going.

I probably would have skipped on the piano around 3:20. It's also the same velocity throughout. It sounds a little more appropriate with the ritard at the outro.

EQ wise, this piece is VERY lo-mid heavy. I recommend doing some hipassing on those instruments which are not played solo, such as your lead, saws, etc., up to maybe somewhere like 200-250 Hz. These frequencies sound good solo but in an ensemble get in the way of your bass, forcing you to turn it up in the mix and thus blow it out of proportion. I even hi-pass my basses often at 30 Hz, using a multiband compressor to keep the low end tight.

Piano also is a bit too loud, and percussion sounds a bit dry. May try a tape saturator on your kick.

Lead at 1:48 is also kind of laying on top of the track and needs a bit of fizz to it, imo.

2:15, that synth is way too lo-mid heavy. I'd say it needs more breath to it -- 12k to 20k range, but most of the track could benefit from that. Part of it is really bass heavy mixing in general. Don't get me wrong, I love bass, but to much gives a track a muddy, muffled sound. That's what I'm hearing here with the exception of your snare and fizzier hats.

Still that melody is infectious. Great job on your writing. Clean up the execution a little more, and this track will be fire. Look forward to hearing more from you in the future!

[- Vortex -]

Right off, those piano chords are really condensed. I would try not to chunk chords like that unless you arpeggiate them as you have in your later progression.

This sounds like a classical piece I used to dig as a kid. Probably Beethoven, and now I'm sad at myself for not being able to remember it.

I will say the mix is absolutely killing the virtuosity of this piece. Bass is super loud, piece is overcompressed, and sounds like all your master FX were applied with virtually no headroom. As a result, we have this head pounding pulsing of that side-chained bass, and your leads are buried under them. Try to mix your tracks at -6 dB headroom before applying mastering FX.

2:03 reminded me of Zombie Nation.

I really would swap that 100% velocity piano out for another synth or something at some points -- unless you edit/humanize, modify the velocity.

2:45 section shows a lot of promise, and I like that bass -- if it weren't so loud that it was distorting here I would give an extra star, full stop. More instrumentation like this though.

I recommend some general mixing tutorials for techno/dance. This piece has the potential to be an absolute banger but is harried by the mix pretty badly. It could potentially have something to do with your headphones or speakers not giving a true-to-sound representation on playback, but honestly, it sounds like some tracks were just mixed too loud, period.

Otherwise, great work. I'm excited to see how you grow as a producer over the next years to come. This piece has got some spunk, yo.

rat9352 responds:

first off, yes, i'm aware, my mixing is garbage lol... i will bear in mind what you said though - especially about the bass etc (i'll do what i can to change it in time for future tracks, but it's touch and go at this point, so, we'll see how that goes). secondly, thanks for the review - i'll start mixing as you suggested. velocity isn't something i've currently found out how to change on FLmobile but as soon as i do i'll be using it. i'll probably also try find a tutorial/tutorials (as you also suggested) on the genre - never actually have looked at one so it could do me some good i suppose. thanks again for the review - i appreciate your honesty :)

[Steam Leaper (Remix)]

I find myself agreeing totally with Kwing's review, but trying to keep things concise.

Overall, Hinkik's Time Leaper is just a good piece, with a catchy melody. I feel like more could have been done other than simply take the melody and port it to different instruments. Why not do a reharmonization instead? This is a very interesting way to spice up melodies you know well, not to mention a fun writing exercise.

I do like the offbeat percussion, but I do feel like the instrumentation of this track is so sparse, you really do yourself a disservice, especially as you gradually pare things down to draw the outro out. It ends up sounding less like a song on its own and more like a really simple karaoke track.

Also this isn't techno. I will try to correct the genre to mitigate some of the low scores I see you getting.

I think you would really benefit from just studying tutorials on your favorite genres on YouTube, as well as some basic songwriting. I see potential in your ability to arrange music, and you managed to create an ok-sounding mix on your own, which is an accomplishment. Keep at it, and maybe one of these days we'll be remixing one of your pieces. :)

CreeperX3sssBOOM responds:

1: Thanks for the Review, I will be sure to listen to the Advice

2: I don't know what most of them are so I just put it into the "Techno" Category. Once I know what each of the Categories sound like I will be fixing that right up.

[Unreal Reality]

Interesting progression. Sounds eerily familiar.

