ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Warm Human Blood]

That initial riff is NUTS. I love it.

Your synth at 24 sec reminds me pleasantly of 007 Goldeneye on the N64 in both writing and sound. Suffice to say that's my favorite game OST, so I like it.

I do think you could stand to turn the bass up relative to the kick and lead. Mix is what holds this piece back. With such a simple arrangement, you need to tightly control the mix, apply subtle modulations, and wet FX to make things sound dynamic. Regardless, cool little track. I really like it! Definitely save it for a revisit later on down the line in your musical journey. It smacks :)

NGADM score: 6.7, NG score: 8

MonoCronic responds:

Yeah my issue is with the mixing, I suck at it. xD
Thank you so much for such detailed review, much love!!

[CORRUPTED DATABASE]

This beat goes friggin' cuckoo. I wish there was a bit less apparent stereo-widening in places and colorization -- this sometimes sucks the drive out of samples I've found. Like at 1:13 we're getting that vocoded tin-can vibe. I'm sure there's a way to modulate into and out of that colorbass shoegaze and clean that up a bit.

Rhythmically, it's hard to vibe to this with all the stutters, gates, and cuts. This is not necessarily a huge problem. Could pay a bit more attention to indivudual volume levels so it isn't jarring. My main complaint is actually that the leads and pads are turned up too high on your drops, leaving very litting room for the accent samples/vox, and causing the compressor to freak out and suck your bass out from under the track. Less comp, more bass volume, less lead volume, and your track would come more into balance. Pay particular attention also to EQ all your wet signals with a low shelf to knock those nasty freqs out of the way of the bass and kick.

I also want just a bit more volume on your dubsteppy snares. You can probably safely move this btw to one of the electronic genres.

Other than that, smacking banger!

[Type Zed [TX81Z w/ PCMD8]]

The amount of engineering behind chip-music I find fascinating. I'm not sure what's going on with the chip speech, but it's cool. I probably wouldn't have included it, as without, the rest of the track, with the exception of 1:49 to me, is a jam.

Since I don't have much experience with chip music making the proper way, I'll just have to settle on post processing commentary. This is a really quiet master -- if it is even mastered at all. I recommend some retouching with a compressor and perhaps something like RX10 to pull that percussion track out and pump up the kick.

The track is a little sibilant and the kick and snare, as with most chip music, are struggling to peek through the mix. The hihat is not having as much issue and could probably be turned down slightly.

I love the looping nature of this track, but since there is a fade out you probably could ditch the fade, or include a link to a true loop in the description.

NGADM score: 7.2, NG score for preference: 8

[SPIDERS]

There's a little clipping on that kick. I find the use of a fast 4 on the floor kick to be an interesting choice. I probably would not have kept it straight throughout and occasionally dropped the kick on instances where the snare hit in your drop.

The piece in general doesn't sound very scary to me. Quite frantic actually. But perhaps this is normal in today's video-game music/piano jazz.

The waveform of this piece is fairly quiet. I think it would sound better if you applied compression to the master channel. If you are not initiated, I would suggest doing some study on mixing and mastering for this particular genre. The song and ideas within are cool. Could just use a little professional polish!

I would also either shorten your intro so that the fast kick doesn't wear out its welcome. It does drive the beat, but at points it's the only element I can keep consistent attention on!

There are some other minor critiques, but I will shorten them to just making sure the snare is nice and loud, that the main melody is likewise loud, and the bass is very present in the mix. This should be done at the instrument level, not the EQ in most cases. Also, strive to make sure your instrumental is not exceedingly chaotic -- many fast moving parts can distract the listener if the entire song is like this. Simplify rhythms if you must have a lot of moving parts. This wasn't a huge problem. The overall mood of the piece and melodies themselves favored your arrangement, but it didn't leave a lot of room to pay attention to the melody.

I would probably instead of distorting a piano for guitar chugs would see if I could find a decent guitar sample or three and create a double track for that. They tend to be more intense than pianos ;)

NGADM score: 6.3/10, NG score: 8/10 for preference

NotLeLee responds:

TYSM!

