ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Listen]

All I have to say is your percussion is a feast for the ears. I think the shakers could stand to come down some more due to their repetitive nature, but this is a groove. Nice!

Kassich responds:

Thank you for the review and for all your work in judging! I'm sure your ears are tired! Also, I agree on the shakers level now listening to it again.

[Dregs and Grounds of the Story]

Insane arpeggios on that piano -- I think a bit of clarity is getting lost in the reverb due to lack of low cut. Otherwise, doing a fantastic job at keeping tensions high, and working with even minimal instrumentation during sections to do so. That's a testament to great arrangement.

I do think hihats can come down by quite a bit and potentially be panned differently. So a more conventional treatment of, say, a jazz set in this context would do you many favors. Great work!

[Shiza]

I think the mixing on the vocals could use a more conventional treatment of compression, chorus, width, delay, and etc. The clarity is getting lost somewhat when the mix is heavy. The mix as a whole sounds quite shoegazed which is not a problem in a clear mix. Beyond that, great work!

[Drawing the Curtain (NGUAC FINAL ENTRY)]

Such a beautiful piece, and very tastefully written. I don't have much more critique beyond that there are a few swells in which the mix gets top heavy, and the piece as a whole could be just a tad louder for ease of the listener. Beyond that, wonderful

GlowBoyMusic responds:

Thank you so very much. I do appreciate your feedback. I will take your advice into consideration, too!

I loved being a part of this amazing competition. Full of incredibly talented and amazing people. And I am proud of so many of them.

— Glow

[Geekum - Too Long]

Really interesting piece. Does sound very KH like. I think it's in the wrong genre though -- hip-hop would be a better fit.

Your 808 is distorting it sounds like at the mixer level, not prior to it. This is presenting an odd effect where it almost blows out the rest of the mix. I think if you were to mix quieter, then apply compression, some of the inconsistency in leveling would sort itself.

I think you could do a bit more subtle treatment on the panning of your hihats, or add space to them like the rest of the track by applying a very small pingpong delay. I also like to treat them with action tremolo.

Snare also is hiding in the mix relative to 808 and hats.

Recommend removing a lot of the reverb wash off of your synthesizers. They also contribute to a muddy sound. You can dial up the low cut to help with that.

geekum responds:

thanks for the feedback! im fairly new to mixing and have mainly focused on composing since the start of my career and I appreciate the tips :)

[Around The World]

Neat piece! I love 7/4 time. However I would like a bit more volume overall. Even big sections are not loud enough to hear as clearly as I'd like over say, room noise with my headphones on. Writing wise, this is a treat. It is not mixed dirty, as many pieces in this genre are. Although it took me a bit to perceive the pitch of the low strings and that they were not drums. This may represent a need to mix differently for those upper frequencies. I'm speaking specifically for the right channel. Although it does sound like you've used brush percussion as well.

[(NGUAC '23 Final Round) The Final Act]

The concept of this song is fantastic, as is a lot of the writing. What could be better is mix. The kick and snare are cutting through well enough, but it sounds like volume of bass and other elements are all over the place. Bass is too loud. Synths sound centered and not loud enough. Reverb wet is too high and too long, with not enough low cut to maintain balance.

I also am not a major fan of the glock at 4:50 ish

The transitions make this piece well worth listening to, and the melodies presented are interesting. I think it is more than a sum of its parts, but quite a lot could be done to clean it up!

[Remembering Our Journey]

Piano pieces are not my specialty despite a background in classical music. What I can say about this piece is that it is fairly wonderfully mixed and has excellent technical transitions. Lovely work! My only bone of contention is the chord at 3:00 exactly.

Everratic responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it :) That suspended chord sounds wonderful to my ears, especially when it's resolved, but I understand.

[4th Entity]

For 8 hours, this is a grand slam. I couldn't do something like this in 8 hours, no way.

At 46 the mix is muddy, as is to be expected with such a time restraint, but I encourage you to revisit this for certain.

1:06 the snare is actually a bit too loud, and the kick is a bit too distorted. I may drop the pitch on the kick or tune it differently. Same with snare. Could even change it out for one that's in the same or complementary key.

In terms of melody and driving beat, this is a smash!

The only thing holding it back is as mentioned, not a lot of time lead to mixing issues, such as the leads being somewhat too quiet. Perhaps this will improve by backing off on compression and adjusting levels somewhat? It's sounding almost like I have something between my ears and my monitor headphones, like a big fuzzy earmuff.

Either way, really enjoyed it!

entropicvoxels responds:

thanks a lot! i'm definitely trying to improve on my mixing and mastering, sometimes i overcompress my songs and a lot of elements end up sounding quieter than they should.