ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Conglomerate]

You know, I almost was completely unable to give critique for your piece. Jazz is not entirely my purview. If anything, I might change out the snare on those drums. The piece is a bit short and that is my only gripe. But given that theme, it's to be expected. Chord progressions are positively spicy

[Vanguard]

Other than the guitars and drums, I feel mix is done quite well. I'm having a hard time picking out bass. It sounds like guitars were not double tracked but a chorus applied. Rhythm guitar has a pretty heavy cab noise/room sound to it which I feel it would sound so much better without. It's a bit muddy. The low mids are rumbly in the wrong way imo.

However, writing is GREAT

Snare is suffering from the same over-reverb sound as the snare. I want to hear more high mid on it

Great work otherwise!

TheUnnamedPlayer responds:

listen to the new song i made (the system is flawed)
i fixed a lot of those mixing issues, was compressing everything too much so i just dialed back the compression and everything became a lot clearer
my guess is that because of the level of compression everything was getting squashed together too much, especially the drums with the high-frequency cymbals and low-frequency bass kick trying to be evened out
similarly with the bass, there was two compressors on it, one before and then after the distortion, just turned off the one before it recently and it gets a lot cleaner and more authentic/human sound (very open, roomy, mid/high-mid heavy)
i will take into account these criticisms even through, however, but the reason i chose this song was simply that this song was done before the newer one (otherwise i would have chosen the newer one because its millions times better)

tldr: listen to newer song, i was compressing everything too much and squashing the sounds together making it all sound same-y and indifferent to each other

[Alright, Alright]

I really enjoy the lyrics, but I feel the vocals can come up quite a bit. Don't hide them under the instrumental! Delivery is getting better in time, and the composition stands on its own

It's odd to hear what sounds like a love song to God and hear slap me down, aha, but the world needs more good christian music. Keep it up!

SoulSecure responds:

Really? The vocals are too quiet? I've worked to get them where they are, I hate obnoxiously loud vox, but I'm really out of my mixing game and I don't have the ear for it I did a few years ago. I know there's couple spots in the first verse I can hear what you're sayin' and in the chorus when the backing vocals aren't present. I'll have to tweak it. Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!

[PHONK+++]

Love the arrangement and this genre in general but the cowbell in the intro is quite dry, and when the 808 comes in the entire beat distorts. I love distortion, but I also like to be able to hear the 808 note!

Otherwise, keep doing what you do. I think your ideas are solid, and you have a lot of room to grow into your style!

Skymine123official responds:

Can u comment on my new one

[Control]

Wonderful sample play and chord progression. It's pushed hard enough to feel olskool and grimey. Choice of panning drums left was an interesting one but I see left room for synths in the right and the occasional sample there as well. Very nice, dirty little piece!

[Ramno - Through The Hourglass [NGUAC '23 Tryouts]]

Zero complaints on arrangement, writing, and phrasing.

My only complaints are mix --
For the mysterious ticking noise, it can likely be turned down by a bit as sections go on, or oscillate in volume, as it is repetitive, having it always same volume, i.e. loud, leads to losing other parts of the composition. Also, a loud, soft, loud, soft velocity treatment could work.

There is a lot of reverb throughout. I would advise lessening it at points, or hipassing it so that it doesn't get too muddy in the 250 hz and below range

You've done crazy things with the xylos, which I think could be pushed up, panned across the stereo space

For your strings and other instruments which have a slow fading attack, I suggest moving note starts back until they come in on beat! they are twwwaaaah ing

Low timpanis/toms are pretty huge in the mix and could be pushed down

I would like more instruments doubling your harmony parts on long notes and backing chords, panned more liberally about the space

Beyond that, great work! I feel as though you are only limited by the quality of your instruments. Keep on the lookout for free sample instruments -- synful orchestra recently became free, btw. Worth checking out! MuseScore sound fonts also can be used in any daw with sforzando, and spitfire labs has a great selection.

Keep it up!

[Beepapolis]

Cool sounds! I think the bass could benefit from a centered sub range and taming that resonance that sounds like it's from chorus or room/verb.

The snare and hihat at times sound quite loud. Overall, I think the song would 100% slap if the mix were cleaner. Less reverb, less cymbal volume, less hihat volume. My ears are hurting a bit -- had to turn down.

In general, the higher a sound is in pitch once you pass the mid range, you can safely turn it down.

Overall, I really appreciated the dnb influences and the solos were well written. The song does tend to feel much the same throughout due to no real contrast in volume level between sections, and keeping a lot of the same elements, but I still enjoyed it! Good work!

[Elskan mín ;) (My love)]

Ah that good good viking language -- took me back to Age of Empires, age of kings xD

It sounds like everything rhymes, so, not knowing the language, I can't comment on that

I will say I can hear the room noise on your mix can it sounds relatively centered. Could use some improvement on vocal mix which can be learned with online tutorials. Language sounds like sweet silk to me though.

The sax part is a plus

Sub is way up in this mix, as is the hi-hat -- take that hihat down please if you get the chance later! Clap could come up. I also struggle to hear walking bass part over the piano parts. Reverb also sounds overdone on your keys. It sounds cool as an effect on your vocals though.

Not bad! Keep it up!

Quippic8 responds:

Finally, after over a month I come around to finishing it.

[PRGX - Memories]

at 17 seconds the mix is hipassed it almost sounds like to a pretty big degree. It is very sibilant. I recommend turning down 15 khz plus for such sections

The mix is also pretty high-mid heavy

However this problem lessens to a degree as time goes on, especially on drops

Crazy drop composition. very nice! Still sounding very overdriven at 1:27

I actually think the problem could be overly compressing there the master. I cannot clearly hear your sub and low-mids. Wanting more bass!

Otherwise, great work in sound design and your panning is sounding pretty good on second drop.

I recommend somewhat less reverb throughout for more clarity and less tendency to push up highs uneccessarily

Lead at 2:26 is VERY loud, could come down some, as well as your pads, but it is not extremely bothering me

Enjoyed it a lot!

PRGX responds:

Oh thank you very much for the feedback, I'll try to avoid these problems next time

[Love-God Kobold]

So sad that people drop low scores because of a silly thing like disabled API. Rating usability in a game is not part of NG review process. I will drop a 5 because I hate to see it! My NGUAC score will differ.

For what it's worth, this is a great composition, with tons of great melodies

mix issues
- hihat is WAY up in the mix and I have a problem hearing kick and snare. thank you for not making crashes overly loud. hihat needs to come down a lot where it is holding notes -- the ghosts are fine

- reverb is all over the place which is interfering with my ability to hear your low strings and pads -- since your pads and strings have slow attacks, move the note beginnings before the downbeats, so that they come in cleaner and you can hear the chord before the beat ends!

instruments such as saxes have this issue too. You can modulate velocity and expression on these so they don't sound so cheapo synth. I actually recommend not using them at all most of the time -- but you can try the now free synful orchestra as a replacer and see how that sounds if you ever revisit this piece

Otherwise, good work. Enjoyed it!

Pheanir responds:

Thank you really much for your feedback! =)

I instantly got the synful orchestra plugin to try and see how it sounds but, unfortunately, the software I (have to) use is too old to recognize VST3, so I cannot use it for my music for the time being. :(
Nevertheless, thanks for the tipps and the advice! ♪