Changes:

-I think I fixed the kick clipping

-I made the intro a bit more interesting

-I ran it through a mastering site (On Soundtrap there's not really a way to master songs yourself sry :/) which made a massive difference!! So its not muffled anymore

-Added an bassline to 1:33 (how'd I not notice I forgot bass lol)

Also I think guitars wouldn't fit this track as well as the piano but thanks

Mixwise it still isn't perfect but i'll maybe probably try and fix it later somehow (I don't know what I'm doing)

You also said about having a clear snare but I practically left it unchanged, the piece sounds wrong with the snare louder. I think that's because the offbeats are emphasised(?)

Thanks again for input, I only really entered the comp to get advice and, hey, I got some!

[N.L - Dreams VIP]

Mmm, them piano chords are noice

I think your 808 could stand a LOT more presence and clip in the mix. The hihats and clap/snare sound a lot more presence, and I think they could come back to make room. I would also pull down your pads and pianos consequently. Really just want that 808 to melt my face off.

Now, what I do love is your approach to FX. The mix is a bit dirty in this way, but it has that N64 japanese soundtrack energy to it. You've also done a great switchup at 1:44. So in short, bringing the 808 more in your face and giving it some more hi-mid would make this my #1 pick so far in the genre. Lovely work besides.

NGADM score 7.5

NightLover responds:

Thank you for the clear feedback!!!!!

[Tachyon]

I LOVE the cinematic feel of this intro.

hihat I would turn down or lightly EQ until the drop. The mix overall throughout is very sibilant owing to heavy clipping/saturation

I do love the combination of riddim and darksynth/cyberpunk elements

1:27 I dislike that stick click and would change out the sample to something less ... organic

Overall the mix on this is a little dirty, owing to the gritty industrial dystopian vibe of these genres. I would actually turn down the clipping somewhat all around, perhaps 5-10 percent and modulate it gently for effect, so that it doesn't get tiring on the ears over time.

Bitcrushing the outro was a nice choice sound design wise. Overall your transitions are the strongest aspect of this track. Great work!

NGADM score 8.2. NG rating for personal preference 4.5

[Ryzmik - "Digital Obsession"]

With a cleaner mix on that intro, this would bang anywhere! Mind your wet FX and the low frequencies on them (delay, verb and so on)

Where this shines is your sound design and varied composition. Your growls are pleasant ear candy, complementing the sound palette well. I would bring up the bass drop at 1:22 and watch the balance of your growls to the sub and so on. The growls in general are riding roughshod over the kick and snare, which is not ideal. You can safely turn them down somewhat at this level of compression -- they're also covering up some of your auxilliary synth stabs and thus not benefiting from accent there.

The mix at 1:32 is a bit rough -- partly on part of the bass being too.. gentle in timbre. For this style of percussion I'd recommend a bit grittier of bass.

You could also try LESS compression and clean up frequencies of individual synths to get out of the way of your non-growl bass.

Overall, smashing production. Just needs a more careful approach to mix. Blows my EDM work out of the water compositionally -- I'm a simple gal. So I have no complaints there.

I might swap out that portamento-y wineglass sounding pluck lead or soften the attack/portamento on it. It's to the point of cheese because it's so forward in the mix due to pitch and pronounced movement/rhythm. Perhaps even strip it down by removing what notes you can while still maintaining the same overall progression. Hopefully what I'm writing is making sense.

The drums could also use more presence, minus hi-hats. I would remove some reverb. Kick is coming through fine, but snare may benefit from some minor tuning to fit into the harmonics of the song overall, and perhaps side-chain with lead/pad/non-bass-or-rhythm elements. Just for extra pop! Sometimes shortening reverb tail can help this as well, as it helps the snare fit better against the master compression. Don't forget to accent the snare's base harmonic freq as well around 200 hz and find a sweetspot you like!

But beyond that, wonderful work. NGADM score 8.5

[effortless]

UwU we love some offbeat bass and arpeggios.

