ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[We'll Meet Again]

Your thoughts sum up my feelings around the same time as I graduated college. I took multiple hiatuses for this reason. I couldn't seem to make the music I liked, or anything that didn't suck. I had a few cool ideas now and then and largely they were ignored. Partly it's my fault for not putting myself out there in the community. Partly it's the songs' fault for being ... mid. I had these infectious melodies and was beginning to grasp structure, but mix, master, instrument quality and so on were just not there.

Now the stuff I make blows my old material out of the water.

Why am I saying all this? It's not because I want to talk about myself -- I'm saying not to give up. Find references in the genres you want to make, and strive to make your songs approach that standard in as many ways as possible. Mix, levels, use of FX, structure, similar sound palettes. All that stuff really helps. And when all else fails, hit the tutorials.

Now to finish this off as a review, there are some things I'm noticing. The waveform is pretty quiet, meaning the track looks unmastered. None of the levels are offensive, but your bass could use a little bit of mids to bring it out of the dark. The kick and clap are driving, but the bass is pretty muted and relaxed.

Melodically, there's nothing wrong with it at all. I might double your lead with a different synth up an octave at times for variety, but it's not bad at all. It just doesn't seem like there are a lot of instruments keeping things spacey, or any real presence in the higher octaves from anything but the hihat.

Just my 2 cents. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Tree of Life]

I can find very few things separating this piece from contemporary filmscore of the last few decades, beyond perhaps a little bit of mix balancing here or there, a bit of panning or stereo-staging. It is suitably ambient without boring the listener, makes great use of various orchestral lead patches and their articulations such that they are almost indistinguishable from live playing, and is emotionally varied with fantastic transitions. Very satisfying listen.

HollandAlbright responds:

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that

[5. Moonflowers Grow From My Skin]

I'm rating 5, because your story made this grown ass woman cry like a little girl. I was teased relentlessly in school too, for being fat, for being ugly. None of these things was actually true. I look back at my photos, and I looked like a normal kid, even a good looking one. I just never wore makeup and was AVERAGE weight, not heroin chic. >.>

My mom unfortunately kind of played into this by telling me whenever my hair was even slightly sweaty, when I had a pimple or three, or if my clothes didn't fit right because, well, I was still growing. She didn't mean to, but she did. And the elderly lady my mom sat with couldn't see too great, so she said, "my, what a handsome young man you've raised," when I went to visit. The teasing at school about whether I was a boy or girl was ridiculous.

But my grandma always told me I was pretty like my mother, and so did my dad. I wish it stuck!

One thing that did stick was this, a verse from the Bible if I'm not mistaken: God is no respecter of persons. Meaning, it doesn't matter how much money you have, how hot you are, or what you can do. God looks at us all as equal.

GlowBoyMusic responds:

My heart is with you. I am glad to see you around here once again, ADR3-N.
Everything you have practically said from your experience, I can charcoal a tick next to in similarity of my own experience. Body image issues start at the most tender root of someones life, and the longer it festers, the worse the resulting damage. And when parents ignore or otherwise escalate the agony, you feel as if you could dissolve into nothing.

Truly, you are not alone. Trauma can be cruel, unrelenting, and unforgiving. but when it comes to putting it into a piece of art, it can be a key to relieving some of that burden from yourself.

This whole album, is an example of me relieving myself from my trauma, forgiving my past regardless of its severity, and sharing with the world a ‘canvas’ made from sound. Colour, texture, tuning, length, and emotional direction will drastically change, and perhaps sound ‘unaudioable’ or even ‘corrupt’ in some songs, and some will sound polished, defined, and almost radio ready-like. All of this is suppose to represent my mind and heart as I grow, each track number is my age, and each description is like the caption of a fine art piece, telling the story about this point of my life in as much detail as my memory can allow.

Just remember, whether someone is spiritual or atheistic matters not, spiritual health means more than just your faith — it means rediscovering yourself through the aftermath, and learning how to walk again, and find peace with yourself inside; and out.

Mad love, and thank you for coming by!
Glow.

[Do Me a Favour - Arctic Monkeys Cover]

I think your vocal volume could come up quite a bit, and perhaps bring the snare down just a little. Otherwise, great!

[Dj Halit - Basil]

That sidechain is actually a bit distractingly sharp and aggressive. Part of that is the kick and snare being a bit too loud at points. I recommend studying some reference tracks of your choice for house and see how to emulate the things you like about them in your own work.

Overall pleasant chord progression and good melodic writing!

DJ-Halit responds:

I'm glad I got some feedback on the sidechain specifically. I'll take your advice on board. Thank you for reviewing my song! :)

[black hole]

This perfectly suits my taste, with the exception that I think the bass could have more impact in the stereo space, had it more presence in mono below 130 hz and were it turned up quite a bit more. My headphones tend to overemphasize bass, so if it sounds a bit underplayed to me, it probably sounds more so on other systems. Double check that and let me know if you feel the same!

cad-mium responds:

yep I did this before I had gotten my hands on a subwoofer for my speakers, and my hd560s doesn't have the best bass response so I used to have a hard time properly mixing the bass. but I can hear what you're talking about now

[BASCUTI - SLEEP PARALYSIS]

Is that Ample Bass I hear, or is it Shreddage II?

BASCUTI responds:

Ample Bass!

[The Fae's Spell]

Wow, it's so jarring hearing so many realistic noises written in a way that sort of defies guitar playing.

Ample M is a true gem though

Toward the middle we are more approaching what a guitar can do.

I recommend relying less on chorus and delay to hide imperfections you hear or lackluster writing, and more on simplifying your grooves. Guitar is more a rhythm instrument than an ensemble. If you don't like something, try making cuts! That said, keep doing what you do. Originality makes the world go round :)

["Patience, Child"]

The mix on the section at 3:10 is just a bit too blown out -- could use double tracked rhythm guitars, 2 separate instances panned left and right, less compression, less clipping, and clearing out low frequencies from reverb wets from what I can hear. The levels however are pretty okay. Recommend if you want this level of brick wall to clear out every offending frequency, harsh noise, hiss, guitar tone, etc.

Beyond that, fantastic mood. Consider farming successful!

[Too far gone]

With a little more compression on the master, some more clip on your drums, a revisit of overall eq of the tracks to de-emphasize some of the freqs around 200 hz and bring up your sub, this would 100% bang for me. You've got great groove, a solid theme, good atmosphere and transitions, and interesting sound design. Great work!

Another note, my monitors consistently overestimate bass frequencies. Given that, I would suggest turning down your kick very slightly, and bringing your bass up considerably. Your sidechain is hard enough that it's safe to do so. That may fix 80% of what I was complaining about.

Aistis responds:

Listening again on my monitor headphones, the most annoying part for me is the low frequencies of the kick drum. I've also compressed the bass a bit and made it ever so slightly louder. Although the rest of the mix also needs to be revisited, I don't think I have the skills to properly EQ everything. I'll upload the edited mix once the judging period of the underdog contest ends.

Thanks for reviewing :)