ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Voice Demo - Whispering Evil]

You really need a windscreen for your mic. You can make one with a coat hanger and sock and rig it with clothespins or really anything you can manage, but that popping is killing me. Also, work on your delivery. You sound like a voice actor trying to work in a library -- sneaky but not spooky or evil. Maybe just creepy. Needs more rasp and hiss. Also, try mixing your tracks in Audacity or another DAW for better compression and use of the soundspace. Dry, it sounds weak.

maxmojo responds:

thx for the criticism ;p

just bought a windscreen.. dunno much about sound mixing tho

[my 1st voice sample]

Your voice is fine. Your delivery could use a lot of work. You could do with mixing your clips a little better and possibly getting a better mic. There's some crackling going on as you record. Something like Mixcraft or Audacity FX, compression especially, could really bring out what you have to offer. I find your normal voice pretty okay for narrating. Would just be better scripted so you actually know what you're doing and present that to your audience. A demo reel needs to be concise!

N1ckalu5 responds:

thank you so much for the tips, i'll start working on it right away!

[Server Error]

Interesting, but watch that sub bass. It distorted in the beginning. Also, take a look at your volume levels. That crash/hat is a little too loud. Sort of just sounds like ambient noise looped over here, but it's strangely soothing. I also feel the dialup tone could be a little quieter.

DJLunatic responds:

Thanks for the feedback!
The sub bass at the beginning was not intentional but due to a filter error, but i feel like it adds to the track a little bit.
I do agree with you the crash is a little high

[I'm on fire again !]

I just love this. Fantastic stuff. Very relaxed and mellow. Bass could be somewhat more crisp, but that's all I can really say. This just sounds catchy. Absolute classic.

EdKempeper responds:

Wow ! Thank you very much for this review ! I really enjoy your works, so I appreciate it a lot !
I spent more time on this track than on some of my other songs, but it's far from perfect and I could have work on it again. Thanks again ! ;)

[Dark Days]

Literally the only issue with this track is the compression and distortion as a result of said compression -- the volume leveling basically. Watching the spectrometer, there's a lot of red lining, which tells me either everything is just turned up way too loud to get a clean output. This takes away from the darkness and sonaural strengths of the instrumental and -- have you ever had a battery powered speaker start dying on you? This is the equivalent effect, except Reaper literally can't render the audio any louder than it is, so when it tries, it ends up distorting the shit out of it and losing its gravitas. Some people intentionally ramp up the output and compression to all or part of a song because they think it's hilarious making ears cry in more extreme examples. This I assume you really don't want, since without it, you've got some filet mignon on the plate.

TLDR: Watch your output levels. Your peaks should never consistently ride 0 dBFS. Otherwise what you hear on your rig and in the mixer might sound great, but what comes out is going to sound -- well, just worse than it would if you rendered everything at a more reasonable volume and then went and amplified it in Audacity (being sure not to allow clipping, or you'll have the same problem).

Around 2:47, your sync between recordings is a little off, just enough to jar me but not enough to draw my attention from the verse, which I will say is impeccably written and meaningful, as always. So no comment here other than a thumbs up.

On vocals, do have a look at noise cancellation like I mentioned. This will bring your vocals up a notch and help with mixing them properly. You could also do with some more clarity in the 12-18 khz range, and if you've been doing the sock on mic trick like I did for years, might swap to a sock stretched over a wire coat hanger. I mean, because hell, it works just as well as the 20 dollar clip ons if you have some clothespins.

Keep killing shit. Mad respect -- you've always got something interesting to bring to the table.

Teqneek responds:

Hahaha oh man I just died but it's cool. Just funny is all...

OKAY- Let's do a quick science experiment; we shall follow these simple steps...

1. Take the first 8 words of your review.

2. Gently cover up all the other words in the review.

3. Read the 8 words ("Literally the ONLY issue with this track is"...)

4. Remove hand to reveal entire review.

5. Laugh at yo silly self.

Hahaha I can honestly see myself doing exactly what you just did so don't take what I just said as an insult btw.

It was just kinda hilarious to me. I read that and was like "Oh cool... And this is a long review too so I'm about to see some praise in them 3 paragraphs down there. Yonder".

Anyway I ain't jabbing on ya, well maybe but only kiddingly if that's a word.

4Realtho- Thank you for your review and pointers. I REALLY just need those hip hop Keebler Elves to whisk my recorded vox away and hand me back a professional-sounding vocal file with some chewy chocolate chip cookies. Why can't this be reality? Anyway... fuck this is becoming a long-winded reply; lemme get to it...

Yadda yadda my mastering needs work. We've talked equipment so you know that situation. As for the other advice you left, I appreciate it and will heed those tidbits of knowledge. As for the sound...

If you're talking about that feeback-y noise audible mostly in the beginning... it came with the beat Ax sent me. But for real I gotta re-read your comment to fully get a grasp on your pointers, but thanks! Btw, a comment worth a second read is a GOOD comment. Unless... the reason said person is re-reading is because of illiteracy- whether his own or that of the commenter. But I digress...

[Prototonus]

Excellent writing. Could really use better mixing on vocals and delivery. Track FX are your friend, specifically reverb and chorus, and compression. Then, proper leveling. Then you don't have to be right up on the mic to get a good sound and volume. Also, falsetto sounds a bit weak and lacking passion/power. Instrumental is a little too loud and sounds like it's distorting at points. This one could go back to the drawing board in terms of mixing. But it was interesting enough I wanted to hear it out to the end, and written well.

Teqneek responds:

WOW that was super critical...
Yeah we kinda just wanted to know if you like the song.

Also about 90% of what you recommended we do- was already done. We are well aware of what vocal effects are, and Rampant is a talented composer/producer who employed the tactics he deemed fitting.

If anything- MY part is the only real weak point, and maybe I'll re-record it some day but I'm actually pretty happy with this overall. So yeah. Thank you for the review though; we're just not looking for people to talk to us like it's our first rodeo and I'll leave it at that haha...

[Dawn Bubbles]

Sounds thrown together, and the bubble pops were pretty annoying. Also couldn't really identify a beat because everything seemed sort of thrown together to the point it just feels like noise.

[Deft]

Interesting. Perc could probably use to come up in the mix. Your writing is interesting though. I like it. Snare rolls are very nicely done. Maybe that plucky synth in the intro could come down a bit, and a bit more attention to volume could be paid. The song constantly gets louder, which isn't great in electronic music. Classical? You'd be A-ok, but not electronic... disco-y? stuff like this

GTard responds:

Thanks so much for your review! I'm terrible at mixing, so I'll try to implement some of those changes once I redo this song in Cubase :)

[Party Beat]

Sounds like a wacky intro to a music video. Interesting, and dark! Mixing could use a bit of a tune up though. Sounds like the whole thing has been chorused and given a bit too much reverb.

xMoonManx responds:

Thanks for your Feedback always nice im just trying to fit in on here you know find my place.

[Stilactic- Lunarium]

Was pretty alright until the bass kicked in -- so detuned it clashed, and your writing was a little off. Also could have done with keeping it in rather than bringing it back out, into like 2 buildups. The "drop" feels very clumsy, too much reverb, not enough sound separation, and it doesn't last long at all before the song drops to nothing again. A lot of stops and starts to get nowhere is what it ends up feeling like. Also could use more careful mixing on your transitions.

There are just too many quiet sections. Unless this was to an animation with this kind of pacing, I couldn't deal. It really sounds like cutting and pasting at some points -- so flimsy are the transitions and structure of the track in general. Build up into a damn frenzy for a good 8-16 bars. Don't stop and start!