ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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).

MauveDash 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

[AIM 2024 - the emo machine with a side of cigarettes]

This feels a bit messy for me, owing to the 1:06 section, where we have some clashing chords, and then 1:16 a loud clean guitar entrance on the left. I hear some clipping and amp noise throughout which could be eliminated.

When we drop at 1:56, it very much sounds like the 2006 punk I used to listen to lol. It does however lack definition on the drums, particularly the kick -- which sounds like a big pillow and could probably benefit from some TLC of revisiting the compression, EQ, and overall level.

The bassline also at points sounds a bit thin underneath the high-tuned guitars, not helped by lack of definition in the kick/snare, loud cymbals, and guitars heavily accented in the 2500hz to 5000hz (sounds like to me at least).

So essentially, the only problems I have are with that little bit of sloppy chordage I mentioned earlier, and the mix. Thematically speaking, totally on point and genre-appropriate (is what you say it is!). Very moody piece. I enjoyed it!

6.8/10

Yoshiii343 responds:

re: 1:06 yeahhhh i kinda hear that dissonant sound now. definitely will not bother me for the foreseeable future! (it will)

now for the drums and bass...personally i blame the fact that LABS kinda sucks for drums and my bass being so neglected that im starting to think that the pickups are dying on me

you'd think after doing music for a while I'd learn how to mix properly. guess not!

[off-track]

Is that CS One bass synth? it sounds so familiar

I think more development between sections of this track would make it more satisfying. It sounds like 2 songs put together rather than a single song with a defined structure. Granted, those two songs do have satisfying and totally adequate melody/direction.

The song is just short, so to be so wildly varied in such a short amount of time was jarring!

It also feels as if your bass is really spread out in the stereo field, as well as your kick, snare, and shakers. This sort of yanks the power out of the rhythm elements of your track. You can try monoizing these elements up to 300 hz or so and see if that gives a bit more punch.

The middle section sounds a bit thin. I'm unsure if this was done on purpose.

Would it be possible to take that intro sample and find another similar sample like it, and pan them opposite to one another? I'm just feeling this thinness in a genre that typically is clear-cut, clean, and in your face.

Some of that is due to the fact this is an unmastered (apparently based on waveform) mp3. Regardless, I still like it!

6.7/10

[Wave to Eternity]

Ooh, we love that glitchy stop-go feeling. I'm loving hearing your development as time goes on.

I would suggest a bit more presence, chorus, compression to the center of your vocal track and back off on the adlibs/side. The flow of this track reminds me a lot of olskool in all theatres, from composition to rhythm to rhyme and switchup, even instrumentation at parts. I wish the mix were a bit more polished, vocals up front, synths down a bit. It would limit the perception of clutter.

Pardon me for writing like I have the brain of a squirrel btw. I got SO distracted by "I will lie with God in the gutter in bliss" and wondered if you were writing that you were going to fuck God in a ditch or die in one. Half lol half aneurysm.

Flow is creative as always. Just a little more polish and this would be a banger for me. For instance the clipping on the rhode is quite loud in the right channel. I think it would sound better hard clipped than soft-clipped. I also feel like the track is over-representing the low mids, or perhaps that could be the synths and rhythm elements overshadowing the vocal track. Perhaps try pushing them back a bit.

It is pretty tricky to make a hip-hop track with a live bass AND sub elements. On that note the kick and snare could stand to come up as well.

5 for personal reasons. NGADM score: 8.3/10

SkankyMojo responds:

Thanks ADR3-N <3

[array of lights]

Sound design wise, the intro has a good ambience, as @creeperforce24 mentioned, perfect for a music video. I would make the subtle synths at 42 secs quieter as the enter, so that the speech could be more clearly heard.

I can see the waveform of this piece is quiet -- looks unmastered to me based on peaks. If it is in fact mastered, I would use Audacity or something and the amplify feature to get the most out of this piece.

Your drums when they come in are quite loud relative to the melodic elements. There also appears to be no bassline, or said bassline is really hidden deep underneath the layers.

Compositionally, this is sounding good, holding a concrete theme, not unpleasant to listen to despite simplicity.

I would bring up lead guitar when it comes in.

Nice addition of rides and toms at 3:10 or so.

What this is really lacking is rhythm guitars and bass to tie all elements together, or to give us a climax. I feel as if I've been listening to a build for this duration. If you need recommendations for free and authentic sounding guitars, shoot me a PM and I'll try to get back to you!

I would suggest investing in the best software/PC you can afford for this given genre of work, having heard your compositional skills. They're not bad at all! You're just starting to outgrow your toolset is what it sounds like! Very nice job all considered, and a pleasure to hear from you!

