ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lightspeed]

@JFetius is asking for the ID for Geometry Dash -- as a lot of GD players who are new to the site tend to do. It's the numbers at the end of the URL for the NG track ofc.

Wish I had more time to leave a proper in depth review. This track is great. There are some incidences of crackle throughout (did you put vinyl noise anywhere??) The only thing I would suggest to change is to reduce level of reverb somewhat and not squash QUITE that much on the compressor on the master. The clarity is suffering as a result somewhat

[Fox in the forest]

@krasci, given that you have a fox icon, I assume you would know -- but this sounds awfully intense! I wonder what kind of sports they're playing, or if you mean by the extraordinarily hyperactive nature of foxes, this is just their fun-in-the-sun music... or rather, fun in the leaves and dirt.

But enough funny business, compositionally this has good flow, is crazy energetic. The hihats are cutting through fine, but the kick and snare could use extra help with sidechaining against the bass. The overall volume of the entire track can stand to come up. This is pretty quiet for a master!

[Keep Them Coming! (NGUAC Knockout Round)]

Having played a LOT of pokemon games on the Game Boy SP in my time, words can not express how much I enjoy the whiny strings and brass hahahah. Think that was emulating a french horn.

Your composition is striking, and your phrasing is fantastic. What could be improved upon is the mix on the bass, the transients of the gameboy drums to cut through, and bringing out the bass of the bassline in the mix, as well as overall mastering volume. A little googling along these lines goes such a long way, especially when it's the only thing getting in your way. Keep at it!

Voting 5 on NG for personal preference.

Interloping responds:

I definitely agree about the bass, Ive considered raising it a few times now because it really doesnt get a lot of chances to shine the way I want it to, especially since its constantly going hard as hell. Thank you for the tips, I need all the help I can get!

[(NGAUC '24 KO Round) Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen]

The only problem I have with this song is the bass feels squashed up and overly tight. The finger picking sounds FANTASTIC. You should do it more often.

But yeah, give the bass some more body in the low range so the kick doesn't stick out like a sore thumb as the only thing in that range, and this would get a near perfect ten from me. I might also swap drums to something with more snare body as well.

Excellent lead writing and phrasing.

[Deep Down]

This is great! Only real improvement I can see to be made is the volume of the master to be more competitive with other songs of the same genre.

Farmobus responds:

ik but d't think it's a big problem 🤔. of course, i've tried to normalise it, but it d't leads to a good result hmm.

anyway, thx for your remark!

[melting into goo]

I second @SicraMusic, Audacity is miles harder than any other DAW I've ever worked with (easier now, but having to compose entirely in another DAW is the hard part)

If you think Ableton is wild, Mixcraft might be up your alley. It's uber simple in terms of UI by comparison. I'm giving a 5 for mixing in Audacity on NG just for sheer effort this must have taken. Also, for using soundfonts and making them sound good.

[~cC~ Hands Up, Alien Overlords!]

I really think that sax lead could be swapped out for another more obvious synth instrument and seriously improve this piece. Your key solos in particular were great. Any sort of synth would do, even a stock sine or saw lead, because it isn't your writing that holds this piece back -- it's the dadgum articulations on that sax! I just can't get past it. I 100% think that a different choice of synth would take this to the next level!

CelestialChaos responds:

I really appreciate the review! I agree that the sax was a little rough, unfortunately I kinda forced myself to include that instrument and use the best sound font for it I could find. I was happy with the way the solos came out so thank you for the kind words!

[desolation]

Вау, интересно звучит -- а вокал атмосферный. Жанр колеблется между хип-хопом и … не знаю, может быть ло-фай. Вот ощущение печали просто кайф. Я бы проверила эквалайзер на мастере, чтобы исправить немножко плоский АЧХ, но в основном, трек хорош.

cantbemyself responds:

Спасибо! Да, у меня со сведением и мастерингом проблемы, мягко говоря))

[Forest of Eternity]

Crazy that you made this with the JV-1080. One of my favorite synths -- as it was used for many of my favorite soundtracks coincidentally. It definitely has its limitations though, when it comes to realistic instruments in particular. The extra hard attacks of the double bass no matter what, the attacks of the strings and brass -- for an orchestral score, I would almost never use something like it.

Where it shines ofc, is perc and synth sounds as we see in your outro. I wish I would have heard more of that (and I would love if I could reach out to you for samples sometime, but that's besides the point!)

As a composer, you're fantastic. This song took me on a walk, a run, and a flip on the trampoline. Great voice leading, walking bass lines, and resolutions. I think if you had better sample banks at your disposal with more articulation/realism, this would smack!

BigBlueBazooka responds:

Thanks for your insight. I actually like the sound of the sampled real instruments, it reminds me of the many video games which used this machine and, other like it, immensely.

[Belong (NGUAC 2024 Version)]

Really interesting choice to bit crush all the accompaniment. If more was done to make up for the spatial and clarity issues that bitcrushing causes, especially to double/spread/pan instances of the ukelele, I would score higher.

I particularly feel that as the song develops, more stringed instruments such as guitar could be brought into the fold on the sides. The side presence is really where I feel the song is suffering.

Vocal performance is good. Just need to get things meshing a bit more. Modulating the amount of reverb is an idea you can try, as well as experimenting with gentle panning.

AveragePhoe responds:

Hi! Thanks for the feedback. I agree with pretty much all of it. I'm working on a single version that sounds much better already. It's hard to focus on mixing when you've got a deadline, really.