ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[lost tapes before death]

Wild intro. I'd recommend less reverb on that sample synth in the beginning.

I appreciate the strange choices made here. They work together quite well. Less reverb on everything and that would help sincerely with the intelligibility, maybe 30% less in cases where you have held notes.

I appreciate the djent elements. I hear some double tracking here -- the left channel seems to be quieter than the right. Maybe a different amp or more distortion is in order. The drums sound quite loud here but I think that is relative to the somewhat quiet bass.

I quite like this and want to give it more stars for simply being a genre that I like and being very different in general, so I will state now that the score reflected here will be 1 star higher than my actual score for NGUAC. The mix is really the only detractor for me. I think the glitching guitars were a fantastic choice and would have worked very well if not for the synth in the background sounding louder than they themselves, as well as the lack of a supporting centered bass to give them girth.

I think you could still use to differentiate even machine gunned notes with velocity on your kick and snare. Just destroy them with FX however you like. A varied chaos.

In short, I'd like to hear the most dramatic elements of this piece hit above your background pad. Accomplish that however you care to, sidechain, lowering volume strategically, paring down reverb, etc. Transition FX would also be nice.

But otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

FlowerBoyDeMii responds:

thank you so much wanted to try something different thank you for you feedback <3

[Coming Home (NGUAC 2022 Finals Submission)]

Mix on your guitars is fantastic. I think there could be just a tad less reverb -- maybe 20% less to give a bit more clarity.

I do have a gripe with the entire drum track sounding as if it's run through a saturator, the ride having almost all the same velocity so the hits sound the same, the snare being just a tad too short (may be helped with reverb, gated reverb, etc on a separate track), and the kick sounding similarly saturated, with its lower frequencies sucked out a bit and the boxy mids the most that I hear. The drum track in contrast to the rest of the track sounds centered on part of its dryness, the exception being the rides and crashes, but those too could use some interaction with the opposite channel with perhaps separate reverbs or very subtle pingpong delays.

Your vocals are nicely mixed, however sibilant consonants need to be tamed and ducked, and they are pretty pitchy in terms of drift. For different genres this isn't a huge issue. I'd like to hear a lot more passion from you as you sing. It sounds as if you're talking into the mic. This song is obviously intended to be passionate. You might be interested in the singing lessons of Ken Tamplin or someone similar. I have the same exact problem of a voice that just kinda lays there, and I know how frustrating it can be.

Otherwise, nice work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Koi Brook]

Nice chunky lo-fi feel in your intro. I think I would have appreciated in the very intro a separate track with your lead similarly crushed.

Wonderful vibes. I think I would like to hear a bit less chorus on your bass and some distortion. Bring it up in the mix and have an FX to center all the bass frequencies below 210 hz or so.

The very fast strumming section is fantastic, as is writing throughout. I would modulate velocity on your high plucking instrument much more so that the attacks sound more varied and use compression to compensate for difference in volume. You could ping-pong delay it instead of using as much reverb.

It's a bit hard to hear your snare and auxiliary percussion through the reverb gaze. You have two choices, up the volume or try transient shaping, subtle side chain, cut down on overall reverb, or a combination of all the above to get a little more clarity. I think with a bit more clarity at points the song would be A1. :)

In any case, love your composition. Great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Cresince responds:

I am going to have to study up on side chains and transients, production stuff can tend to go over my head a lot of the time haha.

I honestly didn't even notice the quiet snare until you pointed it out, I think I was more treating the kit in that section as auxiliary percussion so toned it down quite a bit for more of a loose groove (maybe should of used actual auxiliary instruments lol).

As always, you give great pointers, and I think back on your reviews often when mixing, so thank you for your insight! <3

[The Mystical Forest]

This piece is compositionally indistinguishable from anything I'd expect to hear in the masterful works of say, Studio Ghibli back in the day, and such as, I don't have any point of critique to offer in that area. Fantastic work with your modalizations and keychanges.

My only areas of complaint would be a bit much whine on your high violas it sounds like at points. I can hear the synth, so to speak at points. The attacks are quite slow in places where that doesn't suit your piece, which bothers me as a classical musician (where all I heard was not to "twwaah" the attacks unless directed to do so). I suffer from this myself and sympathize. I may actually recommend swapping to a different library or patch in these cases. Albion Tundra and Spitfire Labs, as well as a lot of other kontakt libraries in that vein could be added into places where you need a sharp attack and sustain to match your piano, or you could back up the attacks of the individual notes some to pull them closer into those piano quarter notes.

For reference, I am talking about sections like 1:33. I think the violins may be a bit too high in the mix here relative to the piano, but that is because they are so high more likely than not.

I can't stress enough, wonderful composition. Evocative of exactly the feeling you describe in your title. Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

anthonyragus responds:

Super thanks for your review. My mixing and MIDI sequencing is definitely rushed on this one, and I think I overcompensated my typical string EQ curves, and I most likely forgot to compensate slow notes in violas (EDIT: I did not forget, but a 16th note in advance wasn't enough, haha). EWQLSO viola is the oddest set of patches, the slow expressive patch somehow the best in quality, but perhaps that's what one gets with a library recorded twenty years ago.

For months now, I've had my ears set on a set of libraries; strings are not yet released, but I have no doubt they will be a worthy investment. Thank you for listening.

[Four Roots Above Still Water]

While I'm here I might recommend some drum kits for you. Si sounds good, but something about the snare to me. There is Saudade snare, I think based on the same snare as used by David Silveria of Korn. MT Power Drum kit may also have some use for you. Then there is Cherry Snare, Black Noh Snare, and DarkKick VST. Cymballistic is a great hihat and cymbal library. Also, salamander drum kit. These are all free and relatively easy to work with. I recommend more velocity modulation on your drums. The hihats are machine gunning a bit on the attack.

The section at 2:40 sounds fantastic. Love those chords and that wahwah bass. As well as your warm outro.

I think my only problems with this song lie in its mix. The composition is nicely complex without sounding pretentious, somewhat unpredictable (pleasantly) due to time signatures. What I would like to hear more of is reverb (maybe gated) on your snare, reverb on your crashes or delay, etc. Occasionally I like to pingpong delay my hihats on a hardish left or right.

Your bass could use distortion of some kind. I hear a lot of the frequencies around 250-400 hz but not much sub. This may be because it is so high. You could double an instrument an octave below it for beef. In this case I think actually a low piano would be fitting, given that you have used that already throughout.

Your lead instruments all sound somehow centered but also spread too thin across the channels to me. What you can do to combat this with your guitar lead specifically is have two different patches with different amps and cabs anywhere between 5 percent left and right to 27, add a pingpong reverb to the other channel or a reverb send. This technique will make it sound fuller and is used with live instruments in the studio.

Beyond that, great work. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

Aardvark04 responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'll be sure to check out those drum plugins!

[Pulled into the]

I always appreciate the layers in your composition. I think this one could use a bit more control on the dynamics of different instruments, such as the flute in your intro which is quite loud.

It was a pretty smooth transition into the electronic portion of your song.

There are a lot of daring elements in this song -- is that CS One Bass with those wubs?

It sounds like there is a bit crusher or some sort of fizz on your kick drum. If you wanted the same crispiness, I might try a multi band compressor to de-emphasize the static sound I hear clearly throughout.

2:22 is experimental indeed. Almost avantgarde.

Really enjoy the overall idea of this piece as well as your execution. I think more compression from 0:55 to your close would make the synth portion sound better, as well as a deeper and more gripping bassline -- the one you have is quite high up and does not sound centered in the mix.

All the same, great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

314leafcutterant responds:

I added the flute because the piano which plays the same melody got a little bit drowned by the harp. It probably didn't have to be as loud as it is, but I think the heavy vibrato of the sample is almost more annoying. I originally tried to record my ocarina, which I bought a few months ago and never used in a song yet, but I cannot play it nearly well enough to actually record something. I am always completely out of tune.

That wub is selfmade, it uses some fm synthesis and a filter automated by an lfo. There is a bit crusher on the whole drumset. I didn't actually hear the static sound in the mix, only when listening to the drums as solo so I left it there because of that little bit of... something. Didn't think the static would actually be noticeable.

Making the bassline deeper would actually have been a smart thing to do, thanks. To me the synth sounded better when it was an octave deeper but i put it an octave higher anyway so it wouldn't cover up the bass. Making both of them deeper would have solved that issue.

The bass and subbass aren't completely in the center, that is true. One is panned a few percent to the left and the other to the right.

[Together]

Was not expecting the development into DnB upon hearing that intro. Interesting choice of melody over top. Piece has a subtle sound to it, maybe overly bass boosted.

I'm having trouble clearly making out your kick and snare from the loudness of the pads and melody. Also, seems the sub bass is loud relative to the percussion. You may benefit from running this through a free online master to squeeze the most juice out of your drops.

The section at 2:23 doesn't sound like a drop due to levels sitting at around the same as the rest of the track. Without a lot of master compression to do the job, I would ensure the drops are louder in general than the rest of the track at least by a dB or two.

Otherwise, good structure, nice desperate love type mood going on. Really enjoyed the piece. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Z3rky - Neodub]

Sounds like trap married dubstep and had an autistic child. I mean that in a good way.

Structure wise, fantastic. Interesting percussion samples. My only real critique would be to reduce reverb where possible for clarity's sake and see what is going on with that super low sub bass. It sounds like being trapped in a warehouse with the AC on, and I'd love to hear some tonal sine underneath that drop.

Otherwise, slick piece. Really enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[pipeline punch is the best monster flavour you cannot tell me otherwise.]

Nice and surreal. Extra points for NG beat tag hehe.

The switchup at 1:22 is a nice change for variety's sake. I love the insanity at 1:50. Could have possibly used some more variety in where the snare fell, again for variety's sake, but all things considered, you kept those drums nice and wild to make up for it.

Great work. Really enjoyed it. Wish I had more critique.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Jungle Secret]

I actually don't think this is half bad for 3 days left, distracted by life and school. Your choice to make your own bird noises actually turned out pretty cool!

The shift at 2:44 is a nice stylistic choice that ties the rest of the piece together.

I confess I loathe synth brass and think the velocities could have been better managed there, but your treatment of the other instruments was great. I just would have taken down those repeated stabs and I think it would have been fine.

Great job. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!