ADR3-N's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Spectral Dual]

Ooh, slappy. Really enjoy your writing.

It's hard to tell if you double tracked or just chorused your rhythm guitar. If the latter is the case, I recommend the former approach. The rhythm guitar is sitting in the mix almost inaudible at points. As the driving force of your piece, you definitely don't want that.

I want to hear more of your snare and perhaps some saturation and transient shaping. I use Diablo for this typically and a separate track.

Nice leads throughout and great chord progression.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Pressure Point]

Your drums stick out pretty well here, stick out being the operative word. I would take some volume off of those hihats. They are louder than any other part of the mix and are the only thing really in that mix space.

I enjoy your writing and choice of chords

I would put much less verb on your toms and bring out your snare more.

I think the track would benefit from running through an online mastering service of your choosing -- there are free ones out there.

Bass and pads, along with the melody are hard to hear through the percussion elements of the track. You want to strike a balance in which the percussion is clearly audible but not covering up anything else.

Overall, great melodies and piece holds together nicely. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

TechnoDrama responds:

Online mastering service? Never thought to even look.

Well, I didn't make it to the next round and I'm okay with that. Just grateful to have people listening.

I wonder how much of my music's real impact is lost due to bad mixing and mastering? I'm always so eager to just get it out there that I never really thought about the impact the mix has on the end result.

You have given me much to think about. And not making it to the next round has given me reason to focus on what I did wrong, which is not in the creative process, but in the final steps.

Thank you again, and feel free to thank the other judges. I appreciated the opportunity.

[Your Brain on 4D Cubes [NGUAC 2022]]

Sounding solid at your intro. Nice and weird harmonic minor. It sounds like everything has been phased or chorused which leaves the center of the track feeling somewhat weak.

I appreciate the kick chaos. Would like to hear more hihat or snare there.

Growls sound wild af. Dig that. Want to hear more of your cymbals and hihats here. It sounds like the track was mixed at a quite loud volume prior to mastering fx being applied. I generally recommend to mix at a quieter volume prior to the master, leaving between 3 and 6 dB of headroom for the compressor to take care of.

The switchups throughout make this a strong composition. I want a more centered bass from 250 hz and below. There are plugins for that. May also appreciate some sub below that to make it nice and beefy.

Really enjoyed the listen. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Supernova]

I'd like a bit less hihat volume in your intro. Perhaps throughout. And a bit more bass as well, maybe up to .5 dB more.

Overall, solid structure, great rhythms. Reverb is tasteful. Everything sounds clean and in its place. Good transitions.

I want a bit more saturation and dirt on your snare.

Definitely wanting a bit less highs on your final drop, more bass, a bit less hihat, and more snare, but still a bop.

Great work! Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

rajbeatsofficial responds:

Thank you for the detailed feedback! Will listen back in depth with these notes in front of me to get your perspective in real-time 💪

[Bloom Kyoto]

I feel like I dropped back into Age of Mythology.

I think the shamisen could come down in the mix a bit, be a bit more centered, and have a bit of room to it. The attacks could also have some more fooling around with the velocity.

Flute sounds nice. I'm not sure if it's a single sample. If so, the initial attack is a bit distracting on subsequent notes.

Overall, nice piece, and some of my favorite instruments. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

OliRO responds:

Thank you for the review! I didn't had time to master it properly but I'm about to post another version where everything should be a bit more balanced. Obviously it's gonna be out of the scope of this challenge, but I will apply your observations nonetheless. For the flute it is a single sample from Massive X that I tweaked a bit to sound like a shakuhachi. The initial attack might be a bit too early indeed. Thanks for pointing that out, I will fix it.

Thanks again for taking the time to analyze and share your insight on my track. This is the main reason why I take part in this challenge; to get better by getting quality reviews.

[In Tandem (nguac demo)]

Tranquil intro into 0:45 where we see something strange is indeed going on here. I think a visual aid would help inform what is happening, but sound design wise it's indeed quite an interesting shift. I'm quite ill at ease now. Thank you xD

I have essentially no critique. Very interesting piece.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[[Melodic Dubstep] Dystopia (NGUAC 2022 Knock-Out Round)]

Enjoyed that kick roll into the section at 0:40. Great choices of chord.

I notice a bit of clipping at probably around 0:50, so watch those levels.

Something happened at 1:22 and the bottom as well as the volume got sucked out of the mix. Do you think that might be a compressor issue? I notice the sidechain is pretty extreme here as well. Hihats at that point are louder than the rest of the mix.

I think your writing and phrasing is fine. Just would like some more volume, bass, and whatever issue is causing the drops to be tinny and quieter than the rest of the song be tended to. You have some smooth drops aside from that.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[Rhythm Tension]

Nice intro here. I'm really appreciating the rides and hihats. They fit in nicely.

At 00:36, I see you're really putting MT Power Drum Kit to good use. I used to hate that thing.

Interesting transition into 4 on the floor kick through 1:00. I never would have expected that. I think you could have used a transition noise there to smooth that out and signal it better.

1:32 sounds great.

I think I actually would have preferred a final drop without the club elements. Or at least keeping the hihat groove you had been developing on other sections. Actually, yes, I feel that's what I miss here.

Otherwise, really enjoyed the piece. Great work!

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

[The Fairytale Continues]

I'm not sure about the chord progression chosen for your intro. I noticed a lot of parallel 5th motion -- at least that's what I think I'm hearing. That perception could probably be reduced by using more chord inversions and not doubling the strings as piano stabs on the other side.

I feel lit a bit more when you introduce hiphop and glitch elements, however, there is a really loud sub bass that I can't quite make out and I think that somewhat detracts from this section. Maybe use a different bass for the same line.

At 2:18 the low chords are kind of chunky sounding and close together for me. General rule, when writing lower, make sure there is more space in the chord between notes. The approach of even half notes leaves me feeling like the composition is kind of lumbering. However I do like the chord choices you made at 3:34 was nice!

Maybe switch it up with the melody? I hear lots and lots of 8th notes and am not sure where we are resolving to. May see signals music studio on YouTube for some music theory ideas. There is nothing offensive about your mix that I hear. In fact, it sounds pretty good. I'm just not quite able to follow the melody and chord progressions as related to each other.

Overall though, nice pacing, piece is neither too long, nor too short, and I still enjoyed it. Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!

GeminiGemini responds:

Thanks for the review and good luck to the remaining.

[Reflection]

Really enjoy your chords. I would bring up your chords relative to the volume of the hihat, or alternatively, drop down the hihats and 808. It sounds like the mix is clipping at louder points of your drop, when the kick, 808, and hihat hit at the same time.

The switchup at 2:00 is nice.

Other than that, smooth as hell. Love it.

Thanks for coming out to NGUAC!