I feel like your lead should probably be taken down just a bit so as not to lay on top of the rest of the track.

Since this is lo-fi videogame, I can't really comment on sound quality a lot, but unlike Kwing, I do like your writing. With a little more structure, perhaps some more structure, this would feel more complete, vibrant. The main problem, the bassline stays roughly the same throughout, and that's where your lack of progression is coming from. Not to mention, percussion feels looped throughout.

Otherwise, not bad. I enjoyed the piece. If revisited with more attention to structure and progression -- there are lots of great song-writing tutorials on YouTube for this -- I see the potential for a great videogame soundtrack. Seriously, great lead writing. :)

colorsCrimsonTears responds:

I appreciate you giving me such a long review!
I'm glad that even if not executed perfectly, you still had parts you liked about this. :)
I know for certain that I need more practice with my variation, it's something that I have
trouble with atm...
Again, thank you for your kind and helpful review!

[Awaiting Inlake]

Wow, really interesting FX from the jump.

I'm really not liking those string synths. Would swap it for a less obvious synth. And by that I mean ... like a saw or something.

Now, your chord progression is certainly unique, but those strings are trampling over it, and that synth that enters at 27 secs isn't helping it any. It's sort of rather obviously and dissonantly pointing out how simple your progression is. By 1:12, those strings have become stale and almost annoying.

Your drop is quieter than your build, which threw me off. I'm just not really feeling things gel together here. Your percussion at least sounds good. I'd have liked to hear that bass synth used in your drop compressed or tape saturated. Your strings are louder than it is. What you've done at 2:26 is more tasteful than their earlier application though.

Like Kwing, I'm also a harsh samples fan, but I'm not really feeling like your trash cymbals before 3 minutes in are adding much to the track.

That 3:06 build doesn't sound bad.

3:11, that bass is about the volume your first drop should have been, and I find myself wanting more of that dirty bass stab here. Extra half star for sounding WAY better here. I still feel like a lot of your elements were copy pasted, dragged, or stretched into place. 3:52 I was hoping you would gradually add percussion back in, but instead we went back into the main theme again, which has already become fairly stale.

Also, it sounds like you're using Mixcraft crash samples. I would probably recommend a different sample library bc most of them suck honestly.

By 4:50 I'm hearing a lot of distortion on those stabs.

Overall, not the worst dubstep piece I've heard, but I certainly recommend taking some time out to go over tutorials by your favorite producers, listening to what others in your chosen genre are doing, and trying to imitate it in some form or fashion -- not because you'll never get good pushing your "own" sound and personal techniques, but because you may find you learn some tips and tricks that take you higher. I do see a lot of potential in you, just hearing that bass on your drop, as well as how adventurous you're willing to be with your production and structure. Keep at it!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

CodebreakerS responds:

I appreciate it man!

Ive watched plenty of tutorials so I'm reasy to make the my best dubstep song yet!

[Space Cat]

Kwing is right, nothing terrible adventurous here, but not a LOT to critique other than perhaps some leveling and compression, maybe structure. It sounds like low end on this song needs a lot of tightening up to sound truly clean when you aren't making use of sidechain. If you haven't cut low end off of all of your reverbs, I would do so.

Also, make sure to clean up any errant releases and/or use EQ/multiband compressors to make sure and cut low frequencies on your leads and pads so that they do not get in the way of your bass. These freqs make the instruments sound rich when played solo, but in an ensemble, you would be surprised how much of that low end interferes with your bass. A good policy is to mop up these frequencies with a multiband rather than an EQ so that 1, you don't entirely change the timbre of the instrument, but 2, you don't have them taking more space in your mix than they need to, and they stay consistent.

There are plenty of tutorials online I recommend you check out. My favorite is by Chernobyl Studios, a metal producer, but the principles come in handy for all genres of music. Johnfn also wrote a tutorial on this a while back, so you may send him a pm for that.

1:40 is a fantastic chorus. Very clean. I want a little more bass here, not quite as heavy on the sub frequencies, because you honestly have those covered.

I'm not a fan of 2:53's super high sub bass. I would switch to something with a little more grit. The in and out side-chain effect is making my head swim a bit. Also, your drums were totally hiding in the mix.

3:29, the sidechain is also excessively loud on those high freqs, and at some points I think I hear a little clipping.

