ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stasis (Chill Edition)]

This track feels so lonely, moody, and sad, legit like someone planning to somehow end themselves.

1:17 reminds me of Tom Sawyer and somehow of 007 Goldeneye at the same time.

I'd like a cleaner mix, particularly on the low end, cutting the wets of reverbs down a bit and low-cutting them to 200 hz. The bass is not centered, so a lot of the thrust of the track is lost in that.

Writing wise I love it, however.

Comp score: 6.9, NG score: 4/5

[y2k Airlines]

That 808 in the beginning is so clean -- doooomph

I would like more volume on the break and a bit less on your pads

Does sound quite reminiscent of beats of the late 90s/early 2000s. I would add some explosions and bass drops to the head of the drops themselves, extend this boi, and call it done.

Wish I could give a higher score because I like what I hear so far

6.2/10

[Aperture]

This song is a pretty crazy journey. In terms of structure, it's got it going on! Taking its sweet time without ever getting old, and that's an accomplishment!

My complaints are few and very specific. I would reduce volume of reverb on hi-hats and make it more subtle. Same with other percs. Kick could come up in volume slightly. Bass could stand to take more presence in the mix, and metallic percs less.

Master could also be louder

At points this sounds like very laid back mid-tempo cyberpunk style music, which I love.

At 10:22 there is one pop that I'm unsure if you wanted there. Sounds like an un-faded zero crossing from a sample clip entrance. That transition there could also use some smoothing.

The following lead I would turn down slightly and ping-pong delay harder into the left channel. It's also panned a bit far right. Not sure about the accidental shift at 11:33 into a new mode and out of the current key. It just doesn't sound right. And by accidental I don't mean unintentional. I mean what appears to be a raised 3rd on top of a 1st inversion chord, if I can remember how to talk about that correctly after 10 years out of school LOL

Sounds like parallel 5ths at 13 minutes, not sure how to react to that either. I feel a bit seasick ahahaha.

But for a 14 minute piece with otherwise clean transitions and writing, all is forgiven. Keeping up a groove that long is a straight up challenge!

8.3/10

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey dude, thanks for all the tips, and for your lengthy review. Also thanks for the 8.3, holy shit, first NGADM submission I’ve ever done and I get a score like that.

I’m a little surprised that I apparently managed to make a 14 minute track interesting without it ever getting stale.

I don’t really understand the term parallel 5th’s, if you could give me some clarification on that, that would be helpful.

Further on, thanks for the awesome comment.

[Five Nights at Freddy's]

It sounds like a lot of unrelated melodic ideas mashed into a single song, and I also hear characteristic Suno AI vocals, with intonations on the wrong parts of sentences and emotion sorta off-key.

I'm not sure how you managed to extract them semi cleanly, but Suno vocals just sound really gross to my ears, no offense. As someone who uses AI vox of my own creation via Replay AI and singing them myself, I understand the draw to pre-made AI vocals that sound basically already mixed and essentially write the melodies themselves. It just doesn't sound natural on serious material. Maybe for a funny meme it might work, but for a scary intense FNAF song, they aren't doing it!

The bass throughout this song seems to hold the same note no matter what is going on around it. I recommend learning some song structuring and chord progressions in order to make things more interesting.

I wish I had more nice things to say about this track. The mix is not too bad, for instance. It's just that to me, none of the other elements really seem to be coming together to give it vibe and groove. Definitely recommend going back to the drawing board and studying your genre of choice, which looks like dubstep, and seeing what makes it work!

CompXsco responds:

the only real reason i used SunoAI for vocals is I cannot sing for the life of me. if i could of chosen a different song, i would've used a song without vocals. thanks for the feedback tho, maybe if i'm invited to another one of these things, i will take this into account.

[STAR POWER]

I know you can get more crisp on that mix this day and age! The one drawback of 90s rap is the vocal mix spread, lack of thump, and layering of samples.

I'd like to hear more of that string loop in the back as you hear at 2:43, a louder master, more of that bass, and more punch on the kick and snare -- can make that happen in Pancz (free percussion processor)

The vocal mixes sound like they're done with dynamic cardiod mics -- the kind you see on a karaoke bar. The mix on them is pretty dirty, heavy on the 150 hz range, and could use cleaning in something like RX10 before processing through the vox chain. All 3 vocals suffer from this muddy quality and could use stronger, more impassioned performance. However, I will say you got the vibe of the 90s right with this. It just happens to be one of my least favorite things about 90s rap LOL.

The bass at times clashes with another element in the organs or guitars, I can't tell which, but it could be fixed surgically by hi-passing other elements to sit just-so on top of it.

