ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Jo-Light Sticks]

Pretty awesome for the time period. The transition is a bit ear piercing, but that's about all I can say as far as criticism.

[DueL]

Each time I listen to your music, I come away thinking, what distinct personality you inject into your discography, which is wonderfully varied. There was a comment on my own music, from farfromsundown that boiled down to -- "You always manage to come up with something totally new and different. Your music is unique, and I both love and somewhat envy that."

Paraphrasing, but that's pretty much how I feel about a wealth of artists I hear on Newgrounds, you, and this song in particular.

The experimental and hybrid elements of this piece are a pleasure to behold. Certainly very out there as far as the trance I have grown to know and love.

Also, whale-like noises? WILD

I would prefer a mix a bit more balanced to non-bass elements. Though I love me some strong bass, I would also like to hear your pads. But from an experimental and shock-value interest point, this gripped me. Particularly nice are your glitches, the varied pan/width decisions for your clap and kick, and glitches.

The snare would be nice if it were somewhere in between what it is now and your glitches, perhaps even oscillating around the stereo field a few percent. It sounds almost flat mono to me right now. Same for rides and -- hats if there are any. Give them a bit of motion left to right or pingpong delay, and they will move and groove with the rest of the piece.

But these are fairly minor gripes in relation to the rest of the things I enjoyed about this piece. Nice work!

[CrimsonKero #2 / 67 / A100]

Man, Aalasteir, your vocal mix on this cast is smooth as butter. So nice. I'd like some compression and limiting on Crimson's phone call, because it dips in and out as calls tend to do, but otherwise I've sincerely enjoyed the cast <3

I may listen to it again

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much! You're right. I'll try to be more thoughtful.

[garlic v1 (FEAT. 409CHARGES)]

Man, 409CHARGES is hard to find! This is a in your face trunk bumping psycho beat. Like, on the brink, going postal, bonkers ass beat.

The level of compression is about appropriate as such. It's short, but the phrasing, composition, riffs, and samples use paint a picture. Perfect atmosphere that transcends some of the mixing points I'm about to go over.

In particular, the stereo image of the 808s and kick are wide, but the crash/closing hat feels very centered. I would actually do the opposite. 808 in the center, driving the track, minimal to no stereo spread, especially below 200 hz.

I would also sidechain the long 808 to the falling 808 that comes in on the closing hat. That way we still get that lurching feeling, without the frequencies conflicting with one another.

The bass fill at 41 seconds you might even double on two similar bass patches, panned left and right respectively, or use a spread chorus.

The hihat at 31 is a bit loud relative to the other percussion. Additionally, I may layer a trap snare under the cymbal on beat 3.

The choir, I also would separate into two different patches, one panned slightly left and the other existing patch panned slightly right. This creates the illusion of depth with otherwise mid or unimpressive patches. I can hear them chorused or widened to sort of create this feel. The tip I mentioned is the next level of this. I also feel myself wanting some high end air on the choir to contrast the dreary beat.

At 6 seconds there appears to be a double layered kick which continues throughout. You may reduce the volume of this slightly.

But seriously, I want this drum pack, especially if it includes those NASTY 808s. Unless those are yours :P

Thanks for coming out to the competition btw. I didn't expect much from a cold invite!

monsanto64 responds:

Thanks so much, I just started working on a V2 with all of these suggestions. This is the link 2 the drums' folder w/ 808's:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10L4cJSo7uXlnDZRsLIaz_oEFVNbGX41g?usp=sharing

BTW, 409 is jus one of my irl friends, he doesn't really tend to post his work

(EDIT): Here is Garlic V2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1faDN-UcWJmmZ__amkg1UHqUO4sIJjQEt/view?usp=sharing

[Cinematic Jumble]

I love the oldschool videogame vibes of this piece. Very much feels like something I'd hear in the old japanese game ports of the 90s.

Since this is not a style of music I'm as intimately familiar with in terms of production, I can give some minor critiques of composition itself and mixing. One thing in particular I noticed, lots and lots of octave and fifth doubling. Particularly in the lower mids, this can sound chunky and clunky. Experiment with removing some of those octaves.

For instance, there is no reason for the bass to be octave doubled for the entire piece. Same with other synths. You could easily get away with less layers on your horns until 1:00.

For your drums, your kick is performing its job well, but it's a bit hard to hear the snare and hihat. I wouldn't turn up the latter VERY much, just enough to clearly be heard against the rest of the piece.