I feel like there have been a few too many style switchups here and could have benefited from just being very consistent with your dubstep sound. It leaves me not really knowing where you're going.

I've also noticed that as we've progressed, your other instruments have gradually gotten louder and louder than your bass, and you seem to be writing occasionally in an area where your bass will be inaudible to anyone who doesn't have A, monitor headphones, B, bass headphones, or C, a sub woofer. I recommend staying away from those frequencies unless you are willing to back them up on something other than a sine wave sub. Sines are so hard to hear in that range.

Overall, good presentation. I can see a lot of room for growth, but if you keep at it, I have confidence that in no time you will be a fine EDM producer. Look forward to hearing more from you!

CloudNinja responds:

Thanks for the feedback man! I learned a lot from this comment alone, and I'm glad it was enjoyable! I am hoping to improve more for future competitions and stuff like that, and I'll check those tutorials out. Since my worst aspect of music producing is mixing haha.

Still, Thanks again!

[Refractor]

Yo, been a fan of yours for like a decade. Seriously. Glad to see you still making music.

My only complaints with this piece is really muddy mixing, relatively inaudible bass, compressed to death, extremely heavy sub frequencies forcing you turn up your lo-mids to maintain consistent dynamics. Bass is almost inaudible despite definite sub presence. I can't hear your articulations. Rhythm guitars could probably use some more of those djenty mids. I want to hear a little more of your fingers on those strings too, probably between 12k and 15k.

Drums are also really hidden in the mix until 4:26, especially cymbals and hats. Definitely a compression issue. I'm starting to hear a little bit of extra distortion when things get extra loud.

That said, fantastic work on this composition. Despite mix issues almost making my head hurt at points, I freaking love it. Great job keeping things consistent, in your face, but laid back and varied at the same time. Another complaint, I'd like a slightly longer tail on your release at the end of that epic outro. Totally was not ready for this song to be over!

["Steppin Along" WiiFit Step Rhythm sample]

SFX in this track are a lot louder than the instrumental. Also sounds a little over-compressed, and 808 bass alternates between way too low for me to hear, to so subby it almost hurts.

I love me some hip-hop though. Really the only thing stopping me from giving a better score is volume levels and a little clumsy compression. Also, even for hip-hop, this track is fairly repetitive. There seems to be no real differentiation between verse and chorus, which is a must if we're writing hip-hop instrumentals.

First thing I recommend, turning that kick down a bit. It's louder in my ears than any other instrument in the track, including the 808, which is a no-no. Your 808 should stand out very clearly and concisely in the mix.

Now, the 808 is well written and tastefully smooth on that portamento. I like that. What it needs is probably some low-cut and EQ. I know, low cut on a bass instrument seems utterly retarded, but you can accomplish it with a multiband compressor and still keep the natural boomy quality if you prefer. The 20-38 Hz range sounds like a wall of noise compared to your 50-80 Hz. You will want to look up some tutorials on mixing 808s, EQ, compression, etc, to mitigate extra sub noise in the mix (too much can push your mix out of balance, which is happening here).

I really like the cutesy videogame theme you've got going on in the background, but it sounds like it was recorded in a K-mart, as flat as it is in the mix. Beef up that high mid range and maybe bus it to a send with some light reverb. Both it and your snare/hats sound very dry.

Also, I notice you could use some brass stabs or something on your chorus sections -- if this track was even structured with them. 1:36 could benefit, perhaps 1:44.

I also see your keys are super loud compared to your backing beat. I would take them and your chime samples down as that clipped at one point. If you mix everything at about 20% volume on your computer, these things will become very clear. Mixing things all the way up has no real benefit, contributes to ear fatigue, and can actually cover up the nasty parts of a dirty mix. Just don't do it.

Note, if your kick wasn't so loud, you wouldn't feel the need to turn up those vocal samples, or your bells, or your leads, for instance. Kick usually hides with the 808s in this genre anyway though.

Pro-tip, if you check out most mastering services today, they will advise you to mix all of your tracks at about -6 dB headroom before you apply ANY FX to the mastering channel, such as compression and EQ. Why? Your mix will sound 100% cleaner -- no peaking from being compressed too hard, etc.

Overall, nice piece. I can definitely see the budding trap producer in you. Continue to nurture your natural talent -- always be seeking out new ideas, new synths, new techniques, and critique, and you'll do great. Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC!