ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[I Rob People (feat. Sky)]

Hooks were fantastic and varied. Teq, your rhymes were the strongest but delivery and mixing of your lines was weakest (more so volume wise). Beat was overpowering you the most and without lyrics it'd be a bit hard to understand you. I would suggest just a little more compression on your vocals, a couple dB up in the 8-10k range on your lines to make you a bit more crisp -- will say the noise cancellation was so much better, and your recordings are getting there. Always some fine lyricism coming out of you, and I'm never not impressed.

Beat is fire, just needs to come down a little bit. Velocity on the piano could be edited here and there to make it sound more varied and not just SLAM. SLAM. SLAM-SLAM SLAM. You get my point. Rhodes were a nice touch. It does however sound slightly overcompressed.

Sky, your vocal mixing was strong, but rhymes were slightly weaker and at times nonsensical -- after all, they HAVE banned being a bandit, unless you mean Crash Bandicoot. Wait I wasn't supposed to to be talking smack on your track. Aw shoot.

Couldn't resist.

Anyway, with just a bit more precise mixing, this could be some banging olskool shit you'd hear on the radio if you were cool. Right now, it's almost there. 10/10 would listen again tho.

Teqneek responds:

Okay I made one final edit. Cut volume down on the dubs, raised the mains, and made a few minor adjustments here and there. I think it sounds much better now. I got it sounding about as good as I think I can possibly get it to sound at least.

Next solo track I make, I'd love to see what you can do for the vox.

BUT ONNNNNE DAYYY...
ONE DAY, I TELL YOU...
I'm gonna nail it.
NO FLAWS
...Except the song itself will suck

[SMB2 Menu Song Remix]

Responding to review request :)

Much improved mixing from your other projects. Snare could cut a little more through the mix, and that loud lead could come down just a liiittle. Other than that, I really don't have any complaints. Structure is good. Transition is where it was weakest. The notes clashed with the existing song structure. The drop just felt a bit superficial and repetitive, really. Overall however, it was a pretty enjoyable listen. Also, the fade in re-establishing the main drive was noticably louder than the rest of the track. Watch for that. You may even master limit your tracks around a -12dB with the Classic Master Limiter FX in MX7.

Pretty good stuff, just needs some minor hotfixes. Also, where are hats and cymbals?

Finnsfolks responds:

Thanks for the review. Regarding the cymbals and hi-hat, they're there, probably just a bit drowned out though :/ As for transitions, I'm not quite sure of what I can do to improve them. About the "master limiter" thing you were talking about, I WANTED to do that, but I would then in turn not have anything to help transition from the drop back to the verse (which, in this case, was a kick and cymbal).
If you have suggestions for any of these, feel free to let me know.

[Dark train]

Sounds like the same 3 loops mashed on top of one another. Drums need to come up in the mix more -- or be sidechained.

[Skyrim Nord Follower Sample Lines]

Nord accent isn't the best, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it'd be a good experience if actually implemented in game. You actually sound closer to a Redguard.

CarlTheVoiceactor responds:

That's a fair point! I can definitely imagine this being really fitting for that. I may make a few adjustments to the attitude and try the lines in more of that style :3 Thanks for the listen and review!

[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...