Those rhodes at the outro also sound divine. Nice work!

NewGameExplorers responds:

Thanks for evaluating this music. Glad you liked it. Will try to take into account what was written there (especially about octave and fifth doubling, I hope.).

[AMATEUR]

This is not a genre I frequent, but the arrangement is great.

Some gripes with mix -- the bass feels very spread in the stereo channels, as do the drums. The vocals, kick, and snare don't quite cut through the mix, with most other elements overpowering them. Some of this is due to the bass being VERY high in the mix, and horns likewise.

I'm also not a huge fan of the small-room feel on the guitar. Feels like a cab recorded in a shower caddy. Some of this feel could be negated by double tracking the guitar in the left channel with a much closer, in your face amp sim. Of course, if you should do this, reduce the volume of both tracks to compensate for there being twice the signal.

Compositionally, everything works and is in its place. The compression on the master would be appropriate, if levels were revisited, percussion given room to breathe and cut through, and so on.

I do enjoy the style in particular. Very retro, very much in your face and vibing. Very interesting approach, and the rap sample chosen is beyond perfect.

More like this, please!

StixDevs responds:

Wow, thanks for the long review! I didn't really know much about mixing when i made this (i still kinda don't😭) but I'm trying to learn more. Thanks anyway!

[Supercell]

Very interesting, almost ambient opening, which takes some time to develop. One minute in, and we are still building up steam, away from what almost sounds like wind and rain in the left channel beating concrete.

Normally I'm not patient enough to let a piece develop like this, but in this case, it's very well mixed and atmospheric, pads taking you to a new world. Very good job panning everything around, keeping things wet and verby without bogging down the low mids. That, I'm quite impressed with.

Up to 2:19 now as we are picking up speed. The organ-like synth is doing a great job holding us down. 2:37 we're getting some peaks over the eye of the hurricane, which are extremely well orchestrated.

Man, I did not believe you when you said 5 minute buildup, but that takes some talent to orchestrate while keeping interest. Your progression is very well done throughout here. I feel like I'm waiting for deadmau5 to walk on set at a concert, haha.

3:56, there is just a bit of mud on your impact. I would see if I could cut down on that to a degree, now that the bass is becoming clearer and clearer.

At 4:30, very nice and clear again. I'm anxiously anticipating what is to come.

Nice modulations at 4:55 and a sudden break from the 5 minute intro. Nice bitcrush at 5:06.

I'm not sure what I was expecting at 5:19, but possibly something a bit more intense. The bass feels just a bit more pushed back than I'd like.

At 5:42, the hihats are the only thing in that freq range and probably could be pushed down correspondingly -- and possibly wet. Same with the snare. And I would perhaps experiment with giving the kick some air/grit/presence over them due to the very ambient nature of your backing synths. Something doesn't sit quite right with me about leaning into fizzy upper percussion high in the mix relative to washy synths.

Same with shaker accents through 7:45... and I should clarify that your semi-open hi-hats are fine. It's the closed hat chiks and I'm talking about.

By 8:12 the snare is a bit tamer relative. So perhaps adjusting the volume leading UP to this section would do far better than reducing it across the board. I actually feel that at 8:44 it's a bit quieter than it could be -- by about .2 dB. That may be on the part of compression as well, which appears to be tight, but appropriate for house.

I realize I haven't said so much as a word about your chosen chord progression yet. That's because I really like it.

09:52, the ship underbelly creak-esque FX are such a nice touch. I wish I heard just a bit more of them. As we wind down, they're a bit more apparent, and I enjoy that very much.

Overall, this track shines in its intro. If you'd asked me before if I'd like to listen to something with a 5 minute intro, I'd say no, but you've changed my mind. Very astounding work there. The body of the track as a whole is perfectly serviceable house, nice and groovy.

Great work. Very ambitious premise, and promise delivered. :)

anthonyragus responds:

Thank you for such a thoughtful review! In hindsight and having different ears, I would probably play around with the levels more (16th closed hats could definitely be a tad quieter and/or more rounded in EQ), change the mastering, etc. but I would justify not automating the volume of tracks, based on the historical limitations of the genre. I would probably swap the samples used for the snare for something more impactful, but I could also justify the current ones contributing to a more "horizontal" motion of the music.

That 3:56 impact was an accidental discovery of the volume of the reverberated kick triggering the sidechain compression way too long. It sacrifices stability in the tonal instruments, which is technically suboptimal but emotionally heavy. Windspeeds are distorting the air pressure.