Flow sounds like a freestyle in terms of delivery and as such can be hard to follow, but lyrically it is witty on all accounts. "Vanilla off the balcony" is a particularly hard OOF that jumps out if you know your artist history.

All in all I'd give a 8.2/10, but for personal preference I'm voting 4.5 ;)

HvCMiniRayzor responds:

love and appreciate da feed back and honesty, but also thanks for lending an ear. we defiently wanted a more raw feel, like listenin to a fucked up cassette from that time but I for sure feel u when it comes wanting a better mix 💀, and im surprised u understood the mindset of the sound for da time as well.☮♥🎴

[AIM - The Bean Bee Meets Another Bee]

This sounds like a bee infiltrating a bunker more so than meeting another bee, but the ideas overall are cool.

I think you've really outgrown the real-instrument synths here. Worth doing some window shopping somewhere like piano-book for more. The instrument quality is just not really there for the synth instruments, unless the intent was to sound very, very retro on those strings. If that was the case, it sounds a bit too crisp on the other instruments, actually, and I would have instead used a soundfont.

Mix wise, the drums are not standing out very well against the bass and other elements. Needs more volume on the kick and snare.

Composition wise, zero complaints. Piece knows what it is, where it's going, and has good transitions between sections :)

7.4/10

[The King]

That intro feels like we stepped into the 70s for a sec, and then into reggae lol.

Recommendations -- more kick volume, mono-ize and center bass, applying uniform compression to it. It sounds like compression is a bit hard on the master, causing the leads and other instruments to blow out of proportion when there is no bass or other elements. Very little dynamic contrast to this piece.

Interesting FX however. That's probably the best part of this piece.

I would swap to a more dynamic ride cymbal. The attack is machinegunning a bit and not quite breathing with the rest of this psychedelic piece. Alternatively you can apply filters or modulations to it, gates and etc to approximate hit variation.

Other than that, cool piece!

6.8/10

CielOuvert responds:

Thank you. There are terms mentioned here I have absolutely no idea what is. Mono-ize? Dynamic contrast?

But I'll look into them, always looking to become better.

[May 2024 (Moderato)]

Really sibilant in the intro, had to turn it down a bit for comfort for that big transition, BUT the shaping on your white noise throughout here is very tasteful and nicely panned. I want to steal some of these ideas :P

I think the mix is a bit unbalanced toward the lead and keys, with very heavy reverb glaze. I would recommend bringing up the bass, kick, and rhythm elements, and perhaps investigating if the frequencies I'm talking about are artificially boosted or misrepresented in your own setup. At 2:08 that hi-hat in particular is modulated beautifully but much too loud.

At 2:39 I feel like we have two clashing keys. Something is just not right with that top loop against the pads, and I feel it's in the accidentals. One feels very major, and another feels ... I'm not sure which mode, maybe even dorian. But either way, the modes are clashing a bit there. This continues into 3:43, where the problem shifts to mix -- the keys and synths are a bit loud for the bass to sustain, shaker is loud enough to be a lead, and the kick/snare are hidden in the mix. Otherwise, this section is well written, but it's hard to feel the big finale when the mix is off kilter!

I do enjoy your style and the instruments chosen however. The Juno series are all classics <3

7.6/10

[SUMMER BREEZE]

Really busy, super deep, and a little unpredictable! I can also see from the waveform we aren't taking up the fullest amount of possible space in the master channel -- but the level of compression sounds good.

What I like: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM on that tonal kick. Yay. Sound selection and sound design. Micro-grooves

What could use improvement -- development in the intro; the kick comes in so early, I had to doublecheck I wasn't listening to two songs at once. Give some time to develop that atmosphere!

The entire track is super sub heavy and lo-mid heavy. So make sure to get individual freqs, note tails, and so on of instruments in similar spaces out of each other's way. That lead could probably be cut down to size and so on.

Besides that, issa bop. Cool little bass fill too uwu

7.7/10

[Replay]

Quality is very rough. If not for the great melodic and sample ideas complete with an actual flow I would rate 1 star.

It's audible, which is a plus, but it's loud in the wrong places. That triangle is way up in volume for instance. Other elements are louder than the kick and snare, which shouldn't be the case. I also don't hear a clear bass instrument/808 which detracts from the groove.

It also sounds like the majority of instruments are centered, not panned left of right.

I think some study of mix and production will do you a lot of good. After a while, even with the mix defects, the melody is infectious.

Making music is the coolest thing people on earth can do, tbh. Don't let anyone tell you to stop. Keep creating, practicing, and improving your craft, and maybe switch genre to nerdcore. I can hear your passion in your rhymes. There's not another feeling quite like getting those ideas in the DAW, so keep at it!

5.1/10