The mix on this could stand to be cleaned up in order to better stand this level of master compression. I'm talking slightly heavier side-chain, turning down the overall volume of leads and pads slightly, and very carefully managing any FX such as reverbs and delays so that they are both shorter and quieter.

Your lead as I can hear at 1:30 has a LOT of wet signal coming off of it, which could stand to be 50% quieter even and still be very audible.

I would do all this and increase the volume of your main bass synth by up to 20%, being sure to side chain it so that it stays out of the way of the kick. Auxilliary rhythm synths can also come up somewhat.

Essentially, reduce the volume of lead and pad considerably, perhaps back off on compression slightly, increase bass and rhythm volumes, and ensure your wet FX of reverb and delay are tightly controlled (reduce low frequencies of these wet FX considerably), and then see how it sounds!

If it sounds good before compression, it should sound better with compression. A/B the mix and test it at various output volumes always. It should be clean and crisp!

NGADM score: 6.4. NG score for personal preference 4/5

[Valiant]

Love the description.

Intro sounds very desperate. Enjoy the chords chosen

I think you could separate the attacks of the intro piano notes such that they sounded as if they were being struck by a person.

Bit crush in the intro is quite interesting. The guitar samples remind me of N64 Top Gear Rally. Actually, the whole track. If you've never heard of it, I recommend taking a listen; it sounds like you would enjoy it.

What would make these guitar samples stand out is if you had a double track on them -- meaning one instance 100% left, one instance 100% right -- but you would need a separate sample that was slightly different. I do actually like the machine-gun attack on them. It suits this arrangement.

What this could use more of is a punctuated bassline to suit those chuggachugs.

Also, your verse section around 2:56 is about the same as the earlier one. You can do more -- even if you don't change the melody. Just strip down the section to bare bones and add a transitioning swoosh, even!

Loop is not entirely perfect -- I recommend copying the tail end of your final notes as they ring out and pasting them to the beginning of your track for continuity!

Also, the bitcrush transitions into your drops are a bit clumsy. I recommend not reducing sample rate at the end of them but instead hi or lo passing out of them while reducing the volume. They are heavy in the mids.

Now, writing wise, this is very driving and I much enjoyed it. I'll certainly be following you and favoriting this one! I wish it were downloadable!

Mix wise, I would not use nearly as much reverb in the low register, and I would cut the low freqs on all reverbs. Hi-hats can stand to reduce in volume slightly. Snare can come up or be harder sidechained. I also want to hear a bit more snare rattle/high end.

I also appreciate the mix between dubstep/drumstep drums and dnb. This is a juxtaposition I myself like to use!

But I recommend clearing out low end frequencies from most instruments gently in order to make room for the bass range around 200 hz and below, and bringing up that bass. You'll find the power in your track comes from there!

NGADM score: 6.6/10. NG rate for personal preference: 4/5

[Waffles]

Crazy doing this in LMMS. But it is great for a lo-fi aesthetic!

I will say I think you can stand to create a double-track of the guitar synth using a slightly different patch. Part of what makes guitar sound so dynamic is having 2 slightly different instances of a left and right guitar 100% L/R panned, so that you get this wide wall of sound feel.

Compositionally, this is fantastic. Just needs some final touches of the following: approximate or achieve sidechain of the bass to the kick, same with other elements sidechaining to the snare, double tracking guitar synth, lowering volume of hi-hat, gentle panning of instruments left and right for more spacious stereo image -- including FX such as delays. Finer adjustment of volume levels -- some study on mixing for your favorite genre will go a long way!

I would also eliminate the clap sample and change it to another percussion instrument such as a clap stack or china cymbals.

Also, congrats on FP!

NGADM score differs from NG rating because I am rating 4.5 stars for personal preference (I love the doom-ish elements). NGADM score 6.5/10, or 3.5/5, by reason of mix and master being a bit muddy (see 48 seconds) with shoegaze/reverb and spacial treatment of instruments (lacking double-track and/or defined bass in the sub region).

GlaceonDash responds:

My overall takeaway from this is that I really need to start learning how to mix/master tracks, thanks for the review!

And also to probably actually learn what genres exist, since I really am unaware in that field as well