Part of what I aspire to do is maintain a significant level of contrast, both horizontally through time and vertically through the frequency range and harmony. After such a long and arduous buildup, I wanted to deconstruct everything before building it up again in intensity and complexity. Another aspect contrast is the dry drums vs wet everything else, precise and piercing destruction in a swirling, churning sky. I also don't want everything to be consciously heard simultaneously, but have the mind able to shift around in the sonic environment.

Much of what I write in hindsight is speculation, as what I want to produce/compose changes regularly, but I do enjoy asking myself if I can justify my prior musical decisions.

Much appreciated!

[House in Chicago (w/ Constantine) (not final mix)]

God forsaken fusion of genres -- RELATABLE.

Songwriting, vocal recording, and arrangement are fantastic. This feels like the good old emo shuffle music of yesteryear. Very nice.

Master could stand to be much louder. Compression looks to be good however. It almost appears if you tried to match Spotify loudness standards, which are moot since Spotify ensures that for you. A simple fix for this is Amplify in Audacity, at the max it will allow you do without clipping. Your overall compression values from the peaks look appropriate for the genre, though there are a few errant baby peaks after 2:42.

Minor mix gripes -- the vocals feel as if they are sitting atop the track, slightly too loud for the midwest emo EDM portions. Piano at 3:30 is also a bit loud and hard panned right.

Great structure, theme, and lyricism. That's radio ready material right there.

I would strive for a bit more vocal presence in the center during your choruses -- maybe not pan quite as hard. If you're using and widening FX on your vocals, swapping from typical wideners to WideFire is a power move. Often such FX introduce phasing issues and weaken the mono presence of your vocals, which is not what you want. Not saying stereo spread is evil, but it's very easy to overdo, especially if you have no control over what freqs are spread.

Your cymbals at 2:52 are sticking out a bit. It almost feels like they have been de-essed, and the entire top range of the track has been cut off (the fizzy highs), and yet they are still a bit loud. Maybe this is a stylistic choice, or a product of 256 kbps compressed audio. The file size you have there is pretty small for a track of 4 minutes, just saying. And compression below 320 kbps mp3 can have dastardly effects on your beloved high frequencies!

Anyway, stellar track, with only very minor mixing issues. Very nice work!

IreadysuckS responds:

Thanks!!
Why do you say the master could be louder? It's not really an edm track so I wasn't going for edm clip-to-zero hypercompressed loudness. It sits around -9lufs in the louder parts which is enough for me, esp in a song like this which is very dynamic across the song. As I said in the desc, the vocal mix for this was pretty rushed and I didn't really work on it since then so it could def use a lot of work in some parts--but tbh I like the panned vocals in the choruses. Not using any stereo spreader plugins iirc, just using panning and doubles. Just listened back in mono and it sounds fine to me...
With the cymbals, since I'm just using a stock Logic drum kit playing crash cymbals, they were very much panned (as is common with cymbals in drum kit vsts) so I used ozone imager to make them more centered (by just making them more mono/less wide). I think that might be what you're hearing(?).
The piano being loud is very much a stylistic choice. Since from the middle of the track and on is just building up energy until the slow outro, I tried making the last part of the chorus even more intense (four on the floor drums also play into this) and I wanted to make the piano really feel like it was jumping out of the song, so I didn't sidechain it, unlike everything else. (See "Something Comforting" by Porter Robinson, where he does a similar thing at 3:28 or so by using a piano that isn't side chained to the drums to make it feel like it's almost floating above everything else.)
My "mixing philosophy" with this track wasn't about going for the perfect, sterile, clean, technically correct mixdown. It was more about getting the point of the song across and giving it emotion.
Thanks again for the compliments and the feedback!

Side note: I see a lot of people talk online about how haas stereo spreaders ruin your mono stuff, but who actually listens to music in mono? Besides for bass/low frequencies which are sometimes played in mono in clubs, who cares??

[3manon - Turning the Tides of War (instrumental)]

Very gorgeous intro chord. I'm not entirely sold on the vocal sample library/synth featured. The attacks are quite obviously synths, but the individual samples in isolation sound good.

The drums at 0:30, I would entirely swap out, or mix with much more room -- think shoegaze -- in order to match the rest of your track.

Very well composed into 1:25, and the addition of sound effects gives a feeling of trailer music.