6.5/10

[The Voices of Shadow (Remastered)]

Right off the bat, I think you can make this track sound a lot cleaner by simplifying your bass elements from the intro, meaning where you have two instruments in the same tonal register, making sure they don't play conflicting notes. You have 2-3 bass instruments playing the tonic/root note of the key on top of each other, and you also have a lot of reverb.

The drums stick out well due to volume, but I actually think they can be turned down somewhat and sidechained harder. They also have a lot of reverb on them, which is fine, but that reverb should be low-cut to around 150-250 hz. You can also use this verb on a send track to more finely control it.

The track is really sausage fattened, so any clashing frequencies and mud are really obvious.

But beyond being muddy, I like the overall idea and mood of this track, as well as the synths used. I'm not sure what genre I'd call it, but it ain't bad at all. Keep doing what you do -- moody synth beats. I would just recommend doing some YT school-time on mixing your preferred genre cleanly!

6.6/10

[May It Remain Untouched - [NGMT '24 WINNER PHASE 1]]

Oh, it's been a while since I heard from you! This may be the most interesting piece I've heard from you over the years.

I would suggest watching the resonances of your verbs from the intro up to the timpani roll and stinger. They're a bit dirty sounding to my ear and sound a bit 80's olskool plate-verby.

The instrument variety of this piece is part of what makes it interesting to listen to, but also part of what makes it hard to nail down a concrete theme -- not scoring based on that criteria, just making a note since you mentioned Reclaimed Land was a theme. This reminds me of Age of Empires and Age of Mythology scores with those movements around 3:48.

I would work to nail down those transitions a bit more -- particularly around 4:31. The ascending shepherd's tone could use to be stereolized either through a second instance at a different part of the scale panned a bit right, and the low cello/double bass part there sounds a bit inauthentic both in soft clipping as well as its articulations. You can lessen this problem by making the low string into an ensemble, rather than what sounds like a single instrument.

The transition from 5:35 to close sounds very much like some Eric Whitacre pieces I love from yesteryear. Love that.

I would handle your percussion and chimes a bit differently. For example, push the chimes back in the space, and bring the percussion to the front and set them at louder volumes, with a relatively short hall verb. The value of the ensemble, even if you must use different instrument instances, is not to be discounted. The chimes to me sounded too in my face, with too much low-mid/mid-mid, and the perc sounded a bit hollow.

But besides that your arrangement and imagination in terms of approaching this piece were phenomenal. Great work!

8.2/10

carboluka responds:

Thanks for the review. I'll admit I've learned a lot from composing this song, including how not to make a reverb feel plate-y or resonant. That's... after I published the song unfortunately 😅

Lack of a clear motif is a fair critique, but I had unfortunately the limitation of using three instruments at a time, which could absolutely kill an orchestral song (of this length no less); just didn't want to make it too stale sonically and thematically, especially since it encompassed the theme of "reclaimed land" which is pretty vague; nonetheless, I tried to make each section long and developed enough to justify its place and existence.

We'll see if that's enough🤞

[Snikio - Sound of Death (AIM 2024)]

INTERESTING string sound in the intro. It sounds somehow organic AND electronic at the same time.

I must admit I'm a tough customer as far as this genre goes, since I also produce trap hip-hop. That 808 is modulated VERY well, however, it's just not hitting as hard as you need it to, potentially because it's too far down in the mix relative to the snare and melodic/non-percussion rhythm instruments. I would turn it up and clip the crap out of that 808, as it doesn't sound like the sample is bad, just a bit flabby in the mix!

Your cinematic elements would 100% melt my face, IF that bass issue were fixed! They are well written and orchestrated, pun intended ;) It's just that the 808 is the foundation of any track and in this case it seems to be lacking a bit of gas. If you can't hear what I'm talking about, let me know what kind of monitors or headphones you're working with. I'd be interested to see if I can replicate what you're hearing.

Now, looking at your waveform, I see it is decently fat, but in this genre, it could probably be fatter. What you want out of this particular genre is an 808 that sounds STUPIDLY loud and clipped, followed by the snare and potentially hi-hat in terms of loudness. The pillowy kick should be subtle, in order not to make the 808 seem smaller than it really is. Lead instruments and other rhythm instruments play second fiddle to 808 and perc in almost every instance.

I also would have widened, chorused, and potentially made an ensemble out of your string lead. It sounds a bit centered and thin on the drop.

Beyond that, great sound design and really interesting to my ears!

7.6/10

Snikio responds:

wow!! thank you for your thoughtful and detailed review.

This is the first time I've ventured into this genre haha. I listened to it on as many different types of speakers as possible and mixed it to what I thought was optimal. But I think my understanding of the genre is not quite there yet. I will take your words to heart and keep them in mind when creating tracks in the future.

I've rarely received such constructive reviews before, so thank you very much. I know how much harder it is to write a review than it looks.