ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Tarnished Sky]

Sounds like your piano is all one velocity, and way too much reverb in the mix. Synths stick out as so inauthentic as to betray the composition. I would honestly recommend a switch to electronic instruments only, as it's much easier to get away with cheapo vsts in that vein.

Your drums sound good, surprisingly for me, but at 1:55 your guitar, bass, and other instruments are burying them.

Writing is rough at points. Could probably be better served on different instrumentation. Now, your big rock section is actually pretty interesting, though it sounds copied and pasted. Despite this feel throughout and a lot of progressions sounding either confusing, dissonant, or without direction -- this may be on purpose -- I do see some potential in this piece. 2:36 is a good statement. Wishing it weren't copied and pasted for another two minutes, but it is what it is! The pacing on this section is slow, but not enough to totally screw this section.

Mixing, however, is very rough. At points we have clipping with that big verbed up synth backing your violins. May have mixed better if there were less reverb send, a lot more low cut on 'verb, and less volume on that violin. At 4:40 I see what's causing the problem. That outro synth on its own is way too loud and peaking.

Also would probably like it 5-10 bpm faster. It's turtle speed, and the fastest progression we usually hear is a quarter, quarter, quarter, quarter, half, half. Really easy to lose attention.

Nevertheless, not a bad piece. Just needs a few touchups!

[Hypersonic Speed]

Right off the bad, it sounds like you've got way too much reverb on your mix. I can hear it in those muddy low mids. Make sure you cut the low end in your reverb.

Your writing, bassline, and melody are actually interesting, with good timbre. Transition at 0:40 is super abrupt though. I may have even cut your intro if I were writing this piece. It almost reads like two intros back to back.

That said, I do like your chord progression. So few people just go for the easiest, daintiest sounding progression that sounds decent and leave it at that.

Biggest problem with this piece is mixing. Lots of instruments jumping in all over the place, too loud, etc., others covered up. Becomes especially apparent after 2:06, 2:40, and 3:23. I can deal with a long prog piece taking a while to go somewhere. It's harder when that piece also has instruments jabbing me in the eardrum on occasion. Feel me?

It also sounds like the mix did not have enough headroom before compression was applied. Recommend 3 to 6 dB headroom before you apply anything to your master channel. Might spend some time looking at various mixing and mastering tutorials as well. You've got a relative balance in between your bass and pads, but somewhere, something is happening with those leads, and even your snare sounds a bit too loud at times. Johnfn had a tutorial buried somewhere in his newsposts on using hi-pass and low-pass to get your instruments out of each other's way in the mix, frequency wise; you may want to ask him about it.

3:56, I love the idea of your outro, but that underlying bassy synth is over-reverbed, and it abruptly cuts off.

Like Kwing, I'd recommend condensing the piece, if not by a quarter, a half.

Aelkamal responds:

I concur on it's flaws. Back in the days i was experimenting on sounds, and it's not something i could change for the time being. I thank you for the advice on the tutorial, i'll check it out when i'll have reinstalled VSTs & overall DAW.

[Abendland - Alone I stand]

I'm not noticing the rhythmic issues Kwing pointed out. As I'm classically trained, these are fairly par for the course, and I would probably write my percussion similarly to accent those melodically bare sections.

I will comment that some sentences in the piece sound almost copied and pasted, with the individual notes on the ends of phrases just ported around to different keys. 1:48 is an especially bad offender. Do something with your velocity, slap in a forte piano, sforzando -- something to make that B side of the phrase stick out. This track is almost universally ff intensity, marcatos, accents, and staccatos. Rarely do we see much shifting in the winds.

Otherwise, only complaints are your mix. Somewhat boxy sounding in those low mids. Percussion almost has all the breath sucked out of it as well. This could be your samples, or it could be EQ as a whole. Make sure your percussion has a bit of that 18k+ range in there. You can probably fix most of the EQ issues on them with a multiband compressor such as fabfilter. May see some tutorials.

