ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Marigold Tomato (feat. Morgan U.)]

Instrument quality is really hurting this one for me, but your arrangement is wonderful. I would also caution against using so much reverb on your guitars as in 36 seconds. On each pick attack I hear un-cut reverb in the 100-200 hz range running WILD. This continues through 1:12 on what appears to be a double bass.

Besides that, the track is not very dynamic in terms of volume, but the arrangement itself keeps things interesting.

1:55 that reverb again is fouling up an otherwise great moment through 2:24. Could use a second look! Happens again at 3:28 and exceptionally so at 4:05

6.4/10

[Delayed Decay]

Some of those sounds sound like what I do when I'm bored -- flicking my teeth to play random melodies xD

Color bass is one of the coolest genres to come out in the past decade, I'll say.

I think if you were to make those colored wets more subtle in the mix, this would sound perfect. You've got a lot of rhythmic variation and a lot of reverb, necessitating a bit more of a deft hand with them, considering colorization typically leads to that tin-can sound and a sucked out center.

Around 3 min beautiful chord progression and drop rhythmic structure.

I would like if the stereo image were pulled a bit back in and everything were just a bit more dry, and the bass a tad more audible. It actually sounds as if the drums are slightly too in my face there, with the exception of the following amen -- which you could potentially clean up in something like Pancz to reduce the body of note tails (for a punchier, almost gated sound)

Essentially, throughout, the contrast between loud-soft, colored-dry is at times hard to make out, a bit dirty. I think if you were to revisit this exact project and do spot cleaning, it would hit like a mack truck. I love the overall ideas and the experimentation I hear. Otherwise beautiful work :)

8.3/10

[othersider]

I would bring your drums up substantially in this mix. With them almost inaudible, it doesn't help the driving nature of the piece!

Besides that, writing isn't too bad. Particularly, the olskool trumpet sound is nice. The guitar in the right channel can get a but muddy when combined with other elements in the same key range near or in the same channel.

6.2/10

ciralincixx responds:

yooo thanks for the feedback! i hardly have any idea what im doing but this advice makes sense

[fckjamesy x cabbage x die4reese - cant_stop]

Songwriting and arrangement is GREAT

Mix and master needs a revisit

1:05 there's some clipping caused by zero-crossover issues

Overall, vocals need compression, de-ess, and in general to be much louder. The mix in general sounds very lo-fi, so perhaps some of this is purposeful. The vocals also sound for the most part very centered.

Extra reverb and delay could be tamed. Low end on all wet signals should be cut in order to make room for the 808 and keys.

At 38 the 808 is so loud, it almost sounds like the entire instrumental is clipping. There is so much reverb and all the elements are so loud, when the compression kicks in, everything gets quiet and distorted due to the limiter/comp hardly being able to contain the volume. This is similar to what happens when you run audio too hot in the club, and it probably shouldn't be happening on your garden variety mix.

That said, the writing and vocal performances are strong enough that they overcome some of this. Just a little study of mix and you can safely incorporate some of this aesthetic without going totally overboard and into clipping territory.

7.3/10

[[AIM24] The King of the Sky]

Brutal mecha dogfight 100% sold. Also, sound palette of jet and mechanical noises is very pleasant. I actually think you could afford to push the master harder and watch the relative volume of the snare and kick against other track elements. At times they are too loud, and at other times they could benefit from harder sidechain.

Beyond that, no complaints from me. Great work!

8.6/10

[Felt Like This]

I wish the vocal loop stood out more in the track prior to 52 seconds. It sounds thin against the thicc funk!

In terms of mix balance, things get murky around 1:29 with the bass and rhythm elements being spread across both channels, and the guitars overall about 1 to 2 dB too loud. Part of this sensation is the kick and snare being too far down in the mix, the turntable scratches being too loud, and so on.

Writing and rhythm wise, off the charts funky, no complaints. 100% grooving

Mix wise, could use a touch-up. Particularly at 1:24 you can see it on the waveform, things are starting to soft/hard clip due to volumetric overload.

I would mono the bass, bring it up. Take other elements in the same key-range and bring them down a bit. That and the drums is 90% of the mix issues in one.

Besides that, smashing track. Love it :)

8.4

Joe-Mega responds:

Ah man, I super appreciate the advice.

[What Will You Be When Your Gone?]

Super detuned, interesting sound palette. I wish this were longer, more varied, and developed into a full song so I could A: have more review to write, and B: have a higher score to give for NGADM.

As far as how to improve, I would say learning some basic song structures, as this is one complete idea for a phrase, not necessarily an entire song. Secondly, mixing for space! There's nothing offensive about your mix, but it could be better balanced. These are things that come with time.

Really, I just wish there were more to hear. I enjoyed what little there was a lot :)

5.4/10

[AIM 2024 - The Spirit Fisher]

I'm not going to lie, I hate the shikka-shikka-clap-shikka motif almost universally, but you've got such a clean mix, I don't mind it too much. The transitions here are WILD, unexpected, and once again very clean. Nice varied track. I do wish on your first drop you had a bit more bass!

Also, very sorry to hear about your mom. The pain and frustration this disease causes on both sides, the afflicted and the affected, is unpredictable and at times unbearable <3 Sending hugs

9/10

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you so much for your kind words all around. I appreciate your critique as well. Thank you!! <3

[Narrow Northbound]

Rhythmically 100% on par for your average hard hiphop beat. My problem isn't with any of that, it's the samples used and the structure -- for instance, we have no discernible hihat or drum pattern until 1:26, and virtually no transitions

I would recommend switching out that 808 for a generic Metro-ish sub, actually decreasing the complexity of the drop completely -- at 1:26 the rock drums are too much for the already busy beat to sustain. 1:47 is interesting but I would save this moment and structure it better into the track. Literally saving these elements and copy-pasting some of them into a typical song structure would give a better result than freehanding it.

Also in regards to the elements themselves, bells and leads and so on, they all seem to be in relatively the same key range. Given the high 808/bass, this makes things sound a bit run-together, busy, and muddy. They are also panned really close together and similar in volume, further muddying the waters, especially considering they all typically play together at the same time.

I think this track has a lot of great ideas, just needs better structure and sample selection!

5.5/10

EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you're looking for good 808 samples/trap drums, I made a free kit for that which you can find on my userpage (or just ask me), and I also write a monthly magazine of free music production resources if you should need any

AAAAND keep it up! No matter what anyone says, don't take it to heart. You've got a lot of unique, daring ideas. Just a little polish and you'll be kicking ass in no time!

[Carnage]

I find myself wanting more sub overall in your intro and first half of your drop. This might be accomplished by backing off slightly on compression, slightly reducing leads and pads in volume, etc. I may also take down your hi-hats a small amount.

Very interesting sound palette here. Sounds like you're using a bit of bit crushing and hard/soft clip.

Something is off with the mix balance -- sounds quite sibilant at points, and at others very heavy in the range of AM talk radio. It's not too bad, just under the heavy compression detracts from the dynamics of the piece.

Production wise I'm very impressed with the writing and modulation of that synth guitar, showing understanding of how guitar playing actually works. Enjoyed that very much. Also enjoyed the varied writing of the piece in general. Great work!

8.4/10