ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[False Hope]

copied from my PM as I realize I neglected to leave a review and I want to make sure you see this

My feedback concurs mostly with NahuPyrope's with a few exceptions -- I think your builds for the most part are just fine as they are, with the exception of gain staging and I think the pause right before the final drop would be better suited to a B side drop AFTER a repeat of an earlier section for a final chorus.

I would like to be able to hear your vocals more clearly, so that I don't need the lyrics to understand them, and I would like more of them incorporated into other sections. Beyond that, I think the track is pretty freaking great. A bit less high end fizz would completely appease me and my tastes.

veryfakeguest responds:

Many thanks for the review! Seems like I have a habit of making my vocals incoherent, oops. I'll be sure to take note of that and watch the high ends. idk what's gain staging, will have to read on that.lol. I appreciate the feedback!

[Dieswyx - Ultimate Crack (Sazzy Boi -TROJAN VIRUS- Remix)]

I'm not familiar with the original track, but I absolutely love that drop <3 first bass section is NUT

bass at 1:17 could have some EQ and compression applied to it so that it seems to take up the same space in the mix as that lovely fizzy (sounds like pulse?) bass. Alternatively, you can do some creative work with other instruments or perc to differentiate this subsection so that it doesn't stick out that the bass is much more subby and lacks high end.

Also, came to 6 bomb

SazzyBoi responds:

Thank you adr3-n!!!! I love reading your feedback and the other that u gave me! i apreciate too much that time to write that <3 :D

[Wednesday Night]

I feel like the only thing that would make this much better is to bring up the snare and reduce a bit of the bottom head noise/room noise. Perhaps tune it down some. Track is lively, snappy, and upbeat. I like the details you've added in the panning and writing of percussion without being all over the place.

Some minor adjustments of levels throughout and that really is all that's needed to make this absolutely pristine. Perhaps even just harder compression would do the trick, with a bit more high mid on the bass, just a bit less lead since your mix is not at all crowded, and perhaps less hihat and ride volume -- I notice a big contrast in their volume to the rest of the piece. Lowering them makes room to drive the rest of the piece just a bit harder. Toms could have some more low and hi mid as well.

[so you haunt me... (NGAUC 2023)]

As far as phrasing, writing, and lively, expressive playing, fantastic! Mix could use some fixing up. Kick and snare need more presence in the mix -- crashes can come down some. See a reference mix of one of your favorites in this genre and do your best to match or approximate the balance of instruments.

I think triple tracking sounds great for big wide sections but you have to keep in mind to duck the guitars as a whole down proportionately to that extra third's worth of volume, as well as make sure to differentiate the tone and space of each individual guitar track so that it doesn't sound like you have 3 walls of exactly the same resonances and EQ ducks :)

Great work, great chords, and we'll call that missing high E a little bit of character haha. I have a guitar that perpetually is without one LOL Might as well shave off that part of the neck at this point and pretend it's a weird banjo.

Yoshiii343 responds:

>make sure to differentiate the tone and space of each individual guitar track

Funny you mention this, because from what I read it's better to keep the tone similar (for whatever reason).

In this case, I used different cabs for the 2 distorted guitars.

[X3ll3n - Somnium (NGUAC 2023 Knockout Round)]

Oh geez "waiting on a certain someone to answer me" calls me out so hard even if it isn't me! My inbox regularly overflows with mod stuff, and I still am learning how to use discord. Email has 10k unreads at least. Texts and facebook has god knows how much. I can't keep track of it mentally. Wasn't ready for this techno world.

This track is a slowburning bop. Great chords. I might ask for a bit of moving back attacks for the strings so that they sound exactly in time with the piano. That's a pet peeve of mine, but they sound great. I might also reduce intensity of sidechain ever so slightly for your final drop.

This reminds me for some reason actually of Goldeneye OST. But obviously a lot more chill. Just classy work :)

X3LL3N responds:

I'm really glad you liked it, this is quite different from what I usually make :)

Lil' fact about the song: "Somnium" is kind of inspired by the Entropy remix in question in terms of sound design (and Entropy itself is inspired by a scrapped/on-hold remix of @Hookington 's and @HypeDragonMusic 's song called Nevermore, if you like Dubstep, you should check both of them out (though you probably already heard something from them)

As for the mod stuff, I can understand that. I help out people who want to post their songs on Newgrounds (when they get banned by the bot) and when they want their songs on GD for example.
I feel bad because it's often stuff that I can't resolve alone as I'm not a mod and I have to ping Lich all the time x)

Also, some explanation for the part about "waiting for someone" : Months ago, I found a song named Entropy by Tiramika on a Discord server. It was simple but and not very well produced, but it had potential, so I offered to remix it from scratch while keeping it faithful to the original.

I did so and the person loved it so much they wanted to make it an official reboot, and I was like "sure, lemme polish it a bit first though"
Since then, I tried contacting them multiple times but they have been ignoring me for some reason, which is why it's gonna be a Newgrounds-exclusive once I upload it.