Because of the mix on the percussion, I see that you've had to turn that slamming tribal-ish rhythm line up, and they're covering up some of your auxiliary percussion. Examples at 0:31, 0:08, etc. Hits like 1:03 sound very muddled and occasionally as if mixed to loud. Coupled with some bad attacks like 0:56, some points just sound like an orchestra that hasn't practiced, if you'll pardon me. Throughout the tribal rhythms are pounding us with very heavy sub 200 Hz that is almost drowning out your melody and counter melody instruments, as well as accompaniment.

All in all, superb writing. Half a star knocked off for the lack of dynamic contrast in those drums. Another half for some sloppy attacks and lack of dynamic contrast in melody/accompaniment. Otherwise, lovely piece! I'm surprised you only have 6 fans -- or should I say... seven. ;)

[A.I.M 2018 - Land.]

Official AIM Review!

10 seconds in, I'm hearing this really subby noise, almost distorting. Could be kick conflicting with bass.

I do think the transition at 29 seconds was a bit goofy. Later hook is pretty catchy. Mix seems a bit muddy though. Reverb and delay getting swept up in the compression may be the culprit. I recommend GComp2. It has a sort of gating feature to mitigate the tendency of insignificant noises getting suuuuper compressed and taking over your mix.

I like the occasional tom fills you've thrown in. Sound good.

I do think ... what sounds like vocoded sweeps during your chorus, are a bit too loud.

Otherwise, enjoyed the piece. Overall structure is strong, and melodic content was good, if not a little safe. Thanks for turning out to this year's AIM!

[AIM-Red Blitz]

Official AIM Review!

Feeling a lot of good rhythmic sense going on here. I will say that it's veeery samey throughout and that's kinda hampering my enjoyment. Transitions for the most part have been done well.

As mentioned, it really does sound like someone just won't answer their phone, and that's kind of unnerving me.

I do like the bit at 3:21. Interesting decision.

I feel like if you had more than a phone app to do your work on, this piece would turn out a lot more varied. You've already shown with your textures at 4:30 that you're not afraid to push the limits of what your software can do.

Overall, fairly interesting piece, but long track that could have really benefited from more melodic content and variation. Transitions were formulaic but that was a plus, considering I didn't really know what to expect, given some rather avant-garde decisionmaking throughout.

Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

[AIM - The Search]

Official AIM Review!

Loving the occasional breathy water droplet. Piece starts otherwise fairly minimalistic with that e-piano, gradually growing to include a cello synth and later breathy violin. I'd have appreciated a stronger attack, faster, on that synth, speaking of, however, it's not a huge gripe.

Progression is very slow and mix is super quiet, but writing is very strong. I was a little disoriented by the ASMR-esque SFX around 2:38. Occasionally I felt as if the sfx may have been as loud or louder than the instruments themselves. No real issue but due to the relative quiet of the piece, it did draw my attention away from the melody. (ps, thank you for not using any eating noises haha) This may have actually worked in your favor a bit though, considering the pace of the composition. I do love the varied texture.

Piece is so soothing, I almost totally lost track of time until the drums came in. At this point, while I was pleasantly surprised to hear another element come in, I do think that kick was a bit too subby for the mix to sustain. You've been very sensitive with your drum writing though, and it feels very natural. Huge improvement. I dig it.

Your outro is quite strong. I wish that went on longer. I could handle an 8 minute version of this song, tbh. Bold move this year, and strong finish.

And now, unless I somehow missed a piece, this concludes my judging for AIM2018. Thanks for turning out for the competition. It's been a blast!

[To Save You]

Official AIM Review!

Oh, trepid little violin -- perfect intro, fitting of such a broad and varied presentation. I found myself wanting a little more volume on the trumpet stabs at 00:36, maybe a bit more panning.

00:48 transition seemed just a little abrupt, as do some other transitions into other motifs and themes. At some points it seems almost as if two or three fantastical compositions are being spliced together! Of course, the artwork has several panels, and these must be conveyed, but at times I did find myself wanting a smoother transition.

Trumpet hard-panned right at 52 seconds enters a little over the top.

Loving the solo violin throughout. Just fantastically written, and fantastic synth.

01:21, not sure what oboe synth you're using there but you may try Synful Orchestra for a more natural sound. It's one of the few I've found to do any woodwinds convincingly.

