ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A New World (Part 1)]

~Per your review request~
Hmm, so it starts out chiptune-y. Very nice composing, too. Now I understand that crash from the second half -- though it sounds much better here. Again, you may want to try Video Game genre.

VSTs like these are where your best mixing comes in. Sounds as if you are much more comfortable composing with them. Excellent work. Only subtracting half a star for the abrupt ending -- although it leads into the second track, I understand.

Now, some things to improve would possibly be to add in the occasional hat and some mod/filtering to your bassline. As is, it's not a bother, but it sounds as if it isn't live within the room, so to speak. It doesn't breathe. I try to look at music as if it were a living being. Let it breathe life and emotion, you know? You may want to experiment with panning different aspects of the track, playing with high or low pass for transitions, etc. Also, your percussion doesn't have to lie straight in the middle of the track. Move it around a bit. Have fun with it!

[A New World (Part 2)]

~Per your review request~
I like the arrangement of your percussion, but this sounds like a lot of generic plugins or samples. I dunno, really just isn't scratching the itch of doing all it could do. Try distinguishing the sounds of your VSTs a bit more and meshing the soundscape together. Definitely could use a bassline to tie it in as well. The melody is a little naked in places. Double bass is nice. Could use less corny crashes -- I know that sound anywhere, aha. Also gets points for bravery, directness, and the unique arrangement, as well as looping absolutely FLAWLESSLY. You would probably gain more traction in the Video Game section or Misc with this track, however.

Anyway, keep trying, and eventually you will make headway. You're getting somewhere!

[Make it last]

It's listenable, but it doesn't exactly speak dubstep to me. Tempo is right, but... There is so much reverb, and the low frequencies are almost painful. Interesting soundscape in the higher frequencies, but it really does not feel to me as if it progresses from 00:20 to the end. Same dry drum loop, same papery sounds pulsing in and out, and same violin. Not my cup of tea. Sorry. Outro is nice, though.

[A Tale of Two Brothers]

~per your review request~

Sounds pretty great, especially around 1:40 up til the end. I'm no expert on chipstep or anything, though. The only thing I would say work on is the volume leveling. I hear it fine on headphones, but on laptop speakers and desktop, it is a little quiet. Almost sounds like 1/3 the volume it should be, even at max volume. Great cover other than that!

[Stars, Coconuts and dinosaurs]

This is a fantastic soundscape. I feel a lot of fear and also wonderment at the same time. Your use of gates is fantastic, as is that crash around 02:00. Completely took my by surprise. Wonderful job on this whole tune!

[Warpdrive]

Some pretty catchy stuff, but you'll probably get more traction in trance than here. Some pretty sweet sounds around 40, and the low pass play is nice. I feel like you diverged from the mainstay of your chorus around 00:50 to 01:00. Once things got moving again at around 01:30 though, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The 303 bass feels a little dry in places. Lead around 2:10 is spectacular at its entrance with the shaky tremelo pitch mod.

Overall, it certainly doesn't sound bad, but I feel this is in the wrong genre. Maybe Dance or Trance would be good places to put it. Don't worry about that for now, though. I'm not good at divining genre anyway. I have a couple gripes, however.

-I feel like the cutting of the intro and outro is a bit unnecessary unless it is a consistent theme of the track's melody or accompaniment.
-The pads and basses sound like presets. Nothing wrong with that on its own, but they don't mesh perfectly, and a smooth soundscape is everything.
-Watch your leveling. The mid range between 00:20 and 00:30 was almost painful in my left ear from some frequencies sticking out so much more than others.
-Some parts of the song felt almost copied and pasted, like around 01:02, where the main theme came in.

Pretty catchy tune you've made! Keep it up!

Daru925 responds:

Thank you for the detailled review and useful feedback, especially about EQ
Definitely a lot to improve, listening back to it monthes later^^ Still its one of my favourite track.

I admit i m always lost when choosing a genre for my tracks. I must be stuck in the past where everything was called Techno.
Now I m more like: i will create something and let audiophiles decide what genre it fits best ahah^^
They know better :)
Thanks again!

[Boss Fight - Sands of No Time]

Saw your thread and that all your material was zero-bombed, so here I am to go back and leave more appropriate scores.

Now, to start, this sounds very '09 PS2 pre-boss fight to me. Doesn't loop perfectly, so subtract half a star. However, the ambiance you've created is quite nice. I got a bit of a queasy stomach feeling, and if I were about to fight one of those 30 minute rounds with a boss that kept regenerating. Nice work!

I'd work on your synths -- the tinny, somewhat out of place sounds -- a bit and be more careful with the looping next time.

[Got Home]

I like it. It sounds pensive and maybe a bit sad at times. I can imagine it as surrounding me as I recline in a white, wooden wicker chair, resting my chin on one hand, staring out a window and just thinking. Loops just about flawlessly. I give a 4.5 due to a bit of unsure footing I'm hearing when it comes to the chords, but I think that may just be my ears.

Noisysundae responds:

Uhuh. I gave it a bad arrangement for the chords. It should be better than this. :(

[C.U.R.E. (Concentrated Unmaking Robotic Entity)]

For a moment, I thought my player was freezing, which alarmed me until I realized that was part of the theme. It's not dramatic, so I couldn't dance to it, but it's a good effort. Nice job on the track. It reminds me of 2006 trance on NG. Thank you for the nostalgia. :)

Noisysundae responds:

I'm kinda old-fashioned so I made many old school things. :P
And thank you too. You even went to my profile to check my stuff. :D

[One]

Mixed pretty well, with some cool old conventions like the naked claps and offbeat bass. It's a simple, atmospheric groove that would fit well in a risky platformer, a run and gun, or a laid back set. Amp up the kick and subtract a bit of reverb, pump the bass, and distort that antsy lead, and you'd have a pretty nice club banger. :)

EdKempeper responds:

Thanx for your review !
I tried to do my best with this one. I was influenced by a french DJ and tried to
do the same things with my own means.