ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Don't Really Wanna Know]

Verses remind me of Snoop and are well written. Instrumental sounds a bit olskool. Could use a bit of a facelift on those midi instruments, but writing is on point. Whole song in general is relatable, and the "never wanna die" I'm sure resonates with everyone.

At some points, the singing sounds a bit dispassionate, but I think that may be attributed to falsetto. Vocalist could do well to come out of his shell, so to speak. Not bad, especially for independent music.

I would love if this had some more verses. 2 minutes is not a long time to get to know your flow, and that chorus is nice and fluid.

[The Pink Panther -- (REMIX) --]

Pretty sweet, swingy, laid back -- BUT, the audio is distorting at points and sounds really low quality. Drums are hiding, etc. Could use a cleaner approach to mastering.

[TIGER M - TigerMvintage - The Basco Dance (World Color Mix)]

This is some pretty crazy writing! Sounds like really old 80's music. I appreciate the time and effort you must have put into programming/recording this on old equipment and preserving it over the years. A home studio used to be virtually unheard of. What I don't like is the sudden stop or the artist tag at the end. It feels a bit excessive and I don't know anyone else who uses these except when selling beats online.

[Topsy Turvy]

I have to disagree with TaintedLogic on one point. Probably the best aspects of this piece are the perc lines, which add the most drive and motion. It's otherwise VERY repetitive and lacking in satisfying chord resolutions. Can't add much more than that. It's a very simple, rudimentary piece with very little in the way of harmony or motion. This lends to an empty sound that fails to keep my interest for very long. At the same time, it would be appropriate for a very minimalistic GBC styled game. Without visual elements of some sort, though, it falls flat and fails to really communicate an idea.

I did enjoy the piece somewhat, but critically, it falls flat. Don't let that deter you though. Keep at it!

[flap]

I realize this is a chaotic mood piece. While not entirely avant garde, as it does have some elements of traditional chordal music, I still am not able to assess which feelings you are conveying with this piece, and it all sort of mashes together, stock loops, incomprehensible intro, wacky tail, and all.

The eq on that kick, as well as the electric guitar synth are ear piercingly treble-y in my ears, which lends a lot of the piece to sounding less like art/thought and more like slapdash. It just doesn't sound musical to me. As a fan of a lot of musics which are deliberately unmusical in order to convey feeling, I think that should mean something. Of course, music is subective.

Beyond that, my own thoughts could be summed up pretty much verbatim with TaintedLogic's review. What put me off most with this track was the jumble of seemingly incoherent thoughts. That may have been what you wanted to convey, but it was an unpleasant acid trip for my ears. Perhaps I'm just missing the point.

With music, in general, you want to at the very least consider that your audience can relate to what you're trying to say in some fashion. Otherwise your music becomes virtually meaningless to everyone but you. Since music is a form of communication, this is sort of the undesirable equivalent of tooting one's own horn a little too hard, and we can stroke our own egos to the point we think this is what we're supposed to do all the time. Always question if your expression is going to be remotely understood, and if it's worth sacrificing intelligibility to ignore what the mind subconsciously expects.

That said, if you want a review, PM me any time!

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Ouch, ouch, ouch. Well, I guess it takes a couple reviews (or 5) like this for me to realize maybe what I was making wasn't as fun, great or revolutionary as I'd thought. This'll still be fun for me to listen to, but I suppose it won't be fun for most others. I tend to like music that represents a jumble of incoherent thoughts, but I'm probably the incredibly small minority, I suppose? I've always tried to make music that makes me happy and hope it resonates with others, but I suppose this one didn't. There really aren't people who enjoy music like this except me, I guess... and I suppose there's the possibility where I'm so blinded by the fact that this is my own work that I can't recognize that if it were someone else who made it I would almosg projectile vomit? I hope that's not the case because then, if so, how can I rely on my own judgement of my own work at all, especially the judgement needed to edit your own work on the fly? Scary thoughts. Anyways, I appreciate your opinion as well as the other judges' opinions, and if anything it allows me to appreciate the fact that even if it resonates with me, it may not resonate with others. It's just frightening to think that I may be near entirely blind.

However, it may comfort you or surprise you to know that a vast majority of my work is based on melodic and chordal harmony rather than dissonance. This is a step out of norm for me, something I used to be proud about... I suppose now I can just be privately proud instead. :)

Cheers
Zig Zag