At 1:48, the bass is more intense than the surrounding arrangement and very much in your face. I have no problem with its writing whatsoever, just the context of space. Some things can be done to minimize this upfront feel. For instance, you can lop off the high mids and achieve a bit more muffled, obscured attack.

The blending of genres here is quite explicit and in itself is an achievement. However, care to blend their contexts as well should be taken. The throat singing at 3:00 and the cracking egg would benefit from the same washy feel as your mid-tempo synths, for example.

Trumpets at 3:21 may have sounded better if doubled on the left with a similar patch and applied some tremolo or gating to. They are quite a bit loud in the right channel.

There appears to be some audible clicking in the right channel around 3:22. This is a known issue with some older kontakt patches for some reason, particularly brasses. I'm not sure why. This can be removed in RX10.

Overall, very interesting hybrid cinematic piece. I feel at times some of the elements are not well interrelated to one another, but this is largely a problem of wet-mix and room matching. That's such a hard thing to tackle in practice, and very hard to quantify without seeing which FX you are working with. So I won't dwell on it very much. Suffice to say, different instruments in different genres have different mixing considerations in terms of reverb, chorus, EQ, presence -- because they serve different functions.

Say, the throat singing in Altaic music may sound very dry and in your face, because typically you are listening to a guy sit on a hill with a balalaika, rather than a tibetan monk performing a chant in a reverberant hall. In cinematic music in particular, the latter treatment is usually what you'll find -- if not outright psychedelic levels of wet FX.

This is what I mean by different function, and it changes the overall emotion by quite a lot.

Your master looks to be at about the appropriate level of compression, particularly your multi-genre finale. Great job retaining dynamics throughout. That is quite the challenge to put yourself to and is not to be missed!

I do feel the mix is not entirely balanced. Listening to some references in the genres you're mixing, as well as cinematic pieces in the same vein, will very much help you here. If you need to, take snapshots of sections you find most representative on an EQ spectrum, and visually examine your own work likewise.

Basically, my mixing critique overall would be -- the cinematic percussion is wet, but the tambourines, set drums, and so on feel quite dry.

Midtempo drums are mixed appropriately for genre, with the exception that the kick is a bit loud, and the snare could use a layer underneath it.

The throat singing and saws where it comes in at 2:58 -- I would push the throatsinging down and reverb it considerably, also applying pingpong delay. The saws, I would actually push up in the mix.

Your female vocalist at 3:02 I would also bring up here, as she serves as the melodic/phrasal intensifier here.

Hihats at 3:17 I would separate into two insances, and pingpong each note right, left, right, right left, right for that slow galloping riff you've written. It will provide a feeling of movement and intensity, even with subtle panning! You can then apply subtle delays or whatever FX you like.

The lead at 3:08 I would reduce in volume somewhat and perhaps support with another washier synth underlying it. It feels a bit dry relative to the piece.

In short, mixing is somewhat unbalanced. But only because there is such a mishmash of genres. None of the choices you made would be totally out of place. :)

Great to hear from you as always, and happy to see you constantly progressing in your craft. By all means, keep experimenting. This is one of the most adventurous pieces I've heard in a long time. It has everything!

[(AIM) R34P3R]

Very dark intro with a classic EDM progression. The compression and stereo widening may be safely dialed back just a bit -- particularly the latter. I'm feeling a personal separation from the sound source, almost as if I were in a cylinder or tube, or listening to the room tone.

Too much stereo widening often saps the power out of a bassline. However there are new stereo widening plugins that don't cause this issue, such as WideFire. Mushroom Widener is notorious for this extra roomy feel and phasing issues.

Basically, what I'm saying is, dial back the widening, chorus, and wet fx slightly, and ensure there is good mono presence for your bass. The sub and high mids will give you the aggressive feel you're looking for.

Besides that, the deathstep elements were very well composed and pleasant to hear.

I was very thrown off by 1:56. Midi piano is obvious midi piano, and the section felt a bit abrupt and unrelated to the final drop. Like two songs mixed together, rather than one. A different instrument, or a more sparsely arranged chord progression there may have sounded better. Often midi piano sounds just, bad when you write such dense chords below C4. Experiment with raising things up and octave, and see what I mean.

Overall though, your arrangement and particularly deathstep sections impressed me. I'd love to hear more of that. Impressed that you were able to put this together in under 3 hours, also!

NEON-SKIES responds:

Wow! Thank you so much for the awesome review! Only thing is, I'm still working my way around FL Studio (It hasn't even been a year yet) so I might not know how to do all of that cool stuff