ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Snake Charmer]

2004? This is better than some of the stuff I hear today. I'm not sure whether I'd call it techno or some hybrid of that and DnB and cinematic. Very interesting stuff, but I think I'm in love. This is just about the sound that first drew me to NG in the first place. Taking middle-eastern instrumentation and blending it into a DnB style build into techno? That's something I just didn't expect, and it didn't disappoint. No complaints. This is vastly underrated. Shame, but I'm glad I found it through NG Radio at least!

[Bawss- MB]

Super dirty, super gritty, just the way I like. Sounds like Adonis for that first formant-y synth. I really like what you did here. The whole track is just full of energy. Feels like a fast paced platformer, has plenty of variation, yet also has a clear central theme. My complaint is the mixing at points could have been cleaner. Some frequencies are sticking out hard, particularly the upper mids. Your transitions are on point though. Overall, this is a winner for me. Some flaws, but it's pretty great.

[Musical evolution by D1sast3rHD]

Came here from NG radio. Interesting stuff. Not always cohesive to a single theme, but I did find the buildup interesting. Wish it were longer. Mixing was pretty fantastic. Nice work!

[Soular Order]

This is pretty dope stuff. Probably would fit better in hip-hop though. It sounds like really laid back trap music. No real complaints here except I wish the sub bass were a bit louder and a bit more kick to it. Good work!

AnubisInc responds:

Yeah I understand that. Hip Hop people tell me that this sound isn't Hip Hop enough to be in the genre, and I get the same from EDM people, so I just post it as whatever lol.

[Farewell, Mushroom Man]

Interesting stuff going on here. Bass synth could use a little more modulation/velocity and sticks out a bit, probably just for being so plain and stabby while everything else is relaxed. Nice loop though, and good writing from what I'm hearing. Could just use some fine tuning on the mixing. Drums are totally hiding here, and trumpet lead is sticking out, super synthy and no soul going on there.

[unconventional]

Interesting to start off. Sounds like engines warming up, sirens, etc. at the beginning, then -- woah, such pretty noises at 30 seconds. You won me. This just sounds dirty, filthy... I want to know what went into this, what DAW, what VST, and Christ, if I own them, I want a preset, to see what we're playing with here lol. That sounds like a lot to ask.

1:00 is intriguingly gentle, with those reverse vocals, calming, before returning to that nice gritty, glitchy feel. I really like it. I feel that chorusy (delay?) effect took away from the silky death that was going on here though. Sounded good on headphones but my monitors didn't like it quite as much. Kind of drowned out your perc -- or just sat on top or beneath it.

Interesting stuff!

XEFSketch responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

As far as your questions:

The daw is FLStudio, VST's: mostly harmor and massive. Presets in massive are pretty simple just using band-reject filters on wavetables crude, melofantic, scrap-yard and sonic to get a mouthy-like sound. Growling sounds mainly focus on the midrange when it comes to "articulating" a raw gnarly sound. I also made sounds in massive, recorded them in edison and re-sampled them in harmor using a Hz-unison of 9 to get a liquidy sound. I just play around with resynthesizing a lot. Other effects that add to the mouthy-like sound are phasing and chorus.

The vocals were granualized and stretched out, the reason they sound quiet and displaced is I wanted it to sound like they were being suffocated and trying to speak out through the mess of noise, kinda like the sun peeking thru the clouds after a storm.

[Chocobo Boss Batltle??]

This is really interesting, but there's a ton of distortion in the final mix. Ruins it for me.

[Duality]

I've always been a fan of your overarching melodies. Probably one of the best EDM composers I've come to love in the past decade or so. The mixing on this one could use a bit of a tuneup though.