ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dreamwalker]

Such a nice blend of genres. I'm swept up in your composition from the start.

My complaints are reserved almost entirely for mix.

Snare could either use swapping out, or some more bottom head snap. The shoegaze across the track is kinda drowning it out.

hihats and crashes are about 20% louder than they should be, given the lack of other instruments in that sound space.

Your leads and fantasia sounding instruments sound like they've been boosted up way high in the 8k and up range, given really long reverb tails or delays, etc. I would like to hear a bit more subtle treatment of your pads and any instrument that isn't currently performing a solo. They are somewhat covering up your leads.

1:06, reverb and delay is muddying that solo. Paring it down and taking that solo up would help clarity. Perhaps a chorus to subtly spread it out.

1:14, the sub bass drop or tom hit utterly distorts upon compression so that I cannot tell what it is. This happens again at 1:46, and everywhere you have that as a transition. This appears to be due to low end mud.

I was not a fan of the tongue click noise thrown in there. I think a wine cork pop would have worked better with similar FX. Maybe I just hate clicking noises.

I would like to hear .2 dB more of your guitars, OR .3 less of that pulsating synth line at 2:20, and .2 less of your super verbed synths, and .5 less of the vinyl staticy noise in the outro. Less low mids and sub on your reverb wets all around, and this would perfectly fit my bill.

Other than that, loved it. Please don't read this review and think I'm shitting all over your track aha. It's great!

BeyondOurEyes responds:

Thank you for the love and greatly appreciate the constructive critique! I'll keep this all in mind for future :)

[That One Talks]

Other than some mixing choices which result in this piece having a somewhat off balance feel (loud mids around 2:30 and a few extra chunky notes in the low strings), this piece is great. Develops a bit slowly and could perhaps have a bit more humanization to velocity, perhaps more subtle velocities on softer sections altogether, but ultimately holds together quite nicely throughout, and development was indeed satisfying.

[[MAFFAKA OBO$RALSYA!]]

Я пришла дать 5 звёздочек.
Текст песни невероятно смешной. Мне очень понравился трек, хотя не знаю кто такой наш Маффака (motherfucker lol)

G2961 responds:

Если ты знаешь про игру Geometry Dash, то знай, что это плохой русский модератор в этой игре. Он много ошибок и зашкваров вытворял в русском коммьюнити этой игры.

[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!