By the way, thanks for the frontpage, I really didn't expect that so it was a neat surprise :)

[Heaven]

blown away this is fl 5
wow, so nostalgic, sounds a lot like the old techno i listened to ages ago!

I will say there is too much reverb it sounds like happening and hanging around the low mids and sub frequencies. Transition noises are also really loud relative to the rest of the track, as well as subs too -- quite loud and audible over the rest of the track

The track itself is mixed really quiet. Can you turn it up at least in audacity? Recommend mastering compression after cleaning up reverbs, as well as taking down the hihats and crashes some prior to doing so

You've got great writing and phrasing here. The whole song flows naturally. Beyond issues of mix and no doubt some software limitations, perfect trance

X-ManOfficial responds:

I'm not friends with mixing and mastering, it's hard for me and I don't understand much about it.

There are not so many reverberations here, I only put Fruity Reveerb on some channels in the mixer, and Fruity Delay on some. The track is quiet because it is quiet.

I don't have Audacity and my computer can hardly stand it. In the project itself, I set the volume as high as I could, at 120% with Fruity Balance at maximum.

I would really like to be helped with the mixing. And so thanks for the criticism!

[Kill It | SynnCloud (NGUAC)]

1:56 sounds like a famous song I can't recall. Maybe Unforgiven, or potentially a song of Rammstein's that I can't remember either.

Other than mix, this song is great. There is a bit of overuse of reverb, the amp noise is at times audible underneath the music. Some guitars sound louder than others. I think it will help you when you mix to listen to a reference song in between mixing your tracks and try to match the overall levels of where guitars are sitting in loud sections, where drums are sitting in others. No two songs are alike, but it will really help you get the sound you want. I'm jealous of your immense talent. Ten years ago, all my music was trash! This is actually pretty freaking great. Really nice work!

SynnCloud responds:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! <333

1.- I THOUGHT THE SAME, i dont know if there was an already existing melody or progression in my head but i thought "This sounds quite familiar" But i didn't had a better idea so i recorded it for this

2.- its probably because my resources are quite low, i've been mixing with headphones and i just put the mixes through my father's car to listen how it sounds in other speakers hehe, but thank you so much for the tips <33

i will try to do it better next time, idk, maybe someday i can be as good as you O.O

[Zero]

There is some clipping in the right channel on the low piano it sounds like

The ooh samples I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of the exact same articulation repeating. Is there not a way to change where succeeding notes start on the sample?

I feel like this piece gets pretty muddy in the low mids, and there is some clipping occasionally. Sounds as if mixed too loudly prior to export/mastering

Your vocal lines could use more breath support, as well as pitch control. If you struggle to sing but still want your melodic ideas represented, using autotune is not illegal. Better that than the sharp/flat on "die" at the very end. Without breath support, you can get that nasal kermit sound, as well. Recommend the singing course work of Ken Tamplin for getting started. It's great for beginners and professionals alike.

Nerostratos responds:

I appreciate all your feedback!
1. i'm not sure i hear this low piano clipping you are referring to, i've listened to the track with multiple headphones and can't seem to identify it. Only clipping i notice is in some of the vocal lines peaking
2. the ooh samples unfortunately only have one attack articulation I even softened them up quite significantly

Even though i have been making music for years i still am not as talented at mixing and mastering as others so i appreciate your comments and will pay more attention to reduce muddiness in future works. Same with the comments on my singing, i refuse to use autotune as I feel it makes the vocals sound honestly really gross, so I have some practice to do if i wish to keep incorporating them. so thank you for the criticism

[Heart Made of Gold]

Pretty much everything but the vocals is mixed really well. Vocals could use more makeup gain, dynamic compression essentially, de-essing, and I'm not in love with his performance, but it will only sound worse by hiding it down in the mix and cutting the high mids on it, which is what it sounds like is happening.

More dubs of the adlibs of that's what you're born with etc would have been great to add as shouts.

The vocals can either make or break a song, and in your case they are sitting in a middle ground where they are not quite able to shine. I feel they are pushed off to the right channel for some reason, don't have a lot of chorus/delays to give space, and if they were not in the right channel would sound quite centered.

Beyond that, great chords, great writing, and really catchy!

MYYA responds:

All appropriate commentary. Thanks for the review!

[Taste Again]

27 sec, wrong note that repeats when this section does. I can also hear when this section appears to be copy pasted.

Otherwise, love the performance and pretty good mix -- perhaps take down hihat and ride just a bit. Something is going on with the low end on the guitars on the chorus. Feels like my head is full listening to it, probably a lot of reverb and low mids ringing out. Maybe check the sub as well.

Great lyrics that are difficult to take apart, angsty and grungy. Good vocal performance. Overall, only thing that'd make a massive difference to me is applying some mastering compression so it is satisfactorily loud and angry as its peers on the radio. :)

Mischa-head responds:

Thanks for listening and commenting!
I think your feedback on my last track helped me mix this one a bit better.
Hopefully they just keep getting better and better!