2:13 choir synth stands out in a very positive way on those first 2 notes. Third could probably have used a bit more velocity play as it's a little more naked.

Fantastic dynamic range. 2:21 sub drop was perfectly executed. Felt like traversing a chasm.

This piece is an absolute journey. Really appreciated what sounds like an ocarina or irish tin whistle solo over the outro -- transitioning in to piano.

Overall, stunning piece. Great work you two!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks for the detailed review!

We still can't get over how nice that violin VST is. That said, the brass instruments we own, while decent, aren't the best out there. We tried to do what we could with the mix, and we can try some improvements after the competition. In the future, maybe Cinebrass or something like that could be a nice alternative (once our wallets makes that possible, haha)!

As for transitions, we don't particularly mind them being abrupt, as long as they tell the story. While we think our piece does work as one, it's not fully meant as a standalone work. Sometimes it's nice to hint transitions so the listener is prepared; at other times it's fun to surprise the listener! :D

Nice catch at 0:52. It's probably part of the articulation, but it can sound a bit thin, especially in the mp3.

The solo violin is Embertone's Joshua Bell Violin. It's a Stradivari played by a classical violinist, and it's fantastically programmed. Highly recommended (in fact, probably the best digital instrument on the market)!

At 1:21, we used Native Instruments' Woodwind Essentials. It's alright, but there are certainly better oboes out there.

Another nice catch at 2:13! Maybe the note could start a few milliseconds earlier, as there is the slightest amount of emptiness there.

As for the sub drop, it's one of maybe 2 or so electronic-ish elements we used in the piece. It works well, but we wanted to keep the electronic additions to a minimum. It's great that the drop seems to have done its job!

The wooden flute is indeed an old Irish instrument, from ERA Medieval Legends I (not sold under normal circumstances at this point). It has a nice sound! A bit different from the rest of the orchestra, but we didn't want to be sticklers for traditionality; we focused more on conveying the art.

Thanks again for taking the time to listen to all the parts so carefully!

[AIM || Beyond There]

Official AIM Review!

Intriguing piece. I can tell you've got a good head for melody and harmony. This piece has several moments like 2:20 which stand out for their melodic content, even if occasionally repetitive.

I will say I don't like most of the keys throughout. Quite generic. Could have probably meshed better with a more obvious synth and laid some FX on that.

It does sound like the piece is overly reverbed, especially on those low strings and the drums used throughout -- speaking of, where did those go? Even a dubstep-esque BOOM, clap, BOOM, boom-clap would have enhanced that final section at 2:20 onward. But the reverb makes your piece sag a bit.

Note, 1:17 or so, I'm not liking the drums there. Feel almost pasted. Too fast. Kinda like an afterthought.

Overall, cool piece, and lots of little riffs to chew on. Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

[AIM - ICU (When Things Start To Get Melt)]

Official AIM Review!

Wow, super creative. There are a couple instances where the mix gets a little muddy, and at points the lyrics sound like word salad to a native English speaker -- but this is relatively common with vocaloid.

I would recommend perhaps dialing down the distortion just a bit on your guitars/bass -- maybe bring them and Gumi down a few dB so your drums can stand out a bit more.

For guitar and amp sims, I'm familiar with Shreddage and GuitarRig but prefer the more natural sound of RealEight (and its lovely keyswitches) and the ease of use of Grind Machine. It seems like you know the ins and outs of your programs fairly well, but distortion on your guitars was muddy, and tone was unclear, hence the recommendation.

Intonation on Shreddage sounds like it needs a lot more velocity applied. Some notes sound a bit machine gunny or intonation too surgical.

Drums sound solid, though they're hiding in the mix under those guitars.

Now, onto writing -- I'm blown away by how surreal these lyrics are and how well you've used Gumi to convey them. Melody is catchy as hell, and those portamentos will be stuck with me a while. I've gotta invest in installing her one of these days.

Great work. Thanks for turning out to this year's competition!

biyaonibakasan responds:

Thank you so much, that some awesome advice, ill keep that in mind about mixing and some tips. it's Helpful to improve whats missing to my music! again Thanks!